10 dream trips to take in Europe in 2025

02.01.2025 - 15:09 / lonelyplanet.com / Charles Bridge

Jan 2, 2025 • 9 min read

It’s a new year and the perfect time to start planning your travels and vacation time in 2025. If Europe is on your bucket list, but you’re not sure where to go, be inspired by epic Icelandic road trips, glamorous sojourns to the south of France or hikes through the far-flung islands of the Azores.

We’ve collected 10 of the best adventures in Europe from our new book, Dream Trips of the World, to help you decide where you want to go this year.

Iceland’s Ring Road (Rte 1) passes blackened lava fields, scalding-hot pools and craters that belch sulfurous steam – but infernal landscapes are just part of this road trip’s allure. Rte 1 wraps around the entire coast of Iceland, so it’s practically a showreel of the country’s variety. In a 1322km (821-mile) journey, the landscape transforms from monochrome to technicolor and back again. One stretch might appear unearthly and barren, then around the bend the scenery morphs into a fairy tale of lagoons, meadows and grass-roofed houses. Considering the ever-changing landscape, the Ring Road is a surprisingly easy-going road trip. Rte 1 is fully paved and, unlike the interior roads criss-crossing Iceland, there’s no need for a 4WD. You can drive it clockwise or anticlockwise.

Travel by rail in Europe and you won’t waste a single moment, turning transport into sightseeing. On sleeper services, you can wake up in an entirely new country and disembark in the heart of a city. The tricky part is choosing where to start, and that's where we can help.

Amsterdam is a well-connected springboard to Central and Eastern Europe. Rent a bike straight from Centraal Station, and cycle past the canalside homes en route to the poignant Anne Frank Huis. That night, board the European Sleeper and wake to the train clattering into Berlin Hauptbahnhof, where you can explore the city’s flea markets, modern art galleries and nightlife. Roll on to Prague, where you can take in the twin-spired Church of Our Lady Before Týn and tourist favorite Charles Bridge. By now, your brain is brimming with quaint canals, baroque buildings and modernist art, but you can keep going to Vienna, Bratislava and even Budapest. Hungary’s capital is a fitting last stop – travelers have been resting their weary feet in Budapest’s thermal springs for centuries. Or you could head behind the grand facade of Budapest Keleti station to catch another train – who says your adventure needs to end here?

Vineyards soar vertitudinously to the sky. Teasing the heavens, they accompany every walker lucky enough to cross such an improbable landscape. Autumn’s soft golden light spins an unmatched luminosity across grape pickers working in the vines and the toy-like trenino (cogwheel monorail) that lurches