Name a better feeling than starting the year with that big trip booked. But where? 50 Best plays travel sleuth to detail the hot-right-now destinations where cultural events, culinary hotspots and hyped new openings collide
Buenos Aires
Low-lit interiors at Buenos Aires' Tres Monos
Why now? Terrace temperatures of 26°C (March) to 19°C (May) bring big outdoor energy. Carnival’s four-day holiday over 1-4 March fills streets with costumed drummers, before Justin Timberlake, Shawn Mendes and Alanis Morissette headline Lollapalooza festival on 21-23 March.
See South America’s largest and most spectacular bookshop, El Ateneo Grand Splendid, enlivens a frescoed 1919 opera theatre. If La Boca’s muralled Calle Caminito feels touristy, Parisian-spirited Calle Arroyo hosts galleries, décor stores and Florería Atlántico’s florist shop speakeasy – an 11-time 50 Best honouree.
Stay Neoclassical beauty Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires boasts a 25m pool, marble everything and butlers that bag impossible reservations. A sultrier alternative, Hotel Casa Lucia, has a black-walled bar where cocktails are poured under candlelight.
Eat World No.10 Don Julio leads South America’s steakhouses, but veggie dining is taking root in Chuí’s leafy urban garden and on tasting menus inside the greenhouse-styled Marti.
Drink Punk-spirited Tres Monos, No.7 on The World’s Best Bars 2024, brews its own cider, pet-nat and sake. At No.22, female-founded CoChinChina pairs a lantern-lit atmosphere with whiskey-protagonist pours.
Bangkok
Bangkok's Art Biennale will take place across 11 venues in the Thai capital (Image: Mai Yamashita, Naoto Kobayashi and Takuro Someya Contemporary Art and the artists)
Why now? Songkran, Thailand’s water-fight-filled New Year festival (13-15 April) doubles as Bangkok’s top music event – save for Kylie Minogue spinning around Paragon Hall on 10 March. Until 25 February, Bangkok Art Biennale maps out contemporary art trails.
See Temples, aplenty: Wat Pho features Thailand’s largest reclining Buddha; Wat Arun is one of the few you can climb. Peak urban tranquillity sits atop the 1.2-mile forest skywalk in the recently expanded Benchakitti Park – a 102-acre rewilded tobacco factory.
Stay The slick new One Bangkok development brings an Andaz and a Ritz-Carlton, while serenity-seekers await Thailand’s first urban Aman. Thinking less beige? The Standard remains, well, the standard for colourful interiors that are TikTok catnip.
Eat Three Bangkok restaurants wow on the World's 50 Best 2024 list; ninth-ranked Gaggan serves theatrical, molecular, Indian cuisine (quite the mouthful, eh). Chefs to watch? Asia's Best Female Chef 2024 Pichaya Utharntharm at Potong. Jungle-decorated Coba, last November’s hot opening, could have been gimmicky if not for award-winning Olivier Limousin at the helm.
Drink Chinatown’s Soi Nana alley teems with lively night-owl pews, such as G&T den Teens of Thailand. For precision liquid engineering, Ku Bar’s raw concrete aesthetics let the drinks hold court.
Osaka
Sprawling views from a suite in the Four Seasons Osaka
Why now? 85 Michelin-starred restaurants as well as hosting duties for the World Expo 2025 (opening 13 April) are catapulting Japan’s third-largest city out of the shadow of its Honshu Island neighbour, Kyoto.
See Osaka Castle’s surroundings glow pink during March and April’s cherry blossom season. From 18 April to 25 May, Setouchi Triennale fills the tiny islands in the Seto Inland Sea with contemporary art – catch the boat from Okayama. While you’re on the move, Sakai City, an hour south, produces outstanding chef’s knives.
Stay Kyoto once nabbed all the swankiest hotels but, last August, its Four Seasons gained an Osaka counterpart. Details honour local production, such as washi-paper headboards, futon beds and yukata (casual kimono) robes.
Eat Osakans love food so much that there’s a local verb for it – kuidaore or ‘to eat yourself skint’ – which the acclaimed Hajime, Kashiwaya and Taian honour perfectly. To avoid re-mortgaging, feast on kushikatsu (deep-fried skewers) or reserve one of seven spots at sushi counter Sushi Jo (often spelled Sushi Jou).
Drink Japan’s sake-making tradition received Unesco cultural heritage status in December, but rice wine isn’t the only commendable sip. Six-stool Craftroom mixes whiskey and jazz, while apothecary-styled Bar Juniper combines local gin and flavours, such as yuzu.
Melbourne
Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the world's second largest, after top spot Montreal (Image: TJ Garvie)
Why now? In March, Billie Eilish’s world tour lands for four nights (4-8), before the new F1 season (14-16) debuts Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari. There’s also Melbourne Food & Wine festival (all month), the International Flower & Garden Show (26-30) and the International Comedy Festival (26 March-20 April).
See Until 21 April, 200 works by polka-dot-queen Yayoi Kusama reside at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Take a guided Aboriginal Heritage Walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens, then catch a technicolour sunset at Kilda Beach.
Stay Hipster Fitzroy ‘hood launched the world’s first The StandardX – nothing to do with Elon Musk, rather The Standard’s more affordable offshoot whose vibe is rusted-steel exteriors, chlorophyll-water cocktails and Yarra Valley wines served in tinnies. For high-octane luxury, the 80-storey Ritz-Carlton Melbourne is unrivalled.
Eat Attica is dining as performance art, starting from the browser-refresh theatre to score a table. Vue de Monde serves French-Aussie tasting menus against a 55th-floor cityscape, while Embla is ever-emblematic: insider-sourced wines accompany moreish bites, such as chicken-skin crisps and dill-sprinkled sour cucumbers.
Drink When you’re not on the Melbourne magics – the city’s souped-up flat white (a double shot of ristretto replaces the weaker espresso) – prop up Caretaker’s Cottage, No.21 on The World’s 50 Best Bars 2024. It feels like a pub (there’s even on-tap Guinness), but the house drinks are definitely not typical bar fodder.
Vienna
Vienna's House of Strauss will celebrate the composer’s 200th birthday this spring
Why now? Note-perfect hotel launches coincide with the 200th birthday of The Blue Danube composer, Johann Strauss II. The all-day tribute on 5 April falls 151 years since the first performance of operetta Die Fledermaus; an exhibition in homage at Theatre Museum runs until 23 June.
See Buzzy new Pier 22 on Danube Island has food trucks, sunbathing decks and skyline views. The Leopold is the pick of MuseumQuartier’s nine institutions, mainly for its Klints and its rooftop bar, though freshly renovated Mumok boasts works by Picasso, Jongsuk Yoon and Yoko Ono. Albertina Museum is where the artsy set hang.
Stay Two years since opening, Rosewood Vienna is still the hype address – perhaps only natural for Mozart’s former apartment. Competition is coming though: there’s Almanac’s contemporary-styled Palais Vienna, the neoclassical Anantara Palais Hansen Vienna and 12-room Hotel Zur Wiener Staatsoper with Nina Campbell-designed interiors.
Eat Tian’s tasting menus are a delight for those looking to go plant-based. Steirereck, No.22 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, serves beautiful Styrian-sourced ingredients and comfort foods (yup, even goulash) inside hyper-modern, glass-walled pavilions.
Drink No capital brags larger vineyards than Vienna, so it’s practically criminal not to glug a local Gemischter Satz or Zweigelt – try bistro Mast Weinbistro. For cocktail innovation, Bruder plucks ingredients from a wall of fermentation jars, while backstreet nook Truth & Dare pairs ‘80s tunes with mystery concoctions (ingredients revealed post-sip).
Vilnius
Vilnius' forest-filled suburbs(Image: Gabriele-Stravinskaite)
Why now? 2025’s European Green Capital looks lushest in the northern hemisphere's spring. Time a stroll through Bernadine Gardens or kayaking along Vilnelė River with Kaziukas Fair (7-9 March) – a 400-year-old crafts and food festival. On 17 May, Street Music Day, the city becomes an outdoor concert hall.
See The gothic Church of St Anne and Bernardine earned Unesco World Heritage recognition, though cultural entities abound: MO’s 6000 modern art works, the entertaining Museum of Illusions, and the climbable TV tower – with a 170-metre-high outdoor edge walk. The fairytale Trakai Island Castle is 30 minutes away.
Stay The old town’s stately Hotel Pacai is the name to know – not least for Nineteen18, where 10 courses of reimagined classics (think: mushroom dumplings) showcase foraged ingredients or those sourced from their farm.
Eat Lithuania’s beetroot soup, šaltibarščiai, is so revered that it even has a celebratory day on 31 May when vendors sell everything pink: from ice cream to, er, coffee. Craving neutrals? Try Džiaugsmas. Interior design is minimal, as is the cutlery (hands are favoured), but the dishes – with all-Lithuanian produce – sit fluorescent on your memory.
Drink Murals, exposed concrete and bare bulbs are the DNA at sceney YDA, which serves inventive cocktails but specialises in funky natural wines. Local Pub is an eastern-European craft-beer extravaganza (and always packed), while Alchemikas and Nomads are the city’s mixology institutions.
Discover more fantastic hotels, restaurants and bars with 50 Best Discovery, and start planning your next adventure.
