The festive season is upon us, and it's time to make some big resolutions for 2025! Take up sport? Stop smoking? Spend more time with the kids? But what about travel and vacations? Here are a few suggestions for a year that's a little different from the rest. Happy reading!
1. Move more and, finally, take a nice hike!
Warm up! By 2025, you'll definitely be using those (new) hiking boots that have been lying around for years in the hall closet... And there's no need to buy a ticket to Kathmandu. France has a wealth of legendary long-distance hiking trails. With no less than 60,000 km of trails, there's plenty to sweat about. Between the GR10 through the Pyrenees, the GR 65 on the road to Santiago de Compostela, the mythical GR 20 in Corsica or the GR98 crossing the Calanques facing the Mediterranean, the options are numerous. In short, you absolutely have to set off on a GR, to finally say to yourself: I've done it!
2. A romantic getaway
Every year, we promise ourselves! And every time, it's the same: we're off with the whole family to a campsite in Normandy. But this year, for sure, the kids will be staying with Grandma and Grandpa for the Easter vacations! And for us, it'll be sun cream on a beach in Cuba, nightclubs in Ibiza or a romantic castle by a Scottish lake. Frankly, doesn't a little seafood platter with bubbles while the youngest is revising his multiplication tables 3,000 km away sound like a dream?
3. Try an unusual activity
In 2025, we'll be breaking with routine, that's for sure... And on our travels too! So, let's take a look at some unusual experiences and an unusual activity to do while traveling that we thought we'd never do in our lives. Like the heat? Get out your funniest (and lightest) outfit and head for Rio de Janeiro to take a samba class during the famous carnival! Tired of diving on Belle-Île? Buy some new fins and take them for a spin in a cenote in Mexico... Are you more of an adventurer? Choose between a night in a yurt in the middle of the Gobi desert in Mongolia or a dog sled ride in Lapland. Make way for dreams!
4. Take a Spanish course
Hola que tal ! Well, that's a good start, but the discussion soon stops... Let's face it, from the Dominican Republic to Seville, via the Canary Islands, it's a real nightmare! Memories of Spanish lessons in4eBare a long way off... And while you're pretty good in Shakespeare's language, your abilities in Cervantes' are frankly much more limited. So, this year, there's no excuse: get out your notebooks and favorite pen, get back to studying... and order your caña de cerveza in VO!
5. Book a night in an unusual accommodation
Forget the H67 bungalow in Bidart! In 2025, it's finally possible to treat yourself to an unforgettable night... The kind of moment that makes a weekend or vacation unique. And the great thing is that in France, there are countless possibilities for unusual accommodation. Especially since it's been a real trend over the last few months... So it's up to you! Would you prefer to sleep in an igloo in the Alps? Do you dream of a royal night in a medieval castle? Would you like to shiver in a dungeon or on top of a lighthouse? Get on your keyboards and let your imagination run wild - anything's possible!
6. Stop bubbling at the pool
This year, for sure, we're not going to hang around anymore! Last year, you stayed by the pool instead of visiting the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona; this year, you preferred the spa in your Roman hotel to meditating at Saint Peter's Basilica... In 2025, none of that! Eurostar tickets are already booked and London is just waiting for you. So you're sure not to miss a thing: rising at the crack of dawn to stroll the aisles of the Tate Modern, the National Gallery and the British Museum, strolling towards Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, shopping in the markets, thrills at the London Eye, nights of partying between the pubs and nightclubs of the East End... The program is packed!
7. Try an unusual restaurant
Forget the eternal Neapolitan pizza on the terrace or the children's menu (steak and French fries with ice cream) for the youngest at the local brasserie, Europe is full of unusual restaurants.. There are many ways to treat yourself to a moment out of time and a truly original experience, from a restaurant plunged into the dark in Paris, to dinner in a cave on an English beach, to a table nestled in the famous Wielicza salt mine in Poland (listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, after all!) or an extraordinary dinner in an igloo in Santa Claus country. Happy New Year... and bon appétit!
8. We're finally going to visit the castle next door
You don't have to go all the way to Peru or Japan to travel a little. In this age of slow tourism and carbon footprint reduction, it's finally time to visit the chateau right next door to us.... Every year, we make a promise to ourselves, but of course we haven't yet spent a minute there. Just like Parisians, who should be climbing the Eiffel Tower or taking a look at the superb renaissance Notre-Dame-de-Paris cathedral, we shouldn't hesitate to seek out little treasures just around the corner! France is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, isn't it?
9. Discover a country off the beaten track
Christmas markets in London, skiing in the Alps in February, New York or the Canaries in spring, Greece in summer... If these tourist destinations are unmissable, we have to admit that, if you think about it, they're rarely original. So this year, we're going to rack our brains! There are countless alternatives for avoiding mass tourism are innumerable. A winter vacation in the cradle of humanity in Ethiopia, a springtime on the Silk Road in Tajikistan, a summer on the Black Sea in Bulgaria, an All Saints' vacation in Benin to discover the cult of voodoo, just let your imagination run wild... All youhave to do is bend over your planisphere and be a bit adventurous! You won't regret it.
10. Buy a Petit Futé guide!
Of course, we've saved the best for last! Because we're really fed up with spending hours on the endless Tripadvisor lists, or reading and re-reading the hundreds of thousands of comments on booking platforms... So what could be better than picking up your favorite guidebook, stamped Petit Futé of course, to find at a glance the best tapas bar in Madrid, a good diving spot in the Seychelles or the best-hidden secrets in Rome? In short, make a good resolution, choose a destination and head off to your local bookseller to start dreaming with your Petit Futé or buy it here.
And before we see you on the road, we wish you a happy new year!
