Eat Your Way Around The World In 2025

There are plenty of reasons to hit the road, including wellness, adventure and much-needed rest and relaxation. But for many travelers, experiencing a destination’s culinary landscape is at the top of their to-do list. Whether it’s a street taco crawl in Mexico City, Champagne tasting at a family-run cellar in France or soaking up the tapas culture in Madrid over a glass of vermouth and a plate of croquetas, global food tourism has boomed in recent years and is expected to keep growing — from an estimated $1.54 billion market in 2023 to a projected $4.12 billion market in 2029. 

See for yourself in 2025. From sampling among 700 varieties of tomatoes in France’s Loire Valley to joining a fragrant orange blossom festival in Turkey, here’s your month-by-month guide to the year’s most delicious destinations.

January: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Kick off 2025 with a delicious dose of sun, sand and seafood in the Caribbean. The Cayman Cookout at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman (Jan. 15 to 20) will bring together global culinary luminaries like Eric Ripert, José Andrés and Kristen Kish for a slate of tropically infused festivities, including rum tastings, cooking demos and beachfront barbecues. Meet chef Andrés on the island’s beautiful Seven Mile Beach to hear a live recording of his podcast, “Longer Tables,” or watch cooking demos from Kwame Onwuachi of Tatiana in New York or Enrique Olvera of Pujol in Mexico City.

TPG tip: The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman offers a Cayman Cookout room package that includes six nights of accommodations and two tickets to six events throughout the week, as well as round-trip transportation from Owen Roberts International Airport (GCM) to the hotel and daily breakfast for two. Package rates start at $2,207 per night.

February: Amsterdam

Winter scene of the Amstel River in the center of Amsterdam. ROEVIN/GETTY IMAGES

The Dutch capital turns 750 in 2025, with many celebrations planned throughout the year. In February, Amsterdam Cocoa Week (Feb. 3 to 9) brings classes on sustainability and sourcing, chocolate-making demonstrations and plenty of chocolate samples to the city, which, fun fact, is also the world’s biggest port for cocoa beans. Everyone is welcome at the family-friendly Chocolade Festival (Feb. 8 to 9); it brings together more than 100 stands with chocolate from 35 different countries at the Beurs van Berlage events center and marks the closing of Amsterdam Cocoa Week. (Save money by buying your tickets in advance.)

TPG tip: In 2025, European river cruise season starts as early as February (versus May in the past), so you can also make Amsterdam a jumping-off point for food-focused sailings this winter. AmaWaterways’ “Captivating Rhine” seven-night itinerary from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland, includes excursions like wine country bike tours and German beer tastings. February rates start from $2,240 per person based on double occupancy for an entry-level cabin, including all taxes, fees and port charges.

March: Hokitika, New Zealand

Wildfoods Festival in Hokitika, New Zealand. DESTINATION WESTLAND

Head for New Zealand’s west coast for the family-friendly Wildfoods Festival in Hokitika (March 8), showcasing the country’s rich and diverse culinary landscape. Expect to sample Maori foods like wild boar and huhu beetle grubs and maybe even compete in a wearable art contest. The Feral Fashion competition adds a dash of wild flair to the festival, with participants showcasing costumes handmade using natural and foraged materials like leaves, flowers and feathers.

TPG tip: Hokitika makes a great stop on a road trip through New Zealand’s South Island. Other must-visit spots in town include The National Kiwi Centre to see the country’s adorable flightless birds and Hokitika Gorge for striking views of the turquoise-blue Hokitika River during a hike.

April: Adana, Turkey

A parade at the International Orange Blossom Carnival. IREM01/GETTY IMAGES

Every April in Adana, a riverfront city in southern Turkey, visitors flock to experience the fragrant orange blossoms. The International Orange Blossom Carnival (April 4 to 13) heralds the arrival of spring in the citrus hub, with parades, performances and an open-air market where you can taste the city’s most beloved foods like the Adana kebab (spiced and grilled lamb skewers), orange-infused desserts and freshly squeezed juice.

TPG tip: Turkish Airlines offers multiple daily flights from Istanbul Airport (IST) to the new Cukurova International Airport (COV), which opened in 2024 just a 30-minute drive west of Adana.

May: Vienna

Next year will be an especially festive year in Vienna, as it’s when the Austrian capital celebrates the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss, the Austrian composer known as the King of Waltz. In addition to the many musical events and dance performances, the Genuss Festival (May 9 to 11) is one of the city’s largest and most popular open-air food festivals, held in the Stadtpark, Vienna’s oldest public park. Go to sample the country’s regional specialties and artisan foods like Styrian pumpkin seed oil, Tyrolean speck and Wachau apricots. And while you’re in town, make a reservation for House of Strauss, the historic, newly restored restaurant in Vienna’s 19th district where Strauss and his brothers performed.

TPG tip: The 152-room Anantara Palais Hansen Vienna Hotel opened in March 2024 in a 19th-century palace right along the northern rim of the city’s famed ring road. The hotel is part of the Capital One Premier Collection, and rates in May start at around $1,300 per night.

June: Osaka, Japan

BUDDHIKA WEERASINGHE/GETTY IMAGES

Osaka, in the Kansai region of Japan, hosts the 2025 World Expo (April 13 to Oct. 13), showcasing global innovations. While exploring futuristic exhibits, don’t miss the region’s ancient traditions. On June 14, witness the Otaue Rice Planting Festival at the city’s Sumiyoshi Taisha shrine, where priests perform a centuries-old purification ritual before the symbolic planting of rice, Japan’s culinary cornerstone.

TPG tip: Check into the Four Seasons Hotel Osaka, which opened in August 2024 in the central Dojima district. An entire floor is dedicated to ryokan-style tatami mat suites, and June rates start at $826 per night.

July: Buffalo

For over 40 years, Buffalo has been hosting Taste of Buffalo (July 11 to 12), now the largest two-day food festival in the country. Head to western New York’s lakeside city, where more than 50 local restaurants, including BW’s Barbecue and Sidelines Sports Bar & Grill, will serve up local favorites like beef on weck (a classic roast beef sandwich on a salt- and caraway seed-dusted kummelweck roll) and, of course, plenty of Buffalo wings.

While in town, make time for a meal at the West Side Bazaar, a small business incubator with immigrant-run stalls selling Egyptian hawawshi (spiced meat-stuffed pita), Jamaican oxtail stew and more.

TPG tip: Though all the big-name brands, including Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton, are in Buffalo, one of the city’s newest hotels might also be its most atmospheric: The Richardson Hotel opened in 2023 inside a National Historic Landmark building set on 40 acres of green space. July rates start at $117 per night.

Honorable mention: Washington, DC

Embassy Chef Challenge. KAVEH SARDARI/EVENTS DC/FACEBOOK

The annual Embassy Chef Challenge usually happens in Washington, D.C., in March but is being bumped back to July in 2025 due to the inauguration. This is a good-natured competition between the city’s embassy chefs, each cooking traditional dishes from their home country. During last year’s challenge, attendees got to try bites from nearly two dozen countries, including Madagascar, Chile and Thailand. The chefs from the Embassy of Barbados took home first place at last year’s event, held at Union Station, with lamb curry and breadfruit cou-cou (a national staple commonly made with cornmeal). Tickets typically go for $150 and are available online.

August: Copenhagen

Home to a bevy of renowned chefs and restaurants lauded with dozens of Michelin stars, Copenhagen is a great place to visit for an excellent culinary experience any month of the year. But August is an especially lovely time to visit the Scandinavian city when the weather warms and Copenhagen Cooking (Aug. 14 to 24) takes place. Visitors can taste Nordic cuisine from notable chefs (like last year’s Denmark-based French chef Francis Cardenau) at one of northern Europe’s biggest food festivals. Roughly 100 events, like tastings, chef demonstrations, live music and pop-up dinners, happen in locations throughout the city. And since the festival is designed to welcome international visitors, many events are in English.

TPG tip: SkyTeam members have plenty of opportunities to fly directly into the Danish capital in 2025, whether on one of Scandinavian Airlines’ nine direct U.S. routes — Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (via John F. Kennedy International Airport), Newark, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. (via Dulles International Airport) — or the upcoming Delta Air Lines nonstop from Minneapolis, which launches in May 2025.

September: Loire Valley, France

In 2025, this lush region in central France marks the 15th anniversary of UNESCO adding the French gastronomic meal to its World Heritage List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Initiated by the city of Tours in the Loire Valley, the distinction honors the country’s traditional, celebratory meals, emphasizing the pleasure of good food and gathering together over dishes prepared with local produce and good wine.

In September, just as harvest season starts, meet local winemakers and taste some of France’s most iconic wines at Les Echappees en Loire. The annual festival, which takes place in several locales, including the wine-producing towns of Vouvray and Savennieres, highlights the region’s rich wine-making culture with vineyard and chateaux tours and wine tastings.

Also taking place in September is the Tomato Festival at Chateau de la Bourdaisiere. The chateau, in Montlouis-sur-Loire near Tours, is home to a 136-acre park and a vegetable garden with more than 700 varieties of tomatoes — a vast collection celebrated yearly with cooking demos, tastings, a ketchup-making competition and a tomato market.

2025 dates for both festivals are yet to be announced.

TPG tip: The 55-key Relais de Chambord is the hotel on the estate of Chateau de Chambord, the largest chateau in the Loire Valley. Thanks to the hotel’s participation in both Mr & Mrs Smith, which partners with Hyatt, and Small Luxury Hotels of the World, which partners with Hilton, rooms can be booked for $258 or 22,000 World of Hyatt points per night or $321 or 55,000 Hilton Honors points per night next September.

Honorable mention: Stranraer, Scotland

COLIN HATTERSLEY/STRANRAER OYSTER FESTIVAL

The town on Loch Ryan hosts the Stranraer Oyster Festival (Sept. 12 to 14) to honor Scotland’s last remaining sustainable native oyster bed. (Native oysters in the U.K. are nearly extinct due to overfishing.) Expect live music, a robust oyster bar, the Scottish Oyster Shucking Championships and a lineup of celebrity chefs. This year’s festival featured Scottish chef Tony Singh and Pam Brunton, the chef and co-owner of Inver, the only restaurant in Scotland awarded a Michelin Green Star.

October: Marrakech, Morocco

The Moroccan Culinary Arts Museum opened its doors in Marrakech last summer. It preserves and showcases the country’s culinary heritage with exhibits and hands-on cooking classes. During a class, watch a spice-blending demonstration, learn to make a traditional meal (including dishes like tagine or couscous) and then gather to taste the fruit of your labor. Plan a visit in October, during harvest season, when visitors can feast on the freshest local produce, including dates, figs, pomegranates and olives.

TPG tip: In 2025, getting to Morocco will be easier thanks to United Airlines’ new seasonal winter Newark-Marrakech route, launched in October 2024 with three weekly flights.

November: Western Australia

Western Australia — the westernmost part of the country and home to the Margaret River wine region — is already well known for culinary delights like fresh seafood, black truffles and world-class wines. In November, the second-ever Pair’d Margaret River wine and food festival (typically in mid-November) will celebrate the region with wine tastings and a roster of events that range from foraged-ingredient lunches to dreamy beachfront dinners.

TPG tip: Jetstar, an Australian low-cost airline, operates three weekly flights from Busselton Margaret River Airport (BQB) to both Sydney Airport (SYD) and Melbourne Airport (MEL), saving you the three-hour drive from Perth.

December: Tucson

In 2025, Tucson will mark the 10th anniversary of becoming America’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, bestowed for its culinary heritage rooted in Mexican and Native American traditions that date back more than 4,000 years. Celebrate at the southwestern city’s annual Tamal & Heritage Festival (Dec. 6) at Casino Del Sol for tamale tastings, contests and a general celebration of the delicious masa-stuffed corn husks.

Also plan to visit Mission Garden, a living agricultural museum spotlighting the heirloom crops and edible native plants of the Sonoran Desert. Walk around the gardens to see some of the region’s native crops, like tepary beans and mesquite, and drop in for one of the regularly scheduled tours or workshops, including a medicinal plant walk and a corn tasting. Afterward, stroll through one of the city’s year-round farmers markets that sell edible native plants like prickly pears and regional specialties like mesquite flour bread.

TPG tip: Opened in 2023, the Leo Kent Hotel, Tucson, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel is available from $126 or 26,400 Marriott Bonvoy points per night this December, and rates will likely be the same next year.