The 2025 Matador Network Travel Awards

Every year, the Matador Network team and our contributors travel to small towns, big cities, and wild stretches of coast and mountains around the world. In 2025, we saw Africa’s Big 5 on foot, went deep into the newest US national park, explored abandoned wellness towns in Georgia, and drove France’s tastiest road trip.

All of that on-the-ground travel shows up in the thousand-plus stories we published this year. Our favorite destinations show up annually in one place: the Matador Network Travel Awards.

This year’s awards highlight six categories that matter most to how we travel now: Sustainable Destination, Adventure Destination, Wellness Destination, Next Big Destination, Best Airline, and our new category, Best Wildlife Destination. For each, you’ll find a Matador team pick and a Readers’ Choice winner picked by email subscribers like you, from Albania to Oaxaca, Rotorua to Madeira.

Consider this your guide for where to go in the years to come.

Cheers,

Nickolaus Hines, editorial content director