Each year, Fodor’s Travel highlights fascinating destinations to consider for your next vacation — and 15 places travelers should avoid for a variety of reasons, from water shortages to the damaging impact of overtourism on fragile ecosystems. Consider these “Go” and “No” lists.
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The 2025 Fodor’s Go List includes 25 enticing destinations that may be a bit off the beaten track but promise adventure and delight. Five of them are in the U.S., including Northern Michigan beach towns — such as Traverse City, Glen Arbor, Leland and Torch Lake — and Houston, Texas which is having a moment. The rest circle the globe, from Merida, Mexico to the Marquesas Islands.
Here’s the U.S. quintet. Find tips on where to stay and what to do at these destinations — and details on the other 20 spots that made the Go List — at www.fodors.com/go-list/2025.
Fodor’s Go List – U.S.
1 Badlands National Park, South Dakota
2 Houston, Texas
3 Northern Michigan Beach Towns
4 Las Vegas, Nevada
5 Los Olivos, California
Fodor’s No List
Some of the countries and cities on the No list — Bali, for example — have become so overwhelmed by development and tourism, it’s impacting the culture, the environment and the waterways, where a “plastic apocalypse” is unfolding. Others are so overrun by tourists, locals are revolting, spraying tourists with water guns in Barcelona, for example, where cruise ships unloaded 3.5 million passengers last year.
The Temple of Juno in the Valley of the Temple in Agrigento, Sicily. (Getty Images)
Here is the No List. The first seven struggling destinations are newcomers to the list. The others have been grappling with these issues for a long while. Head for www.fodors.com for details on how overtourism is impacting these places and what can be done.
1 Agrigento, Sicily
2 British Virgin Islands
3 Kerala, India
Tea plantations and Muthirappuzhayar River in hills near Munnar, Kerala, India. (Getty Images)
4 Oaxaca City, Mexico
5 Tokyo, Japan
6 Kyoto, Japan
7 North Coast 500, a scenic route in Scotland
8 Bali, Indonesia
9 Barcelona, Spain
10 Mallorca, Spain
11 Venice, Italy
12 The Canary Islands, Spain
13 Lisbon, Portugal
14 Koh Samui, Thailand
15 Mount Everest, Nepal and China
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