Jordan came in 13th place in the classification on the list of the best travel destinations for 2025.
The list includes, in order, Dominica, Naoshima – Japan, Dolomites – Italy, Greenland, Wales, Western Newfoundland and Labrador – Canada, Tucson Arizona – United States, Western Australia, Sri Lanka, Panama, Rif Mountains in Morocco, Bradford – England, Jordan, Wadi Haa, Bhutan, Hawaii, Uzbekistan, Haida Gwaii Islands, Emerald Coast – Nicaragua, Isle of Man, Gilgi Baltistan region of Pakistan, Azores Islands, Kansas City, Missouri – United States, Bolivia, Botswana, Oslo – Norway.
In the BBC’s inaugural guide to the best places to travel this year, we wanted to highlight the destinations experiencing the opposite phenomenon. Each of these 25 spots is not only welcoming visitors and offering incredible travel experiences, but also using tourism to support local communities, protect the environment or preserve their unique cultural heritage.
BBC said that Jordan considers as home to some of the world’s most breathtaking desert landscapes and the ancient capital of one of history’s most mysterious civilisations, Jordan never fails to evoke wonder.
Jordan has been quietly building up its reputation as the Middle East’s go-to destination for outdoor adventure-seekers, according to BBC.
In 2023, a stunning new 10-day, 120km-long hiking path known as the Wadi Rum Trail opened, which weaves through the rust-red walls of Jordan’s iconic Wadi Rum, tracing the otherworldly landscapes featured in the films Star Wars, Dune and The Martian. Visitors have traditionally breezed through the desert here on 4×4 tours, but this community tourism project promotes a slower, more sustainable form of travel that protects the desert’s delicate ecosystem while safeguarding the rich cultural heritage of the local Bedouin community.
Elsewhere, this Maine-sized nation is teeming with 33 protected land and marine ecosystems. At the Wadi Mujib Biosphere Reserve (the world’s lowest-lying nature reserve at 410m below sea level), visitors can search for the illusive desert-dwelling Nubian ibex while climbing, swimming and sliding their way through a sandstone gorge to the base of a crashing waterfall. The Dana Biosphere Reserve (Jordan’s largest), is home to 180 bird species and 25 endangered mammal species. The rich coral reefs of the Aqaba Marine Reserve, which was added to the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas in January 2025, support more than 500 fish species and a growing diving scene. – Florence Craig
The BBC compiled the list with input from BBC Travel journalists and some of the world’s leading sustainable travel authorities, such as the United Nations World Travel Organization, Sustainable Travel International, the Black Travel Alliance and the World Travel & Tourism Council.
