On the hunt for staycay inspiration for 2025? It’s the right time of year for it, as travel publications are putting together lists of the world’s best places to visit over the next 12 months. Earlier this week National Geographic named a chain of Scottish islands one of the planet’s most essential places to visit next year, and now the UK features in a ranking by Lonely Planet, too.

Lonely Planet’s ‘Best in Travel’ guide for 2025 features 30 destinations – 10 cities, 10 regions and 10 countries. The guide ranges massively, with Toulouse in France named the best city to visit and Cameroon crowned the best country.

The UK features in the ‘regions’ category and is repped by East Anglia. Lonely Planet defines East Anglia as comprising Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, saying that it ‘offers a taste of traditional England without the typical touristy attractions’.

The publication goes on to say that East Anglia ‘features charming villages with 16th-century half-timbered houses, artistic wool towns and a coastline adorned with beaches and bird reserves where the sounds of bitterns can be heard in spring’. 

In its ‘highlights’ section, Lonely Planet advises listening to the reeds at a birding hotspot like Minsmere, university-hopping in Cambridge and having a night out in Norfolk. You can find Lonely Planet’s full list here. 

Time Out East Anglia 

On the hunt for more stuff to see and do in East Anglia? Here are Time Out’s guides to the best things to do in a bunch of East Anglian destinations: Norfolk (including Norwich), Cambridge, Essex (including Southend) and Southwold.

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