Intrepid Travel reveals 2025 ‘Not Hot’ list of destinations

Intrepid Travel has released its annual Not Hot List, featuring 10 lesser-known and off the beaten track destinations that deserve the spotlight for travel in 2025.

The list seeks to address overtourism by inspiring travellers to discover different experiences around the world, with communities that can truly benefit from more visitors.

The list includes alternative regions in popular countries like Morocco, where the Anti-Atlas Mountains are often missed by visitors, and emerging destinations like Pakistan and Greenland, where neighbouring countries have commanded most of the spotlight.

The report is a collaborative effort by Intrepid’s global team and local operations experts in 27 cities worldwide, alongside travel trend agency Globetrender.

The full list includes:

• Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
• (Qeqertarsuaq) Disko Island, Greenland
• Cape York, Australia
• Adirondacks, New York
• Sainshand, Mongolia
• Rupununi Savannah, Guyana
• Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco
• Accra, Ghana
• Maldonado, Uruguay
• Oslo, Norway

Commenting on the list, Intrepid Travel General Manager of Global Product, Erica Kritikides stated “our annual Not Hot List strives to bring travellers off the tourist track and inspire them to consider lesser-known destinations, while helping to spread the benefits of tourism to places where it can have an outsized positive impact on communities and local economies.

“We recognise the reality of overtourism in some destinations and continuously evolve our trips to help disperse travellers to new and exciting places and provide opportunities to travel at different times of the year.

“While promoting alternative destinations is a small part of the solution to overtourism, we remain committed to addressing the bigger issues through our product design. Our group size is very small (average of 10 travellers), we only employ local leaders and almost exclusively use locally owned accommodation and suppliers.

“Developing tourism in concert and consultation with host communities is the best way to combat the negative effects of overtourism.”

Image: Australia's Cape York (top, credit: Cape York Tours) and a woman in the traditional dress of the Hunza Valley, Gilgit, Baltistan, Pakistan (below, credit: Shutterstock).