These are the expedition cruises you can't miss in 2025

Costa Rica with UnCruise Adventures

Spot monkeys in Costa Rica with UnCruise Adventures.

UnCruise Adventures has announced it is returning to Costa Rica next year. The adventure cruising company will operate a seven-night round trip from Liberia onboard Safari Voyager. Guests can expect to kayak through tropical fjords, hike through rainforests, snorkel around coral at white-sand beaches, and spot exotic birds, capuchin monkeys and maybe crocs at Curu Wildlife Refuge. The itinerary will operate from October 2026 to January 2027.

Antarctica with Aurora Expeditions

See king penguins in South Georgia. (Image: Peter Eastway)

Small-ship cruise line Aurora Expeditions has released its 2026 and 2027 Antarctic program, which includes 27 voyages ranging from nine to 34 days. Choose from several special-edition cruises, including the Photography Expedition (with hands-on guidance for capturing the wildlife and landscape) and the Antarctic Women’s Expedition: Fly the Drake (led by an all-female team). There are also two trips partnered with New Scientist Discovery Tours (designed with a scientific lens). New for the season is the 10-day Taste of Antarctica – a shorter voyage for time-poor travellers.

The South Pacific and beyond with Seabourn

new Seabourn expedition in the South Pacific

Venture to the South Pacific with Seabourn.

It may be known for its flop-and-drop holiday islands, but a line-up of new Seabourn expedition sailings for 2026 onboard Seabourn Pursuit showcase the South Pacific through a seriously adventurous lens.

taking a Zodiac to the cliffs of Chile’s Juan Fernandez

Accessing little-visited places via Zodiacs. (Image: MUnterharnscheidt)

Think exploring moai statues on Easter Island, witnessing a cultural masked festival in Vanuatu’s Ambrym Island and taking a Zodiac to the cliffs of Chile’s Juan Fernandez Archipelago in search of fur seals. Other itineraries encompass the Arctic and Antarctic, and you can even weave them together on a unique combination voyage from Oceania to Antarctica over 82 days, departing 2 September 2026.

Greenland with HX Expeditions

visit to village of Nuuk through HX Expeditions

Visit the village of Nuuk. (Image: Arnau Ferrer)

You’ll carve north from Nuuk through the icy blue waters of West Greenland as part of the Grand Greenland Cruise: The Icy Giants of Disko Bay expedition.

Catch sight of whales in Greenland with HX Expeditions. (Image: Stian Klo)

The HX Expeditions adventure explores the wild stretch of coast known as Disko Bay, famous for the awe-inspiring Ilulissat Icefjord. Highlights include opportunities to spot whales and see the Midnight Sun. There are three departures between June 2025 and 2026.

Travel + Leisure just crowned the world’s best trains for 2026, and the results might reroute your next holiday.

Forget the airport security queue. Forget the middle seat. Forget the bloke in 14C who reclines the second the seatbelt sign turns off. Travel + Leisure just dropped its 2026 World’s Best Awards, and the train category is basically a love letter to slow, scenic, ridiculously plush travel – voted on by roughly 661,000 readers who have very strong opinions about onboard spas and pisco sours. Here’s who made the cut.

1. Andean Explorer, a Belmond Train – 96.84

Peru takes the crown, with the Andean Explorer, South America’s first luxury overnight train, running a three-day, two-night route between Arequipa and Cusco that has zero direct competition on the continent – which might explain why it’s clearing 96 points.

Launched in 2017, the train threads through the Peruvian highlands with stops at Lake Titicaca, all while passengers tuck into signature Andean cuisine, get treatments in an onboard spa carriage, and take in scenery that will blow you away. This isn’t a quick transfer – it’s an immersive, multi-day journey for people who want the trip to be the destination.

2. Hiram Bingham, a Belmond Train – 96.46

Peru pulls off the rare feat of taking out the top two spots. Named after the American explorer credited with bringing Machu Picchu to international attention in 1911, the Hiram Bingham is the glossy, dark-wood, live-band, welcome-cocktail version of getting to Machu Picchu. Think traditional dancers on the platform, a five-course dinner on the way there, and a bar carriage full of live music and pisco sours on the way back. It’s shorter and livelier than the Andean Explorer, more group celebration than private hideaway – but it delivers one of the most theatrical arrivals in world travel.

3. Royal Canadian Pacific – 90.93

The Royal Canadian Pacific runs vintage rail carriages out of Calgary through the Canadian Rockies, and unlike everything else here, you can’t just book it off a website – it operates mostly through private charters and limited special departures, with no standing public timetable. That scarcity is basically the point: this is old-money rail travel, heavy on restored heritage carriages and light on crowds.

4. Rocky Mountaineer – 90.80

The people’s champion of luxury rail, the Rocky Mountaineer, runs daytime routes with glass-domed carriages through British Columbia, Alberta, and down into Colorado and Utah, turning the Canadian and American Rockies into a rolling widescreen movie. It’s more accessible than most trains on this list – no overnight cabins, no need for a private charter – which is probably exactly why so many readers have actually ridden it and voted accordingly.

5. Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, a Belmond Train – 90.78

The name that started the whole luxury train fantasy. The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE)’s 1920s-vintage Art Deco carriages – navy-and-gold livery, polished wood, white roof – have been the definitive symbol of golden-age rail travel since 1883, running routes between Paris, Venice and other storied European cities. It might land at number five on points, but in terms of pure name recognition, it’s still the train every other train on this list is being measured against.

These are the expedition cruises you absolutely can’t miss this year

Enjoy adventures in cruising on a small ship bound for remote destination such as Antarctica and Greenland.

Costa Rica with UnCruise Adventures

Antarctica with Aurora Expeditions

The South Pacific and beyond with Seabourn

Greenland with HX Expeditions

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