AS 2014 has slipped into history, these 15 destinations look better and better.
Some are nations, some are stations, some are cities and one is a mere neighborhood.
But in just about every case, there’s something particularly compelling about them right now. Maybe it’s because hurricane recovery is marching along (Los Cabos, Mexico) or the French government has the tides figured out (Mont-St.-Michel) or perhaps (in the case of Choquequirao, Peru) because an aerial tram might change everything. Here are my picks for the new year:
LOS CABOS, MEXICO
In September Hurricane Odile tore up huge chunks of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, closing more than half the area’s lodgings, along with scores of restaurants and other businesses and the airport.
But these twin towns at the tip of Baja have too much at stake to lie still. The airport and more than two dozen hotels reopened in October and November.
By the end of December, tourism officials expected to have 10,000 of the area’s 16,000 hotel rooms in service, along with its 12 existing golf courses and two new ones. Several more of the best-known resorts (including One&Only Palmilla; Esperanza; and the Westin Resort & Spa, Los Cabos) expect to reopen by the end of March.
Whenever you get to Los Cabos in 2015, odds are good you’ll get a warm welcome and lower rates than last year’s.
Info: For a status list of hotels—and real-time webcam views of 11 resorts—check www.unstoppable.cabo.com. Info: www.visitloscabos.travel. Info: www.visitloscabos.travel.
CUBA
Long known for its beaches and culture, Cuba became mostly forbidden territory for American travelers soon after Fidel Castro seized control in 1959.
But relations have gradually thawed in recent years, leading to a watershed agreement announced last December 17 by President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro (who took over from brother Fidel in 2008). These normalized relations could mean a rush of US tourists to Cuba. Under restrictions on the books, Americans can travel to Cuba on “people-to-people” educational trips operated by companies licensed by the Treasury Department.
Thousands of Americans have visited already; Cuban authorities counted 92,348 American tourists in 2013, a slight dip from 2012, but much more than the 73,566 in 2011.
Info: Among US companies licensed to run tours to Cuba: InsightCuba (www.insightcuba.com), Road Scholar (www.roadscholaradventures.org) and Grand Circle Foundation (www.grandcirclefoundation.org). Info: www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/cu/., Road Scholar (www.roadsholaradventures.org) and Grand Circle Foundation (www.grandcirclefoundation.org). Info: www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/cu/. and Grand Circle Foundation (www.grandcirclefoundation.org). Info: www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/cu/. Info: www.stage.gov/p/wha/ci/cu/.
CLEVELAND
In the last five years, the city has added eight hotels (with a ninth, a Kimpton, coming in 2015) and built a convention center, an aquarium and the new Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (www.rockhall.com) will hold an induction ceremony on April 18.
The city’s Playhouse Square—which includes five grand old venues dating to the 1920s—in May added a 20-foot-tall outdoor chandelier at Euclid Avenue and East 14th Street.
By summer, the Cleveland Institute of Art (a.k.a. the CIA) is due to complete a $75-million, 80,000-square-foot expansion (including new gallery space and an auditorium).
You can expect more prettification around town; the city will host the Republican National Convention in 2016. Info: www.thisiscleveland.com.
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
Buildings and food, people. This architecture-rich city, born in the late 17th century, is where the Civil War began (in 1861 when Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter at the mouth of Charleston Harbor).
Scores of historically important buildings survived the war, an earthquake (1886) and hurricane (1989) and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since 1977, the Spoleto Festival USA (May 22 to June 7, www.spoletousa.org) has been filling the city with opera, dance, theater, jazz and chamber music.
In recent years, the city has won wide attention for its cuisine. (To catch Charleston at its foodiest, visit from March 4 to 8 for the city’s 10th Wine + Food festival (www.charlestonwineandfood.com).
Or come on your own timetable to sample old favorites such as McCrady’s Restaurant (where President George Washington is said to have convened a 30-course dinner in 1791) or newcomers such as Brasserie Gigi (opened in April near the 19th-century Charleston City Market) or Prohibition Charleston (a restaurant and bar with live music most nights).
Keep an eye out, too, for proliferating distilleries, including Charleston Distilling Co. and Striped Pig Distillery, which make spirits from local ingredients and offer tasting and tours.
Info: www.charlestoncvb.com.
MONT-ST.-MICHEL FRANCE
This site in Normandy—a tiny island at the mouth of the Couesnon River, subject to dramatic tidal surges and home to a 1,000-year-old abbey and hamlet—has been seducing visitors for generations.
Mont-St.-Michel, with a population of less than 50, ranks as France’s third most popular tourist attraction. But over the decades, silt has been accumulating around the island, as have parking lots and a causeway used by countless tourists.
As a result, it was often surrounded by mud flats instead of water. To bring back the water, French officials have spent years building a dam, moving sand and devising a shuttle system.
In 2012 they closed the parking lot. In 2014 came a new bridge. In 2015, to mark the project’s completion, workers will destroy the old causeway (which, dating to 1879, is older than the Eiffel Tower).
Nowadays, when the tides are right, visitors can follow a boardwalk 1.2 miles from the mainland to the island, or take a shuttle. Gradually, officials say, the surrounding silt will disperse and the island’s maritime character will return.
Info: www.lat.ms/1x5Vgw0.
JAPAN
More trains, more hotels, more visitors and Olympics on the horizon—that’s Japan in 2015.
With Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics in mind, officials say they want to double foreign tourism in the next six years. New bullet-train service will shorten travel times from four hours to two hours and 30 minutes from Tokyo to Kanazawa, which is known for its Kenrokuen Garden and Chaya (teahouse) districts.
Also, trips from Tokyo to Toyama Prefecture, known for its mountain scenery and traditional villages, will be shortened from about three hours to about two. And, of course, there’s plenty to see and do in Tokyo. The 30-story Hotel Gracery Shinjuku is due to open in April near the city’s busiest rail station.
The Aman Tokyo, which was due to open in December, is the first city hotel from a global hotel chain known for ultra-luxe properties in remote settings. It is occupying the top six floors of Tokyo’s Otemachi Tower.
Info: www.foreign.info-toyama.com/en, www.jnto.go.jp or www.jnto.go.jp/.
Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times
Next week: more must-visit destinations for 2015.