The Most Popular City in the World…

…is Bangkok once again. Hosting more than 30 million arrivals in 2025, Thailand’s capital was the most popular place to land. Next on the list were Hong Kong, London, Macau, and Istanbul. Paris, the #1 “most attractive city” on Euromonitor’s list was #9 in arrivals. See the details here.

US/Canadian Rail Travelers in Europe

RailEurope only gets a fraction of the total foreign train bookings on the continent, but it gets enough of them do that the company could release a whole 2025 wrap-up on US and Canadian travel there. Nice to see that more than half of visitors are picking multiple cities and adding smaller cities to the big and famous ones. Nevertheless, France was the number one market overall and this was shocking: “The Barcelona-Madrid corridor accounted for almost 50% of all revenue from Canadian and U.S. travellers.”

Experienced Travelers Shun AI Bots

Experienced travelers may be fine with asking ChatGPT who won the best picture Oscar in 2019, but they’re not about to let the computer bots plan their vacation. Anyone who has asked an AI tool to recommend an itinerary for their own city quickly sees why, but this new report says, “Only 20 percent said they would feel comfortable letting AI design a complete trip itinerary based on their preferences.” A full 79 percent said they would feel uncomfortable letting “agentic AI” systems book their travel for them.

Huge Admission Increases in Mexico

Until this year, admission prices for the archaeological sites in Mexico were a good value when compared to others around the world. That was until the national government doubled them all for foreigners this month. It will now cost you $38 to brave the tour bus crowds and vendors at Chichen Itza. Oddly, it will cost you the same amount to visit far less popular Ek Balam and $35 to visit ruins almost nobody goes to as it is, such as Sayil and Labna. The best bang for the buck is sprawling Teotihuacan near Mexico City, now looking like a deal at less than $12. Despite the doubling, that’s also the price for Monte Alban, Coba, and Palenque.

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A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

01/22/26