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In our roundup of travel news this week: the world’s top 100 cities for 2025, the world’s best hotels, the world’s tallest hotel, the world’s longest, deepest, undersea rail tunnel, plus two new record-breaking bridges in China and Kashmir.
World’s top 100 cities
Forget Miss Universe, Paris is the travel world’s pageant queen this week, having been named the most attractive city on the planet for the fifth year in a row.
The Top 100 City Destinations Index by data analytics company Euromonitor International looks at leading cities from around the world and ranks them on criteria including tourism, sustainability, economic performance and health and safety.
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All that popularity comes at a price though, for non-European visitors at least. The Louvre Museum in Paris will be hiking entrance fees by 45% for art-lovers from outside the European Economic Area, starting New Year.
The Euromonitor report once again declared Bangkok the most-visited city in the world, with an estimated 30.3 million international arrivals in 2025.
Asia Pacific is experiencing a huge travel boom, with an extraordinary 10% year-on-year increase in international arrivals, but badly behaved tourists are creating problems in the region’s travel hot spots.
“It’s almost like the genie is out of the bottle,” one travel analyst told CNN. “How do you put it back in?”
Tokyo, incidentally, has just been replaced as the world’s largest city by population, a title it’s held since 2018. CNN Travel’s Lilit Marcus explains in this video how a Southeast Asian capital took the crown.
Tallest hotel, highest bridge, longest tunnel
Whoops, they did it again. The world’s tallest hotel has opened in Dubai, adding yet another record-breaking building to this city of superlatives, but its developers tell CNN it was never meant to go that high.
The 377-meter Ciel Dubai Marina hotel is built on a teensy footprint of land, smaller than a soccer pitch, so architect Yahya Jan had to be clever with his design. As the old dance hit goes, “The Only Way Is Up.” Watch here.
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The Rosewood Hong Kong, a waterfront skyscraper in Kowloon, was recently named the world’s best hotel for 2025 by hospitality brand 50 Best. Another waterfront property, the mid-rise Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River, was at No.2.
Norway is working on its own record-breaking project: the world’s longest, deepest, undersea rail tunnel. The 17-mile passage, called Rogfast, is designed to cut travel time between cities and and create a highway that doesn’t need to rely on ferry crossings. Here’s how they’re doing it.
China is also part of the bridge-and-tunnel crowd. The world’s tallest bridge opened in Guizhou in September. The Huaijang Grand Canyon Bridge soars through the clouds at 2,051 feet above river level in the southwest of the country. Take a look at the rangy route in this video.
As for the world’s highest railway bridge, it opened in June in India-administered Kashmir. The 1,180 foot-tall Chenab Bridge arches over the river of the same name and is the first railway link between Kashmir and the rest of India.
High-altitude window-cleaning
Seasoned window washer Jang Woo-seok expertly cleans the 125 floors of Seoul’s Lotte World Tower, showcasing the skills he’s developed since childhood. CNN’s Mike Valerio joined him for a shift to find out more.
In case you missed it
One of Istanbul’s most extraordinary buildings was left to rot for decades.
Now it’s been brought back to life.
He declared himself the youngest “president” in the world.
Then he was deported.
Bananas don’t grow in Tokyo.
That hasn’t stopped them becoming a symbol of the city.
A severe storm. A special election. A rare collectible.
What do you remember from the week that was?
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