Digital Nomad Hotspots, Beautiful Destinations, Bookstores, and State Parks

Discover Google’s top travel search trends for 2025.

Travelers sought beautiful places to visit (particularly outdoors), destinations where they could work remotely, state parks, and bookstores at a higher rate than they did for the same period in 2024, according to the search engine Google. Travelers seemed fully interested in vibes to drive what types of travel they sought out (at least on the internet) this year, with many focusing on natural beauty or life-escape travel forms. 

The 10 Digital Nomad Locations

The equatorial Americas, New Zealand, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia topped the list of searches for digital nomad locations in 2025. Many travelers sought out places where they could work remotely this year, and many countries (like New Zealand, which ranked second on the list) passed laws to make it easier for digital nomads to work from their countries without establishing permanent residency this year. 

Colombia beat New Zealand to the top spot, followed by Costa Rica. Interestingly, the next entries on the list were all in Eastern or Baltic Europe: Latvia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Slovenia, followed by Finland. Indonesia and Vietnam came next. 

For each, digital nomads were likely drawn to the lower cost of living, a permissive environment for remote work, and regionally connected locations that facilitated easy travel and exploration during off-work hours.

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The Beautiful Places to Visit

Natural beauty also topped the list of Google habits this year. The trending winner was Outer Banks, North Carolina, ostensibly drawing in searches with miles of fine sandy dune beaches, pleasant small towns, and gentle surf. Mountains were also a focus, as three locations in Colorado also made the top ten: Garden of the Gods, near Colorado Springs; Steamboat Springs; and Rocky Mountain National Park. 

Big Sur, California, also made the list, and it’s a perennial favorite for coastal vistas. Much of that search traffic could be driven by interest in a California Highway One closure just south of Big Sur. The highway is expected to fully reopen in March 2026, giving travelers from both directions full access to the area to take in spectacular views from Nepenthe, a favorite local restaurant, or the tony spa areas at nearby Alila Ventana Big Sur. Before the highway reopening, visitors should approach Big Sur from Monterey on the north end. Also in California, Yosemite National Park and Redwood National Park also generated a lot of search traffic, but that is likely related to ongoing reports about park staffing and opening hours. 

Acadia National Park in Maine and West Palm Beach, Florida, rounded out the Top Ten.

Internationally, searches for beautiful places were more geographically mixed, but three countries had two entries in the Top Ten: Japan, Canada, and Spain. Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, with their four distinctive seasons and fascinating split screen of ancient vs. modern, surrounded by well-manicured parks, forests, and rivers rated highly. Granada, Spain, topped the list, with travelers interested in Moorish architecture and pleasant weather, as did Seville, another city in the same southern region of Andalusia. In Canada, Québec City, with the picturesque hilltop Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, were also among the top-searched (check out the Strøm Nordic Spa perched right on the Saint Lawrence River), and was joined by Banff, Alberta, nestled in the Rocky Mountains.

Colmar in Alsace, France, noted for its Christmas Market, and Reykjavik, Iceland also rated highly. The international leisure playgrounds of Phuket, Thailand, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, also made the Top Ten.

Bookstores

Travelers also sought the calm of bookstores this year, with several perennial US favorites making the list, like Powell’s City of Books in Portland (the largest independent bookstore in the world) and Strand Book Store in New York City. Other popular spots included Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal, which topped the list this year, noted as “The Most Beautiful Bookstore in the World,” and Shakespeare and Company, the English-language Paris book temple in the shadow of Notre Dame. Also contending for the title of “World’s Most Beautiful Bookstore” was El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires and Libreria Acqua Alta, one of the most photographed spots—bookstore or otherwise—in Venice, Italy. The list also included no less than three stores in Japan: two in Tokyo and one in Osaka. 

State Parks

State Parks had their moment in search this year, likely because travelers were concerned about the federally-funded and operated national parks’ opening hours and staffing levels. The top-searched parks included:

1. Watkins Glen State Park, New York
2. Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
3. Liberty State Park, New Jersey
4. Starved Rock State Park, Illinois
5. Silver Falls State Park, Oregon
6. Letchworth State Park, New York
7. Blue Spring State Park, Florida
8. Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas
9. Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, California
10. Crater of Diamonds State Park, Arkansas