Full story(http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/travel/45-places-to-go-in-2012.html)

1. Panama

It’s been 12 years since Panama regained control of its canal, and the country’s economy is booming. Cranes stalk the skyline of the capital,Panama City, where high-rises sprout one after the next and immigrants arrive daily from around the world. Among those who have landed en masse in recent years are American expatriates and investors, who have banked on Panamanian real estate by building hotels and buying retirement homes. The passage of the United States-Panama free trade agreement in October is expected to accelerate this international exchange of people and dollars (the countries use the same currency).

Among the notable development projects is the Panama Canal itself, which is in the early stages of a multibillion-dollar expansion. The project will widen and deepen the existing canal and add two locks, doubling the canal’s cargo capacity. For those who want to see the waterway as it was originally designed, now is the time. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2014, the canal’s 100-year anniversary.

Other high-profile projects include the construction of three firsts: The Panamera, the first Waldorf Astoria hotel in Latin America (set to open in June 2012); the Trump Ocean Club, the region’s tallest building, which opened last summer; and Frank Gehry’s first Latin American design, the BioMuseo, a natural history museum scheduled to open in early 2013. Even Panama City’s famously dilapidated historic quarter, Casco Viejo, has been transformed. The neighborhood, a tangle of narrow streets, centuries-old houses and neo-colonial government buildings, was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1997 and is now a trendy arts district with galleries, coffeehouses, street musicians and some of the city’s most stylish restaurants and boutique hotels.

Across the isthmus, on Panama’s Caribbean coast, theBocas del Toro archipelago has become a popular stop on the backpacker circuit, with snorkeling and zip lining by day and raucous night life after dark. FREDA MOON

2. Helsinki, Finland
Design. Design. Design. Aesthetics fuel a new cool.

Copenhagen’s culinary awakening and Stockholm’s trend-setting fashion may have ignited the world’s current infatuation with Nordic culture; now Helsinki is poised for the spotlight. The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design has designated it the World Design Capital for 2012.

Design has long been part of the city’s DNA, but in recent years the scene has been increasingly energized: the official Design District has ballooned to encompass 25 streets and nearly 200 design-minded businesses, which range from shops selling housewares and furniture to boutique hotels and clothing stores. Design has infiltrated the restaurant scene as well, notably the elegant Chez Dominique and the hot newcomer (and Michelin-starred) Olo.

On top of all that is the spectacular new $242 million Helsinki Music Center. Student ensembles from the Sibelius Academy — the sole university in Finland devoted exclusively to music — will perform in the striking glass-walled space, and both the Vienna Philharmonic and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras will give concerts in 2012. INGRID K. WILLIAMS

3. Myanmar
Back on the tourist map after being off-limits for years.

With renowned cultural treasures, world-class boutique hotels and deserted beaches, Myanmar has long been high on intrepid travelers’ wish lists. For years, though, heeding calls by the pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyiand others, many stayed away in protest of Myanmar’s authoritarian regime.

Now, however, this is changing.

Since November 2010, when Myanmar’s rulers held nominally free elections and released Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi after 15 years of house arrest, the boycott has been lifted and Myanmar is set for an influx of visitors.

Because the country has been so isolated, the deeply Buddhist “Land of the Golden Pagoda” resonates with a strong sense of place, undiluted by mass tourism and warmed by genuine hospitality. Travelers will find atmospheric hotels and a network of well-maintained regional jets serving the main sites. (Keep in mind that visas are still required and that the economy remains largely cash-based.)

But locals are aware of the potential downside of tourism as well. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has called for sustainable development and “trickle down” tourism where dollars will do the most good.

With these goals in mind, nestled along the banks of meandering Lake Inle in eastern Myanmar, the ViewPoint eco-lodge combines locally sourced materials with individually tailored activities supporting the local economy (like garden-to-table lunches at an island village house).

Similarly, in Ngapali Beach — a pristine swath of coastline on the Bay of Bengal — the Amara Ocean Resort ratchets up the om factor with a hand-built spa. The resort finances relief projects in the Irrawaddy River delta. CEIL MILLER-BOUCHET

4. London
The Olympics! The Queen! Charles Dickens turns 200!

Dotted with construction sites, London is preparing for the pomp and circumstance of the Olympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Queen’s 60th year on the throne. New stadiums, public spaces and shopping centers are emerging on the city’s eastern edge, and on the western edge a 137-room Waldorf Astoria has opened on a 400-acre estate near Heathrow Airport.

But it’s not all sport and royalty. On a street of chocolate-box Georgian houses in Bloomsbury, the Charles Dickens Museum will reopen in time for the author’s 200th birthday. Across town, Warner Brothers Studio Tour will open the Harry Potter studios to those keen to re-live the films. The Rolling Stones, celebrating their 50th anniversary, might tour again, with a possible finale here. And Robert Redford will inaugurate a London outpost of the Sundance Film festival at the O2 Arena in April.

Amid the hubbub, flashes of eccentricity emerge. If the Waldorf doesn’t appeal, stay in an architect-designed boat, perched on the edge of a roof overlooking the Thames. Or visit the British outpost of Occupy London, which will be maintaining its tent city outside St. Paul’s cathedral. RAVI SOMAIYA

5. Oakland, Calif.
New restaurants and bars beckon amid the grit.

Tensions have cooled since violence erupted at the recent Occupy Oakland protests, but the city’s revitalized night-life scene has continued to smolder.

The historic Fox Theater reopened in 2009 and quickly cemented its status as one of the Bay Area’s top music venues, drawing acts like Wilco and the Decemberists. Meanwhile, the city’s ever more sophisticated restaurants are now being joined by upscale cocktail bars, turning once-gritty Oakland into an increasingly appealing place to be after dark. James Syhabout, the chef who earned Oakland its first (and only) Michelin star two years ago at Commis, followed up in May with the instant-hit Hawker Fare, a casual spot serving Asian street food. Big-name San Francisco chefs are now joining him. Daniel Patterson (of two-Michelin-star Coi) opened the restaurant Plum in late 2010 and an adjacent cocktail bar later, and another restaurant, called Haven, in the recently renovated Jack London Square last month. INGRID K. WILLIAMS

6. Tokyo
With some tourists slow to return, greater opportunities for those who do. 

The thought of traveling to Tokyo will most likely make some people nervous. Though the city is about 180 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the site of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl — and the State Department recommends travelers avoid only the area directly around the disaster site — Tokyo has suffered as well, a problem of perception as much as reality.

But from another vantage point, it’s a perfect time to visit. A decrease in tourism and business travel is making the city all the more accessible and welcoming. According to Laurent Vernhes, a founder and the chief executive of TabletHotels.com, a travel site with a curated list of distinctive lodging options, tourism hasn’t yet returned to normal levels. “Rates are still down about 10 percent on average compared to the same time last year,” Mr. Vernhes said.

When I visited the city in the fall, it was clear that it is still crackling with energy. But now it’s possible to get a previously unthinkable last-minute reservation at one of the city’s many world-class restaurants or a room in hotels usually booked solid. A Saturday night dinner at Kagurazaka Ishikawa, a pricey but discreet restaurant with three Michelin stars and an artful tasting menu? No problem. And lodging options for all budgets have gotten easier. Chances are you can find a room at the elegant Park Hyatt Tokyo, a luxurious high-rise, or at the Tokyo Ryokan, a family-run hotel with just three simple bedrooms that often are reserved well in advance. OLIVER STRAND

Note: An earlier version of the subheading with this entry has been changed because it was unintentionally insensitive in making a link between last year’s tragedy in Japan and the opportunity for tourism. 

7. Tanzania
Coming into its own as an upscale safari destination.

For the last several years the number of tourists going to Tanzania has been edging up, according to East African travel specialists like Hippo Creek Safaris and Abercrombie & Kent. But it wasn’t until several violent attacks on visitors to neighboring Kenya that the numbers really took off, as Tanzania started to absorb skittish Kenya-bound safari seekers.

Not that Tanzania is coasting along solely on Kenya’s troubles; it’s always had Mount Kilimanjaro, after all. And now other attractions are being discovered, too — places likeGibb’s Farm, a small lodge from which guests can hike to the Ngorongoro Crater area, a prime destination for big game viewing. In addition, the opening of exclusive safari reserves like the Singita Grumeti and the upscale camps managed by Nomad Tanzaniaand Chem Chem are evidence that the country’s tourist infrastructure is becoming more sophisticated, perhaps even catching up to Kenya’s. GISELA WILLIAMS

8. Chilean Patagonia
Proof that adventure doesn’t have to mean roughing it.

With its mix of snowy peaks, pristine rain forest and network of virgin national parks,Chile is emerging as one of the world’s adventure hot spots and now has a spate of rugged luxury lodges in which adventure-seekers can stay.

Puma Lodge, a glass-and-wood design showcase about an hour and a half south ofSantiago, features heli-skiing through miles of untouched powder, and outside of Patagonia’s Torres del Paine Park, the brand-new Tierra Patagonia offers activities like horseback riding over the steppes and boat outings on a glacial lake (while also offering creature comforts like a spa and a heated indoor pool). Meanwhile, the latest Singularproperty, which also opened in November outside the park, leads expeditions into the nearby glaciers. For custom trips, pioneers to the region like Cazenove & Loyd can help navigate the logistical challenges of criss-crossing Chile’s dramatic landscapes. ONDINE COHANE

9. Lhasa, Tibet
New luxury hotels bring respite — and controversy.

Tibet’s holy capital is in the throes of a luxury-hotel boom. In Lhasa, this is news: not only is operating an upscale hotel at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level no small feat, but real-estate developments here are, almost by default, also culturally loaded.

The majestic, 162-room St. Regis Lhasa Resort has been in full operation since May. In 2010, a charming Tibetan-owned villa called the Lingtsang reopened as a boutique hotel with opulent, colorful woodwork and courtyard verandas. And coming soon are the sprawling InterContinental Resort Lhasa Paradise and the 284-room Shangri-La, both scheduled to open in 2013.

On the upside, it’s the first time that travelers can get high-end amenities in a city where even basic hospitality has been a challenge. On the downside, the openings — like Lhasa’s booming population, new business districts and shopping malls — are seen by many Tibetans and interested outsiders as more cultural colonization and exploitation of a sacred land. KIMBERLY BRADLEY

10. Havana, Cuba
The Cuban capital is once again within Americans’ reach.

The only thing that lies between Americans and the sultry streets of Havana these days is the Florida Straits, since the Obama administration has widened the kind of travel allowed. A growing list of organizations have licenses to operate trips to Cuba, includingNational Geographic Expeditions, Austin-Lehman and the Center for Cuban Studies. There are also more flights from more American cities: Fort Lauderdale and Tamparecently joined New York, Miami and Los Angeles on the list, and Chicago will be added this year.

The “people-to-people” rules require Americans to interact with Cubans (sun-and-sand vacations are still prohibited) so tours involve meeting with art historians, organic farmers and others. Conveniently, new restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts, some in gorgeous colonial villas, have sprung up over the past year as the government has allowed more private enterprise. Havana is also gearing up for its 11th Biennial, from May 11 to June 11, which will draw more than 100 Cuban and international artists. VICTORIA BURNETT

11. Moscow
New cultural venues add a dash of the sacred and profane.

The extravagantly renovated Bolshoi Theater has been preening like a prima donna before the news media’s flashbulbs since it reopened in October. And given the $760 million face-lift to the 236-year-old grand dame you can almost hear the czars applauding from their tombs.

But beyond the spotlight, two compelling museums have also made their debuts. TheRussian Icon Museum is said to hold the largest private collection of Russian and Eastern Christian religious artwork (some 4,000 pieces). Admission to the museum is free.

You won’t find many virgins or saints at Tochka G, whose name translates as “G Spot.” With more than 3,000 sex-related items, the bounty includes everything from Soviet-era condoms to high-tech sex dolls to “Wrestling,” a 2011 painting by the Russian artist Vera Donskaya-Khilko that depicts a buff Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama challenging each other with their cartoonishly oversized phalluses. In Russia, size does matter. SETH SHERWOOD

12. Glasgow
Zaha Hadid takes on a Scottish waterfront.

Scotland’s second city now has a $115 million museum designed by Zaha Hadid to go with its shiny new harbor and river promenade.

The Riverside Museum, which opened in June, is housed in a stunning building on the waterfront, with a 3,000-piece collection devoted to Glasgow’s rich shipbuilding and engineering past. Its location, along the River Clyde, was once home to many shipyards, and considered the economic heart of Glasgow. But when the industry left, the area stagnated.

Not anymore. Glasgow has spent more than a decade redeveloping 130 acres of derelict shipyard and unused dockland in an effort to restore the waterway to its former glory. Now there’s a pleasant riverside walkway with steel street furniture, cobblestones from Victorian Glasgow and maritime paraphernalia. Lime trees are planted on both sides of the esplanade, and there are bicycle paths throughout. A new ferry stop for the Riverside Museum, which just saw its one-millionth visitor, marks the first time in around 50 years that this section of the river has had regular passenger service. RACHEL B. DOYLE

13. Puebla, Mexico
International mole festival. Need we say more?

May 5, 2012, is the 150-year anniversary of Cinco de Mayo, the date when, in 1862, an outmanned Mexican army defeated the French troops of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. The occasion will be marked with a fiesta in Puebla, the chief spot in Mexico that celebrates the holiday. Ahead of the May festival, the city, the affluent capital of one of Mexico’s safest states, is building a light rail line similar to the one in Mexico City and renovating public spaces. Privately, Museo Amparo, which holds one of the country’s most impressive collections of indigenous and colonial-era artifacts, has undergone a $17 million update and expansion.

But the city’s biggest draw might be its famous mole poblano. The  city is inaugurating an international mole festival which will begin on May 2. Hopes are that it will attract celebrity chefs like Rick Bayless, who recently took staff members to Puebla’sMural de los Poblanos restaurant for their annual employee trip. FREDA MOON

14. San Diego
With breweries and brewpubs, a sunny heaven for suds lovers.
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Even in times of tight budgets, finely crafted beer remains a relatively approachable luxury, and few American regions have more brewing momentum than San Diego County. Maybe it’s time, then, to think about building a beer safari in the land of sunshine, fish tacos and hopped-up American IPAs. Long established craft breweries like Karl Strauss Brewing Company and the cheeky Stone Brewing Company have mentored brewmasters and created demand for some seriously offbeat ales.

The area has long been a hotbed of garage-based hobbyists, so it’s no surprise that the region also has a tradition of dedicated home brewing. The result is a cluster of small breweries, like the tiny but soon-to-expand Hess Brewing.

And there are numerous opportunities for rigorous but never dour beer tastings, at staggeringly comprehensive shops like Bottlecraft Beer Shop & Tasting Room and Pizza Port Bottle Shop, as well as beer-obsessed taverns like Hamilton’s and O’Brien’s and restaurants like Local Habit. Those looking for full immersion can pack a stein for the fourth annual San Diego Beer Week in November. SARA DICKERMAN

15. Halong Bay, Vietnam
New ways to visit a natural wonder in Southeast Asia.
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Though Halong Bay, a staggering seascape of some 1,600 limestone islands and islets in the Gulf of Tonkin, formed over millions of years, there’s never been a better time to visit. In November, the Unesco World Heritage site was provisionally named one of the world’s “new seven wonders of nature” based on a global poll conducted by the Swiss foundationNew7Wonders — just as Vietnam Airlines announced the first-ever nonstop flights between London and Vietnam. Largely untouched by humans and topped with thick jungle flora, the rock formations rise dramatically in conical peaks and pillars from the surrounding waters, which feature offshore coral reefs, freshwater swamps, mangrove forests and sandy beaches. Visitors can now reach what Ho Chi Minh himself called “the wonder one cannot impart to others,” on local junk boats, luxury cruises or a spate of new adventure tours offered by companies like InterAsia, World Expeditions and the Luxury Travel Group. CHARLY WILDER

16. Florence, Italy
A Renaissance city gets a contemporary kick.

Since 2009, Florence’s youthful mayor, Matteo Renzi, has championed efforts to build a livable, living city that celebrates — but is not yoked to — its rich history (and historic riches). The result? An energized arts scene unfolding inside various medieval palazzi, ancient landmarks restored and reopened to the public for the first time in decades and restaurants abandoning traditional Tuscan staples for sophisticated contemporary food.

The grand 15th-century Palazzo Strozzi is now home to the Center for Contemporary Culture Strozzina, a destination for must-see events like the coming “Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists,” which opens in March. Spazi Urbani Contemporanei, an arts space occupying a 15th-century former monastery, now features works from emerging Italian artists. Last year, the 148- foot-tall 14th-century San Niccolò tower reopened to the public with one of the best panoramic views of the city. And in September, the flagship Gucci Museum made its debut in the historic Palazzo della Mercanzia.

The city’s stock of refined hotel offerings has also been elevated by the opulent new St. Regis Florence, which opened in a palatial riverside palazzo in May, and the Grand Hotel Villa Cora, another five-star stunner near the Boboli Gardens. Even the once-staid Florentine dining scene has been reborn with new restaurants like IO Osteria Personaleand Ossi di Seppia.

Next for the Tuscan capital are plans to restore the banks of the Arno River and spruce up the city’s largest park. INGRID K. WILLIAMS

17. St. Vincent
A new resort may put this Caribbean island on the map.

The fact that American Airlines does not fly there could explain why St. Vincent remains among the Caribbean’s best-kept secrets: a stunningly lush, unspoiled gem of an island surrounded by water cerulean enough to render that of other islands murky by comparison. What there is here — a climbable volcano, dramatic waterfalls, black-sand beaches — is dwarfed by what there isn’t:  chain stores, crowds, big hotels.

Except, that is, for one notably new exception. Buccament Bay, a five-star resort, opened in the fall and boasts more rooms, about 360, than all other hotels on the island combined. And there are the resort’s five restaurants, a spa, a soccer camp and performing arts center. The resort, along with a new international airport that is scheduled to open in late 2013 and designed to handle five times the number of passengers currently arriving at the island, will most likely let the cat out of the bag and attract the long overdue crowds. Get there before they do. BAZ DREISINGER

18. Moganshan, China 
Luxury in the former mountain hideaway of Shanghai gangsters.
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For much of the early 20th century, Moganshan, a bamboo-covered mountain about three hours from Shanghai, served as a tranquil retreat for the elite. Wealthy foreigners took up residence on the mountain first, building stone villas and tennis courts. Then came the Chinese power brokers, including the Shanghai mob boss Du Yuesheng and the Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek, who honeymooned here in 1927.

After a lull, the past decade has seen foreigners repopulating Moganshan’s sleepy slopes, transforming old villas into homes and guesthouses. And in late 2011, the mountain went upscale with two new luxury properties. The 121-room eco-resort Naked Stables features tree-top villas with Jacuzzis set on balconies overlooking the mountains, and African-inspired “earth huts” built with environmentally friendly rammed-earth walls. Set on a tea plantation, the 40-room Le Passage Moganshan, which partly opened in December, takes its inspiration from Moganshan’s historic manor homes, with century-old recycled wood floors and a magnificent garden planted with 12,000 rose bushes. JUSTIN BERGMAN

19. Birmingham, England
Could England’s second city be first in food?

Olive, the BBC’s food magazine, recently startled British gourmands when it declaredBirmingham, England’s second largest city, the United Kingdom’s “foodiest town,” ahead of London and Edinburgh. The award came last October, just as Birmingham was hosting an annual festival, the 10-day Birmingham Food Fest, which featured such local talents as Aktar Islam of Lasan Restaurant; up-and-comers like David Colcombe of Opus, Andy Waters of Edmunds Restaurant and Steve Love of Loves Restaurant; and a troika of Michelin-starred chefs: Glynn Purnell of Purnell’s; Andreas Antona, Luke Tipping and Adam Bennett of Simpsons Restaurant; and Richard Turner of Turners of Harborne.

The chefs are building on an already rich dining scene. Birmingham is famous in Britainfor its Balti Triangle, an area of town that is home to a beloved Pakistani-Kashmiri curry dish invented here; it is also birthplace to such classically British food items as Typhoo Tea,Bird’s Custard and HP Sauce. ALEXANDER LOBRANO

20. Space
The final frontier now has a ticket agent.

It’s not just the imaginings of science fiction geeks. Pretty soon anyone with $200,000 will be able to travel to the last frontier: space or — more specifically — the upper edge of Earth’s atmosphere. In 2004 Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic with the primary goal of pioneering commercial flights to space. Last year the company began test-flying SpaceShipTwo, an aircraft that will enable two pilots and six passengers to travel to suborbital space. Although no launch date has been confirmed (a 2012 date was pushed back to 2013), about 450 people from around the globe have already purchased tickets; the first passengers will be (surprise!) Richard Branson and his two children, Sam and Holly.

Flights will take off from the brand-new spaceport near Las Cruces, N.M., but Virgin Galactic “Space Agent” Joshua Bush of Park Avenue Travel in Philadelphia, predicts that in a few years “We’ll eventually be able to take off from New York, orbit the Earth and then land in Tokyo in two or three hours.” What will it be like? “After the rocket motor turns off there is complete silence,” said Mr. Bush, who has read about the experiences of many astronauts. “You look out the window and see a thin blue line of the atmosphere and comprehend how small and insignificant we are.” GISELA WILLIAMS