Latest Time Out worldwide features

Planning your travels for the new year? You should absolutely factor in those long-standing bucket list entries, but if you’re looking for some fresh inspiration, 2026 promises a world of brand-new travel experiences.  From sleeping over in an open-air museum to journeying through ancient landscapes on e-bikes, ziplining over glorious wildlife reserves and partying through a solar eclipse – yes, really – there’s a shedload of off-the-beaten-track, out-of-the-box stuff happening over the next 12 months. Scroll on for our handpicked selection of the 26 coolest, weirdest and most exciting things to do in 2026.  RECOMMENDED:🛍️ The coolest streets in the world🏘️ The coolest neighbourhoods in the world🌃 The best cities in the world right now Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out Travel newsletter for all the latest travel news and best stuff happening across the world.

It’s been another stellar year for music in 2025, packed full of belters, breakouts and hook-laden earworms.  Lorde returned to her angsty roots, Pulp dropped their first album since, and Bad Bunny reigned supreme on the streamers. We were blessed with new music from pop heavyweights Lady Gaga, Lily Allen and Robyn. In a plot twist, Rosalía dropped a classical album packed with religious references, and Turnstile made hardcore mainstream. Breakout stars CMAT, Addison Rae and Jim Legxacy proved that they are here to stay. Here Time Out editors and contributors have hand-picked the tracks they’ve had on repeat this year. These are the 40 best songs of 2025.  RECOMMENDED: The 25 best albums of 2025. 

Updated December 2025: From winter blockbusters to festival sleepers, these are the movies our critics think define 2025 so far. Expect prestige dramas, horror gems, wild indies and some surprise streaming hits – all watched and ranked by Time Out’s film team. Quick Picks: 2025’s best films by genre: 😂 Best comedy: The Naked Gun 😱 Best horror movie: Weapons 🥋 Best action movie: One Battle After Another🎭 Best drama: Nickel Boys🪆 Best family film: Flow September brought Splitsville, a whip-smart indie screwball about two couples testing open marriages, The Lost Bus, Paul Greengrass’s tense wildfire epic starring an on-form Matthew McConaughey, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. With three quarters of the year gone, a few trends are starting to emerge. Superhero movies aren’t dead, but they’re no longer the guaranteed juggernauts they once were. Family films are booming. Gen Z is generating its own IP. Audiences still crave horror. And China’s home-grown hits are driving the global box office without Hollywood’s help. After years of post-pandemic hand-wringing, the film industry looks to be in better health than anyone expected. Sure, awards season could still change everything, but so far 2025 has given us plenty to celebrate – from genre-smashing auteur vehicles like Sinners and Weapons, to daring experiments such as The Nickel Boys, Flow and Better Man, and welcome returns from directors like Steven Soderbergh and Danny Boyle. In short, it’s been...

We know what you’re thinking: ‘Best kids Christmas movies? Aren’t all Christmas movies basically for kids?’ Oh sure, plenty are. But assuming every film with a yuletide theme is good for the young ones is where parents can get in trouble. You may end up streaming a movie where Santa Claus is a serial killer, or a Hallmark romcom that’ll bore them silly.  So, no, the phrase ‘Christmas movies for kids’ is not as redundant as it might sound. And clearly, picking the right movie to get the smallest members of the household into the holiday spirit requires both care and wisdom. These 30 movies, though, are like hot cocoa for the little ones’ souls. Want to get on your child’s nice list? Stream one of these, and your stocking will runneth over. Recommended: 🎅 The 50 best Christmas movies of all-time🎁 The best Christmas specials of all-time🎄 The best animated Christmas movies for the whole family🤣 The 35 best family comedies for your next movie night👶 The best movies for toddlers👪 The 50 greatest animated movies to watch as a family

Updates for 2025: With Lindsay Lohan experiencing something of a mainstream career renaissance, Alicia Silverstone is stepping up as the ‘beloved actor who’s sort of disappeared who’s now back to find love at Christmastime’ in Netflix’s highlight holiday offering, A Merry Little Ex-Mas. But its streaming numbers have so far been eclipsed by the romantic holiday heist comedy, Jingle Bell Heist, about two desperate criminals who unite to rob a London department store.  Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the glow of the television is so delightful. When the air gets crisp and the jingle bells become inescapable white noise, that means it’s Christmas movie season. And thankfully, there is a lot of content out there. Over the last few years, Netflix, in particular, has given the Hallmark Channel a run for its money, churning out a veritable snowfall of yuletide content every season.  Sifting through the avalanche can be daunting. You might think all Christmas movies are more or less the same, but the quality can vary wildly, from boring and clichéd to clichéd and ridiculously entertaining – and sometimes, you might even get something with a genuinely unique perspective on the holiday. To keep your likely already frostbitten fingers from endless scrolling, we’ve sorted the proverbial shiny new bikes from the lumps of coal. Here are the best Christmas movies to stream on Netflix this year. Recommended: 🎅 The 50 best Christmas movies of all-time🎄 The best kids Christmas...

December 2025 update: The second and third parts of the finale of Stranger Things are bringing things in Hawkins to a shadowy end this month, while there’s a second season of Fallout and returns for Emily in Paris and Percy Jackson to look forward to.We’ve all heard the phrase ‘TV’s golden age’ enough times over the past couple of decades to get wary of the hyperbole, but this year does seem to be shaping up to be a kind of mini golden age for the TV follow-up. Severance, Andor, Wednesday and Poker Face have all built on incredibly satisfying first seasons with equally masterful second runs. The third season of The White Lotus has proved that, whether you love it or find it a touch too languorous, there’s no escaping Mike White’s transgressive privilege-in-paradise satire. Likewise for season 7 of Charlie Brooker’s dystopian-flavoured sci-fi Black Mirror. More recently, HBO’s Task hit the spot with a blue-collar crime series that wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty. Watercooler viewing is everywhere at the moment, and that’s not going to change anytime soon, with Stranger Things coming to an end and about a zillion other things still come. Here’s everything you need to see... so far.  Best TV and streaming shows at a glance: 📍 The Pitt (Emmy Best Drama winner) – watch on HBO Max in the US📍 Adolescence (Best Limited Series winner) – watch on Netflix worldwide📍 Severance season 2 (multiple acting wins) – watch on Apple TV worldwide📍 The Studio (Best Comedy winner) –...

Even after a couple of vintage years for new music, 2025 has been special. Sure, we didn’t get a clear-cut ‘song of the summer’, but artists have been instead putting out defining works in a longer format. The past 12 (well, 11) months have featured all manner of extraordinary album releases.  Belted-to-the-rafters country pop, plunderphonic majesty, ecstatic dance music, intimate electronic world-building, history-collapsing art rock, triumphant hip-hop… these are just a few of the sounds and styles that have been executed marvellously in 2025. Here are the year’s finest 25 albums, chosen by Time Out editors and contributors.

Televised Christmas specials have been around almost as long as TV itself. It’s a seasonal signifier on a par with snow, tinsel and department store stampedes. If you live in a part of the world without well-defined seasons, you could always figure out what time of the year it is by flipping on the telly, and if you found your favourite sitcom suddenly strewn with garlands and twinkling lights, you’d know Santa would be making a housecall pretty soon. Not much has changed. Even in the streaming era, many platforms have made a tradition of throwing back to the good, old-fashioned holiday variety show, recruiting a bunch of big-name movie stars or pop singers to get together on a soundstage and croon a few yuletide classics. Most of them come and go, melting from memory like old Frosty when the sun comes out. Some, however, are so good they become holiday perennials. Here are 19 Christmas specials we make a point of watching every single year. Recommended: 🎅 The 50 best Christmas movies of all-time🎄 The best kids Christmas movies to watch this year✍ The best animated Christmas movies the whole family will enjoy

For some film fans, the transition out of spooky season and into the most wonderful time of the year can be jarring. One month you’re bathing in blood, then the next thing you know it’s nothing but candy canes and hot cocoa and family togetherness. Sure, many of us have a soft spot for at least one classic Christmas movie. But there’s an equally sizeable demographic for which consuming sickeningly sweet holiday cheer just leads to a stomach ache. So we thought we’d spread some good ol’ holiday fear instead. The subgenre of Christmas-themed horror movies isn’t exactly broad, but if you search deep enough, you’ll find enough peppermint-scented scares to break up all the holly-jolliness and get you through the season. These 24 scary Christmas movies are a gift for the bloodlusting Scrooge in all of us. Recommended: 😱 The 100 best horror movies of all-time🎅 The 50 best Christmas movies🎄 The best Christmas specials of all time💩 The 40 best bad movies ever made

Sure, Christmastime starts the second the clock strikes midnight on November 31 and the garland and candy canes seemingly materialise from thin air on front lawns and in department store windows. But it’s not really the most wonderful time of the year until you grab a cup of hot cocoa, pull up your favourite blanket and throw a cherished Christmas classic on the TV. That’s especially true if you belong to the sandbox demographic. Think back to your own childhood, and chances are some of your fondest memories tied to the season are connected to that one special movie you only watch in December. And if you now have kids of your own, it’s time to get their own traditions started. Here are 23 soul-warming animated Christmas movies sure to capture their imagination. Recommended: 🎅 The 50 best Christmas movies of all-time🎄 🐭 The best Disney Christmas movies to stream for the holidays