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Reading Time: 6 minIt's January and there's no better time than now to plot out your 2025 vacation plans. A new year brings new popular destinations, which means fresh opportunities to visit places you've never been before.
But your points and miles can go further at some destinations than others. So here are 6 top destinations where you'll get the best bang for your buck with your travel rewards this year.
With Deer Valley located just 45 minutes from Salt Lake City airport, you can use your frequent flyer miles to get to this sought-after ski destination, and be on the slopes in no time.
While Delta is the main airline at this airport, you can also take a flight on Alaska, American, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, and United. Having that many options opens the door to getting a great deal when it comes to using your miles.
We picked a random long weekend in March, and used Points Path to find that you can redeem as few as 14,000 Delta SkyMiles roundtrip for your ski adventure, which is a good deal versus paying the cash rate.
Plus, if you have a Delta American Express credit card, you'll get 15% off that price, which drops it even further to just 11,900 miles roundtrip.
And if you're trying to book a ski trip for this winter — or looking to plan ahead for the 2025-26 ski season — a stay at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley is a must-have. This newly-opened property is currently pricing as a category 6 on the World of Hyatt award chart, which means it costs between 21,000 and 29,000 points per night, depending on the time of year.
For a ski-on/ski-off property, this is one of the best values you'll find when it comes to using your hotel points, especially since cash rates can easily be over $1,000 per night during ski season.
With an entire coastline of blue water and white sand beaches, a visit to Cancun is a great way to get away from the cold and put your points and miles to use.
With many nonstop flights throughout the day from various destinations within the U.S., flying to Cancun is relatively inexpensive, both with miles and cash.
Using Points Path, we found that you can fly to Cancun for as little as 17,000 miles roundtrip. That's roughly a wash when it comes to current cash airfares, but it gives you an opportunity to use your cash for fun during your vacation instead of spending it to get there.
Additionally, Cancun has no shortage of chain hotels, so regardless of whether you have points accumulated with Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, IHG, or Wyndham, you can find a great property at a low points rate.
With Americans flocking to Japan right now thanks to the strength of the US dollar there, 2025 is a great time to utilize your points and miles to get to Asia.
But a trip to Japan doesn't happen overnight. So if you're setting out your overall 2025 calendar, you can start planning now and grab a great flight for the fall.
In fact, there's plenty of availability on Japan Airlines' nonstop flight from Boston to Tokyo. By using your American Airlines miles — since American and Japan Airlines are both part of the same oneworld alliance — you can get to Tokyo for just 70,000 miles roundtrip.
Without miles on hand, you're looking at paying over $2,000 per passenger, making this an unbelievable deal. And if you have flexibility in your plans, you can even fly in premium economy for just 100,000 AAdvantage miles roundtrip.
There are also plenty of hotel options when it comes to redeeming your hotel points in Japan, and you aren't limited to just Tokyo. There are a slew of spots throughout the entire country, including Kyoto, Osaka, Hokkaido, and more.
There's nothing cheap about a visit to Disney World. But by using your points and miles, you can significantly offset your cost, and make a trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth" much more palatable.
When searching with Points Path across multiple dates from different destinations, we were able to find very reasonable points prices for flights. For example, you can fly from Washington, DC to Orlando for as low as 13,000 miles during the first weekend in October (or 11,000 miles if you have a Delta Amex card).
Staying on property at Disney can cost a pretty penny. But the best thing about a trip to the Mouse is that there are many incredibly inexpensive properties nearby where you can use your points. During a recent trip, we were able to redeem just 8,000 World of Hyatt points per night to stay at the Hyatt Place Orlando Lake Buena Vista, just 12 minutes away from the main entrance of Hollywood Studios.
If you're flexible with your dates — and even your destination — you can find some great mileage deals to Europe this summer.
For instance, for just 53,000 miles, you can fly nonstop from Philadelphia to Lisbon even during the high season in August. And unlike some other European destinations, taxes and fees are just $64 for this roundtrip flight.
From Lisbon, you can then explore the coast of Portugal, or even find your way into neighboring Spain.
Lisbon is also significantly less expensive than some other European cities, such as London and Paris. This extends to hotels as well, where you can use your hotel rewards. If you find yourself in the Algarve, use your Marriott Bonvoy points to stay at the Pine Cliffs Hotel, which is part of the Luxury Collection Resorts.
If you're looking for a laid-back vacation for 2025, there's no better place than the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
With Alaska Airlines miles in hand, you can fly from Los Angeles to Kauai for just 20,000 miles roundtrip. From Kauai, you can use miles from any of several airline programs to visit other Hawaiian islands as well.
This flight is operated by Hawaiian Airlines, but you can redeem Alaska miles for it thanks to the merger that's in progress between the two airlines. And if you don't have any Alaska miles, you can instantly transfer your Hawaiian miles to Alaska at a 1-to-1 ratio to book the flight.
With many resorts on Kauai, you can also utilize your travel rewards for a free stay. This is where booking with Chase Ultimate Rewards points comes in handy, opening up many options to meet your ideal hotel preference. Or, if you're looking for an AirBnB style accommodation, use your Wyndham Rewards points to book a home rental through Vacasa.
To extend your points and miles are far as possible, be flexible with both your dates and your destination. That will allow you to stretch your rewards and truly get the most for them.
If you're interested in any of the above trips, here are the links to them in Google Flights. You'll also need to install Points Path to view the prices in frequent flyer miles as well as cash.
Remember that both cash and mileage airfares change over time. The prices shown above were accurate when this story was written, but you may see different pricing if you search later down the line.
And if none of these trips fit your needs, try a few searches of your own. With a little bit of work, you can find plenty of options to use your frequent flyer miles in 2025.