12 must-see travel destinations for 2012

>> coming up this morning, we are going to be talking about "today's travel." instead of looking back at the year that was in 2011 , nilou nilou motamed is here from "travel & leisure" magazine and she'll give us destinations we should consider in 2012 .

>> good morning.

>> happy holidays. we're telling people plan your year ahead. you've got to get out and see the country and the world and some of these destination also surprise people. let's start here in the united states . okay, bentonville, arkansas . why?

>> it is unexpected, the home of walmart but the youngest heir of walmart decided she wants to build the most impressive museum in a generation in this town in arkansas . now you get one of its most important architect in the world, important artworks and put them in the unexpected destination in the ozarks and we predict this will be a buzzing destination.

>> easy to get there?

>> easy to get there. there's a loft to stay at for only $89 a night and lots of hotels coming up. i see you're incredulous.

>> not at all.

>> it's unexpected but we love a place not new york and not chicago and not l.a. is getting buzz.

>> let's move on, the next one i like, not only is it close to home , it has the exotic feel of a foreign country because it is a foreign country .

>> toronto in canada. there's been the film festival there, a great restaurant theme, so great that two big wigs from new york restaurants are going there, david tang and daniel belou opening his cafe, the four seasons.

>> a lot of fights there.

>> feels like you're close to home but you are in a foreign country .

>> few locations make the list down south, st. vin gent acent and the gr grenadines, but your pick is panama.

>> if you've been to belize and craving the central american excitement this is the place to go. frank gary is building a bio bio museo, a museum devoted to biodiversity. the panama canal is having a $5.6 billion expansion happening in a couple of years.

>> so accommodate the super ships.

>> and great hotels, manray, a great hotel.

>> we were there for "where in the world" and we saw a lot of americans and all said they loved it.

>> go before it changes. this is the moment to go.

>> moving across the pond into europe, hamburg, germany and guemaraes in portugal and also costa navarino, greece.

>> it's a 20-minute flight from athens. despite the economic challenges greece has had, you're going to get an incredible ecoresort only 20 minutes flight from athens.

>> you bring up the economic difficulties. the country has been teetering on the brink for a long time. that means it's a travel bargain for americans ?

>> the romanos which is beautiful which has 80% of its energy coming from solar power in the year 2012 which is amazing. only $193 a night to stay there and they have five different kinds of honey at breakfast table.

>> there's the reason to go right there.

>> they're not skimpy. that's what i'm saying.

>> is it a bummer to go there right now?

>> any place, weather that's had a tsunami or natural disaster , it's great to support them.

>> you bring up challenges, your next location is sri lanka . people who follow the news say wait a minute, there's been a lot of difficulties in that country, including a civil war .

>> 26-year civil war .

>> so why is now the time or 2012 the time to go to sri lanka ?

>> it ended three years ago and i went last night on travel.state.gov and there are no travel advisories for americans traveling there. you get value and you get a place that is still relatively untouched.

>> what is to do when you get there?

>> everything from going to the national reserve where they have incredible animals to just the local people and the incredible culture and a lot of people don't know sri lanka is just off the indian subcontinent so interesting mix of southeast asia and india.

>> you have three spots in a are exotic, the first one in china called?

>> xishunagbanna.

>> and northern coast .

>> this is beautiful, beautiful resorts, unspoiled, stunning, stunning vistas.

>> you like abu dhabi .

>> abu dhabi , you went to dubai and you know that was booming. abu dhabi is the next great destination in the middle east .

>> nilou motamet, bettonville, arkansas .

>> that's right.

>> shout out to bentonville.