Travel guides
Practical essays for each ranked destination: when to go, how to move, what to eat, and what to skip.
City guide
Tokyo
Do less, more slowly. Tokyo punishes packed itineraries and rewards anyone who picks a ward and stays for dinner.
Culture guide
Kyoto
Kyoto's famous spots are famous for a reason and miserable at noon. Shift your clock: temples at opening, cafes in the afternoon, Gion after dinner.
Park guide
Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is a U.S. National Park in Wyoming. A mountain wall rising straight out of the sage.
Park guide
Mount Rainier National Park
Mount Rainier National Park is a U.S. National Park in Washington. A glacier-covered volcano that owns the Seattle skyline.
Park guide
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is a U.S. National Park in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. The first national park: geysers, wolves, and a volcanic caldera.
Park guide
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park is a U.S. National Park in Arizona. A mile-deep canyon that still stops people who thought they were prepared.
Park guide
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a U.S. National Park in Washington. Rainforest, alpine, and wild Pacific beach in one park.
Beach guide
Fiji
Fiji is a beach country, not one beach. Pick a gateway (Nadi), a first island, and a slower second. The water is the trip.
City guide
London
Do not try to see London. Pick a river walk, a museum, a neighborhood, and a pub. The rest will happen on the way.
City guide
Rome
Rome is best in layers: one ruin, one church, one long lunch, one neighborhood wander. Trying to 'do Rome' in two days is how you end up angry in a queue.
Beach guide
Turks and Caicos
Stay on Grace Bay if this is your first time. The beach is the activity. Everything else is optional.
Island guide
Bali
Split the island. A few nights in Ubud, a few on the coast, and one slow day with no plans will beat seven nights in the same villa compound.
Theme park guide
Tokyo Disney Resort
Tokyo Disney Resort is two theme parks that do not share a casual hopper. Buy the gate you will actually enter.
City guide
Los Angeles
Pick a coast day and an east-side day. Trying to cross the basin at 5 p.m. is how a good city becomes a windshield.
Beach guide
Okinawa
Treat Naha as the airport town. The beaches that make the ranking are a ferry or a short flight farther south.
Park guide
Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park is a U.S. National Park in Maine. Granite coast, carriage roads, and the first sunrise in the lower 48.
Beach guide
Sardinia
Rent a car. Sardinia's beaches are a coastline, not a single resort strip. The east coves want a boat; the north wants a reservation.
City guide
Singapore
Eat at hawker centers more than once. The fancy skyline is pleasant and it is not why this city is famous among people who care about food.
Theme park guide
Universal Studios Japan
Universal Studios Japan is a theme park you plan like Tokyo Disney: tickets early, app ready, rope drop non-negotiable.
Coast guide
Amalfi Coast
Stay in one town and ferry to the others. Driving the SS163 is famous and exhausting. Positano is steep. Pack shoes you can actually walk in.
Beach guide
Cancún
The hotel zone is the beach. Downtown is the city. Decide which one you are sleeping in before you compare room prices.
City guide
Hong Kong
Book the big dinner. Then let the city be stairs, ferries, and snacks. The skyline is what you see between meals.
Nature guide
Iceland
Rent a car, watch the wind, and leave slack in every day. Iceland is not a theme park. Roads close, spray soaks you, and the unplanned waterfall is often the one you remember.
Beach guide
Mauritius
The lagoon is almost continuous. Pick a coast for the wind and the light, then take one day inland so the island is more than a buffet.
Beach guide
Mykonos
Stay in town if you want evenings. Stay on the south coast if the beach club is the point. The bus and the taxis argue with both plans in August.
Theme park guide
Shanghai Disneyland
Shanghai Disneyland is a one-direction theme park. Follow the loop, ride TRON early, and stay for the castle at night.
City guide
Beijing
Beijing is huge and the sights are far apart. One great site a day, plus food, is a successful day.
Ski resort guide
Courchevel
Decide which Courchevel you are sleeping in before you fall in love with a photo of 1850. The skiing is the valley. The price is the village.
Beach guide
Kauai
Pick a shore and stay loyal to it. Driving around Kauai is a half-day, not an errand.
Trek & ruins
Machu Picchu
The ruin is the headline. The trip is altitude, logistics, and the valley. Build two days in Cusco before you go up. Tickets are timed and limited. Plan like it is a permit, because it is.
Beach guide
Phuket
Pick the bay for the volume you want. Phuket will happily sell you the loud version and the quiet one on the same day.
City guide
Seoul
Seoul is huge and the transit is excellent. Pick two areas a day. The palaces and the nightlife are both real and they are not the same hour.
Ski resort guide
Niseko
Book Hirafu if you want the village, and still expect to ride a shuttle. The snow is the reason. The wind plan is the other half.
Beach guide
Seychelles
Two islands are enough. Three is a ferry itinerary. La Digue is the one you should not skip if the famous beach is the reason.
City guide
Shanghai
Shanghai is easy for a first trip to China and still enormous. Pick a side of the river for your hotel and cross on purpose.
Ski resort guide
St. Moritz
Plan two ski sectors, not one trail map. The town is the base. The far mountain is a bus or a train, and it is worth it.
Park guide
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park is a U.S. National Park in Utah. An amphitheater of hoodoos in pink and orange stone.
Theme park guide
Disneyland Paris Resort
Disneyland Paris Resort is a side trip from Paris with two theme parks. The city still wants a day that never enters a gate.
City guide
Istanbul
Istanbul is huge. Decide which shore you are sleeping on and do not cross more than once a day unless the ferry is the activity.
Beach guide
Aruba
Stay on the west coast. The windward side is for looking. The leeward side is for swimming.
City guide
Venice
Sleep in Venice. A day trip shows you the crowds you already expected and misses the city that appears at night.
Beach guide
Algarve
Base in Lagos, Carvoeiro, or Tavira and move along the coast. The beaches are a string, not a single bay.
Beach guide
Crete
Crete is too big for a single base and a whim. Pick west or east, and drive to the famous beaches on purpose.
Park guide
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a U.S. National Park in Ohio. A living canal valley between Cleveland and Akron.
Ski resort guide
Telluride
Decide whether you are sleeping in the canyon town or up in Mountain Village. The gondola connects them. It does not make them the same place.
Ski resort guide
Deer Valley
Buy the ticket before the airfare. Deer Valley is allowed to tell you the day is full, and it does.
Ski resort guide
Kitzbühel
Book Kitzbühel for the town and the ski area together. If you only want guaranteed high-altitude snow, this is the wrong week.
Beach guide
St. Lucia
Choose north or south and stay there. Crossing the island for dinner is how a beach week becomes a driving week.
City guide
Vienna
Slow down on purpose. Vienna is not a city you win by seeing more rooms.
Beach guide
Boracay
Stay on White Beach and walk. The island does not reward a complicated itinerary.