Travel guides
Practical essays for each ranked destination: when to go, how to move, what to eat, and what to skip.
Beach guide
Grand Cayman
Stay on Seven Mile if the beach is the point. The rest of the island is a day trip, not a second base.
Park guide
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is a U.S. National Park in Hawaii. Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, still writing the island.
Theme park guide
Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland is a one-day theme park beside a great city. Do not give it the only day of the trip, and do not skip Mystic Manor.
City guide
Madrid
Shift your clock. Lunch is the long meal. Dinner is late. A museum in the middle is the right shape of a Madrid day.
Beach guide
Mallorca
Stay in Palma, Sóller, or the east, and treat the famous coves as morning destinations. They do not reward a casual 2 p.m. arrival in August.
Beach guide
Punta Cana
Decide if you want the gate or the town. Both can see the same water. They do not feel like the same week.
Ski resort guide
Val Thorens
Come for altitude and accept the architecture. The village is a ski tool. The terrain above it is the point.
Beach guide
Zanzibar
Give Stone Town real time, then move once to a beach. Hopping coasts every night is how the ferries and the taxis win.
Beach guide
El Nido
The boat day is the trip. Book it with a crew that leaves early, and protect one day with no boat at all.
Park guide
Gateway Arch National Park
Gateway Arch National Park is a U.S. National Park in Missouri. The smallest national park, and the tallest monument in the U.S.
Ski resort guide
Megève
Come to Megève to ski well without spending the week frightened. The village is the other reservation you are making.
Beach guide
St. Barts
Rent a small car, pick two beaches a day, and eat one serious meal. The island is too small for a bigger plan and too expensive for a vague one.
City guide
Vancouver
The postcard is the mountains. The city is the neighborhoods between them and the water. Do both, on different days.
Beach guide
Hvar
Stay in Hvar town if you want the evening. Stay in Stari Grad if you want to sleep. Either way, the best water is a boat.
City guide
Las Vegas
Treat the Strip as a district, not the whole map. Sleep where you want to walk at night, and put the desert on the calendar before you fill it with buffets.
Beach guide
Los Cabos
Ask, every day, which beaches are calm. The Pacific side is a view. The Cortez side is more often the swim.
City guide
New Orleans
Eat less often and better. The city will offer you a meal every forty minutes. You do not have to accept all of them.
Beach guide
Tel Aviv
Stay near the sea if the beach is the reason. The city inland is excellent and a bus ride, not a loss.
Park guide
Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef National Park is a U.S. National Park in Utah. A hundred-mile wrinkle in the earth, plus pie.
City guide
Milan
Give Milan credit for being a city, not a disappointment that it is not Florence. The pleasure is modern, edible, and well dressed.
Ski resort guide
Queenstown
You sleep in Queenstown and drive to the snow. Pick one ski resort each day. The town is good enough to absorb a closed morning.
Beach guide
Sharm El Sheikh
Pick the bay for the reef in front of it. The hotel's pool is not the reason this coast exists.
Beach guide
Antigua
You will not see 365 beaches. You will see four, properly, if you have a car and a week.
City guide
Mexico City
Eat on purpose. The city will meet you. Do not schedule a hike on the day you land. The air is thinner than it feels.
City guide
Seattle
July through September is the dry gift. The rest of the year, bring a shell and keep the plans indoors-flexible. The mountain is a bonus, not a promise.
Ski resort guide
Åre
Åre skis like a full resort and lives like a small town. Give the summit a weather window and enjoy the village when it does not get one.
City guide
Athens
Do the ancient site first, while you are fresh and the ground is cooler. Athens after that is a food city with ruins in the background.
City guide
Edinburgh
Bring a layer and good shoes. Edinburgh is vertical, and the weather changes between the station and the castle.
Park guide
Haleakalā National Park
Haleakalā National Park is a U.S. National Park in Hawaii. A volcanic summit above the clouds on Maui.
City guide
Melbourne
Melbourne is a city you piece together from neighborhoods. Do not look for the one monument. Look for the next good street.
Beach guide
Phu Quoc
Stay on the west coast for the sunset and the swim. Visit the north. Do not try to see the whole island between lunch and dinner.
Beach guide
Saadiyat
Come in the cooler months. Treat the beach as a morning and an evening, and give midday to a museum or a long lunch.
City guide
Xi'an
Do the warriors early and carefully. Then come back and let the food city take over. Xi'an is hungrier than its monuments.
Beach guide
Ambergris Caye
San Pedro is the base. The reef is the appointment. A golf cart is transportation, not a personality.
City guide
Budapest
Do the bath properly, with time. Budapest is not a city you tick. The river sets the pace.
City guide
Montreal
French is the city's language. A greeting in French changes the room. English will still get you dinner.
City guide
Copenhagen
The famous restaurants require planning and money. The city does not. Spend the days outside and eat very well at normal prices.
City guide
Jerusalem
Go in listening more than collecting. The stones are shared, busy, and older than the argument you brought with you.
Park guide
Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is a U.S. National Park in Arizona. A forest of giant cactus on both sides of Tucson.
Park guide
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park is a U.S. National Park in Utah. A maze of canyons split by the Colorado and Green Rivers.
City guide
Mumbai
Mumbai is a working city that lets you watch. Do not expect it to slow down for a photograph. Eat well and pick one area a day.
Park guide
Redwood National and State Parks
Redwood National and State Parks is a U.S. National Park in California. Coastal giants, jointly managed with California state parks.
Park guide
Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park is a U.S. National Park in Florida. A river of grass, and the largest subtropical wilderness in the U.S.
City guide
Jaipur
Jaipur is beautiful and commercial. Decide what you came to look at, and let the rest of the offers pass.
City guide
Kuala Lumpur
Go hungry and expect rain. KL is a food city that happens to have a famous skyline.
City guide
Lima
Do not treat Lima as a layover you tolerate. It is a food city with a difficult sky and a good coast.
City guide
Auckland
Give Auckland a day of its own. It is not only an airport between flights to the rest of the country.
Park guide
Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park is a U.S. National Park in Oregon. The deepest lake in the United States, impossibly blue.
City guide
São Paulo
Pick a district and a short list of meals. São Paulo is a food destination hiding in a megacity.
City guide
Shenzhen
Judge Shenzhen as a living city, not as a missing old town. The pleasure is food, new architecture, and how fast the place learned to be a place.