No, I’m not talking about hostels or scary cockroach hotels you wouldn’t step foot in. Trust me, I have stayed in enough so-called budget hotels to know they are definitely not all created equal. Winter is right around the corner, and the prices for traditional warm weather escapes are already completely out of hand. If …

Enough with the endless hours of queuing to get into any ancient landmark you can possibly name in Rome; the jam-packed canals of Venice you’d be lucky to see if you can get past the indistinguishable mass of selfie-takers; and the mid-at-best, $40 ossobuco in Milan. If you’re dreaming of an Italian getaway this season, …

Feel like Spain, Italy, and Portugal don’t want Americans anywhere near? No problem: this fall, you can fly nonstop from Newark to this gorgeous walled city in Southeastern Europe, dominated by mighty medieval fortifications, offering mild weather, beautiful turquoise seas, and virtually zero of the headline-grabbing anti-tourist protests seen farther out West. While cities like …

Don’t get me wrong, I love Punta Cana. I have been there dozens of times, and it is one of my absolute favorite spots for a tropical beach escape. But when I heard there was a massive new golden sand destination coming to the Dominican Republic, and found out it was a completely new master …

Do you ever scroll through social media and see those perfect drone videos of overwater bungalows in the Maldives? You know the ones where a drone flies over a crystal clear turquoise lagoon, revealing a stunning string of overwater bungalows and a traveler jumping into a pool. The footage makes it look like an effortless …

If you’re planning a trip abroad, especially to a country you’ve never been to before, it’s of course instinctive to start with the capital. They are (usually) a country’s most important destination for a reason: other than mere administrative hubs, they can be the cultural heart of a nation, with its highest concentration of landmarks …

Tired of the same old Paris–London–Rome circuit? For decades now, Americans have flocked into the same 3 European capitals for one of two reasons: either they genuinely didn’t know better than to flock into the same tourist hotspots over and over again, or they had no choice but to given the scarcity of Transatlantic flights …

If you are planning a trip to Europe this fall, you’ve probably heard the warnings about the new biometric border rules. The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) has been causing a stir, with travelers bracing for long lines and mandatory fingerprint scans just to start their vacation. But there is a loophole that American travelers are …

You know that excitement when you get on a plane knowing you will land at your destination without the stress of a layover? After twenty years of traveling the globe, I can comfortably say layovers have been the cause of 90% of my travel stress. So when airlines announce brand new nonstop flights, I am …

Every winter, Americans looking for a European getaway run into the exact same issue. The Mediterranean shuts down, the coastal towns board up their windows, and reaching the warmer islands off the coast of Africa requires exhausting layovers. But the flight map has finally shifted, and travelers are taking notice. Madeira, a Portuguese archipelago often …

My wife told me it is time to start pulling out the Halloween decorations and planning for Christmas, but the only thing on my mind is our next beach escape. My brain is not on hot chocolate or holiday shopping. I am still completely stuck on the beach from summer. When most people start dreaming …

Every time September rolls around, the travel world immediately starts pushing the exact same aesthetic: cozy sweaters, hot apple cider, and chasing red and orange leaves through a forest. There’s nothing wrong with a good fall foliage trip, but sometimes you want something different. Maybe you want to squeeze out the last few drops of …