Ever been to Europe thinking you’d find the exact same cobbled, fairytale town you saw on that flying-dress influencer’s viral reel, only to be met with a ton of people and cramped, matchbox-sized B&Bs priced like a boutique hotel? They call the acute culture shock some tourists experience upon finding the real Paris falls short …
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 …
Having lived across 3 European countries, from England to Ireland to France (my current home), and almost a decade into country-hopping solo around the Old Continent, with 40+ countries visited, I think I’ve reached the point I can look back in hindsight and reassess my priorities. What’s the main reason for Americans flocking over to …
When you think of Croatia, chances are it’s the sturdy coastal walls and cobble-paved Old Town of Dubrovnik that come to mind. Over the years, Croatia’s southerly fortified coastal city has become synonymous with that dreamy Mediterranean escape: it has the ancient flair, the turquoise waters, and yes, it’s a permanent fixture in the world …
‘Why are there so many Americans in Chania, Greece? We recently came across this question on a Facebook group for digital nomads, and it’s a question we posed ourselves some time ago, and the fact this small coastal city on the north coast of Crete, Greece’s largest island, hosts a NATO base, wasn’t a satisfactory-enough …
Not Rome and its nauseatingly long Colosseum lines, Venice with the bottlenecked canals overflowing with tourists, nor Positano and its exclusive beach bars where a half-sized glass of Aperol will set you back $15. The Italian destination that has everyone talking Stateside is a sun-drenched island just off the toe of the Italian boot, known …
I get it, you’re not ready to let go of summer just yet. Neither am I. While I see pumpkin-spiced lattes popping up left, right, and center, and the fall girlies digging their Uggs out of storage, I’ve been scouring the map of Europe for destinations where it’s still hovering around 75 degrees out, the …
Year in, year out, you can rest assured there’s one sun-drenched Mediterranean country I’ll be hitting: the home of feta, cradle of Western civilization, and a country whose coastline looks as if somebody dropped a dinner plate and watched it shatter into thousands of little fragments they call islands. I’m a Parisian at heart, and …
Even if you haven’t made it to Italy yet, you’re probably familiar with Rome‘s ancient sights and the millennia-old Colosseum, Venice‘s winding canals and soaring campanile, and Florence‘s distinctive red-tiled dome and Renaissance palaces. Undoubtedly gorgeous as those may be, what if we told you this year’s crown in one of Italy’s best-known beauty contests …
If Barcelona or Mallorca are the only destinations that come to mind when you think of an off-season fall getaway in Spain, think again. Instead of flocking to the same done-and-dusted hotspots that are, in fact, chasing tourists away, why not give the fast-rising, equally exciting, but still relatively unknown Valencia a chance? Offering miles …
At least 20 visits to Portugal in, it’s not often I come across places that still catch me completely off guard, but my most recent road trip across the northern half of the country led me to a tiny, quaint beach town that looks like a postcard scene come to life. And to my surprise, …