23 Best Beach Bags for Your Summer Vacation

While summer might be beginning its swing in destinations across the globe, many travelers have just now started contemplating where they’d like to visit this summer. 

Where some families have recipes that they hand down through generations, my family has canoes and sand dunes.

Ever dreamed of spending a night in Paris’ Musée D’Orsay? Or parking yourself among the race cars in the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, Italy? Or how about drifting off to sleep among clouds in the house from Up? Those are just a few of the fantastical locations recently revealed in Airbnb’s Icons collection for summer 2024. Airbnb says it will offer more dreamy locations on a regular basis—mostly for free—and more than 4,000 “golden tickets” will be awarded to guests this year.

When the days get longer and hotter, sometimes the only thing you want to do is slap on some SPF and let the sun’s rays and the ocean’s cool breeze take over. This is when a roomy beach blanket comes in handy—allowing you to lay out comfortably to read, eat lunch, or catch some Vitamin D. Read on for 13 of the best beach blankets selected by Conde Nast Traveler for their size, price point, and stand-out features. We've included blankets that are quick-drying, sand-proof, and bug-repelling, so you’re ready for whatever is on the itinerary, whether that’s a day at the beach, a picnic in the park, or stargazing in your own backyard.

Guest rooms and suites at one of the most anticipated hotels in the U.S. are now available for bookings starting later this year.

The summer travel season starts in just a few weeks, but if you are looking for software that goes beyond simply booking flights and hotels, you’re in luck. Search engines enhanced by artificial intelligence can help with your research and outline full itineraries. Certain older apps have recently been updated to suggest more eco-friendly travel options. And keeping it all organized on your phone is easier than ever. Here’s an overview.

The U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism is excited to announce that Trunk Bay, located on St. John, has been ranked number 1 on the prestigious list of The World’s 50 Best Beaches™ 2024. Presented by Banana Boat, this annual list, curated by a panel of travel experts, influencers, and enthusiasts, showcases the most breathtaking and sought-after beaches around the globe. Trunk Bay’s inclusion in this renowned ranking is a testament to its exceptional natural beauty and the unforgettable experiences it offers visitors.

It was the small and enigmatic Berlengas archipelago that drew us to Peniche harbour. Peniche, 60 miles north of Lisbon, is famous for its surfing beaches, but the islands off its coast often get overlooked. Every morning a couple of hardy passenger boats bounce over eight miles of waves from the peninsula of Peniche to Berlenga Grande. We took our seats on deck between sacks of onions and oranges and, flecked with sea-spray and followed by flocks of screaming gulls, we watched green hills emerge from blue waves ahead. At the port, the goods are unloaded with gulls wheeling and cawing overhead.

The Bay of Arcachon, on the south-west coast of France, is a happy place. It must be, because I’ve been visiting it with my family nearly every year for the past 15 years. We usually rent a small apartment in Arcachon town for four or five days, but such is the draw that we have been known to make a two-hour drive just to spend the day there when we’ve been in that part of the world. Everything about it speaks of summer joy: the promenade thrumming with cyclists and strollers; the parade of bistros serving moules, oysters and buckets of chilled rosé; families playing beach tennis on the sands; and a bay brimming with pleasure boats and ferries. It’s like a scene from a Raoul Dufy painting.

There’s something quite particular about small but perfectly formed Assos – butterscotch and rose-pink houses line a horseshoe bay, with Venetian ruins scattered between the narrow alleys. There are two small beaches, but the real joy is to rent a motor boat and discover the small bays and coves that fringe this part of the Cephalonian coast. Walkers can follow the path out on to the headland to the ruins of Assos’s 16th-century castle; there’s not a huge amount to see, but the views make the walk worth it. Roi Suites is a bougainvillaea-clad cluster of well-equipped studio flats in a waterfront neoclassical building, with gorgeous sea views from the pool terrace. Doubles from £117 (minimum seven nights), roisuites.com

I have travelled all over Spain for both work and fun in the past two decades, but the Catalan seaside town of Cadaqués had somehow failed to register on my radar. Last year, my husband was working in Catalonia and when he had a few days off between jobs, I proposed an impromptu tryst. The brief: somewhere by the sea.

I hadn’t heard of Pesaro before my ex-flatmate sent me there in summer 2018. I was writing a book at the time, and Giulia reckoned the best place for me to do such work was in her grandad’s old flat, a modest unit in a block put up in 1946, during the short reign of Umberto II. It had lain empty since her nonno – Dottor Spinicci – died of liver failure, having failed to take his own medicine.