5 Adventures In Europe Without The Crowds

I was born and raised in Athens, so I've seen a lot of tourists.

In April 2020, United MileagePlus removed its partner award chart. Partner awards continued pricing at the lowest Saver level from the last-published award charts for a while. But over time, United Airlines has slowly raised its unpublished partner award rates. Last month, United devalued first-class partner redemptions, increasing award prices up to 100%. Now, the loyalty program has struck again with another devaluation.

There’s a fairly high chance that you’ve never heard of Volotea. But it’s one of the quirkiest budget airlines anywhere on the planet. It’s also (usually) pretty profitable.

Before joining TPG in 2021, I was a newbie to the world of points and miles. Despite traveling frequently throughout the previous decade, I was oblivious to the benefits of loyalty programs or how straightforward it could be to earn points or miles for airfare and hotel stays.

An ancient city that looms large in history and legend, Athens has its main sights clustered in one area with tiny central neighborhoods.

It’s inevitable: Every spring when we pull together the Hot List, our annual collection of the world’s best new hotels, restaurants, and cruise ships, a staffer remarks that this latest iteration has got to be the best one ever. After a year’s worth of traveling the globe—to stay the night at a converted farmhouse in the middle of an olive grove outside Marrakech, or sail aboard a beloved cruise line’s inaugural Antarctic voyage—it’s easy to see why we get attached. But this year’s Hot List, our 28th edition, might really be the best one ever. It’s certainly our most diverse, featuring not only a hotel suite that was once Winston Churchill’s office, but also the world’s largest cruise ship and restaurants from Cape Town to Bali. We were surprised and inspired by this year’s honorees, and we know you will be too. These are the Hot List hotel winners for 2024.

When same-sex marriage was legalised in Greece back in February, LGBTQ+ campaigners celebrated.

I spent the first few years of my life in Greece and then moved to the US.

From crystalline karst lakes in Croatia to soaring sandstone columns in Greece, UNESCO has announced the addition of 18 new sites to its Global Geoparks network. The list of geographical areas with international geological significance now numbers 213 locations across 48 countries.

Traveling to Europe in the summer months is a rite of passage—steamy nights spent in the south of Spain, snoozy days on the most beautiful Greek islands, breezy afternoons sipping rosé on a terrace in the South of France. But as tourism levels continue to rise after a few quiet years, and peak-season temperatures climb from Italy to Croatia, is the appeal of a big European summer holiday dwindling?

Easily reached by ferry from its famous island neighbors and a quick 40-minute flight from Athens, the Greek island of Paros has been a relatively secret retreat for those in the know. But in the last few years, fashionistas and the rich and famous started visiting its lovely beaches and bougainvillea-covered fishing villages, and the island quickly became the chilled-out alternative to Mykonos and Santorini.

With additional reporting by Sarah Allard