Me and Asturias? We go way back. I first pitched up here in the mid-1980s as a backpacking student with an Interrail pass, riding the old-fashioned trains that rattled along the Cantabrian coast from Bilbao to La Coruña. I still remember my wide-eyed delight at seeing for the first time the verdant valleys rolling down to the sea, the huge beaches pummeled by big Atlantic breakers, the fishing villages stuck like limpets to the rocky coastline. Cold climates often imply caution and reserve, but there was a friendliness and warmth about the locals that reminded me—counter-intuitively, perhaps—of the laid-back Mediterranean.
Asturias is one of four regions along Spain's north coast, from Galicia in the west to the Basque Country in the east. The Principality of Asturias, as it’s officially known, brims with distinctiveness and diversity. It has its language, culture, and cuisine; its cool and damp climate harbors lush pastures, deciduous forests, and mighty mountain ranges. As a holiday spot, Asturias has historically been favored mainly by Spaniards, but as summer temperatures rise inexorably in the Med, a trickle of wised-up foreigners are choosing to take their vacations in these temperate northern climes.
The decades that followed that eye-opening Interrail trip saw me returning again and again. There was a memorable long weekend in Oviedo, the charmingly buttoned-up capital with its bustling provincial air; and another in Gijón—the polar opposite of Oviedo—a boisterous coastal town with a surf-tastic beach scene and a salty seaside vibe. In the rough-and-tumble harborside neighborhood of Cimadevilla in Gijón, I had my first swig of Asturian cider, which was poured in a thin stream into a flat-bottomed glass for a deliciously fresh (as well as intoxicating) draught.
More than anything, Asturias's food and drink kept me coming back for more. The wonderfully hearty local cuisine turns around classics like fabada asturiana, a rib-sticking stew of thumb-sized faba beans with cured pork meat and smoked sausage, and the creamy and unctuous rice pudding that is arroz con leche. I soon learned to value such fine asturiano ingredients as grass-fed beef and lamb, fish from the Cantabrian ports, and artisan cheeses—of which the region is said to have more individual varieties per square kilometer even than France. At a series of rustic eating houses run by the stalwart women cooks known as guisanderas (“stew-makers”), I ate my fill of down-home local favorites like onions stuffed with oxtail and maise-flour tortos with minced meat picadillo. But the excitement of new-wave Spanish cuisine had not passed the region by. A prime example was the restaurant Casa Marcial, which I first visited in the late 1990s when
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Cruise vacations are a wonderful way to visit multiple destinations in one trip and unpack only once. And while cruises may not give people multiple days in each destination, it acts as a sampler for people to discover new places that they may possibly want to return to later.
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.
The European Commission has introduced a new visa “cascade” regime for Indian nationals applying for Schengen visas in India. This regime looks to offer longer-term, multi-entry Schengen visas, based on the applicant’s travel history.
Located on Spain’s Mediterranean coast to the south of Valencia, Villajoyosa has been named the “Best Hidden Gem in Europe 2024,” according to European Best Destinations, which has just published one of the most anticipated lists of the year. The best secret destinations in Europe is a ranking that recognizes hidden corners, spots far from the crowds, beautiful villages lost in time, and places where some of Europe’s natural beauty can be experienced by simply taking a short walk.
Games wide open! That's the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics slogan, and you can expect to hear it more as the Games approach. With a 300,000 spectator capacity, the Olympic Committee's goal is to show spectators the iconic offerings of France, while ensuring the Games themselves are “more responsible, more inclusive, and more spectacular than ever before.” And the anticipation is palpable, as Paris has proved their cutting-edge approach to being an Olympic host in the past: Women athletes were involved for the first time ever at the 1900 Paris Olympic Games, and this year, 50 percent of the athletes are women, making Paris the first host to achieve gender equality in Games history.
A special segment of adventurous travelers will purposely book itineraries with long connections in layover cities just to leave the airport and explore for a few hours or days between flights.
Getting the right to live and work in another country can be a long and difficult process. But that’s not always the case for those with money to spend.
The 2023 Miami Grand Prix proved to be the pivotal race in Max Verstappen’s dominant and historic performance en route to securing his third World Drivers’ Championship title. The Dutch driver started from P9, while his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez started from pole. Verstappen sliced his way through the pack, as if in a different formula category. With nine laps remaining, he emerged from the pits and not only closed a 1.8-second gap to Perez but passed him and put another five seconds into the Mexican driver before taking the checkered flag. What we didn’t realize at the time was that Verstappen would proceed to win every remaining race of the 2023 F1 season, save for a glitch in the Red Bull matrix that was Singapore.
Destination dupes are one of the biggest travel trends of 2024. Some tourist hotspots experienced a surge of interest since pandemic restrictions were lifted. So, it's nice to find lesser-known alternatives that offer similar landscapes, vibes or cultural cachets without the hefty price tags or crowds.