Bravo Toulouse, the French city hitting all the right musical and culinary notes

With winter in full swing, you might be gearing up for a trip to some of the best ski resorts in the country. Or, if you're like me and have yet to learn the art of winter sports, you're probably just jealous of all of your friends partaking in that apres-ski life. (You know, the part where the only muscles you use are the ones in your arm that help lift a hot toddy to your lips.)

To say the Luc Alphand slope in Chantemerle ends abruptly is an understatement. The piste, graded as a black run, is more like a sheer-drop slide at a giant’s play park, coming to a dramatic halt on the pavement in the middle of town. As I sit in the breakfast room of the Grand Hôtel with a ringside view of skiers barrelling their way down the mountain, wondering whether I’ll be brave enough to join the Luc at some point, I’m all too aware that this dilemma may soon be a thing of the past. Warming temperatures and a lack of snow in the valley mean that the slope, like many around the Alps, needs a lot of artificial snow, using up precious resources. 

Four European countries now have the world’s most powerful passports.

Beads at the ready – Mardi Gras is just around the corner.

When it comes to organising ski trips, finding the “happy intermediate” level can be tricky. Friends will say things like, “It’s fine, I’ll ski blues”, then lead you down a steep red, leaving you broken and weeping before elevenses.

It was 2:38 p.m. on August 21, 2017, when day turned to night. That was the precise moment in Greenville, South Carolina, when the moon, passing between the sun and Earth, fully blocked our view of the sun.

The dog was carrying a whole baguette crosswise in his teeth. He trotted off the beach at the head of the cove, through a scrim of palms, maneuvering it between a red flowering hibiscus and a beached outrigger canoe. We followed. The dog passed a low tin-roofed house, one of only six dwellings in this roadless, remote island valley. He skirted two shirtless young men untethering a horse from a breadfruit tree. Ink covered their chests and arms in black patterns that looked like manta rays and birds. The dog went on, jauntily carrying his baguette, passing a grapefruit tree that shaded a telephone booth. Labeled “Téléphone” and containing a coin-operated pay phone, the steel-and-glass cabin looked wildly out of place in this setting. But we were in the Marquesas, where I was learning not to be too surprised by anything.

Who’s the Wizard of Oz? As far as parents in our group are concerned, his name is Pierre Paret-Solet — a locally born ski instructor who can wrangle frozen boot bindings with the flick of a wrist, scoop up myriad lost poles while skiing backwards and cajole wilful children without remotely raising his voice. And if, say, just as you sit down to lunch a snowboard happens to shoot off the side of a slope because the kids were using it as a sledge, he can retrieve it before your tartiflette hits the table. And all with a genuine smile. 

If you’ve been conjuring up images of whipping down the ski slope (or simply getting cozy during apres-ski in a beautiful setting), you might also be wondering about the best ski destinations to check off your bucket list. New data from the travel insurance experts at Compare the Market AU has recently revealed some of the objectively best ski destinations in the world to help bring your vision to reality.

Iglu Ski Announce Incredible Ski Savings in their End of Year Sale.

From Napa Valley to Piedmont, Italy, sommeliers from around the U.S. teamed up to take you on a sensory journey to lands near and far.

Manchester is located in the northwest region of England. This city has a storied history of originally being known as a hub for industrial manufacturing — but today has transformed into a trendy spot boasting spirited energy, soccer fever, tasty food, a vibrant music scene, and interesting cultural offerings.