Dancing Till Dawn on the Albanian Riviera

Demand for travel is high and rates are even higher – an average of $1,600 per night for hotel bookings during 2023/24 festive season. Happy (but stressed) travel advisors and suppliers are delighted to see you swarming back, often in record numbers. The only challenge is meeting your expectations, something that has never been more difficult. Fifty-seven percent of you say, “Creating a travel experience that best fits my expectations is more important than price.” Making sure you have a bon voyage these days takes more time and creativity, even if it’s often hidden behind those smiles. Welcome to the post-Covid travel industry.

For nearly a century, the Monte-Carlo Beach hotel has been welcoming well-heeled guests—including Grace Kelly, Leonardo DiCaprio and Rihanna—to the French Riviera. After two years of renovation, the hotel reopened last year with a chic, minimalist redesign by architect India Mahdavi that pays homage to the 1930s. The reborn Monte-Carlo Beach features three restaurants, a PAOMA spa, and a new emphasis on sustainability.

Jeff Bezos was recently snapped with fiancée Lauren Sanchez, singers Katy Perry and Usher, actor Orlando Bloom, and socialite and influencer Derek Blasberg vacationing in Dubrovnik, a coastal city in Croatia.

Traditional food has a stronghold on Athens’ dining scene, and Greece as a whole. Widespread respect for classic dishes means that family recipes are often untampered with, even at restaurants, but contemporary newcomers have also found their voice in the sea of tradition.

As our hot, stuffy plane approached Bodrum, the seaside resort city on Turkey’s southwest coast, I closed my eyes and imagined a cool plunge into the crystalline turquoise waters of the Aegean. It was late July, and I was going home for vacation, despite warnings about the record heat. Southern Turkey is always hot in the summer, but the thought of sea breezes and swimming made it seem a desirable destination — especially after spending the last month in a heat wave in Geneva where air-conditioning is all but banned.

You can’t escape the orange. That’s what travelers this summer have been reckoning with — swaths of tangerine, traffic cone and burnt sienna on maps indicating record high temperatures around the globe. Four concurrent heat domes from the southern United States to East Asia descended on millions — Phoenix residents enduring 31 days of 110-degree-plus temperatures. Italians in more than a dozen cities under extreme weather warnings. And in South Korea, at least 125 people were hospitalized for heat-related conditions at the World Scout Jamboree.

‘Slipping through my fingers all the time / I try to capture every minute …,” mourns Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! as we drive along a dusty road lined with goats and olive trees to Kefalos beach. I glance over at my girl – rosy cheeks, sun-kissed hair, phone glued to hand – and I’m overcome with emotion and involuntarily snort tears down my face.

Although the legend of Dionysus—a Greek deity responsible for wine and other pleasurable pursuits—is centuries old, the mythological figure is still influencing modern-day Greece. The nation’s indigenous grapes and unique terroir create one of the world’s most exciting wine-producing countries, but given Greece’s vast and mountainous geography it would take as much time to visit all the different regions as it did to build the Parthenon.

Henry Miller once wrote, “The light of Greece opened my eyes, penetrated my pores, expanded my whole being.” Greece can be enlightening — and nowhere more so than its capital city, Athens. But it’s also true that, in the summer, it can feel burning hot, with an average temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit.

Greece will limit daily visitors to its famous Acropolis next month in an effort to control crowding.

Among the many wonderful things about Greece is that everyone has a favorite island—and everyone is right. For veteran Forbes travel contributor Jim Dobson, that magical isle is Sifnos. Reachable by ferry from Athens in a little over two hours, Sifnos has beautiful beaches, numerous hiking trails along the Aegean Sea and a remarkable 237 churches. Here’s where to eat, stay and play on Sifnos.

When thinking of city breaks in Hungary, Romania and Greece, certain places will instantly spring to mind: Budapest, Bucharest and Athens, the much-admired capitals. But in 2023, it’s time to make space on your travel wish list for some up-and-coming urban hotspots in these countries: the European Capitals of Culture 2023. This year, why not get under the skin of a secret city that's rich with art, history, gastronomy and vibrant local communities? Step forward Veszprém, Timișoara, and Elefsina: it’s your time to shine.