Feb 6, 2025 • 8 min read
22.01.2025 - 11:47 / nytimes.com
In 2025, travelers who are reluctant to abandon overcrowded hot spots like
Barcelona and Lisbon and take advantage of the near euro-dollar parity — which makes traveling to Europe more affordable for U.S. visitors — are instead striking a balance by booking quieter “detour destinations”: lesser-known places close enough to take a side-trip from a popular city.
Reims, France (near Paris), and Brescia, Italy (near Milan, one of this year’s 52 Places to Go), were among the most popular detour destinations that are seeing an increase in searches on Expedia. European travel agencies have also seen an uptick in bookings for Montserrat, another 52 Places item, an hour’s train ride from Barcelona; Normandy from Paris; and Sintra from Lisbon.
Following another year of record-shattering heat, the summer “coolcations” trend continues to rise, with more travelers looking to replace hot southern European destinations like Greece and Portugal with more temperate climates in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
“Noctourism,” or nocturnal travel, is another trend emerging from the desire to escape daytime heat and a growing interest in stargazing and other celestial events like northern lights sightings.
“We are calling 2025 the year of Iceland,” said Jennifer Schwartz, a co-managing partner at Authentic Explorations, a New York-based travel company that specializes in Europe. “Although the next full solar eclipse isn’t until 2026, people are paying attention because of the cool climate and ideal location for stargazing.”
Tromsø, Norway, is another prime destination to witness the northern lights that is trending in searches on Booking.com.
Rail travel continues to grow as an alternative to air travel within Europe, particularly among environmentally conscious travelers and those looking to travel at a slower pace.
Railbookers, a travel company that specializes in train vacations, says 2025 will be the year of “tailored train trips,” with customers looking for customized itineraries and experiences.
“Rail travel has been growing in popularity over the last several years and is increasingly seen as not just a mode of transportation, but as an integral part of the vacation,” said Frank Marini, president of Railbookers.
Switzerland, Italy, Britain, France and Ireland are among the most popular European destinations for rail vacations this year, the group said.
Feb 6, 2025 • 8 min read
First came the coronavirus pandemic. Then came so-called "revenge travel." Now, it seems like the mad dash to Europe is an annual phenomenon that's here to stay.
It’s hard to imagine a more archetypical New England town than Litchfield, CT. Tucked into the northwestern edge of Connecticut, it’s the kind of small town that would inspire a George Durrie landscape or a comfort-television drama, with a village green that’s brimming with cafes and shops and streets lined with stately Colonial homes and institutional landmarks (America’s first law school, for instance). But tucked behind its pastoral charm and old-world graces, too, are signs of a more modern underpinning: dozens of striking mid-century modern buildings, designed by some of the era's most prominent architects, including Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer.
"New Orleans is a city of mood,” chef Serigne Mbaye tells me one Wednesday morning in September. We've been discussing the merits of Parkway's po'boys and the old-school kitchen at Commander's Palace. While growing up in Senegal and New York City, Mbaye cooked with his mother, and his Uptown restaurant, Dakar NOLA, braids his memories of this time with his haute restaurant experiences and the deep-rooted African heritage of New Orleans.
Jan 30, 2025 • 8 min read
Jan 30, 2025 • 7 min read
Adults-only cruise line Virgin Voyages has announced record-breaking revenue and a tidal wave of bookings in the first three weeks of 2025. Additionally, quarter one 2025 inventory is almost completely sold out.
Low-cost airline Norse Atlantic Airways will make it easier to fly to Greece from the West Coast thanks to a brand-new flight launching next summer.
Did you know some airlines, including Air France, offer tickets that combine flights and train rides? They function much like air-only itineraries except one segment is on a train instead of a plane. Some travelers might want to do this if they are flying into a hub airport, such as Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), and then continuing on to a smaller city where there might be little flight connectivity. Booking a combined ticket can make the experience more seamless.
The warm, palm-tree-dotted beaches of Royal Caribbean's private Haitian resort, Labadee, accommodate thousands of eager cruisers every year.
I've always been drawn to nature's beauty, so for me, moving to Svalbard was the perfect decision. This remote archipelago, located in the Arctic Ocean between mainland Norway and the North Pole, is home to the world's northernmost town, Longyearbyen.
A day after Christmas, I started the final stretch of the SAS EuroBonus million-point challenge, where I would end up taking 20 flights on 16 different SkyTeam airlines over the course of 25 days in order to nab 1 million SAS EuroBonus points.