The holidays are an expensive time of year — especially if you're hoping to travel to visit loved ones or head out on a peak-season vacation.
18.09.2024 - 07:21 / lonelyplanet.com
Sep 17, 2024 • 5 min read
High up in the Appalachian mountains between Virginia and North Carolina, there’s a gently winding road that seems frozen in time. There are hardly any restaurants, stores, billboards or even homes on this route. Some of the only hints of civilization are rustic stone mile markers and nondescript signs signifying upcoming trails and overlooks.
This is the Blue Ridge Parkway, a road that exists solely for the pleasure of driving through some of the East Coast’s most stunning mountain landscapes. At 469 miles from end to end, it’s a delightfully meandering escape from the bustle of typical American roadways.
Growing up in the hills of Amherst County, Virginia, the Parkway was practically at my doorstep. It’s where my family went for leisurely Sunday drives, picnics by mountain streams in the summer and leaf-peeping in the fall. My childhood memories include hiking beside waterfalls, spotting bears in the forest, and scrambling to the summit of some of the highest peaks in the Appalachian Mountains. I’ve traveled all over the world since then, but I still consider the Blue Ridge Parkway to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Technically, you could drive the entire Parkway in a day, but you could also spend weeks exploring the forests along the road. There are plenty of entry and exit points along the Parkway, which means your drive can be as long or as short as you want. Here, we’ll be sharing how to drive the entirety of the Parkway in five days, but you can just as easily choose your favorite stretch and focus your attention there.
Vibes: Small-town charm and big-time mountain views.
Do: Crozet is one of the closest towns to the Blue Ridge Parkway’s North Entrance and the ideal spot to begin your journey, where you can gas up and gather supplies before hitting the road. It’s about 10 minutes from the Parkway, and also midway between the cities of Charlottesville and Waynesboro. If you want to kick off your adventure with a unique hike, the Blue Ridge Tunnel Trail is a 4273-ft-long tunnel that runs beneath Afton Mountain.
Eat: Plan to get an early start, butfuel up for your drive with a lavender latte and breakfast bagel from Mudhouse in downtown Crozet. If you’re looking for dinner the evening before you leave, Crozet Pizza claims the honor of being named “best in the world” by National Geographic.
Stay: You’ll find mostly small inns and Airbnbs in this rustic region, or you could drive a bit farther into Charlottesville, Waynesboro or Staunton for more traditional hotels. Check into the cozy bed-and-breakfast-style Inn at Stinson Vineyards, which overlooks the vines on this scenic estate. Also nearby, the Afton Mountain Inn is a boutique hotel in a 19th-century
The holidays are an expensive time of year — especially if you're hoping to travel to visit loved ones or head out on a peak-season vacation.
Amtrak is launching a new route between Chicago and Miami this fall that will whisk passengers from the Midwest to the Sunshine State in 47 hours.
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There’s never a wrong time of year to visit the Berkshires, the mountainous stretch of western Massachusetts located just 140 miles north of New York City. You can thank the fall’s vibrant display of foliage, summer’s Tanglewood music festival that draws crowds from all over the world, and a steady tide of new hotel openings to take advantage of as cozy winter getaways and for ski season. The region also has strong roots as an artists community, with a robust community of galleries, independent boutiques, and museums. And for city dwellers looking to stretch their legs, the Berkshires is also home to scenic hiking trails and winter slopes for every activity and ability level.
Waiting in a rental car line is high on my list of things I try to avoid after a flight. This was confirmed on a recent trip to Washington when I saw hectic crowds squeezing around the construction at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. This time around, I avoided them all with Kyte, a rental car company started in 2020 that delivers cars right to you or offers pick-ups and drop-offs at lots near select airports.
Amsterdam, like many other European cities, is facing an overtourism problem. The numbers don’t lie. In the year 2000, the Dutch capital broke a record when it welcomed over 4 million visitors. In 2019, the city’s enthusiasm for unbridled tourism had curbed: 10.2 million visitors came to Amsterdam, which has a population of about 820,000, that year and spent 21.8 million nights in the city.
“S cottsdale topped the list of destinations for my sister’s bachelorette,” says Alexis Vazquez. Vazquez wrapped her maid of honor duties last month. Her voice has an edge of relief as she chronicles the logistics of planning her sister Reina’s dream bachelorette in Arizona. “Planning a wedding can be a nightmare, but people underestimate how complicated it is to throw a successful multi-day bachelorette party.”
There are plenty of amazing leaf-peeping opportunities in the US. A romantic road trip to see the covered bridges of New England is one, taking an air balloon ride to see the foliage from above is another. But the most relaxed and nostalgic way to experience fall in all its glory is by train. There are multiple vintage railroads in the United States that will transport you back in time while you admire the fall colors, but few do it as well as the East Broad Top railroad.
Sep 20, 2024 • 6 min read
As a citizen of three countries , the United States, Poland, and Portugal, I am acutely aware of cultural differences. These differences extend to different attitudes towards raising children.