I did one of the most famous hikes at Zion National Park in the winter. Wading through frigid water was worth it to avoid summer crowds.

Millions flock to the national parks every year to witness spectacular fall color light up the Great Smoky Mountains or to see the otherworldly geothermal pools in Yellowstone. Last year, in particular, was a banner year for national park visitation, according to newly released figures from the park service: The parks welcomed 325.5 million visitors to the more than 400 national park sites. The visitation numbers are up 4% from 2022, though not a full rebound from the years leading up to the pandemic when the parks saw nearly 330 million visitors.

It was a bluebird morning at the Alta Ski Area and Carol Bowling, 76, was looking for fresh powder.

Setting out to choose Europe’s top national parks was no easy task.

For skiers and snowboarders, it’s hard to do better than a trip to Park City. Not just because it's home to Deer Valley and Park City Mountain, the largest ski and snowboard resort in the US with 7,300 skiable acres. Or because it’s got one of the most action-packed ski towns as well as hotels that span everything from the cozy Washington School House right by the town lift to the St. Regis Deer Valley with its new slopeside aprés spot, the Vintage Room. It’s also because of access and convenience. Park City is one of the easiest ski towns to get to from a major international airport—just a 35-minute drive from SLC and within an hour of four Salt Lake City-area ski resorts, including Alta and Snowbird—and packs a punch as a year-round destination for dining, the outdoors, and festivals, like Sundance and the Deer Valley Music Festival.

We hop from a small fishing boat onto an even smaller panga, as we’re about to enter Mexico’s Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, located along the East Cape of the Baja California Peninsula between Cabo San Lucas to the south and La Paz to the north. I’m here with my two teenage daughters, and they are about go snorkeling for their first time. They are excited and a bit nervous. “Will there be sharks?” they inquire for a third or fourth time. “Definitely not,” our guide responds with a smile. Which comes across as comforting if not convincing.

Landlocked in the heart of the Balkans, Serbia is the crossroads of different cultures and historical influences, making it a unique and diverse travel destination.

On April 8, parts of Indiana will experience its first total solar eclipse since August 7, 1869, and its last until September 14, 2099. Up to 600,000 eclipse chasers could arrive on April 8, many of them heading to cities like Indianapolis, Bloomington, Muncie, Richmond & Wayne County and Terre Haute.

No landscape is as iconically associated with Arkansas as the Ozark Mountains. These forested highlands are crucial to the state's self-conception as a natural, rugged wonderland that incubates deep folk culture and a cherished sense of independence. The Ozarks dominate northwestern Arkansas, where they are divided into two geologic categories: the Springfield Plateau and the Boston Mountains.

A total solar eclipse, one of astronomy’s most magnificent events, will grace portions of the United States on Monday, April 8, 2024. It will be the last total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States until 2044. The eclipse is will enter the country in Texas and travel through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine along with small parts of Tennessee and Michigan.

The best hikes in Colorado are so much more than a chance to get some exercise. They’re also immersive experiences that invite travelers to slow down, be mindful, and engage all of their senses—like pausing to hear the call of a white-breasted nuthatch or breathing deeply to inhale the scent of pine.

February was a relatively quiet month in terms of travel advisory updates from the U.S. State Department.

Over the past decade, I've traveled to nearly every US national park solo, many of them multiple times. At several parks, I started planning a return trip before I even left.