Mother’s Day Gift Guide 2024: The Cosiest Travel Accessories

Good hotels are in the business of cherishing their guests. Hotels - at the highest end - are all about curation, which makes the products they sell in their shops particularly desirable, whether fashion, furnishings or art. Here are some presents that every mother will love.

That hottest club in town is Cookbook Club! And whether mom is in one right now, thinking or starting one or joining one, these gifts will help her prep for the most delicious social gathering of the 2020s. Prepare to be lauded as the best child (or spouse) of this cookbook club member, because these gifts are perfect.

Fragrance is superb at creating a sense of place - and they are powerful sensory weapons for luxury hotels. Whether it’s a flickering, highly fragranced reminder of a perfect holiday, a signal of a forthcoming trip or an opportunity to dip into a beautifully curated world, these candles will help your mother dream of her next vacation.

Cruise vacations are a wonderful way to visit multiple destinations in one trip and unpack only once. And while cruises may not give people multiple days in each destination, it acts as a sampler for people to discover new places that they may possibly want to return to later.

Dinner out is always a welcome gift and it’s an even better one for mothers who stay up to date on New York’s restaurant scene and want to try the ones most in demand. Getting those top tables is tough, though, even if you follow to the second the advice on the booking platform Resy about when reservations drop. (Part of the gift, then, might also be handling the reservation process instead of leaving it to your mom. )

Before joining TPG in 2021, I was a newbie to the world of points and miles. Despite traveling frequently throughout the previous decade, I was oblivious to the benefits of loyalty programs or how straightforward it could be to earn points or miles for airfare and hotel stays.

With all that moms do for us, it can be hard to find a gift that adequately expresses our gratitude. Instead of generic gifts like flowers and chocolate, experiential gifts are a more thoughtful gesture. Whether mom is burnt out and in need of a break from the family or retired and ready to travel, the gift of a vacation is one that keeps giving years after memories are made on her trip. The below list offers something for whatever mom is seeking—from elephant encounters in Thailand to truffle-hunting in Tuscany to forest bathing in the California Redwoods.

Whether you celebrate Earth Day, National Park Week or World Environment Day, you can’t escape the many ways these celebrations strive to bring more attention to the damage the industrial world can wreak on our planet. But after the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic brought the travel industry almost to a standstill, American travelers rushed back to their airports as soon as they could.

Even if you’re an experienced jetsetter, traveling is rarely (if ever) a truly comfortable experience. So why not give the mom or maternal figure you love this Mother’s Day clothing that feels terrific—and is also kind to the planet—with these eight alphabetically-listed picks from sustainable, organic, and eco-friendly brands? Better yet? All the items included in this gift guide are easy to pack and versatile so you can wear them in ways more than one.

It’s inevitable: Every spring when we pull together the Hot List, our annual collection of the world’s best new hotels, restaurants, and cruise ships, a staffer remarks that this latest iteration has got to be the best one ever. After a year’s worth of traveling the globe—to stay the night at a converted farmhouse in the middle of an olive grove outside Marrakech, or sail aboard a beloved cruise line’s inaugural Antarctic voyage—it’s easy to see why we get attached. But this year’s Hot List, our 28th edition, might really be the best one ever. It’s certainly our most diverse, featuring not only a hotel suite that was once Winston Churchill’s office, but also the world’s largest cruise ship and restaurants from Cape Town to Bali. We were surprised and inspired by this year’s honorees, and we know you will be too. These are the Hot List hotel winners for 2024.

A special segment of adventurous travelers will purposely book itineraries with long connections in layover cities just to leave the airport and explore for a few hours or days between flights.

If you travel internationally at least a couple times per year, chances are you’ve thought about applying for Global Entry. The program gives members access to an expedited line at US Customs and Immigration checkpoints, allowing them to avoid lengthy wait times that become particularly painful during peak travel seasons. Although the Global Entry application process can take weeks or months to complete in full, it's a must-have for frequent flyers who want to make their airport experience as convenient as possible.