Art travel tips

While Milan is well known as a global fashion and design hub, it’s also one of the most exciting art cities in the world and art could easily keep any visitor fully occupied for days. Here are some of the best art museums to visit, highlights in each, along with suggestions of where to stay and eat.

You may have missed the chance to spend the night in Barbie's Malibu DreamHouse or Shrek's Swamp, but don't fret, because Airbnb just took its once-in-a-lifetime stays and experiences up a notch. On May 1, Airbnb announced its latest category, Icons, a new vertical for “extraordinary experiences hosted by the greatest names in music, film, television, art, sports, and more.” Airbnb's goal is to bring some of travelers' wildest dreams to life—from witnessing the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games along the River Seine in Paris (on a terrace in the Musée d’Orsay designed by Mathieu Lehanneur, the designer of the torch and cauldron for the Paris 2024 Games), to spending the night in the Ferrari Museum in Italy (and taking a lap with Scuderia Ferrari ambassador driver Marc Gené while you're there). With overnight stays in jaw-dropping locations and experiences you won't soon forget, these listings certainly live up to their name.

At Patina Maldives, Fari Islands, the tranquil beauty of the archipelago meets cutting-edge artistic and environmental consciousness. This year, the resort played host to Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar, a master painter renowned for his dedication to sustainability in art. His latest project, "Life Energy", is a series of unique 'Living Paintings' developed during his residency, which vividly embody his artistic vision and his commitment to environmental care.

A slew of exciting new hotels have been popping up in Honolulu — and starting June 1, there will be a new lifestyle hotel in the heart of one the city's most vibrant neighborhoods.

These days, there’s no need to visit a museum to see otherworldly art when you’re on vacation. Many of the nation’s top hotels are dabbling in the illustrious world of collecting themselves. It’s not unusual for a boutique hotel to partner with a local gallery to display a rotating array of pieces or for a property to commission new works to unveil in its lobby or garden.

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.

The culturally rich city of Copenhagen has plenty to keep visitors busy for many days, but it’s also ideally situated for day trips to a variety of other interesting and scenic destinations in Denmark and beyond, bringing to mind knitted wool sweaters, colorful snow-topped houses and warm hygge vibes.

It was, literally, a circus (in a good way) in the terminals back in 2016 when San Diego International Airport's (SAN) arts program launched its performing arts residency program by inviting Fern Street Circus to spend four to six months inside the airport developing and performing site-specific new work.

Amid velvety green valleys and oak-covered hills, more than 425 wineries flourish on 63,000 acres of vineyards, producing some of the nation’s best pinot noir, zinfandel and chardonnay — 99% of which are sustainable. Welcome to laid-back Sonoma, located an hour north of San Francisco (depending on traffic), yet a world away. 

Norway’s capital city is famous for Vigeland Sculpture Park. Rightly so, for the park featuring 212 sculptures of celebrated visionary Gustav Vigeland has long been one of the country’s leading free tourist destinations.

It’s impossible not to fall under the spell of the Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town. Equal doses of old-world elegance and contemporary comforts, this iconic pink hotel has been a touchstone of Cape Town's history since its launch in 1899.

The 60th edition of the art extravaganza that’s the Venice Biennale runs until 24 November at the two main venues Giardini and Arsenale. as well as countless offsite locations, official and unofficial. There are 88 National participations this year, with four countries participating for the first time: Republic of Benin, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, and Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. Here are eleven of the must see country pavilions.

Saturday morning, 10am, and I’m sitting at a café table on a cobbled street in the Beşiktaş neighbourhood of Istanbul, sipping a glass of çay (Turkish tea) and waiting for breakfast. By the café entrance, a plump, grey-haired man in a crisp white apron is sharpening a knife, before slicing through what is generally acknowledged to be the largest doner kebab in Turkey. The kebab weighs 100kg, a meaty monster slowly cooking from the outside in. Our guide, Sinan, tells us that Black Sea (Karadeniz) doners from this area are always the best – all of it will be gone by mid-afternoon.

Croatia’s fabulous mishmash of cultures – from ancient Greeks to Romans, Venetians, Austrians, Hungarians and Italians – has left a rich legacy all around the country. You’ll see it in the Venetian architecture of Rovinj, Korčula, Dubrovnik and Hvar, the Habsburg townhouses of Zagreb and Opatija, and the ancient Roman ruins of Istria and Dalmatia. You’ll taste it in the delicious cuisine where the Adriatic and central Europe meet and mingle.

The creations of Arizona-born Orlando Dugi, a member of the Diné Nation, are nothing if not dramatic: gowns glittering with delicate beadwork, silks embroidered with symbolic flora and fauna. Some have been exhibited at places like the Denver Art Museum and the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. While his imagination is fueled by his upbringing—days spent watching his grandmother sew and nights stargazing at his family's sheep ranch—Dugi also finds inspiration in Santa Fe, which he's called home since 2010. “All the tribal, colonial, and Spanish history—it's all here,” he says. “It's very small, but it's also pretty international.” New Mexico's capital city is set to draw a global audience as host of the inaugural Santa Fe Native Fashion Week, the first of its kind in the country, held from May 2 to 5, where Dugi will present highlights from his mens- and womenswear collections. When he's not designing, he enjoys connecting with Indigenous culture on the ancestral lands of the Tewa people—or kicking back with a margarita.

Ashland is known for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, but there is far more to this Southern Oregon city than the bard and its resident deer population.

With its ever-growing skyline and mansion-laden private islands, Miami can come across as a playground for the rich. But does it really require a hefty bankroll? It just depends on what kind of vacation you're looking for.

For a harried mom, the recipe for a perfect Mother’s Day is undivided time with her loved ones without the hassles of waking up early, cooking, and doing dishes.

To each their own Genoa. One of the main Mediterranean seaports, with good connections to Milan and just a short distance from the Alps, the city has surprises in store for every type of traveller. A trip to Genoa is an opportunity to amaze friends, partners and family – and to enter a different world. A romantic Genoa for couples

While July and August are renowned as the festival months in the UK, the spring season in Morocco is when culture comes alive, with May and June being the best months to visit to experience festivals that incorporate music, art, nature, and celebration all across the country. Morocco’s first LGBTQ+ founded and led luxury travel company, Inclusive Morocco, can design full trips staying at some of the best hotels and incorporating authentic experiences for those wanting to head to Morocco during this celebratory and community-led time.

In the 16th century, Antwerp, Belgium, with its busy docks along the river Scheldt, was a booming center of trade and one of Europe’s most influential cities, attracting artists, intellectuals and entrepreneurs. In 1576, Christophe Plantin ran a prestigious printing business (one of the continent’s largest) in the center of the city, a half-mile from where, a few decades later, the painter Peter Paul Rubens would build his own studio and semicircular sculpture hall, modeled after the Pantheon. Over the years, while other long-established port cities like Venice and Barcelona evolved into throbbing tourist centers, Belgium’s second city largely kept far away from the spotlight, yet it’s always quietly maintained a reputation as a place for innovation and creative expression. In the 1980s, it became an important fashion hub with the emergence of the Antwerp Six: a group of young designers, including Ann Demeulemeester, who had been educated at the city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts.