Art travel tips

From Moorish monuments and Roman ruins to Gothic gargoyles and modern marvels, these cities have glorious design masterpieces. 

I was raised in the Coachella Valley, a destination known for its excessive heat, older demographics, and Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

With its white-sand beaches and green palms aplenty, Miami is an aesthetically pleasing tropical paradise – but it can be more or less so depending on when you visit. 

Sedona is celebrated for being a luxury haven in Arizona, satisfying the senses with elegant resorts, rejuvenating spas and superb restaurants that blend beautifully into the natural surroundings. Not everything worth seeking out is expensive, which can help you keep your budget in balance after indulging in awe-inspiring experiences like drifting over the desert in a hot-air balloon and bouncing through the backcountry on a Jeep tour. Regardless of the reason, here are 12 free things to do in Sedona.

Where-oh-where does a “top things to do in Las Vegas” list end?

Santa Monica, California is the site of a new museum devoted to science fiction. SCI-FI WORLD: The Experience, is arriving in the beach city May 27th, bringing props, replicas and images from Star Trek, Star Wars, DC and Marvel films, Doctor Who, and more.

Most travelers visiting Istanbul for the first time tend to stick to the hotspots like Taksim Square and Sultanahmet when booking a hotel in the city—which makes sense if you’re hoping to check off the most famous attractions in Istanbul. But once you’ve visited the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, taking a ferry ride over to the Asian—or Anatolian—side of Istanbul is where you’ll find the more local-leaning attractions.

No place in the world enchants the collective imagination quite like Paris. In the City of Light, you’re encouraged to savor every moment, from beginning the day with a warm, crusty baguette to toasting the evening with glasses of wine on a terrace under the twilight sky. Some of the best places to indulge in these simple pleasures (and those more elaborate) are Paris’ storied hotels, which have a reputation for impeccable service, opulent accommodations and exquisite fine dining.

Asian and Pacific Islander people have played a profoundly significant role in shaping American history, contributing to the rich heritage of the United States in countless ways.

Miami is most known for being a hub of Latin American culture with a 24/7 party atmosphere, and that’s not wrong. But as one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country, the city clearly has even more to offer every sort of traveler. 

Home to the Dukes of Marlborough since 1705, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Set in over 2,000 acres of Lancelot “Capability” Brown landscaped parkland and designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, who also designed Castle Howard, Yorkshire, this imposing palace is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. The Baroque style palace is a fittingly grand location for an exhibition celebrating figures from fashion, one of the UK’s most successful industries. The just opened Icons of British Fashion features a line-up of world-class designers and labels, with each fashion house taking over a significant room.

The inaugural MedBodrum festival is set to unfold this May in Bodrum, a charming town where the Mediterranean meets the Aegean. This new cultural event, spearheaded by Sahir Erozan, the visionary behind the esteemed Maçakizi Hotel & Villa, promises to bring a fresh vibrancy to Bodrum's already picturesque landscape. MedBodrum aims to celebrate the Mediterranean lifestyle through an impressive array of food, art, music, and a strong commitment to sustainability.

As one of Arizona’s most alluring desert cities, Sedona has long ignited the imagination of adventurers, artists and mystics. Now wine tours and film festivals have added to its eclectic vibe, with natural and cultural worlds coming together. 

Recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1982, the historic center of Florence boasts a vast collection of medieval and Renaissance art and architecture, despite its relatively compact size.

For the last few years, American Express has sponsored one of the world's most popular music festivals: the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Southern California, running April 12-14 and 19-21.

It’s hard to pick favorites when it comes to Washington, DC’s neighborhoods, simply because there are so many wonderful ones. 

In a city renowned for its historic buildings, making your mark as an independent hotel requires a Herculean effort. As such, One Aldwych, London merits high praise.

It’s difficult to calculate how many works of art are exhibited in the UNESCO-inscribed historic center of Florence – compiling a comprehensive list of things to see and do would be an encyclopedic endeavor. The collection of world-class museums such as the Uffizi and Galleria dell’Accademia draw in thousands of people daily, but these comprise only a fraction of the Tuscan capital’s heritage. 

The magic of hospitality is staying in a place that isn’t anything like home. A castle, a treehouse, a farm, a yurt: all such places promise an escape from the every day, especially when combined with luxury flourishes that boggle the mind. I am still wondering how ice showed up in the Gobi desert at the Three Camels Lodge in Mongolia or how blueberries came to be served at breakfast at the Explora Lodge on Easter Island. Or, in the case of the Four Seasons in Madrid, how a hotel combined seven historic properties into one sensational art destination.

Antigua is one of our Best Places to Go in Central and South America for 2024, part of our global guide to the Best Places to Go in 2024—find more travel inspiration here.

Walt Disney wasn't shy about sharing even his most ambitious plans. In October 1954, while Disneyland was still under construction, the "Disneyland" television series debuted on ABC. Each episode gave viewers up-to-date progress reports on Walt's groundbreaking theme park in Southern California.