Mark Rothko travel tips

We wanted to pack a lot into our few days in Paris: the Mark Rothko exhibition at La Fondation Louis Vuitton (until April), and, for my techie husband, the new Maison Poincaré maths museum near the Sorbonne (monoglot polymaths can relax: it’s bilingual). We’d been too late to book for Serge Gainsbourg’s house on the Left Bank (already sold out for 2024!) but the new Quai de la Photo floating contemporary photography museum was showing work by the late Jane Birkin’s daughter, Kate Barry. We also wanted to wander round galleries in newly arty Rue Béranger in the Marais and maybe catch Franco-Gabonese artist Myriam Mihindou at Musée du Quai Branly.

It has been astonishing, in the 10 years that I have been involved exclusively in travel journalism, to see the way that wellness travel has exploded and diversified. Some trends, like forest bathing and adaptogenic smoothies, have carried with them a whiff of faddishness, but so much of what we have come to think of as wellness travel has felt so useful for helping us navigate this chaotic, confusing world: programs to better our sleep and nutrition, to practice mindfulness, even to improve sexual health. I myself desperately need some help with sleep, which I am eager to focus on when I visit the just-opened Mexico outpost of the acclaimed Spanish wellness clinic Sha later this year. You'll find a little more on the retreat in our What Wellness Is package, which explores some of the latest offerings in the category, from surviving the slings and arrows of menopause to building confidence to become a better leader back home. These stories are part of our greater push around wellness this year; look for continuing coverage on our new dedicated Travel Well vertical on our site.

Paris+ par Art Basel's second edition concluded, highlighting the city's cultural vitality and its growing stature in the global art market. With 154 premier galleries, including 61 in France, the event showcased France's thriving art scene. It featured a diverse public program in collaboration with renowned cultural institutions across six Parisian locations. This edition welcomed 15 new galleries from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Held at the Grand Palais Éphémère from October 20 to 22, 2023, the fair drew 38,000 attendees. The next edition will take place at Art Basel’s permanent venue: the iconic (renovated) Grand Palais from October 18 to 20, 2024.

When I emerge from an art gallery or a museum, the world around me looks different. Leaving the Metropolitan Museum of Art late one afternoon, the color of the sunlight is amplified by my memory of the luminous gold in a peacock’s tail rendered in a Japanese painting. Tire scuff marks on a curb near the Museum of Modern Art seem to recall the numinous power of Mark Rothko’s untitled black on gray painting.

Paris might not be the city that never sleeps but when it's awake, it's all go, go, go. This season's no different, with so many events to put on your list that it's hard to decide what to do in Paris right now. While the fall's headliners are Paris Fashion Week and the Rugby World Cup, there's a ton of new art openings, exciting new restaurants, places to stay, and more, to explore off the runway and the field.

For locals, it's a well-known fact that many of the UK capital’s best attributes are completely free to enjoy. In London you can walk through two millennia of history, delve into a cornucopia of treasures, go on a music and art odyssey, and soak in some of the most iconic views on Earth – all without spending a single penny. Here’s where to start.