Condé Nast Traveler

The languid charm of the ‘dolce vita’ lifestyle has long been the envy of travelers everywhere. Now, thanks to Italy's new digital nomad visa, it's also within reach of remote workers, making working from the Amalfi Coast or the Tuscany countryside easier than ever.

For the April 8 total solar eclipse, photographer Levi Mandel traveled to Buffalo, New York, to observe the celestial event—and the many others who journeyed for it. Below, he shares the experience through text and photos.

The totality of an eclipse is never long enough. My first total solar eclipse experience in 2017 made for the shortest two minutes of my life: the sun transforming into a blazing diamond ring, the beautiful delirium of darkness, that perfect circle in the sky. Before I knew it, the eclipse was over—and my friends and I were plotting how we could catch our next.

It’s a sight that most cruisers dread: Watching their ship sail out of port as they sprint down the pier. But for one reason or another, missing a cruise ship is a situation that travelers could easily find themselves in.

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On Location is a column that lifts the curtain on the destinations behind the season’s most exciting new releases, from film and television to music.

As someone who struggles with claustrophobia, indulging in my passion for travel can be challenging, particularly during long-haul flights.

I am sitting in a lavish four-poster bed adorned with drapes and sipping on herbal tea. The scent of lavender hangs in the air. I am wearing pajamas—and a VR headset. I breathe deeply, in and out. In front of my eyes, flowers morph from yellow to red before their petals dissolve into clouds. The clouds slowly turn into pillows, which drift through the air before shapeshifting into gently rippling bed sheets. A soothing voice speaks: “You are now entering the hypnogogic state.”

Traveling to Europe in the summer months is a rite of passage—steamy nights spent in the south of Spain, snoozy days on the most beautiful Greek islands, breezy afternoons sipping rosé on a terrace in the South of France. But as tourism levels continue to rise after a few quiet years, and peak-season temperatures climb from Italy to Croatia, is the appeal of a big European summer holiday dwindling?

Ripley, Steve Zaillian’s eight-episode adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, takes its protagonist on a jet-setting tour of Italy. After the titular con man (Andrew Scott) is hired by a wealthy New York socialite to bring his son Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) back from Europe, Tom finds himself immersed in a precarious game of cat and mouse with the Italian police when he takes on Dickie’s identity to access his money. The story takes Tom from Manhattan to Italy, where he spends time in Atrani, Rome, Naples, San Remo, Palermo, and Venice. The series shot in many of the real places, including the real seaside town that takes over for the novel’s fictional setting of Mongibello.

Two white-tailed eagles circle overhead as the rib pilot kills the power and we idle on shimmering waters, necks craning skywards as the sun bounces off the snow-capped peaks and islands that line the Bodø archipelago in northern Norway. The vivid afternoon sun has cast everything in high definition, making it hard to imagine that just a couple of months ago the peak of midwinter afforded just one hour of sunlight a day. “We have the same amount of sun each year in Bodø as Sydney or Benidorm,” says the pilot as we bid farewell to our avian friends and pick up speed again. “It’s just that here, it’s distributed differently.”

The aircraft has hit cruising altitude, there’s no turbulence, and you’re settled comfortably in your seat, eager to give the in-flight entertainment your full attention. There’s just one problem: You’re unable to clear your ears.

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With additional reporting by Sarah Allard

When Galataport, Istanbul's new waterfront shopping complex and cruise terminal, opened along the Bosphorus in late 2021, a major highlight was the revamped Ottoman-era post office, a grand open-plan space dedicated to homegrown Turkish brands. Now the site of some 250 stores, the bustling retail hub reflects a tradition dating back to the early days of Istanbul's 500-year-old Grand Bazaar, when artisans, or “usta,” composed such a lauded echelon of Turkish society that streets were named after them. Visit today and you'll still see signage decorated with odes to the Halıcılar (carpet makers), Kuyumcular (goldsmiths), Aynacılar (mirror makers), and many other craftspeople whose wares line the arcades. But contemporary Turkish creatives are also attracting global attention far beyond the walls of the world's most famous bazaar, thanks to modern twists on jewelry, fashion, furniture, and textile techniques rooted in the rich history of the Ottoman era. And in doing so, they're shaping the futures of the Istanbul neighborhoods they call home.

Me and Asturias? We go way back. I first pitched up here in the mid-1980s as a backpacking student with an Interrail pass, riding the old-fashioned trains that rattled along the Cantabrian coast from Bilbao to La Coruña. I still remember my wide-eyed delight at seeing for the first time the verdant valleys rolling down to the sea, the huge beaches pummeled by big Atlantic breakers, the fishing villages stuck like limpets to the rocky coastline. Cold climates often imply caution and reserve, but there was a friendliness and warmth about the locals that reminded me—counter-intuitively, perhaps—of the laid-back Mediterranean.

A beach is to a vacation is as ice cream is to apple pie: essential. We dream of beaches in Europe and we imagine that feeling of flaxen sand between our toes, the sounds of sea waves crashing on the shoreline, and the updrafts of salty ocean breeze. The small snag is, everyone else gets the same idea, and during peak seasons, carving out a spot on the shore to set out our picnic or recline with our beach read can feel like an impossible feat of engineering.

The best bathing suits for women are supportive, comfortable, and flattering. It's also one piece of clothing that finds its way onto almost any packing list, whether that be for a dip in the hotel pool, the ocean, or an Airbnb's cozy hot tub. As essential as a good bathing suit is for travelers, finding one we feel confident in can feel like somewhat of a daunting task. With this in mind, we did the legwork for you—scouring the sites of brands we trust like Andie Swim, Left on Friday, and Solid & Striped to discover the very best options to wear on your next beach vacation. From high-waisted sets and one-piece swimsuits to classic high-cut bikinis, there's a style for every taste and body type on our list. Below, the best women's bathing suits to wear this season, whether you'll be by the beach in Montauk or cruising through the Mediterranean.

When winter’s chill was thawed by the blossoming of spring, our family would set off for the long drive from the Oxfordshire downs to our holiday house in Le Marche, central Italy. Cruising through the arable heartlands of Europe, my heart would skip a beat as we neared the totemic slate gradients of the Italian Alps. Snaking over the Brenner Pass, it felt like being spirited to another world: a sky-bright Narnia, as we emerged blinking-eyed into the Dolomites sun on the other side. Stopping in simple, family-run hotels for the night, the breakfasts were a joyful, modest but perfectly formed ode to the Sud Tyrol locale—the creamiest Sterzinger yogurts that we savored with crimson forest-fresh lingonberries, flower-flecked cheese (for breakfast!) draped with silky threads of marjoram honey from their farm. Today, most hip restaurants are ingredient-led, but these these mountain families have been doing it for centuries.

The aircraft has hit cruising altitude, there’s no turbulence, and you’re settled comfortably in your seat, eager to give the in-flight entertainment your full attention. There’s just one problem: You’re unable to clear your ears.

Bostonians often joke that the city's many winding, one-way streets were adapted from colonial-era cow paths—routes literally created by livestock—that long predate the automobile. Whether that’s true or not, most locals agree that the more modern iteration of this city was built for runners. Boston’s green spaces, diversity of neighborhoods, harbor- and river-front trails, and quiet side streets all make this city especially well-suited for a leisurely, scenic jog.