Tested and Reviewed: 10 Travel Umbrellas Worth a Spot in Your Suitcase

Alaska Airlines is launching two new routes from its West Coast hubs and bringing back another it tried out last summer — but full time.

Thinking about travel to Europe this summer? I’ll whisper this two-word, game-changing suggestion in your ear: Swiss Bliss. Switzerland is a spectacular vacation escape, promising plentiful pampering, playful diversions, culture (music festivals, art experiences, unique museums—from sports to science, film to food) and stellar gastronomy. Taste Chasselas wine; its white grapes are grown in the terraced Lavaux vineyards along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva, where vintners produce artisanal batches that are rarely exported, so 98 percent of their singular sips can only be savored within the country. Discover abundant natural beauty and peaceful hideaways. Hike Alpine mountains. Swim in glistening lakes. Picnic amid wildflower meadows. For high-speed outings, ample opportunities abound: boating, road cycling, mountain biking, paragliding, skydiving and white-water rafting. Transportation within this tidy nation, especially via its SBB trains, is smooth and swift, accessing scores of destinations. (For itinerary details and surprising delights: My Switzerland Tourism.) Internationally renowned for training extraordinary hoteliers, hospitality is a revered profession, which adds smiles to your stay. Choose from a wide variety of accommodations—campgrounds to chalets to castles. If your vacay preference tends toward one-of-a-kind, five-star hotels, this article shines on three favorites, which are among French entrepreneur and winemaker Michel Reybier’s impressive collection of wellness-promoting properties.

As the sun descended into the horizon, a Jumeirah Maldives Olhahali Island speedboat whisked us to a secluded sandbank that, at first sight, was deserted. Our arrival, however, revealed a solitary pergola draped in gauzy fabric and adorned with fresh flowers, moving in the breeze.

Capital A—the parent of budget carrier AirAsia that’s owned by tycoons Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun—is merging its various airline affiliates across Southeast Asia in a deal valued at 6.8 billion ringgit ($1.4 billion).

Next month, Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung, the co-founders of the Brooklyn-based design studio In Common With, plan to open Quarters, a shop housed in a 19th-century TriBeCa loft. The 8,000-square-foot space is laid out like a well-appointed home: Guests enter through the library and can wander the great room, bedroom, dining room, kitchen, bar and lounge at their leisure. Everything within — furniture, lighting, art and even the pantry provisions — is available for purchase. Ozemba and Hung collaborated with several of their creative friends on the objects and décor that fill the space. They designed the tiling throughout with the New York City-based artist Shane Gabler, while a fresco depicting eels with earrings by the painter Claudio Bonuglia adorns a portion of the bar and lounge, which will open for evening service beginning this summer. The furniture on display is a mix of restored vintage pieces and new designs by Ozemba and Hung, some of which can be customized with imagery drawn up by various tattoo artists. “We’ll be able to sit down with people and play,” Ozemba says of the space’s potential to spur conversation and inspire new projects. “Retail shouldn’t be so serious. Take off your shoes and have a glass of wine.”

At the risk of sounding like a culinary simpleton, I’ve always been a fan of buffets.

Even as the grounding of the Max 9 prompted Alaska Airlines to cancel thousands of flights in January, the carrier came out relatively unscathed in the first quarter. And that’s partly because its business travel fully recovered to 2019 levels. 

American Airlines is gearing up to launch its new Flagship onboard products with a big update to the soft product.

International travel is back. In 2023, the number of global air passengers reached nearly 8.5 billion, or 27 percent above 2022 levels, and 94 percent when compared to 2019 figures, according to Airports Council International (ACI).

Passing over the Atlas Mountains in 1925, the French military photographer Marcelin Flandrin spotted a Barbary lion walking through the sand. Flandrin had flown the route often enough to realize that the sighting was uncommon. He took a picture, which he published as a postcard sold to travelers visiting Casablanca.

Planning a vacation this summer? Yeah, you and just about everyone else.

Holland America Line is celebrating a pair of sustainable seafood certifications—one from the Marine Stewardship Council, and the other from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.