The Destination Samantha Brown Thinks About Daily

10.01.2024 - 15:22 / forbes.com / Samantha Brown

Emmy-winning travel expert Samantha Brown is constantly on the move. The host of Samantha Brown’s Places to Loveon PBS, which recently kicked off its seventh season, spends more than 150 days a year crisscrossing the globe exploring cities big and small.

Forbes Travel Guide caught up with the Brooklyn resident while she was on a train to find out about the Midwestern city that wowed her, her favorite airports and the destination she thinks about daily.

Where should people travel this winter?

Our very first show is in Darwin, Australia. Any part of Australia is great this time of year. It would be a last-minute trip, but maybe this is a good time to plan for next year. It is summer, so it’s a perfect time to head down, and it’s just a phenomenal place.

If you haven’t made any plans yet for winter travel, head to some of my favorite places, like Puerto Rico and Jamaica. They are easy to get to, lots of flights. I love New Hampshire — that’s where I’m from. The mountains of New Hampshire are beautiful this time of year for skiing and winter sports.

Is there a destination that surprised you?

There are places that could be special, but they’re just untapped. One of those was Madison, Wisconsin. I loved it. It was a beautiful, laid-back city right on the water with a lot of Native American history as well as a great lifestyle. I appreciate those destinations because they’re not the destinations people expect.

As we hear about travel becoming overcrowded and everyone’s going to the same places, I think travelers are looking for those destinations that give them that sense that they’ve been somewhere really nice and special, they’ve relaxed but without the masses. Maybe it’s more affordable because of this.

If it was a country, Wisconsin would be the fourth-largest cheese-producing country in the world. The cheese there is off the charts, and there are many places you can enjoy it.

But also, they have this whole different eating culture called supper clubs, which were established about 100 years ago. Anyone can go, even though it is a club. It’s a restaurant with a more clubby feel, meaning we go to a special room to have a cocktail and then maybe go to the dining room to have dinner. And there’s this sense of a more unique dining experience than you’ve ever had.

As travelers, everyone is food-centric. This is a very different way that [Wisconsinites] have inhabited that food space. And we went there during the winter as well, and I love winter destinations. We understand why people want to escape winter, but I like to enjoy winter, and this was a place right on the lake that’s frozen. It’s such a unique place and a unique time. It’s a way to look at a city that we might hear about all the time and never