The top 5 day trips from Tokyo for hikes, hot springs and surf

What could be more exciting for a kid to see than puffing volcanoes, crackling glaciers, dense rainforests and blinding white salt flats?

A recent visit to Governors Island came a few days after a conversation I’d had with my father in which he’d instructed me to act like a tourist in my own city. He’d started by asking simply how I was filling my summer weekends, and I answered honestly that most of my free time was spent reading in one park or another and going to bars in my Brooklyn neighborhood. “New York City,” he reminded me (with earnest intention to inspire, no righteousness detected), “has more things to do in it than you’ll be able to see in a lifetime.”

In every corner of Japan, there are echoes of Ghibli film settings. The country’s most successful anime studio launched in 1985, and its films have become emblematic of Japan’s offbeat, inventive character. It’s no surprise the opening of the Ghibli Park in November 2022 proved so popular. Tickets are released three months in advance but, almost a year on, they’re still like gold dust due to high domestic demand. There are no rides at the park either. Instead, it’s been designed as a place to “take a stroll, feel the wind, and discover the wonders”, according to its founders.

There was a time when accommodation options in Japan tended to fall into three categories: glossy international chains, dull homegrown business hotels and basic ryokan (traditional inns), which despite their atmospheric tatami mats and wooden sliding doors were often light on comfort and mod cons. But new options abound, particularly for the cultural traveller. 

A Japanese resort company is converting an iconic former prison into a 48-room luxury hotel.

The Atacama Desert in Northern Chile has been a bit of a secret destination for those who love stargazing and other-worldly hiking terrains. It is home to ALMA, the world’s largest radio telescope and many hotels in the area have their own telescopes and guides to lead their stargazing experiences. This is also the place to climb sand dunes, indulge in hot springs and hike through salt flats and the aptly named “Moon Valley.” Awasi, a Relais & Chateaux property, has created the ultimate luxury oasis for those who want to explore this adventure destination with a more bespoke approach.

The first time I traveled solo, I was 15 years old. A shy and budding tennis player, I spent two months crisscrossing Austria, Switzerland, and Germany via Eurail on a junior tennis tour.

Costa Rica is home to everything from steamy rainforests and misty cloud forests, to still-smoking volcanoes and sublime beaches strung along Pacific and Caribbean coastlines.

Terry and Al Hershey can afford to live anywhere they please after their successful careers—she in the corporate offices of Time Warner, he running businesses in medical device manufacturing and contract research and development. So, when they loaded up their 34-foot RV at their Bonita Springs, Florida home and hit the road to scout a second retirement locale, they headed to what might sound like a surprising place: Traverse City, Michigan, a small town (population 16,000) 250 miles northwest of Detroit, that sits on a bay opening to Lake Michigan. In 2021, the Hersheys moved into a 132-year-old, 5-bedroom Victorian three blocks from Grand Traverse Bay, where they spend six months a year with their goldendoodle and Aussiedoodle. Now both 76, they hike, bike, kayak and motorboat and can choose from scores of musical performances a year at the nearby Interlochen Center for the Arts and by the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. “We wanted a summer base,” Terry explains. Why not spend all year in Traverse City? They don’t mind the cold (they lived for many years in Colorado), but find the lack of sunshine during the winters in Traverse City too dreary, she says.

Life's a beach in California, and so much more. When the coastal fog lifts, 840 miles of beautiful shoreline truly earn the Golden State its gilded moniker.

Arizona has its icons of the American West, but the Grand Canyon State has more layers than you might expect.

Summer in New York City means outdoor festivals, al fresco dining, and day-long picnics in the park. But it also means mystery street smells, sidewalks so hot they could melt diamonds, and the dreaded subway car with a broken AC. Even die-hard New Yorkers need a weekend away from the mayhem, and when the weather is warm, there’s no better place to escape than the beaches near New York City.