This Hotel Is Perfect for Seeing Tokyo by Train (Especially If You’re Solo)

Moving abroad is never straightforward, and with kids in tow, it becomes even more complicated.

TPG has crowned the best hotels of 2024, but 2025 is already shaping up to be a spectacular year for new hotels — especially in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. One of the most exciting openings of 2025 is Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Costa Rica, and it's now accepting reservations.

United Airlines is making two noteworthy changes to its network.

On the top floor of the restaurant Genevose, a man named Fabio, who had recently won the Genoa Pesto World Championship, was gently showing me how to grind basil leaves with a mortar and pestle. “Pesto is a balancing act,” he explained to me in Italian. The leaves must be smashed and not chopped for fear the blade of a knife will over-oxidize them. Salt must be added sparingly because of how much is already in the pecorino and the parmesan cheeses. These may sound like obvious points to any semi-experienced chef, but they were relayed to me with the utmost seriousness—and the final result did not disappoint. After all, we were in Genoa, the birthplace of pesto. Minutes later, our pesto (really, Fabio’s pesto) had been tossed with freshly made pasta, and we sat down to eat our lunch. Nutty, salty, and just a little sweet, the pesto was simple—and utterly perfect.

It's been another wild year across the airline loyalty landscape, with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines raising their status requirements, Alaska Airlines acquiring Hawaiian Airlines, and American Airlines adding new features and rewards for its Loyalty Points-based AAdvantage program.

Dec 17, 2024 • 17 min read

The route between Hong Kong and Taipei was the busiest air route of 2024, while the route between Atlanta and Orlando was the busiest in the nation, according to leading data platform OAG’s new Busiest Flight Routes of 2024 report. 

The best trips that Condé Nast Traveler editors took this year remind us that the classics are classics for a good reason. Many of us have had the privilege of traveling to some of the most far-flung corners of the earth, but few things can top the simple joys of either traveling with family, returning to beloved cities, and rediscovering our own backyards.

"Will it or won't it reopen?" hotel cynics have been wondering about Waldorf Astoria New York for years. (Not me, of course. I'm an eternal optimist who always thought it was coming back. Cough.) But now, the Waldorf Astoria New York finally has a clear path to reopening day.

If evil villains skied, this cliffhanging lair in Switzerland’s Canton Valais would top their bucket list. From the outside, the new exclusive-use, three-bedroom property opening Dec. 15 looks more like a gondola station than it does a luxury chalet. The geometric fortress of concrete, galvanized steel, chimneys and solar panels sits solitary on a rocky ridge atop the ancient Tortin Glacier at an elevation of 9,500 feet. Its cantilevered glass windows reflect the surrounding pink alpenglow and bluebird skies that the 4 Vallées Ski area — Switzerland’s largest, including Verbier — is known for. Inside, the mind-clearing Scandinavian minimalism of the Norwegian architect Snorre Stinessen focuses on the elements with a blond wood grain ceiling, sauna and log fireplace. The ski-in, ski-out accessibility is off-piste, ensuring discreet and quick getaways. But fear not: Dog sleds and caterpillar-tracked buggies for those less active can be arranged by the staff, as can wine-pairing meals, massages and an emergency oxygen supply, just in case the plan for world domination fails. From about

Fresh off a $1.9 merger with Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines has big plans for using its new widebody planes with new routes to Asia.

Seattleites will have two new options to Asia on their hometown airline next year when Alaska Airlines launches new nonstops to Tokyo and Seoul.