Architecture tips

Travelers looking for something a little off the beaten path have a new flight option to Italy's Puglia region, an area known for its proximity to the Adriatic Sea, delectable food and historic medieval architecture.

Hammams have a rich history dating back to the Roman and Byzantine periods, when public baths were a central element of daily life. These opulent structures, adorned with glimmering marble and decked in delicate carvings, were quickly adopted by the Ottomans in such cities as Istanbul, too. Rooted in Islamic culture, which emphasizes the importance of cleanliness and personal hygiene, hammams reached their zenith during the 16th and 17th centuries. It's not difficult for modern visitors to imagine the citizens of times gone who made these communal spaces their own, taking part in hushed conversations, political discussions and even business transactions.

Feb 5, 2025 • 11 min read

For a window into the soul of a city, take a stroll along the waterfront: Think of the Seine walkways in Paris, the Copacabana promenade in Rio or the Charles River Esplanade in Boston. Or the nearly 14-mile palm-fringed ribbon called La Rambla, in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

Jan 30, 2025 • 8 min read

Jan 30, 2025 • 8 min read

Jan 30, 2025 • 14 min read

With the picturesque beaches, Gaudi architecture, and mouthwatering tapas and wine it's no wonder Barcelona is one of the world's top tourist destinations.

Jan 27, 2025 • 6 min read

Last year, MGM Resorts International and Marriott finalized a deal that saw an impressive collection of Las Vegas megaresorts join the Marriott Bonvoy family. Now, the gaming giant's namesake property, MGM Grand, is unveiling an extensive renovation set to uplift the resort by $300 million.

Having won a slew of awards at the Golden Globes, The Brutalist is now the one to beat at the Oscars. It’s pretty extraordinary for a film that doesn’t exactly set out to please: three and a half hours about a fictional architect of the eternally unfashionable Brutalist school, and themes about the perennial struggle between art and commerce against a backdrop of Holocaust trauma.

Jan 20, 2025 • 7 min read

Jan 19, 2025 • 10 min read

Until fairly recently, Mexico City’s most in-demand hotels were found in one of two areas: moneyed Polanco or along the skyscraper-lined Reforma Avenue. But over the last few years, a number of small, independent properties have emerged in the trendier (and expat-heavy) boroughs of Condesa and neighboring Roma, many of them moving into the graceful old buildings that characterize this verdant pocket of the sprawling capital. The most appealing hotels in this new crop tend to favor low-key charm over unbridled luxury but in a part of town that’s notably serious about design, they fit right in. Here, three of the newest standouts.

Jan 15, 2025 • 8 min read

Jan 14, 2025 • 12 min read

Jan 10, 2025 • 8 min read

Some 1,200 tourists were evacuated on Tuesday from the iconic Paris landmark, the Eiffel Tower, after reports of a fire in one of its elevator shafts between the first and second floor.

Present-day São Paulo — a sprawl of concrete towers and asphalt laid like a quilt over Brazil’s interior hills — began to take shape at the end of the 19th century, growing alongside the coffee plantations that thrived in the region’s hinterlands. But it was over the course of the following century that its most influential architectural designs were constructed, dotting the city with some of the world’s most extraordinary Modernist buildings.

When Helga Crane, the main character in Nella Larsen’s novel “Quicksand,” walked through the streets of Copenhagen, people were amazed. “Her dark, alien appearance was to most people an astonishment,” wrote Larsen, an acclaimed Harlem Renaissance author. “Some stared surreptitiously, some openly, and some stopped dead in front of her in order more fully to profit by their stares.”

You don't have to take a transatlantic flight to feel like you're in Europe this holiday season.