BAY tips

Chris Halbauer joins Beach Enclave Turks & Caicos as Director of Leisure Sales, aiming to enhance brand visibility and partnerships in North America.

Montage Kapalua Bay enhances its culinary operations with the appointments of Behdad Ghofrani as Director of Food & Beverage and Justin Purpura as Executive Chef, promising elevated dining experiences across the resort.

Several airports across the Caribbean have closed and airline travel alerts issued as Hurricane Beryl barrels toward Jamaica.

Jul 9, 2024 • 7 min read

Last month, the first three Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties were integrated into the Hilton Honors system — and now, nearly 400 more are available to book directly with Hilton, allowing members to earn or use Hilton Honors points at some incredible hotels.

Jun 26, 2024 • 5 min read

As Croatians tell the story, the Greek hero Odysseus was shipwrecked and held captive on the Croatian island of Mljet. Visiting in May, I and six other sailors embraced the myth when the motor on our 54-foot yacht failed.

Jun 21, 2024 • 6 min read

A sandy, 15-mile spit that reaches across Arcachon Bay like a protective arm, Lège-Cap Ferret, on France’s western coast, is that country’s answer to New York’s Montauk, albeit dialed back a decade or two. Cap Ferret — not to be confused with Cap Ferrat, the glitzy, southeastern French peninsula with almost the same name — is a 30-minute ferry ride from the seaside town of Arcachon and features a varied, contrary, landscape: oyster farms on the tranquil lagoon, or side, and a broad surf beach on the Atlantic side (“When there are waves, they are gigantic,” says the designer and architect Philippe Starck), which has attracted Parisians since the 1950s.

I'm so sick of hearing how terrible things are in San Francisco.

Jun 12, 2024 • 7 min read

On a crisp spring morning, I trusted a horse — a bay named Sino — to show me the vast Gila Wilderness of southern New Mexico. Red rock walls rose beside us as we wove back and forth across a shallow creek separating ponderosa pine on the shady south side of Rocky Canyon from barrel cactus in the cliff crevasses on the desertlike north face. I leaned against his neck as Sino climbed a steep ridge that led to a hilltop savannah of pinyon, juniper and groves of tentacled cane cholla cactus tipped in faded yellow fruit. Surrounding them, forested mountains were unblemished by buildings or roads.

As a kid, some of the most thrilling words out of my mom’s mouth were, “Go find your aqua socks.”

Roughly halfway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the coastal town of Paraty (population 45,000) isn’t the easiest place to reach. It requires a four-hour, mostly mountainous drive from either city, a 45-minute helicopter charter or arrival by sea. It’s that relative seclusion that keeps the tourist hordes and unbridled development at bay, despite the town’s obvious appeal. Set on Brazil’s Costa Verde, with mountains covered in rainforest on one side and the emerald green waters of Ilha Grande Bay on the other, Paraty (pronounced para-CHEE by locals), preserves more than 30 blocks as its historic quarter, a grid of pedestrian-only cobblestone streets lined with whitewashed 18th- and 19th-century facades, many of them remnants of the Portuguese colonial era.

The North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii is about to look a lot better for points and miles enthusiasts, specifically Marriott Bonvoy fans: The legendary Turtle Bay Resort is transforming into a Ritz-Carlton.

Villa Sea Princess Nika prepares for its grand opening on 1st June 2024, and is deal for multi-generational families, groups of friends, and corporate getaways.

My daughter experienced her inaugural swim in Torch Lake at just five months old, mere steps from the shoreline where, a decade prior, my husband and I had exchanged our wedding vows. Her chubby baby legs kicked vigorously against the bracing cold, accompanied by an ear-piercing shriek expressing her shock. Formerly a deep, fjord-like bay of ancient Lake Michigan, Torch Lake is the state’s longest inland lake body of water, known for its icy waters and brilliant turquoise color.

Along the promenade come the crowds: drag queens spouting one-liners, farmers gossiping in Welsh, a choir out of rehearsal but still singing, and a man who raps to himself and the heavens. There seem to be as many dogs as humans, and twice as many gulls, all eyeing the fish and chips. The funicular railway up the cliff has a queue of Hasidic Jewish families clutching ice-creams, and the pier is packed with good-humoured Brummies enjoying the snooker tables and push-penny machines, waiting for the nightclub, Pier Pressure, to open. By the ruined castle a party of Australian fans of TV crime series Hinterland are gazing around in bemusement: is this really a gritty murder capital? Behind the town rise the mountains of mid-Wales; out front is the sparkling sea. This is Aberystwyth on a sunny afternoon.

Nothing says summer more than a waterfront getaway. And at these five properties you can make the most of the season, whether you want to splash in the oceanoff the Maine coast, paddle board across a reservoir in upstate New York, kayak in a Rhode Island bay, or laze by a river on a South Carolina island. You can even skirt the crowds in Europe’s capitals by escaping to the mountains of Austria where a castle on a lake awaits.

“Canada’s Ocean Playground” – the phrase emblazoned on every Nova Scotia license plate – is a call to action to get out and explore this magical province.

On a map, Nova Scotia resembles a duck or a lobster – both fitting references for a province defined by its proximity to the North Atlantic.