Beach tips

Green is the overwhelming color on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

What’s your idea of beach heaven? A rocky path down to a secluded Mediterranean cove which is home to a simple beach shack and not much else? A wild expanse of Atlantic beach fringed by dunes and pounded by breakers? Or an elegantly faded old seaside town with a crescent of white sand and a handful of family-run hotels and restaurants, perhaps? From the Baltic coast to the Black Sea, the Atlantic to the Adriatic, we’d love to hear about the European beaches or seaside towns that have won your heart.

The first thing that struck me about Luka was the silence. My wife, Caroline, and I had driven our rental car from Split north along the Croatian coast to Zadar and taken an hour-and-a-half ferry ride to the island of Dugi Otok. Then we had driven the island’s length southwards, through pine forest and scrub, to arrive at this tiny fishing village, where we would spend the next week. Both of us were slightly wired from driving on foreign roads. But the strange spell of Luka put an end to that.

Aman, Rosewood, Oetker and Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, as many luxury travelers know, are regarded as the top ultra-luxury hotel brands in the world with exquisite rooms, unbending service and amenities that get more over-the-top by the day.

It’s easy to get lost in the glitz and glam of Miami.

When the halfway point of the year hits, it’s the perfect time to be out on your next adventure. Sitting pretty just outside of soaring peak-season prices, June’s sunny summer days in the northern hemisphere are ideal for exploration. In the southern hemisphere, June brings the dry season and incredible opportunities to embrace nature. 

As the summer season in Greece officially begins, new properties are set to open to lure visitors to this perennial favorite. The marquee islands Mykonos and Santorini are, as usual, the setting for new vacation options but so are islands across the island chains that aren’t usually in the conversation.

New Jersey might be one of the most underrated destinations in the US. Sandwiched between New York City and Philadelphia, the Garden State is often delegated to the shadows (or as a punchline to its urban neighbors). But this state has plenty of charm—from its 130 miles of Jersey Shore beaches and sprawling natural sites (like the Pinelands biosphere reserve and the country’s largest collection of cherry blossom trees) to its historic riverside towns and sky-high mountains.

Sandra has recently returned from her native Azores, where she was researching the upcoming Pocket Azores guidebook, out in October 2024. Here she shares her local knowledge of the archipelago to help you choose the best island for your trip.

When Andrew Scott’s eponymous character in the hit new Netflix series Ripley travels from Naples to the village of Atrani, the rickety bus has the road almost to itself; a solitary Vespa passes going the other way. When he tracks down Dickie Greenleaf at the beach, the rich American and his girlfriend are the only people sunbathing on the pristine sands.

With swimmable harbours in Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki and across Denmark’s cities, not to mention plenty of ways to enjoy the sea, from kayaking to urban fishing, there’s often a seaside air to Nordic cities in summer, and especially in Oslo.

No one appreciated the rural English landscape more than a certain corn merchant’s son from Suffolk. John Constable made it his business to paint bucolic splendour, and perhaps no one has ever done it better. And when he went on holiday, on his honeymoon no less, he chose one particular village.

Sometimes, when you travel, you arrive somewhere so ridiculously picturesque, so dictionary-definition of how you expect the country to look, that you half suspect it was built as a film set, or has been “Disneyfied” specifically for tourists.

In the battle to safeguard the planet’s endangered ecosystems, Canada is a global leader. Some of the world’s oldest, best managed, and biodiverse national parks reside north of the 49th parallel, collected under the umbrella of Parks Canada, a growing network of nearly 50 parks inaugurated since 1911.

With soft golden sand and clear, blue waters reflecting the rugged peaks of the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe’s beaches are astonishingly beautiful.

Small-ship specialist Windstar Cruises is finally back in growth mode.

The 2023 Miami Grand Prix proved to be the pivotal race in Max Verstappen’s dominant and historic performance en route to securing his third World Drivers’ Championship title. The Dutch driver started from P9, while his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez started from pole. Verstappen sliced his way through the pack, as if in a different formula category. With nine laps remaining, he emerged from the pits and not only closed a 1.8-second gap to Perez but passed him and put another five seconds into the Mexican driver before taking the checkered flag. What we didn’t realize at the time was that Verstappen would proceed to win every remaining race of the 2023 F1 season, save for a glitch in the Red Bull matrix that was Singapore.

With its white-sand beaches and green palms aplenty, Miami is an aesthetically pleasing tropical paradise – but it can be more or less so depending on when you visit. 

Royal Caribbean's family-friendly private island is about to get a bit more crowded — with Gen Xers.

From stunning views to local ingredients, custom shower treatments to shark sighting, these are some of the most unique–and luxurious–spa experiences around the world.

"Massive seaweed blob invades Florida beaches."