Party tips

A total solar eclipse is not just for science geeks. Memories of April 8’s brief moments of totality—reserved only for those inside the 115-mile-wide path across North America—will live forever in the mind of anyone who experiences it, whatever the level of their scientific knowledge.

A luxury "glamping" site in the UK that claimed to offer "utter peace and tranquillity" has been ordered to close following a series of noise complaints, The Guardian reported.

For a newly minted Texan such as myself, viewing the solar eclipse in San Antonio last October was spectacular. We took a short drive to the award-winning Confluence Park, a bucolic ecosystem that features a rainwater catchment along the San Antonio River, a green roof for passive heating/cooling and a constellation of walking paths that connect to the San Antonio Missions UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Still aglow from hosting its first Super Bowl, Las Vegas is gearing up for another prodigious sports-betting event and perennial tourist magnet: the opening rounds of the NCAA Division I basketball tournament, better known as March Madness, March 21 to 24.

Mardi Gras — or Fat Tuesday — marks the final day of the Carnival season. Festivities typically begin several weeks before the big day, and celebrations are held in countries worldwide, with music, parades, dancing, feasts and lots of fun (possibly fueled by a cocktail or two).

Thailand is renowned among hard-charging tourists for nightlife in Bangkok, full moon parties on Koh Phangan island and hedonistic walking streets in Pattaya. It’s also a magnet for the bohemian and wellness crowds who flock to the mountain destinations of Chiang Mai and Pai.

While a visit to Memphis is typically defined by its overflowing abundance of music history, the city’s neighborhoods are brimming with restaurants, breweries, nightlife, and activities as diverse as the sounds that have defined its identity for generations. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with retired lawyer Peter Antonucci, who spent six years living on The World — a residential ship for millionaires. Antonucci has written three novels about scandals on the high seas.

The party of the month (year?) is underway in India, and the local airport is pulling out all the stops to cope.

Grapes have been associated with pleasure since ancient times, a symbol of Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry. These days, clusters of plummy Concords, oval autumn royals and dusky kyohos are decorating dinner tables, doubling as cornucopian decorations and low-effort snacks. “You can get a beautiful, imperfect drip and drape from grapes,” says the interior stylist Colin King, 35, who overflowed a marble urn with abundant mounds of them for the launch of his furniture collection, a collaboration with the Future Perfect, in New York this past fall. Although he uses green grapes for daytime parties, for evening events he prefers the “moody, sensual vibe” of dark varieties — like the attenuated, oblong moon drops that the artist Laila Gohar, 35, mixed with red globes and flames to form an edible monolith for the recent opening of the Essentiel Antwerp clothing store in New York. The chef Mina Stone, 42 — who runs Mina’s, the cafe at MoMA PS1 in Queens, and is a go-to caterer for art gallery dinners — favors Thomcords, a sweet, seedless hybrid she often serves with dessert to “provide heft and a colorful backdrop” for daintier confections. She also likes to roast grapes alongside seared duck breast. In London, the pastry chef Claire Ptak, the owner of Violet bakery, offers what she calls fragolina cupcakes, named for the fragola (Italian for “strawberry”) grapes that she cooks down, then purées and adds to the buttercream frosting. The fragolas “taste like a berryish Concord,” says Ptak, 49, who tops each cake with a small cluster of fruit. The frosted treats “transport you back to childhood when you take the first bite,” she says, “and then you realize they’re also very grown-up.” —

I've been going to Disney World since I was a kid, and I've grown accustomed to the routines necessary to get on the most possible rides during my visits. Whether it's getting to the parks before the gates open and beelining to popular attractions like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Peter Pan's Flight at rope drop or mastering techniques for using Disney's virtual queue system to get on rides like Tron Lightcycle / Run, I have lots of pixie-dusted tricks up my sleeve.

While many cultures all over the world celebrate the Lunar New Year, perhaps some of the most festive and highly-visible celebrations come from East Asian and Southeast Asian communities and diaspora. To honor the moment, we spoke to some contributors and friends of Condé Nast Traveler to check in and learn what Lunar New Year means to them, and how they’re celebrating the incoming Year of the Dragon. Spoiler alert: red envelopes and dumpling parties abound.

Ko Pha-ngan is world-renowned as Thailand's "Party Island."

As midnight approaches, dark groups huddle on the freezing slope of one of the seven hills overlooking the soft yellow lights of the city of Edinburgh.

Times Square in New York City and Sydney Harbour are justly famous for their New Years Eve celebrations. But for those who don’t cherish the prospect of being elbow-to-elbow with a million other revelers, here are eight alternative (and very cool) places to ring in the new year.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) will turn 50 in January 2024, and it's marking the milestone with a year-long celebration that will include special events, activities and surprises.

Some of the coolest outdoor spaces in the American West are now open for business as part of a new concept from Open Venues—think Airbnb, but for rare and unique venues. An ochre-hued sandstone cave in Moab might be the ideal setting for your rehearsal dinner or maybe opt for a lavender meadow near the Mogollon Rim in northern Arizona. The platform—which is the first of its kind—connects users with unique historic properties and outdoor landscape settings for hosting everything from a corporate event to a private wedding. The current collection of 25 venues is concentrated in the American West, but plans are in the works to take the offerings nationwide. Below are some of the coolest options in their portfolio:

Walt Disney World has a brand-new holiday party ... and it's one that is geared toward adults.

Nicholas Deniz was waiting to enter Disney World in Orlando with his clients last month when a park manager pulled him out of line.

When Samantha Brown accidentally rated a Delta Airlines representative poorly after a call, she panicked and wanted to rectify the situation. Her quick action led the airline to eventually throw a surprise party for the employee — where Brown was then able to meet the woman who assisted her on that fateful day. 

As we head toward the end of another year, all eyes in the Hindu community—and the London Condé Nast Traveller offices—turn to Diwali. This light-filled festival is celebrated by communities across the Indian subcontinent and in diasporas far beyond, marking the victory of good over evil with traditions that have been around for centuries, such as the lighting of homes with diyas, indulging in sweet treats known as mithai, and celebrating with music and dance.