Star tips

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch - a five star ski-ski out destination in Beaver Creek and they’ve kicked off their big birthday with the debut of a multi-year transformation of guest rooms and common spaces and new dining concepts. The changes are impressive and nicely suited to today’s mountain traveler, but what people are most excited about is the resort’s après ski ambiance.

Every September, Toronto shuts down one of its busiest downtown streets to roll out the red carpet for actors premiering their films at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). But with the Screen Actors Guild still on strike, there will be a marked absence of celebrities who had scheduled 2023 TIFF premieres, such as Kate Winslet and Robert DeNiro, from the red carpet. Thankfully, TIFF’s foundational value—celebrating independent and international filmmakers—turns out to be its greatest strength this year, as the 2023 lineup features films representing 70 countries around the world. TIFF’s commitment to diversity is emblematic of the city in which its based—Toronto, which boasts one of the most multicultural populations in the world, reflected by the more than 200 languages spoken in the city.

TIAN, an entirely vegetarian Michelin-star restaurant in Vienna, won me over with the epigram on the paper menu. “Here’s to the spinach nobody likes, the fennel nobody gets,” it began, being no less adorable for being derived from a famous Apple commercial. It included evocative pairings like “badass quince” and “sassy chanterelle.” (For what it’s worth, these also work well as terms of endearment.)

Cologne’s new breed of design hotels are a mix of historic, modern and retro-futuristic elements, often set in historic or repurposed buildings. As such, they perfectly mimic their city, whose roots reach back to the first century BCE — all while offering affordable, doorstep access to its star attractions and buzziest neighbourhoods.

A Saudi prince lent soccer player Neymar his private Boeing 747 jet to fly him to Saudi Arabia. 

A talented and committed group of locals, artists, and historians are preserving the rich history of the Borscht Belt with a new series of historical markers and cultural programming.

I want a “full force” summer this year. Snow cones, inner tubes, bug spray, camp weeks, s’mores, all of it. I had quite the schedule lined up, including a night camping under the stars to spot falling stars and a dinner party right on the beach with a bonfire to boot. So far, I kicked off this “full force” summer right with a stay at Lake Austin Spa, a proper spa but camp-vibes resort right on the waterfront of Austin’s lazy water reservoir beloved by boaters and proud Texans. It’s the summer resort for what I call “spa camp,” an indulgent adult way to savor excellent spa treatments while taking in the no-fuss hospitality of Texas from a hammock or boat dock.

In the 1950s, Los Cabos was a hidden gem frequented by Hollywood stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, and Lucille Ball. For the well-heeled, the southernmost part of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula ticked all the boxes: it boasted a remote location, exclusivity—it was primarily accessible by private plane or yacht—golden beaches with gin-clear water, and nearly 365 days of sunshine.

Set within a windswept corner of County Galway, the region of Connemara is at once stark and sublime. From the Twelve Bens mountains to the dramatic Atlantic coastline, the landscape twists and undulates, revealing pearlescent coral beaches, swathes of misty bogland and even a glacial fjord flanked by the majestic Kylemore Abbey. While the wilder quarters of this breathtaking land offer ample opportunity to test out your windbreaker, a cosy pub or restaurant is never far away. Here are six of the region’s essential experiences.

Chances are if you frequent airport lounges, you’re a Priority Pass member. Membership can be purchased outright or included as a complimentary benefit under specific credit cards and provides access to more than 1,300 lounges worldwide, across 148 countries in over 600 cities. With Priority Pass membership, travelers can enter lounges in the portfolio on their flight date, regardless of airline or class flown, often with two guests.

Planning a trip to Texas can be overwhelming.

Restaurant reservations are no longer something travelers book through the hotel concierge once they arrive. Travel industry executives attending Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas say the quickest way to the wallets of their well-heeled clients is through their stomachs, and it’s food and drink that often drives where they end up going.

I don’t know when I started using the word exotic to describe the Welsh uplands. The more commonly used adjectives are lonely, barren, windswept. But today, so close to the summer solstice, after weeks of constant sunshine, this Cambrian Mountain scene is almost African, reminding me of the uplands of Kenya. The little River Elan, far below, is fringed with blazing trails where algae has dried hard on the rocks turning salt white. The slopes are tan and umber. The line of the horizon shifts and undulates in a heat haze. Replace the ubiquitous sheep with antelopes and you’d believe you were far away from here.  

In March, as she planned for an upcoming trip to France, Amy Kolsky, an experienced international traveler who lives in Bucks County, Pa., visited Amazon.com and typed in a few search terms: , , . Titles from a handful of trusted brands appeared near the top of the page: Rick Steves, Fodor’s, Lonely Planet. Also among the top search results was the highly rated “France Travel Guide,” by Mike Steves, who, according to an Amazon author page, is a renowned travel writer.

If there’s one meteor shower to stay up for this year, it’s by far this weekend’s Perseids. The annual Perseid meteor shower will peak from around midnight on August 12 into the early morning of August 13. With a nearly new moon to keep the skies inky dark, timing for this year’s Perseids couldn’t be more perfect.

Packed with iconic museums and monuments, together with low-key treasures cherished by locals, Paris is a city that emanates "la belle vie" (the good life).

Here are eleven of London's hottest new restaurants, where culinary innovation reigns. From cutting-edge gastronomy to old school excellence and hidden gems, these are the capital’s latest dining delights.

You pass so close to towering red rock canyons in southern Utah that you expect to hear scraping or see sparks as you glide by. They loom so dramatically over you that you stare without blinking. And if you’re on board the train Rocky Mountaineer, you have glass domed and sided coaches to take it all in, all of the majestic landscape on the Rockies to Red Rocks journey between Moab, Utah and Denver.

Summer may be in full swing, but it’s never too late to rethink your warm-weather wardrobe—and that's where lightweight linen staples come in. Not only will the best linen pieces carry you through both formal and casual occasions, but they also tend to be light (a given, considering the fabric), machine-washable (for easy care and maintenance), and, of course, versatile enough to wear multiple times throughout a trip.

Considering the wide geography of the Lone Star State, there’s really no such thing as a bad time to visit Texas. While you may want to skip the soaring temperatures of the Santa Elena Canyon in summer months, winter in Amarillo is not the best time to visit the Great Plains.

A Taylor Swift fan asked a Southwest pilot to fly over the pop star's concert in Los Angeles — and to her surprise, he obliged.