Visiting the Pueblos Mancomunados, Mexico

Located on Central America’s northeastern coast, Belize has a distinctly Caribbean feel which sets it apart from its neighbours, Guatemala and Mexico. A visit here reveals an astonishing diversity of attractions and experiences, including hiking through jungles to enigmatic Maya sites and visiting national parks teeming with wildlife. Here are five incredible places not to miss.

These days, Babba Rivera is practically synonymous with her haircare line Ceremonia. The brand's Instagram feed is filled with shots of her lush brown hair, drenched in guava-scented products; signature pops of hibiscus pink, lime, and tangerine, are both splashed across bottles of deep-conditioners and her envy-inducing wardrobe. In that way, the line between work and personal life is always blurry—something she was reminded of when she recently spent a month working from Mexico City. 

Last week the State Department released a vague warning about Mexico travel to Playa Del Carmen, saying it had “received information about a security threat,” and prohibited government employees from traveling there for several days.

IHG Rewards members can make their points go farther when redeeming for award stays at 21 hotels in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Want to visit the United States’ hottest destinations this summer, but don’t want to pay crazily inflated prices? TripAdvisor (our parent company) just released its 2018 Summer Vacation Value Report which gives you the low-down on the best places to visit and the least expensive week to go. Surprisingly, Memorial Day week (May 28) was the cheapest time to go for more than half of the destinations, so if you want to save time and vacation days, you’re in luck.

May is here, which means Memorial Day–the unofficial start to summer–is just around the corner. Memorial Day isn’t the biggest travel holiday of the year, with many people choosing quick, local getaways (read: driving, instead of flying).

If you want to stay at the best hotel in the United States, head to the French Quarter Inn in Charleston, South Carolina. And if you’re looking for the best bargain hotel stay in the world, it’s in a small town in northern Spain. That’s according to TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Awards, which just shared the best hotel ratings for multiple categories heading into 2019.

Beachgoers are accustomed to finding small clumps of seaweed scattered around the sand or amongst the waves. But lately, visitors to beaches in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Florida might be surprised to be swimming in far more seaweed than they hoped for on their summer vacation: Sargassum.

Seen from the outside, Red Jane, a new bakery in the center of Chania, a Greek port city on the island of Crete, looks like a Berlin nightclub, with no obvious sign and a concrete facade covered in graffiti. Inside, it might pass for a New York boutique: There are Italian tiles on the floor and an exposed-brick ceiling and on a long red marble counter, lit by minimalist pendant lamps, pastries are laid out like jewels in a glass vitrine. Owned by Nikos Tsepetis, the hotelier behind the nearby beach resort Ammos (a favorite of the art and design crowd), the space is the first fully realized interiors project overseen by the London-based lighting and furniture designer Michael Anastassiades. Eyal Schwartz, the former head baker and co-owner of London’s E5 Bakehouse, created the menu. On its opening day this month, Red Jane sold out of its chocolate-filled croissants, koulouri (Greek sesame-topped bagels) and baklava swirls by noon. Locals lingered for an hour after, despite the fact that Tsepetis and Anastassiades designed the space without tables.

One of the most celebrated painters in history and a feminist icon, Frida Kahlo has her own museum in Mexico City: the Frida Kahlo Museum, otherwise known as La Casa Azul (The Blue House). La Casa Azul is not just any building, it is the bright cobalt blue house where the artist was born, grew up, and spent most of her life until her death at age 47 in 1954. According to Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera’s wishes, a few years after her passing, La Casa Azul was transformed into a museum where her paintings, personal objects, furniture, folk art, clothing, etc. are displayed for the enjoyment of all those who are fascinated by Kahlo’s work and life.

Big Bend National Park shares a border with Mexico in a stunning stretch of southwestern Texas, where evenings are defined by orange skies reflecting against red-rock canyons.  While such stunning scenes are commonplace within Big Bend, the massive desert preserve remains overlooked among US national parks. It’s never had more than 500,000 visitors in a single year since it was made a national park in 1944, making it one of the least-visited parks in the lower 48.

You don’t need to jet off to Croatian islands like Hvar and Brač to see the country’s best beaches. Coastal towns run the length of Croatia, and while they may not look like the coastal destinations in Mexico or surf havens in California that you typically equate with a beach town, they bring European charm and elegance to the concept of a town that’s centered on a stretch of coast, and whose identity is in some ways shaped by that fact. For scenic beaches accompanied by stunning architecture and non-sunbathing activities ranging from hiking to bar-hopping, these are the Croatia beaches and beach towns to visit on your next trip to Croatia.