Why your next dream vacation should be an AmaWaterways river cruise in France

Dec 26, 2024 • 8 min read

Miami is one of the most popular vacation spots in the United States, and for good reason.

About 140 miles east of Miami, Royal Caribbean's private Bahamas island, Perfect Day at CocoCay, receives thousands of eager families virtually every day of the year.

In the children’s section of Albertine, copies of “Le Petit Prince,” stories of Tintin and Babar and other much-loved French classics are for sale beneath a sapphire-colored ceiling gilded with hand-painted constellations. What’s arguably New York’s most enchanting bookstore opened a decade ago inside the palatial Payne Whitney House, an early 1900s landmark built by the architect Stanford White on the southeast corner of East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue that’s served as the headquarters of the French Embassy’s cultural and educational activities in the United States for the past 72 years.

As a frequent cruiser, I always book interior cabins. They're often the most economical option, though they aren't identical across cruise lines.

Planning to drive between France and Italy in 2025? You can now take the Mont-Blanc Tunnel, which links the two countries beneath the Alps, as it has been reopened after months of renovation work.

This is part of Conde Nast Traveler's spotlight on family cruise travel. For more, visit cntraveler.com.

Heritage Line is offering an “Early Bird” discount on 2025 boutique river cruises in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Check your email for a holiday gift: You can easily earn 4,000 Virgin points for just a few minutes of work by linking your Virgin Red account to your Flying Club account.

The drive south through Normandy was familiar. Or at least it would have been if not for the thunderclaps and warm sideways rain. While we waited at a rest stop for the weather to ease up, my husband, Andrew, and I showed our sons, ages two and five, pictures from the last trip we took abroad together before they were born, when we traveled on the same road through western France. We'd had a bag of cherries on the center console and the heater going full blast in a rented Morgan convertible. Last year we decided to re-create that journey, punctuated with overnights at some of the grandest chateaus in all the land, this time with our two small chaps. There's a hidden Beauty and the Beast quality to the setting of Hotel Château du Grand-Lucé, our first stop of the trip, in the Loire Valley, about an hour north of Tours. The approach to the 80-acre estate is through a brief, sleepy village, Le Grand-Lucé, and a locked gate that obscures the sight of the 18th-century limestone mansion inside. As we spilled out, punch-drunk after nine hours in the car, swallows were climbing and diving around the slate roof. The four of us stood there, chins tipped, ensorcelled by the place.

A Costco member shelled out nearly $300,000 on an around-the-world cruise package purchased through the warehouse club.

Set high in the French Alps just minutes from the Swiss border, Lake Annecy is a prime destination in both summer and winter for European vacationers—but it's often overlooked (or simply unknown) by many Americans in favor of nearby ski (and après) meccas Chamonix, Grenoble, or Geneva. The lake's northern shore includes the city of Annecy, a bustling mini-metropolis full of high-end boutiques and dining, museums, and attractions—and through its medieval Old Town runs a series of mountain-water-fed canals, which are home to flocks of stunning white swans and lend the city its reputation as the Venice of France.