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I wouldn’t recommend doing the Ute Trail hike on your first day in Aspen, especially if you come from sea level, but it is definitely a must see. Known as one of the harder hikes in Aspen, it is short but sweet. You traverse up the side of Aspen Mountain on steep switchbacks and just when you think you can’t do one more switchback and your lungs are about to burst you come to a precipice with one of the best views of the town of Aspen. It should take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to get to this point. From here you can keep hiking to the top of Aspen Mountain and take the Silver Queen Gondola down, which is about another hour and 30 minutes, or trek down the way you came on the Ute Trail.

Located on East Beacon Drive, off of Route 12 in the town of Rodanthe, is perhaps the most famous beach house in the Outer Banks. The Inn At Rodanthe was the actual setting for the movie based on Nicholas Spark’s prized novel “Nights at Rodanthe” starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane. Designed to have the look and feel of a traditional seaside inn, it features six bedrooms and suites, balconies providing stunning views of the Atlantic, and the famous blue shutters and house sign so prominently featured in the film. One can rent the house through Sun Realty and I’m sure you’d have an amazing stay. Or if you’re driving by, the house is easy to spot with beachgoers parking their cars along the street and coming out to take pictures.

Not just a wonderfully large bookstore—although it is that—the University Bookstore is also a café and a fantastic gift shop. The two-level bookstore has a textbook section for students and general fiction and nonfiction for the public, as well as a good selection of art supplies and kids’ crafts and toys downstairs. The large front room is devoted to all things fun: journals and stationery, makeup counters, bags and silver jewelry, candy and novelty items, soaps and housewares. If you’re a Husky fan, they have plenty of team merchandise, too. The Seattle bookstore has frequent author reading events (shown above: a cupcake-loving dragon sketched by illustrator Jackie Morris during a Robin Hobb reading), so check their calendar and see what’s going on while you’re in town.

Comfort food doesn’t have to be heavy and drowned in grease: just try pho, the light and flavorful Vietnamese soup that’s much loved by Seattleites. Than Brothers is the local chain, with locations all around town, but the Capitol Hill one is one of their longer-established restaurants. First-timers can start with the classic #1, medium-rare beef, before advancing to options such as tripe and tendon; chicken, meatball, and vegetarian choices are also available. The “small” bowl is a hearty, filling portion for about $5, and comes with their trademark cream puff, but add on a Vietnamese iced coffee or tea for an extra sugar-and-caffeine rush. As their menu notes, pho is particularly good when you’re feeling under the weather — Vietnam’s answer to chicken noodle soup, perhaps?

Munich’s Farmers’ Market, or “Viktualientmarkt,” is sure to please everybody. Located in Munich‘s old town, the open-air market is an overflowing abundance of fresh produce, cheese, appetizers, desserts, breads, honey, fresh-pressed juices, Bavarian specialties, spices, flowers, and more. It’s no wonder that the bustling, vibrant market attracts locals, tourists, and chefs shopping for the freshest ingredients. If you have been traveling through Germany eating bratwurst and potatoes daily, a farmers’ market picnic may be just what the doctor ordered. There are over 140 enticing stalls and shops, so the hardest part is deciding what to eat! Grab some crusty bread, stinky cheese, briny olives, and fresh strawberries and call it a day. If making decisions tires you out, you can relax with a Bavarian brew in the shaded beer garden next to the market. Open Monday-Saturday from 8am to 6pm.

The Marais has no shortage of charming stores, designer boutiques and international labels but one of my favorite additions to the neighborhood is Delphine Pariente’s namesake shop. The designer trained with Christian Lacroix, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Sonia Rykiel before launching her own business on rue de Turenne. With mid-century modern furnishings and vintage accessories, the shop looks like a true home. While those pieces are for sale, the focus of her shop is her romantic, somewhat curious jewelry which she produces from old objects. Charms, medallions engraved with messages and quotes, gorgeous earrings and bracelets share the space with old school typewriters, alarm clocks and other knick-knacks. This spot is popular among young Parisians so be sure to stop in and pick up something beautiful before skipping town.

Just across from the bus station in Belmopan, on Market Square, is the welcoming Caladium Restaurant. Serving locals and visitors since 1984, it was the first dining room in town to offer take-out service. The main room is adjacent to a gift shop where traditional Belizean art and crafts are for sale. The menu favors local dishes such as chicken with rice and beans but international options like sweet and sour pork are also available. Fresh-squeezed juices from watermelon, tamarind and papaya are available, as are imported beers and soda. I was glad I saved room for the flan, which was perfectly balanced with a caramel sauce tinged with just a hint of liquor. Breakfast is served in the morning beginning at 7 a.m. and lunch is available from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

A new Swedish pop music group perhaps? Not quite. On my road trip through Southern Sweden, an architect friend of mine insisted we stop in Malmö to see Santiago Calatrava’s building, the Turning Torso, which was modeled after his own human form sculpture, the Twisting Torso. My friend described the town as “plastic fantastic” because of the vast variation in new architecture styles here, remarking that the Turning Torso is such a notable find within its more sober surroundings. It is, after all, the third tallest residential building in all of Europe. Artsy and industrial, for me, Malmö is reminiscent of something like Dumbo, Brooklyn. Passing through on our road trip, I daydreamed of moving into a loft space in this dynamic city where a majority of the population is under 35.

Casa Vicente is an institution in this desert city—Tucson’s outpost for tapas a la española. Just south of the downtown core, a couple of blocks from the neo-Baroque façade of the Cathedral of San Agustín, this restaurant also features live music on weeknights: classical guitar, flamenco, and even tango lessons. This particular evening, we tried chipirones rellenos, a trio of baby calamari skewered and stuffed with green tomatoes and spices. In a town more known for its tacos and burros (a.k.a. ‘burritos’ elsewhere), it’s appropriate, if somewhat uncommon, to find Iberian fare. Tucson was founded in 1775 as an outpost of the Spanish empire, decades before it became Mexican, and then in the mid-19th century, it finally became part of a U.S. territory. (And, by the way, the sangría here rocks.)

When it opened in June 2021, Resorts World Las Vegas became the newest casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip—a title it will hold until the Fontainebleau Las Vegas opens at the end of 2023. The hotel, owned by a Singaporean company, has established a reputation for its food and beverage options. The star of the show is Crossroads Kitchen, the first fully plant-based fine-dining restaurant in town, with such highlights as a “foie gras” made of chestnuts and a vegan caviar made of kelp. Another standout is Brezza, an Italian juggernaut from local slow-food celebrity chef Nicole Brisson. The food court—dubbed Famous Foods Street Eats—is designed to replicate a Singapore hawker center; most dishes are woefully overpriced but include delicious versions of Hainanese chicken rice and laksa curry soup.


Accommodations at Resorts World—3,500 guest rooms in all—are divided into three different Hilton brands. The Hilton has the smallest rooms and a minimalist design. The more upscale Conrad offers larger accommodations and contemporary-feeling furnishings with splashes of red. At the top end is Crockfords, where the guest rooms are practically palatial, featuring dark tones, plush fabrics, and luxurious seating areas perfect for social gatherings. Food-obsessed travelers take note: You can use the resort’s app to order room service from any restaurant on the property.


Related: 7 Hotels to Book for “Non-Vegas” People

Award-winning chef Nobu Matsuhisa spent most of the 1990s and 2000s growing an empire of Japanese restaurants around the world. These days he’s expanding his global portfolio of hotels, too. This ultra-luxurious property, which occupies a separate tower inside Caesars Palace, was the first Nobu Hotel in the world when it debuted in 2013. It set the tone for the hotel group’s signature Japanese-inspired aesthetic that feels simultaneously traditional and modern. Refreshed in 2022, the 182 guest rooms draw design inspiration from kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold epoxy. Corridors feature carpets with patterns inspired by suminagashi —the Japanese art of paper marbling. For those who favor smaller-scale boutique hotels, this hotel-within-a-hotel concept here makes the place feel intimate—not unlike a Japanese ryokan.


The over-the-top design experience begins at check-in, which happens in a diminutive stand-alone lobby decorated with hand-hewn wood blocks. Elevators automatically read your floor with a scan of a room key, a nice touch that surprisingly hasn’t caught on elsewhere around this hospitality-minded town. Of course, adjacent to the lobby, there’s also a Nobu restaurant—the largest in the world. The restaurant offers teppanyaki-style dining where chefs prepare every course right in front of you, along with classic Nobu dishes such as miso black cod and yellowtail jalapeno sashimi.


Related: 7 Hotels to Book for “Non-Vegas” People

The country’s third-largest city, and the largest in central Vietnam, Da Nang has become one of the country’s key ports thanks to its location on both the coast and the Han River estuary. The city itself is a typical bustling Vietnamese metropolis with relentless scooter traffic, but a number of attractions make visiting worthwhile. The town’s Dragon Bridge opened in 2013, but what makes it special is that every weekend evening the steel-arch dragon that forms a part of the structure spits out real fire from its head (the bridge is closed to traffic at the time, allowing crowds to see the spectacle up close). The Marble Mountains—five hills that seem to have just sprouted up in the south of the city—are an arresting sight. The Son Tra peninsula, with a marquee attraction known as Monkey Mountain, offers some good hiking and excellent sea and city views; you’ll also find the 220-feet-tall, gleaming-white Goddess of Mercy statue here. The sandy stretch east of the city center (given the nickname China Beach by American soldiers during the war) is crowded with restaurants, bars, and some seaside hotels.

Just as Rome has the Colosseum and Paris the Eiffel Tower, so Switzerland has the Matterhorn. Located above Zermatt, this 48,195-foot wonder attracts hordes of visitors, eager to see the morning sunlight beam off its four faces, ski its neighboring mountains, or even attempt to climb the beast itself. The Matterhorn, however, is not for the faint-hearted and has claimed the lives of more than 500 people since it was first scaled in 1865—an average of 12 per year. It’s also been replicated at Disneyland in California as a rollercoaster.

Why we love it: A reimagined motel with quirky design, mineral pools, and a spa straight out of a Wes Anderson movie

The Highlights:
- Three different mineral pools for soaking in the sun
- A laidback spa with a twist on Calistoga’s classic mud baths
- Fun amenities like bikes, lawn games, and Polaroid cameras

The Review:
Inspired by classic roadside motels, Calistoga Motor Lodge sits at the end of the Silverado Trail, offering guests a casual, quirky stay in Napa’s northernmost town. The boutique property features a design by New York-based firm AvroKo, with lots of midcentury-modern furniture, bright pops of color, and retro details to transport visitors back in time. Simple yet cozy, rooms feature bold carpets, vintage-inspired fabrics, and cheeky art (think needlepoint signs reading “No selfies in the bathroom” and fabric animal heads mounted on the walls), plus tiled bathrooms with rainfall showers and signature bath products from on-site MoonAcre Spa. In addition to custom-designed hoodie bathrobes and freshly ground pour-over coffee, guests can look forward to unconventional extras like hula hoops, Mad Lib books, and Etch A Sketches for passing time between activities. If you bring along your pet, the hotel will even provide a dog bed, water and food bowls, and treats to make your four-legged friend feel at home.

Committed to local culture, Motor Lodge often hosts community events like group hikes, outdoor movie nights, and festivals. On Maker Mondays, local artisans even pop up at the hotel to host lessons in print making and more. When it comes time to relax, guests can repair to the three on-site mineral pools, all fed by natural geothermal hot springs and surrounded by loungers and cabana beds, or the whimsical spa, which offers everything from massages and body scrubs to less-traditional mud baths and salt soaks in clawfoot tubs. Afterward, soak up the sun in the spa garden, play a round of cornhole on the lawn, gather around the firepit, or grab a complimentary bike and make the short ride into town. Just be sure to borrow a Polaroid camera from the lobby so you can document your adventures at the surrounding wineries, boutiques, and galleries.

When it opened in 1889, the Jerome lured New York City socialites and European aristocrats with its mix of rough-and-tumble mountain swagger and “modern” amenities (plumbing and electricity). In December 2012, the 94-room property emerged from a five-month renovation overseen by designer Todd-Avery Lenahan. The original front desk remains, and the tile floors have patterns inspired by Ute Indian weavings. The new lobby bar, the Living Room, serves craft cocktails amid mounted deer heads, mining artifacts, and a framed antique American flag. The rooms and common spaces feel inspired by a Ralph Lauren men’s collection, with lots of plaid, leather, and rich fabrics. Even the elevators are lined with old leather belts. Minibars are stocked with complimentary snacks such as organic chocolate peanut butter cups, and downstairs, guests can dine in the Living Room, the signature restaurant Prospect, or the legendary J Bar, which once poured pints for 10^th Mountain Division soldiers and Hunter S. Thompson. The new Jerome proves that a hotel can step into the future while completely respecting the past. This grande dame remains the epitome of mountain town luxury.