Search results for

New Orleans may be home to America’s most festive thoroughfare, Bourbon Street, but Key West’s Duval Street is a close second. This two-kilometer-long (1.25-mile-long) road runs from north to south, from one end of the island to the other, and passes through the city’s historic Old Town. It’s lined with bars, restaurants, stores and galleries—many of which are among Key West’s most famous, including Sloppy Joe’s, a Hemingway hangout back in the 1930s and still a hotspot today. By day it’s mostly for shoppers, but it really heats up at night, with huge crowds strolling up and down the street, live music spilling out from the bars and a party atmosphere all around.

This 26-meter-tall (85-foot-tall) colonial monument that looks out over Mumbai Harbour is one of the city’s best-known landmarks. Built by the British as a triumphal arch to commemorate the 1911 visit of King George V to what was then called Bombay, it was also the site from where British troops in 1948 left India as the country achieved independence. Today, it’s a fun spot to hang out and people-watch before catching a boat to Elephanta Island.

One of Caye Caulker’s best beach bars is also its friendliest. Set right on the Split—a narrow channel dividing the island’s north and south portions—Caye Caulker’s most social corner invites tourists and locals to gather for a swim off an extended dock, or to enjoy a cocktail and music. Lazy Lizard’s recently upgraded look includes a variety of umbrella-covered wooden picnic tables, seating under palapas, and a new beach extension with steps leading into the shallow sea areas for easy entry. On the menu, you’ll find typical bar bites: burgers, fish tacos, and full meals like a lobster plate. The bar holds occasional full-moon parties, live music, family-fun days, and beach volleyball tournaments.

When you first show up at Bodega, you could easily mistake it for a popular neighborhood taqueria. Between the Airstream trailer serving tacos and the picnic tables, it looks like a low-key spot. It is that, but as you see the Ubers full of models and clubgoers arriving and disappearing into the small taco joint, you get a sense there might be something more going on. Look around for a guy with an earpiece at the back of the room and tell him your friend sent you, and you might just get directed to a back door that looks like an entrance to a Porta Potti. Pass through here and you’ll enter a graffiti-filled men’s washroom. It’s only after passing through yet another door that you will enter one of South Beach’s hot hidden nightclubs....

Wynn Las Vegas, and its younger sister Encore, are known as some of the nicest properties in town, and for good reason. The suites are spacious and clean, the beds are comfortable, there is a lot of room in which to spread out and the views are stellar. Beyond the rooms themselves, the rest of Wynn is equally as beautiful, with fine art located throughout the property, very helpful staff, high-quality restaurants (all of which have at least one vegan option on the menu) and a general ambiance that feels classy, not trashy. This is a great hotel for honeymooners or couples, or for people who want a high-end Las Vegas experience that makes them feel like more than just another visitor in the city.

Travelers should visit Taronga Zoo as much for its harbor views as for the 4,000 resident animals (who get to see them all day long). Ferry 15 minutes from Circular Quay and take an optional Sky Safari cable car, included in the ticket price, and you’re in an exotic land of giraffes, elephants, and bongos as well as native echidnas, wombats, and Tasmanian devils. Wildlife tours, zookeeper talks (including impressive bird shows), and special events such as the Twilight at Taronga summer concert series are on the calendar, and a tented camp accommodates overnight guests who help feed select animals before a sunset dinner set against the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Tent cabins feature decks that lure campers out of bed for sunrise.

The Peak 2 Peak Gondola that connects Whistler and Blackcomb mountains was considered a glitzy and expensive PR move when it opened in 2007. Today the 1.9-mile span, the longest unsupported span in the world, ferries hikers, bikers, and of course, skiers and snowboarders to the slopes they seek. Best of all, the Peak 2 Peak provides access to alpine wilderness usually reserved exclusively for the athletically inclined. (This is the adventure I take my 83-year-old mother on in Whistler, and she is blown away, as is her 8-year-old grandson.) Flying through the air, 1,431 feet up with hardly a support tower in sight, is a thrill. The 11-minute ride soars above snow walls, wildflower meadows, Fitzsimmons Creek, and several trails down, around, and behind the Whistler peaks.

This old brick building in the area of Majorna houses rehearsal rooms for many bands, and is very much where it all began for a lot of the leading acts from Gothenburg. It is also an occasional concert venue, dance hall, and poetry event host, and has a small café. It’s a nice hangout for laid-back alternative music and culture lovers.

Skip the hassle and haggling of street souvenir shopping—and be assured of the quality of the goods—at this government-run emporium stocked with examples of all of Rajasthan’s signature arts and crafts. It’s easy to get carried away amid the swirl of colors and textures, surrounded by hanging wooden puppets dressed in traditional garb, shelves lined with bright blue-and-yellow pottery, and stacks of block-printed and tie-dyed textiles. Larger items like rugs, trunks, and furniture (including bed frames, cabinets, and doors) will probably need to be shipped, while giftables like painted picture frames, carved figurines, pillow cases, brassware, and embroidered wall coverings should fit nicely in a second suitcase.

Get down and dirty on an unforgettable spelunking experience at the Venado Caves, 45 minutes from La Fortuna. The caves were formed some 15 to 20 million years ago by tectonic shifting and erosion from underground streams. In them, you’ll see stalagmites and stalactites galore, and get the chance to check out colorful frogs and fascinating marine fossils and learn about the bat communities hanging right over your head. The experience is real (and really humid)—so wise adventurers bring insect repellent, knee pads, and an extra change of clothes. Waterproof your camera, too.

St. Kitts’ water taxis—basically anyone with a boat willing to make the crossing to Nevis—will drop you right on this beautiful stretch of sand, making Oualie Beach the perfect day trip. Once on land, head to the Oualie Beach Resort, where you can hang with guests and locals at the on-site restaurant and bar. If you’re feeling adventurous, ask the bartender for a sample of one of the house-infused rums, made with a variety of local plants and herbs. Afterward, walk down to the beach, where you’ll find watersport vendors and even a small spa for some additional relaxation.

With its medieval churches and soft rolling hills covered by vineyards, Kakheti is Georgia’s answer to Tuscany. Among the region’s most charming places to stay is Chateau Mere, located near Telavi, the largest city in Kakheti. The place calls itself a chateau, but the quaint, turreted, rough-hewn stone complex feels slightly like a ramshackle estate of an eccentric, over-hospitable uncle who treats hotel guests like friends. Owner George Piradashvili is gregarious (even by Georgian standards) and is the entrepreneur behind the excellent Winiveria winery. He opened the hotel in 2011 because he wanted a place for his friends, who are mostly Georgian musicians and actors, to stay in. The living room is crammed with photos of Georgian celebrities who usually stay here, along with a piano, antlers galore, Georgian textiles, and an antique gramophone that all create a homey feel. The 15 guestrooms have pine floors and tasteful, minimal furnishings. Most guests prefer to hang out by the pool or on the terrace, taking in the romantic views of the lush Alazani Valley and the dramatic Caucuses mountains beyond, drinking the owner’s juicy Saperavi wines or the aromatic white Khikhvi, and tasting his house-cured meats and stringy, briny artisanal cheeses. The hotel also arranges grape-picking and crushing activities, cheese-making and bread-baking demos, and horse riding. Piradashvili also owns the romantic lakeside Royal Batoni hotel.

The renowned Meadowood Resort mixes the grandeur of a chalet with the amenities of a five-star resort—located in a private canyon within minutes of downtown St. Helena. The shaded, secluded property revolves around 99 rooms, most of which have high and exposed ceilings, private patios or balconies, wainscoted walls, and beds so comfortable you may never want to get up. Other amenities make Meadowood distinctive, too: Many rooms have heated bathroom floors; some also have deep soaking tubs. Elsewhere on the 250-acre property, all guests have access to the on-site spa, which was renovated in 2017; an on-site fitness center; hiking trails; tennis courts; and a daily wine reception. There’s even a croquet lawn—feel free to grab a mallet and hit some balls or sign up to take lessons with the Napa Valley’s only croquet pro. Of course the on-site restaurant, The Restaurant at Meadowood, is another big draw. More casual meals can be ordered from The Grill. Guests are entitled to a complimentary house car for transport into St. Helena or Yountville.

Pick up any glass in Turkey and chances are there’s a letter P on the bottom of it, standing for Paşabahçe, Turkey’s top manufacturer of glassware and housewares. Blue-glass eye amulets (nazar in Turkish) that ward off the evil eye are sold everywhere in Turkey, but the items here are actually locally made. They range from simple, silver-dollar-size keychains to hefty, gilded wall hangings. Other souvenirs include the tulip-shaped glasses seen in every teahouse in town and ornate Ottoman-inspired vases that look like they could have been lifted from Topkapı Palace. Another contender for your collection: a piece of twisted blue-striped çeşm-i bülbül (nightingale’s eye) glass, a Venetian glassblowing technique made distinctively Turkish.

The only building on sheltered Apantima Bay, this funky beach bar with rooms is one of the reasons the tiny island of Antiparos has suddenly become fashionable. Hanging with the skimpily clad in crowd doesn’t come cheap: If you’re not staying in one of the nine quietly chic suites, you’ll have to fork out handsomely for a sun bed. The payoff is chilling under juniper trees with a detox smoothie, idly watching athletic beach babes paddleboard into the sunset. There’s an alfresco massage and yoga pavilion; a stylish boutique where you can pick up caftans, scents, and sandals; and a 26-foot bar for sundowners and tuna burgers with wasabi mayo.