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This hotel is on our list of The 11 Best Hotels in Chicago.

Set directly across from the Art Institute of Chicago, this former members-only men’s gymnasium is now the Chicago Athletic Association, which is part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection. Enter at street level off Michigan Avenue and walk toward the back to find a staircase that leads to the old swimming pool, now a venue for parties and pop-up concepts. Take the nearby elevator to the restaurant, Cindy’s, easily the best rooftop scene in the city, with highly Instagrammable terrace views overlooking Millennium Park, the swooping Frank Gehry–designed bandshell, and Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate (aka the Bean).

Park yourself in the second-floor lobby and hang with locals as they tap away on their laptops and sip lattes by the two oversize fireplaces. Walk through that expansive by Roman & Williams–designed room, where light beams in through ornate stained-glass windows, and you enter a warren of table games and darts, all festive and typically open to the public. There’s also the secret six-seat bar, the Milk Room, a relic of Prohibition, and the James Beard Award–winning Cherry Circle Room—a sexy, dark restaurant with a circulating martini cart and a meat-centric menu.

Upstairs in the 1893 landmark, 240 guest rooms reflect the building’s former life, with gym horses as foot beds, working fireplaces in some rooms, plasterwork ceilings, ornate carved wood wainscotting, and a clubby vibe. Some of the rooms are rather small, but the location is hard to beat, and the cozy, wintry ambiance makes it a popular (and fun) place to spend a weekend. And because the CAA keeps an eye on its water conservation, sources its food locally, and adheres to strict recycling standards, eco-conscious travelers can feel good sleeping here.

The resplendent Raffles Hotel reopened in late 2019 to great fanfare after two years of restoration. Originally built in 1887 as a 10-room hotel, it now features 115 suites with oriental carpets and teak floors to complement four-poster beds and colorful Peranakan-tiled bathrooms. An in-room tablet controls everything from the mood lighting to calling your butler for a glass of bubbly. All have a private veranda to enjoy balmy evenings outside.




The building was declared a national monument in 1987, so the façade has changed little, but the hotel’s food and drink concepts have been revamped with a focus on marquee restaurant collaborations with the likes of Jereme Leung (yi) and Hawaiian-born Jordan Keao (Butcher’s Block). Not forgetting Singapore’s rich food culture, the hotel offers a self-guided Raffles Singapore Hawker Food Trail video hosted by hawker champion and Makansutra founder KF Seetoh. Raffles also offers an exclusive private tour of the Intan, a home museum filled with more than 1,500 objects from Peranakan culture.





The famous Singapore Sling continues to be a draw at the evocative 1920s Malayan-style Long Bar and its peanut shell-covered floor. The iconic drink now has sustainable twist: the hotel plants one native tree in the Kalimantan or Sumatran rain forest for every 25 Singapore Slings ordered.

When it comes to safari experiences, South Africa is filled with luxury lodge selections. But what sets Jaci’s Safari Lodge, and the adjacent Jaci’s Tree Lodge, apart is their location in off the radar Madikwe Game Reserve (Big Five territory), their amazing hospitality and their perfectly on-point style. Magnificent Madikwe is located in the North West Province, on the border with Botswana, and the southern edge of the Kalahari Desert’s famed red sands. It’s a stunning landscape for a safari that looks quite different than what you find in the reserves like the luxe Sabi Sands around Kruger National Park and is just as accessible. Arrive via car on paved roads from Johannesburg in just about 4 hours or hop on a quick hour long scenic flight with the excellent Federal Airlines that will take you to an airstrip about 15- minutes drive through the park from the lodge — you’ll be greeted by a safari vehicle and on the way may just encounter a herd or elephant or pride of lions as we did.

Upon arrival at Jaci’s Safari Lodge you’ll be greeted by the beyond friendly and professional staff and offered a welcome drink in the gorgeous, vibrantly colored lounge and dining room area while your luggage is whisked away to your tent or suite. Jaci’s Safari Lodge offers six vintage posh Tented Suites, two privat eFamily Suites and two ultra luxe Starbed Suites, which have the option of sleeping al fresco under the stars listening to the sounds of nature — a rhino was just below us against the fence when we stayed making noise as he stomped and munched. But if sleeping al fresco isn’t for you, don’t worry as the Starbed Suites are in proper glass, steel and concrete structures with interior bedrooms completely closed off from the outside. There are more options at the adjacent Jaci’s Tree Lodge, which offers eight Treehosue Suites on custom wooden stilts connected by raised walkways that appear to float above the ground.

The food here is delicious and Madikwe Game Reserve is a hidden secret among South African parks and filled with dozens upon dozens of big cats (so many they had to remove a number of lions over the years) as well as two packs of rare wild dogs and a healthy rhino and elephant population. The guides are amazing and the bush dinners truly special. They even have a program that allows you to rent high end Canon DSLR cameras for your safaris that will bring out your inner wildlife photographer — we used these and the experience was a highlight of the trip.

Barista Parlor introduced artisanal coffee to Nashville when it opened its lofty, art-filled space in a former auto repair garage in 2012, serving top-notch small-batch roasters from around the country such as Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, and Stumptown. Two local outposts later, the company has evolved into a roaster-retailer, importing and roasting its own coffee beans for the first time. Try the zesty, fruity Daredevil or the cocoa-inflected Golden Sound while you take in the interiors, which pay homage to Tennessean talent: Doughnuts come from nearby bakers including Five Daughters Bakery in Franklin, and an enormous pixelated mural of a ship by Nashville artist Bryce McCloud covers the back wall.

This lovely, nostalgic shop has been selling traditional Hawai‘ian designs—bright and botanically themed—alongside contemporary creations by owner Michael John Gillan for decades. The classic buy is a kapaeke (an heirloom quilted handbag), but you can pick up everything from USB-stick holders to kits that teach the craft. The oldest retail quilt company in Hawai‘i, it has catered to local royalty, as well as Hollywood stars, and pioneered the islands’ fabric-art tradition in Japan. Its instructors offer lessons and demonstrations at Waikiki’s Beach Walk every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to noon, as well as at the Big Island’s Queens’ Marketplace every Sunday from 1–3 p.m.

This 34-mile paved bike trail wraps around the River Mountains and loops from downtown Boulder City through a part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, past Lake Las Vegas, through the outside corner of Henderson, and back. All told, the route presents bicyclists with a challenging and diverse path on which to spend a day. There are even some spur trails from the main thoroughfare that link to Hoover Dam (through a series of old railroad tunnels), downtown Henderson, and beyond. The most challenging portion of the main trail is between Henderson and Boulder City, where a series of three hills—dubbed the Three Sisters—prompt even the fittest atheletes to huff and puff for a while. Services are available at various spots along the trail, and bike rentals are offered in Boulder City and at Lake Las Vegas.

When you’re considering Peruvian souvenirs, things like coffee, pisco, and alpaca scarves come to mind. But Peru is also known for ceramics, and you can find marvelous examples at Seminario’s. Its founders have taken motifs from Peru’s past and made them their own, offering ceramics that blend ancient and modern graphic designs. Buying a practical souvenir like a coffee mug ensures that your presents will be put to good use, while other more unique and purely artistic pieces can make you look at ceramics in a whole new way. Visits include a short video presentation on the studio’s history, a tour of the workshop and, sometimes, meeting the founders themselves. Warning: the on-site store will likely have you buying as much for yourself as others, but don’t worry—the workshop ships everywhere.

Just 7.5 miles north of Avignon, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is heaven for red wine lovers. Home to 80 growers, the village produces more wine than the entire northern Rhône region collectively, using several of the appellation’s 14 permitted grape varieties, including grenache and syrah. Find your favorite at Maison du Vin Vinadéa, which offers between six and 10 free tastings each day—plus bottles for sale at vineyard prices. The shop features more than 200 different wines—including rare white Châteauneuf-du-Pape, red magnums, and, depending on the season, rosé and white wines from Côtes du Rhône, Tavel, Gigondas, and Rasteau—so you’re guaranteed to find something you like. In 2019, Vinadéa plans to launch a museum and wine bar for further enjoyment.

Like many Hudson Valley inns, Wm Farmer & Sons owes its existence to a young New York couple who decided to quit city life in favor of greener pastures. In this case, it was Kristan and William Kirby Farmer who moved to Hudson and transformed a 19th-century structure into a 13-room inn. Spread across two main buildings, rooms feature a mix of dark grays, browns, autumnal oranges, farmhouse reds, and the occasional plaid pattern on the chairs and sofas. A few annexed suites off to the side also include full kitchens with sleek appliances like ovens and stoves. The on-site restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday and offers a constantly changing menu of meat and seafood dishes, plus a daily happy hour with seasonal cocktails.

Offering something more immersive than classic resort dining, Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru has a four-course menu that can be served right on the beach. Watch a chef prepare your gourmet Maldivian lobster dinner right in front of you while you listen to the soothing sounds of waves lapping at the shoreline and enjoying the fresh sea air. Alternatively, choose the Sharkpoint option and tuck into sea scallops and lobster on a secluded stretch of sand. For a dose of culture, head to the open-air Naiboli Bar on a Friday night and take in a traditional bodu beru performance on the beach.

Along with Kreuzberg’s Curry 36, Konnopke’s in Prenzlauer Berg is one of the most famous currywurst stands in Berlin. The two couldn’t be more different aesthetically, though. While the former has a fairly loud and brash character, Konnopke’s is a gentler, family-run affair that has been serving up street snacks in the same location since 1930. Set below the U-Bahn tracks at a busy rail and traffic junction, the stall offers currywurst (chopped pork sausage in a sauce of ketchup and curry powder) with or without skin as well as a range of other sausages, meatballs, and french fries. Enjoy your treat at one of the standing tables or, in colder weather, in the covered eating area.

On the steep hills above the truffle-obsessed town of Livade in central Istria, Croatia, a man named Vlado Tomažič makes olive oil on his family’s farm. When my husband and I rented the apartment, Casa Maršić (casamarsic.com), adjacent to the farmhouse, we found it the perfect base for exploring the nearby medieval hill towns. We visited Motovun-Montona and Oprtalj-Portole, where we ate fuži, traditional Istrian pasta, with fresh mushrooms and grilled lamb chops at the fantastic Tončić agritourism (agroturizam-toncic.com). We happened to be at the farm during the October harvest and helped Vlado’s friendly crew rake the olives from the trees, taking frequent breaks for gemišt—white wine and sparkling water. Classic Journeys offers seven-night tours of Istria. This appeared in the August/September 2014 issue.

This huge buffet restaurant, designed to look like an old hacienda, offers more than 120 dishes every day. Hacienda Santa Martha has extensive grounds with play areas for kids, an artificial pond with pedal boats, and even movies for kids projected inside an old DC-4 airplane. Sample seven different kinds of mole, have meats and seafood grilled to your liking, and fill up on soups, salads and almost any Oaxacan dish you can imagine. It’s a great option for families and picky eaters because you can choose what looks tastiest - or try a bit of everything until you find something you like. Hacienda Santa Martha is open from 1:30 to 6:30 pm daily except Monday.

Los Danzantes is a hip restaurant offering contemporary Mexican cuisine. It’s located on Alcalá street, in the same building that houses the Oro de Monte Alban jewelry store. It’s in a large partially covered patio space, with adobe walls and a koi pond on one side, and a bar made of recycled materials. Many of the items on the menu are made with traditional Mexican ingredients, but combined in new and interesting ways, and presented artfully. If you’re not feeling adventurous, there are also a number of pasta dishes to choose from. For dessert, the cascada de chocolate (fondant cake), served with vanilla ice cream will satisfy any chocolate cravings you may have—but order it in advance because it takes about 20 minutes to prepare.

La Ciudadela has been the go-to market for handcrafts for nearly 50 years, and it features crafts and handmade objects from all over Mexico. Expect to find everything from textiles (blankets, tablecloths, and hand-embroidered clothing) to ceramics, plates, cups, and serving dishes. Other items to be had here include mirrors, furniture, jewelry and hair accessories, and all manner of small and large handcrafts, including hand-beaded masks. Toys, dolls, and stuffed animals made by hand by artisans from Chiapas are also on offer. The market is open daily.