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A staple among Upper East Side hotels since it opened in 1963, the sophisticated Loews Regency boasts a Park Avenue address and location convenient to Central Park and Manhattan’s best museums. Following an extensive renovation, it reopened as a fresh and chic retreat in early 2014. The bones of the hotel remain classic, but the approach is modern, with touches that today’s traveler will appreciate, such as free Wi-Fi. Its elegant lobby—with a striking art installation from Brooklyn artist Nina Helm—impresses with its 24-foot ceilings and the on-site salon and spa, from acclaimed hair stylist Julien Farel, is a neighborhood destination for visitors and locals alike. No classic New York hotel would be complete without a standout watering hole; you’ll want to order a cocktail at the low-lit Regency Bar.

The Indochine Hotel is a great haven in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, making your initial landing in Vietnam pillow soft. It’s a small, family run inn that caters to casual and business travelers. The location makes walking to a lot of the sites in Old Saigon an easy exercise. They are happy to arrange a pickup at the airport upon your arrival, eliminating the negotiating and direction exchanges at the terminal curb. The rooms are spacious and pleasant. Security is reassuring and there is a lift. The ATM and convenience store next door makes establishing a stash of cash and treats just steps away. Pricing varies depending on the room and season, but it is a great value no matter when you stay. The included breakfast has Asian and Western offerings, all fresh and individually prepared to order. Staff are skilled in a variety of languages and generous with directions and recommendations. The website is sparse but inquiries get a quick response. Coming from the US, you’ll be so spaced-out from jet lag when you arrive, you won’t appreciate how good Indochine really is until you’ve left. If you want a welcoming introduction to Vietnam, make Indochine your first stop.

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.

The centerpiece of Turks and Caicos is Grace Bay, on the island of Providenciales (known locally as Provo), where the miles-long sugar-sand shore routinely tops “best beach” lists for the Caribbean and the world. The inland area along this stretch of northern shoreline is where you’ll find most of Provo’s hotels, shopping, and restaurants. Grace Bay is part of the Princess Alexandra National Park. It has calm waters and a sandy seafloor with no rocks or corals to step on, making Grace Bay the perfect place for swimming, splashing along the shoreline, parasailing, and stand-up paddleboarding.

Famous since its 1998 opening as the place with the dancing fountains (further immortalized in the final scene of the 2001 film Ocean’s Eleven), the 3,933-room Italian-themed Bellagio is a Las Vegas icon. There is a fantasy feel about it, with its five courtyard pools, its indoor botanical garden and conservatory that change with the seasons, its lobby-dominating Dale Chihuly blown-glass flower sculpture, and its eight-acre lake, out of which rise the fountains. Yet following a 2015 upgrade, it also feels as modern as any hotel on the Strip. The Bellagio still does a few things the old-fashioned way: Along with the expected celebrity restaurants, there is a buffet (a long-cherished Las Vegas tradition) brought up to modern standards with an all-you-can-drink alcohol option. Throughout the hotel, service is tops, shopping is high-end, the Cirque du Soleil production O draws ’em in, and—another Las Vegas tradition—a casino with nearly the area of two football fields makes it all go ‘round, which is no doubt why everybody has to be out of the pools by 7 p.m.

The Atlantis Hotel is the focal point of Dubai‘s giant cluster of man-made isthmuses that jut out into the Persian Gulf. Even if you can’t afford to stay at this spectacular hotel, you can still go see what the decadent expat lifestyle feels like for the day by swimming with dolphins in Dolphin Bay or splashing about in the rivers, slides, and pools of Dubai‘s largest water park: Aquaventure. If that doesn’t float your boat (sorry), there’s Atlantis’s dive center, in which you can go diving in a nearly 3 million–gallon tank. You’ll literally be swimming with the sharks (and stingrays) this time. In Atlantis, don’t be surprised to find yourself feeding the rays next to a celebrity—this is one of the places they stay in Dubai.

The most famous remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall gets its name from its location on the east side of the Spree River, as well as from its collection of political and satirical murals. Originally painted just after the wall fell, the murals were repainted (or in some cases painted over) in 2009 as a way of cleaning up the increasingly decayed originals and in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Today, a fence partly protects the gallery to prevent vandalism of the murals, but people throng here nonetheless, especially in summer. A museum at the site tells the fascinating story of the structure through interactive displays, original newsreel footage, and filmed interviews with Berliners who lived on both sides.

The Roman Forum is where ancient Rome began. The sprawling archaeological park gives us just a hint of what the Roman Empire once was—a dominant and diverse society. The Forum itself was the political, social, religious, and commercial focal point for the Roman Republic and eventually the whole Empire—for the most elite members of society as well as the common plebs. Walking through the Forum is a walk through history, from its beginning as a valley with small hilltop communities (8th century B.C.E.) to its rise as the capital of an empire. The ruins of basilicas, temples, public forum spaces, and shops can be explored, and the adventure leads to Palatine Hill, an area of high-society patrician homes including the house of Caesar Augustus.

The Museum of Modern Art, one of the city’s—and the country’s—premier institutions for modern and contemporary art, first opened its doors in 1939. Its permanent collection of almost 200,000 works includes masterpieces by many of the 20th century’s leading artists: Duchamp, Matisse, Picasso, Warhol...the list truly could go on and on. In the permanent collection, van Gogh’s Starry Night and three panels of Monet’s series of paintings of water lilies are among the most famous works. The museum’s first director, Alfred Barr, was praised for taking the innovative step of expanding the role of the art museum to include genres beyond painting and sculpture, and to this day the institution dedicates exhibitions (and resources) to design, architecture, photography, and other creative fields. The museum also has a space in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, called MoMA PS 1, which focuses principally on younger, emerging artists and hosts Warm Up, a summer live music series.

Color, shape, and naked geology: Northern Arizona appeals to the senses in the most elemental ways. Agnostic hikers, secular scientists, souls searching for spiritual energy — all end up in Sedona, seeking and finding. Mid-week in this red-rock country, we found a few days of calm: early morning trails around town, and afternoons in galleries seeking shelter from summer thunderstorms. Weekends bring crowds from Phoenix, just two hours to the south, but away from pavement, you can still get away into the elements.

Created by the lava flow from the 1914 eruption of Sakurajima, the almost 3-kilometer-long walking trail starts near the Sakurajima Ferry Terminal. The amazing views of the harbor look out over the grasses and small plants that have grown in the lava bed over the past 100 years. Located at the base of the volcano, the nearby Foot Bath Spa is a perfect way to end a vigorous walk.

Sealine Beach is located just 30 minutes to the south of Doha, close to the town of Mesaieed and its Sealine Beach Resort. This long stretch of beach offers a variety of water sports equipment for rent. For those who prefer to play in the sand, dune buggies and quad bikes are available for hire at the resort, where visitors can have lunch, drinks, or book a room for the night.

Just about every aspect of the farm experience comes to life at Long Meadow Ranch’s public-facing facility in St. Helena. The relaxed destination includes an outdoor café, a restaurant named Farmstead, and a general store with wine- and olive oil–tasting bars—as well as an open-air pavilion that is perfect for events. Start mornings at the café, where you can enjoy a cup of Stumptown coffee and freshly baked goods at picnic tables in the shade of a giant blue spruce. Later in the day, hit Farmstead for a lunch of salads made with vegetables grown on-site or for a rack of the restaurant’s signature Heritage St. Louis ribs. (Pro tip: The “brick chicken,” or chicken cooked beneath a brick, can’t be beat.) If you’re visiting in the early afternoon, go to the general store to sample flights of Long Meadow Ranch wines or olive oils or to stock up on such artisan provisions as locally made cheese and salumi. Executive Chef Stephen Barber also hosts regular lunches and dinners at a chef’s table inside the property’s historic Logan Ives House. These meals can include a walk through the culinary garden, followed by a multi-course meal paired with Long Meadow Ranch wines.

Over the past two centuries, the covered market at Borough, not far from London Bridge, has become one of the country’s most famous foodie spots. From Wednesday to Saturday each week hundreds of traders gather to sell homemade breads, hand-reared pork, artisan chocolate and all manner of ingredients—plus excellent coffee, fresh juices and organic wine. Plentiful samples add to the convivial vibe, and restaurants around the market’s edge provide additional sustenance for longer stops.

When Southern Ocean Lodge, the flagship property of Australian hotel brand Baillie Lodges, opened in 2008, it was Kangaroo Island’s first true luxury lodge, known for its cinematic spot atop grass-covered limestone cliffs, with curved guest suites facing the namesake seas. Surrounded on three sides by national parks, Southern Ocean Lodge connected travelers with Australia’s powerful natural landscapes. Then in early January 2020, wildfires consumed more than half of Kangaroo Island, reducing the ecological paradise to sandy hills and blackened branches. Southern Ocean Lodge was a casualty of the blaze.


As AFAR’s Katherine LaGrave reported in her feature on the island, rebuilding began in earnest in February 2022, with the goal of becoming more sustainable: “The new lodge will use 25 percent less energy than the original lodge, and diesel fuel consumption will be halved. There will be rainwater harvesting, reliance on a hybrid solar-and-battery system, and elevated boardwalks to minimize impact on the health of coastal plants. Smart landscaping will create a sort of buffer around the lodge.”



Along with the new sustainable choices, the lodge has replicated the footprint of the original property, with 25 guest rooms slightly reoriented to optimize sea views. A new ultra-premium suite, the Ocean Pavilion, has up to four bedrooms and bathrooms (or two separate suites) with an outdoor terrace and private pool. And the ever-popular main lodge still has a Great Room with a suspended fireplace and a deck with a plunge pool that juts toward the sea.