Search results for

Beyond the beach, the billboards, and the freeways, there’s a city of neighborhoods waiting to be explored.

T. Loafer is hard to miss thanks to its colorful exterior, patched together from more than 20 salvaged window frames. Order a cup of hibiscus lemongrass tea and a pastry made with locally grown fruit. The shelves are stocked with books, regional crafts, and photographs processed in the darkroom downstairs. 886/(0) 9-3781-7612. This appeared in the November/December 2012 issue.

You don’t necessarily need to know how to wield a paintbrush to participate in these seven art-filled tours.

Rebecca Walker embarks on a spontaneous journey to Bulgaria, guided by locals she connected with both virtually and in real life.

Every weekend thousands descend on this normally boring stretch of Taipei for one of the most impressive markets in town: the Jianguo Flower Market. Vendors from around the city and region display amazing examples of flowers and plants, many of which may be new to you. While you can’t take one of the beautiful floral displays home, next door to the flower market is the Jade Market, where you can pick up beautiful souvenirs at reasonable prices for you and your loved ones.

Everyone knows the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour, but when it comes to sorting out Bondi from Bronte, visitors may feel lost. We’ve gathered some of our favorite neighborhoods, from old standby inner suburbs to up-and-coming cultural districts.

The warm, sunny Mission District—with Dolores Park and Mission Dolores as its cultural and physical center—is historically a Latino neighborhood (and before that, Irish). Now bodegas and taquerias sit cheek by jowl with carefully crafted cuisine and locally designed fashion.

Tianzifang is a must while you’re in Shanghai, but the maze of alleys and shops can be slightly overwhelming for first-timers. Here are a few of my favorite places—from funky shops to cool barrooms—to seek out while you’re wandering.

A favorite cultural activity of mine is to visit bookstores wherever I go. Even if I can’t understand the language, I can usually get a sense for the themes of the most popular books. Luckily, the massive bookstore Eslite has a great English-language section in addition to the hundreds of shelves devoted to books in Chinese. What I enjoyed most was browsing through the travel section, especially the American travel area, to see exactly what the popular perceptions are of traveling to the United States. If you get hungry, there’s also a cafe and some great gift items to take home as keepsakes.

Whether you’re looking for an ultramodern take on Tokyo, like the one you’ll find in Shibuya, or something like Nakameguro, where you’ll find trendy restaurants and shops, as well as residential streets, Tokyo has neighborhoods that will give you a distinctive taste of Japan. Find old temples and cutting edge art galleries, neighborhoods where sassy teenagers pose in outlandish outfits and shopping streets that boggle the mind (and fill up the suitcase). Welcome to Tokyo, land of the past, present, and future.

If you only have three days in Miami, you can still get a good feel for the Magic City. Explore South Beach’s Ocean Drive and the historic Art Deco district, head to the Design District for art museums and modern architecture, take a leisurely cruise on Biscayne Bay or an Everglades tour, and groove long into the night at one Miami Beach’s velvet-rope nightclubs.

The latest offering from Taiwan-based bookstore chain Eslite is a sleek four-story complex in Songshan Cultural Park, an arts and culture center located in a former tobacco factory in the heart of the city. Whether you’re browsing for books, home décor, food, or gifts, Eslite’s thoughtful curation of local and international treasures ensures you won’t leave empty-handed. The third floor of Eslite Spectrum houses an entire row of Taiwanese tea shops, offering a cozy haven for shopped-out customers to relax and refuel (and to pick up some A-grade Taiwanese tea to take with them). Spend a few hours at the rustic-chic wooden table enjoying a cup of grain-based Hakka “leicha” tea: I’m addicted to the SIIDCHA brand.

A-ji-shi is a stand-up sushi bar located in Taipei’s Shidong Market. There’s only a fixed menu and it is pricey by local standards. But the fish is fresh and the sushiman well-trained.

In a square mile of West Texas, Chris Colin finds family and traces his roots back to a wilder America.

Chris Walker and Morgan Hartley spent three months cycling through central Asia as part of an 18-month bike trip. Here is part one of five of their account, in which their trip is almost thwarted from the start.