Search results for

Here’s your chance to help an island on the rebound—and take advantage of some sweet loyalty program incentives.

Through a number of different approaches, this organization is preserving some of the world’s most beautiful coastal regions for surfers and non-surfers alike.

An unpaved road leads to a Baja of the past.

6 Trips to Delve Deeper into Mexico

Chefs bring fresh flavors from Portugal’s former colonies to Lisbon’s plates.

A journey into the ethnic neighborhoods redefining the City of Light

A tiny island in Samaná Bay, Cayo Levantado has three beaches but just one place to stay—an all-inclusive resort that’s surrounded by green. While the island isn’t private, it feels exclusive because the resort facilities and two beaches are just for guests. On the northeast side of the island, a third beach is open to the public during the day, with a small charge for non-guests.

Back at the resort, there are 268 rooms, suites, and beach villas, plus three pools, a spa, and activities like water sports, live shows, and an outdoor club on the renowned Bacardi Beach. Getting to Cayo Levantado from the mainland takes just 10 to 15 minutes by boat and is free for resort guests.

If you’d like to forgo San Juan for an equally beautiful but much less touristy area, head to Cabo Rojo and stay at Bahia Salinas. The resort, located off a road lined by cotton plants and salt flats, is also minutes away from Bahia (or Playa) Sucia. Bahia Sucia happens to be one of my favorite beaches in the world (for reasons I disclose in the highlight “Undisturbed Moments in Playa Sucia’s Secret Spots”), so the location alone makes Bahia Salinas a paradise hotel. But even closer than the beach are Bahia Salina’s restaurant and outdoor bar (which includes delicacies such as the chicken stuffed with cassava), a spa, and an infinity pool. You might even get the chance to pet the hotel’s parakeet.

It was raining when we arrived in Donostia-San Sebastian, but the skies cleared on our second day, and we rode the funicular railway up Mount Igueldo to take in the view back on the city, La Concha Bay, and the empty beach. The “low” travel season had just begun, and the strange little children’s amusement park on the mountaintop had shuttered up for the fall and winter, adding just the right disorienting touch of weird desolation to the Basque country panorama.

Although Chile’s central coastline boasts a string of attractive beaches along with towns filled with visitors seeking relief from the heat, the truth is the water is freezing cold year-round due to the Humboldt Current that brings Antarctic water up the coast. You’ve got to go pretty far north to find temperate seas. Bahía Inglesa is a stretch of coastline where the turquoise waters are tranquil, the sand is white, and there are dozens of beaches—some are along waveless bays (perfect for children), and others are great for scuba diving, kayaking, and kitesurfing. The area has restaurants for all tastes, and while there are lots of lodgings, in summer crowds flock in, so reserve as early as possible.

Each year humpback whales (known around here as yubartas) migrate some 5,000 miles from the Antarctic and southern Chile to Colombia’s Pacific coast. The whales spend July to November mating and giving birth, and then frolicking with their newborn calves. The dark-sand beaches at Bahía Solano and Nuquí in the Chocó province are two favorite locations from which to whale-watch. Also recommended are the guided excursions that leave from the towns and head to the Utría National Natural Park, a lush, well-managed refuge that’s also great for other wildlife spotting.

The Bays of Huatulco are paradise. Made up of 37 beaches spread across nine Oaxacan bays, Huatulco has the beauty and luxury accommodations of its Yucateca sister Cancún, with an intimacy and seclusion that the world famous mega-resort just can’t match. Huatulco is warm nights, the smell of fresh flowers and the ocean, miles and miles of gorgeous beaches, delicious seafood, and some of the most original and beautifully designed hotels in the world. Planned and designated as a resort as recently as the 1980s, Huatulco is graced with hotels short in height and with architectural design that complements the tropical flora and beautiful coast. Everything in Huatulco is within reach: water sports, tours, hiking, horseback riding, boat rides, luxury spas, beautiful hotel pools, even a small but budding night life. While many of the coastal hotels are on the pricey to very-pricey side, budget conscious travelers can find more modest accommodations in nearby Crucecita. And the best thing about the Bays of Huatulco is free: golden-sand, secluded beaches and bays to explore and relax on, where you can imagine yourself a modern-day Robinson Crusoe, shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island.

Ranging from historic riads to big-name resorts, hotels in the Red City are as magical as you’d imagine, with unique amenities like luxurious hammams, central courtyard pools, and rooftop terraces with sweeping views of the Atlas Mountains. Whether you want a place with mint tea, traditional Moroccan décor, or a restaurant once frequented by Winston Churchill, you can find it here, all in close proximity to attractions like the Jardin Majorelle, the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, Djemaa el Fna Square, Bahia Palace, and the Saadiens Tombs.

Remote and difficult to access, this three-mile beach on the Dominican Republic’s southwestern Caribbean coast (15 miles from Pedernales and close to the Haitian border) is also blissfully uncrowded. Playa Bahia de las Águilas, which translates to “Bay of Eagles,” can only be reached via a four-wheel-drive vehicle on an unpaved road, or a 15-minute speedboat ride from the little village of La Cueva at Cabo Rojo. Once there, however, you’ll discover a pristine beach, bordered by rocky cliffs and free of any hotels or restaurants—the beach is located in the Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve, so building is forbidden. Turquoise water laps the white sand, while well-preserved coral reefs wait just offshore. Don your mask and snorkel to see starfish, sand dollars, and maybe even a manatee. Also remember to bring water and sunscreen as there’s virtually no shade, and pack lunch or plan to eat in nearby La Cueva.

Surely one of the most extraordinary imperial relics of Morocco, the Palais Bahia (“the brilliant”) doesn’t disappoint. Built at the start of the 19th century by architect El Mekki for Si Moussa, the then chamberlain of Sultan Hassan I, the palace showcases a wide range of architectural styles hinting at the chamberlain’s playful spirit, especially after his son inherited it and added his own brand of flamboyant glamour to the place. Women’s quarters bedecked with crimson-and-mustard–striped ceilings, a marble-tile courtyard the size of a soccer field, and extensive salons lined by stained-glass windows are just some of the features of the 20-acre space. In 1912, General Lyautey, the governor of French protectorate Morocco, moved in and added creature comforts such as fireplaces and central heating. In so doing, he attracted a number of illustrious guests, among them the writer Edith Wharton. She described the palace this way: “They came, they built the Bahia, and it remains the loveliest and most fantastic of Moroccan palaces. Court within court, garden beyond garden, reception halls, private apartments, slaves’ quarters, sunny prophets’ chambers on the roofs, and baths in vaulted crypts, the labyrinth of passages and rooms stretches away over several acres of ground.” Follow Wharton’s lead and don’t miss it.