Brooklyn used to be the side trip you squeezed in between Manhattan’s main events. It isn’t anymore. For a lot of first-time visitors to New York, Brooklyn is the part of the trip that actually stays with them — the skyline view from the waterfront at golden hour, the cobblestoned streets of DUMBO, the food…
You’ve seen Times Square, you’ve crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, and you’ve taken the obligatory photo in front of the Flatiron Building. Now what? The version of New York City that most first-timers never reach — the one with the quiet medieval garden, the rooftop nobody’s queueing for, the aerial tram that costs less than a…
Rome will surprise you with what it costs — usually in both directions. The iconic sights that feel like they should be free aren’t, and the moments you’ll remember most (the espresso at a corner bar for €1.30, the trattoria two streets off the tourist strip, the hour you spend watching the light change over…
Where you stay in New York City shapes the entire trip. Pick the wrong neighborhood and you’ll spend half your time on the subway; pick the right one and the city unfolds around you. The good news: NYC has great options at every price point, in neighborhoods with completely different personalities. This guide breaks down…
Rome is a compact city, but where you stay makes a real difference. Base yourself near the Pantheon and you’ll be wandering ancient piazzas before breakfast; choose Trastevere and your evenings will feel like a film. The great news: Rome’s historic neighborhoods are close enough that no location puts you far from anything — but…
Rome rewards two kinds of traveler: the one who wants to stand inside 2,000 years of history at the Colosseum and the Vatican, and the one who’d rather find the quiet keyhole on a hill that frames St. Peter’s dome perfectly, or the church with three cities stacked beneath it. The good news is you…
New York in fall doesn’t announce itself quietly. The maples in Central Park turn amber by mid-October, the air drops to that exact temperature where a leather jacket feels like a good idea, and the city — which never really slows down — shifts into something that feels almost like a different gear. The insufferable…
Zakynthos rewards everyone who comes — whether you have three days or a full week. I went to Zakynthos in June, rented a car the day we arrived, and spent every day trying to see as much of the island as possible. I was pregnant at the time — which sounds like an odd detail…
If you do one thing in Chicago, make it the architecture river cruise. Gliding along the Chicago River while the city’s skyscrapers rise on both sides — with a guide explaining how Chicago basically invented the modern skyscraper after the Great Fire of 1871 — is the single best way to understand this city, and…
Montserrat is the day trip we’d tell anyone with a spare day in Barcelona to take. An hour from the city, a jagged wall of rounded rock pinnacles rises straight out of the Catalan countryside — the “serrated mountain” that gives the place its name — and tucked into a ledge halfway up sits a…