• MSN
  • Hotmail
  • More
    • Autos
    • My MSN
    • Video
    • Careers & Jobs
    • Personals
    • Weather
    • Delish
    • Quotes
    • White Pages
    • Games
    • Real Estate
    • Wonderwall
    • Horoscopes
    • Shopping
    • Yellow Pages
    • Local Edition
    • Traffic
    • Feedback
    • Maps & Directions
    • Travel
    • Full MSN Index
  • Bing
  • msnbc.com sites & shows:
  • TODAY
  • Rock Center
  • Nightly News
  • Meet the Press
  • Dateline
  • Morning Joe
  • Hardball
  • Ed
  • Maddow
  • Last Word
  • msnbc tv
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Tech & science
  • Travel
  • Local
  • Weather
  • Recommended: Climber's sky-high dreams dashed far below Everest summit
  • Recommended: Sand is thicker than blood: Summer travelers prefer beach over family, survey reveals
  • Recommended: World's top shopping streets
  • Recommended: Best fast-food chains in the world
You have arrived at msnbc.com's destination for people passionate about traveling, photography and learning about locations -- both new and tried and true.
  • ↓ About this blog
  • ↓ Archives
    • Icons Email E-mail updates
    • Icons Twitter Follow on Twitter
    • Icons Feed Subscribe to RSS
  • Advertise | AdChoices
    1
    day
    ago

    Best fast-food chains in the world

    Yuri Gripas / Reuters

    American chain Five Guys excels at made-to-order burgers with fresh beef on a squishy bun, and hand-cut French fries.

     

    By Jamie Feldmar, Travel + Leisure

    Fast food may conjure up those ubiquitous Golden Arches, but the concept has come a long way from frozen burgers and limp fries. The best fast-food chains around the world are getting serious about quality, offering up bowls of slow-simmered pork ramen, freshly baked baguette sandwiches, and sustainably caught fish for the masses.

    Slideshow: See where to find the best fast-food chains


    Follow @msnbc_travel

    For travelers looking to eat like the locals, fast-food chains represent a convenient, often inexpensive taste of how everyday residents in far-flung cities like to eat. Some menus are more traditional than others: Teremok in Russia serves cooked-to-order blini with classic Russian toppings like caviar or smoked salmon; while Goli Vada Pav No. 1 in India adds modern twists like cheddar cheese to vada pav, the fried potato patty sandwich that’s an Indian street food staple.

    Many chains have long-standing histories in their home country: “We’ve been around since 1951, so it’s like we’re a part of the fabric of the province,” says Josée Vaillancourt of the Canadian rotisserie chicken chain St. Hubert. “If people want to live the Quebec way, they have to try our chicken.”

    German seafood chain Nordsee began as a commercial fishing enterprise way back in 1896 and now sells a rotating selection of sustainable seafood. Spokesman Michael Scheibe says a visit to the chain allows travelers to share both history and “the German love for seasonal products.”

    Keep in mind that etiquette may be different than what you’re used to at American homegrown fast-food chains. At Nordsee, for example, it’s common for strangers to ask to share a table, while Saudi Arabian fried chicken chain Al Baik provides separate seating areas for women with families and single men. Some of the chains are less “fast food” and more “date-night” in atmosphere; sit-down Italian franchise Rossopomodoro, for example, features wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas and local wines.

    Granted, fast-food chains aren’t exactly hidden gems. A steak at Brazilian chain Giraffas will probably not replicate the experience of an authentic churrascaria; a bowl of ramen at Ippudo may not match the thrill of discovering an underground noodle shop in Tokyo. But they have their own quirky appeal and dish out a quick fix of local culture and cuisine.

    More from Travel + Leisure

    • World’s top fast-food restaurants
    • A-List: World’s top travel agents
    • See Travel + Leisure's slideshows
    • See Travel + Leisure's blog

     

    5 comments

    Show more
    Explore related topics: fast-food, restaurants, featured, travel-leisure
  • 3
    May
    2012
    8:34am, EDT

    It List: The finest new hotels in 2012

    Travel + Leisure's Nilou Motamed reveals the magazine's 2012 "it list" of the best new resorts and hotels around the world, including an oceanfront refuge in Chile and a repurposed 1889 schoolhouse in Park City, Utah.

     

    By Travel + Leisure

    After a day at the beach, you wander back to your villa and, right on cue, a personal chef stops by to grill lobster tails — and does the dishes afterward. That’s the kind of above-and-beyond service to expect at Secret Bay, a stylish newcomer on the Caribbean island of Dominica.

    Slideshow: See all the top 2012 hotels

    You know the markers of a lousy hotel (poor service, snooze-inducing design, mediocre food), so what makes a hotel one of the best — not just recommendable, but groundbreaking? For our seventh annual It List, Travel + Leisure editors traveled the globe to test out new and renovated hotels. The results are in, and our favorite 50 hotels showcase the best the hotel industry has to offer this year.


    Consider Tierra Patagonia, a spectacular resort that rises from a glacier-scape on the edge of Torres del Paine National Park. Rooms are stocked with local comforts (handwoven throws, armchairs upholstered in light Patagonian wool), but it’s the only-possible-here activities that you’ll be talking about for months after your stay, such as fording the Baguales River on horseback or shearing sheep by hand with the help of gauchos.

    More From Travel + Leisure 

    • Best secret beaches on Earth
    • World’s most delicious street food
    • Best New York hotels
    • Strangest travel phobias

    In Italy’s untrammeled Basilicata region, director Francis Ford Coppola opened his fifth stunning hotel project: Palazzo Margherita. With only nine guest rooms, it feels much like your own private estate — one that happens to be owned by a Hollywood mogul, with hand-painted frescoed ceilings, glass chandeliers and a hidden inner courtyard.

    Courtesy of Petit St. Vincent Resort

    Petit St. Vincent Resort, set on a private island, offers 22 stone-walled, thatched-roof cottages along a beach, with a waterside restaurant.

    Closer to home, we love the Washington School House in Park City, Utah, for its French and Swedish antiques and easy access to the ski slopes, and Florida’s St. Regis Bal Harbour — part of a $700 million development on Miami Beach — for its Jean-Georges Vongerichten poolside grill and eye-catching entrance hall.

    You can enjoy a different kind of water view from the Conrad New York, a Zen-inspired respite in the Financial District that overlooks the Hudson River. Further north, New York’s of-the-moment neighborhood Chelsea finally has a trendy hotel to call its own, thanks to the opening of the steel-and-glass Hotel Americano near the High Line. The modern hotel reveals irreverent details Johnny Cash might appreciate (harmonicas in the mini-bar, denim bathrobes in the restrooms).

    Whatever your definition of a great hotel, you’re sure to find it in Travel+Leisure’s 2012 It List.

    More stories you might like:

    • Goodbye Norma Jean: Marilyn Monroe sculpture moving west
    • Oregon man who stripped to protest TSA wants a trial
    • LaGuardia, LAX named America's worst airports 

    4 comments

    Show more
    Explore related topics: hotels, featured, travel-leisure
  • 21
    Apr
    2012
    11:19am, EDT

    America's best cities for hipsters

    Jake Stangel / via Travel + Leisure

    Seattle ranked No. 1 in Travel + Leisure's annual America's Favorite Cities survey, which ranked 35 metropolitan areas on culturally relevant features like live music, coffee bars and independent boutiques. Pictured is Café Presse, located in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

    By By Katrina Brown Hunt, Travel + Leisure

    There’s a quirky new microbrew in Seattle: Churchkey Can Company produces a pilsner in a flat-top can, which requires an old-fashioned “church-key” opener to drink it. A beer blog promptly declared it the “most hipster beer in the world” — which may or may not be a compliment.

    It’s no wonder that pilsner originated in Seattle, where a local taste for the retro, artsy, and wee-bit ironic boosted it to the top of America’s best cities for hipsters, according to Travel + Leisure readers who voted in the annual America’s Favorite Cities survey. They ranked 35 metropolitan areas on culturally relevant features like live music, coffee bars, and independent boutiques. To zero in on the biggest hipster crowds, we also factored in the results for the best microbrews and the most offbeat and tech-savvy locals.

    Slideshow: See all of America's best cities for hipsters

    It’s our take on the debated term hipster, which can inspire eye rolls or admiration. Once used to describe counterculture types, hipster is now so prevalent it’s at a possible tipping point. Whatever your take, you generally know hipsters when you see them — most likely in funky, up-and-coming neighborhoods. A smirking attitude toward mainstream institutions means they tend to frequent cool, often idiosyncratic restaurants, shops, and bars — the same kinds of venues that appeal to travelers looking for what they can’t find at home. (Yelp.com now even has a search feature for “hipster” ambience.)

    Live Poll

    What do you think is the most hipster city in America?

    View Results
    • 180818
      Seattle
      26%
    • 180819
      Portland, Ore.
      39%
    • 180820
      San Francisco
      17%
    • 180821
      New Orleans
      6%
    • 180822
      Other (Tell us about it below!)
      12%

    VoteTotal Votes: 1761

    There’s also an eco-conscious influence in contemporary hipsterdom. Some of the trendiest places to shop in New Orleans, for instance, are thrift shops. In Denver and Minneapolis, hipsters gather in coffee-or-tea cafés that double as low-carbon-footprint bike shops. Upping the ante, Portland, Ore., is the home of BikeBar, where you can pedal stationary bikes that actually generate electricity for the organic micropub.

    Indeed, techie haven Seattle got some serious competition from the craft-beer-loving, food-truck-dining, and notoriously mustachioed Oregon city. After all, Portland arguably corners the market on quirkiness, the X factor of hipness. Portland-based TV and film casting director Lana Veenker says that clients frequently ask her to hire “Portland hipster types” — and it’s not hard.


    Follow @msnbc_travel

    “There’s a guy in my neighborhood who regularly takes his pet pig for a walk around the block, on a leash,” Veenker says. She also sees a guy in a Darth Vader costume tooling around town on his unicycle — with bagpipes. “It’s just par for the course around here.”

    More From Travel + Leisure

    • America’s best spring drives 
    • Best affordable beach resorts
    • America’s rudest cities
    • World’s top geek hotels

     

    Show more
    Explore related topics: cities, featured, us-travel, travel-leisure
  • 18
    Apr
    2012
    8:14am, EDT

    World's most unusual hotels

    Courtesy of Earthship Biotecture

    Before we abandon Earth for another planet, it'd be useful to test out the potential new digs. The Earthship Project in Tres Piedras, New Mexico, has been at it since the 1960s and in 1997 began allowing guests to sleep in its sustainable pods (for periods of less than an eternity).

    By Adam McCulloch , Travel + Leisure

    Follow @msnbc_travel

    On a Sri Lankan riverbank stands a lone, slightly misshapen, enormous elephant. As you approach cautiously, you realize this creature isn’t some freak of nature; it’s an eco-lodge of grass and twigs that sleeps up to 10 people in its belly.

    Kumbuk Hotel belongs to a peculiar breed of hotels that continue to crop up worldwide, winning over travelers with their sheer novelty. Some of these unusual hotels have never-knew-you-needed-them amenities like an in-room sailboat, while others go for shock factor: ever slept in a coffin bed or a rescue pod? Still others are in improbable locations: the depths of a silver mine; atop a coral reef. But what all the world’s most unusual hotels promise is that you’ll be talking about your stay long after you check out.

    Slideshow: See the world's most unusual hotels

    Make no mistake: while these unusual hotels may look crazy, they aren’t the result of hoteliers gone mad. The owners are often forward-thinking architects or tinkerers inspired to make their small hotel creations into quirky destinations in and of themselves. They’re well aware that anything strange attracts publicity and curious travelers.

    Berlin’s Propeller Island, for example, has become popular among artists, who seek stimulation among the green padded walls, floating beds, and fun-house interiors, which, not surprisingly, have been featured in many music videos. While it jives with Berlin’s artsy reputation, some other unusual hotels go to more radical lengths to blend in with their surroundings. The salt pans of Bolivia make the Palacio de Sal hotel—constructed entirely from salt blocks (even the beds)—a true product of the environment.

    Sure, your usual tastes probably run sweeter—say, to a hotel pool, a king-size bed with a down comforter, and tasteful décor. Yet there’s something liberating about letting loose and giving in to a strange suite once in a while—just as there’s something reassuring about knowing these properties exist and thrive. In cases like Sweden’s futuristic all-suites Treehotel, unusual hotels can even be beautiful examples of out-of-the-box design.

    Still, that doesn’t account for a life-size hamster hotel where guests are greeted with masks on arrival. That’s just downright strange—and you need to see it to believe it.  

    More from Travel + Leisure

    • Best affordable beach resorts
    • Coolest new Disney vacations
    • America's best brunches
    • World's most controversial monuments

     

    Show more
    Explore related topics: hotels, featured, travel-leisure
  • 5
    Apr
    2012
    8:37am, EDT

    Last-minute spring break vacations for the family

    Courtesy of Casa Magna Marriott

    The Casa Magna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa in Mexico is set along Banderas Bay.

    By Travel + Leisure

    It’s not too late to take advantage of a deal for the whole family this spring. Check out these five all-inclusive, warm-weather getaways in your pick of the Caribbean, U.S., or Mexico.

    Morgan Bay Beach Resort, St Lucia  
    The volcanic island of St. Lucia is hardly your typical Caribbean vacation spot; it has a staggering variety of landscapes, from lush peaks and black-sand beaches to tranquil cocoa plantations. Morgan Bay Beach Resort, on a private cove around 25 acres of tropical gardens, makes a great base for those who want to explore the island some days, but hang around the resort on others. There are four pools, and tons of available activities like kayaking, sailing, hiking, aqua cycling, reef fishing, snorkeling, and banana boating.

    The Deal: 7-night package includes all food and drinks (even alcoholic drinks), watersports and activities (including the kids’ club), and a $1,000 air credit on stays longer than six nights (or a $600 air credit on stays of five or six nights). $286 per night for a family of four (two kids 16 and under).

    Slideshow: Best affordable beach resorts 

    Puntacana Resort & Club, Dominican Republic
    This resort on the D.R.’s eastern shore has grown from a tiny 10-villa hotel to a sprawling complex with a Six Senses spa, a 70-slip marina, a pair of Tom Fazio– and P. B. Dye–designed golf courses, nine restaurants, seven bars, a biodiversity center, and a 1,500-acre nature preserve. The main hotel’s beachfront casitas were recently made over with khaki-hued walls, dark wicker furniture, and throw pillows in graphic botanical prints.

    The Deal: 4-night package includes accommodations in a beachfront casita, all meals and activities (excluding spa and golf, but does include golf clinics), and a $500 resort credit towards activities. $355 per night for a family of four (no age restrictions; could be four adults).

     Omni Orlando Resort at Champions Gate, Florida  
    Six miles from Walt Disney World, this 720-room Mediterranean-style resort is surrounded by 1,200 acres of natural wetlands and distant orange groves. There’s an adults-only pool with private cabanas and meditation garden, while an 850-ft. lazy river resounds with the squeals of kids — of all ages — who coast along on tubes through its tunnels, gentle rapids and hidden canyons. A lighted nine hole/par 3 golf experience and 36 holes of walk-out golf is another treat.  

    The Deal: All-inclusive Spring Break Experience includes nightly accommodations, three meals a day at any of the resort’s seven dining experiences, and all activities (except for kids camp and golf). $399 per night for a family of four (two children under 12).

    Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston, S.C. 
    Staying at a vacation condo rental at Wild Dunes Resort on the Isle of Palms lets you take a beach getaway that’s also within easy access of Charleston, with its historic neighborhoods and hot food scene. That is, assuming you can tear yourself away from the natural beauty of Wild Dunes, which occupies 1,600 acres of private property between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway.

    The Deal: 3-night Spring Family Fun package includes accommodations in a vacation condo rental, three-day family bike rentals, meals (breakfast two mornings per person at Sea Island Grill; Lunch two days at Hudson’s Market; Dinner daily per person at The Lettered Olive family restaurant), and a Caper’s Island Exploration family boating excursion. $459 per night for a family of four (two kids 12 and under).

    Casa Magna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort, Mexico  
    Set along Banderas Bay on the Pacific Coast at the base of the Sierra Madre Mountains, this resort offers 433 rooms with marble floors and private balconies that face an infinity pool, and gardens. The outdoor Marriott Kids area has playground equipment, picnic tables, and a large swimming pool all surrounded by sand. Better yet, there’s an on-site sea turtle program with a tradition of allowing children to name any tiny babies, then gather with family members at sunset to set them free in the ocean.

    The Deal: The Escape! Inclusive Package includes overnight accommodations, three meals a day, and all drinks (beer, wine, cocktails, soft drinks). $339 per night for a family of four (two kids 12 and under).

     More From Travel + Leisure:

    • America’s Best Spring Drives 
    • Best Secret Beaches on Earth 
    • America’s Greenest Cities 
    • Best Spring Break Getaways

     

     

     

    1 comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: spring-break, featured, family-travel, travel-leisure
  • 16
    Mar
    2012
    7:52am, EDT

    Best affordable beach resorts

    Nilou Motamed of Travel + Leisure magazine talks about the best beach resorts to consider when you are planning your vacation, including such places as Riviera Maya, Mexico and Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

    By Colleen Clark , Travel + Leisure

    “Get me a stretch of sand and a hammock and I’m happy,” says Kirsty Hathaway of U.K.-based BeachTomato.com, a fashion and travel site focused on beach vacations. “Awaking to the sound of rumbling waves, completely immersed in nature and wildlife. This, for me, is the epitome of true escapism.”

    Escapism looks a little different for everyone, but we can all agree that a reasonable price tag spells relaxation almost as much as a hammock and a cold one. So we’ve rounded up our favorite affordable beach resorts worldwide, each checking in between $50 and $250 per night.

    Slideshow: See all the best affordable beach resorts

    After all, a beach vacation isn’t rocket science. The three key ingredients are simple: sun, sand, surf. It’s not all about the tanning butlers or 12-course molecular gastronomy tasting menus or the flat-screen pool-cabana entertainment systems. And it certainly isn’t about watching your bank account wash out to sea. 

    Jose Ramon Cagigas / Courtesy of Le Reve Hotel & Spa

    An unpaved maze of roads leads the way to Le Rêve Hotel & Spa, an intimate, 25-suite boutique property with more romance and charm than its neighboring mega-resorts in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

    So what can you get that’s comfortably priced? How about Auberge Carnish, an airy modern cottage along a rugged curve of the Scottish coast where otters frolic in the misty dawn. Reclaimed merbau hardwoods and bath products of local lavender and seaweed bring the outside in. Price tag? $175 per night.  

    It’s also perfectly possible to splash out in a trendy destination like Panama, and still come in within budget. Donald Trump’s curving skyscraper in Panama City should do the trick — with a deep-soak tub and high thread count included. Pair that urban beach experience with a stay along the Pacific coast beaches — fantastic for surfing — at the rustic-but-stylish El Sitio (from $99 per night). 


    Follow @msnbc_travel

    Further afield, you, too, can find your bliss among the beaches of Goa, India, which have welcomed bohemian types since the ’60s. Amarya Shamiyana, a collection of four Moghul-inspired tents in a palm-shaded oasis — just down the beach from Jade Jagger’s boutique — channels that carefree, chic spirit. The hotel bursts with color, from playful hand-painted damask murals to metallic beanbag chairs, and puts you within walking distance of the beautiful party people (from $110 per night).  

    Luxe-mod Peruvian surf breaks? Nouveau preppy Kennebunkport, Maine? Avant architecture in Norway? Yup, we’ve got those too. So go ahead and dive in. The forecast is sunny for this choose-your-own-resort adventure.

    More articles from Travel+Leisure 

    • Best spring break getaways
    • America's most romantic hotels
    • World's coolest staircases
    • America's best wine bars

     

    1 comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: beach, caribbean, resort, featured, travel-leisure
  • 12
    Jan
    2012
    11:16am, EST

    Escape for a romantic winter getaway

    From skiing in Canada to snowmobile-riding in New Mexico, Sarah Sagnolo of Travel + Leisure magazine spotlights affordable winter vacation destinations.

     

    By Crai Bower, Lindsey Olander, Kathryn O'Shea-Evans , Travel + Leisure

    Follow @msnbc_travel

    Of the 30-plus countries that Cathy Grey has visited, on every continent save Antarctica, her greatest love affair has been with a Berber village in Morocco.

    “Getting to know the locals and riding mules into the mountains is a fantastic way to bond,” reflects the New York–based veterinarian. “The sleeping arrangements at high altitude, the kerosene lamps, fireplace, and burrowing under 10,000 colorful blankets just feels extremely intimate.”

    Slideshow: More romantic winter getaways

    While everyone defines romance differently, travel is a natural stimulant, and the most romantic getaways woo us with just this kind of intimate, quality time to bond and discover. There’s always some place new to experience together, and our partnerships should embolden us to push our boundaries and travel more exotically. This year, why not skip your usual ski resort in favor of backcountry trails past fumaroles and snow-covered birch trees in northern Japan?

    For those who like it hot, there are as many ways to flee winter as to embrace it. You could learn to surf together along Mexico’s Pacific Coast, or slip into a bungalow within Costa Rica’s cloud forest. Like pursuing romance itself, reaching the honeymoon suite at Pacuare River Lodge requires going out on a limb—it’s only accessible via a suspension bridge. Dinner is served by candlelight along the mighty river, one of the best white water rafting systems in Central America.

    Courtesy Puyuhuapi Lodge & Spa

    At the Puyuhuapi Lodge and Spa in Patagonia, you can explore southern fjords via catamaran or kayak.

    “I personally think that a little whitewater rafting is not unlike the romantic relationship,” observes Grey. “There is the initial fear, the immediate thrill and the afterglow of satisfaction.”

    Of course, romance doesn’t always require such strenuous efforts. Sometimes even the most active among us would rather just savor the thrill of having nothing to do and nowhere else to be but nesting together—especially when the setting is your own private treehouse or a fabulous Italian seaside villa. Even getaways to romantic destinations like Paris that seem cliché can prove alluring and fresh when done right.

    So whether you tend to paddle or pamper, snowshoe or snuggle, we’ve mapped out getaways that promise to add a little je ne sais quoi to a winter romance with your mate. 

    More stories from Travel + Leisure

    • World’s Most Romantic Hotels
    • America’s Most Romantic Restaurants
    • Vote in the 2012 T+L World’s Best Awards Survey

     

    Comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: hotels, featured, romantic-travel, travel-leisure
  • 14
    Nov
    2011
    8:54am, EST

    World's top hotels for geeks

    Courtesy of Thompson Hotels

    The Hotel Sax in Chicago teamed up with Microsoft to provide conferencing facilities worthy of the Pentagon. A technology butler can arrange massive in-house video conferencing at a moment's notice.

     

    By Adam McCulloch , Travel + Leisure

    Thread count is essential for some guests. Others check in for the views or a buzz-worthy restaurant. But for geeks, a hotel is nothing without a high-tech gadget, a high-concept gimmick, or a connection to something the geek world holds dear (paging "Star Wars" fans).

    Slideshow: World's top geek hotels

    In the brave new world we live in, free Wi-Fi doesn’t cut it anymore. As with many of the wonderful technical advances we take for granted, geek hotels owe a lot to Steve Jobs. The late Apple maestro made using technology so accessible that it has become easier to interact with an iPhone than a doorknob. Touch-screen technology has infiltrated hotels worldwide; one in Switzerland allows diners to use an iPad to view dinner being prepared and even chat with the chef.

    Jobs, with his appealing, intuitive design sense and seize-the-moment attitude, also endowed geekiness with a certain cool. It comes with the specialized knowledge and passion typical of geeks, whether for coding or clever wordplay. Groups like Brooklyn’s Secret Science Club — think date-night lectures from NASA scientists and Nobel Prize winners — make flaunting your inner geek sexy. And there are plenty of role models, real (Tina Fey) and imagined (Harry Potter).

    Today’s geeks want to be heard, and hotels are listening. In New York, the central conceit behind the Library Hotel is entire floors and individual rooms ordered according to the Dewey Decimal system.

    Architecture aficionados can get in touch with their inner Le Corbusier at the Hotel Silken Puerta América, in Madrid, which brings the world’s greatest architects under one roof. For guests who consider Pritzker prizes more important than the Oscars, it’s the ultimate retreat.

    Geek hotels exist all over the world, from New York to San Francisco, Tunisia to Hong Kong. Some of the properties on our list offer traditional inducements — beautiful views, enviable locations — along with their more esoteric offerings. But much like geekdom itself, many of the hotels largely ignore the outside world in favor of their own awe-inspiring reality.

    More from Travel + Leisure

    • America's coolest coffeehouses
    • World's most romantic all-inclusive resorts
    • Weirdest animal-smuggling incidents
    • America's worst drivers

     

    Comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: hotels, geeks, featured, travel-leisure
  • 2
    Nov
    2011
    8:38am, EDT

    Fabulous fall foliage photos

    Courtesy of Travel+Leisure

    The orange-yellow colors of carotenoids always exist in leaves, but they're usually masked by green chlorophyll until autumn comes.

    By Joshua Pramis, Travel + Leisure

    There’s an excitement in the air each fall, when summer’s heat gives way to refreshingly brisk breezes, ushering in jacket-and-scarf weather. Most spectacularly, it’s time for the natural spectacle of leaves shedding their green for fiery reds, oranges and yellows.

    Slideshow: Fall foliage photos

    Fall foliage season, which unfolds from September through November, amps up the beauty of any landscape — and inspires people to travel, whether road tripping or hiking on leaf-strewn paths. (It’s also inspired that questionable nickname: leaf-peepers.) When you find yourself in a prime foliage spot, have your camera at the ready because you’ll want to take those breathtaking scenes back home with you.

    It’s a natural impulse, so when we asked Travel + Leisure readers to submit their best nature photographs, we weren’t surprised that they uploaded a plethora of foliage shots. We’ve picked out our favorite images, which showcase a range of destinations and each bring a little extra something to this ever-popular photography subject.

    One striking image comes from across the Atlantic: Windsor, England. The photographer captures the lovely autumn colors adorning soon-to-be-shedding trees as well as the choice backdrop of Windsor Castle, a stately structure dating back to the 11th century, when William the Conqueror began its construction.

    Back stateside, in Massachusetts, one reader focused on a road flanked by golden trees on either side; many leaves lie on either side of the road as well and still retain their vibrant color. The road seems to belong to some enchanting, long-forgotten fairy tale. A photo from New Hampshire’s North Conway doubles the viewing pleasure by showing multicolored trees reflected in a lake.

    If the photos we had to leaf through (pun entirely intended) are any indication of the reality, then it’s not hard to find a magical foliage setting. In fact, New England is having an especially brilliant season this year thanks to an early September chill and heavy rains.

    So what are you waiting for? It’s prime viewing time. Grab your camera and go capture your memories — these photos will give you ideas for how to compose your own.

    More from Travel + Leisure

    • America's coolest coffeehouses 
    • Las Vegas' best new attractions
    • America's worst drivers 
    • World's most important travel innovations

     

    1 comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: photos, fall, featured, autumn, travel-and-leisure, travel-leisure
  • 20
    Oct
    2011
    9:44am, EDT

    World's top revolving restaurants

    CN Tower / 360 Restaurant

    The 360 Restaurant atop Canada's CN Tower is a dizzying 1,100 feet above Toronto.

    By Brendan Spiegel, Travel + Leisure

    When you’re dining at a revolving restaurant 250 feet above Cape Town, you expect the views to be fantastic. The real surprise is when the food appears — and it’s excellent.

    What better way to savor a beautiful city than from this vantage point: a window seat at a revolving restaurant where the shifting views complement the gourmet courses. At Cape Town’s Top of the Ritz, that means pairings of just-caught mussels with a view of iconic Table Mountain, spicy curry-butternut soup with the sandstone Twelve Apostle peaks, rack of lamb with beaches, and dessert with the sunset dipping below the Atlantic.

    Over the past 50 years, revolving restaurants have opened in more than 50 countries on six continents, from Colombia to Nepal to Canada. Along the way, the concept has gone from futuristic novelty to often-tacky tourist traps. But set aside that skepticism: we’ve pinpointed select revolving restaurants that are worth the price of admission.

    Slideshow: See the world's top revolving restaurants

    The revolving restaurant trend took flight in 1961, when Seattle architect John Graham built one on top of a shopping center in Hawaii. A year later Graham was commissioned to design the Space Needle for the upcoming World’s Fair in his hometown, and brought the idea with him. The resulting ultramodern tower not only became an enduring icon of this Northwest city, it brought 20,000 awed visitors to the Space Needle restaurant each day of the World’s Fair, setting off a global craze for revolving restaurants.

    Far too many successors get by on their looks alone, serving generic, overpriced dishes that typically invite the harsh review: “killer views, mediocre food.” Munich’s Restaurant 181 rises above that revolving restaurant reputation and has become one of the city’s most coveted dining spots. It even earned a Michelin star for chef Otto Koch’s concoctions, such as morel-crusted veal and langoustine tartare on a bed of caviar.

    Koch introduced airplane-esque classes of dining, from the First (eight courses, including the caviar, for $209) to the Economy Sunset Menu, a three-course prix fixe at a down-to-earth $52. That’s about as frugal as you get at these revolving restaurants, which each deliver a once-in-a-lifetime meal that can’t be duplicated anywhere else. Give them a spin.

    More from Travel + Leisure

    • America's Best Beer Gardens
    • Beautiful Fall Foliage Photos
    • Las Vegas's Best New Attractions
    • World's Most Endangered Sites

     

    6 comments

    Show more
    Explore related topics: canada, restaurants, featured, travel-leisure
  • 18
    Oct
    2011
    9:38am, EDT

    The best new attractions in Las Vegas

    By Andrea Bennett, Travel + Leisure

    The Neon Museum, Inc.

    The Neon Museum in Las Vegas opens May 2012.

    It’s always been a mystery: What lies behind the walls of Wayne Newton’s Vegas estate? Penguins and Elvis memorabilia, as it turns out. And come next spring, when Newton’s Casa de Shenandoah opens as a museum, you’ll be able to see this collection for yourself.

    And this glimpse into the life of “Mr. Las Vegas” is just the beginning. In fact, the city is having something of a renaissance, opening up new restaurants, clubs, museums, and other venues at a fantastic rate and returning Sin City to the ever-changing kaleidoscope it once was.

    Slideshow: See the rest of the list

    That time of change was less than 10 years ago, when Las Vegas was in the middle of a no-holds-barred building boom. The historic downtown was about to undergo huge changes. A burgeoning arts district was gaining cachet. Mega condo-hotels were coming. George Clooney was going to ignite the Strip with a giant mixed-use property.

    But things happen, and Vegas seemed to be put on a giant “hold” for several years. The only major plan that was actually completed was the awe-inspiring multihotel, retail, and restaurant complex, CityCenter. This was no small achievement, of course: it included the Mandarin Oriental and Aria hotels; Crystals shopping center; and nearby, the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, with a slew of superlative restaurants. CityCenter was so popular it completely vacuumed people off the Strip and deposited them firmly in its fun and artsy atmosphere.

    Now the excitement of CityCenter has spilled over into the entire city: new restaurants, museums, and clubs have either recently opened or are on target for 2012. Some of them you’ll find downtown, which the city is focused on really revitalizing this time. At its heart will be the most anticipated cultural venue in recent Las Vegas history: the $450 million Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which was built for symphonies, not Celine.

    Even the Las Vegas steak restaurant has received a refresh. The new 35 Steaks and Martinis, in the Hard Rock Hotel, marries a 35-day aged, 35-ounce prime steak with “Wines that Rock,” including labels by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

    So even if you visited Vegas recently, don’t assume it’s still the same. And don’t head to Sin City without checking out our list of the newest and best things to do.

    More Articles from T+L

    • Sin City's best restaurants
    • Secrets of the Vegas Strip (mall)
    • Vote in our first-ever Landmarks Survey

     

    1 comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: las-vegas, featured, travel-leisure
  • 13
    Oct
    2011
    8:26am, EDT

    America's most iconic drives

    Thomas A. Thompson

    Sights along the Tioga Pass Scenic Byway in California include the high country of Yosemite National Park and the

    By Jamie Jensen, Travel+Leisure

    Automobile ads love to show shiny vehicles cruising open highways under blue skies, with mountains and beaches nearby. But when was the last time you took a drive like that? For most of us, our cars are merely workhorses to haul us around town.

    Slideshow: America's most iconic drives

    Still, it’s easy to break out of the rut. Magnificent roads are never far — routes that slice through forests, dance along the coastlines, and thread through mountain passes. They’re scenic drives, yes, but they’re also classically American. And once you find the right route, it’s easy to rediscover the exuberant freedom of the open road.

    The first cars were by and large playthings for the rich and powerful — just picture Jay Gatsby winding his yellow Rolls-Royce down the parkways of Long Island. But at the same time, special scenic routes were constructed in what are still some of the country’s most beautiful spots. When more Americans started driving, it created a road-trip frenzy that lives on today.

    Some of these roads are justifiably famous, including what’s arguably America’s most scenic drive: California’s Route 1, around the town of Big Sur. Rocky cliffs plunge down to open ocean, creating a severe distraction while you navigate this narrow road.

    Other roads may not be household names, but are nevertheless an integral part of the American fabric. Highway 31, west of New Orleans, takes you through classic Louisiana countryside, past lazy bayous and swampy lagoons filled with alligators and herons.

    And some of these great American drives are still relatively new. Between Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park and its Dr. Seuss–like Bryce Canyon, Highway 12 runs past sandstone cliffs and a forest of deep green junipers. Yet this road was simply a challenging four-wheel-drive track until the last stretch was opened in 1985. And the famous Blue Ridge Parkway, a project started in 1935, wasn’t fully completed until 1983. That’s when the Linn Cove Viaduct, which snakes around North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain, was finished.

    So next time you find yourself stuck in rush-hour traffic, skip the road rage. Instead, find the iconic American road closest to you and put yourself in that automobile ad.

    More from Travel+Leisure

    • America’s most scenic roads
    • World’s scariest roads
    • Vote in our first-ever landmarks survey
    • Check out our blog

     

    Comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: featured, drives, road-trips, travel-leisure
Older posts

Browse

  • featured,
  • its-a-snap,
  • photography,
  • travel-and-leisure,
  • travel,
  • rob-lovitt,
  • harriet-baskas,
  • budget-travel,
  • hotels,
  • us-travel,
  • food-and-wine,
  • world-news,
  • travel-leisure,
  • chris-rodell,
  • europe,
  • cities,
  • london,
  • tanya-mohn,
  • where-in-the-world,
  • national-parks,
  • departures,
  • restaurants,
  • frommers,
  • photos,
  • las-vegas,
  • olympics,
  • family-travel,
  • museums,
  • matt-lauer,
  • caribbean,
  • winter,
  • food
Also

Top msnbc.com headlines

3147,10
Advertise | AdChoices

Archives

  • 2012
    • May (24)
    • April (63)
    • March (80)
    • February (79)
    • January (72)
  • 2011
    • December (66)
    • November (55)
    • October (38)
    • September (5)

Most Commented

  • Now towering over London's Olympic Park: 'The Godzilla of public art' (77)
  • All aboard for private train travel (44)
  • World's longest water coaster opens in Santa Claus, Ind. (27)
  • 10 best historic U.S. sites for kids (11)
  • Best fast-food chains in the world (5)
  • World's top shopping streets (5)
  • Take mom somewhere for free on Mother's Day (3)
  • Three North American luxury hotels celebrate 100 years in 2012 (3)

Other blogs

  • The Body Odd
  • Cosmic Log
  • Red Tape Chronicles
  • PhotoBlog
  • Gadgetbox
  • Technolog
  • Daryl Cagle's Cartoon Blog
  • Open Channel
  • InGame

msnbc.com top stories

3147,10
© 2012 msnbc.com
  • Travel on msnbc.com
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Help
  • Site map
  • Careers
  • Terms & Conditions
  • MSN Privacy
  • Legal
  • Advertise
Advertise | AdChoices