Innehållsförteckning för Spring 2024 från AFAR

Planning trips these days can feel like a full-time job: flights to book, an itinerary to perfect, the best restaurants and hotel suites to reserve. Luckily, it literally is a full-time job for many knowledgeable people—and they’ll do all the planning and booking for you. There are thousands of travel advisors across the world who specialize in virtually every destination and type of trip. And they’re more in demand than ever as people seek authentic, meaningful, and conscientious experiences in a world of overtourism, air travel hassles, and climate concerns. But what value can travel advisors add in this interconnected age, when you can text almost any person or company around the world in an instant, and endless start-ups are replacing personal interaction with AI-formulated answers? They can add a…

LIKE ANY SMALL TOWN that isn’t yours, Sambuca di Sicilia, located about an hour’s drive south of the Sicilian capital, Palermo, feels a little intimidating at first. Stroll its perimeter on a late afternoon in winter, when the sun sets the buildings alight, and eyes follow you. Order the town’s signature minni di virgini—breast-shaped cakes filled with cream, chocolate chips, and squash jam—and a hush silences the chatter in the local bakery. It’s not unfriendly, this exaggerated alertness, but it does make you, the visitor, feel a bit self-conscious. By the time I walk into a small restaurant that first evening seeking dinner, my self-consciousness has reached an uncomfortable peak. The restaurant’s only other guests, a middle-aged couple, fall quiet as I make my way to a table. After the…

WHERE TO EAT Every few years, Philly seems to undergo a pizza boom. The latest entry in must-have pies is the samosa pizza at Carbon Copy, a brewery in West Philly. A white pizza topped with potatoes and Madras curry oil, it is a contender for one of the city’s best new dishes. Mexican food is equally ubiquitous; head to Cantina La Martina for aguachile and frozen cocktails. Over at Honeysuckle Provisions, an Afrocentric grocer, the café serves such items as grits and eggs, a West Indian patty, and a “Dolla” hoagie (a turkey or turnip sandwich with sesame-seed mayo and Havarti cheese). Historic Reading Terminal Market is a perennial favorite, with 70-plus vendors selling everything from Pennsylvania Dutch baked goods to Georgian khachapuri to, of course, cheesesteaks. Meanwhile, the…

NEVADA IS SAID TO BE one of the most paranormally active places in the U.S.—making it an ideal destination for me, a person drawn to the odd and unusual. Ghosts and aliens have (allegedly) been spotted across the Silver State, but many unexplainable occurrences center on a lonely 98-mile stretch of asphalt called State Route 375, or the Extraterrestrial Highway. I knew I had to see it for myself. My journey began in Hiko, population 124. This remote corner of the galaxy is best known for E.T. Fresh Jerky, a roadside shop that sells “alien jerky” (which is, perhaps a little disappointingly, made of beef instead of aliens) and out-of-this-world memorabilia. From there it was on to a series of increasingly stellar stops: the Alien Research Center, a gift shop with…

A GREAT HOTEL can define an entire trip. So each year, AFAR’s team of experts selects the world’s best new and renovated arrivals, whether it’s an Edwardian landmark in central London, a high-design hideaway in Marrakech, or a canvas-walled luxury camp set against the Utah desert’s sweeping rock formations. The 31 hotels we chose all opened in 2023 and were personally visited by our global network of seasoned editors, writers, and travel advisors. We vetted each of the properties for their noteworthy locations, stand-out design, exemplary service, and remarkable guest experiences. In addition, we paid attention to the work they’re doing to tread lightly on the environment and to meaningfully engage with the communities around them. Above all, the variety of lodgings on our list mirrors the thoughtful, eclectic, and…

WHAT TO DO Palermo At various points in history, the island’s capital has been under the control of Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Arabs, Germans, French, and Spanish—and their influences can be seen in the art, architecture, and food. Palermo’s notable center includes the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi, Santa Caterina d’Alessandria church, and Cappella Palatina (royal chapel); at Ballarò and Vucciria markets, try specialties like arancini (fried rice balls) and panelle (chickpea fritters). The Southeast Coast The charming island of Ortigia, which is connected to the city of Syracuse by bridge, has both cultural and beach offerings. Try fruit at the Antico Mercato di Ortigia, admire Arethusa Spring, tour the ancient Cattedrale Metropolitana della Natività di Maria Santissima, and sunbathe on Fontane Bianche beach—all in a day. Back on Sicily proper, Noto is…

“I STARTED TO FALL IN LOVE with Philly slowly. I moved here for my relationship. I did not think of it as my home, since I was coming from Bangkok, where I had a full life. In my hometown [Yan Ta Khao in southern Thailand], my family took care of everybody. Hospitality is in my blood. When I conceived of Kalaya, I started to think about how I was going to do the food I wanted to do. Everything would come out at the same time, family style. We would eat like how we eat at home. This is my food. This is the food that my family eats. It is our culture. [As a guest at Kalaya,] you are coming into my home. My house, my rules—we don’t change our…

“I GREW UP IN PHILLY, and yet I can probably count on one hand how many times I went to any of the museums. I remember being in high school, going to the Philly Museum of Art, and hearing people say words I had never heard of. It made me feel ‘less than.’ Museum spaces can feel stuffy and make some people feel like they don’t belong. When I started the Streets Dept blog in 2011, I wanted to be a storyteller. I didn’t know if it would be a city blog, but I got great advice from friends: Look at your camera roll. What is taking your interest? I was shooting photos of street art and murals, and that’s how I decided my focus. I wasn’t just blogging about…

I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED languages. I began learning French and German in middle school, and by the time I graduated from high school, I had two years of upper-level French and Italian, three years of upper-level German, and a foundation in opera, which gave me a reverence for the art of translation. In college, I studied French medieval poetry and Norse sagas. My education was a rarefied experience, but those early forays into communication have shaped the way I think of language and its potential to foster connection. Today, the learning landscape has changed. We have powerful computers in our pockets, and translating at the touch of a button is the norm; apps such as Duolingo can help us with our Greek, Hindi, and Haitian Creole. Sometimes, as with Google…

I don’t see how we’re making it to dinner,I said to my husband, Taylor,as we picked our way up a craggy hill, our backs to the North Atlantic.We were 13 miles intoa 43-mile, three-day trek across the Dingle Peninsula,Ireland’s westernmost promontory.We had set out that morning from the music-filled port town of Dingle,hiking toward Dunquin, a tiny settlementfacing the Blasket Islands archipelago.Just before lunch, we’d wandered off the path to explore the ruinsof a 7th-century monastery and had gotten slightly lost finding our way back. Now we were late cresting the peninsula’s shoulder.Over the ridge we could just spy Mount Brandon,a 3,000-foot-tall pilgrimage site, once an outer edge of the known world.Below us, scalloped beaches beckoned.This was all made less glorious by knowing we had five miles to trekbefore we…

“I GREW UP ON Fourth Street and Dickinson in South Philly. I always liked drawing and art. My mom is a talented seamstress; she didn’t go to school for design, but she always made her own clothes and our Christmas and Easter outfits. I started sewing thanks to her guidance when I was about 10. My mom would purchase patterns from McCall’s and Butterick on Fourth Street, in an area called Fabric Row. One of my favorite shops there, now gone, sold ‘notions,’ like zippers and buttons and rhinestones. I was obsessed because it was all about embellishment, all the little things that make a product unique. When I was looking for a location for Yowie’s first store, I happened upon a space on Fourth Street and I didn’t think twice.…

“I REMEMBER FONDLY being a kid in West Philly; there were a ton of eateries we would go to on Sundays. That was my food upbringing here, the local restaurants. Places like Big George’s were our Sylvia’s [an iconic soul food restaurant in Harlem, New York]. Every Sunday at Big George’s, there was a line down the block. It was a big buffet with 20 steam tables—it was pretty incredible. So when I left Philly, I didn’t know much about the fine dining restaurant scene per se. I didn’t go to culinary school; I learned by working. My career hasn’t been a linear progression. I worked in kitchens in New York, in D.C., in the Bay Area. I knew what I wanted to do, and I wanted to work with…