Laos, a place that feels stuck in time, is at the precipice of change. Backpackers found the country decades ago, drawn by staggeringly beautiful limestone mountains, elaborate Buddhist temples and an unhurried and inexpensive pace of life. Only the most intrepid travelers followed, as Laos, Southeast Asiaās only landlocked country, operated few ā and no…
Icon of a wilting palm tree Fighting the crowds The popular use of the word āovertourismā can be traced to a 2016 article about Iceland in Skift, a travel-industry publication. But itās been a theme on the list since at least 2006, when we suggested Istria, in northern Croatia, as an alternative for āfoodies weary…
Shortly after boarding her Turkish Airlines flight from Johannesburg to Istanbul last March, Patience Titcombe, 36, from Phoenix, noticed a small bug crawling on her seat when she got up to use the restroom. āI almost flicked it away,ā she said, āBut my friend stopped me and said, āThatās a bedbug.āā Ms. Titcombe, who had…
Yi-Pin Lin, an associate professor at Tufts University, proudly says he has vacationed in 120 nations over the past decade. But there was one country he had always dreamed of visiting, only to be frightened off by decades of war, kidnappings and terrorism: Afghanistan. With the end of the Afghan war in 2021, the countryās…
Shortly after moving into their home in St. Petersburg, Fla., Meghan Martin and her husband noticed a drawback to their new neighborhood. The quiet streets of Shore Acres, a leafy community bisected by canals, occasionally flooded. On some days it was easiest for Dr. Martin, a pediatric E.R. doctor, to reach the hospital by paddle…
Last year, an alarming video posted online recorded four-wheel-drive safari vehicles in Kenyaās Masai Mara Reserve racing after hunting cheetahs and nearly scaring them off their kill. In July, a Spanish traveler was trampled to death by elephants in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa, the third time this year that a tourist was killed…
8 a.m. Bike for breakfast Pick up an e-bike at Bike Palm Springs (half-day rentals from $25; maps available) to cruise midcentury-modern neighborhoods on a self-guided tour. Along your route, stop into Peninsula Pastries, a few blocks south, where glass cases display softball-size chouchous (chantilly-cream-filled choux pastries, $9.50) and pear almondine tarts ($8.50). Then ride…