Travel habits continue to morph these days: leisure travelers are setting off more often, staying longer and combining work with vacation. Logistics can still be challenging and world events are beyond nerve-racking. Still, “to travel is to live,” said Hans Christian Andersen. Here are seven destinations worth our precious time.
Menorca, Spain
This Mediterranean island offers great stretches of sandy beach, a charming capital of Mahon and Fontenille Menorca–Torre Vella, a fancy new rural hotel.
Yann Deret
Add to that serious art cred, thanks to Hauser & Wirth Menorca, an art center on the little island of Illa del Rei in Mahon harbor.
‘Spider’ (1994) by Louise Bourgeois on Hauser & Wirth Menorca © The Easton Foundation/ DACS
Sarasota, Fla.
For design enthusiasts, Sarasota is a wonderland. From April through May, Architecture Sarasota, founded to protect a significant concentration of modernist buildings, hosts a Gene Leedy exhibition at the McCulloch Pavilion, itself worth a visit.
Greg Wilson
Sri Lanka
Honeymooners come to this small island in the Indian Ocean for pristine beaches and deluxe bungalows.
Getty Images
More ambitious travelers can opt for big-cat safaris, architectural tours or birding itineraries like the new 10-day trip from AndBeyond. The government is investing in new projects for tourists, including the Pekoe Trail, which winds through tea country.
andBeyond
Amangalla
Accommodations are improving, too. Among the top new choices: Sielen Diva, a villa turned hotel. The older Amangalla (shown), an Aman hotel built within a 17th-century fort, remains a favorite with luxury travelers.
AMAN
Oaxaca, Mexico
In southwestern Mexico, the city of Oaxaca is a riot of color, flavor, scent, sunshine and street life. At Mercado 20 de Noviembre, you can eat grasshopper and grilled meats then slowly sift through the vast array of craft.
Getty Images
Architect Alberto Kalach designed the new Casona Sforza, a seaside resort on the Oaxacan coast where rooms are like luxury caves in a honeycomb of tiles.
Alex Krotkov/Casona Sforza
Franklin, Tenn.
Just outside Nashville, downtown Franklin is a well-preserved patch of small-town Americana, with little shops and restaurants like Biscuit Love (shown) and tidy houses that date to the 1800s.
Becca Wildsmith
This summer, Southall, a working farm that’s been reimagined as a high-minded rural retreat, is slated to open in Franklin.
Southall
Kyushu, Japan
Japan remains closed to most tourists, but travel advisers expect borders to be fully reopened by fall, when a new bullet train route will connect Nagasaki with hot spring areas in western Kyushu.
Alamy
Consider booking into KAI Yufuin, a 45-room hot spring ryokan and Hoshino resort designed by Kengo Kuma, due to open this summer.
Hoshino Resorts
Northwest Territories, Canada
Ten years in the making, Thaidene Nëné is Canada’s new national park, and it’s a slam-dunk for nature lovers, with abundant fishing and almost 24 hours of daylight in summer.
Laani Uunila/Parks Canada
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The rugged park reserve spans more than 10,000 square miles and is managed collaboratively by Parks Canada and local indigenous people.
Pat Kane
Produced by: Valeria Suasnavas
Cover photo credit: Getty Images
Hauser & Wirth: Daniel Schäfer/The Easton Foundation and Hauser & Wirth
