Travel

The Chicago skyline backdrops the Chicago Jazz Festival at Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion on Sept. 4, 2026. (Chris Sweda/baiduhai)

Conde Nast Traveler readers name Chicago ‘Best Big City’ for 10th year in a row

By Robert Channick

October 6, 2026 at 3:25 p.m.

Conde Nast Traveler received nearly 800,000 votes for this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards, which cover...

Olivia Estrada, the on board manager, carries plates of food to the dome car for guests aboard a Patrick Henry Creative Promotions private rail car as it travels from Chicago, Illinois, to St. Louis, Missouri, on May 19, 2026. Private train cars may seem like a relic of the past, but for some rail fans, nothing beats having — or renting — your own sleeper car. (Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times)

The quiet allure of private rail

By The New York Times News Service Syndicate

October 2, 2026 at 6:15 p.m.

Private rail cars traveled 429,000 miles on Amtrak in fiscal year 2025, according to the...

Cary Sabados shops for chocolate at Hotel Chocolat in Lakeview on Feb. 12, 2026. This Lakeview location, opened last April, was the first Chicago store. (Eileen T. Meslar/baiduhai)

Chicago-based Hotel Chocolat going nationwide with airport concessions, grocery stores and new retail markets

By Robert Channick

September 23, 2026 at 12:37 p.m.

This fall, Hotel Chocolat will pop up at 49 airports, hit the shelves at Wegmans,...

An Airbnb outside Marquette on Michigan's Upper Peninsula touts viking decor and cozy quarters.

Secluded cottages and woodland cabins are popular retreats for wanderlust-plagued Chicagoans looking for a socially distanced escape

By Ariel Cheung

October 19, 2020 at 11:10 a.m.

Rarely have I envied Anne Shirley or young Laura Ingalls more; the thought of cozying...

A traveler is assisted by a state official Oct. 15, 2020, at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. A new pre-travel testing program will allow visitors who test negative for COVID-19 to come to Hawaii and avoid two weeks of mandatory quarantine.

Hawaii allows flyers to skip quarantine with pre-travel COVID-19 testing

By Associated Press

October 22, 2020 at 8:04 a.m.

About 8,000 people landed in Hawaii on the first day of a pre-travel testing program...

Sneaking a cigarette in a non-smoking room might not seem like that bad of an offense, but it's actually a huge expense and inconvenience for the hotel. Other than being <a href="https://www.theactivetimes.com/healthy-living/cancer-causing-habits-stop-immediately">unhealthy and dangerous</a>, this habit can affect other guests from secondhand smoke. Cigarette smoke can also invade the linens and cloth of the furniture. Hotel staff have little patience for those who break this rule, so they could kick you out if they catch you, on top of assessing a cleaning fee.

Hotel charged a cleaning fee for smoking––but I don’t smoke. Travel Troubleshooter investigates.

By Christopher Elliott

October 22, 2020 at 8:04 a.m.

When Red Roof Inn charges Mindy Haggerty a cleaning fee for smoking in her room,...

WAIT FOR A SPORTING EVENTS | <a href="https://www.theactivetimes.com/extreme-weather-pro-sports-athletes"target="_blank">Pro athletes have endured a lot</a> for the sake of the game, however this global health pandemic has upended the spring and summer sporting season. Currently, Major League Baseball has not announced a ticket refund policy, and the league intends to play as many games as possible when the season begins. The NHL and NBA have both been similarly mum on refund policies as they navigate the possibility of a season with empty stands and stadiums.

Rick Steves’ Europe: Champs-Elysees: The Parisian promenade

By Rick Steves

October 15, 2020 at 12:52 p.m.

As we've had to postpone our travels because of the pandemic, I believe a weekly...

Celebrity Travel: Go away with … Bob Gruen

By Jae-Ha Kim

October 15, 2020 at 12:51 p.m.

Bob Gruen is a pre-eminent roll 'n' roll photographer who has captured images of icons...

Graduate Evanston is in the former Homestead apartment and hotel building in Evanston, near Northwestern University.

College-focused Graduate Hotels is opening near Northwestern’s campus. It comes at an unprecedented time for hotels and universities.

By Ryan Ori

October 15, 2020 at 1:10 p.m.

Six years after launching a brand of college-focused hotels, a well-known Chicago developer is ready...

Iconic Deerfield ‘pie house’ hits Airbnb, with a pizza incentive for the first guests who book a stay

By Darcel Rockett

October 20, 2020 at 2:25 p.m.

Not gonna lie: We're as curious about Deerfield's "pie house" as much as the next...

FILE -- The Incan fortress of Machu Picchu, in the southeastern Andes Mountains of Peru, May 25, 2011. Jesse Katayama, a 26-year-old Japanese citizen who was stranded in Peru for seven months by the coronavirus lockdown, was recently granted to permission to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site. Aside from a few guides, he got it all to himself.

After a 7-month wait, this tourist got Machu Picchu all to himself

By The New York Times

October 14, 2020 at 11:59 a.m.

Jesse Katayama had planned to end a journey around the world 8,000 feet above sea...

October on Mount Desert Island in Maine offers hiking, stunning views, sea snails and blueberry pie

By Steve Chapman

October 14, 2020 at 8:58 a.m.

For much of the year, Cadillac Mountain is the first place that sunlight hits in...

Visitors wearing face masks pass the Castle Geyser on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020 at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Yellowstone Park reports most-ever September visitors

By Associated Press

October 13, 2020 at 3:14 p.m.

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park has reported that it had the most-ever September...