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,...

‘The future looks bleak’: The pandemic ravages medical tourism

By The New York Times

July 4, 2020 at 7:42 a.m.

Over the past several years, hospitals began to play innkeeper to open the door to...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for the 8th annual Breakthrough Prize awards ceremony at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California on November 3, 2019.

New petition urges Mark Zuckerberg to stop ‘colonizing’ Hawaii — Facebook billionaire says he’s not

By Nancy Dillon

July 6, 2020 at 9:36 a.m.

A new online petition criticizing billionaire Mark Zuckerberg's alleged "colonizing" of Kauai, Hawaii, topped 400,000...

Going to the Bahamas for a weekend getaway? Here’s what you need to know.

By Wells Dusenbury

July 7, 2020 at 12:06 p.m.

The Bahamas officially reopened to the public on July 1 — with a handful of...

Esther Hill holds a wheel of Pleasant Ridge Reserve inside an aging room at Uplands Cheese near Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Hill used the savory cheese, similar to Gruyere, in her award-winning grilled cheese sandwich.

Grilled cheese sandwiches in southwestern Wisconsin

By Contributed Content

July 2, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.

Grilled cheese sandwiches are a specialty in southwest Wisconsin. The annual contest was canceled this...

Airline policies differ a lot on coronavirus safety measures

By Geoff Baker

July 2, 2020 at 1:32 p.m.

Piloting a plane might seem simpler for some passengers than navigating a plethora of differing...

Go away with … Laura Toggs of Hillsong Young & Free

By Jae-Ha Kim

July 2, 2020 at 11:57 a.m.

Based out of Sydney, Australia, the contemporary Christian group Hillsong Young & Free has a...

Rick Steves’ Europe: Fado: The Lisbon blues

By Rick Steves

July 2, 2020 at 11:27 a.m.

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

The Forge

By Contributed Content

July 2, 2020 at 10:48 a.m.

The Forge: Lemont Quarries opens 29 miles from Chicago on July 17, 2020, in Lemont,...

Ed Perkins on travel: Traveling-with-kids checklist

By Ed Perkins

July 2, 2020 at 10:23 a.m.

The main type of travel during the re-opening period will be "visiting friends and relatives,"...

Co-founder Chris Gladwin talks about the East X Tower aerial challenge course at The Forge: Lemont Quarries on June 18, 2020.

The Forge: Lemont Quarries adventure park opens July 17. ‘It’s very much choose your own adventure.’

By Darcel Rockett

July 13, 2020 at 3:48 p.m.

Driving in Lemont on a sunny day, 29 miles from Chicago, on a gravel road...