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,...

Airbnb was a fledgling entity in 2010, having been founded just two years prior. Now it's a behemoth.

Airbnb joins vacation-rental sites seeing surge in summer demand

By Bloomberg News

June 9, 2020 at 10:30 a.m.

Antsy city dwellers seeking to escape their COVID-19 refuges are road-tripping to nearby vacation rentals...

Venice glimpses a future with fewer tourists and likes what it sees

By The New York Times

June 10, 2020 at 12:12 p.m.

VENICE, Italy — For a change, it was the Venetians who crowded the square. Days...

Camping in the West? Like everything these days, it’s complicated

By The New York Times

June 6, 2020 at 8:14 a.m.

In the West, cabin-feverish parents yearning to take their children into the woods, couples trying...

The Grand Canyon will reopen this summer. Here’s how it will go

By Christopher Reynolds

June 19, 2020 at 10:35 a.m.

Grand Canyon National Park, which reopened for Memorial Day and then closed, will reopen Friday...

GAS LAMP PLAYERS|While you may not be able to <a href="https://www.theactivetimes.com/travel/new-york-celebrity-sightings">spot any celebrities in person</a> this summer, you can still video chat with them. Gas Lamp Players is offering three-week, virtual summer classes with theater industry professionals for $150. Enrollees can take classes in film and television acting, songwriting, character development and more.

Here’s a new way to do study abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

By Associated Press

June 5, 2020 at 1:58 p.m.

(THE CONVERSATION) With the U.S. and much of the world engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic,...

Paris cafes, restaurants partially reopen post-lockdown

By Associated Press

June 4, 2020 at 5:00 p.m.

The city famed for its vibrant cafe society and coffee culture got some of its...

Venice glimpses a future with fewer tourists and likes what it sees

By New York Times

June 4, 2020 at 3:24 p.m.

The coronavirus has laid bare the underlying weaknesses of the societies it has ravaged, whether...

Across southern Europe, in places where tourism drives much of the economy, officials are weighing how to entice travelers to come back, even while the pandemic remains a threat. Juggling the sometimes-competing needs of health and business, authorities are introducing measures to reassure visitors that taking a holiday is safe again.

What will it take to reopen the world to travel?

By The New York Times

June 4, 2020 at 10:19 a.m.

SYDNEY — After months of locked-down borders, countries that have stifled the coronavirus are trying...

Viking suspends operations but won’t refund $10,000 for river cruise and tour

By Christopher Elliott

June 3, 2020 at 4:02 p.m.

Viking River Cruises is refusing to issue a total refund after canceling operations and promising...

Camping in the West? Like everything these days, it’s complicated

By New York Times

June 3, 2020 at 2:19 p.m.

In the West, cabin-feverish parents yearning to take their children into the woods, couples trying...