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,...

Taking the kids: And de-stressing that first national parks trip

By Eileen Ogintz

August 3, 2023 at 2:41 p.m.

Quick question: What is the most visited national park? No, it's not Yellowstone, though Yellowstone...

A tourist drinks water as she and a man sit under an umbrella in front of the five century BC Parthenon temple at the Acropolis hill during a heat wave, on July 13, 2023.

Greece to limit visitors to ancient Acropolis to 20,000 per day

By Associated Press

August 2, 2023 at 3:51 p.m.

Visits to the Acropolis of Athens, Greece's most popular archaeological site, will be capped starting...

"It All Goes Up" musician Beth Bombara said that performing one day at Amsterdam's Paradiso is on her bucket list. (Virginia Harold/TCA)

Go away with … Beth Bombara

By Jae-Ha Kim

August 1, 2023 at 8:00 a.m.

When the pandemic derailed Beth Bombara's plans to tour, she took that time to concentrate...

Vienna's Hofburg Palace is steeped in Habsburg history, but the complex also houses museums on ancient Ephesus, the imperial armory, musical instruments, and more. (Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli/Rick Steves' Europe)

Rick Steves’ Europe: Whimsy and luxury at Vienna’s Hofburg Palace

By Rick Steves

August 1, 2023 at 8:00 a.m.

At Vienna's Hofburg Palace complex, ground zero of the Habsburg Empire, I'm particularly entertained by...

Riders roll along Walnut Street during RAGBRAI cycling event across Iowa on July 26, 2023, in downtown Des Moines.

Pancakes, free beer and fundraising: On the road with RAGBRAI cyclists for 50th anniversary ride

By Jake Sheridan

July 27, 2023 at 6:51 p.m.

Cyclists flooded streets at an unprecedented rate Wednesday as the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride...

Rodeo at Cheyenne Frontier Days Festival

Taking the kids: To the world’s biggest outdoor rodeo and Western celebration

By Eileen Ogintz

July 27, 2023 at 3:52 p.m.

Great catch! No, we're not at a baseball game. We're watching Jacob Van Horn, 12,...

Riders taking part in RAGBRAI — the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — dance in a foam sprayer in Washta on July 23, 2023.

With record-smashing ridership, RAGBRAI bike ride across Iowa turns 50

By Jake Sheridan

July 25, 2023 at 5:53 p.m.

The destination for cyclists at the 50th anniversary RAGBRAI lies 500 miles east of their...

Padua's Basilica of St. Anthony is a pilgrimage site. (Suzanne Kotz/Rick Steves' Europe)

Rick Steves’ Europe: Breaking (and dipping) bread in Padua, Italy

By Rick Steves

July 25, 2023 at 6:00 a.m.

At Padua's Piazza delle Erbe, the market is closed, the merchants are gone, and shadows...

The pop duo SHOWNU X HYUNGWON said that Canada is on their list of places they want to visit. (Starship Entertainment/TCA)

Go away with … SHOWNU X HYUNGWON

By Jae-Ha Kim

July 25, 2023 at 6:00 a.m.

It is midnight in Seoul when Shownu and Hyungwon log on for our Zoom interview....

A view of Casco Bay from the Eastern Promenade in Portland, Maine, is seen in August 2021.

A summer road trip along Maine’s coastline will feed your soul and steal your heart

By Jaclyn Jermyn

July 25, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

I don't know what made my parents pack up the family in 2002 and spend...