Today’s post includes a look at the World’s 50 Best Beaches, with impressive showings from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Australia, Hawaii and Anguilla. I also look at the places British Airways is recommending as top destinations for 2025, and at new Air Canada routes to Europe, Asia and the U.S.A., including flights to popular spots such as Portugal and Prague. When it comes to travel, it’s pretty much impossible to come up with a definitive list of the best of anything. One could argue Paris is the best city, but how do you argue with New York or Sydney or Read more
Oahu
Chicago has been named the best big city in the U.S. for the eighth year in a row, and Victoria has been awarded best small city in the world for the second year running. Conde Nast Travel today (Oct. 1), issued a variety of lists of top cities, best hotels, top islands and more with its 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards. My home state of California came out looking strong, with San Diego being named the number two big city in the States and San Francisco finishing sixth. For International Large Cities, Montreal came in ninth and Vancouver fourth, so kudos Read more
McKinsey consulting reports more than 62 million people visited New York City in 2023, representing 93% of 2019 levels. That’s also a significant increase (9.3%) from the 56.7 million visitors to the Big Apple in 2022. Domestic tourism has recovered to roughly 95% of pre-pandemic levels, with more than 50 million domestic travellers coming to the city in 2023. International travel is not far behind, recovering to about 86% of 2019 levels. Eleven million international travellers visited New York City in 2023. They are an important source of travel revenue as they spend, on average, three times as much as Read more
National Hawaii Day is today, July 5. To mark the occasion, yours truly, a 35-time visitor to the islands, is offering up some thoughts on special hotels and resorts you should consider for your next trip. Remember to visit responsibly and respectfully. Side note: Travel + Leisure came out with their list of the top 20 resorts of Hawaii on Tuesday, July 9. I believe eight of their top picks are on my list below. O’AHU Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina: Resting alongside the Aulani Disney resort outside of Honolulu, this is a chill spot overlooking a pretty Read more
There are some new spots on the Dr. Beach list of top beaches in the United States and Hawaii takes three of the top seven places. Dr. Stephen Leatherman, who calls himself “Doctor Beach,” has put out his ranking of top beaches for 2024. And there’s a new King, or rather Duke, at the top. For 2024, Leatherman puts Duke Kahanamoku Beach on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu in the top spot. Wailea Beach on Maui (I was there last fall) was third, and Po’ipu Beach on Kaua’i (a long-time fave of mine) came in at number seven. I’m also Read more
