Europe

Madrid: A City That Rewards Every Hour You Give It Madrid is a city that operates on its own completely magnificent terms and makes absolutely no apologies for any of them. It is a city where the greatest collection of European painting in the world sits within walking distance of a royal palace of overwhelming […]

Barcelona: The City That Gaudi Built and the World Cannot Stop Visiting There is a moment that happens to virtually every first time visitor to Barcelona, usually somewhere between emerging from the Metro at the Sagrada Família for the first time and standing open mouthed on the Passeig de Gràcia looking at the Casa Batlló,

Nice: Where the Alps Meet the Mediterranean in Perfect Harmony There is a particular quality of light in Nice that painters, writers and travelers have been trying to describe and capture for over two centuries without ever quite succeeding. It is the light of the Mediterranean at its most generous and most flattering, a golden

Paris: A City That Lives Up to Every Expectation and Then Exceeds Them There are cities that disappoint when you finally arrive in person after years of anticipation and there are cities that exceed every expectation you brought with you. Paris is emphatically and consistently the latter. It is a city of such extraordinary beauty,

Why Naples Belongs on Every Italy Itinerary Naples is the city that Italy keeps for itself. While Rome, Florence and Venice absorb the vast majority of international visitors, Naples sits at the southern end of the peninsula radiating a raw, passionate and utterly authentic energy that is completely unlike anything else in the country. It

Milan: Far More Than Fashion and Football Milan is a city that is consistently and frustratingly underestimated by travelers who pass through it on their way to Venice, Florence or Rome without giving it the time and attention it genuinely deserves. This is a profound mistake. Milan is not merely Italy’s financial capital and global

Venice: A City That Should Not Exist But Does So Magnificently There is an argument to be made that Venice is the single most improbable, most audacious and most beautiful city ever built by human hands. Constructed across 118 small islands in a shallow lagoon in the northern Adriatic Sea, connected by 400 bridges spanning

Florence: Where Art, History and Beauty Converge If Rome is the city that built the ancient world and Venice is the city that defies all architectural logic, Florence is the city that quite literally invented the modern world as we understand it culturally, artistically and intellectually. In the narrow cobblestone streets and magnificent stone piazzas

Rome: A City That Belongs to Every Era There is no city on earth quite like Rome. It is a place where 2,500 years of human civilization exist not in museums behind glass but alive and breathing in the streets, the squares and the everyday fabric of city life. Where else in the world can

Austria: Where Imperial Elegance Meets Alpine Wilderness There is a particular quality to Austria that sets it apart from every other country in Europe. It is a nation where the grandeur of a 700 year old empire lingers in every ornate palace facade, every world class concert hall and every elegant coffeehouse where time seems