New Visiting Restrictions at Machu Picchu
Posted on 06/22/2017, 12:00 AM
Starting in July, if you want to see Machu Picchu in Peru, you're going to have to see it during either a morning or afternoon tour. Up to now, visitors were allowed to spend an entire day exploring the famed Incan citadel. But officials worried about the effects of a constant stream of tourists have imposed the new restrictions as a means of conserving the site and its one-of-a-kind archit...
Too Hot to Fly in Phoenix
Posted on 06/21/2017, 12:00 AM
Did you know that it can be too hot to fly? Extreme heat causes changes in air density that make it difficult for planes—especially small ones—to take off. Travelers are learning that little science lesson this week in Arizona, where a heat wave with temperatures that could reach 120 degrees forced American Airlines to cancel about 50 flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on ...
A Hotel Without Walls or Ceilings in the Swiss Alps
Posted on 06/20/2017, 12:00 AM
There's no such thing as a partial or obstructed view at the Null Stern Hotel in the Swiss Alps. That's because there are no such things as walls or ceilings here. Dreamed up by conceptual artists Frank and Patrik Riklin and Daniel Charbonnier, the hotel's single "room" is actually just a double bed, incongruously set out in the open air, atop a 3,900-foot (1,200 m) peak in Switzerland's A...
Pres. Trump Has Reinstated a Cuba Policy That Has Been an Abject Failure for 50 Years
Posted on 06/19/2017, 8:00 PM
Pres. Trump's Cuba decision senselessly turns back the clock, reversing gains for both countries—and for U.S. travelers. ...
Cheese Tour of Philly and Nearby Farmland
Posted on 06/19/2017, 12:00 AM
If you're going to plan a vacation around a food item, you could do worse than cheese. For one thing, it's objectively delicious (except blue cheese, which is objectively gross). For another, it's associated with some lovely destinations in France, Italy, and elsewhere. Crafting cheese-centric itineraries is the whole point of Cheese Journeys, a culinary tour operator that takes groups on ...
The Airbnb of Rental Cars Comes to L.A.
Posted on 06/16/2017, 12:00 AM
A car-sharing service aimed at travelers has come to Los Angeles. With TravelCar, which originated in France in 2012 and has since expanded to 30 countries, users get free parking at LAX, in exchange for letting out-of-towners rent their cars while they're away. The vehicle's owner is paid for every mile driven, and parking is still free even if nobody rents the car (and yes, it's insured a...
Coming Soon: First Nonstop Flights Between U.S. Mainland and British Virgin Islands
Posted on 06/15/2017, 12:00 AM
The first nonstop commercial flights between the U.S. mainland and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) are expected to begin operating sometime this summer. Up to now, most U.S. travelers have reached this floating Caribbean paradise by catching a connecting flight in San Juan, Puerto Rico, or taking a plane to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and riding a ferry. But if all goes as planne...
New Hostel in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Posted on 06/14/2017, 12:00 AM
You can now stay at a hostel in one of the most radioactive places on earth. Backed by the Ukrainian government and housed in a former Soviet dormitory, the 50-bed accommodation is located in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a 1,000-square-mile area contaminated in the 1986 nuclear power-plant disaster. Access to the region remains restricted to this day—visitors have to be on organized tour...
Oldest Structure on National Mall in Washington Being Restored
Posted on 06/13/2017, 12:00 AM
In 2018, the newest attraction on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., will also be the oldest. The Lockkeeper's House, which was built in 1835—before any of its more famous neighbors—at what is now 17th St. and Constitution Ave. NW, is being restored and moved back a bit from the street. If all goes as planned, it will soon be accessible to the public for the first time in decades. ...
Proposals to Privatize Air Traffic Control Are Based on Ideology, Not Practicality
Posted on 06/11/2017, 8:00 PM
The Trump Administration wants to put air traffic control in the hands of a private corporation. Should that worry you?...
