Articles

Beach & Water Sports

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Another Cruise Port Votes to Restrict Visitors: How Passenger Limits Are Shaping Cruising

Lost in the threshing machine of more momentous news headlines this week was the outcome of a referendum in Bar Harbor, Maine, that portends deepening complications for cruise…

Article / Hotels

4 New Hotels That Have Opened By Miami's Downtown Cruise Port

Downtown Miami is finally getting the hotel scene it deserves, and the city's busy cruise terminal finally has some new good places to stay nearby.  

Article / Slideshows

How to Bike Normandy’s D-Day Beaches: A Car-Free Side Trip from Paris

Beyond their historical significance, Normandy’s D-Day beaches are quite simply beautiful. The stark and ever-changing light on the vast water creates a palette of colors that makes…

Article / Cruise

The First-Time Cruiser's Packing List: 20 Things Your Cabin Won't Have

What do you need to bring on a cruise? The items on this checklist—unless you want to buy them at inflated prices later.

Article / Slideshows

What to Do in Provincetown: A 1-Day Side Trip from Boston

Windswept sand dunes and a windswept Cher impersonator riding a stand-up scooter down Commercial Street—those are basically the twin poles of any getaway in Provincetown, Massachusetts…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Florida Is Trying to Ram Development of State Parks, "Skirting the Legal Process"

Floridians are sounding a red alert after the state unexpectedly revealed its intent to allow rapid development at nine of Florida's nature reserves, sidestepping the usual process…

Article / Air Travel

The Fastest Way to Get from NYC to Boston? A Waterfront-to-Waterfront Seaplane

Traveling from Boston Harbor to Manhattan's East River by amphibious aircraft is fast, fun—and expensive.

Article / Passportable

This Carnival Cruise Customer Service Scam Cost a Family Their $900 Vacation

We've warned you before about travel scams involving fraudulent phone numbers for airlines' customer service call centers. Passengers fall prey to that con when they look up an…

Article / Cruise

The Best Cruises You Don't Need a Passport For

U.S. travelers don't need passports to take these memorable cruise itineraries—even though they make international stops. 

Article / Slideshows

How to Get Scuba Diving Certification: Should You Take the Plunge?

Like seatbelts and slaughterhouse inspections, scuba diving certification arose as a way of regulating an industry that had previously operated with unacknowledged risks. “Back in the…

Article / Passportable

Forecast: No Sargassum Season in Cancún This Year—but Other Beaches Not as Lucky

In recent years, summer has been peak sargassum season, with large, unsightly accumulations of the stinky brown seaweed piling up on beaches in Florida, the Caribbean, and Mexico's…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Dengue Fever Surges in the USA! Learn How to Prevent Mosquito Bites When You Travel

Just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning about the increased risk of dengue virus infections in the United States, Florida health officials…

Article / Beach & Water Sports

Beach Safety Tips for Avoiding Rip Currents

Amid rising risks from rip currents, follow these essential beach safety tips to avoid one of the ocean's biggest dangers. 

Article / Slideshows

Best Places to Go in the Fall: USA Travel Picks for September, October, and November

There are those who find summer oppressive and winter dreary, but does anybody not like fall? Okay, maybe third graders bummed about being back in school. But for the rest of us in the…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Frommer’s Maine Coast: Our Latest Guide to Acadia, Portland, and Other Seaside Stunners

“Maine is a beautiful place that I paradoxically want to hoard to myself and share with everyone I meet," humorist John Hodgman writes in his 2017 book Vacationland. On a recent…

Article / Passportable

Where The Best Beaches in Europe for Water Quality Are

Weather forecasters say it's gonna be another summer of brutal heat waves in Europe—maybe the hottest season ever, according to some predictions. But at least there's some reassuring…

Article / Beach & Water Sports

Nude Beach Etiquette: 7 Rules for First-Timers

The clothing may be optional, but these rules for avoiding a faux pas at a nude beach are not.

Article / Cruise

11 Ways to Find a Cheap Cruise: The Secrets of Cruise Discounts in 2024

We’ve got the lowdown on how to make your hard-earned cruise vacation cash go even further. Here are 11 methods for booking a cheap cruise.

Article / Slideshows

What to Do in Marseille—and Planning Pitfalls to Avoid

As one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, the port city of Marseille in southern France has a long and colorful history—and for a good chunk of that time,…

Article / Passportable

Deal Alert: Hawaii Hotels Are Up to 30% Cheaper Than Normal Right Now

If you've ever wanted a vacation on Maui's famed Ka‘anapali Beach, this is the year to go. Occupancy and prices are down some 20–30% in the popular West Maui resort area, but those…

Article / Passportable

Hurricane Season Forecast: 2024 Could Get Most Storms Ever

This post, originally published April 22, has been updated with new information.The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is going to be a rough one, according to weather forecasters. For…

Article / Beach & Water Sports

Taking Sand from the Beach as a Souvenir? That'll Be a €3000 Fine

The next time you're at a beach you love, fight the urge to celebrate the place by taking some of it with you. A single selfish tourist taking a small vial of sand would barely seem to…

Article / Health, Insurance, Security

The 10 Safest Countries in Africa to Visit in 2024

These 10 African countries have earned the safest rating from the U.S. State Department.

Article / Slideshows

Summer in Chicago: How to Experience the City's Favorite Season

It’s hard to understate just how dramatically the mood changes in Chicago when the city finally begins to thaw out for summer. Even mild winters in the Midwest can be bleak—endlessly…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Why Cape Cod Summer Rentals Could Be Cheaper This Year

During the Covid-19 pandemic, while you were optimistically purchasing (and not using) resistance bands for your (unused) home gym (i.e., closet), rich people were apparently buying…