Earth Before Man

The name Serengeti derives from a Maasai phrase that means “endless plains.” Tanzania’s iconic national park certainly feels that way — a seemingly infinite expanse of rolling grasslands, wooded river courses and rocky outcrops that safeguards one of the last great bastions of nature. Devoid of human habitation, the Serengeti offers a rare glimpse of what the Earth was like before mankind. MORE

Jewels of the Nile: 11 awesome Egyptian museums

For much of the 20th century, the Egyptian Museum in the center of Cairo was the gold standard for collections along the Nile.

Mainly because among the many nuggets inside were the glimmering death mask of Tutankhamun and all the other relics discovered in the boy king’s tomb by archeologist Howard Carter in 1922. MORE

World’s most beautiful castles

What is it about castles that fascinates so many people around the globe?

A lot of the allure derives from the history and human drama that played out within the walls, as well as the astonishing architecture that features on so many castles. But they’re also romantic and somewhat mystical, places that spark our imagination and conjure visions of long-ago knights in shining armor and powerful warrior queens. MORE

A Bostonian’s Guide to the Other Greatest Places in the World

Cape Verde

If the thought of holiday shopping has you dreaming of a warm Christmas somewhere far, far south of Newbury Street, consider escaping to the Cape Verde islands, an exotic archipelago off the coast of West Africa. A Portuguese colony for more than 500 years, this little independent nation with a deep New England connection flaunts everything you need for a December getaway—festive music, good food, gorgeous landscapes, and almost unlimited sun, sea, and sand. MORE

Sleeping in history: Egypt’s vintage hotels

Egypt has been attracting tourists for nearly as long as the pyramids have been around.

The ancient Greek author Herodotus, the spiritual father of travel writing, called it “the gift of the river” Nile.

Roman travelers carved graffiti into paranoiac tombs in the Valley of the Kings, leaving comments similar to what you might find on Yelp or TripAdvisor today. MORE

These historic lodges are the perfect way to see North America’s wild parks

Glamping has nothing on these lodges. With a grand mansion or rustic inn as your base camp, you can get a glimpse into 19th- and 20th-century history before heading off into the park to explore some of North America’s most beautiful landscapes. MORE

Top 10 wildlife encounters in parks

Originally supported—at least in the United States—by hunting enthusiasts eager to safeguard big game, parks have a longstanding connection to wildlife preservation. Today, wildlife tourists are becoming more mindful than ever of the balance between enjoying the parks they support and keeping a healthy distance from wild animals. Check out these 10 parks in the U.S. and Canada where you can find some of the best wildlife encounters. MORE

Explore 10 amazing river trips in North American parks

Rivers knit ecosystems together, providing some of the best widlife watching around—and some adrenaline-fueled recreation, too. Here are 10 of the best river trips in parks across the United States and Canada. MORE

Everything to know about Grand Canyon National Park

Imagine the Grand Canyon with no people. Just the psychedelic-colored canyon walls, the wind, and the river silent and milk chocolaty at the bottom of the gorge. That’s how it must have looked to the Native Americans who lived in and around the Grand Canyon 12,000 years ago, and to the Spanish explorers who laid eyes on the rift in the 16th century. MORE

18 travel books to inspire your next vacation or feed your wanderlust

• If you didn’t feel like hopping on a train, plane, or car to a new, unexplored destination before now, you will after reading one of these 18 travel books. 
• Their eye-catching photographs, romantic descriptions, and useful travel tips will inspire you to pack your bags and book a ticket ASAP. 
• The books cover domestic and international adventures alike, advising you on the can’t-miss things to do and eat. MORE

8 breathtaking photos of some of North America’s best national parks

Editor’s Note: The following are images from “100 Parks, 5,000 Ideas” by National Geographic’s Joe Yogerst. Explore the top national, state, and city parks throughout North America. National Geographic turns to the United States and Canada’s most pristine — and adventure-filled — national, state, and city parks with 5,000 ideas for the ultimate vacation. MORE

Top 10 sweeping views of iconic parks

Whether you’re an adrenaline junkie with a head for heights or simply looking for sublime vistas, North America’s breathtaking summits and manufactured monuments deliver. Here are ten of the most amazing panoramic views in parks across the United States and Canada. MORE

The best of ancient Egypt

(CNN) — Like the legendary curse of the mummy, ancient Egypt refuses to stay buried in the past. Every so often it comes back to life — in the 1920s with the discovery of King Tut’s tomb; in the 1970s with the global tour of those golden masks; and most recently with a flurry of astonishing discoveries using 21st-century archaeological techniques. MORE

 

20 best things to do in Kenya

Folks who have never been there tend to think of Kenya as a one-trick pony — an awesome safari destination and little more.

But East Africa’s No. 1 travel destination (nearly 1.5 million international visitors in 2017) is actually a multifaceted place with a wide variety of adventures both rural and urban.

While wildlife remains the lodestone, Kenya also offers awesome Indian Ocean beaches, world-class mountain trekking, surprisingly good nightlife, an eclectic cultural heritage and interesting ways to get around MORE

12 reasons to visit the beautiful Cape Verde islands

Once a hugely important gateway used by explorers en route to “discover” the Americas, the Cape Verde islands fell into obscurity in more recent times.

But the archipelago, located in the North Atlantic about 570 kilometers (about 350 miles) off the extreme western tip of Africa, is enjoying a renewed surge in visitors. It was named as one of CNN Travel’s top 18 places to visit in 2018. MORE

Eight of Kenya’s most beautiful beaches

(CNN) — Despite the powder-soft sand and seawater that runs a dozen shades of blue, Diani Beach on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast always has you looking skyward.

At the black-and-white colobus monkeys swinging through the trees and scampering over the roofs of the seaside villas. At the skydivers and kitesurfers hovering high above the strand. And — if you’re up early enough — at those incredible sunrises over the Indian Ocean. MORE

 

A Bostonian’s Guide to the Other Greatest Places in the World

12 destinations in 12 months – all just one non-stop flight away. MORE

16 of the world’s best coastlines

(CNN) — Coastlines are one of the most alluring of our planet’s geographical features.
The clash of land and water is often mesmerizing, as are the plants, animals and human activities that flourish along a shore.
In classic novella “Heart of Darkness,” seafaring author Joseph Conrad wrote MORE

Namibia’s Skeleton Coast: A journey through the ‘end of the Earth’

It seems more like a mirage than real life — lions stalking seals along a dazzling white sand strand that wouldn’t look out of place in the Caribbean.

But the sand dunes towering a hundred meters (300 feet) behind the shore and the fact there’s nothing man-made — other than shipwrecks — for a hundred miles in every direction indicate that there’s something very different about this section of Namibia’s 1,570 kilometer coastline. MORE

Dare to bare: 15 of the world’s best nude beaches

(CNN) — Although still taboo in many places, casting aside your clothes at the shore has become a customary practice around the world in recent times.
From rocky coastlines to talcum powder fine sands, and big city bays to secluded shores, there are now hundreds of beaches where it’s perfectly legal (or at least de facto legal) to sunbathe, swim and otherwise frolic beside the sea in nothing more than your birthday suit. MORE

The Heart of Hawaii

Probably the most laidback of all the Hawaiian islanders, it takes an awful lot to get the people on Lāna‘i excited about anything. But on a breezy weekday morning, when most of them should be in a workplace or classroom, a good number of the island’s 3,000 residents are gathered around Manele Bay awaiting the arrival of a very special boat. MORE

Puerto Rico tourism slowly bouncing back

San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN) — Last summer, Puerto Rican tourism officials were getting flooded with calls about “Despacito” (“Slowly”), the sexy megahit by Puerto Rican crooners Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee that made history as the most streamed song of all time. MORE

On the Waterfront: Boating in Orange County

With 42 miles of coastline and the Pacific Ocean as its backyard, Orange County is a boating paradise. Lagoons, harbors and a half dozen bays between San Clemente and Seal Beach, offer up numerous ways to glide across the water, from hourly rentals and week-long bare boat charters to guided island treks MORE

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Marking its tricentennial this year, san antonio is gearing up to party like it’s 1718. But for all its history, the south texan city has an even More intriguing present, as a recent visit attests. MORE

Film Festival Rising

Sometimes an off-the-cuff remark is all you need to get things started, to plant the seed that blooms into something great. Such was the case with the Middleburg Film Festival, created by Sheila Johnson after a good friend suggested that the property she had acquired in rural Virginia—a 340-acre property that would one day sprout the Salamander Resort & Spa—would make a great location for movie fest. MORE

11 reasons (besides the NCAA Final Four) to visit San Antonio

(CNN) — Deep in the heart of Texas is a place where hoops trump football as the leading local sport — the city of San Antonio — home to the NBA Spurs and this year’s Final Four of NCAA college basketball. MORE

18 best places to visit in 2018

What do you get when you blend Brazilian, African and Iberian influences in a place already blessed with incredible weather and scenery? The Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa, which are finally coming into their own as an exotic vacation destination. MORE

Africa’s Best Water Adventures

“Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world … an empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest,” wrote Joseph Conrad in classic novella “Heart of Darkness.” MORE

Brazil’s other wild place — the Pantanal

(CNN) — Our boatman gets a radio call that a jaguar mother and two cubs have been spotted moving along a riverbank in the Pantanal wetlands of southern Brazil about 20 minutes from our present location.

But when we arrive, there’s no sign of the big cats.

That’s because they’re in the water — swimming across the Cuiaba River right in front of our boat. MORE

A Guiding Force

They show is where we’ve been, where we are going and where we are right now. Without them it would have been much more difficult to explore our planet, carve out new states or countries, or plan the towns and cities we live in. They exist on paper, in digital form and even in our minds. MORE

Cruising, Asia Style

It’s not often that you come across monkeys scampering across a tropical beach. Or coconut-palm-shaded strands where yours are the only footprints in the sand. Or towns that give you a police motorcycle escort because you’re the first tourists who have visited the place in more than 60 years.  MORE

Namibia’s Caprivi Strip

(CNN) — If there was ever a candidate for an obscure question on a television quiz show, it’s the Caprivi Strip in northern Namibia.
A classic panhandle, the ultra-narrow strip separates Botswana and Angola as it runs 280 miles (450 km) west to east from the main part of Namibia to the Zambezi River on the eastern border. MORE

Old School Urban. America’s Best Old Towns

From coast to coast, old towns add bygone flavor to many of North America’s leading cities. Many cities preserve their heritage in old towns, neighborhoods that were somehow sidestepped in the rush to modernize MORE

12 of Montreal’s best neighborhoods

Montreal (CNN) — Montreal is home to more than 200 ethnic groups that have all stitched their own patches into the urban quilt, and the city is full of distinct neighborhoods — some created hundreds of years ago and others born of the 21st century.  MORE

Cowboys and Wildlife-Spotting in Brazil

The Pantanal is the biggest swamp on the planet, a seasonally flooded expanse of grasslands, savannas, and tropical forests that harbors not only a unique cowboy culture but also the greatest concentration of wildlife in South America. MORE

Paradise found: 12 crowd-free Asia island escapes

(CNN) — Finding an empty beach in Asia was a breeze a few decades ago, but it’s not quite so easy anymore.
As zealous souvenir hawkers follow busloads of tour groups to Asia’s most famous islands, discerning travelers must look farther afield for more authentic getaways. MORE

Underwater Adventures

Some call it inner space—the more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface that lies underwater. Since the dawn of human history, people have wondered what sits below the surface and tried to figure out means by which they could explore the submarine world.MORE

St. Louis and Kansas City bounce back

(CNN) — Anchoring either end of Missouri, St. Louis and Kansas City are 250 miles apart along Interstate 70. And while they have distinct personalities and urban landscapes, the two also have an awful lot in common, both now and in the past.
By the end of the 19th century, they had grown from burly frontier towns into cutting-edge urban America, MORE

A Mountain Turned Runway at 17,000 Feet

Paul Claus dares to go places and do things that few aviators would even dream about.
“Wanna land some cool places?” is his opening line to those arriving at his lodge deep in the wilderness of Alaska’s Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve. MORE

Experience Mexico’s Hidden Gems

California might have its gold and South Africa its diamonds, but the glitter of choice in Mexico is solid, sterling silver. Discovered during Spanish colonial times, the cities of Taxco, Zacatecas and Guanajuato all boomed on a silver rush and continue to be the best places to shop for exquisite silver jewelry, dinner pieces and decorative arts. MORE

6  Safari Honeymoons on Any Budget

African safari honeymoons are notoriously expensive, but it’s totally possible to go without busting your budget (unless you really want to).
Splurge: Camp in Comfort
The “tents” at Chinzombo Camp might be made of canvas, but each spacious interior features a king-size bed, a private plunge pool and a bathroom with a rain shower. MORE

13 Affordable Honeymoon Destinations

Feeling a little stretched by your wedding expenses? Don’t let that impact your honeymoon fun! We did the math on 13 of the best affordable honeymoon getaways where travel budgets stretch longer and wider. MORE

9 Crazy Cool Places to Elope

If running off to Vegas and getting hitched by an Elvis impersonator isn’t wild enough for you and your honey, try one of these crazy places around the world to elope. MORE

10 Luxury Honeymoon Destinations on a Budget

On a honeymoon budget that can’t budge? If you think you can’t travel to swanky honeymoon destinations, or stay in fantastic romantic resorts, think again. Here’s how to honeymoon like the 1 percent, even though you’re in the 99. MORE