[MANHATTAN, NEW YORK]– There are over 715 hotels in New York City, some grand, some giant, some dumps, some humble. Some cost a fortune. Some cost a lot and are dumps. I’ve stayed in a LOT of them, in every category, but these are my favorite hotels in New York, the best boutique hotels in New York City. And the best design hotels in New York. Bear with me, this is a long post with lots of photos from lots of trips, but I wanted to show you as much as I can to give you a real feel for each of my favorites. And point out things I love about each. Sorry, this is a giant post. These are my favorite boutique hotels in
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[BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA]– I’ve stayed in Buenos Aires three times now, sometimes for nearly a week, other times just for a night or two on the way for some beach time in Jose Ignacio Uruguay or some exploring in Salta and Jujuy provinces of northwest Argentina. Here’s my overview of the best things to do Buenos Aires. What to do in Buenos Aires. Where to stay and eat in Buenos Aires. And all the cool things to do I could find. Not everything under the sun, just the best things I’ve experienced and would recommend. I mostly omitted the typical stuff, except some of my favorite things to do. Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America Most people don’t have a visual in mind
[ROME, ITALY] — Here’s a post all about my favorite things to do in Rome after studying there for a year and over a half-dozen other trips. Here are the best things to do in Rome. What to do in Rome and the Top sites in Rome. It’s not everything, other guides do that throughly, just my favorite sites. I studied in Rome my junior year of college way back in 1981. Those were different days then, Italy had yet to join the EU, the city was falling apart, everything was broken, trash was everywhere, communist street protests every week, the lira was 1000 to the dollar and everything was cheap. The city was a mess back then, but it was Our Mess to explore
[BERLIN] — Several years ago I went to Berlin for a quick Thanksgiving getaway to scope it out for a possible move. I loved it so much I came back the next year over Christmas for a longer stay. I got a chance to stay at three great boutique hotels in Berlin — all were so completely different and in completely different areas, each felt like I was on a completely different vacation. Here are my favorites I found. And here’s a link to a long post I made about how to spend a long weekend in Berlin, with lots to choose from. Feel the Vibe at the Michelberger Hotel What a find. The Michelberger Hotel is up there in the top ten of my
[MÜNCHEN, GERMANY] — There’s so much cool design and architecture in Munich. Here at the best things to do in Munich. What to do in Munich. Best places for design in Munich. I stopped in Munich for a quick overnight in the summer to catch a flight the next day and loved it so much I vowed to come back and explore it more. So I did for a week over Christmas in 2022. Amazing how different it is compared to when we backpacked to Oktoberfest in the 80s. 🤣🤣. As if. I combined both of those trips into this single post about the cool architecture and design all over Munich, so you’ll see some summer and winter scenes. I just scratched the surface. So
[MUNICH, GERMANY] — I’d been in and out of the super cool Munich airport — which in itself, looks like a super clean Apple store — because of direct and lovely Lufthansa flights from Denver. But coming back from the Dolomites, I decided to do a day and a half in Munich during a rainy July weekend. I loved it so much, found so many cool things, I decided to come back over a Christmas break to spend nearly a week. Wow. I was blown away. This is a combined post of both of those trips of all the cool places I found to eat. There were other meals that were just meh, so I didn’t include them here, but these are the great places
[MILAN, ITALY] — Here’s my post of the best things to do on a weekend in Milan. What to see in Milan and where to eat in Milan. You should go here in Milan. ______________________________ When I was going to school in Rome, I was obsessed with Old Things. We zoomed all over Europe every weekend, compartments loaded up with beer, on our unlimited Eurail Pass looking for cool old stuff. The only thing I knew about Milan was our midnight stop at the train station, jolted awake from a drunk sleep each time by the same old man hawker each time, with a raspy smoker’s voice outside our drawn shades: “Birrrrrra. Acqua Mineraaaaale. Chocccolaaato. Orangiiiiiina. Aranciatttt-a. Coca Cooolaaaa.” repeated over and over until the
Turin (also called Torino in Italian, everyone seems to use it interchangeably, even Italians) is a city I’ve always heard italophiles rave about, but I’d never been. After spending a week tasting tons of Barolo and Nebbiolo in Monforte d’Alba, I added on a couple extra nights inn Torino before flying out to scope it out for future visits. I didn’t have any time to do any advance time to do much research and was short of time, so I just spent a couple of days walking its endless piazzas and colonnades, Wandering Around Until Stumbling On Something Cool (WAUSOSC™️). There are lots of great guides available, many I’ve linked at the bottom of this post, so I won’t go into too much detail, just
[VERONA, ITALY] — Here’s my overview of the best things to do in Verona Italy. What to do in Verona. Where to eat in Verona. Where to stay in Verona. Verona was never on at the top of my list, I always heard it was just a place where bus tours stop to all stand under the Romeo and Juliet balcony. Boy was I wrong. When my buddies were flying out of the Verona airport we spent a day and a half checking it out. I loved it so much, I came back by myself the following week. I was blown away how gorgeous, clean and manageable this Italian city is. The city has so much history beyond Romeo & Juliet. From Dante to the
[ATHENS, GREECE] — This is from a trip I took several years ago for an overnight in Athens. My tips for a quick trip to Athens, including when is the best time beat the crowds at the Acropolis and what to do at The Acropolis. And a review of the New Hotel Athens. And what to do on a quick overnight in Athens Whether on purpose (smart) or randomness, most flights and ferries coming back from the the Greek Islands invariably end up with a forced overnight in Athens. On my last trip coming back from the beautiful island of Folegandros (my posts on that trip are here), this stop was shorter than most, but here are my tips for how to get in and
[BOLOGNA, ITALY] — Bologna was about 237th on my list of places I wanted to visit, but when a Rome school buddy of mine suggested we meet there to eat one long weekend, I jumped at the chance. We’d planned for a long weekend of eating, but unfortunately I caught a fierce bug on the plane that progressively got worse and worse until I was forced to spend several days in my hotel room with the cold sweats, swollen throat and was about as sick as I’ve ever been. So here is an abbreviated 36 hours of my visit to Bologna, long on pics of the beautiful city but short on restaurant recs. 😅 What to do in Bologna. The best things to do in Bologna.