Travel + Leisure - July 2024

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 49 KATE ESHELBY At the start of our ride, he had warned me, “Mongolia’s horses are half-wild because they spend most of their time roaming freely across the grasslands. We only occasionally bring them in.” Having successfully rounded the herd up, we all cantered back toward camp. My husband, Mark, our two young sons, Archie and Zac, and I were on the southern fringe of Hustai National Park, about 60 miles west of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. We were there to experience a new camp, Mandala Nomadic, by the travel company Panoramic Journeys. The camp consists of a set of private ger (felt-walled tents), each of which serves a different purpose: there’s the home of the nomadic host family, a kitchen, staff quarters, guest quarters, and a tent for relaxing and socializing. The idea is to provide luxury accommodation (which is limited in Mongolia) in spectacular locations, while teaching visitors about nomadic life and providing the host family with financial support. Mandala’s first site opened in southern Mongolia’s Semi-Gobi Desert in 2018. “The name Mandala means ‘a sacred place,’ ” said Temuulen Enkhbold, our guide. “It’s represented in Buddhist artwork by More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

MONGOLIA Hustai National Park Ulaanbaatar E 50 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 KATE ESHELBY. ILLUSTRATION BY BASHEL LUBARSKY colorful geometric symbols.” (Buddhism is Mongolia’s predominant religion.) Nearly half the country’s population remains nomadic, and during our summer visit, we passed families as they migrated to their autumn pastures, some with camel caravans—though these days, most use trucks . Mongolia has many camps that allow travelers to experience the portable domed tents most people live in, but they are often big and shared with other tourists. At Mandala, it was just us. As we returned to camp with the horses, we saw Zukar Amankyeldi , the camp butler, who was wearing a turquoise deel, or overcoat, and on her outstretched hands she had draped a khadag—a silk scarf that’s a Mongolian sign of greeting. SPREADING 1,486 MILES from east to west, Mongolia is the world’s second most sparsely populated country. It’s a place where steppe eagles sail the skies, swooping down so close that you can almost touch them, and waves of black and white yaks drift across the land, their long fur swishing like curtains. It’s a place where mare’s milk is fermented into a nutritious, alcoholic drink called airag (it’s sweet and sour and slightly fi zzy) and morin khuurs—wooden fi ddles that curve up into the form of a horse’s head—are played. Horses have a signifi cant role in Mongolia’s culture. From these rippling steppes, Chinggis Khan (a.k.a. Genghis Khan) rode out in the early 13th century to forge the world’s largest contiguous empire, reaching from the Sea of Japan to Vienna. To this day, Mongolians remain fi ercely proud of Khan, and his image appears everywhere: the airport is named after him, as is the leading brand of vodka, and we saw statues of him throughout the capital. When we arrived at Mandala Nomadic, we were shown to our sleeping ger. There were modern upgrades, like a double bed dressed in linen, and an adjoining bathroom ger with a shower and a composting toilet. It had typical décor, including pretty felted-wool rugs and wooden furniture painted in shades of orange , all made by local craftspeople. In the center was a stove, with the chimney rising through the roof. There was also a multipurpose “magic ger,” where we ate our meals and relaxed. This tent contained a record player, traditional games (like shagai, played with the ankle bones of sheep or goats), and an easel with paints and sketchbooks. Meals were a mix of European and Mongolian dishes. We had khuushuur (meat-fi lled pastries), served steaming hot, and khorkhog, a traditional style of barbecue in which goat is cooked with hot rocks in a sealed metal urn until deliciously tender. On our fi rst day, we visited the ger of our husband-and-wife hosts, Batmunkh Tserenjav and Jargalzaya Enkhjargal. They laid out a feast for us: bowls of sweets, dried curd, parcels of fried dough, and rich, velvety cream from their cows, which we spread onto hunks of bread. Like all of Mongolia’s nomads, the family migrates seasonally in search of new pasture for their FROM TOP Inside the bedroom at Mandala Nomadic; Temuulen Enkhbold, a guide at Mandala Nomadic, with three of the camp’s horses. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 51 FROM TOP: KATE ESHELBY; COURTESY OF PANORAMIC JOURNEYS animals, so Mandala Nomadic operates only from June to September. After that it is taken down and stowed in Ulaanbaatar until the next year. The three children had recently left to live at school; most nomadic children board, as the distances are too far to travel daily. “Education is altering nomadic life,” Enkhbold said. “Many youngsters today want jobs in the city.” Climate change is also having an impact on the traditional lifestyle. (Ulaanbaatar is one of the globe’s most polluted cities because of its continued reliance on coal.) “The grass is now drier, shorter, and not as green,” Enkhjargal said. “And we have harsher winters.” This is why a portion of the cost of staying at Mandala goes into projects that address the climate emergency. One initiative supports young Mongolian climate campaigners, like Anu-Ujin, an 18-year-old who makes crafts from recycled goods. One day, we climbed a mountain behind the camp, walking past tortoiseshell butterflies as they looped over purple alpine asters. At the summit, we watched red deer run up a facing mountainside and gazed down at the valley. The land was unplanted and untended; there were no fences or hedges, barely any trees, and no signposts or road markings. I spotted a scattering of ger, which glowed a brilliant white, like full moons. After we descended, we found a surprise lunch waiting for us on the bank of the river Tuul. The camp chef, Tuvshinjargal Munkhtsetseg, was barbecuing skewers of beef, chicken, and yellow peppers over hot coals. As we ate, a cascade of cows, goats, and sheep, led by a horseman, poured down over a distant hillside. MOST TRAVELERS TO Mongolia do a “circuit tour,” during which they move to a different camp every night. But we were lucky to spend five nights at Mandala Nomadic. Our boys flew colorful kites and practiced two of Mongolia’s most popular national sports, archery and wrestling, with Enkhbold, who showed them how to trip or lift their opponent. Hustai National Park, which surrounds the camp, was created in 1998 to preserve Przewalski’s horse, Central Asia’s last surviving wild horse species, as well as to protect other native animals, including Argali sheep, Pallas’s cat, which is around the size of a house cat; and Mongolian gazelles. During our visit, we spied Siberian marmots and heard whirring grasshoppers, and woke at dawn to track wolves. Much to the thrill of our sons, we spotted a male wolf with the help of Tserenjav (who also works as a park ranger) and watched the animal skulking over a mountain ridge in front of us. “We believe that wolves are our ancestors,” he told us. “These sacred creatures are our totem animals.” On our last day, we kayaked along the fast-flowing Tuul. Two whooper swans, their necks held out like rods, floated above. Then, suddenly, a herd of at least 30 horses dashed through the water in front of us, creating powerful waves. All too soon, it was time to leave. As we drove away from the camp, I glanced back and saw Enkhjargal throw some milk into the sky—a gesture to bless our journey. FROM TOP The author’s son Archie kayaking on the Tuul River; a telescope set up for stargazing at one of the ger. AN ADVENTURE IN MONGOLIA We spent a night at Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace (doubles from $130) in Ulaanbaatar, where most visitors begin their trip. Mandala Nomadic (from $12,655 for four people for five nights) is a two-hour drive from the capital. A stay includes exclusive use of the furnished ger, a chef, butler, English-speaking guide, and airport transfers. Panoramic Journeys can organize other experiences throughout the country.—K.E. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

ADVERTISEMENT NOTHING SAYS SUMMER like a warm, sunny day at the beach...or a casual family bike ride...or hours spent paddling a waterway. All this and more awaits in the Golden Isles—not just from June through August, but all year-round. Fun for the Whole Family Hugging the coast of Georgia, about an hour south of Savannah, the Golden Isles (comprising the four barrier islands of St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Jekyll Island, and Little St. Simons Island, as well as the port city of Brunswick) have long offered an idyllic family escape. On St. Simons Island, the largest of the four isles, discover charming villages, beautiful beaches, acclaimed golf courses, and exciting outdoor experiences. On Sea Island, a private Forbes Five-Star resort, luxurious accommodations and world-class amenities such as golf and tennis are complemented by exclusive experiences like guided horseback rides on the beach, offshore fishing excursions, kids’ camps, and spa services. Jekyll Island is perhaps best-known for its 10 miles of pristine beaches, but it’s also home to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, where you can learn about the loggerhead sea turtle; the Jekyll Island Historic District, which you can tour by tram; and over 20 miles of paved paths perfect for biking or strolling. For the ultimate bonding experience, head for Little St. Simons Island. Privately owned and accessible only by boat, this eco-escape is home to the all-inclusive Lodge on Little St. Simons Island, offering land and water adventures along seven miles of undeveloped beach. Whichever island you choose, don’t miss Historic Downtown Brunswick. A port city that dates to colonial times, Brunswick offers some of the best local seafood and hosts some of the Golden Isles’ top festivals, including the Brunswick Rockin’ Stewbilee and the Blessing of the Fleet. Enjoy An Elegant Escape Experience the beauty of summertime in Georgia at Jekyll Island Club Resort. Relax on the beach, explore the island’s natural wonders, and savor delicious cuisine at this timeless retreat. jekyllclub.com • 912-319-4349 Endless Summer Days in the Golden Isles Experience summer as it was meant to be—surrounded by the gorgeous natural beauty of Georgia’s Golden Isles. START PLANNING YOUR GOLDEN ISLES ESCAPE AT GOLDENISLES.COM. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

Th e magic is at once tangible and ethereal, timeless and fl eeting. Lively with festive delights and grand toasts, moments etched forever. Th e endless summer of our dreams. Th e sunshine is fulfi lling, the experiences are charming, enduring as the live oaks, as good as gold. Listen to your soul and the Golden Isles will reveal itself to you. It’s how laughter is shared and memories become treasures. It’s jumping into the heart of it, letting adventure guide you. Satisfy your soul in the Golden Isles. © 2024. Travel + Leisure® is a registered trademark of Travel + Leisure Holdco, LLC, a subsidiary of Wyndham Destinations, Inc. Travel + Leisure® World’s Best Awards is used under license. Travel + Leisure® is published by TI Inc. Affl uent Media Group, a Dotdash Meredith company, which is not affi liated with Wyndham Destinations, Inc. or its subsidiaries. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

54 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 EXPERIENCES ERIN DIETSCHE Keeping It Fresh A cluster of islands in Lake Superior remains one of America’s last truly wild places. By Stephanie Pearson ABOVE Taking in the view from the Huginnin Cove Loop in Isle Royale National Park. allowing freighters to navigate the waterways of the region—opened Lake Superior to the world, boosting tourism to the islands. Worried Isle Royale would continue to lose pristine natural habitat, seasonal residents successfully lobbied Congress to designate it as a national park; it was made official in 1940. Today, Isle Royale remains an oasis in an inland sea, with thick pine forests and wildlife—nearly 900 moose are kept in check by the islands’ wolf population, which hovers at around 30. To explore, visitors must travel by foot on the island’s 165 miles of hiking trails, which lead to vast inland lakes, follow a mountainous ridgeline, and trace a dramatic, rocky shore. I grew up in Minnesota, on the western tip of Lake Superior, but had only been to Isle Royale once, a decade ago, on a four-day solo hiking trip. Friends have circumnavigated the island by kayak, scuba-dived among the shipwrecks that lie in the reefs, and sailed from the mainland to moor in a tuckedaway harbor. But I prefer the simplicity of backpacking. After a long time away, I felt a strong urge to return and share this magical place with my partner. T HE LAKE TROUT must have been hungry. Only five minutes after our guide, Marina Alexander, had rigged the fishing lines off the northeastern tip of Isle Royale, an island in Lake Superior, I reeled in a two-pounder. Its mottled, silvery body glistened in the sun. “Catching a lake trout is fun,” Alexander told my partner, Brian, and me, “but catching salmon is more fun. They are so pissed off when they get caught that they will work you.” Alexander, who is 28, has spent every summer of her life in Isle Royale National Park, an archipelago of more than 400 islands. The park encompasses a total area of 850 square miles, and 99 percent of it is designated wilderness. Four-fifths of the park is water, part of one of the largest bodies of fresh water on earth. At its center is the 45-mile-long, nine-mile-wide Isle Royale. Options for getting to the car-free island are limited. You can arrive by floatplane or ferry from just four spots in Michigan and Minnesota (unless you have a private boat). And the winter weather is harsh, so the park is open for only half the year. As a result, Isle Royale is often referred to as one of the most remote and least-visited parks in the United States. So what’s the attraction? Visitors can find real solitude in a wilderness that feels untamable, despite a human history that dates back thousands of years. While introduced by the original seasonal inhabitants—the Anishinaabe—the practices of mining, fishing, and logging became official industries after Europeans made their way to the islands. In 1855, the Soo Locks—a system More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

CANADA Isle Royale National Park MINNESOTA WISCONSIN MICHIGAN LAKE SUPERIOR TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 55 TONY CENICOLA/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX. ILLUSTRATION BY BASHEL LUBARSKY As with many U.S. national parks, interest in Isle Royale is rising. Visitation to the island reached a record 21,654 people in 2023. That may sound paltry compared with other parks, but the increased traffi c has strapped Isle Royale’s overnight accommodations. They consist of just two places, Rock Harbor Lodge and Washington Harbor Camper Cabins, as well as campgrounds scattered around the island. (You can also sleep on your own boat.) We took our chances on fi nding a campsite for two nights, and also booked—six months in advance—two nights at a Rock Harbor Lodge. Our cabin had large windows overlooking Tobin Harbor, providing a pleasant view of seaplanes landing from the mainland. When we had arrived by seaplane two days earlier, in uncharacteristic late-afternoon heat, we hustled along the island’s Rock Harbor Trail, hugging the southern shoreline for three miles to discover that the fi rst campground, Three Mile, was full. We were debating whether to hike four more miles to the next one when a sympathetic backpacker invited us to join a group site where three of his buddies and two other sets of strangers had pitched their tents. We boiled water for pasta, swapped stories with our new friends, and turned in early. Waking at dawn, we headed down the trail to Daisy Farm Camp. With a large dock for incoming boats, pebbly beaches, and private screened shelters, it is a popular destination. We reached it by 11 a.m. and found an empty hillside shelter surrounded by pines where we dropped our heavy packs. Free to explore for the rest of the day, Brian and I hiked inland, a mile and a half up the Mount Ojibway trail, climbing down through dense woods, through lowland swamps, and to a rocky ridgeline, where we stopped to pick plump blueberries. We walked on in the almost-90-degree heat, fi nally fi nding ourselves far enough from the park entrance to enjoy true solitude. Continuing the route, we ended up on a fi ve-mile loop of Lake Ojibway, one of Isle Royale’s 200 inland lakes and ponds. Parched after this 10-mile day, we wandered down to the Daisy Farm Camp dock with our water fi lters, where we greeted an older couple enjoying cocktails on their cabin cruiser. Like other visitors with private boats, they were willing to make the potentially perilous crossing from the mainland. OVER THE COURSE OF fi ve days, Brian and I hiked some 40 miles and caught (and released) seven lake trout . On one of our fi nal journeys, returning to the entrance of Rock Harbor Trail drenched in sweat after a seven-mile hike, we climbed just out of sight, stripped off our clothes, and waded into Lake Superior. The chill zapped my limbs like an electric current. Just as I was ready to bare myself on shore, the tour boat Sandy rounded the point with a few dozen waving passengers, forcing me to stay submerged until they passed, the water piercing my fi ngers and toes like tiny icicles. While submerged, I thought of other, more serious ways to get in trouble on Isle Royale. Throughout our trip, we heard stories of the dark days of winter on the islands and of shipwrecks caused by ferocious storms. Alexander shared a time she faced a potentially fatal incident while piloting a 24-foot boat: she had to outrun a black squall. Despite these moments of terror, she said, “I love storms out here. The weather is humbling.” That sense of nature’s power is what keeps me (and many others) intrigued. For thousands of years this archipelago has held its own, buff ered from development by a lake that has been impossible to tame, as hard as humans may try. LEFT A moose in the woods near Rock Harbor Campground. WHERE TO STAY Rock Harbor Lodge (doubles from $253), with cabins and hotel rooms on the northeastern end of Isle Royale, is the island’s only fullservice lodging facility and is open from June to September . The two rustic Washington Harbor Camper Cabins (from $55), on the southwestern end, are the other option . There are 36 official campgrounds, which are first come, first served (but must be reserved for groups of seven or more). The two most popular are Washington Creek and Daisy Farm. HOW TO GET THERE Cars are not permitted on Isle Royale. The starting points for reaching the national park are Houghton and Copper Harbor, in Michigan, and Grand Portage and Grand Marais, in Minnesota. From there, you can transfer to the island via seaplane, ferry, or a boat rental, depending on the port. If coming by private boat, call the Houghton Visitor Center ahead of time to get a docking permit. WHEN TO VISIT Because of the extreme winter weather, visitors are only allowed on the island from mid-April to October 31; peak season is May through September. —Jess Feldman More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

56 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 EXPERIENCES Sacred Waters To help heal from a traumatic loss, Jim Kristofic seeks solace in Horseshoe Bend, on the Colorado River. W HEN VISITORS WALK to the edge of Glen Canyon, in northern Arizona, they see a landmark that’s known around the world: Horseshoe Bend. It’s a round cliff of orange sandstone, carved by the green water of Tóóh Bikooh, the Navajo name for the Colorado River. I’ve swum in that current countless times, first as a kid, after my family moved to the Navajo Nation when I was seven years old, and later as a river guide in my teens and 20s. To the Navajo people, those waters are so old and powerful that words like epoch and millennia are meaningless. What many visitors might not know is that Horseshoe Bend is just one of many places in this region where the Anasazi, Paiute, and Diné (the Indigenous name for Navajo) tribes grew ILLUSTRATION BY MAXWELL N. BURNSTEIN More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 57 overhead. Those rocks formed when dinosaurs walked the earth, many worlds ago. Over time, the Colorado River carved away the rock. I looked at the canyon in the moonlight. For this place to be here, I thought, so much had to be taken away. In the morning, I packed camp, refilled my water bottle from the river, and paddled downstream to find the place where I would make my offering. I had a tail feather from Né’éshjaa’, a great horned owl, the messenger between this world and the spirit world. The Diné use these feathers in ceremonial sand paintings and to promote healing. On a bend in the river, I pulled my kayak to shore and hiked up a trail left by Tsétah Dibé, or bighorn sheep. As I ascended the first sand embankment, a herd of them suddenly emerged from the rocks up ahead. Four rams, 10 ewes, and four lambs watched me, less than 30 feet away. I greeted them in Navajo, then kept moving. They walked ahead of me like guides, over jagged stone and slippery sand. One ram led three of his fellows up a 30-foot cliff, into the shade of a small side canyon. As I walked past, the ram led them back down and stuck his head around the corner. His brown eyes bulged as he watched me, so close I could have stepped forward and touched his nose. The Diné say Tsétah Dibé carries magic and healing. In the culture’s spiritual compass, Tsétah Dibé is a creature from the north, the black direction, the way of death and spiritual return. Perhaps the ram saw who walked beside me. I know my daughter was with me. Eventually I came to a place where the river had formed a smooth bowl in the rock, with a hackberry tree growing close by. My daughter would have played there. I tied my feather offering to a green bough and nourished the tree with water cupped in my hands. The following day, my last on this trip, I returned the kayak and drove to Horseshoe Bend, where I stopped at the overlook. When I worked as a river guide 20 years ago, this place had been a small dirt turnoff next to a mile marker. Today, some 10,000 people visit daily during peak season, coming through the town of Page and parking buses and cars in the overlook’s paved lot. A steel guardrail hugs the sheer edge of the canyon. As I stood there, visitors took photos with their phones in the 100-degree heat, including a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks in bright ocher robes. Crowds came and went, and people smiled often. A thousand feet below, the Colorado River swerved quietly, carrying ducks and kayakers as it dug patiently in the rock, shaping and creating into eternity. For all of it to be here, so much had to be taken away. crops, hunted, and lived and died for centuries. It’s also where I would have brought my daughter, if she had grown old enough to paddle a kayak. In 1963, the Sierra Club announced that Glen Canyon, a stretch of nearly 200 miles of twisting, sinewy rock walls snaking from southern Utah into northern Arizona, was dead. It was being drowned in the water rising behind the Glen Canyon Dam, a 710-foot-tall wall of concrete built over the course of the previous decade. The new body of water was christened Lake Powell. The human rights of local Indigenous communities, who relied on the canyon for food and shelter, and as a setting for their spiritual rites, were blithely ignored. Only 16 miles of the canyon, including Horseshoe Bend, were spared. The majority of the ecosystem, along with more than 3,000 ancient archaeological home sites, was destroyed. Environmentalists mourned the loss. Back in 1869, when the canyon was still intact, Major John Wesley Powell, a geologist, had led an exploratory trip on the Colorado River, describing in his journal how he and his group glided “hour after hour,” stopping now and then as his attention was “arrested by some new wonder.” He wrote about “towering monuments,” “fern-decked alcoves,” and “oak-set glens” (hence the modern- day name). But did the people who pronounced the death of this place stand at the overlook of Horseshoe Bend and see the plants and wildlife that still live there? The herons, the peregrine falcons, the bighorn sheep—do those animals know they’re living in a so-called “dead” landscape? What does it mean to die? My daughter knows. Three years ago, she was born and then passed away. I dug her grave, wrapped her in a baby blanket, and laid her in the earth. Now I see her all the time. She is never where I am not. Glen Canyon is sacred to the Navajo, the nation I was not born into but fortunate enough to learn from and grow up in. After my daughter’s passing, I decided to go to the canyon to make an offering and show the gods what had been taken away from me. Like the canyon, I wanted to show that things pronounced “dead” often find ways to live. In the springtime, I drove to Page, Arizona, where I rented a kayak from Kayak Lake Powell to chart 16 miles of the Colorado River. After another local outfitter, Wilderness River Adventures, hauled me upstream, I dropped my kayak at the beach closest to the dam. Amid willow trees near the shore, I found the remains of a great blue heron—Táłtł’áá Halééh in Navajo, or “the One Who Walks on the Water.” In their origin stories, the Diné say that Heron wandered along the shores of the First World, a spiritual place at the beginning of time when all creation formed in darkness. They still invoke the bird in prayers for protection. The animals often speak for the Diyin Dine’é, the divine Great Ones. I buried its bones, sobbing, then placed my feet into the cold water and splashed it on my neck. Tó éí iina is a Navajo phrase that means “water is life.” When I returned to my kayak, I paddled under falcons and drifted beside green ferns growing along trickles of water in the canyon wall. That night, when I set up a campsite, bats flitted through the yellow evening twilight. Beetles clicked across the sand, just as they did in the First World. I tracked the planet’s turning by watching the stars disappear beyond the stony edges of the canyon rim a thousand feet I paddled under falcons and drifted beside green ferns growing along trickles of water in the canyon wall. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

58 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 EXPERIENCES PAUL HAHN/LAIF/REDUX Au Naturel Known for its glittering coastline, the French island of Corsica has a rugged side, too. Sara Lieberman ventures inland in search of adventure. CLUNG TO THE FACE of the limestone cliff like a crab, my fingers turning white as they clawed the chalky rock. To my left, the sandy path where I stood narrowed, dropping away more than 200 feet to the sea below. “Just keep walking,” my brother, Jared, yelled from farther up, where the track widened. “It’s easier if you go fast.” Jared and I had spent the past six days adventuring through Corsica, a French territory that, despite being the most mountainous island in the Mediterranean, is typically associated with dramatic seaside cliffs and white-sand beaches. For decades, visitors to the 114-mile-long île, which sits west of the Italian peninsula and north of Sardinia, have docked their yachts in the marinas and partied at the flashy beach resorts. Cycling toward Oletta, in northern Corsica. But not us. For one week in June, Jared and I woke up early each morning, pulled on Smartwool socks, and ate hearty breakfasts of cured meats and crumbly brocciu cheese. We cycled on winding roads, hiked up granite mountains, and slid down waterfalls—and at the end of the trip, we finally rested our weary bodies by the beach. Our self-guided tour, which was organized by the travel operator Butterfield & Robinson, began in the northern part of the island. Within an hour of landing at Bastia-Poretta Airport from Paris, we parked our rental car in the town of Oletta, where we’d be spending the night at Aethos Corsica (doubles from $397), a restored 17th-century palazzo turned hotel. There we met our first guide, Anthony Laplagne, who leads cycling tours. The three of us hopped on e-bikes for a 20-mile round-trip ride to the fishing port of St.-Florent, zooming along steep, curvy roads that made me grip the brakes so hard my palms tingled. About seven miles in, we stopped at Ribella, a roadside craft brewery where I sipped a draft beer called the Madonna while Laplagne regaled us with a tale from Corsican mythology. “God created the I More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 59 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CÉLINE CLANET; IAN ABELA/COURTESY OF HÔTEL U CAPU BIANCU; MAGALI CANCEL/COURTESY OF DOMINIQUE COLONNA The town of Bonifacio sits atop eroded limestone cliffs. FROM TOP Langoustine salad with Corsican wine at Hôtel U Capu Biancu; the spa cabin at Dominique Colonna. world, and at the end, he had a mix of different pieces of land left over,” he said. “So, he put everything together and dropped them in the water, and that became Corsica.” We got our next glimpse of the varying terrain the following day, after driving an hour inland to the university town of Corté. The white noise of cicadas filled the air as we pulled up to Dominique Colonna (doubles from $320), a modern 29-key hotel that sits on the maquis, a wild landscape that blends desert and forest. There was also a shallow creek, and when we learned we could swim in it, Jared and I tiptoed over the slippery rocks and sunk into the cool water. Soon after, I was stretched, pulled, and kneaded in the spa cabin, where floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the stream we’d just swum in. Not that I could see anything, face down and blissed out, but I appreciated the connection to the land all the same. After a buffet breakfast the next morning that included four types of house-made granola and six fruit jams, plus warm chocolate-hazelnut cookies, Jared and I were on our way again. En route to the southeastern village of Chisà, we let out a “wow” every couple miles as we entered what looked like a screen saver: blue mountains silhouetted against the sky, with soaring pine trees enveloping us on either side. My brother navigated the single-lane, snaking roads with a mischievous, childlike grin. “It’s like driving in a video game,” he said. We were headed to our next activity: aqua rando. The term is an amalgam of two of the three languages spoken in Corsica (Corsu, French, and Italian). Aqua is Italian for water, while rando is short for randonnée, which means hike in French. We’d be hiking in water—a first for us both. Our guide, Guillaume Ferreri, met us at a bridge on the outskirts of Chisà. After donning wet suits, waterproof boots, helmets, and clip-on canvas pads to help us slide over wet rocks, we waded into the Travo River. The water was so clean and clear we could drink it—and spot trout and eels swimming below. While I translated for Jared, Ferreri instructed us on when to slide, jump, and float as we made our way downstream for two hours. This is wild, I thought—what the French would call sauvage. Buoyant on my back, I gazed up at the trees, boulders, and sky as the cold rush shot me forward, muffling all sound. As it turns out, hiking in a river is exhausting. We spent the rest of the afternoon nodding off on lounge chairs at A Pignata (doubles from $311), a hilltop inn and working farm. Inside, the 19 rooms feel country-chic, with their mismatched furnishings; there are also a couple of stone barns and modern tree houses. Dinner was a five-course affair in the open-air dining room. With the timing of a choreographer, our server brought us sliced figatellu, a popular local pork sausage, followed by a soup of greens from the garden, braised lamb in a thick gravy, and cannelloni More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

CORSICA Oletta Bonifacio Alta Rocca Mountains 60 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 E CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CHRISTOPHE MELCHERS/COURTESY OF A MUVRELLA; COURTESY OF A PIGNATA; ANDIA/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY IMAGES. ILLUSTRATION BY BASHEL LUBARSKY covered in melted brocciu cheese. Just when we thought we might burst, out came a bowl of lightly dressed lettuce, a basket of stone fruit, more cheeses to dip in a house-made jam, and, fi nally, sugar-coated beignets. Jared and I stumbled back to our duplex room in slow motion, as if we were still wearing those cumbersome wet suits. Our last day inland consisted of a hike led by mountaineer and photographer Christophe Melchers , who guided us into the Alta Rocca mountain range in southern Corsica. The highest point, a jagged cluster called the Bavella Needles, soars more than 6,000 feet. We began by walking through fi elds of ferns so tall they tickled my bare shoulders. Up we climbed for a couple of hours, slithering through tight granite crevices and passing under tall pines. When we fi nally reached our summit, we sat for a snack of salami and cheese, gazing at the Mediterranean Sea in the distance. That glittering expanse would be our end-of-trip retreat for the next two nights. We checked in to the lavish Hôtel U Capu Biancu (doubles from $719), a 20 -minute drive from the town of Bonifacio, near the southern tip of the island. Now a popular beach destination , the town was built in A.D. 830 on the coast’s white cliff s—the same steep escarpments I’d later be gripping like a crustacean on a self-guided hike. When Jared and I returned to the hotel, sweaty and covered in dust, we were pleased to be back in Capu Biancu’s natural yet comfortable setting : stone walls, exposed beams, and decorative driftwood. We took turns dipping into the amoeba-shaped outdoor pool, swinging in a hidden hammock, and napping in a sun-dappled gazebo by the shore. For the fi rst time on this otherwise go-go-go getaway, I reveled in the idea of doing nothing—and doing it again tomorrow. HOW TO BOOK Butterfield & Robinson can design self-guided Corsica tours that include road biking, hiking, and aqua rando. Six-day trips from $8,795 per person for two people, including accommodations. FROM TOP A Tree Hut suite at A Pignata; hiking in the Alta Rocca mountains; an aqua rando group in the Travo River. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

Regent Seven Seas Cruises® The Exotics Edition New savings of up to $4,500 on select sailings. Uncover the allure of the Exotics and save up to $4,500 per suite on select 2024 and 2025 sailings to Asia, Africa & Arabia, Australia & New Zealand, South America, and South Pacific. Reserve your suite today and save up to $4,500. Book by June 30, 2024. For more information, visit RSSC.com/Specials Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Summit on July 16 & 17 Join Travel + Leisure editors, travel industry leaders, and a few well-traveled celebrities for the inaugural Travel + Leisure World’s Best Summit — a premium event for those breaking barriers in the industry today. Curated by Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Gifford, this summit will bring established voices in the travel field together for two days of thought leader conversations in NYC. Buy tickets now at travelandleisure.com/worldsbestsummit PROMOTION EVENTS + PROMOTIONS + OFFERS Visit TravelandLeisure.com At Travel + Leisure, we inspire and empower the world’s most curious and passionate travelers to travel more — and travel better. We help to elevate their experiences through content and tools that serve them across their entire journey, from dreaming and planning, to booking and traveling. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

62 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 EXPERIENCES COURTESY OF HUNTER WOODHALL ALWAYS KNEW there was something different about me. I was born with fibular hemimelia, a congenital defect in which the calf bones were missing from both of my legs. At first, the doctors looked at corrective surgery, but after much discussion, my parents decided to have both of my legs amputated. That was when I was 11 months old; six months later, I was on prostheses and learning to walk like other kids my age. I have two older brothers, and I followed in their footsteps, doing everything they did, including sports. Sometimes they would make fun of me, as older brothers do, telling me I was disabled. I would say, “I’m not disabled. There’s nothing wrong with me.” My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around a lot, and I was homeschooled in Syracuse, Utah, until fifth grade. It wasn’t until I went to public school that I realized I did have a disability. Still, it wasn’t something I let affect my day-to-day life. I credit my parents and brothers for never letting me use it as an excuse, and pushing me to do everyday things like ride a bike. My mom would say, “It’s not that you can’t do something. You just have to find a different way to do it.” We didn’t have enough money for family vacations. The only trip I recall was to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. My parents wanted to show me what was possible. It worked: I started running track, and before I knew it, I was traveling for meets. My first big trip was in 2015, when I went to Doha, Qatar, for the World Para Athletics Championships. Then I went to Brazil for the 2016 Paralympics. It was eye-opening. The world is a big place, and there are so many cultures you don’t get to know about unless you go and experience them. It opened up a new part of me, and I was like, Man, I want to see the world. Before long, track and field took me to Germany and England. Then I met Tara Davis, an American track and field Olympian, and we got married several years later. We travel together all the time now. Most of our trips are for work, but we did go on a beach vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, which was incredible—it’s actually where we got engaged. Sky’s the Limit Paralympic track and field star Hunter Woodhall shares the unique joys—and challenges—of traveling the world as a double amputee. Hunter Woodhall traveling by private plane. 2015 Debuts at the World Para Athletics Championships at 16. 2016 Wins silver and bronze medals at the Paralympics in Rio. 2020 Wins bronze in a 400‑meter race at the Paralympics in Tokyo. 2022 Named Lululemon ambassador, along with his wife, Tara. 2024 Breaks record in a men’s 100‑meter national championship. WOODHALL’S MILESTONES I More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 63 FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF HUNTER WOODHALL; ALEX ANDREI/COURTESY OF LULULEMON I love experiencing new things and try not to let my disability get in the way. Still, there were probably some things I shouldn’t have done, like go in the salt water in my prostheses, since that can ruin the metal parts. I may have been reacting to a childhood experience. For the longest time, I hated going in the water. My mom used to make me take off my prostheses at water parks, meaning I had to climb the stairs to the big waterslide on my hands and knees. It was as bad as it sounds. When Tara and I started dating, she was like, Just wear your legs. I was sprinting up the stairs, and now I have a real affinity for water parks. Amusement parks are different. I’ve been turned away three times. Once I waited two hours for a ride, and when I got to the front, they said I wasn’t allowed to go on, even if I took my prostheses off. Flying presents its own challenges. Simple things like going through security take more time. Every place is different, but Tara and I have gotten it down to a science. Traveling opened up a new part of me, and I was like, Man, I want to see the world. I’ll go first and walk through the big detector that spins around you. Then my prostheses get swabbed, along with my hands and shoes. Sometimes they’ll pat me down. It all adds five to 10 minutes. One time, one of the swabs was positive and they brought us to a back room to run more tests. It was 40 more minutes before they finally cleared me. They didn’t tell me what was going on—it was stressful. The tools for my prostheses pose another problem. I have to travel with them in case something goes wrong, especially with my running prostheses. I follow the rules and only carry a wrench that’s a certain length, but security often gives me a hard time. The plane ride itself can be challenging, too. I’m really tall, so if I’m sitting in economy, it puts my knees in an uncomfortable position. Often, I’ll take off my prostheses and put them under the seat. I’ll try to wear long pants so it’s less obvious and people don’t say, “Hey, that dude’s got his legs off!” International travel is trickier. My legs can swell up during longer flights, and if I’ve taken off my prostheses, sometimes I can’t get them back on, even if I’ve worn a compression sleeve. For the first two hours or so, I’ll be uncomfortable, and it takes about 24 hours to be totally fine again. When we arrive at our destination, people will sometimes stare. We’re a couple that has a lot going on. We’re often filming ourselves for our YouTube channel. If we’re in a hot place, I’m probably wearing shorts. So people are probably going to stare for one reason or another. Often the stares come from kids; they’re curious and trying to figure out the world. But sometimes it bothers Tara. She’ll say, “Those people are staring at you!” The attention doesn’t really get to me, because I’ve been dealing with it my whole life. There are plenty of other things that can go wrong when I’m traveling, so I’d rather not let that upset me. It’s a decision that makes my life easier. When it comes down to it, I appreciate that I’m unique and that I’m giving somebody something to look at. —As told to Rachel Chang FROM LEFT Woodhall with his wife, Tara DavisWoodhall, in Monaco; breaking a record at a national track championship in California. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

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BERTRAND DUQUENNE/COURTESY OF DREAM YACHT WORLDWIDE TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 65 INTELLIGENT TRAVELER TIPS + TRICKS TO HELP YOU TRAVEL SMARTER EDITED BY PAUL BRADY A Dream Yacht Worldwide catamaran near Raiatea, in French Polynesia . Adventure Time These days, families are seeking deeper bonds through shared thrills—and outfi tters are dialing up the excitement in response. Ready to join them? Read on. Expert advisors on the T+L A-List share their favorite resorts for kids and parents. F A V O R I T E S F A M I L Y More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

66 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 INTELLIGENT TRAVELER COURTESY OF INTREPID TRAVEL IT WAS A TYPICALLY warm April day at La Lobería beach in San Cristóbal, one of the 13 main Galápagos Islands. I was snorkeling behind a blue-barred parrotfish, hypnotized by the sound of it crunching on coral, when I felt a tug on my hand. I turned to find my seven-yearold son, Remy, pointing out a diamond stingray. A moment later, we both spotted a green sea turtle. Wowed but eager for more, Remy flapped his fins and we were off, chasing creatures he’d only ever seen in wildlife documentaries. The trip, I had to admit, was going swimmingly. Remy has long been a big nature enthusiast, with an eye for animals and a heart for conservation. So my husband and I decided that, as a birthday present, we’d treat our son to a trip to the Galápagos. I’m usually the type-A, take-thewheel planner of our family’s trips, which have included many #vanlife adventures in our Ford Transit. But this time I decided to hand off the logistics to someone else: we booked an eight-day group tour with Intrepid Travel (similar trips from $2,732 per person), because of its kid-friendly itinerary. We also liked that Intrepid is certified as a B Corp and partners with the Galápagos Conservancy. Then there was the chance to meet other families—something we don’t often get to do when we’re traveling on our own. When we touched down in Quito to rendezvous with our group, though, I was disappointed to learn that only one other family would be traveling with us. I had envisioned a mini United Nations of kids from around the world. Instead, we’d be traveling for a week with just one other couple, from Erie, Pennsylvania, and their eight-year-old twins. Turns out, Intrepid had already filled one 16-person group tour and had created a second, smaller departure just for us. I’ll admit to some apprehension about being Learning to Evolve What happens when a type-A traveler tries to give up control? Lauren Matison takes the plunge on a family getaway to the action-packed Galápagos Islands. ABOVE Hiking on Bartolomé Island, one of the most photogenic in the Galápagos. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 67 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF INTREPID TRAVEL (2); COURTESY OF VINCENT CROSSLEY; COURTESY OF LAUREN MATISON in such an intimate group. But within a couple of days, the kids were playing like old friends, bonding over Pokémon and imagined battles between prehistoric species. One evening along the malecón in Puerto Ayora, the archipelago’s largest town, the children made up their own rap song as sea lions barked rhythmically on a nearby beach. I was pleased for Remy, who said he enjoyed traveling with the twins. “It’s nice having someone to talk to that understands you,” he confided. It took me a bit longer to fall into the group-trip flow, and to warm up to our new friends from Erie. Then, while swimming one day in Tortuga Bay, off the island of Santa Cruz, our guide Lorenzo Panchana spotted a blue-footed booby standing on a rocky bluff. As we all giddily dashed out of the water to marvel at it together, the joy of our shared adventure suddenly clicked. Soon enough, I was opening up to the group over our meals of fresh tuna poke and rounds of piña coladas at sunset. We exchanged frame-worthy photos of each other: basking with dozens of marine iguanas on the beach, walking with giant land tortoises in the Santa Cruz highlands, and kayaking around the harbor in San Cristóbal surrounded by playful sea lion pups. Each family gently pushed the other out of their comfort zone: we coaxed them into riding bikes, while they had convinced us to hop into those kayaks in the first place. We bonded over the knowledge that we’d remember these wild moments because we’d shared them together. Remy still FaceTimes with the twins, usually to workshop new song lyrics. And next summer, we may join our new friends on another Intrepid tour, this one to the Southeast Asian island of Borneo, where our three budding naturalists can reunite and venture into the wild to spot orangutans and pygmy elephants. BELOW The author’s son, Remy, photographing giant land tortoises on the island of Santa Cruz. FROM LEFT A marine iguana, a species native to the Galápagos; a Sally Lightfoot crab; the aptly named blue-footed booby. “In Virginia, about an hour outside of Washington, D.C., Salamander Middleburg (doubles from $690) has spacious rooms, a superior spa, and excellent restaurants. The surrounding town is full of delightful boutiques and shops—and there are several historic homes in the area.” —Ellen LeCompte, Travel Experts FOUR MORE TOURS FOR ADVENTUROUS FAMILIES ANTARCTICA Kids are welcome on board Lindblad Expeditions ships, such as the 148-passenger National Geographic Explorer. They can learn photography from experts and kayak past icebergs alongside breaching whales. Ten-day trips from $10,673 per person. CANADA Tween-friendly itineraries from Frontiers North Adventures incorporate mushing and museum visits in and around the town of Churchill, Manitoba, which bills itself as the polar-bear capital of the world. Seven-day trips from $6,127 per person. THAILAND Black Tomato takes families from the legendary noodle stalls and lush gardens of Bangkok to the mountains of Chiang Rai for walks with rescued elephants. Thirteen-day trips from $15,860 per person. WEST VIRGINIA Outdoor Afro and REI have teamed up on a guided camping journey that visits New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, where kids aged eight and up can go whitewater rafting, hiking, and swinging through a canopy- level ropes course. Four-day trips from $2,499. F A V O R I T E S F A M I L Y More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

INTELLIGENT TRAVELER COURTESY OF DREAM YACHT WORLDWIDE “WE JUST HAD THE most successful year in our history,” says Ian Pedersen, who works for the Moorings , a yacht brokerage that’s been around for 50 years. “It was just bonkers.” Outfi tters that specialize in boat rentals are seeing doubledigit growth in bookings as travelers seek more rugged vacations. Many of those who go on these trips have little to no previous sailing experience, so they’re choosing to work with charter companies that can provide a qualifi ed captain and chef. THAILAND A growing number of guests booking with the Moorings are considering destinations like the Andaman Sea, Pedersen says. On a weeklong charter from the island of Phuket, it’s possible to sail to anchorages around the famed Phi Phi Islands and other hard-toreach white-sand spots. Seven-day trips from $2,833 per person . FOUR EXCITING DESTINATIONS TO CONSIDER THE SPANISH VIRGIN ISLANDS Off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques are increasingly popular , according to Dream Yacht Worldwide. Culebra is home to Flamenco Beach, a stunning mile -long curve of golden sand, while Vieques has plenty of dive sites and a bioluminescent bay. Eight-day charters from $948 per person . SEYCHELLES The six-cabin Spirit of Ponant is a new addition to the French expedition line’s fleet. After a short summer season sailing around Corsica, the catamaran will move to this Indian Ocean archipelago known for its steady winds, gorgeous beaches, and charismatic giant tortoises. Seven-day trips from $8,020 per person. FRENCH POLYNESIA The Sailing Collective is organizing its first two-week expedition from Tahiti to the remote Tuamotu Islands , in part because of demand from past guests, Armstrong says. The epic hands-on adventure, led by cofounder and captain Ross Beane, will include 100 hours of open-ocean sailing . Fourteen-day trip from $5,900 per person. Off the Charts The charter-sailing industry is booming. Paul Brady reports on the operators taking adventurers to the edge of the map. “A lot of people come on our trips having never sailed before,” explains Dayyan Armstrong, who founded the Sailing Collective in 2012. “But most of them tell us, ‘I’ve always dreamed of doing this.’ ” Those newcomers are also pushing operators to look beyond established cruising grounds such as the British Virgin Islands, says Dan Lockyer, the managing director of Dream Yacht Worldwide , which now has some 900 boats in more than 40 destinations. Cruise lines are edging into the charter-yacht business, too. Ponant , the French expedition line, will this month launch the Spirit of Ponant, a 76-foot catamaran with six guest cabins. It’s available as a private charter, as well as on a per-cabin basis, for trips in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. “The fi rst time they charter, people will try it closer to home, like in the Bahamas,” Lockyer explains. “But as soon as they come back, they go, ‘What’s the furthest away you’ve got?’ ” Armstrong, of the Sailing Collective, sees the same enthusiasm. “Every year we’re adding new itineraries,” he says. “One of our regulars is dying to do a trip in New Zealand—and we’re working on it.” ABOVE More families are embracing the fun of private yacht charter vacations. “Among the most exclusive properties in the U.S., the fivebedroom Sheldon Chalet ( from $32,000 per night, all-inclusive, three-night minimum) is inside Alaska’s Denali National Park & Preserve, with views of the highest mountain in North America.” —Mark Lakin, T he Legacy Untold F A V O R I T E S F A M I L Y 1 2 3 4 68 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 69 ON A RECENT VISIT to the Seychelles, I tried my best to pick up a bit of the local language, Seychellois Creole. But despite the help of Jemmy Bibi, my butler at the Mango House Seychelles, LXR Hotels & Resorts (doubles from $670), I only managed a few words, such as bonjou (hello) and grangou (hungry). I unfortunately missed out on the hotel’s free Creole lessons, which are offered every Tuesday. According to general manager Giuseppe Ressa, who came up with the idea for the casual classes, the point is to give guests a richer appreciation of the history and culture of the islands, where many residents also speak English and French. “This program allows guests to have a deeper connection with the people,” he says. These days, many highend hotels are leaning in to languages for the same reason. Consider the Royal Mansour Marrakech (doubles from $1,490), the legendary 53-villa hotel in Morocco’s beguiling Red City. It offers Arabic instruction at Le Jardin de Lila kids’ club, and children can also sign up for calligraphy sessions to learn the language’s elegant script. A world away at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai (doubles from $1,415), on the island of Hawaii, guests of all ages can study at its Kaʻūpūlehu Cultural Center. Attendees learn multisyllabic Hawaiian words and the diacritical marks that are a key feature of the language, says Kaʻaiʻōhelo McAfee-Torco, the property’s cultural leader. “After an hour,” she explains, “I could give them any Hawaiian word and they’d feel comfortable with it.” Cruise brands are also climbing on board. Many Norwegian Cruise Line ships offer language classes as one of their destination-focused enrichment activities, says NCL president David Herrera. “You want to learn how to speak Portuguese? It’s happening,” he says. Royal Caribbean International also makes language classes available on some ships, depending on the itinerary. Auberge Resorts Collection included language classes in its Work, Learn, & Play program, which started in 2020, with an emphasis on remote learning. Back then, Auberge guests could log on for Spanish lessons while staying at its two resorts in Los Cabos, Mexico: Esperanza (doubles from $1,050) and Chileno Bay (doubles from $925). Today, guests can study in person, with private tutors. Spanish-language classes are also held at Amanera (doubles from $2,000), a 25-casita resort in the Dominican Republic. The Wednesday lessons take place during cocktail hour, to help guests relax and encourage conversation, says general manager Lionel Valla. “Most of our guests really want to learn some Spanish,” he says. “What matters is that they feel a sense of place.” ‘Our guests really want to learn some Spanish. What matters is that they feel a sense of place.’ The New School Hotels and resorts are investing in language classes as guests look for a deeper understanding of the destinations they’re visiting. By Hannah Selinger ILLUSTRATION BY MARCOS MONTIEL F A V O R I T E S F A M I L Y “I love California’s Ojai Valley Inn (doubles from $739), because it feels like you’re in another country even though you’re only 45 minutes from Santa Barbara. They have something for everyone: world-class dining, a fabulous spa, golf, and trails for walking or biking.” —John Skelton, John Skelton Travels More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

INTELLIGENT TRAVELER 70 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 FROM TOP: FOREST MANKINS; COURTESY OF HIPCAMP; CHRISTIAN HARDER CHECK OUT NEWCOMERS Several new hotel brands are targeting nature lovers with locations close to national and state parks. Many also have gear to rent, including bikes and child-carrier backpacks. Loge (doubles from $150) has 17 locations open or in development, including one near Montana’s Glacier National Park, which puts guests within striking distance of 700 miles of hiking trails. Field Station now has two locations, one in Moab, Utah (doubles from $183) and another in California, near Joshua Tree National Park (doubles from $119); each has a selection of quad rooms, a gear shop, and a swimming pool. Trailborn Rocky Mountains (doubles from $225) is close to Rocky Mountain National Park; a sibling property is slated to open in Highlands, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this summer. BELOW Trailborn Rocky Mountains. How to Pull Off an Affordable Summer Getaway These hacks can amp up the value of your outdoorsy vacation. By Elaine Glusac ABOVE Taking the plunge near Loge Glacier National Park, in Essex, Montana. CLAIM A CUTER CAMPSITE Campgrounds at Yosemite and other popular national parks can book up months in advance. Thankfully, there are several online platforms that make finding alternatives easy. Hipcamp (listings from $5) has tent sites at farms, ranches, and private camps, plus spots on public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies. It also has listings with stepped-up stays, like an A-frame cabin in Oregon with a swimming hole and a creekside farm in Mississippi where guests can collect eggs for breakfast. Pitchup.com (listings from $5) catalogues roughly 100 campgrounds in the U.S., including West Beach Resort, on Orcas Island, Washington, which offers safari-style tents and whalewatching. France-based Huttopia (tents from $85) has a handful of glamping locations in Canada and the U.S. that have sturdy wood-and-canvas tents and plentiful amenities. Huttopia Southern Maine (from $134), for example, about a half-hour’s drive from Kennebunkport, has a café, camp store, swimming pond, and hammocks slung between the pines. ABOVE Cedar Bloom, an Oregon site listed on Hipcamp. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 71 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF HARVEST HOSTS; COURTESY OF AUTUMN BLANTON/SUMMIT PHOTOGRAPHY; COURTESY OF IHG HOTELS & RESORTS D.I.Y. YOUR HOTEL Recreational vehicles are another option to consider— even if you’ve never driven one before. Most of the rental RVs listed on Outdoorsy can be delivered by the owner to a campground or driveway of your choosing, and many of those who list on RVshare will do the same. If you’re open to driving yourself, one of the best ways to fi nd high-quality parking spots is through Harvest Hosts (annual memberships from $84), which tracks u-pick farms, breweries, drive-ins, and other businesses that welcome overnighters. ABOVE A Harvest Hosts hideaway in Maryland . STEP UP YOUR SEARCH TERMS Use fi lters to fi nd some of the most interesting options on Airbnb . Click on “Domes” to narrow the choices to geodesic homes, including one overlooking the Potomac River in the mountains of West Virginia (from $490). “Play” turns up a Colorado cabin with an indoor climbing wall and an outdoor kids’ fort (from $224). “Treehouses” pulls up an off -grid dwelling on a wooded farm in rural Ohio (from $150). RIGHT An off -grid Airbnb in Ohio . “It’s not easy to get there, but Wyoming’s Brush Creek Ranch (doubles from $2,700, all-inclusive) gives you that family-owned, authentically Western experience, without skimping on the quality of the food and wine.” —Shawna Huffman Owen, Huffman Travel RECONSIDER THE EXTENDED-STAY HOTEL Often thought of as no-frills, these properties can be surprisingly well appointed, with family-friendly amenities including en suite kitchens, playgrounds, and pools. Atwell Suites (doubles from $145), for example, is an IHG Hotels & Resorts brand with locations in Austin , Denver, and Miami that serves free breakfast—including churro doughnuts—and has games and puzzles in the lobby; more than 40 locations are in the works. Choice Hotels has launched the pet-friendly Everhome Suites (doubles from $90), with eight locations scheduled to open in 2024, including one in Bozeman, Montana. BELOW Atwell Suites Miami Brickell . F A V O R I T E S F A M I L Y More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

ADVERTISEMENT READY TO GO ON A REAL VACATION? FOR MORE TIPS, TRICKS, AND INSPIRATION, VISIT GORVING.COM. Simplify Your Summer Imagine a family vacation without airport lines, stressful itineraries, or sneaky resort fees. When you explore in an RV, you can embrace spontaneity and leave time for what matters most: making memories. Try new things together, from birdwatching to bouldering, at a pace that suits your crew. Go RVing matches fi rst-timers with the model that’s right for you, and provides helpful resources for every step of the journey. Reconnect in Nature Be it a world-famous national park or a serene lakeshore not far from home, an RV adventure lets you reconnect with mother nature—and each other. By unplugging and slowing down together, families of all generations and backgrounds can From tackling new challenges to downtime at the campsite, RVing creates opportunities for growth and lasting memories. Let’s Go Somewhere This summer, put the quality back into family time. RV travel lets you choose your own adventure with the people you love most. bond over shared experiences, like scenic hikes, boating, and stargazing. Wherever you decide to roam, Go RVing off ers trip ideas the whole family will love from coast to coast. Elevate Your Experience There’s no reason getting back to basics can’t be fi lled with luxury and comfort. In an RV, it’s easy to elevate your camping trips with movies under the stars, gourmet meals prepared in your RV kitchen, and board games in your home away from home. No matter what adventures you embark on, quality time with the family is the ultimate treasure. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

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INTELLIGENT TRAVELER 74 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 FROM TOP: COURTESY OF VISIT PENSACOLA; CHRISTINE CHITNIS (2) Adventures for All The rewards of multigenerational travel have families rethinking where—and how—they vacation. By Christine Chitnis AS WE TREKKED through the dense, lush forest surrounding Lagoa do Congro, the volcanic crater lake on the Portuguese island of São Miguel, I watched my family navigate the challenging terrain. My kids, ages fi ve and 10, darted ahead with the agility of gazelles while my mom cautiously relied on her walking stick and my dad’s arm to guide her every step. The trail was slick, and I wondered, not for the fi rst time, if I had failed in my planning by choosing this trek. In her mid 40s, my mom was diagnosed with earlyonset Parkinson’s disease, and in the decades since, we have all learned how to adapt to her changing body. Yet travel planning remains daunting for us—and for many other families like ours. After the hike, my mom candidly shared her insights with me. I expected her to say something about the trail. Instead, she surprised me by saying that, for her, the most diffi cult aspect of traveling isn’t the physical. “The most draining thing is navigating the unknowns,” she said, mentioning the slippery tiles in our hotel bathroom. “I can decide to go with you and the kids on the hike,” she explained, “but navigating the hotel room is unavoidable.” It was a good reminder that solid planning starts with getting the basics right. Fortunately, there’s a growing number of resources that families can call on. One starting point is Wheel the World . The online platform publishes detailed accessibility information—whether bathrooms have grab bars, or if surfaces are wheelchair-friendly— that’s verifi ed by volunteers, covering hundreds of hotels and vacation rentals as well as sightseeing tours. (The site was recently recognized by T+L as a Global Vision Award winner.) Meanwhile, some hotels and destinations are leaning in. Beaches Resorts , for example, operates the Caribbean’s fi rst independently certifi ed, autism-friendly kids’ clubs . “For families with neurodivergent travelers, what may seem like a simple travel decision can shape the entire course of their vacation,” says Heather Eff s, of Sandals Resorts International, which runs Beaches . “We give families an opportunity to speak with a dedicated team member and share any special needs.” In Florida, Pensacola is one of several beach destinations that has invested in wheelchair-friendly Mobi-Mats to facilitate mobility on the sand . Visit Florida , the state’s tourism authority, keeps a running list of others, which include Amelia Island and Key Biscayne. Kelly Dawson, a disability activist, says that no matter the destination, it’s important that families communicate specifi c needs and preferences beforehand. “You can’t plan for everything,” says Dawson, who has cerebral palsy. “But it’s easier to talk about vulnerable subjects if everyone is there to listen and learn.” She adds that if some family members feel uncomfortable discussing their needs or the needs of a loved one, asking for a short list of “must haves” and “must avoids” can help jumpstart the conversation. FROM TOP A Mobi-Mat in Pensacola, Florida; the author’s family in the Azores; a fumarole on São Miguel, an island in the Azores. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 75 KNOW WHOM TO CALL In some parts of the world, simply reaching emergency services can be a challenge. The U.S. Department of State has a list of country-specific corollaries to 911 on its website. In Chile, for example, the number for emergency medical help is 131; Australia’s line is 000— or 112 if you’re calling from a cell phone. 7 Ways to Prep for Your Next Big Outing After a scary ski accident, Sharael Kolberg resolved to reevaluate her approach to risky travel—and then get back out there. “NO, NO, NO!” I screamed frantically while lying on the ski-patrol exam table, as a first responder prepared to pull off my boot. “It’s going to hurt,” she warned me, “but we have to do it.” I’d broken my leg, and I was in for a long, lonesome night. Soon enough, I’d be shuffled from the mountain to a local ER and onward to a larger hospital where I’d undergo immediate surgery for a tibial plateau fracture. Prior to that accident in the Kootenays of British Columbia, I’d always found travel to wild places both thrilling and rewarding, and I admire those who push their limits. In BE YOUR OWN BACKUP Getting certified in wilderness first aid can give adventurers peace of mind. Organizations including NOLS and Wilderness Medical Associates International offer multiday, hands-on training in the basics of life support as well as more advanced first-aid techniques. fact, I gave serious consideration to joining a June 2023 trip organized by OceanGate Expeditions to view the wreckage of the Titanic. That trip, which I turned down, ended with the loss of five lives, along with the Titan submersible. The near miss, coupled with my injury, forced me to reckon with risk. Things like evacuation plans and travel insurance are now top of mind, no matter where I’m headed. Still, I’m not giving up my adrenalinepumping trips. I’m just approaching them with a new mindset—and embracing this advice. CARRY CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS GEAR Most off-the-grid operators will pack a satellite phone as part of their emergency kit. Individuals can also carry their own SOS beacons, such as the Garmin inReach Mini 2. RETHINK YOUR GOALS “Things go wrong when people venture out on their own, beyond their experience level,” says Saveria Tilden, founder and CEO at AdventurUs Women. “People get too focused on their goal,” she says, whether it’s reaching a summit or making a difficult passage by sea. “The goal should always be to come home.” DIG FOR DETAILS Don’t be afraid to ask questions before you book, says Shannon Stowell, CEO of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. “The good operators will have a risk- and crisismanagement plan,” he says. “Ask them, ‘What’s your plan for getting somebody out?’” KEEP YOUR CONTACTS IN THE LOOP Share emergency-response plans and the phone numbers for search and rescue services in the area you’re visiting. “Update everybody with all the phone numbers and details,” says Matt Mosteller, one of Canada’s top adventure and outdoor experts. And don’t forget to check if your emergency contact will be in reach during your travel dates. GET COVERED Standard-issue travel insurance policies don’t cover all scenarios. A souped-up Explorer Plan from World Nomads, on the other hand, is broadly inclusive, even if you’re doing things like paragliding, rock climbing, heli-skiing, or cage-diving with sharks. 2 1 7 6 5 4 3 ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARCOS MONTIEL More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

WILD WALES From the rush of downhill mountain biking to hikes along the rocky coast, A glamping hut at Plas Weunydd, a hotel near Eryri National Park, in Wales. OPPOSITE Antur Stiniog, a mountain-biking park. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLE ISURE.COM 77 this small, often-overlooked corner of the U.K. holds outsize adventures. By Tom Vanderbilt Photographs by Julian Broad More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

Mwnt Beach, near the town of Cardigan, as seen from the Wales Coastal Path. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLE ISURE.COM 79 AST YEAR, the Welsh Aff airs Committee noted in a House of Commons report that of the 41 million “international holidaymakers” who visited the U.K. in 2019, just 1 million went to Wales. “Marketing of Wales must be stronger,” the report noted, “with a clear theme devised to attract international tourists based on Wales’s unique strengths and attractions.” Poor branding has long troubled the country. In her excellent 2023 memoir, The Long Field, Pamela Petro, an American who fell hard for Wales, notes that this small country, which “clung to the periphery of Europe and the margins of history,” was often defi ned by what it was not. Starting with its very name: “Wales is actually an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘place of the others’ or ‘place of the Romanized foreigners.’ ” Britain’s fl ag tells a similarly othering story: Wales is the sole U.K. country not represented on the Union Jack. Even its most famous travel narrative—George Borrow’s 1862 tome Wild Wales—speaks to this exclusion. “Wales is a country interesting in many respects,” the book opens, “and deserving of more attention than it has hitherto met with.” Borrow, a polyglot Englishman and occasional travel writer, also just happened to lay out a strong brand identity: “Though not very extensive, it is one of the most picturesque countries in the world, a country in which Nature displays herself in her wildest, boldest, and occasionally loveliest forms.” I decided I would take my wife and daughter on a tour of Wales—a place I, like so many others, had never been—to experience this lovely and bold nature. And so I began reading, with increasing excitement, of what was to come. I learned that almost a fi fth of the country is covered by national parks (compared with roughly 3 percent of the U.S.), and there is chatter about FROM LEFT The gardens at the Grove of Narberth hotel, in Pembrokeshire; the entrance to a “Garden Shac” cottage at Fforest Farm, near Cardigan. SCOTLAND ENGLAND London WALES Cardiff L ILLUSTRATION BY BASHEL LUBARSKY More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

WHERE TO STAY THE FELIN FACH GRIFFIN This excellent pub with rooms outside Bannau Brycheiniog is dog-friendly, like most of Wales. Doubles from $228. FFOREST FARM Book an Onsen Dome at this glamping pioneer outside Cardigan. Domes from $639. GROVE OF NARBERTH A peaceful country property with walking paths in Pembrokeshire. Don’t miss the standout afternoon tea (if you’re traveling, they’ll give you cakes for the road). Doubles from $320. PLAS WEUNYDD Choose between the handsome rooms at this 19th-century former home near Eryri and the cozy glamping huts on the peak nearby. Doubles from $162; huts from $374. CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT Taking in a view of the Bannau Brycheiniog mountains; a bedroom in an Onsen Dome at Fforest Farm; strawberries at the Grove of Narberth; coasteering participant Alex Dickinson at Abereiddy Beach. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLE ISURE.COM 81 “rewilding.” Heights are a common theme: clambering up peaks, careening down ziplines, bombing down flowing mountain-bike tracks. But there is the ocean, too. Wales is the only country in the world with walking paths along its entire coastline. There are stunningly scenic, hardly crowded beaches, and any number of surf breaks. And one of my favorite facts, one that was to feature in a number of ways: there are more sheep than people. ALES HAS just one motorway, the M4. Beyond that are a number of main roads, and then smaller local roads, and then, eventually, a spidery network of shockingly narrow lanes. Already tight for one car, they are expected to sometimes—and with great ceremony—handle two. Worsening matters are the high, verdant hedges on either side. “Pembrokeshire walls,” the gardener at a nursery called them, and they were unavoidable. “You should see when the cow parsley’s in bloom,” she said. “Then they really make the lane seem small.” I tried to embrace the slowtravel spirit of it all; a mile of Welsh lane held more adventure than half a day on a U.S. interstate highway. We were a bit road-jangled when we arrived at the Grove of Narberth, a lovely pastoral inn restored by Welsh hoteliers Neil and Zoe Kedward. The main house dates back to the 17th century, but the adjacent outbuildings—look for the arrow slits in the walls—go back as far as the 15th century. There were fresh-cut flowers, sleepy dogs at their owners’ feet in the library, and an afternoon tea set before us in the Artisan Brasserie. Fueled by buttermilk scones and black Assam tea, we set out to stretch our legs and clear our heads. A short drive away, down farm tracks with signs announcing duck eggs and tractor pull, we arrived at the trailhead of the Bosherston Lily Ponds, a National Trust–managed park featuring a series of man-made lakes dotted with the eponymous aquatic plants. A half-hour’s walk brought us to Broad Haven South Beach, which was populated only by a small pod of surfers. We picked up the Pembrokeshire section of the coastal path, and after a hike up gorse-lined limestone cliffs to a vast, treeless tableau, we were rewarded with an epic view of the Bristol Channel. We luxuriated in the fact that we were wearing jackets (high temperature for July 2: 63 degrees) as a heat wave raged at home. The next morning, we were doing more than looking at rocky cliffs—we were on them, and occasionally jumping off them into the frothing ocean, at Pembrokeshire’s Abereiddy Beach, a popular spot on St. Davids Peninsula, the westernmost point of Wales. Our host was Cleo Browne, owner of Celtic Quest Coasteering, a local outfitter. Coasteering, a portmanteau of coast and mountaineering, is a kind of intertidal frolicking, born amid the dramatic volcanic cliffs of Wales (don’t worry, none of Wales’s volcanoes are active anymore). “Coasteering is everything you’re usually not allowed to do around water,” she told us cheerfully after we’d donned wet suits and helmets, sneakers and life vests, and waded into the chilly waters. Like seals we would swim, pausing to look at translucent moon jellies and compass jellyfish (“It’s like nettles,” Browne said when I asked if they stung). We would paddle into caves, look for critters in rocky tide pools, clamber out of the water and up slabs of volcanic rock studded with limpets, then fling ourselves off in a variety of positions—including a no-hands dive called the “penguin,” which I botched with face-slapping intensity. We drifted into Abereiddy’s famous “Blue Lagoon,” a deep, aquamarinetinged quarry—one cliff wall breached years ago, forming an ocean inlet. Browne pointed to white markings high on the rock. “That’s where they had the platforms for the Red Bull cliff-diving championships,” she noted. Thankfully, our launch point was leagues lower. After a small jump off a stone ledge, we moved to the top of an old quarry structure that overlooks the lagoon. I opted out, leaving my daughter standing on a high granite wall, looking like a damsel in distress. Browne shouted, “You can do it, Sylvie!” But my wife shouted, “You don’t have to do it, Sylvie!” Sylvie jumped, to applause from picnickers across the lagoon. We headed toward the beach town of St. Davids for lunch. But not far away from Abereiddy, on the Llanrhian Road, I caught a sign, rendered in a seductive typeface, that said plants/ garden/farm shop/café. They pretty much had us at plants, but cafŽ sealed the deal. Perennial, as it is called, was an auspicious choice, and soon we were tucking in to sandwiches of Caerphilly cheese and chutney in an exquisitely rendered garden. Near the cash register, I spied a sign for a lost African grey parrot. “We’re afraid he may have been eaten,” the woman behind the counter told me. As we kept chatting, we were soon joined by the cook, who chimed in that he’d seen it a few days after it was reported W More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

FROM TOP A salad of cauliflower, beets, feta, and potatoes at Crwst, a Cardigan bakery; Gwenann Davies, head chef at the Felin Fach Griffin, in the hotel’s vegetable garden; the Albion Aberteifi hotel, in Cardigan. missing. Our meal had suddenly turned into a memorial for a stray bird. While I am usually not one to seek out these random, impromptu conversations, they kept happening in Wales—a country the size of New Jersey with one-third the population. Later, in the quaint redoubt of St. Davids (Britain’s smallest “city”—it gets called that because it has a cathedral), we were looking at gorgeous Welsh wool blankets in the gallery Studio 6. Made by the mill Melin Tregwynt, they had tags listing the people who’d woven them. We came across one whose color scheme had been inspired by Abereiddy’s Blue Lagoon, which seemed fateful. After more prolonged chat, we bought it. Weeks later, I would get an email from a friend in New York, who’d heard from her friend—a native of St. Davids— that we’d been in her friend’s shop and bought a blanket. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLE ISURE.COM 83 river Teifi. A National Trust property, Cilgerran was for centuries in a state of romantic ruin—one of many castles in a land with more per square mile than anywhere in the world—and visited by J.M.W. Turner and other artists. We went to the staggeringly beautiful Mwnt (pronounced “moont”) Beach, where we climbed Foel y Mwnt hill, which rises nearly 250 feet above the sand. One afternoon, we drove to Llys-yfrân Lake, a park and reservoir managed by the utility Welsh Water, and rode beautiful, scarcely populated trails on rented bikes. Next came surfing, for which we repaired to Poppit Sands beach for a session with Kwame Salam, an ebullient instructor whose Tonic Surf project specializes in the therapeutic aspects of surfing. The waves were not epic (as a surf-shop manager told me, “Good waves and good weather don’t go together in Wales”), but we had the beach to ourselves. After, we replenished with cheese toasties and honey ice cream at the Poppit Sands branch of Crwst. From Cardigan, we pressed on to North Wales, a region of high, craggy peaks and moody weather, the historic WHERE TO EAT CRWST An artisanal bakery with branches in Cardigan and at Poppit Sands beach. DYLAN’S A seafood spot with several locations; we chose the one in Menai Bridge, which has wideangle views of the water. Entrées $21‒$31. PERENNIAL Grab a picnic at this café and farm shop north of St. Davids and eat among the expertly tended flora. Entrées $8‒$11. PIZZATIPI A popular pizza restaurant in Cardigan run by the team behind Fforest. Entrées $13‒$25. YR HEN PRINTWORKS Snack on creative dishes that spotlight local ingredients. Small plates $10‒$15. The bar at Albion Aberteifi. N OUR QUEST for Wild Wales, we were supposed to have been at the bottom of Cardigan Bay, snorkeling for spider crabs with James Lynch. But with strong winds whipping the seas into a murky bouillabaisse, we were, instead, eating king prawns and drinking artisanal gin on the terrace of Albion Aberteifi, one of the hotels that Lynch owns. The refurbished former warehouse (circa 1745) fronts the river in the town of Cardigan, about an hour’s drive north of St. Davids. Decades ago, Lynch was an art-school graduate in London who happened into property development when he bought a building—“I made studios for all my mates in the creative industries,” he told me—in not-yetfashionable Shoreditch. Years later, on family vacations to western Wales, he would feel a similar entrepreneurial twitch in Cardigan, which, at the time, he said, “was very inexpensive and a bit neglected.” In 2009, Lynch and his wife, Sian Tucker, opened Fforest Farm, a sort of Welsh glamping fantasia, on a big plot of land that once held an Iron Age settlement. A decade on, “Cardi” is on the upswing, its attractive riverside streets filled with restaurants like the Lynch-owned Pizzatipi, the Michelinrecommended Yr Hen Printworks, and the excellent bakery Crwst (pronounced “croost”). Lynch calls Fforest a “diffuse hotel,” meaning the rooms are spread across multiple buildings. As such, it doesn’t announce itself as a hotel. We entered a remote parking lot, where grazing sheep were our only company. After a long but pleasant walk, we made it to one of Fforest’s newish Onsen Domes. These spacious, canvas-covered geodesic domes are each connected to a small cedar bathroom and, just outside, a Japanesestyle soaking tub. I felt like I was in a Terrence Malick film, with red-tinged rye fields all around shimmering in the summer haze, the pointy tops of canvas tents peeking through copses, and a generally dreamy atmosphere. We took advantage of the walking paths on offer: to Cardigan itself, through the Teifi marshes, and to nearby Cilgerran Castle, the famed home of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, which is perched dramatically above the I More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

‘Coasteering is everything you ’re usually not allowed to do around water.’ More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLE ISURE.COM 85 center of Welsh coal mining and slate quarrying and the home of Eryri, the huge national park formerly known as Snowdonia. (It was renamed as part of a general thrust toward promoting Welsh language and culture.) We arrived at Plas Weunydd, a hotel that opened in 2021 in the 19th-century home of John Whithead Greaves, an Englishman who was headed to Canada to find his fortune when he detoured into Welsh slate (used, among other things, for roof tiles). The hotel sits at the foot of rolling mountains, in the former slate-mining region that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Blaenau Ffestiniog, the closest village, is known as the “town that roofed the world.”) Slate roofing was eventually superseded by other, less expensive materials. While there’s still money in recycling the remaining heaps of lowerquality slate for use in gardens and the like, much of the site has been turned over to outdoor recreation, and now has a zipline park and a downhill mountainbike course. Our destination was not the hotel itself, attractive as it was, but its new glamping huts, which were situated up on a high plateau near Barylwd Lake (reached after a panoramic 10-minute drive in an electric golf cart). Our accommodation was a pair of retro-style small houses with cozy interiors on metal wheels. It was just us, the wind, and the sheep. Early one morning, I was awakened by a thumping sound. It seemed too early for the daily service visit. Later, the hotel clerk told me the woolly neighbors do get a bit curious: “They unplugged the power at one hut.” (The staff retrofitted it against further ovine-induced blackouts.) Ascending to the huts, we passed the entrance to Zip World Llechwedd, where my daughter was keen to try a kilometer-long plunge on “Europe’s first four-person zipline.” We strapped in to helmets and harnesses and were sent whizzing down a wire with a view of the village of Rhiwbryfdir far below in the valley. Its houses, which had slate roofs the same color as the surrounding slag heaps, seemed to grow out of the earth. Zip World, it turns out, is not the only way down the mountain. Just next door is Antur Stiniog, a mountain-bike park. Simon Williams, a trail designer and one of the founders of Antur, told me the park Coasteering on the rocks near Abereiddy Beach. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

WHAT TO DO ANTUR STINIOG Mountain biking on a high peak with sweeping views, just outside the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. BIKEPARK WALES More biking, this time in a lush forest north of Cardiff. CELTIC QUEST COASTEERING Celo Browne and her guides will have you jumping from cliffs into the “washing machine” of tidal inflows. Getting wet has rarely been so fun. STUDIO 6 We weren’t able to visit the famed Melin Tregwynt mill, but this lovely shop in St. Davids stocks its blankets. WALES COAST PATH The instructions are simple: Head to any part of the coast, look for signs to the path, and start walking. You can hardly go wrong. WALKIN ON WATER Kwame Salam’s surf school on Poppit Sands beach. ZIP WORLD LLECHWEDD This ziplining park offers the chance to learn about mining history, both by going underground (where there’s a mini-golf course, among other things) and above the ground, on Europe’s first four-person zipline.—T.V. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLE ISURE.COM 87 had gotten funding from the European Union, among other entities—part of an effort to help revitalize the area, which is still adjusting to the loss of its principal industries. Once Antur built a road to the top of the hill, he told me, “the Zip World fella saw this place and went, ‘Yeah, there’s potential here.’ ” We boarded a small bus, which pulled a trailer loaded with mountain bikes. The passengers looked like a Mad Max casting call—dirt-streaked, body-armorwearing men (and a few women, the youngest being my daughter). Deposited at the top of a high, rugged peak, we would then ride down any number of trails (their difficulty graded, as in skiing, by color). While more experienced (and often Welsh-speaking) riders ripped down narrow tracks and jumped over earthen features, we poked and prodded our way down. Ziplining was entertaining enough, but it felt passive. On the bikes, we had to get our own way down the mountain. It was vaguely terrifying yet enormously fun. “You’re using all of your senses,” my daughter observed. “It makes you feel so alive.” That seemed to be the mantra for our entire trip. AVIGATING AROUND the country clockwise, we moved on to Bannau Brycheiniog (in English, Brecon Beacons). It was named, one theory goes, for the Lord of the Rings– style signal fires that have been lit since the Middle Ages—and burned most recently during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. Our base was the Felin Fach Griffin, the platonic ideal of a Welsh country pub with rooms. Situated above a winning restaurant (newly helmed by chef Gwennan Davies, who returned home to Wales after working with Tom Kerridge, the acclaimed gastropub specialist and a staple of British television), the Griffin was an ideal base for exploring. To clear our heads after the long drive, we set out for a walk along the bucolic towpath of the 35-mile-long Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. While my daughter ran, trying to maintain her high-school crosscountry training schedule, my wife and I moved at a more sensible pace, pausing to gaze at wildflowers and the handsome CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT A Sunday lunch of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding at Felin Fach Griffin; Broad Haven South Beach; the sitting room at Grove of Narberth; preparing for a ride at Antur Stiniog. canal boats that are available to rent as overnight accommodation. The next day, my wife headed to the fabled book town of Hay-on-Wye, just 15 minutes away. But my bibliophilic dreams ran into my daughter’s newly unlocked passion for downhill mountain biking, so we set off to another incredible facility, BikePark Wales. A typically abundant Welsh rain did nothing to deter the scores of riders in attendance, and we blissfully rode down trails like the mossy “Kermit,” a magical carpet of green we flowed through on knobby tires. It felt like the magical Elvish realm Lothlórien from The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien famously derived one of his Elvish languages from Welsh). On our last day in Wales, I went to visit an old friend, a writer named Rob Penn, at his house near Abergavenny. Apart from catching up, I wanted to hear about his new passion project, an initiative called “Stump Up for Trees.” We set out for a walk, accompanied by his dog, Wiggins, and a neighbor’s retriever. “If we wait,” said Penn, wearing wellies and clutching a gnarled blackthorn walking stick he’d crafted, “a few other neighbors’ dogs might come along.” A visitor to Wales cannot help noticing what Petro, in The Long Field, calls “shorn hills,” usually populated by sheep. Dappled in shades of green, divided by neat hedgerows, they have a pleasing “Shire” vibe. The deforested tops of these hills tend to be “commons,” places for neighboring farms to send their sheep during the summer to graze. Whatever the aesthetic appeal, Penn wanted me to know, as we crested a high ridge, that what I was seeing was actually a depleted natural landscape. Intensive agricultural usage, long promoted by government funding, gives way to the rampant spread of bracken—a type of fern that, left to its own devices, grows upwards of six feet, choking out any other life. He peeled back a cluster of bracken to reveal a rowan sapling hidden beneath. Aided by legislation that rewards landowners for increasing the biodiversity of the Welsh uplands, his group has been planting trees—more than 300,000 at this point, including that rowan. The ultimate hope: to make “Wild Wales” more wild. N More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

One of the wild horses of Salt Wash Basin, a herd-management area in northwest Colorado. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 89 The past is within easy reach in Colorado’s Moffat County, where wild horses roam and canyons conceal dinosaur tracks. But, as Elaine Glusac discovers, all eyes are looking toward the future. Photographs by David Williams More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

I WAS BARELY 75 miles west of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and its mountainchic restaurants, art galleries, and hot-springs-fed swimming pools when I reached Maybell, a blip on Highway 40. where the west is still wild, read a roadside marker. Just beyond the town’s Depression-era general store, I swung north onto County Road 318, where green pastures gave way to sandy mesas. no services for 120 miles, another sign cautioned. If you want to get lost in America, Moffat County, the northwesternmost corner of Colorado, is a good place to go. But there are attractions within those 120 miles, including my destination: Sand Wash Basin, about 158,000 acres of sagebrush-clad hills, dry creek beds, and clay buttes, all overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency in charge of much of the undeveloped land in these parts. It’s a refuge for wild horses—344 grays, bays, and sorrels—which attract camera-toting pilgrims ardent for the open range. “It’s magical out here,” said Cindy Wright, a rancher who runs the nonprofit Wild Horse Warriors for Sand Wash Basin, which raises money to support improvements in the habitat. She served as my guide to viewing the horses, as well as other wonders on the reserve, including petrified wood, ancient turtle shells, and rock walls striped in fossilized algae like prehistoric bath rings. “There’s a lot to offer here, a lot of open space.” Wilderness has long distinguished Moffat County, home today to 2 million acres of public land. It’s a place where the Indigenous Fremont people flourished and where Butch Cassidy and other legendary 19th-century outlaws hid in isolated canyons. But after early-20th-century homesteaders began working seams of surface coal, mining took off and coal-burning power plants grew to sustain the rural county. Now, in response to a statewide mandate to create a clean-energy grid by 2040, its three plants are slated to close in the next four years, inspiring some county planners to position Moffat’s natural assets—vast canyons, high deserts, and wild rivers—as the basis for a new economy built on adventure travel and outdoor recreation. ABOVE Fueling up at Prodigal Son’s Coffee House & Eatery. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 91 afternoon. I stopped at Yampa Valley Brewing Co., where a team of university researchers was meeting to gather community feedback on what an equitable transition would look like. Whitewater rafters and conservationist entrepreneurs mingled with at least one procoal rancher over Space Dog IPAs, filling suggestion boards with requests for more bathrooms at river launch sites and pleas such as “Everyone’s culture should be respected, not replaced.” It had been a while since I had visited a place where travel had the potential to bring about positive change. Pre-pandemic, overtourism, which afflicted most popular places, was a burden, causing physical destruction of monuments like Machu Picchu and watering down local culture. But Moffat’s sustainable tourism bid trades on a wilderness few know. During my week there, I drove long distances around rangy Moffat, the second-largest county in the state, taking CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT The lights come up in downtown Craig; the world’s largest watercolor, by Israel Holloway, at the Museum of Northwest Colorado; the museum’s display of antique spurs; the Yampa River as it winds through Dinosaur National Monument. “Sometimes I feel like we’re the last place on earth to have what we have, and that we’re on the cusp of amazing things,” said Jennifer Holloway, a Moffat native whose father worked in the mines. She now runs the chamber of commerce in Craig, the 9,000-resident county seat 42 miles west of Steamboat, and the tourism authority of Moffat County. Both organizations are focused on the transition from coal. Though the region’s primary industry isn’t particularly obvious to visitors, the shift away from it was the talk of the town when I rolled into downtown Craig one bright late-summer More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

Denver COLORADO Craig Dinosaur National Monument FROM TOP Josh and Maegan Veenstra of Good Vibes River Gear on the Yampa River; a charcuterie board at 518 Wine Bar. RIGHT The red-rock canyons of Dinosaur National Monument. WHERE TO STAY The nearest high-end accommodation is Gravity Haus Steamboat (doubles from $345), a design-forward resort in Steamboat Springs. The town of Craig has affordable chain hotels including Candlewood Suites and Best Western Plus, as well as Airbnb options. WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK 518 Wine Bar Find wine, whiskey, and shareable snacks at this friendly local in the heart of Craig. Prodigal Son’s Coffee House & Eatery A Craig charmer. Try the bacon and egg on a biscuit. Yampa Valley Brewing Co. Northwest Colorado’s craft-beer mecca has taprooms in Craig, Hayden, and Steamboat Springs. WHAT TO DO Dinosaur National Monument Hunt for fossils and ancient petroglyphs across 210,000 acres of wilderness on the border of Colorado and Utah. Rafting companies OARS and Dinosaur River Expeditions can organize single- or multiday expeditions. Good Vibes River Gear Get fully equipped for rafting at this shop in downtown Craig. Museum of Northwest Colorado Artifacts of cowboy culture and railroad history, housed in a former armory in Craig. West Twin Cinema You can’t miss the retro marquee of this Craig twoscreener, which made its debut in 1939. Wild Horse Warriors This nonprofit arranges tours of Sand Wash Basin, a refuge for wild horses just outside the town of Maybell. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 93 in outlaw history, wild-horse safaris, and river-cut chasms. THE HEAVY WOODEN DOORS of the Museum of Northwest Colorado, housed in Craig’s former armory, opened to reveal a luminous, wall-size image of a cowboy, head humbly inclined, riding a chestnut horse across the Yampa River. Painted by local artist Israel Holloway, the mural—said to be the world’s largest watercolor—welcomes visitors to a peerless treasury of natural history, cowboy culture, and gunfighting glory. “History is still somewhat tangible here,” Paul Knowles, the museum’s assistant director, told me as we walked around the exhibits, which included a headdress from the Puebloan Tewa people, a 10,000-year-old bison skull, and a braided leather rope that belonged to a real-life cowboy—a recent donation from the cowboy’s octogenarian son. Historically, Craig has lagged behind the rest of the West. The railroad didn’t arrive until 1913, which meant that locals were still taking the stagecoach 50 years after the transcontinental routes were built. Coal changed Moffat County’s fortunes, and also revealed another source of wealth: fossils. “Coal is the perfect conservator,” Knowles said, pointing to fossilized hadrosaur footprints, which are commonly found on the ceilings of mines. “You can still be killed by a dinosaur here if a footprint breaks and falls.” On the second floor, an encyclopedic collection of gunfighter goods includes a fast-draw shoulder holster and a silver-trimmed saddle once owned by the famed scout, hunter, and showman William “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Visitors to Steamboat often detour to see these artifacts, accounting for the museum’s relatively large annual attendance of 12,000. “We’re proof that tourism is sustainable,” Knowles added. Other businesses in downtown Craig have benefited from the museum’s popularity. The entrepreneurial (Continued on page 102) More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

FROM LEFT The village of Kāgbeni, in Nepal’s Lower Mustang region; Thame Lodge, a hotel at the base of Sumdur Mountain, near Mount Everest; the Himalayas as seen from Jhong Monastery; sheep grazing near Shinta Mani Mustang lodge; Chhema Lake, in Lower Mustang. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

TRAVELANDLEISURE.COM 95 In the land made famous by Mount Everest, luxurious lodges and new trekking routes are elevating the visitor experience and safeguarding an ancient culture. By Gisela Williams Photographs by Carol Sachs More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

96 TRAVEL+LE ISURE | JULY 2024 A CRISP MORNING in October, I flew, with some trepidation, on a small commercial plane from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, to the town of Lukla, often described as the gateway to Mount Everest. Lukla’s Tenzing Hillary Airport is the first thing that comes up when you type “world’s most dangerous airport” into Google, mostly thanks to its incredibly short, L-shaped runway. But by the time we began our descent into Lukla, which sits at an altitude of 9,350 feet, I was so spellbound by my first sighting of the Himalayas that I barely noticed the landing. It was a fitting introduction to a trip designed to highlight Nepal’s extraordinary mountain landscapes, the forces that threaten their future, and the people looking for new ways to protect them. My journey was to begin with an eight-day trek along a new circuit of the Everest Base Camp Trail, sleeping in upscale lodges along the way. Then I would fly west to stay at the highly anticipated— and extremely remote—new Shinta Mani Mustang, a hotel designed by Bill Bensley, one of the biggest names in Asian hotel design. Soon after we disembarked, our group—about a dozen intrepid middle-aged international travelers— strolled down Lukla’s main avenue. Thousands of colorful prayer flags were strung up overhead, and every storefront seemed to be a café or a shop selling gear and souvenirs. We made a quick stop at Lukla Lodge, a small hotel with mint-green shutters. As we sipped milky, cardamom-infused masala tea on the terrace, Namgyal Sherpa, the host for our trip, gave us an overview of the places we’d be staying. Namgyal and his family own Mountain Lodges of Nepal, a collection of more than a dozen small hotels, including the one in which we were sitting. “This lodge was the first one my father built, twenty-four years ago,” Namgyal said. (The family’s operations extend to Nepalese tour operators, expedition companies, and even regional air transportation.) Namgyal’s father, Sonam Sherpa, is a renowned mountain climber and expedition organizer who has summited some of the world’s most iconic peaks, including Mont Blanc and Kilimanjaro. He set up the lodges in hopes of bringing new sources of income to his community. In 1953, the New Zealand–born explorer Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa partner, Tenzing Norgay, gained fame as the “first” people to ascend Mount Everest. But the Sherpa people, an ethnic group native to Tibet, had been living and climbing among the high peaks of the Himalayas for centuries. Today, locals are so often employed to help climbers that the word sherpa has come to mean someone who carries someone else’s backpack. (It’s also common among Sherpas to take the term as their last name, as Namgyal and his family have). But within the climbing world, a major reckoning is under way—and the story of Namgyal’s mother, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, has been a central part of it. A riveting documentary about her life as an entrepreneur and On More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

activist, Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest, drew attention to the pivotal role the native community has long played in the industry when it debuted in the U.S. in 2022. The film recounts Pasang’s story: in 1993 she became the first recorded Sherpa woman to reach the mountain’s peak—only to tragically die in a storm on her way back down. “My mother was fighting a double fight,” Namgyal told me. “For women, and for Sherpas. She asked, ‘Why can’t we do more than carry people’s bags?’ ” Now Namgyal is honoring Pasang’s memory by creating experiences that help travelers engage with local people and culture—like the trek I was about to embark on. With the help of travel consultant Jason Friedman, Namgyal and his family are developing new circuits that bring muchneeded tourism revenue to Nepal’s less-explored communities, while offering routes that are more accessible to non-backpackers. After changing into our hiking boots at Lukla Lodge, we made our way to the edge of town, where one such path would take us in the direction of Everest Base Camp. The trailhead was marked by a stone gate with a roof of red ceramic tiles; plinths on either side held identical busts of a proud, smiling Sherpa woman. Namgyal didn’t say anything as we walked past, but I saw that the statues were of his mother. OUR GROUP—ALONG WITH Namgyal, Friedman, five local porters, and a guide—was slated to cover 17 miles in eight days. As we began our first day of hiking, each of us walked at our own pace; some alone, others chatting in groups. We passed backpackers, porters carrying luggage, long-haired yaks with jangling bells, and cylindrical, carvedwood prayer wheels that spun at my touch, installed on the façades of buildings. Mani walls, made of FROM LEFT Shinta Mani Mustang’s lounge; a traditional Nepalese trunk at the hotel; a suite with views of the Himalayas. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)

stones and painted with Buddhist mantras and symbols, often lined our path. The landscape around us was green and hilly; on all sides, the white-dusted Himalayas reared up, larger than life. More than four hours later, we arrived at Phakding Lodge, a welcoming 18-room complex named after the surrounding village. I was happy to trade my boots for slippers and sip a mug of hot lemon water before dinner, which was served in a dining room with towering ceilings and windows overlooking a bend of the Dudh Koshi River. “The Mountain Lodges are the only accommodation on the Base Camp Trail that offer delicious food, good beds, and a warm shower,” Friedman told me. My room, paneled in local wood, was cozy and cabinlike, and when I gratefully crawled into bed that night, the sheets were already warm, thanks to an electric blanket. The next morning, instead of following the main trail, Namgyal and Friedman led us on a short detour, across the river and up a wooded slope, in the direction of the 17th-century Rimijung Monastery. The path narrowed as it meandered through a pine forest, then past small farmhouses surrounded by fields of corn, potatoes, and wheat. Clusters of laughing, red-cheeked children in uniforms waved at us on their walk to school, which our guide, Rinji Sherpa, told me could take as long as an hour. Arriving at Rimijung Monastery about an hour later, Namgyal greeted one of the resident monks as I gazed up at the building’s dramatic façade: rust red, set with elaborately carved orange window frames and prayer wheels on the wall. The sound of drums and Tibetan horns drifted from one of the windows as monks in training practiced ceremonial music. A smell like honey wafted from a pile of drying azaleas that would later be ground into powder and turned into incense. In the distance I could see Mount Thamserku, its jagged outline sharp as a serrated knife. Namgyal told me that his father risked his life when he ascended its treacherous peak in 1987. After he safely returned, Sonam named the family mountaineering company Thamserku Trekking in honor of that summit. Now, because of climate change, the lack of snow makes it impossible to climb. The following two days rolled by as we hiked north more than six miles, slowly gaining altitude, often following (and crossing) the Dudh Koshi River. We passed grazing ponies and more mani stone walls, and one day sat down spontaneously to eat momo, Nepalese dumplings, at an outdoor ABOVE The Bauddhanath Stupa, the largest Buddhist monument in Nepal. More Newspaper and Magazines Telegram Channel join Search https://t.me/Magazines_8890050582 (@Magazines_8890050582)