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If you’ve never visited a Disney theme park between August and October, you may not realize that Disneyland and Walt Disney World take this spook-tacular holiday as seriously as they do Christmas. Oversized pumpkins decorate Main Street, USA, Disney Villains appear en mass and certain rides are overhauled to better fit the season. It’s not just the ability to wear costumes and nab quick-to-sell-out seasonal merchandise that makes Disneyland and Walt Disney World worth visiting around Halloween....

How much praise can you really give a towel? Personally, I hadn’t given it much thought until I read Halle Berry describe her Resore Bath Towel as “heavenly.” The towels many of us have at home do the trick, but I can’t say that I have any loyalty to a certain towel brand or type, let alone claim that one could take me to the next plane of existence. My interest was piqued, and after some preliminary research, I was literally sold....

Scoring a great deal on a hotel can make a vacation that much sweeter, and travel app Hopper is rolling out a new feature to help travelers do just that. The new Price Freeze for Hotels tool will allow users to hold onto a deal they find on a hotel stay for up to 60 days, Hopper shared with Travel + Leisure. To lock in the price, travelers must put down a deposit, which is a percentage of their stay....

Needless to say, the coronavirus has impacted nearly every aspect of our lives, causing us to cancel vacations, change our lifestyles, and postpone important events. It’s been a tough wedding season for couples who have had to change the plans for their big day because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zoom weddings and sidewalk nuptials have replaced in-person ceremonies, and plans for relaxing honeymoons have been put on hold until travel restrictions are lifted....

“Clients keep telling me, ‘We’ve been waiting, and we are so ready to travel,’” says Jessica Griscavage, the founder of McClean, Virginia–based Runway Travel Company. Lately, she’s spent much of her time crafting super-adventures, because families booking with a specialist are looking to go big. According to a study conducted last summer by the Family Travel Association and New York University, around 65 percent of parents are now considering an advisor-crafted family vacation....

For my first-ever travel writing assignment, I journeyed across the country — but I never once boarded a plane. What would have taken most people 10 hours took me 160. I traveled from my hometown of D.C. to Seattle and back on an Amtrak train. I’d been riding trains and writing professionally for years, but this was a journey of firsts: my first time traveling post-vaccine, my first time on the road for work, and my first time deciding I’d never fly again....

I have two high-energy, very competitive boys. They are two years apart and while there are moments when they get along, well, brotherly, more often than not, they are competing, which inevitably leads to fighting — about, well, everything. Who got the bigger plate of pancakes, who got the best choice in desserts, who had the better seat on the plane, who got more pool time…and on and on. Of course, I’m not alone — when I travel I see this among other families....

London’s Brown’s Hotel has welcomed high-profile guests such as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Agatha Christie, and Stephen King, but the Mayfair property — which also lays claim to the title of the city’s first-ever hotel — is now upping its offerings for a younger generation. “Recently, we have noticed much more multi-generational travel and a need for bespoke kid-friendly offerings at the hotel,” Stuart P. Johnson, managing director at Brown’s Hotel, told Travel + Leisure....

After the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Puerto Rico this month, I’ve had the movie “Contact” on my mind, and two scenes in particular. The first is when Jodie Foster visits the telescope, of course, and the second is when she’s reclining on the roof of her car, headphones on, and (spoiler alert!) hears an alien signal. Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty Though “Contact,” originally a novel by Carl Sagan, is a work of science fiction, some of the science behind it is not....

More than 47 million Americans are expected to travel for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, according to a forecast from AAA, the latest indication summer travel has come roaring back. Of the 47.7 million Americans who will likely travel from July 1 to July 5, the overwhelming majority - 43.6 million of them - will be traveling by car, according to the forecast. An additional 3.5 million people are expected to fly, bringing airlines back to 90% of pre-pandemic traffic....

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear little gold wings. Michael Bradley, an easyJet pilot taking his family on vacation, did not expect to find himself back in the cockpit on a flight from Manchester, England to Alicante, Spain on September 2, according to the Manchester Evening News. Bradley and his family were passengers on the easyJet flight, which was severely delayed after the original pilot did not show up. So the off-duty pilot offered to fly the plane instead....

While most of us will never live as kings and queens do in lavish castles like the Palace of Versailles or Arendelle, it is possible to get a taste of the royal life during your next vacation — for a few days, anyway. Thanks to the vacation rental booking site HomeAway, you can actually book your very own castle during your next holiday in England. And before you start to fear that seeing photos of the place will make you max out your credit card to rent it, don’t worry....

There are few things New Yorkers love more than giving recommendations, especially where to go in their favorite neighborhoods. Certain experiences are non-negotiables for first timers (grabbing a pie from John’s or Lombardi’s, catching a Broadway show, peeping the Temple of Dendur and other ancient artifacts at the Met), but if someone has been to the city before, I always push them to go beyond Manhattan and explore the boroughs....

Move over, Van Gogh — there’s another gorgeous immersive art experience coming to captivate audiences across the U.S. “Monet by the Water” pays homage to legendary French painter Claude Monet, widely considered one of the founders of Impressionism. The exhibit is set to debut in San Francisco in December, before making its way east, with stops in cities like Minneapolis, Denver, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Miami. Courtesy of Monet by the Water...

Thailand has a plan for reopening that’s aimed at international visitors looking to stay a while. It’s not quite a work-from-elsewhere package, but the country is offering a special tourist visa that will allow foreigners to stay for up to 90 days, presuming they quarantine for the first 14 days of their stay. The policy is expected to launch next month, according to the Bangkok Post. Visitors will be required to book accommodations for the entire 90-day period ahead of time and to quarantine upon arrival, the Bangkok Post reported....

The American Museum of Natural History is channeling its best creepy-crawlers and animals that go bump in the night for a spooky -— and family friendly — slate of virtual Halloween experiences this year. As part of the holiday lineup, the museum will host a series of Facebook live events, focusing on everything from insects like scorpions, spiders, and roaches, to bats and skeletons (fossilized ones, of course), the museum shared with Travel + Leisure....

Dominica is a wild place, but nothing in its wilds can hurt you. No venomous snakes lurk along the jungle trails. No deadly insects skitter beneath the layer of duff that carpets the rain-forest floor. Instead of menacing critters, I saw gulf fritillaries open and close their wings atop fiery blossoms, territorial hummingbirds flit in an iridescent blur to ward off trespassers, and golden-armored land crabs stand at attention, pincers outstretched in mock threat....

While it may not always seem that way, everything that happens on an airplane is done with safety in mind — even stowing your tray table before takeoff and landing. For the same reason travelers are asked to put their seats in an upright position and open their window shades, secured tray tables may save your life in the event of an emergency. “It’s actually an FAA regulation that all tray tables must be moved to the upright position before movement on the tarmac,” Morgan Johnston, JetBlue’s corporate communications manager, told Travel + Leisure....

Club Med is offering all-inclusive relaxation on a budget with a flash sale that has rates starting at 50% off and other perks like flight credits, free room upgrades, and more. The sale, which must be booked by April 5, offers big discounts on resorts throughout Mexico, Canada, Florida, and the Caribbean, including during Memorial Day Weekend and over the summer. To take advantage, vacationers must travel by Oct. 28....

Vacation should be joyful. It should be playful. It should make you feel like a kid again. And that’s exactly the point at the dreamy Swing House in Cincinnati, Ohio. The home, which is available for rent via Airbnb, is the “realization of a 30-year dream,” the owners share on their listing. It accommodates one to two people and has a 30-foot swing in the middle of the rental. And as the owners say, the house is a “work of art....