Travel

While people often head to Walla Walla for a wine country visit, the places along the way are a great road trip destination on their own, particularly the towns of Waitsburg and Dayton in the upper Touchet River Valley. They offer scenery, history, outdoor opportunities and unique hospitality.

CAIRO – As anticipation grows for the start of the 2026 World Cup, the national team that will call Spokane home for the duration of the tournament is seeing a surge in visitors and tourism in their home country.

SAGLE, Idaho – Apart from the fine craftsmanship, the aroma of cedar boards used in the tree houses at Round Lake State Park is the first thing visitors notice. The ethereal quality of the lake and its cheery campers and wildlife is the next.

Tropea Beach, which sits on Tyrrhenian Sea in the southern part of Italy’s Calabria region, is the world’s most relaxing beach, according to a new study. Eagle Beach in Palm, Aruba, and Playa Norte in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, rank at No. 2 and 3, respectively, in this study from Hot Spring Spas, a spa pool manufacturer, which was published by Travel + Leisure. Two U.S. spots also made the list — ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — You might expect to spy snakes, frogs and perhaps a family of otters along the Swamp Walk at Gatorland. But now you’re also likely to bump into fast facts and history lessons. The attraction, in partnership with Conservation Florida, has added more signs to enhance the back-to-nature experience. Readers may learn about the Florida aquifer, cowhunters, deadhead logging, ...

Northern Italy’s seductively beautiful lakes district – in the shadow of the Alps – seems heaven-sent for communing with nature. Though just an hour north of Milan, this area feels a world away from the business and bustle of Italy’s second city.

ABOARD THE MOLLY B, on the Salish Sea — They are big. They are beautiful. And they are back. The return of the humpback whale to greater numbers than observed in decades is part of a larger revival of marine mammals in the Salish Sea. It is an astonishing sight of life rebounding, with exception of the endangered southern residents orcas. On a recent day in the waters of the San Juan Islands, ...

“We got our Big Sur buddies back,” said Brian Flaten, stirring a Negroni beneath a mounted moose head at Legends Bar in Morro Bay, California. At midnight on a recent evening, the dimly lit bar where Flaten is a bartender, beckoned drivers off Highway 1, long after the rest of the world had gone to bed on this lonely stretch.

Ray Kinsella is walking through his cornfields when he hears a voice. “If you build it,” the voice whispers, “he will come.”

What lies beneath can be cold, damp and compelling. Learn about dry and wet caves, the creatures that live in them and the characteristics that create these natural settings. Here are five places to explore underground:

Georgette Lang had planned three international trips this year to celebrate her 60th birthday and her daughter’s college graduation, but in the weeks since the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28, she postponed all three, resulting in a loss of nearly $16,000.

Visitors to Spokane’s Riverfront Park now have a chance to feel the breeze in their hair as they zoom from landmark to landmark in the newly functional park shuttle system.

Elizabeth Gilbert invited me to play a game, and I couldn’t wait to get started.

My first time riding Amtrak, I journeyed from Spokane to Seattle to see a concert. I usually rode the bus across the state, but decided to change things up for no other reason than I had the extra time to spare.

In 1977, a 19-year-old African American musician arrived at Sound 80, the world’s first digital recording studio, in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. After the studio technicians set up the equipment, the musician reportedly said, “OK, now leave the studio,” much to the bewilderment of the engineers, according to Steven Orfield, who owns Orfield Laboratories, the building that houses Sound 80.

There’s nothing like a last-minute change of plans to get your traveler heart racing.

Across the rooftops of Tunis, the day’s final call to prayer gave way to the sounds of a DJ getting started for the evening with a mix of disco and the bagpipe-infused Tunisian music known as mezwed. The contrast perfectly captured the moment in this Mediterranean city at the confluence of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

My most recent trip to Scotland was a sentimental journey of sorts – a nostalgic nod to my first visit as a 20-something just beginning her love affair with the British Isles in general and Scotland in particular. My magic chariot at that time had been a large tour bus – of the kind that proudly promised 11 countries in 10 days. This time around, the mode of transport was not a bus, but a ...

Late on a September afternoon, as the sun warmed the surrounding mountains, I paddled my surfboard past a green sea turtle riding the currents. When I turned around to catch a wave of my own, a spotted eagle ray leaped out of the water, putting an exclamation point on the day.