After our interminable winter here on the East Coast, I thought spring would never arrive. But here we are — which means it’s time for the summer edition of the Getaway Guides series. We asked readers looking for help planning their vacations to tell us about their ideal trip and their approximate budget (not including airfare). Then I consulted with travel experts and came up with suggestions. Below are answers to some of the queries that caught our attention. Unless otherwise specified, prices are for June, July and August. For more vacation ideas, see last year’s summer guides here and here — and look out for the second installment of this year’s in the coming weeks.
“I’m an artist, designer and builder. I’ve been studying contemporary art for over 30 years and collect vinyl across basically every genre. I’ll be traveling solo for six weeks. I’m drawn to places where nature is slowly winning (ruins swallowed by vegetation) and where the architecture feels like it arrived from a different time. Beautiful water does something to me: a perfectly designed pool in a landscape, a hot spring, a waterfall, a beach nobody’s fighting over. I want to eat and drink extraordinarily well and stumble across live music. I want to come back with my eyes full of things I’ve never seen before.” Miguel, Los Angeles; budget: $24,000
Brazil! When I shared your email with Niall Murtagh, a Singapore-based adviser with Daunt Travel, a luxury agency, he agreed immediately. “This screams Brazil — Salvador in particular,” he said, referring to the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia and the center of Afro-Brazilian culture. As the T contributing editor Michael Snyder points out in this insider’s guide to Salvador, the city is liveliest from December through March, but there are electrifying music and art scenes year-round.
As for unfettered nature, the immense Chapada Diamantina National Park in the interior of Bahia encompasses countless canyons, caves and waterfalls, and just outside of it, you’ll find ruins of abandoned stone houses in the former diamond-mining village of Igatu. In the fashionable beach town of Trancoso, Uxua Casa Hotel and Spa will likely satisfy your longing for a pool in a lush setting (from about $420 a night), as will Barracuda Hotel & Villas, which is perched above a beach in Itacaré on Bahia’s central coast (from about $530 a night).
Murtagh’s itineraries start at $1,500 per person per day (sans airfare), which will quickly exceed your budget, but if you’re up for making the arrangements yourself, Snyder sketched out a rough plan that could replace or accompany a trip to Bahia, depending on how much you want to pack into six weeks and how much you want to fly around this enormous country. “For the best art and architecture anywhere,” says Snyder, start in São Paulo, then drive to Paraty for the glorious beaches on the islands in the bay and follow that with a music marathon in Rio (the classic spot for samba is tiny Botequim Vaca Atolada). Add a side trip inland to the state of Minas Gerais to visit the capital, Belo Horizonte, with important early works by the architect Oscar Niemeyer and some of the country’s best food, says Snyder. From there, continue to Inhotim, a fantastic open-air museum and garden, and the historic baroque towns of Ouro Preto, Mariana and Tiradentes. That’s already an overstuffed itinerary, but you might consider coming back another time to explore the Amazon, where nature may not be winning, exactly, but it is proving remarkably resilient.
“My husband is an architect and I’m a public art curator, and we’d like ideas for a seven-to-nine-day trip that would be inspiring for us but that also hold interest for our sons, who will be 13 and 16. A trip where we can also bring the family dog would be amazing. Now that our kids are getting older, I’m starting to realize that our chances of having a great family road trip won’t last forever. We’ve done a regional road trip, but we’d love to show the kids more of the beauty of our country.” Julia, Jenkintown, Penn.; budget: $3,000
How about a road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway? The travel writer Andrew Nelson, who writes the Lost in Place newsletter on Substack, and who’s driven through the Shenandoah Valley on his way from Virginia to North Carolina more times than he can count, suggests starting at the parkway’s northeastern end near Staunton, Va., an old-fashioned Appalachian city with a quaint main street and a thriving restaurant scene. Since Staunton is a good five hours from your home, spend the night at one of the city’s pet-friendly hotels before slowly make your way to the pretty mountain town of Blowing Rock, N.C.
If marvels of engineering and New Deal design history don’t dazzle the kids, the area’s dozens of waterfalls might, especially Sliding Rock, a 60-foot natural water slide farther southwest, near the outdoorsy town of Brevard, N.C. Spend the next two or so nights in Brevard (you’ll find lots of modestly priced options), or a few miles outside it at Pilot Cove, a modern-rustic cabin complex on the edge of Pisgah National Forest (from about $330 a night for a two-bedroom cabin), and duck into Asheville to visit galleries in the River Arts District, which is still rebuilding after Hurricane Helene.
Or, budget-permitting, plant yourself a few thousand feet up the Blue Ridge Mountains in Highlands at the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Skyline Lodge, where staff can help organize zip-lining and river-rafting excursions and the Treat Your Dog package includes a pet bed (from about $480 a night for a room that sleeps four people). At Lake Glenville, about 30 minutes away, you can rent kayaks and paddle boards — then head back to the hotel for a steak (or a smash burger) and mountain views.
“I’m looking for a two-week bucket-list vacation for myself, my wife, my brother, his wife and my parents, and I’m struggling to figure out a trip that would please everyone. We’re an active family, although my parents (72 and 79) are starting to have some mobility challenges. My dad couldn’t quite do all the walking that a European city getaway might entail. My brother, a marathon runner, would feel cooped up on a cruise or train. Everyone enjoys light hiking, bike rides, being on or close to the water, visiting museums, eating at good restaurants and relaxing.” Helen, Broomfield, Colo., budget: $30,000
My own bucket list grows longer by the day. Nepal currently sits at the top, with Taiwan not far behind. I suffer from incurable trip envy, especially when it comes to places I’ve never been. But if I haven’t made as much headway on my list as I’d like, I blame Turkey, the country I’ve been going back to again and again ever since I spent a summer there as a high school exchange student. It’s the country that kicked off my taste for traveling and belongs, in my humble opinion, on everyone’s wish list — for its Ottoman opulence, natural splendor and enormous breakfast spreads.
The last time I went, a few summers ago, my uncle, in his early 80s at the time, and his girlfriend joined me for a few days in Istanbul on their way to a cruise set to tour the Greek islands. We hired a private guide and driver (through Sophisticated Travel; current prices are about $770 a day, not including entrance fees) to help us navigate the hilly cobblestone streets and minimize the strain of long walks, and of long lines at key sites like Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque. We also spent a few delightfully breezy hours cruising along the Bosporus, the strait that divides Europe and Asia, aboard the deck of the public ferry.
We stayed at the Bank Hotel (from $290 a night for a double room), just across the Galata Bridge from the Old City, and became regulars at the rooftop bar. I’m also partial to TomTom Suites, which is up the hill on a quiet back street and has larger rooms and its own magnetic rooftop restaurant (from about $450 a night). If you prefer to be on the water and don’t mind paying for the privilege, there’s the Peninsula Istanbul hotel (from about $825 a night). From there, it’s a short (flat) walk to the Istanbul Museum of Art and my favorite baklava.
First-time visitors usually pair Istanbul with a side trip to the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus; the Cappadocia region, with its rock formations and cave hotels; or the Bodrum peninsula, where the Aegean flows into the Mediterranean. If you opt for this third option, I’d wait until September, when it’s cooler and less crowded, and either splurge for rooms at a seaside resort like the Bodrum Edition (from about $790 a night in September) or book the hilltop 4reasons Hotel (from about $230 a night) and spend the savings on a gulet charter. Moving from cove to cove on one of these traditional wooden sailboats can be just as invigorating or as relaxing as you’d like (from about $1,500 a day, booked through the specialty tour operator Exeter International).
