Data-driven destination rankings and seasonal travel guides. The Wirecutter of travel.
Recent Posts
The Worst-Kept Secret in the Alps: Why Hallstatt Still Matters — Hallstatt hasn't been a "hidden gem" since the Bronze Age, but this overcrowded Austrian lakeside village still delivers transcendent beauty if you have the discipline to arrive before dawn and the wisdom to ignore the selfie sticks.
San Cristóbal de las Casas Is Not Your Mexico Fantasy—It’s Better — San Cristóbal de las Casas sits at 2,200 meters in the Chiapas highlands, shivering with a complexity that beach resorts and colonial pretenders can only dream of. It demands you engage with living indigenous power, freezing mornings, and coffee so good it ruins airport lattes forever.
Faroe Islands: The Place Iceland Used to Be Before It Sold Out — The Faroe Islands represent what Iceland was twenty years ago—raw, stubborn, and completely indifferent to your Instagram feed. With no McDonald's, barely any tourism infrastructure, and weather that actively tries to kill your expensive gear, this North Atlantic archipelago rewards only those willing to embrace genuine inconvenience.
The Blue Lie: Why Chefchaouen Is More Than Instagram Bait — Chefchaouen actually deserves the hype, just not for the reasons your travel influencer thinks. This mountain town is the only city in Morocco that feels like it forgot to take its anxiety medication.
Koh Rong Samloem: The Last Island Standing — Koh Rong Samloem is the last gasp of what Southeast Asian island life looked like before Instagram and Chinese developers conspired to ruin everything, a place where cold showers and generator-powered nights filter out the luxury resort crowd. If you need infinity pools and paved roads, stay on the mainland—but if you want to hike through actual jungle to find beaches without a single beach bar, you need to go yesterday.
Matera: Italy's Brutally Honest Cave City — Matera doesn't care if you like it. This brutally honest city carved into a limestone ravine makes Rome look like a theme park, offering 9,000 years of raw history without the tour bus crowds.
Salento Is Not a Hidden Gem—Visit It Anyway — Salento has been thoroughly Instagrammed and currently suffers from chronic jeep congestion, but it's still worth your time if you know where to look. Skip the main square circus and the 9 AM jeep convoys—instead, climb to Alto de la Cruz at dawn and hike Valle de Cocora in reverse before the bluetooth speakers arrive.
Gili Meno: The Anti-Gili That Actually Works — Gili Meno is the only Gili that doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out with a bamboo cocktail stirrer. While its siblings devolved into frat houses and digital nomad cafés, this two-kilometer strip of sand maintains a stubborn, beautiful silence.
Perast is the Venetian Ghost Town That Puts Kotor to Shame — Perast is the single most elegant fistfight between nature and architecture in the Balkans, and it is quietly winning. There’s no beach, no nightlife, and absolutely no cruise ships—just baroque ghosts and the best black risotto on the Adriatic.