Conde Nast Traveler Volume VI, 2018

YOU CAN FINALLY SWIM IN CABO With recent openings that include big-name resorts, hipster surf hotels, and working farm stays, the southern tip of Baja is having a full-on hotel renaissance. And while we’re thrilled to see Cabo bounce back after this year’s hurricane, and love how easy it is to fly in for a weekend (especially from the West Coast), we’re always a little bummed that this stretch of the Pacific is largely unswimmable. Thankfully—and this is major—the new Montage Los Cabos (above) looks out at the Santa María Bay, one of the only spots in Cabo where you can jump right into the cobalt-blue water. Every room has an ocean view, a large terrace, and an outdoor shower; the spa has an on-staff shaman who performs an amazing mezcal…

Dressed for the Occasion While traveling through China’s Guizhou province for our cover story (page 88), photographer Adrian Gaut met a woman from the Miao community. “She seemed quite proud that we were interested in learning about her culture, and so she offered to show us her traditional clothing,” Gaut (above) says. Each piece was handloomed and hand-embroidered by her or someone in her family; her headpiece was made with the hair of her ancestors. “She was so excited,” he says, “that she picked up her flute and began playing a few melodies.” Andras Szanto A native son traces Budapest’s long history of hedonism, p. 42. Anywhere you’re embarrassed to admit you’ve never visited? I went to the Acropolis and the Parthenon in Athens only yesterday, at age 54. I should have made it…

Where are you going that’s not on most people’s radar yet? “I’ve always dreamed of seeing La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands that next to nobody visits. It’s home to a totally unique, strange, and beautiful language based on whistles that echo through the mountains.”Paul Brady, Articles Editor “Raja Ampat, an Indonesian archipelago off the coast of West Papua, has been on my list for a long time. It’s a scuba diver’s dream, home to one of the most biodiverse reefs in the world. Post up for a week on board a boat, reef- and beach-hopping across the group of wild, untouched islands? Yeah, sounds pretty good.”Sebastian Modak, Associate Digital Editor “Believe it or not, I’m very curious about St. Louis wine country, along Route 94, near Augusta and Hermann, Missouri. They…

A newly separated friend recently approached me about planning a trip to Italy in August with her kids. “I want to take the boys to Tuscany for two weeks,” she said. When I asked what she envisioned her two teenagers doing in Tuscany in August, she paused and told me she didn’t really know. Don’t get me wrong. Tuscany is beautiful at any time of year, and the fantasy of long, boozy alfresco lunches on a wisteria-draped patio overlooking gently rolling hills ticks every European-countryside box. Plus, she was prepared to rent a nice house with a pool and a cook. I asked if she’d be okay with the isolation, just the three of them, in a place where she didn’t know anyone or speak the language, and if she…

You know that feeling when you come across a photo like this one, and your fingers, as though on autopilot, clickety-clack their way across your keyboard toward the best air fare? Well, that was pretty much the remit for this entire issue: We asked ourselves and our network of contribs around the world to look beyond garden-variety FOMO or any allegiance to a bucket list and offer up a gun-to-the-head honest answer to the question, What image found its way from your eyes to your heart and made the hairs on your arms stand on end? What follows are 81 points of inspiration—the surf break with the glacier backdrop, the 16th-century stone temples in South India you’ll have (almost) all to yourself, the teak-paneled overnight train through the jungles of…

01 It’s got everything you want—including no crowds. Show of hands: Who’s been to Helsinki? Yeah, that’s what we thought. Compared with Stockholm and Copenhagen, the Nordic capital has barely registered a blip on most travelers’ radar. It could be because Finns, humble to the point of forgettable and ever the underdog, are not natural self-promoters—even with so much to brag about, starting with their greatest export. If design is Helsinki’s national religion, Alvar Aalto is its patron saint: There’s scarcely a public building or neighborhood restaurant that doesn’t pay homage to him in some way. In this walkable town that offers immediate access to nature, you can see where Aalto got the inspiration for the organic shapes of his famous Iittala vase and bent-plywood stools and chairs: Helsinki’s islands in…