Romania

Fascinating, feisty Bucharest rises from its past

This vibrant city of ancient churches and hip cafes still contends with vestiges of Soviet rule — and wild dogs.

Chile

Valparaiso

In praise of seedy seaside towns

Travelwise

Traveling with elderly parents

Mom’s bucket list (though, at nearly 90, she was much too much a lady to call it that) included seeing killer whales in Alaska and “taking one last trip back home.”

Laos

The new year makes a splash in Luang Prabang

As our minivan rounded a mountain pass, a gaggle of giggling teenagers appeared at the fringe of a thatched-roof village.

Off the beaten path

Europe’s charms often found in its smaller cities

The great cities of Europe are on every visitor’s itinerary. But beyond London, Paris and Rome are less frenetic locales, smaller towns where life is narrower and often more defined, places that sometimes reveal more about a nation than larger cities do.

Italian Riviera

Rapallo: Seaside resort once provided respite to an American poet

Ezra Pound was so enamored with the town he made himself at home — or homes.

Travelwise

Cheap Sleeps: Beyond Europe’s budget hotels and B&Bs

Travel is best with a few rough edges. I once suffered through an all-night stint on the blistered, black vinyl floor of a Yugoslavian train in order to wake up in Sofia, Bulgaria. When I stumbled out of that station into a blue, new Bulgarian day, just being off the train made Sofia a thrilling destination.

Nicaragua with kids

An inexpensive and surprising destination for family-friendly adventure travel

Israel

People flock to sages’ tombs seeking miracles

One man prays to heal the legs he broke in a car accident. An older woman pleads for grandchildren. Another visitor has come to see “God’s secretary.”

Reykjavik

In Iceland’s economic thaw, design is hot

You’ll find few signs of the Icelandic financial system meltdown walking up Reykjavik’s retail strip.

Alaskan encounters of the wild kind

Cruising the Inside Passage, closer to nature on a small ship.

Adventures on shore

Uniquely Alaskan experiences available

Few places offer as much to the visitor as Alaska does.

Sitka

All welcome in Alaskan town of saints and sinners

Sitka plays down its lusty history of saints and sinners. The little Alaskan town that was a gateway to the 1897 Klondike gold rush opts instead for the beauty of snow-capped mountains reaching down to Pacific waters, a sleeping volcano, a summer music festival and sport fishing that reels in enough salmon and halibut to fill the cargo holds of flights back to the Lower 48. All this comes with a rich Russian history and a poignant Native American heritage.

Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland pretty enough for a movie set

The brown-and-white calf with the sad eyes and the bell around its neck arrived just on cue.

SPECIALTY TRAVEL

Latin America and the Caribbean

Is Mexico really safe? Climbing Nicaragua's Concepcion Gay-friendly Puerto Vallarta Tiny Uruguay: Home to treasures Top Caribbean dive sites Snorkeling in the Caribbean Montserrat and the volcano Learning the tango in Argentina Honduran adventures