Lauren Matison Crossley

As if on cue, the soulful howl of a loon pierced the autumn air as I stepped out onto my room's balcony overlooking Lake Winnisquam, a place long treasured by New Hampshirites, yet little known to the outside world. Opened in late September, The Lake Estate on Winnisquam is the first luxury resort to grace the Granite State since 1902, when the historic Mount Washington Hotel (now the Omni Mount Washington Resort & Spa) ushered guests into the halcyon era of opulent travel.

Famed for its 46 High Peaks—like 5,344-foot Mount Marcy—the Adirondacks (often abbreviated to ADK) are also full of spellbinding short hikes that can push your body without testing its limits. The beauty of this region is that you could easily pick up another path nearby and continue your journey. I caught up with a few knowledgeable locals and got hike recommendations from the Adirondack Mountain Club, ADK46ers, the Adirondack Center for Loons, and the Adirondack Mountain and Stream Guide Service.

Cabins are the perfect antidote to digital-age malaise. With our collective nostalgia for simpler times, tapped-out travelers are increasingly drawn to cabins. From A-frame cabins with private hot tubs in upstate New York to mirrored prefabs in a Sitka spruce forest on the Oregon Coast—and not one, but two new getaways next to the Appalachian Trail—take a cozy, unplugged escape this summer in these hiking hotspots.

Prospect beckons nature lovers with serene lake views and Scandinavian-style cabins in Massachusetts' Berkshire Mountains.

National Parks Are All Jammed Up
There are tens of millions of acres of national parks where you can take in majestic mountain peaks, towering 1,000-year-old trees, deep canyons and shimmering turquoise lakes. Last year, a record 332 million people did just that. And whether or not they realized it, there were parks-service employees working hard to make their sightseeing as peaceful and safe as possible.

One of the great joys of being a parent is getting to witness the natural world through your child’s eyes—be it seeing a bright red cardinal or a giant redwood for the first time. Somehow, sharing in their thrill of discovery never gets old.

Firings, buyouts and a lack of seasonal workers could mean jammed roads, closed campgrounds, limited hours and more. What you need to know before traveling to 10 popular parks.

Eight years ago, I became a mother and in an instant felt the collective euphoria from every mountain I’d ever climbed. Holding my beautiful baby boy for the first time, I didn’t yet fully understand what a C-section would mean for my physical and mental health.

The abrupt dismissal of at least 1,000 permanent National Park Service employees on Feb. 14 has brought a torrent of “I was fired from the N.P.S.” posts cascading down social media feeds like the luminous Yosemite firefall.

Taking the little ones to the City of Light? Here are the best family-approved activities.

A 45-minute train ride south of Amsterdam, Rotterdam harbors a gleaming modern landscape with fewer tourists and a palpable creative energy. The city, home to Europe’s largest port, recently announced plans to transform itself over the next decade into a world-class cultural center. The renaissance is already well underway in the waterfront Katendrecht neighborhood, where the new 65,000-square-foot Fenix museum, devoted to global stories of migration and rebirth through art, will open in May in a 1923 warehouse.

For years, Detroit was associated with urban decline, but today it is showing remarkable signs of renewal. The biggest addition looms large above the Detroit River — the 1.5-mile Gordie Howe International Bridge will be North America’s longest cable-stayed bridge when it opens in the fall, connecting motorists, cyclists and pedestrians to Windsor, Ontario, and the Trans Canada Trail.

At 20, before he was “the father of modern art,” Paul Cézanne was composing murals in the living room of his family’s estate, Jas de Bouffan, on the western outskirts of Aix-en-Provence, in southern France. The artist spent 40 years at this 18th-century manor house, which reopens this summer after a four-year renovation. Declaring 2025 the Year of Cézanne, Aix-en-Provence invites visitors to tour Jas de Bouffan, where the artist created works like “The Card Players,” and view a newly discovered nautical fresco.

Visiting the Berkshires, the sprawling Massachusetts region of deeply connected communities, feels like being let in on a secret. Of course, this slice of rural paradise is hardly off the radar.

Additional routes in popular parks now require reservations, the annual pass gets a big change, Juneteenth is now a new free entrance day and more changes for 2024.