Nancy Monson

When I was a young adult, the thought of hiring a guide or going on a group tour was anathema to me. How uncool, I thought! How pedestrian. But once I got divorced and was traveling in my 50s and 60s, often solo and on complicated and exotic trips, I came to appreciate how wonderful it is to have a guide.
Case in point: On a recent trip to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, our plane was delayed and my sister and I arrived at 1 am instead of 10:30 pm. Yet there was our driver Nelson waiting fo...

What happens if you use AI to plan your next vacation? The answer is not always good.
Artificial intelligence is not only taking over the internet, it’s making inroads in the travel planning industry. But is the information you get from free and paid AI tools like ChatGPT-4 and Bard and apps like Vacay, Trip Planner AI, Roam Around, and iPlan.ai reliable? Definitely no, says Heather Stimmler, an expat living in Paris who wrote Fodor’s France guides from 2005 to 2015 and has found that AI-gene...

Meet Mignon Francois—mother, baker, entrepreneur, purveyor of joy.
It’s hard not to be captivated by Mignon Francois. She’s fabulously expressive, incredibly exuberant, and relentlessly positive—and with good reason.
Now the owner of the hugely successful The Cupcake Collection, a destination bakery in Nashville’s Germantown and more recently in New Orleans’ Garden District, a little over a decade ago Francois was down and out. She, her husband, and her family of six children were always on t...

From fried chicken in the Carolinas to beignets in New Orleans, the American South is known for its delicious comfort food.
Southern cooking is the very definition of comfort food: fried chicken, creamy grits, beignets, and gumbo. It is warm and welcoming. It combines influences from enslaved African Americans, Native Americans, the British, and the French, and recipes and traditions have been handed down from one generation to the next, reports Faith Rose, a food tour guide with Bulldog Tour...

The holidays will be upon us far sooner than you think. If you are considering spending them away from home at a fun destination, now is the time to start planning. I interviewed Pauline Frommer, a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist based in New York City, on where to go. She is a member of the Frommer guidebook family.

Utah’s Red Mountain Resort is the perfect low-key, take-off spot for exploring Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon.

Your adventure awaits. That’s the mantra of Red Mountain Resort, set in the dramatic red rock bluffs of Southwestern Utah. Though the resort includes a spa and salon, it’s very much a resort that caters to guests who are as keen to test their bodies’ limits as they are to receive treatments.

Monastery stays can save you a bundle. And you don’t have to be religious.
If you’re looking to travel on a tight budget, you might consider a monastery or a monastery-turned-hotel, which are available worldwide. Monasteries tend to be beautiful, historical, and low-key. Some have been updated, but rooms typically are on the minimalist side with no TVs. Meals, cell phones, and Internet service may or may not be available, and bathrooms may be communal.
Many monasteries adhere to the rules of ...

Is it time for a wellness vacation—one where you spend time destressing and focusing on your mental and physical well-being? According to recent research from the Global Wellness Institute, wellness travel is an estimated $816 billion market and is expected to explode to $1.1 trillion by 2025.

Fodor’s Expert Review
Choice and flexibility are the key attributes of sailing on the Gem, exemplifying Norwegian Cruise Line’s “Freestyle” sailing concept. Built in 2007 and updated in 2015, the Gem is recently out of dry dock, during which time its public-area flooring, lighting, and upholstery were refreshed with a lighter, brighter color palette.
The Gem is considered...

Fodor’s Expert Review
American Melody is the fourth and newest riverboat in American Cruise Lines’ fleet. Designed with the idea of bringing a contemporary-style hotel to the water (the ride is so smooth that you sometimes can’t even tell you’re sailing), it can host up to 175 guests. One sister ship—American Symphony—debuted in 2022 and another—American Serenade—is...

Learn about the pros and cons of river cruising versus ocean cruising.

David L. Katz, MD, MPH, preventive medicine specialist and founder and president of True Health Initiative, a federally authorized nonprofit effort established to help convert what is known about lifestyle as medicine into what we can do to improve our health, based in New Haven, Connecticut. He is CEO and founder of Diet ID, an online diet-assessment and personalization program, and coauthor with renowned food writer Mark Bittman of How to Eat: All Your Food and Diet Questions Answered and a...

Most Americans eat too much,

yet still lack basic nutrition. Here are five simple ways to clean up your diet and get the vitamins and minerals you need.

Follow the Coastal Wine Trail from Connecticut through Rhode Island to Massachusetts.