Chattanooga Bucket List Bites

Sponsored by Chattanooga Tourism

Chattanooga is a vibrant, varied, and welcoming city. It’s also home to a wonderfully diverse food scene. From small, family-owned eateries that serve up inventive spins on traditional dishes to restaurants dishing out classic Southern cuisine, globally inspired fare, and vegan entrees, the choices are seemingly endless. Let these 12 restaurants and their suggested dishes be just the beginning of a deep dive into Chattanooga’s incredible culinary offerings.

Gastro Obscura’s 10 Essential Places to Eat and Drink in New Orleans

It’s not hard to find a great meal in New Orleans. Every neighborhood—from Carrollton to the Bywater and across the river into the Westbank—is teeming with restaurants, bakeries, and bars, all serving up something they call their own, all contributing to this great symbiosis of flavors and cultures we call Southern cuisine. So the trick isn’t in finding places to visit, eat, and drink while here, it’s in deciding which places out of an overabundance of options. Do you trace the roots of Creole and Cajun cooking, or seek out the flavors of global diasporas spread across the city? Do you sit for a multi-course tasting, or do you dig into neighborhood dives, cultish in their fandom, where everything is handed over in to-go containers? The spectrum of dining in New Orleans is as diverse and exciting as the city itself. Here is but a small offering of all there is to explore—consider it more of a culinary snapshot of a city in constant flux than a best-of list. You’ll find James Beard nominees and previous winners to neighborhood diners, soul food favorites, and punk rock outposts in Algiers Point, plus some of the best Thai food this side of the Mekong. If there’s a prevailing sentiment here, it’s that of community, of meals shared and cultures crossed, of service in all its manifest forms, and of how food can be a catalyst for all these things. In New Orleans, love and togetherness are woven into the city, shared over and over again, one great meal at a time.

Gastro Obscura’s 11 Essential Places to Eat and Drink in Bangkok

Sure, Bangkok’s gilded temples will leave a lasting impression, but the best way to get to know the Thai capital is through your stomach. In this high-octane city, eating is a national sport, a dawn-to-way-after-dusk pastime that has shaped its infrastructure throughout the centuries. Major roads and neighborhoods have evolved around wet markets and street food hubs; modern food courts and fine-dining restaurants now take over prime real estate. Poke your head down any random soi (alleyway), and you’re almost guaranteed to find a sidewalk vendor slinging skewers of grilled meat, noodle soup, or fiery som tum (papaya salad). Bangkok’s most emblematic eats offer more than a tasty lunch—they tell stories of royal heritage; economic boom times; and centuries of migration from China, India, and beyond. Timeworn mom-and-pop restaurants still cook up recipes that have remained virtually unchanged for generations, while a new crop of young Thai chefs has started remixing these traditions with bold, innovative swagger. Below, we’ve picked 11 restaurants, food stalls, and drinking dens that capture the city’s multi-layered culinary identity, from decades-old Chinatown stalwarts to achingly hip small-plate diners. Think of this collection as a starting point for your food crawl, not a definitive list of Bangkok’s best. Because in a city where even a humble street cart can serve up an unforgettable meal, the best bowl of noodles is almost always the one right in front of you.

Gastro Obscura’s 10 Essential Places to Eat and Drink in Rome

For decades, Roman gastro-itineraries revolved around the same old set pieces: cappuccinos at Sant’ Eustachio Il Caffè, fried artichokes at Piperno, Berniniesque swirls of gelato at Giolitti on Piazza Navona. They’re all still there, frozen in some eternal Grand Tour glow (and besieged by tourists). But since the start of the 21st century, a new generation of passionate chefs, bakers, and gelato-makers have been updating classics with stellar ingredients and sharp attention to detail. Luckily, cucina romana never lost its brash gritty character—worlds away from the baroque, Arab-inspired cuisine of Sicily or the opulent butter-and-egg-fueled cooking of Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna. In part, Rome’s distinct food identity stems from the fact that, until it became the capital of unified Italy in 1870, the city was split into two worlds: the Vatican with its wealth, formality, and ceremonious banquets; and the popolino (common folk), who merely subsisted while the papal state feasted. The Eternal City’s cuisine has also been influenced by the rustic pastoral traditions of the surrounding regions like Abruzzo and Lazio. True to these vernacular roots, both old and new osterie and trattorie in Rome stubbornly cling to a roster of populist cucina povera classics. Invariably, there is the triumvirate of guanciale-based pasta sauces—carbonara, amatriciana, and gricia—plus cacio e pepe (senza guanciale). And certainly quinto quarto (that’s offal), ranging from tripe in tomato sauce to far more graphic innards. Winter means puntarelle, spring brings favas and artichokes. Romans eat gnocchi on Thursday, salt cod on Friday—and abbacchio (roast baby lamb) around Easter. On such certainties does Roman dining rest. But with some 30 million visitors expected to descend on the Eternal City for its Jubilee Year, how to uncover true gems amid the glut of checkered-tablecloth tourist traps? Read on! From a porchetta sandwich den lost in a time warp near Termini Station to the creamiest pistachio gelato in the district of Prati, from authentic Roman–Jewish cuisine in Trastevere to a perfect new pizzeria by Circo Massimo, we’ve curated a list of places that show off cucina romana at its eternal best.

The Explorer’s Guide to Road Tripping Around the Great Lakes

While it might not be the first place that comes to mind when asked about bucket-list destinations, northern Michigan is no stranger to visitors. In-the-know “resorters”—as seasonal residents were called at the turn of the last century—have been flocking to this bucolic, rural region to escape the summertime heat of Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, and other Midwestern cities for generations. Part of the allure of any trip “Up North,” as the northern swath of Michigan’s lower peninsula is known, is to retreat to a bygone era long before cell phones and laptops—a time when the lakeside communities that sit near the 45th parallel halfway between the equator and the North Pole were mining for copper or iron, a time when those wealthy resorters arrived by steamship, train, or Model T. Just as those early travelers were escaping the heat, modern visitors deserve to escape hustle, and there is no better place to do so than certain iconic, nostalgia-steeped stops that remain suspended in time. That includes a fifth-generation fishing shanty where you can grab smoked whitefish to take home, the still-operating printing press of a beloved mid-century nature artist, and a lakeside cabin that’s served a Polish immigrant’s family recipes for 100 years.

10 National Parks That Are Perfect for a Road Trip

Sponsored by GMC Terrain

One of the greatest features of the United States is its rich, varied collection of national parks. From the mountains of the Colorado, to the California desert, to Maine’s craggy coast, these diverse landscapes offer wild nature, staggering vistas, and endless opportunity for adventure. And while many are famous for their hiking trails, there are also plenty of parks across the country with beautiful scenic drives that let you see more of the park in a single day. Here, we’ve collected the best national parks for driving, whether you’re hankering for a Blue Ridge road trip or a desert adventure. And if you need to stretch your legs, don’t worry: here, the pit stops are half the fun.

11 Out-of-This-World Places You Can Reach in Your Car

Sponsored by GMC Terrain

The best road trips are those that seem to take you to new worlds: surreal-looking beaches, wondrous parks, and roadside oddities that make you do a double take. For instance, in Wisconsin, a local plumber has rigged a natural aquifer into a series of ice sculptures; in Utah, erosion has created a series of rock formations that look like something between an army of goblins and a series of abstract landscapes; and in New Mexico, rippling white sands stretch out to the horizon as far as the eye can see. The best part? You can reach these—and eight more—places by car (with the occasional walk from the parking lot). So pack some snacks, pull up this itinerary, and hit the road.

The Explorer’s Guide to Road Tripping Around Appalachia

The world still doesn’t quite know what to make of Appalachia. The mountainous, multi-state region has long been defined both by mystery and misconceptions. In many ways, it’s been America’s shadow since the nation’s birth. Early settlers fretted about American Indian tribes, dark hollows, and looming wilderness in the 1600s and 1700s, while modern folks tend to worry more about the environmental degradation and concentration of Trump voters. Yet, Appalachia is much like America as a whole—it sprawls from south to north across several states, spawning local cultures marked as much by their diversity and differences than what they have in common. And these mountains are old. Rocks formed during the Precambrian era have been found in some places. Parts of the Appalachian Mountains are thought to be even older than Saturn’s rings, and millennia of erosion have given rise to one of the richest temperate ecosystems in the world. This diverse bioregion has become home to a melting pot of culture. Archaeological findings indicate that American Indian tribes inhabited the region 20,000 years ago. The first Europeans arrived in the 1500s, when Spanish conquistadors ventured up from what is now Florida. English and French settlers followed, establishing a general pattern that continues into the present: Newcomers bring their cultural traditions into the region, where they are absorbed into the greater whole.

The Explorer’s Guide to Road Tripping Down Highway 61

Highway 61 is known as “The Blues Highway” as it makes its way from New Orleans to Memphis, following the Mississippi River through lands forged over eons, from the coastal swamps of Louisiana to the alluvial plains of the Delta, the highway connecting these landscapes to the human tales etched into the soil, telling the story of the Deep South through a journey of migration, transformation, and enduring spirit. In New Orleans, where I was born and raised, Highway 61 was the end of my known world. It was a road of short-stay motels, pawn shops, Bingo parlors, and a pervading sense of danger. It was the boundary of my childhood, of all that was safe and familiar. Years later, as an adult, I would come to know the highway as a conduit to the past, an artery of profound historical and cultural significance, invention and reinvention, of human dreams pinned to its asphalt, ever following the river like an acolyte to the great hand that carved both into the mythos of the South.

Gastro Obscura’s 10 Essential Stops on an Alternative London Pub Crawl

Think London, and it’s likely you’ll picture a cozy pub. The word is a 17th-century abbreviation of the term “public house,” a concept originally inspired by Roman-era taverns, but the pub as we know it today is one of the most quintessentially British and Irish cultural icons, with its own unique aesthetic and culture. Much has been written about the fact that pubs in the United Kingdom and Ireland are dying; a 2023 government report shared that, every day in England and Wales, two pubs close their doors. Even the pubs in a modern, ever-evolving city like London can feel like a glimpse into a disappearing past. Much has also been written about London’s oldest pubs, but we wanted to share a collection of pubs with links to contemporary music, British food, literature, interior design, architecture, and, of course, great beer, rather than just age.

The Explorer’s Guide to Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree may be known for attracting crowds of social influencers and visitors unfamiliar with national park etiquette. Yet despite the reputation, it remains at its core a mystical place. Its ancient landscape is dotted with fuzzy cacti, sculptural rock formations, and the namesake Joshua trees—which aren’t trees at all, but a species of yucca that can live for centuries in the Mojave Desert. The otherworldly setting has drawn generations of soul-seekers, avant-garde artists, and others who march to the beat of their own drums. Today, you can embark on an unconventional adventure, encountering everything from a spiritual center dedicated to the “science of the future” to a geodesic dome purportedly inspired by extraterrestrials. Plan your next adventure with our Explorer’s Guide to the Parks.

The Explorer’s Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park sprawls over more than half a million acres of some of the eastern United States’ tallest peaks and wildest lands. Its central location and diversity of life and landscapes make it Appalachia’s premier destination. The Smokies encompasses the North Carolina/Tennessee border, bisected by nearly 72 miles of the Appalachian Trail. The park is home to soaring vistas, hidden hollows, sparkling waterways, the remains of historic settlements, and an abundance of wildlife that includes black bear, elk, and other species. Indeed, the Smokies is easily the most visited national park in the United States (although it falls behind Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Blue Ridge Parkway for as the National Park Service’s most visited site), with more than 12 million visitors in 2024 alone. The park’s sheer size and variety of access points allow visitors who plan ahead to find plenty of peace and solitude even during the Smokies’ busiest season. Plan your next adventure with our Explorer’s Guide to the Parks.

Cosmic Colorado: A Stargazer’s Guide to the Centennial State

Sponsored by Visit Colorado

It’s tough to measure awe, but we’ll give it a shot. Imagine jaw-dropping views of stars, planets, flying meteors, and other celestial wonders illuminating the night sky over a rugged mountainscape. In Colorado, you can see all of this and more at one of its many Dark Sky places. For anyone entranced by the wonders of stargazing, the state has nearly ten percent of the world’s Dark Sky Parks and Communities, places untouched by light pollution. To put it another way, Colorado boasts nearly 300,000 acres of dreamy campgrounds, gleaming waterways, and beaches beneath star-freckled skies. That’s a lifetime of awe right there. So what makes the Centennial State so perfect for stargazing? Thank the high altitude, remote towns, and wide-open landscapes. All those ingredients ensure vivid views of the universe beyond. Then, of course, there are the landscapes. From the sprawling sand dunes of the San Luis Valley, to the ancient cliff dwellings of the desert southwest, the state is covered in picture-perfect backdrops. Consider the Colorado sky your silver screen, and these nine destinations your front-row seats to the show of a lifetime. Here are some of the best places to stargaze in Colorado.

The Explorer’s Guide to Banff National Park

Sharp stone peaks, hulking glaciers, and iridescent blue lakes have long made Canada’s first national park its most visited. Nearly the entire Rocky Mountain range in Canada is covered by a string of national parks smushed together, so the wilderness here feels as vast as the northern country itself. That raw ruggedness is exactly what’s been attracting people for hundreds of years, so the land is pocketed with nuggets of history. Many people are familiar with the icefields, hot springs, skiing, and hiking in Banff. But not as many are aware of the mummified merman, rare translucent cave creatures, a sunken ghost town that requires scuba diving to the bottom of a lake, or the old swinger restaurant that keeps the area colorful with quirky stories. From the town of Banff to the point where the road seamlessly passes into next-door Jasper National Park, here are the attention-grabbing sites and legendary tales of Banff National Park in Canada’s wild west. Plan your next adventure with our Explorer’s Guide to the Parks.

10 Wild Places That Define West Virginia’s Landscape

Sponsored by West Virginia Department of Tourism

From the high reaches of the Appalachians to expansive underground caverns, West Virginia’s rich and varied natural landscape is full of surprises. Climb the observation tower at West Virginia’s highest peak and take in sweeping views of the vast landscape, or explore the many below-ground caves, packed with fanciful formations. In between, hike the most significant botanical area in the Appalachian region—a rare find that offers striking similarities to the arctic tundra, stand in a spot that struck awe in a U.S. President, or stay overnight in a historic fire tower as you take in the star-studded night sky. Nature lovers, set your sights on West Virginia.

The Ultimate Guide to Hidden Red Rocks: 10 Secret Passageways, Artifacts, and Ghost Stories

Sponsored by Visit Denver

There’s the version of Red Rocks most people know: the iconic open-air concert venue flanked by soaring sandstone fins. And then, there’s the version that even the amphitheater’s biggest fans sometimes overlook. Behind its impressive facade, you’ll find that the Denver-area venue has a hidden side—a quirky streak that it just might reveal to you if you know where to look. To see Red Rocks at its most pensive, go at first light. Mule deer and lynx sometimes roam the trails surrounding the amphitheater, and the sun’s first rays gild the rock until it seems to glow. Book a sunrise yoga session on the steps, or join the runners on dawn patrol: jogging the stone bleachers is a local rite of passage (and a serious workout). History buffs would be remiss not to stop into the Red Rocks Hall of Fame—a curving corridor lined with guitars and other rare artifacts—or visit the nearby Civilian Conservation Corps building that housed Red Rocks’ creators. Want to go even deeper? Singletrack trails wind through the ancient sandstone passages, unfurling a 300-million-year geology lesson one stratum at a time. That’s just a taste of what Red Rocks has in store for those willing to ferret out its secrets. Here are ten ways to uncover the whimsical, gritty, spooky, and mysterious sides of Colorado’s most iconic stage.

The Explorer’s Guide to Williamsburg, Virginia

Sponsored by Visit Williamsburg

Williamsburg, Virginia played a pivotal role in the American Revolution and the early development of the nation, serving as a center of strong ideas and innovative thinking. Today, this legacy is firmly rooted in the past and extremely relevant to the present. From a beach brimming with the fossilized remains of extinct sea creatures to a tavern once frequented by the nation’s Founding Fathers, Virginia’s “Historic Triangle” is full of unusual finds for every type of traveler. Use this guide to inspire your next trip.

The Explorer’s Guide to the British Virgin Islands

Sponsored by The British Virgin Islands

With their sprawling beaches and sunny skies, the British Virgin Islands are one of the greatest destinations for those looking for an island getaway. But the fun shouldn’t stop at relaxation: across this archipelago of roughly 60 islands, adventure awaits for those intrepid enough to seek it. The pirates—who used these islands as a refuge in the 17th century—have gone, but their dauntless spirit remains. Here you can walk through an otherworldly maze of seaside boulders, or dip in a natural jacuzzi made frothy by crashing waves. Head out to sea to have a drink on a pirate ship, or get on your scuba gear to explore an underwater art exhibit. Whether your own personal treasure map leads you to food, nature, or the sea, you’re sure to strike gold on these islands. Here are the ten most exciting spots to explore.