One of the privileges of my job has been discovering, on journeys in every single place from Spain to Seoul, how a nice information can unlock a vacation spot. A protracted-ago journey to Kenya was particularly instructive: My information confirmed me issues few vacationers get to see (the singing wells of the Samburu tribespeople of higher Kenya, as an illustration) whereas additionally giving me richer perception into well-known locations (the ever-popular Masai Mara) than I may have gleaned alone. Along the best way we grew to become associates.
I hope you see Condé Nast Traveler as a type of a information too. Our purpose is to take you deeper—with initiatives resembling our latest digital bundle on the world’s quietest places (you may get a style in Pico Iyer’s luminous essay here) and through YouTube programming that permits you to in on native secrets and techniques, like the place the world’s most attention-grabbing cooks eat once they’re not at work. And in fact we need to information you in our print points, together with this one, with tales—like Catherine Fairweather’s pine-scented trek alongside the hiking trails of Corsica and Gary Shteyngart’s restaurant romp via the Georgian capital of Tbilisi—that elucidate how historical past, tradition, and regional identification can form a journey.
Over the years, although, many readers have advised me how a lot they need they may truly go on these sorts of journeys with us. So we have taken a step towards making that a actuality by teaming up with the venerable journey firm Abercrombie & Kent on a new program known as Curated Escapes. The first two journeys, to Japan and to California’s Sonoma County, combine surprising takes on widespread hits with under-the-radar experiences. Japan: A Cultural Journey, visits Tokyo, Kanazawa and different coastal enclaves, and Kyoto in a quest to showcase the nation’s famend collisions between the long run and the previous. Sonoma: A Culinary Adventure, pairs a behind-the-scenes take a look at the vineyard Passalacqua and an epic meal on the legendary SingleThread with immersion into a few of the area’s wild pure locations, like Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. We’re simply getting began—look out for a new batch of Curated Escapes within the months forward. We hope to journey with you quickly.
This article appeared within the July/August 2025 concern of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the journal here.