Tony Perrottet

Tony Perrottet

Tony Perrottet is a contributing writer for Smithsonian magazine, a regular contributor to the New York Times and WSJ Magazine, and the author of six books including ¡Cuba Libre!: Che, Fidel and the Improbable Revolution that Changed World History,The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games and Napoleon's Privates: 2500 Years of History Unzipped. Follow him on Instagram @TonyPerrottet.

Today Santiago de Cuba, which lies at the foot of the Sierra Maestra, is a bustling cultural capital.

How Cuba Remembers Its Revolutionary Past and Present

On the 60th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s secret landing on Cuba’s southern shore, our man in Havana journeys into the island’s rebel heart

Oheka Castle, Long Island, New York

You Can Still Stay a Night at These Grand Hotels From the Gilded Age

Those that survive today are a testament to Old World luxury

Just a mile down one of the park’s most popular and accessible trails, hikers reap views of Dream Lake.

When Colorado Was (And in Many Ways Still Is) the Switzerland of America

A hundred years ago, city slickers looking for wild times in Rocky Mountain National Park invented a new kind of American vacation

Ganden Sumtseling Monastery in Shangri-La was built in 1679 at the direction of the Fifth Dalai Lama.

Retracing the Footsteps of China's Patron Saint of Tourism

Travelers are discovering the Ming dynasty's own Indiana Jones, an adventurer who dedicated his life to exploring his country's Shangri-Las

Journey back to the Paris of the Marquis de Sade by strolling around the Marais, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods.

Tour Paris With the Marquis de Sade as Your Guide

Traces still remain in the City of Love of the famed author and sex icon

A gala celebrated the opening of “Sade: Marquis of the Shadows, Prince of the Enlightment” at the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts.

Who Was the Marquis de Sade?

Even in the age of <i>Fifty Shades of Grey</i>, the 18th-century libertine is as shocking as ever

“You could say that saving species is in my blood,” says Chris Darwin, a conservationist who lives in the mountains explored by his great-great-grandfather.

How Australia Put Evolution on Darwin’s Mind

The famous naturalist’s revolutionary theory first took shape not in the Galápagos but in the primeval Blue Mountains

Matera’s paleolithic past has made it a thriving tourist destination: It is competing with cities like Siena and Ravenna to be the European Capital of Culture 2019.

How Matera Went From Ancient Civilization to Slum to a Hidden Gem

Once the “shame of Italy,” the ancient warren of natural caves in Matera may be Europe’s most dramatic story of rebirth

In Houston’s Buffalo Bayou Park, Tolerance is seven figures—one for each continent—sculpted of letters from world alphabets.

What Makes Houston the Next Great American City?

As Houston undergoes an ethnic and cultural transformation, its reputation grows as a place where people can dream big and succeed

Great Camp Sagamore in Raquette Lake, New York, was once a retreat for the Vanderbilt family.

Where Was the Birthplace of the American Vacation?

First in rustic tents and later in elaborate resorts, city dwellers took to the Adirondacks to explore the joys of the wilderness

Over the course of more than 2,000 years, countless travel books have transformed little known places into popular destinations.

The Top Ten Most Influential Travel Books

Even before there were armchairs, voracious bookworms traveled the world just by reading

Bottoms up: Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula.

Nudity, Art, Sex and Death – Tasmania Awaits You

With one big bet, an art-loving professional gambler has made the Australian island into the world’s most surprising new cultural destination

The little death in Venice: Casanova was forced to flee his beloved home town twice (the San Cassiano Canal).

Who Was Casanova?

The personal memoir of history's most famous lover reveals a misunderstood intellectual who befriended the likes of Ben Franklin

Casanova's spirit is everywhere in the Czech capital city of Prague.

When Casanova Met Mozart

The world's most notorious lover lived in Prague at the same time as the composer, but the mystery remains: did they collaborate on a famous opera?

From cinder desert to tropical forest, the 19-square-mile Haleakala Crater boasts varied landscape. In the center is a hiker at "Pele's Paint Pot," likely named for the goddess of fire and volcanoes.

Descending Into Hawaii's Haleakala Crater

A trip to the floor of the Maui volcano still promises an encounter with the "raw beginnings of world-making"

The museum was established as a place where medical students could study specimens. Shown here is a 3-D image of a male skeleton from a recent exhibition.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine

This Silver Spring, Maryland site scares and educates, with displays of prosthetic eyes, amputated limbs and incomplete skeletons

Quack medicine? Inhaling the breath of a duck, according to the exhibit, was once used to cure children of thrush and other disorders of the mouth and throat.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology

A throwback to the private museums of earlier centuries, this Los Angeles spot has a true hodgepodge of natural history artifacts

Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet displays 350 or so automatic musical instruments—prototype jukeboxes, hand-cranked carnival machines and monstrous pianolas—all in working order.

The Offbeat Museums of Europe

Lost souls, music boxes and shoes fill some of the continent's most peculiar collections

"Capi has always existed as un mondo a parte, a world apart," says one resident. That sentiment is demonstrated in the Faraglioni pinnacles off southeastern Capri.

The Lure of Capri

What is it about this tiny, sun-drenched island off the coast of Naples that has made it so irresistible for so long?

The Piazzetta, or small plaza, is possibly Italy's most beloved public stage.

What to Do in Capri

Capri has been a destination for centuries, but here are the best places for today’s visitors to hike, eat and enjoy the vistas

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