Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Travel

Century-old casks line the winery’s restaurant, built inside its 1940s redwood wine tank room.

Saved From Prohibition by Holy Wine

In downtown Los Angeles, a 95-year-old winery weathered hard times by making wine for church services. Now connoisseurs are devoted to it

The author was recruited very temporarily by this traveling team of cyclists from Corsica when he arrived at Col du Soulor (1,474 meters/4,724 feet).

Where Lance Remains the King

Among the peaks, cirques and summits of the French Pyrenees, the greeting call to an American on a bike may always be “Armstrong!”

The Druid Arch in Canyonlands National Park

Travelers’ Tales in Utah’s Canyonlands

The trail is rough and hard to follow, marked chiefly by cairns; water is intermittent; and if something bad happens help is not at hand

The table is set with a heaping salad of beets, soft-boiled eggs, orange and avocado. Dressed with a zesty walnut oil vinaigrette, this dish goes exceptionally well with an anonymous red Gascogne blend from a wine shop bulk barrel.

Sleep Like a Pauper, Eat Like a King

Between grocery stores, wine shops, artisan bakeries and farm stands, I regain each calorie I burn in style and taste

The author, on tour in the Sauternes region of Bordeaux, loved the gold-hued sweet wine of the area but filled his bottle with local bulk red.

Tasting France’s Finest Wines

Sauternes is a village near Bordeaux that would have been cow town if dumb luck, microclimatology and royal wineries had not showered the region in fortune

A European tour via Volvo

Take a Vacation on Volvo

Once you get your car you’re free to hit the road along the west coast of Sweden with its fishing villages, traditional folkways and islands

The author stands at the entrance to the hilltop cave near Saint Julien de Lampon, that served in the 1940s as a wartime refuge from Nazis.

Resistance to Nazis in a Land Riddled with Caves

We wondered if the cave’s tenants peered down at the valley and if they wrapped all glassware in cloth to prevent reflective giveaways to the Nazis below

None

A Medieval Castle in the Making

The construction of a medieval fortress in France is answering important questions about 13th-century building techniques

The author points directly at the hole in a rock wall in Groléjac where he left two cans of strong beer. Come get them.

Free Beer in the Dordogne Valley: Come and Find It!

These beers should last for several hot summers and cold winters. Where exactly are they hidden? Here are the directions

None

There’s No Place Like Naples for Pizza

None

There’s No Place Like Naples for Pizza

Forget Chicago deep-dish, Roman pizza bianca and Domino’s. For the best, most authentic pizza, go to Napoli

None

Help the Homeless? There’s an App for That

Two doctors in Boston may have found a way to identify which homeless people are most in need of urgent medical care

For the traveler to India: film and literary preparation

The Great Books and Movies to Read and Watch Before Visiting India

A list of some of the best books and films about the subcontinent to take in before you go

At 100 Euros for 100 grams, these French black truffles had better not be from China.

Truffle Trouble in Europe: The Invader Without Flavor

If it looks like a black truffle, and if it cost you $1,500 a pound like a black truffle—-it may actually be a worthless Chinese truffle

The controversial Dutch Somali feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s autobiography Infidel led to death threats from numerous Muslim organizations.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Protecting Women From Militant Islam

Even in democratic nations, mothers and daughters are held back from basic freedoms

The Dordogne River flows through some of the finest country of southern France. Truffles, cep mushrooms and wild pigs occur in the woods, while huge catfish and pike lurk in the slow eddies of the river.

Off the Road in the South of France

Ernest Hemingway popularized the cosmopolitan lifestyle of Paris, but he missed out every day he wasn’t walking through the forested hills of Périgord

Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen are the stars of HBO's fictionalization of the relationship between Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway.

Danger and Romance from HBO’s “Hemingway & Gellhorn”

A new made-for-television movie airing May 28 recounts the stormy love affair between the writer and the war correspondent

The deathstalker scorpion, a Middle East native shown here in captivity, kills several people each year and occasionally hammers its stinger into the hands of hobbyist collectors.

The Nastiest Critters Lurking Outside Your Tent

The bite of a Goliath bird-eater is hardly worse than a bee sting—-but it is among the nastiest things that could skitter across your face in the Amazon

Feline Face and Stylized Ornaments from Horse Tack, late 4th–early 3rd century BCE

Explore the Treasures of Kazakhstan in New York City

Artifacts from the Central Asian nation, including saddles ornamented with gold foil and cinnabar, are on display for the first time in the United States

These cyclists are enjoying another day on the trail in the Crocodile Trophy, in northeastern Australia, considered one of the most punishing bicycle races in the world.

Grueling Travel through Beautiful Places: the Madness of Extreme Races

The Crocodile Trophy mountain biking race is off-road, meaning gravel, rocks, ruts, puddles, dust and lots of crashing

Page 141 of 202