8 essays tagged “beaches”.
Sydney, Australia
Sydney is one of the most photogenically sited cities on earth — the harbour, the opera house, the bridge, the beaches at Manly and Bondi. The city becomes legible through its coastal walks, which connect the urban grid to the Pacific in a way few capitals can match.
November 4, 2023
Ubud, Indonesia
Bali is several different islands depending on where you stay. The Bali of crowded south-coast resort beaches is real. So is the rice-terraced Ubud Bali. So is the surf-village Bali of the east. The trick is to pick the one you actually want.
July 18, 2023
Stone Town, Tanzania
Zanzibar splits cleanly in two: Stone Town, the densely woven Swahili-Arab-Indian trading city, and the white-sand beaches and spice plantations of the rest of the island. Most safari travellers tack on three nights on the beach. The better trip gives Stone Town three nights of its own.
July 19, 2022
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio is one of the most dramatically sited cities on earth — granite peaks rising from the sea, beaches that stretch across the city's southern edge, forest-clad hills that run almost to the centre. The city's energy is famous and real; the trick is to find the slower-walking version of it.
February 26, 2022
Tulum, Mexico
Tulum's transformation from a sleepy palm-shaded strip of palapa cabins to a brand-saturated wellness-tourism corridor has been one of the more dramatic coastal-tourism shifts in Latin America. The cenotes, the Mayan ruins, the wider Yucatán remain.
July 12, 2021
Papeete, French Polynesia
French Polynesia is at the more expensive and more remote end of South Pacific travel. The Society Islands — Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Bora Bora — are the famous core. The Tuamotu and Marquesas groups are the genuine off-grid experience.
June 15, 2021
Oia, Greece
Santorini between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. is a different island. The cruise ships are at sea. The day-trippers are on the ferry. The whitewashed villages, which spend the daylight hours being photographed, finally exhale. This is the island worth flying to.
June 4, 2021
Nadi, Fiji
Fiji is, in the brochures, a series of identical-looking resort beaches. Fiji as actually visited is 330 islands with significant cultural, ecological, and geological variation; the Yasawas and the highlands of Viti Levu are where the country reveals itself.
May 29, 2021