The food hall used to be a stop on the way to dinner. Now it is dinner. A seat at a chef's counter, a glass of something poured by the person who imported it, a plate carrying a Michelin star a few minutes from where guests are sleeping: these used to mean a special trip across town. Now they're a short walk from the room. That pairing is showing up in cities from San Antonio to Newcastle, each one a luxury hotel within walking distance of a food hall.

A market that grew nearly 25% in 2 years

There's a number behind the trend: the U.S. now counts 458 operating food halls, up 24.89% since 2023. That's exactly why hotel groups on two continents are chasing a five-minute walk instead of a rooftop bar or a spa menu. The food hall isn't a niche amenity anymore; it's infrastructure.

San Antonio: A former glass factory holding 2 Michelin-starred restaurants

Pullman Market sits inside a former glass factory in San Antonio's Pearl District, and two separate Michelin-starred restaurants share the building: Isidore, which also holds a Michelin Green Star, and Nicosi. There's also a specialty market, a wine shop, a bread baker and a chef's corner.

The property's own description: "Michelin-star restaurants and nose-to-tail butchers share the same space." Fair enough. Hotel Emma, a 19th-century brewery turned hotel, is two minutes away. San Antonio is one of two American cities with a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation.

London: An Italian marketplace with 2 ways to stay

More than 6,000 products fill Eataly London 's 40,000 square feet at 135 Bishopsgate: cured meats and cheeses, handmade bread and focaccia, air-dried pasta and rice. The property also offers what it calls the U.K.'s largest selection of boutique, single-estate extra-virgin olive oil, plus an on-site cooking school, La Scuola, that runs public classes.

Andaz London Liverpool Street is one minute away. Pan Pacific London, a five-star, 237-room hotel, is three minutes the other direction. Either address puts guests inside the same marketplace.

San Francisco: Oysters, caviar and a century-old bread company

Inside a restored terminal on the Embarcadero, nearly 50 artisan food merchants make up the Ferry Building Marketplace, among them the oyster bar at Hog Island Oyster Company, the charcuterie counter at Fatted Calf, organic loaves from Acme Bread Company and hand-crafted American caviar from Tsar Nicoulai, which has been at it since 1984. The walk from the Palace Hotel runs about 15 minutes.

London, again: Selfridges Food Hall on Oxford Street

Selfridges Food Hall, on Oxford Street, is the store's answer to the Harrods food halls a few miles away in Knightsbridge: Veuve Clicquot, Dom Pérignon and Moët & Chandon on the shelves, Charbonnel et Walker and Venchi at the chocolate counter, a full sit-down meal at Brasserie of Light inside the hall itself.

Hyatt Regency London - The Churchill is five minutes away on Portman Square. It's close enough that the hotel calls itself one of the closest luxury stays to a food hall in London, with the added draw of the square's private garden.

Edinburgh: A National Chef of Scotland runs the kitchen lineup

Scotland's National Chef, Gary Maclean, was part of the opening kitchen lineup at Bonnie & Wild Scottish Marketplace, a room of kitchens and street food stalls with Scottish cheese counters, artisan bakers and seafood stalls stacked with West Coast oysters and langoustines. So were El Perro Negro, a two-time winner of the UK Burger Awards, and Kochchi, a Scottish street food award winner. The Glasshouse, Autograph Collection, a five-star hotel built into a 19th-century church with views over Calton Hill, is five to 10 minutes away.

Newcastle: A department store food hall stocking the same labels as London's

On Northumberland Street, Fenwick Food Hall carries the same names found in London's grandest halls: Dom Pérignon, Charbonnel et Walker, Moët & Chandon, Lanson, Dalmore whisky. There are artisan cheese counters too, fresh pastries, premium seafood, a proper delicatessen. Hotel Gotham, an Art Deco building, is a five-minute walk down Pilgrim Street.

More food halls are coming, not fewer

At least 114 more food halls are in the U.S. pipeline: 18 opening within six months, 96 more slated for 2026, led by Florida, California, New York, Texas and Georgia. The report counts them as pipeline projects, not operating food halls. San Antonio, London, San Francisco, Edinburgh and Newcastle already have theirs.

What's changing is not yet how hotels book but what counts as a destination. A Michelin-starred kitchen inside a former glass factory, a National Chef of Scotland running a street-food lineup, a department store's champagne counter: these used to be a side note in a hotel's marketing copy. As more food halls open, that side note is getting harder to leave out.

A quarter of fall travelers are choosing small towns

A recent survey found that nearly half of U.S. adults plan to travel this fall, with driving significantly more popular than domestic flying and 25% choosing small towns as their preferred destination type. Millennials, in particular, are renting cars for the trip at nearly four times the rate of baby boomers.

Door County is almost a textbook example of the trend. Its 66-mile Coastal Byway connects small waterfront communities, orchards, parks and historic sites, making it particularly well suited to the kind of driving-heavy fall trip the Hertz survey describes.

Ephraim sets the tone for the whole peninsula

As the air cools, the village of Ephraim trades its summer bustle for a cozy, unhurried mood: cooler mornings, quieter docks and decorations that transform the historic district into something out of a postcard. A walk along the waterfront takes visitors past Anderson Dock and onto the newer North Side path, both busy in July and nearly empty by October.

Even the shops slow down. Browse the resale racks at The Simple Solution, grab a coffee at Leroy's Water Street Coffee or play a round at Red Putter Mini Golf before letting the day come to a stop.

Pick apples instead of cherries

Sister Bay and Fish Creek turn the harvest into the main event. At Seaquist Orchards, a multi-generational family farm with 30 acres of apple trees, pick-your-own weekends run through October, and the Farm Market sells the ciders, jams and pie fillings made from what comes off the trees.

A few miles south in Fish Creek, Lautenbach's Orchard Country has been family-run since 1955, growing 10 apple varieties across 100 acres of orchards and vineyards. Its estate wine and hard cider are made on-site, and the bakery's cherry pie draws a line even after the cherry crowds are gone. Both properties stay open well into fall, giving visitors weeks, not days, to time a visit around.

The color show comes with its own lighthouses

Door County's fall foliage runs along scenic highways and through village centers, but the best of it is on foot. Peninsula State Park, established in 1910, has sugar maple and white birch trails threading past bluffs more than 150 feet above the water, plus the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, built in 1868.

In Baileys Harbor, the Ridges Sanctuary, a nonprofit nature preserve founded in 1937, runs naturalist-led foliage walks along 5 miles of trail to the Baileys Harbor Range Lights. A causeway leads out to Cana Island & Lighthouse, where 97 steps climb to a gallery deck with views back across the peninsula. None of it is tied to a single festival weekend. The lighthouses and trails stay open for self-guided touring throughout the season.

Sturgeon Bay keeps working through the season

Not every stop on the peninsula runs at resort speed. Sturgeon Bay is the county seat, with an active shipbuilding waterfront that keeps the town running year-round rather than shutting down after summer.

The Door County Maritime Museum, which draws about 95,000 visitors annually across three sites, including its Sturgeon Bay campus and the Cana Island Lighthouse grounds in Baileys Harbor, runs boat tours aboard the Schooner Utopia and the Tug John Purves alongside wooden boatbuilding classes. It's a working-town counterpoint to the postcard villages up the peninsula, and fall is when it's easiest to see both sides of Door County in the same trip.

Fall mood spreads well past any one village

By October, the mood spreads beyond any single village. Storefronts in Fish Creek and Sister Bay lean into the season with pumpkins and string lights, kids trick-or-treat down Main Street and Egg Harbor's wineries and art galleries fill up as the foliage along Whitecliff Road turns. None of it is scheduled around one weekend on a calendar. It's simply what the peninsula looks like once summer traffic clears out and the people who live here get their villages back for a few months.

Washington Island is how far some travelers go for quiet

For those who want to go further, a 5-mile ferry ride across the strait known as Death's Door leads to Washington Island, which has a year-round population of around 600. It has more than 40 miles of quiet backroads for biking, running and paddling. Each fall, islanders press their own cider from apples grown right there. It's the peninsula's clearest answer to a simple question: How far are you willing to go to actually get away?

And it is because of that deep devotion that Parton's death has been profoundly personal to rural Sevier County. To the world, Parton was one of the world's best-known country music stars. To her neighbors, she was Tennessee's favorite daughter.

“It hit me hard. It hit me really hard,” said James Gambrell, a former chef at Dollywood, the signature theme park that Parton opened decades ago after seeing families like hers unable to afford to go to Disneyland.

“If it don’t affect you, then something’s wrong,” Gambrell said of Parton's death, adding that he became so close to her family that they adopted him as a kind of nephew.

Mourners flocked to a bronze statue of Dolly in the center of her hometown of Sevierville Tuesday night, exchanging stories and shedding tears. The town is set in the hills of the Smoky Mountains just minutes from Dollywood. Many brought flowers and drawings and other tributes to the late singer.

By Wednesday morning at Dollywood, the scent of cinnamon bread filled the air and long lines formed at a theater featuring biographical stories narrated by Parton. The park is closed Tuesdays, so Wednesday was the first chance for many to visit, including Carla Potts, who flew in from Seattle a few days earlier.

“She just consistently spread joy and hope and light, really” Potts said after entering the park on her first visit.

One of 12 children, Parton grew up in a two-room cabin with no electricity and no running water. In her music, she described life in East Tennessee as “peaceful as a baby’s sigh,” a place where “crickets sing in the fields nearby.” She moved to Nashville shortly after finishing high school, but she once joked to the Knoxville News Sentinel that she may be the “only person that ever left the Smoky Mountains and took them with her.”

It started largely with Dollywood

While the Smoky Mountains had long attracted outdoor enthusiasts to the region, Parton made a strategic decision to become co-owner of the amusement park in Pigeon Forge in 1986 and name it Dollywood. The park quickly became Tennessee’s most visited tourist attraction, with Parton often opening each new season with a performance and a parade. State officials say Dollywood generates $1.8 billion each year and is the county's largest employer.

“We had Great Smoky Mountains National Park since the '30s, and Gatlinburg was a huge destination for years, but Dollywood helped the county take that next step,” said Amanda Marr, a member of the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. “Having that business has made such an impact because it’s drawn even more people to the area.”

Parton didn't stop with Dollywood

By the early 1990s, Parton created The Dollywood Foundation with the goal of decreasing the high school drop out rate in Sevier County, which was hovering around 30%.

David Wear, former mayor of Pigeon Forge, said he was in 8th grade when the Buddy Program launched with the promise that students and the buddies they were matched with would receive $500 to help cover college expenses for completing the program.

“If you and your buddy made it through high school, The Dollywood Foundation would give money to those high school graduates,” he said. “I personally got the experience of her charitable giving.”

According to the foundation, dropout rates eventually plummeted to 6% in Sevier County after the program was in place.

Separately, the international phenomenon that is her Imagination Library started as a local initiative to get more children to start reading. To date, kids across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia have received more than 330 million books since the program began.

Still, many folks get choked up the most over her response to a deadly 2016 wildfire. The fire, which began in Great Smoky Mountains National Park before invading nearby Gatlinburg, killed 14 people and caused an estimated $2 billion in losses, including to about 2,500 buildings that were damaged or destroyed.

Parton directed her foundation to distribute funds to displaced families and provided scholarships to students impacted by the fire.

“She single-handedly, through her generosity and raising of money, changed the trajectory of our recovery,” Wear said. “Her star power brought us back.”

Through her work, Parton also helped shatter stereotypes often associated with Appalachian communities, said Ted Olson, a professor of Appalachian studies at Eastern Tennessee State University.

“She understood how people viewed the region, but she defied them to hold on to those negative images after talking to her and after encouraging them to travel to the region,” Olson said. “And she did so graciously.”

The event is a specific sign of Taiwan’s attempt to present queer-friendly travel as part of ordinary tourism infrastructure rather than as a standalone nightlife product. Taiwan Tourism Administration officials said the LGBTQ+ itinerary was intended to be reflected in accommodation and travel services, not limited to promotional imagery. A report on the event said more than 300 people attended the interactive program.

That positioning matters for travelers interested in Tainan, Taiwan’s historic southern city. Tainan was Taiwan’s former imperial capital and remains known for temple culture, traditional food, compact historic districts and a strong local arts identity. Its queer scene is smaller and less visibly concentrated than Taipei’s, but that can be part of its appeal for visitors who prefer community-oriented spaces to a heavily branded LGBTQ+ tourism district.

A city where history is part of the itinerary

Tainan’s cultural character is not an accessory to a queer trip; it is the setting. Visitors can move from narrow lanes lined with low-rise buildings to centuries-old temples, food stalls and renovated creative spaces within a relatively compact urban area. The city’s identity is especially evident in its food culture, where snack shops and family-run restaurants are integrated into everyday neighborhoods rather than separated into a single visitor zone.

For LGBTQ+ travelers, this creates a different rhythm from a destination built around large Pride events or a concentrated bar district. A day might begin with temple architecture and local breakfast, continue through independent shops and galleries, and end at a queer-friendly café or cocktail bar. The appeal is less about a single “gay area” than about finding welcoming spaces within the city’s broader social fabric.

That quieter profile also explains why Tainan is not typically the first place named in international LGBTQ+ travel coverage. Existing travel guides describe the city as having a small network of gay-owned or gay-friendly cafés, bars and other venues, rather than a dedicated queer district.

The absence of a large district should not be confused with the absence of queer life. It means that visitors may need to plan more carefully, check current opening information and approach local venues respectfully. Because smaller community businesses can change hours or close without extensive international notice, travelers should confirm details directly through official venue pages or current local listings.

Why Taiwan provides an important regional context

Tainan’s welcome exists within Taiwan’s wider legal and social environment. Taiwan became the first jurisdiction in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, with marriage equality taking effect in 2019. The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association describes Taiwan as one of Asia’s more progressive destinations for LGBTQ+ travelers, citing both its legal framework and public acceptance.

That national context does not mean every traveler will have the same experience, nor does it erase the differences between Taipei, Tainan and smaller communities. It does, however, provide a foundation for couples and friends who want to travel openly while engaging with local culture. The legal recognition of same-sex relationships is particularly relevant to visitors considering weddings, honeymoons or travel with a partner whose identity may make safety and recognition important planning considerations.

Travelers should still use ordinary precautions: confirm accommodation policies, protect personal information, monitor local weather and transportation conditions, and avoid assuming that legal protections eliminate the possibility of discrimination. The available sources support Taiwan’s comparatively welcoming national environment, but they do not establish that every business in Tainan is LGBTQ+-friendly.

From promotional campaign to hidden gem

The Bangkok event was paired with a wider commercial campaign. Taiwan Tourism Administration’s Bangkok office and Krungthai Card Public Company Limited launched the 2026 “Unseen Taiwan” campaign, running from 2026-08-01 through 2026-11-30. The campaign offers participating Thai cardholders travel-related discounts, including airline promotions, reductions on activities booked through Traveloka and Klook, and restaurant cashback subject to the campaign’s terms.

“Unseen Taiwan” is not exclusively an LGBTQ+ initiative, but its timing alongside the Bangkok LGBTQ+-friendly travel promotion illustrates how inclusion is being incorporated into broader destination marketing. The strategy presents queer travelers as part of the ordinary international visitor market while also encouraging tourists to explore places beyond the most familiar routes.

For queer travelers, Tainan’s promise is therefore measured rather than theatrical. It offers a chance to experience Taiwanese history, food and neighborhood life in a city whose LGBTQ+ venues are present but not overwhelmingly commercialized. The city’s emerging appeal is supported by Taiwan’s national legal protections, local queer-friendly businesses and a tourism industry increasingly willing to name LGBTQ+ travelers directly.

The caveat is equally important: Tainan should not be marketed as a risk-free or fully documented queer enclave. Information about individual venues and community experiences remains uneven, and several details commonly repeated in travel content require direct confirmation. Still, the August promotion provides a verifiable recent development: Taiwan is actively building LGBTQ+-friendly travel into its regional outreach, and Tainan is a credible candidate for travelers looking for a less expected, culturally substantial base from which to encounter Taiwan.

The opening was first reported by Xtra Magazine in a video news post published on August 20. Xtra described Thunderhead as a space intended to commemorate the hardships, experiences and achievements of queer and trans people in Canada, connecting the monument to the country’s long LGBTQ2S+ rights movement.

Remembering the LGBT Purge

Thunderhead’s central historical reference is the LGBT Purge, a decades-long campaign in which Canadian government institutions investigated, surveilled and removed people suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or otherwise queer. The campaign affected employees and members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the federal public service. The Governor General’s office says the discrimination extended from the 1950s through the 1990s and could hinder or end a person’s career because of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The consequences of the purge were not limited to employment. Being identified or suspected as LGBTQ2S+ could produce fear, isolation and pressure to conceal intimate parts of one’s life. For some people, the risk of exposure affected their relationships, professional opportunities and sense of safety. Thunderhead therefore functions not only as a memorial to a government policy but also as a public acknowledgment of the personal costs of enforced secrecy. The monument’s official description presents the site as a place to learn about discrimination while also telling the wider story of LGBTQ2S+ rights in Canada.

The memorial emerged from the LGBT Purge class-action settlement. Reporting on the opening identified a portion of the settlement funds as the source of support for the monument and related memorialization work. The settlement followed a lawsuit brought by survivors who said the Canadian government had harmed them because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

A Monument Shaped by Memory

Thunderhead takes its name and visual inspiration from a thunderhead cloud. The Governor General’s office describes the structure as an 11-metre monument whose form evokes both gathering danger and the possibility of transformation. Its surrounding public space is designed to support reflection rather than present history as a finished chapter.

The imagery is significant because LGBTQ2S+ history contains both experiences of state violence and stories of collective survival. A monument focused only on persecution could frame queer and trans people exclusively as victims. Thunderhead instead links remembrance with the achievements of the rights movement, allowing visitors to consider the people who endured institutional discrimination alongside those who organized, testified, provided care and created community.

That balance matters across generations. Older 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians may recognize the monument as an official acknowledgment of experiences that were previously minimized or kept private. Younger visitors may encounter the LGBT Purge as a direct example of how laws, workplaces and public institutions can reinforce discrimination even when individual people are not openly named or targeted in public. The site offers a way to connect those histories to continuing conversations about dignity, safety and equal participation.

Recognition, Access and Responsibility

The public opening also raised questions about who gets to participate in an event created to represent a community. The LGBT Purge Fund said the launch ceremony was invitation-only because of limited site capacity and security measures. Some members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that they were disappointed after being turned away from the ceremony. The fund said the site would be fully open to the public during the week of the opening.

That tension highlights an important distinction between a ceremonial unveiling and a genuinely public memorial. A restricted launch may be necessary for safety, accessibility or crowd management, but a national monument carries a broader obligation to remain reachable to the people whose histories it represents. Public access, clear interpretation and ongoing community involvement will shape whether Thunderhead becomes a living educational site rather than a symbolic structure visited only on official occasions.

The location also carries responsibilities beyond commemorating the LGBT Purge. Canadian Heritage identifies the monument as being on the unceded and traditional territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation, along the Kichi Sibi, or Ottawa River. That acknowledgment places 2SLGBTQ+ remembrance within the wider history of the land and requires visitors to consider how different forms of displacement, colonial power and institutional authority overlap.

For Two-Spirit people in particular, the monument’s national 2SLGBTQI+ designation invites careful attention to the differences between Indigenous understandings of gender and sexuality and colonial categories imposed by Canadian institutions. A complete LGBTQ2S+ history cannot treat “2S” as a decorative addition to an acronym. It must recognize that Two-Spirit identities are rooted in Indigenous communities and traditions, while also acknowledging the effects of colonial law and administration.

Why Thunderhead Matters Now

The opening of Thunderhead does not erase the harm experienced by LGBT Purge survivors, nor does it resolve every present-day concern facing queer and trans communities. Its importance lies in making an official record visible. By placing LGBTQ2S+ history near Parliament and the Ottawa River, Canada has created a public reminder that democratic institutions can cause profound harm—and that accountability must include listening to the people affected.

The monument can also serve as a resource for educators, public servants and visitors who may know little about the LGBT Purge. Its strongest impact will come from the conversations it generates: what happened, who was excluded from official histories, how survivors were supported and what safeguards are needed to prevent similar abuses. Memory becomes meaningful when it informs action.

Thunderhead’s opening is therefore both a commemoration and a responsibility. It honours people whose lives were disrupted by discrimination, recognizes the organizing that brought their experiences into public view and gives future generations a place to encounter that history. For queer, trans and Two-Spirit people, the monument offers a visible statement that their lives belong in Canada’s national story—not at its margins, but within the country’s account of democracy, justice and change.

Hat racks are hard to miss in central Athens this summer. Kiosks and stores keep outdoor stands piled high as more tourists in the Greek capital seek relief from the midday heat.

The Acropolis drew about 4.6 million visitors in 2025, a record year for Greek tourism. Many spend hours in mid-30s Celsius (mid-90s Fahrenheit) temperatures with little shade. Even a carriage horse at the foot of the ancient monument has joined in, sporting a brown bucket hat with holes cut for its ears.

“You need a hat. I’m already red as it is,” said Jack Yosif, an Australian tourist wearing a black baseball cap. “It’s a bit more of a common thing nowadays, and people are a bit more aware.”

Scorching temperatures didn't deter a record 38 million visitors last year, the most recent for which there is data. The combination of extreme heat and high demand for sites — which means not everyone can visit in the morning — is adding urgency to sun protection.

Greek health campaigners have welcomed a growing awareness of the dangers of ultraviolet exposure and risk of heat stroke. Red Cross volunteers at the Acropolis hand out kits with sunscreen, water, information leaflets and red caps.

On nearby Syntagma Square, kiosk owner Konstantinos Mallios says hat sales have risen in recent years. His stylish and souvenir models run up to 20 euros ($24) while the cheapest costs 6 euros. Available elsewhere is semi-disposable headgear: mass-produced hats made using compressed paper pulp.

And there are more ostentatious options. At her basement workshop, hatmaker Lisa Sarigiannidou turns straw braids into boaters using century-old presses and molds in a matter of minutes. Her hats start at around 50 euros, with elaborate designs costing more than 100 euros.

“People’s attitudes toward hats have changed,” said Sarigiannidou, who was trained by her hatmaker father. “In the past, when a young woman tried on a hat and looked at herself in the mirror, she usually laughed. Now they try them on seriously … and they wear them straight out the door.”

Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million international visitors last year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. As international travel continues to grow, more travelers look past the country's best-known cities, drawn by regional food cultures, local traditions, rural towns and experiences that lie outside the traditional tourist circuit.

The growing interest is more than a desire to escape the crowds; it also opens the door to a broader view of Japan, where lesser-known regions offer a slower pace. A more thoughtful itinerary can reveal a side of the country that tourists previously missed while creating a more balanced experience for both visitors and residents.

Overcrowding the hotspots has caused Japan a problem

Japan's tourism boom continues to draw visitors from around the world. In May this year alone, 3.56 million foreign visitors arrived in Japan. The biggest strain falls on a handful of destinations that attract visitors for the same iconic sights, often during the same peak travel periods. Kyoto, Mount Fuji and popular spots around Tokyo have all faced growing pressure as visitor numbers rise.

Fujiyoshida, a city near Mount Fuji, offers a recent example: the town has struggled with a surge of visitors drawn to the iconic mountain views, and local officials cite congestion, litter and other problems linked to the influx. In February, the city canceled its annual cherry blossom festival at Arakurayama Sengen Park, a popular Mount Fuji viewpoint, due to concerns about overcrowding and visitor behavior.

In response, the national government now supports local projects that focus on spreading visitor demand, managing crowds through reservations and real-time congestion information, improving transportation and addressing litter and other nuisance behavior. Meanwhile, Kyoto continues to pursue measures that balance tourism with residents' daily lives, which include efforts to disperse visitors and encourage more considerate behavior.

Rethink the classic Japan itinerary

For years, the classic Golden Route influenced how many first-time visitors experienced Japan. It links Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, often with stops at Mount Fuji, Nara or Hiroshima. This itinerary remains one of the country's most popular ways to see its biggest landmarks.

However, more travelers now realize that the journey does not have to end there. Japan's tourism story is beginning to extend beyond Tokyo and Kyoto. As visitor numbers reach record highs, Japan's tourism strategy increasingly focuses on encouraging travel to regional destinations. Local governments invest in food tourism, outdoor recreation and cultural experiences that spread visitors more evenly across the country.

Traveling through Japan's eight regions highlights destinations where visitors can explore volcanic coastlines, alpine villages, remote islands and historic castle towns that rarely appear on first-time itineraries. For example, an itinerary that centers on Far East Hokkaido showcases the region's dramatic landscapes and local food, which offer a completely different experience from the usual. If you're a photographer, the iconic Meoto Iwa at Futami Okitama Shrine is another that most travelers miss.

The broader approach also leads to a more personal experience. Instead of treating Japan as a checklist of famous landmarks, travelers can choose a region based on their interests, whether that means food, nature, history or outdoor adventure.

Travel Japan with more intention

If touring Japan's most famous attractions is a must, visit during off-peak hours, on weekdays or in shoulder seasons. Arrive at popular attractions early, or keep your plans flexible so you can easily change course when a destination gets busy. This method lets you enjoy popular sights without adding to the crowds at their busiest.

Respect also matters, as Japan's most photographed places sit within communities where people live and work, so travelers should keep noise low on public transportation, follow photography rules, respect private property and learn local customs. Awareness of what visitors get wrong about traveling in Japan helps new travelers avoid cultural missteps and show greater consideration for the people who call these places home.

Food offers another reason to look beyond the country's busiest sightseeing routes. Offerings vary per region, so a trip built around local specialties can naturally lead travelers toward smaller cities, markets and restaurants. Instead of chasing the same viral food trend that appears across social media, eat locally to help spread tourism spending while creating a more meaningful connection to each destination.

Experience Japan beyond the crowds

Japan's best-known cities will always deserve a place on many itineraries, but they tell only part of the country's story. Choosing a lesser-known region over a repeat trip to Kyoto or Tokyo not only helps ease pressure on the country's busiest destinations, but also creates richer, more memorable experiences that extend far beyond the familiar postcard views.

Will is the content creator behind Going Awesome Places, an award-winning travel brand that focuses on outdoor adventure and experiential travel through his website, YouTube channel and social media. Best known for his detailed itineraries and travel guides, his content has been trusted by travelers for over 15 years.

The new deployment reads less like a routine schedule update and more like a statement of ambition; Celebrity is sending four of its Edge Series ships to Europe for the first time. "We're delighted to give our guests more ways than ever to experience the world's most extraordinary destinations in 2028 and 2029," said Laura Hodges Bethge, president of Celebrity Cruises. "From the breathtaking fjords of Norway to the untouched beauty of Antarctica, these itineraries offer endless opportunities to explore."

That reach shows up in specifics. Celebrity Apex will make the line's first-ever visit to Galway, Ireland, as part of new British Isles sailings. Celebrity Constellation and Celebrity Infinity will return to Bari, Italy, for the first time since 2014. Together with a renewed Celebrity Solstice sailing a full Japan season for the first time, the moves indicate a season built around expansion into new territory.

Europe carries much of that weight: Four Edge Series ships, Celebrity Beyond, Celebrity Xcel, Celebrity Ascent and Celebrity Apex, will sail the region, marking Celebrity's most extensive Northern Europe program to date. Celebrity Beyond returns to Europe for the first time since 2023, bringing two new dining spaces: the Mediterranean restaurant Bora and the Celebrity Pool Club, with Orange Peel Bar & Grille and Tacos del Sol. Celebrity Apex adds the Galway stop within new 12-night British Isles sailings, while Celebrity Constellation and Celebrity Infinity return to Bari after more than a decade away.

New territory opens up in Alaska and Hawaii, too. Celebrity Equinox will sail Alaska for the first time, with seven-night open-jaw sailings between Vancouver and Seward, plus a land-based Cruisetour through Anchorage, Talkeetna and Denali. The same ship will also offer new round-trip sailings to Hawaii from Los Angeles, giving guests a warm-weather option alongside the glacier routes.

Japan gets its fullest treatment yet, with the renewed Celebrity Solstice sailing a complete season in the country for the first time. The cruise runs April through October 2028, with stops built around Tokyo, Mount Fuji and overnight stays in Kyoto and Aomori. Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Millennium will also expand their reach into Okinawa, with 17 combined visits to the island in the new deployment.

The schedule also brings back Australia and New Zealand. Celebrity Edge and Celebrity Solstice will offer 23 sailings from Sydney and Auckland, ranging from four-night escapes to 14-night journeys that pair Australia's wine country with New Zealand's fjords. Celebrity Solstice will also sail South Pacific routes to Tauranga, New Zealand, along with Lifou in the Loyalty Islands and Mystery Island in Vanuatu. Winter sailings on Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Millennium extend into Southeast Asia, with overnight stops in Bangkok, Phuket, Bali, Hanoi, Hong Kong and Penang.

South America and Antarctica round out the push, with Celebrity Equinox offering an extended South America season. The cruise will offer 12- to 16-night itineraries touching five countries, and a return to Antarctica that includes a 16-night sailing over the New Year.

The East Coast gets its own moment: Celebrity Summit will sail seven-night trips from Cape Liberty, New Jersey, to Bermuda in May 2028, with two overnight stays built in for scuba diving, golf and time on the island's pink-sand beaches. Come fall, Celebrity Summit shifts to 12-night sailings from Boston through Canada and New England, with an overnight stop in Quebec City timed to the region's coastal foliage season.

Taken together, the deployment points to a line betting that guests want more than familiar routes. First-time stops, restored ports and full seasons in destinations Celebrity has only sampled before suggest a premium cruise line stretching its geographic footprint rather than deepening its presence in a handful of well-worn regions.

Where Celebrity goes next may say as much about the direction of premium cruising as it does about the line itself. Guests who've been waiting for Japan, Ireland or a longer look at Antarctica now have a season built around exactly that.

Drawn by crews that know passengers' names, less-crowded ports and slower itineraries, cruisers will spend more to get to know a place more deeply. Nowhere is this more evident than in Croatia, where large ships hit only the major cities of Dubrovnik and Split before moving on, leaving secluded coves and tiny towns to smaller vessels.

The same study notes that average per-person revenue increased by 64% among the passengers who traded floating cities for yachts. Hospitality brands respond with new options that invite experienced and first-time cruisers to the water in new ways.

Small ships go big time

A main topic in travel this year is the entrance of luxury brands into cruising. Companies like Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Orient Express and Aman all made or will make their debuts on the water with vessels holding 94 to 452 passengers.

Industry-wide, a shift is underway. Cruise lines invest more in both their largest and smallest ships, leaving the middle-size vessels to shrink from 57% to 34.6% of the worldwide fleet by 2037. The largest vessels will increase their share from 19.5% to 31.8% in that time. Similarly, vessels that accommodate 1,000 or fewer passengers will go from a 23.5% share in 2018 to 33.6% in 2037, effectively splitting the fleet into equal thirds.

In the megaship market, customers benefit from an endless choice of amenities and options. For some cruisers, though, the trade-off in amenities on a small ship is worth it for unparalleled access and attentive service.

A taste of yacht life

The MS My Wish from Cruise Croatia holds just 36 passengers. It doesn't have a casino or a pool. What it does have for big-ship converts is a different version of cruising altogether: stand-up paddleboards for daily swim stops, a modest open-air gym and a crew that knows every passenger's preferences.

Daily life onboard follows a familiar pattern. The day starts with a buffet breakfast as the ship leaves port. Mid-morning sees the ship drop anchor at a deserted stretch of coastline, where a chorus of cicadas and the scent of lavender entice guests into the impossibly clear water. On a small ship, " sea day " means something very different from what it's known for on a big cruise liner.

The ship pulls into port in the mid-afternoon, in small towns that don't make the news, like Rab, Krk and Primošten. It takes just an hour or two to explore the pedestrian-only old towns, leaving plenty of time for dinner at a traditional "konoba," or family-run tavern, before returning to the ship for a nightcap on the top deck with new friends.

Croatian cuisine shines in small ports

There is a brilliance to arriving in port in the late afternoon and staying until morning, especially in the heat of summer. Rather than sightsee in the hottest part of the day, small-ship cruisers spend this time refreshing in the water. Then, when the sun is less intense, they leave the ship to explore both the local area and arguably the most important part of culture: the food.

When cruising through Dalmatia, plan ahead and preorder a peka for an in-port evening. Croatia's version of the Sunday roast, "peka," cooks for hours under a bell-shaped terra cotta lid, slow-roasting lamb or octopus with root vegetables over coals for a deep, rich flavor.

On Rab Island, stop at the Kuća Rabske Torte Museum, which shares the story of the island's famous almond cake through a hands-on demonstration and tasting session. Throughout the country, don't miss the opportunity to enjoy fresh, spicy olive oil and decadent honey, washed down with a glass of minerally Pošip or crisp Malvazija wine.

The antidote to overtourism

Tourism to Croatia has been on a tear for over a decade, with set-jetters flocking to Dubrovnik, an important filming location for "Game of Thrones." In addition to individual visitors, Dubrovnik hosts more than 600 cruise ships annually carrying nearly 900,000 passengers to the city.

All that popularity led to overcrowding and a hollowing-out of Dubrovnik's Old Town residents. More than 50% of locals have left in recent years, leaving a 27:1 tourist-to-resident ratio. To combat the challenges, Dubrovnik instituted strict sustainability measures that limit the number of people in the Old Town at once, increase fees for accessing cultural landmarks and cap the number of cruise ships in port per day.

Foreign visitor numbers country-wide in the first five months of 2026 still increased by 5.9% over 2025, which was a record-breaking year. Though Dubrovnik continues to tighten its visitor policies, the city saw 50.3% of all cruise arrivals in the country through May 2026. The next highest city, Split, saw just 24.6% of arrivals.

Up north in the Kvarner region, small ships like the My Wish dock three-abreast in ancient port towns. Shallower waters and limited infrastructure keep big ships away, but the Old-World charm is as strong as in any Dalmatian coast city.

Once there, passengers mostly have the towns to themselves, even in peak summer months. Walking into a Michelin-starred restaurant in July is unheard-of just about anywhere, but it was possible at Restaurant Alfred Keller in Mali Lošinj.

What travelers want

Travel advisors, and the clients they serve, see small ships meeting a need that larger ships can't. The biggest benefits are less-crowded ports and more personalized service.

"One of the biggest advantages of a small-ship cruise is the access it provides," said Karee Blunt, a frequent traveler. "Instead of spending the day navigating crowded water slides and endless buffets, I spent mine kayaking and exploring secluded areas larger ships couldn't access. The smaller passenger count also made it easy to get to know both the crew and fellow travelers, creating a much more personal experience."

Jess Masters, a Bristol-based travel advisor, agreed. "The cruise market is booming, but we're seeing demand rising for calling into smaller ports where large cruise ships simply cannot enter," she said.

"Small-ship cruising shares the comfort and lifestyle of sailing on a yacht with a broader audience. Clients want to feel welcomed like a family member coming home, not an ID badge being scanned on entry," Masters added.

Good things in small packages

Small ships offer a compelling alternative to the rise of megaships. Passengers increasingly choose them to sidestep overcrowded ports, experience destinations in a more authentic way and enjoy personalized service from a small but dedicated crew.