%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2FTAL-ruhl-plage-striped-umbrellas-NICEFRANCE0825-8fbfe4db6d40493db3a1a7728adbc0ff.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
This City is the Underrated Star of the French Riviera, With Chic Hotels, Stylish Boutiques, and a Sense of Timeless Cool
A dated but amusing British expression regarding the Nice airport is 'Gentlemen turn right.' To the right await the cypress-covered hills of Villefranche-sur-Mer and the coves of Cap Ferrat, the most expensive square footage in the country. But to the left is yacht-dotted St.-Tropez, so to an outsider, this is a baffling piece of local sociology. Either way the message is clear: one drives away from Nice; one does not loiter in the gateway. These people are, in fact, the ones missing the boat. Le Negresco hotel's dome, seen from the Promenade des Anglais.
For my flight from New York, I downloaded Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the 1988 comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine that takes place in the fictional Nice enclave of Beaumont-sur-Mer. The film was a reminder of the city's outdated clichés: a place where a con man could live lavishly by relieving shoulder-padded women of their fortunes. A plausible premise, inspired by history. During the 19th century, Nice was a winter destination for the European aristocracy. When the French instituted paid annual leave in 1936, it became a popular summer destination and, by the end of the 20th century, a port for people allergic to living modestly (or, in the immortal words of Somerset Maugham: 'A sunny place for shady people').
By the start of this century, however, Nice had fallen out of fashion, both with discerning tourists seeking exclusivity and with younger Europeans, who associated the place with their parents. Now the tide is turning once more. New hotels, restaurants, shops, and bars staffed by passionate locals and patronized by an in-the-know clientele have begun to push Nice back into the spotlight.
The crown jewel of this renewed glamour is Hôtel du Couvent, an 88-room, monastic-chic hotel housed in a 17th-century former convent. Situated on Castle Hill in the city's old town, the property had been neglected since the 1980s. About 10 years ago, Valéry Grégo, a financier turned hotelier, visited the site at the behest of Nice's mayor. Grégo was so inspired by the historic structure that he would eventually sell his collection of boutique hotels around France and spend the next decade meticulously restoring the convent and its 2½-acre grounds. The dining room at Maison Joia.
After entering the hotel grounds (with four buildings, it's more of a campus), I walked through a stone passageway into a courtyard surrounded by tiered gardens and was presented with a freshly baked madeleine at reception. Then I was escorted past the on-site bakery, library, and apothecary (yes, apothecary) by one of the hotel staffers, who explained that her uniform—head-to-toe oxblood cotton—was a tribute to the Visitandine nuns who once lived on the property. My tower suite featured shuttered windows on all sides that cried out to be flung open. I obliged, leaning the upper half of my body out the window, scanning the sun-faded rooftops and, in the distance, an ultramarine strip of ocean. This, I thought, is a view with a room. From left: A veranda at Hôtel du Couvent; a housekeeper at the Hôtel du Couvent.
Hôtel du Couvent's austere design is another nod to the function of the original building, with unpretentious furnishings and a generous use of taupe. Every fixture and texture—be it the ecru sofa or the hefty square dining table—is precisely tailored to the space, and special touches like fresh flowers, silver bar accessories, and vintage books provide decorative flair. Exploring my airy suite, I found I could hold New Nice and Old Nice in the palm of my hand: little balms and lotions from au courant perfumer Azzi Glasser and pistachio marzipan from the 200-year-old confectionery Maison Auer. The courtyard at the Hôtel du Couvent.
Nice itself dates back to 350 B.C., and many establishments mix the past with the present. But I don't know that I've felt the imprint of the old and the new in a city as clearly as I did during my stay at Hôtel du Couvent. And to make it extra apparent that I'd arrived at Nice's hotel of the moment: I had taken a surreptitious picture of a fashionable couple in business class who deplaned ahead of me (her with a softened Goyard tote, him with some manner of satchel I was sure I could sell for rent money), only to see them again, sharing a bottle of rosé in the courtyard as I left to explore the old town.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Nice's new, refined energy is where that energy is concentrated: in the touristy heart of Old Nice, amid the souvenir shops, alongside street performers playing 'Every Breath You Take' on the electric guitar. There are cool new restaurants like Lavomatique, an eight-table bistro with bar seating where thirtysomething patrons spill out into the street late at night, gossiping and laughing after consuming vegetarian small plates. Or Frisson, an ice cream parlor/coffee shop/concept store started by former Colette employees that served a 'detox' sorbet (kiwi, apple, and spinach). Or Marinette, a bright boulangerie that I visited three gluttonous mornings in a row for its cinnamon rolls. I paired them with coffee from Cafés Indien, which roasts its own organic blends. From left: A sitting area at Hôtel du Couvent; breakfast at the hotel.
There are also carefully edited gift shops like Trésors Publics, which has become a New Nice institution. 'We believe in the renewal of the old town,' said Nicolas Barbero, the shop's cofounder, who grew up in Cannes, about a half-hour to the west. Each winter, Barbero and his business partner, Antoine Bourassin, travel around the country selecting French products (candles, sandals, tooth-fairy boxes) that give their store a feeling of assemblage as much as curation. Many of the manufacturers of those items have been in business for centuries. From the outside, Trésors Publics looks like a set piece from a Wes Anderson film. From the inside, it traffics in what Barbero calls 'the real local,' with a story behind every French-made item.
Barbero has also noticed what he calls 'the return of good tourism'—visitors who appreciate the authenticity of Nice beyond the sunny beaches. He credits not only the city's vibrancy post-pandemic (when many Parisians moved south to the city) but also a fatigue with über-trendy destinations. 'You see people going to Ibiza, Mykonos, and Croatia and that's fine,' he said. 'But maybe they got bored paying 200 euros to see a sunset,' he added, referring to the pricey beach clubs of certain Mediterranean isles. Nice's old town.
That evening, I decided to watch the sunset, free of charge, while wandering down the seaside Promenade des Anglais, with the iconic pink dome of Le Negresco hotel in the distance. I grabbed an outdoor seat at Babel Babel, a Mediterranean café and wine bar that serves snacks like hummus and chickpea fries. Behind me, I overheard a pair of girlfriends in their 20s, talking over music and the rattling sound of skateboard wheels, discussing a speakeasy in a church. After some debate, I decided to deploy my terrible French: Pardon? Church? Bar? Quoi?
Yes, I had heard correctly. Even the churches of Nice are enticing a younger crowd and have a robust Instagram presence. Upon entering the stone nave of St.-Jacques-le-Majeur, I observed the usual House-of-God fare: cracked Baroque frescoes, a statue of a saint, a few earnest late-night souls creaking in pews. I was about to leave, thinking I'd gotten the wrong place, when I saw a pod of twentysomethings emerge from behind a velvet curtain next to the altar. One of them made eye contact with me, grinned, and winked. ' Oui, ' he said, ' c'est là .' Through another passageway I finally arrived at Le Bethél, a bar inside the church courtyard. There were string lights overhead, a chess game in the corner illuminated by candelabra, and older friends drinking wine. A Parisian rave scene this was not, but there was something undeniably charming about this wholesome bar (no hard liquor) drawing a multigenerational crowd. From left: Hôtel Amour Nice; Paloma Beach, east of Nice in St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
The truth is that, if one goes to Nice in search of over-the-top glamour, or the cultural panache of Paris, one will leave empty-handed. It's a city that is still getting its sea legs as an upscale tourist destination—or, rather, getting its sea legs back. But Nice is not interested in imitation. It's interested in embracing what makes it distinctive.
It is in this spirit that new hotels like Mama Shelter Nice, Hôtel Amour Nice (from the beloved Parisian chain), and Hôtel Amour Plage (same brand, closer to the shore) have opened. Meanwhile, young chefs are reviving regional dishes to delicious effect. The elegant and meticulous Maison Joia is a prime example. The restaurant combines flavors from across France, including chef Julien Pilati's native Champagne and the Brittany of his wife, Laetitia. The standout of the cheese plate was a creamy wedge from Corsica. Bread from the couple's favorite Portuguese bakery is served to 'really open up the appetite,' as Julien explained. In Nice, most haute cuisine dishes are some manner of regional fusion (think olive oil instead of butter) but at Maison Joia, the experience is seamless. Nota bene: dining in this bright box of a space, with its single-flower centerpieces, feels a bit like being on the set of a play about a restaurant. But reader, I did not suffer. Perhaps, with time, Maison Joia will join international favorite Les Agitateurs, also in Nice, which was awarded a Michelin star in 2021. From left: The rooftop restaurant at the Anantara Plaza Nice Hotel, in France; the Promenade des Anglais.
Late the next morning (turns out alcohol has the same effect on the body, even if you consume it inside a church), I took a swim in Hôtel du Couvent's lap pool, a spectacular oasis atop the gardens. I then consumed the best niçoise salad of my life ( Was it the scallions? I thought afterward, zooming in on the photograph I'd taken) while sitting in the shade of an olive tree. Then I said goodbye and packed my bags for a very different view of the city. From left: Grilled chicken with red kuri squash and amba sauce at Lavomatique; the restaurant's exterior.
The Anantara Plaza Nice Hotel, which occupies a Belle Époque building that dates back to 1848, feels a world away from a former convent. The 151-room hotel and spa was renovated in 2022 and has a clublike rooftop restaurant from which I could see the planes land at Nice airport. 'You can almost scratch their bellies,' joked Gaudéric Harang, the general manager.
'Even the shops are being renovated,' he added, gesturing down at the row of luxury boutiques that included Hermès, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton. 'They reflect the elevation of luxury and what the city has to offer.' While this is an accurate metric of Nice's commercial popularity, it was wasted on someone who, until very recently, was zooming in on photos of scallions on her phone. I was more curious about his favorite local spots, since he is a local himself. From left: Fanny Vedreine and Louis Girodet, owners of the Fanfan & Loulou café; socks for sale at Trésors Publics.
'Honestly, the amount of small, very good restaurants in the old town is insane,' Harang said, lighting up, 'I love the institutions, too, like La Petite Maison. Nicole Rubi, the owner, is in her 80s. But Nice is still a hub. To be here is to use the city like that. You have to explore.'
A fine point if there ever was one. As delightful as it is to plow through what's new in any city, it can start to feel like consuming the foam from a cappuccino and tossing the coffee. Yes, it was time to pluck from those well-meaning recommendations from friends who had been to the surrounding areas. Spend a day in St.-Paul-de-Vence. Go to the Matisse Chapel. Sit on the same barstools that Picasso used to sit on at La Colomne d'Or. Find Chagall's grave, then see so much mid-century art at the Fondation Maeght that you can't remember a time when you were not looking at mid-century art. From left: Giacometti sculptures outside Fondation Maeght; viewing a Chagall at the Fondation Maeght.
This is to say nothing of the merits of a day spent on the area's better beaches. I am partial to the understated Plage Paloma, on Cap Ferrat, to which blue-and-white VW buses transport beachgoers from the marina. Or Plage Mala, farther to the east on Cap d'Ail, where I watched an elderly man wade into the water, smoking slim cigarettes, while a woman in a glittery bikini twisted a beach umbrella between the rocks like she was boring a hole into the earth. Perhaps the only notable shift in Nice's infamous beach culture is a reduction in toplessness, thanks in part to the prevailing presence of camera phones. But Nice proper feels like an exciting and current place to come home to after hitting the classics.
On my last night, my stomach stuffed with miniature lobster rolls from the beachside restaurant L'Eden Plage Mala, skin soaked with sun—take that, anti-aging facial—I sat down for a glass of natural wine at Fanfan & Loulou. The two-year-old café and wine bar is run by a couple from Paris, Fanny Vedreine and Louis Girodet. It's beloved for not only its selection but also its origin as a wine delivery service during the pandemic. A lone bicycle was the duo's mobile wine cellar, as well as a way of getting to know their new home. From left: A sea view from the Anantara Plaza Nice Hotel; the hotel's lobby.
'We arrived three months before COVID,' Vedreine said, pouring me a glass of German Riesling called Space Dream. 'We thought, 'Okay, we have no friends and no connections. But we found such a community here.' ' In addition to running the wine bar, Vedreine is a new mother and a writer with a focus on feminism and art. I wondered if she ever missed the energy of Paris. 'I worked in nightclubs and bars and journalism in Paris,' she said. 'I have good memories. But I want to do something for myself, to live life for myself.' From left: Anantara Plaza Nice Hotel; a guest room at the hotel.
As she said this, we looked over our shoulders to see three stylish Americans approaching. One of them was tearing his face away from his phone, looking embarrassed to be lost and sheepish to have missed what he and his friends were looking for: the fanfan & loulou sign painted in massive letters over the doorway. Vedreine smiled at me and excused herself to greet them. 'This is the place,' she assured them. Oui, c'est là .
From left: Place Charles Félix, in Nice's old town; a cantaloupe dessert at Maison Joia.
A version of this story first appeared in the August 2025 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline "Nice Dreams ."
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Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Is Rewriting American Culture — And Boosting The Economy
PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 24: Beyoncé Knowles / Beyonce wears a cowboy hat, a burgundy faux fur fluff ... More coat on one shoulder, a blue denim shirt, during the Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring/Summer 2026 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 24, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by) It was a humid night in Houston when Beyoncé Knowles-Carter moved financial markets—a role typically reserved for the Federal Reserve, the president, or Congress. In the 48 hours surrounding her Cowboy Carter Tour stop, the Bayou City raked in more than $50 million in local spending. Hotels and restaurants were booked to capacity. Surge pricing broke ride-share apps. And local boot stores had lines wrapped around the block. No bill was passed. No policy enacted. This boom came courtesy of a Black woman in a cowboy hat, singing and dancing on horseback. The Cowboy Carter Tour, spanning eight cities and 32 stadium shows, is now winding down in Las Vegas. But it has left more than just cowboy boots and hats behind. In every city it touched, the economic glow still lingers. In a time of seismic shifts in the marketplace and the political landscape, Knowles-Carter has become more than a cultural icon—she's an economic force. With Cowboy Carter, the Grammy-winning artist isn't just reclaiming country music's Black historic roots, she's staking a bold claim on American identity itself, all wrapped in the American flag. It's a masterclass in ownership, scarcity, and cultural disruption—with real implications for micro- and macro-economics nationwide. As cities see real economic impact from Beyoncé's presence, cultural economist Thomas Smith argues her tour is a lesson in modern market behavior, civic stimulus, and the future of 'event economics' in divided times. 'Beyonce coming to town gets everyone riled up, and for cities that means folks converge on areas around the stadium and spend bunches of money,' Smith said. 'This makes her concert more than just entertainment, she's an economic event.' LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 02: Beyoncé accepts the Best Country Album award for "COWBOY ... More CARTER" onstage during the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Arena on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo byfor The Recording Academy) While her work has drawn fierce criticism from the same forces intent on dragging America back to a time when artists were expected to sing, dance, and stay silent about politics, Knowles-Carter has transcended the noise. Thanks to a loyal fan base and her unapologetic embrace of every facet of her identity—mother, daughter, Black woman, global citizen, and soundtrack supplier for the resistance—she remains a cultural force. Knowles-Carter's voice became even more pronounced with the 2016 release of Lemonade, her sixth studio album, which featured the single 'Formation.' She shook the culture and electrified her fanbase during the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, where she appeared in a Black Panther–inspired bodysuit with a golden 'X' emblazoned across the top. Her dancers wore Black berets—a symbol of global Black resistance, from the Panthers in the U.S. to Caribbean revolutionaries like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Lemonade landed at a moment of national reckoning—after the murder of Trayvon Martin, amid the rise of #MeToo, and during a surge of high-profile police killings of unarmed Black men. That album became a cultural inflection point, giving voice to demands for both social and political change. It also marked a strategic shift: Beyoncé released the visual album exclusively on Tidal, the streaming platform owned by her husband, Jay-Z. Football: Super Bowl 50: Celebrity singer Beyonce performing during halftime show of Denver Broncos ... More vs Carolina Panthers game at Levi's Stadium. Santa Clara, CA 2/7/2016 CREDIT: Robert Beck (Photo by Robert Beck /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: SI-123 TK1 ) The album was released with no press, no leaks, and flawless execution, a bold pivot that cemented Knowles-Carter not just as a performer, but as a CEO and cultural entrepreneur. It marked a strategic shift from traditional promotion to surprise drops, using scarcity and precision to meet and shape market demand. More than a response to a cultural moment, Lemonade embodied Knowles-Carter's 'joy-as-resistance' ethos, offering a vibrant counter to a nation that had just elected Donald Trump as its 45th president. While Trump sold grievance and nostalgia for a mythologized 1950s, Knowles-Carter offered a future-facing vision. Still capitalist, yes, but one rooted in diversity, pride, and cultural ownership. Her music, visuals, and merchandise became part of a larger narrative: that joy, style, and identity are not just aesthetic choices, but political acts. Singing about generational wealth, freedom from historical bondage, and the alchemy of turning lemons into lemonade, Knowles-Carter claimed her space as an artist unafraid to challenge, evolve, and expand her audience's worldview. Back on the Cowboy Carter Tour, while promoting music from her second studio album since Lemonade, Knowles-Carter's role in the so-called 'quiet resistance' has been anything but quiet. Leaning into her southern roots and the crucial role of Black Southerners in shaping American culture, the album serves as a reclamation of global Blackness as foundational to country music. According to Francesca T. Royster, author of Black Country Music: Listening For Revolutions, country music originates from a creole musical tradition deeply rooted in African-American styles. 'The banjo, often associated in pop culture as an instrument for white people who live in rural areas, was an African instrument brought here by enslaved people,' Royster says in her book. In 2022, while speaking with Leo Weekly, Royster delved deeply into the history and politics of country music. 'This genre was founded on a kind of logic of segregation,' Royster told Leo Weekly. 'In the 1920s when the genre was kind of invented more or less by talent scouts and record label labels, they were distinguishing hillbilly music as kind of a white music that was meant for white audiences, and 'race' music, you know, blues, rhythm and blues, and jazz for Black audiences.' Reimagining rural America and redefining 'Americanism' beyond the white-centered lens it's so often framed in, the Cowboy Carter tour and album offer audiences a striking new association with the American flag—one draped across the body of a Black woman. The Cowboy Carter Tour's DC stop happened over 4th of July weekend in Landover, MD. While the album isn't explicitly partisan, its iconography subtly reshapes national identity. It points to an America—and a broader Western Hemisphere—built on the backs of Black labor, inspired by Black innovation, and powered by Black ingenuity. When Beyoncé rolled into Houston's NRG Stadium on June 28 and 29, her hometown got more than it bargained and budgeted for. According to Axios, hotels near the stadium hit 79 percent occupancy -- a sharp increase from 61 percent the prior year, OpenTable reported a 43 percent increase in Houston-area reservations over that three-day period compared to the same stretch last year. Beyoncé's economic impact extended well beyond Texas. During her stop in the nation's capital over Fourth of July weekend, restaurants surrounding Northwest Stadium (formerly Fedex Field) in Landover, Maryland saw nightly profit spikes of $15,000 to $20,000. All gains that Tom Smith described as beneficial for local economics. 'You gotta have the boots, you gotta have the shirt, you gotta have the hat,' said Smith, an economist at Emory University. 'You gotta have all the things. It's not even worth—it's not even worth going if you don't have all the things making the concert an economic driver for local business in the region.' Beyond uplifting local business, Smith, a bass guitar player himself, also emphasized the broader importance of the tour economy as a catalyst for the industries that power live entertainment. That includes stagecrafters, electrical engineers, lighting designers, dancers, musicians, publicists, costume designers, and the full teams that support them. 'A lot of those jobs were decimated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when no one was going on tour,' Smith said. 'And now, these big, mammoth tours, these big stadium tours are spending millions of dollars every night on the people that make sure that the sound and the lights and the ancillary element are working.' SYDNEY COLEMAN (L) and JESSICA HANNAH (R) traveled from Houston, TX. Fans of Beyonce queue to enter ... More SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 28, 2025 to watch her first concert of her newTour named "Cowboy Carter." (Photo by Bexx Francois/For The Washington Post via Getty Images) Cowboy Carter is Beyoncé's second U.S. tour since the pandemic. And while it's most definitely different in tone, the financial punch for America's big cities remains the same. It couldn't come at a more convenient time, either, as cities across the country are seeing a decrease in crime and are searching for new sources of revenue amid a cavalcade of budget cuts from Washington, D.C. As Beyoncé's golden horse, floating horseshoe, and many of her now-iconic Cowboy Carter costumes make their way to the storage units, it's likely her economic impact — not just her spectacle — that cities and states will remember. Beyoncé's name was never on the ballot. She never passed a bill or rage-tweeted on X. And yet, her version of disruption has managed to move both culture and the economy. In her song 'American Requiem,' Knowles-Carter asks listeners to confront the complex and often painful history of race and culture in America. It's a counter narrative to today's political moment, one that treats historical truth as a liability. Through it all, Beyoncé may be proving something radically different: that reckoning with the past isn't just necessary, it might also be profitable.


Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Man throws darts at world map, visits whichever country he hits: 'Are you crazy?'
A man has made travel an unpredictable adventure by throwing a dart at a map of the world while blindfolded — and visiting whichever country his darts happen to hit. Sorin Mihailovici, 48, a small business entrepreneur, started the journey in 2012 after telling a friend he wanted to "wake up one morning and throw a dart at a map and go there." Mihailovici began by visiting far-flung places like the North Pole, Russia and Indonesia, originally taking annual trips but now traveling to up to 16 destinations a year. The trips were initially funded by his savings and later through partnerships with companies, per SWNS. He doesn't travel to the exact spot where his dart lands, but begins in the country's capital because some nations, such as Uruguay, are too small for precise targeting, said Mihailovici. Mihailovici's favorite countries so far include Iceland, Argentina and Thailand, while Madagascar ranked "hands down" as his least favorite, he said, due to a "misconception" shaped by the animated movie sharing its name and locals who "didn't have the best intentions." Praising Vietnam, Mihailovici, a Canadian, insisted its cuisine is "the best street food I've ever had," and noted it was the cheapest destination that he's traveled to, SWNS reported. Some countries, especially in Scandinavia like Norway and Sweden, and places like Switzerland and the Maldives, can be quite expensive, he pointed out. Mihailovici's travel show, "Travel by Dart," features footage from his trips. He began editing and publishing the clips during the COVID pandemic, eventually selling the concept to a distribution company, as SWNS reported. "While we were at home, I started editing all those materials from every country and created a season of 13 episodes," he said. "Most of the time it's just me on location. I hire a local videographer, film and create episodes for YouTube — and over the years, I've started doing a show for Amazon Prime." Despite the unpredictable nature of his travels, Mihailovici said he isn't afraid of dangerous destinations. He was in Iraq recently, he said. "People said, 'Are you crazy?' Maybe it was not safe, but nothing happened to me. We went to Baghdad and Babylon. It was great. I was eating camel every day," Mihailovici told SWNS. He admitted he was "a little scared" about going to Iraq given the political situation, but was determined to follow through with wherever the dart suggested he go. "It was great. I was eating camel every day." "The idea is to visit the whole world, each and every country by dart," Mihailovici said. "I did all the big ones that are larger on the map," he said. "The smaller ones are hard to hit, and I'm also blindfolded [while throwing the dart], so I can't pinpoint it to a certain continent." Mihailovici said he hopes to continue expanding his travel list. He said Australia and Spain are his next dream destinations, though he admits they're "hard to hit" and plans another dart throw in August, according to SWNS. Among the countries he's traveled to so far are Easter Island, Indonesia, Bermuda, Portugal, Cuba, Thailand, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, Iceland, Greece, Japan, Antarctica, Germany, Vietnam, India, Turkey, South Korea and Yemen, SWNS reported. Mihailovici said hotels sometimes offer gratuities to be featured in his show, per SWNS.
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Travel + Leisure
3 hours ago
- Travel + Leisure
This Under-the-radar Island Near Turks and Caicos Has Glow Worms, Turquoise Waters, and No Crowds
Several of the islands within the Turks and Caicos archipelago have that rare combination of being easy to get to—Providenciales International Airport (PLS) offers direct flights from many major U.S. cities—while simultaneously feeling a world away from work emails, other travelers, and any of life's everyday stressors. They also boast some of the most gorgeous beaches in the world, with Provo's Grace Bay often taking the top spot as the best of the best. One look at the clear blue waters of Grace Bay may tempt you to plan a trip, but there's a neighboring island that has similar beaches—possibly even better ones, depending on who you ask—but without any of the crowds that form from the main island's roster of resorts and other services catering to tourists. It's also the perfect jumping-off point for witnessing an almost supernatural light show from glow worms, also known as Bermuda fireworms or Odontosyllis enopla , which illuminate a green light during the mating cycle. The 800-acre private island of Pine Cay is just a 20-minute boat ride from Providenciales, and it's home to the eponymous luxury resort, Pine Cay. 'Socially distanced by design, we have 3 miles of privately owned beach to be shared among 30 privileged guests. There are no inhabitants other than our guests,' general manager Christian Langlade tells Travel + Leisure. Yes, you may spot a few fellow travelers on the beach, but everyone has their own dedicated beach chair and tiki hut setup—and you're encouraged to roam the island at your leisure, snorkeling directly off the pristine coast, casting for bonefish, or venturing out to a nearby sandbar. In fact, the only time you may run into other guests, outside of meals, is when everyone sets off on a cruise to see the glow worms in action. 'The glow worms happen every month during the three days after a full moon phase,' explains Langlade. 'We have an organized excursion with a private boat that takes our guests to the most prolific area where the bioluminescent creatures transform dark shallow waters into otherworldly landscapes. This typically happens on the other side of the island, known as 'the flats.'' Although it's certainly visually impressive, it's also rooted in science. 'Spawning females swim in slow circles secreting a bright bluish-green luminous mucus while releasing gametes. Males swim rapidly toward glowing females while emitting short flashes of light in advance of releasing their own gametes,' states a 2018 study published in the PLOS journal by several scientists associated with the American Museum of Natural History. Even if your visit doesn't align with the incredible glow worm light display, there are still several reasons to have Pine Cay on your vacation shortlist. 'December to April offers excellent visibility, flat water, and the opportunity to see migrating humpback whales,' says Langlade, noting that his favorite time is May to August, 'when waters warm up to a perfect temperature and proud mothers introduce their baby bottlenose dolphins.'