Where to go, and when · with the homework done
FLORIDA · TWO GULF BEACHES · CLEARWATER VS SIESTA KEY Two Gulf beaches, one week of vacation, and a traveler with both tabs open. Siesta Key Beach took the U.S. News title of best beach in the country for 2026. Clearwater sits inside a cluster of three state-park islands that Florida measures down to the … Read more
SOUTH FLORIDA · MIAMI VS FORT LAUDERDALE · TWO NOAA GAUGES Miami International sits about 12 miles from South Beach, a 20 to 45 minute drive depending on traffic. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood is about 25 miles from the same sand, 35 to 50 minutes on I-95. Plenty of travelers fly into one airport and sleep near … Read more
FLORIDA · TAMPA VS ORLANDO · TWO NOAA STATIONS The argument usually starts in a kitchen, with one side wanting rides and the other wanting to end the day in salt water. Travelers weighing a single Florida week often treat the two cities as interchangeable, and the temperature tables encourage it: a July afternoon averages … Read more
JAMAICA · DUNN’S RIVER FALLS · 18.4° N Dunn’s River Falls is the rare Caribbean attraction you climb rather than photograph: a terraced staircase of river water dropping straight into the sea on Jamaica’s north coast, a couple of miles west of Ocho Rios. Guides link the line hand to hand, the stone is slick, … Read more
JAMAICA · PORT ANTONIO · 18.18° N Port Antonio keeps Jamaica’s north-eastern corner to itself: the Blue Lagoon under its wall of green, Frenchman’s Cove where a cold river slides into the sand, Winnifred Beach on a Sunday, bamboo rafts poling down the Rio Grande, jerk pork smoking over pimento wood at Boston Bay. It … Read more
JAMAICA · THE LUMINOUS LAGOON · 18.49° N Falmouth’s lagoon does its trick after dark, when a boat cuts the water and the glow rises around the hull. The boats run year round, so the question is never whether the trip exists in your month. It is whether the drive over from your hotel, the … Read more
