AS I DROVE IN to Bad Gastein, I could see the A place laid out in front of me like a diorama. Set in Austria's Hohe Tauern mountains, it spread across a valley and climbed up two vertiginous hillsides. At the top were tall Belle Époque buildings, with Art Nouveau and older houses sitting below them, and the roaring Bad Gastein Waterfall at the heart of it all. It all resembled the set of a Wes Anderson film-the former Grand Hôtel de l'Europe, in the center of town, is a dead ringer for the Grand Budapest Hotel.
A few years ago, I started to hear about Bad Gastein from art-world friends in Berlin, where I live. They told me this small, quirky town-already an established skiing and hiking destination had become a haven for creatives from around Europe and was trying to foster an independent artistic scene on par with what was happening in Joshua Tree, California, or Marfa, Texas. Last July, I finally set out to see it for myself.
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Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av Travel+Leisure US.
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Oodles of Noodles
Slurping through a lantern-lit alley in Sapporo, Japan, where miso ramen was born
The Sweet Spot
Just an hour south of Miami, Nora Walsh finds a candyland of tropical fruits ripe for picking.
Freshly Brewed
In the Cederberg Mountains of South Africa, Kendall Hunter discovers the powerful effects of the humble rooibos plant.
SHORE LEAVE
Raw, wild, and mind-bendingly remote, yet peppered with world-class wineries and restaurants-Australia's South West Edge is a study in contrasts.
Of Land and Sea
Savoring French flavors on a gastronomic trail between Marseille and Dijon.
FAMILY-STYLE
Food writer MATT GOULDING couldn't wait to get back to the hushed omakase restaurants of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. But would his young kids love the country-and its cuisine as much as he does?
HAPPY MEAL
Many tascas, the no-frills dining spots in Lisbon, have vanished. But others, Austin Bush discovers, are being lovingly reinvented.
A City Abuzz
In underappreciated Trieste, Taras Grescoe finds some of Italy's most storied-and spectacular-coffee shops.
FJORD FOCUS
Norway in December? Crazy-and crazy beautiful. Indulging a family wish, Akash Kapur discovers a world of icy enchantment.
DESTINATION OF THE YEAR Thailand
Full disclosure: I didn't like Bangkok at first. I didn't get it—the chaos, the traffic, the fact that everything was hard to find. But like all good love affairs, my relationship with Thailand—which deepened when I moved from Vietnam 12 years ago to work at Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, where I'm now editor in chief—took time to blossom.
