Mid-Range Travel Guides

Mid-range travel is the comfortable middle: private rooms, a mix of sit-down meals and casual bites, the occasional guided tour, and room in the budget to say yes to a splurge. In the U.S. that comfort now averages around $325 a day — a figure that has climbed about 7% over the past year as travel prices keep rising. Everything filed here helps you travel well without paying full luxury rates.

  • rocks and blue sky at Camp Pintade in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius

    Mauritius

    Mauritius has an underwater waterfall illusion, seven-colored earth at Chamarel, and a Creole-Indian-French culture that shows up best on every dinner plate.

  • Trail and scenic mountain landscape at Puez-Odle Nature Park, Dolomites, Italy

    Dolomites

    The Dolomites are Italian Alps that don’t look like any other mountains — pale limestone towers, pink sunsets called enrosadira, and via ferrata routes bolted into vertical rock.

  • Christmas-season Italian café in Siena

    Northern Italy

    Northern Italy runs from Milan’s fashion to Venice’s canals to the Dolomites’ peaks — a region where Lake Como, Verona, and the best risotto in the country compete for your days.

  • rioja destination image

    Rioja

    Rioja is Spain’s most famous wine region with Haro’s wine battle festival, Frank Gehry’s Marqués de Riscal hotel, and Tempranillo tastings that cost less than a Madrid taxi.

  • Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Harbour Town

    Hilton Head Island

    Hilton Head is a South Carolina barrier island with 12 miles of beach, 24 golf courses, and a bike-path network that makes cars feel optional from check-in to checkout.

  • Charming Historic Houses in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

    Rothenburg ob der Tauber

    Rothenburg ob der Tauber looks exactly like a medieval German town should — half-timbered houses, a night watchman tour, and a Christmas shop open year-round inside the walls.

  • Yosemite National Park travel poster showcasing majestic granite cliffs, waterfalls, and giant sequoias.

    Yosemite National Park

    Yosemite has El Capitan’s 3,000-foot granite face, Yosemite Falls dropping 2,425 feet, and a valley floor that John Muir called the grandest of all special temples of nature.

  • Breathtaking Panoramic View of Split, Croatia from Marjan Hill

    Muscat

    Muscat is wedged between the Hajar Mountains and the Gulf of Oman — the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Mutrah Souq, and a wadis-and-fjords coastline that rival Norway’s.

  • moorea destination image

    Moorea

    Moorea is a 30-minute ferry from Tahiti with volcanic peaks, a lagoon that glows blue-green, and a quieter pace that makes Bora Bora feel like a resort and Moorea feel like an island.

  • Zion National Park red rock formations and canyons landscape.

    Zion National Park

    Zion’s canyon walls glow red and orange with the Virgin River carving through the bottom — Angel’s Landing has chains bolted to rock for the last half mile and the views earn every grip.

  • Baroque ceiling and floral wall details inside Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

    Kaprun

    Kaprun has year-round skiing on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier and a village at the foot of the Hohe Tauern range — the Austrian Alps at their most accessible and least pretentious.

  • Breathtaking Baroque Interior of the Hofburg Palace in Innsbruck: Opulent design, frescoes, chandeliers, and artistry.

    Saalbach

    Saalbach-Hinterglemm connects 270km of ski runs across a valley in the Austrian Alps — the Skicircus lives up to its name with après-ski that matches the terrain.

  • Jesuit Block in Cordoba Argentina

    Gent

    Ghent sits where three rivers meet with a Gravensteen castle, a Michelin-starred food scene, and a student energy that keeps the Belgian city from feeling like a museum.

  • Park Hyatt Sydney on the Sydney Harbor, with the Syndey Harbor Bridge

    Sydney

    Sydney puts the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and Bondi Beach within a city that also has hidden bays, bushwalking trails, and a multicultural food scene shaped by the Pacific Rim.

  • Aerial view of Rio de Janeiro with Christ Redeemer and Corcovado Mountain

    Rio De Janeiro

    Rio puts Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado, Sugarloaf over the harbor, and Copacabana at sea level — a city framed by granite peaks where the geography does the heavy lifting.

  • Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Punta Cana

    Punta Cana

    Punta Cana lines the Dominican Republic’s eastern tip with 30 miles of coconut-palm beaches, all-inclusives, and a Hoyo Azul cenote hidden in the jungle behind the resorts.

  • Patagonia Men's Quandary Shorts

    Patagonia

    Patagonia stretches across Argentina and Chile with glaciers calving into lakes, Torres del Paine spearing the sky, and a wind that lets you know who’s in charge.

  • Tan stone buildings in the ancient city of Mdina, Malta

    Malta

    Malta packs 7,000 years of history into an island smaller than most US counties — Valletta’s fortified streets, Neolithic temples, and a Mediterranean climate that rarely dips below 15°C.

  • Barney Ford Victorian House

    Victoria

    Victoria is the most British city in Canada — afternoon tea at the Empress, a harbor lined with floatplanes, and Butchart Gardens blooming on a former quarry.

  • Aerial view of the bridge and buildings in Valencia, Spain

    Valencia

    Valencia invented paella and transformed a dry riverbed into the City of Arts and Sciences — a Spanish Mediterranean city that finally gets the attention it earned.