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Weekend Trips & Itineraries

Weekend getaway guides — 48-to-72-hour itineraries, Friday-evening-to-Sunday-night logistics, and destinations actually worth the short window.

  • World War II bunker on Texel Island under gray skies, highlighting historic significance and somber reflection.

    Texel Island

    Texel’s western beaches run for 23km of firm sand — wide enough that blokarting at speed feels completely reasonable.

  • Trier Night Lights

    Trier

    Trier is Germany’s oldest city, and the Roman ruins here aren’t museum pieces — the Porta Nigra still dominates the skyline like it owns the place.

  • Aerial view of the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena, Italy

    Modena

    Modena is where a 12-year-old vinegar costs more than a steak — and that’s before you factor in the Ferrari museum down the road.

  • A historic building seen at Mary Ross Park, home of a local farmer's market in Brunswick, Georgia

    Brunswick

    Bowdoin’s art museum rivals institutions three times its size — and it’s free. Brunswick punches well above its weight for a town this small.

  • Bucharest, Romania

    Sighișoara

    Sighișoara is one of the few medieval citadels in Europe where people actually still live — that alone sets it apart.

  • Cobbled stoned street in Volterra Street, Tuscany, Italy

    Volterra

    Volterra’s Guarnacci Museum holds the best Etruscan collection in Italy — and most visitors walk past it chasing Twilight locations.

  • View of Old Town Square in Prague

    Staroměstské nám.

    Prague’s Old Town Square has been the city’s heart for centuries — the astronomical clock still draws a crowd every hour, and the buildings around it haven’t aged a day.

  • Toy Museum Salzburg

    Salzburg

    Salzburg gave the world Mozart and The Sound of Music, but the baroque old town, Alpine backdrop, and Festung Hohensalzburg fortress are the real draw.

  • Best Things to Do in Bacharach, Germany

    Bacharach

    Burg Stahleck sits above Bacharach like it owns the Rhine Valley — because for 900 years, it basically did.

  • Castle in The Wachau Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

    Kitzbühel

    The Streif drops 85% in places — racers hit it at 140 km/h. Recreational skiers get 200km of groomed runs and none of the hospital visits.

  • The Sanssouci Park view in Potsdam of Germany

    Potsdam

    Frederick the Great planned his own grave at Sanssouci’s highest terrace — and was finally buried there in 1991. That detail alone sets the tone.

  • Carnegie Library of Reims Building

    Reims

    Reims has a Gothic cathedral that rivals Notre-Dame and gets a fraction of the crowds — the champagne cellars beneath the city are just as good.

  • Aachen Rathaus, Germany

    Aachen

    Thirty-one German kings were crowned in Aachen’s cathedral. The columns inside came from Rome. It’s the oldest cathedral in northern Europe.

  • Munsinger Clemens Formal Gardens, one of the best attractions in St. Cloud

    St. Cloud

    St. Cloud sits on the Mississippi further north than most people think to look — and that’s exactly what keeps it interesting.

  • Front of the Salisbury Museum

    Salisbury

    Salisbury’s Cathedral Close is the largest in England — and most people walk through it in 20 minutes on their way to Stonehenge.

  • Historic Conoco Tower Gas Station in Shamrock, Texas on Route 66 with Art Deco architecture

    Shamrock

    Shamrock’s U-Drop Inn is one of the best-preserved Art Deco stops on Route 66 — the kind of place that makes you pull over and stay longer than planned.

  • Historic houses, flowers, and canal view at La Petite Venise in Colmar, Alsace, France

    Colmar

    Colmar’s Little Venice canal district looks almost too perfect — but it’s real, walkable, and far quieter than Strasbourg.

  • St. Stephen's Cathedral clock tower in Passau, Germany, showcasing historic architecture and scenic views

    Passau

    Three rivers meet at Passau’s tip in different colors — blue, green, and black — and the view from Veste Oberhaus makes it click.

  • Private Kitchen in Hakone Retreat Fore

    Hakone

    Hakone is Tokyo’s mountain escape with hot spring ryokans, Lake Ashi beneath Mount Fuji, and a pirate ship cruise that somehow works as serious tourism. The onsen culture is the real draw.

  • Cafe Tio Leo in San Diego - Enjoy Authentic Mexican Cuisine

    Dominical

    Dominical is Costa Rica’s laid-back Pacific surf town — consistent waves, howler monkeys in the trees, and Nauyaca waterfalls a short drive inland. No resorts, just jungle.

  • Road in Joshua Tree National Park, California

    Joshua Tree National Park

    Joshua Tree sits where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet — surreal rock formations, stargazing with zero light pollution, and the trees themselves looking like something from another planet.

  • Treptower Park Soviet Memorial

    Lübeck

    Lübeck was the capital of the Hanseatic League with brick Gothic architecture, marzipan that’s been made here since the 1400s, and a Thomas Mann heritage the city wears proudly.