Barnsley Resort is tucked into the Northwest Georgia countryside about an hour north of Atlanta. The owners pair its historic gardens, farm-to-table dining and elegant cottages with a lineup of outdoor activities built for parents and kids to do side by side: horseback riding, canoeing, archery, fly fishing and more.

The resort's approach reflects a broader shift in how American families choose to travel in 2026. After years of tech-driven itineraries and jam-packed theme park days, more parents steer their families toward destinations that unplug them, literally and figuratively, and hand them a fishing rod or a set of reins instead.

A luxury resort built around getting outside

Barnsley Resort ‘s activity list reads less like a spa brochure and more like a summer camp catalog. Of course, there is a European-inspired spa, but the outdoor activities are more likely to fill your itinerary.

Guests can book horseback trail rides and beginner corral sessions at the property's farm, paddle across a 10-acre lake by canoe or kayak, cast a line for catch-and-release fishing, or try their hand at fly fishing on a guided float trip. For families who want a little friendly competition, there's disc golf, cornhole, pickleball and a UTV trail-riding experience through the resort's wooded terrain. Hikers and cyclists can explore miles of trails that wind past the Manor House Ruins, the 19th-century remains of the estate's original manor and gardens.

The resort also leans into activities that double as introductions to new skills. They offer beginner sessions in archery, axe throwing and air rifles. It's the kind of hands-on, screen-free challenges that keep kids occupied for hours without a device in sight. Evenings often end at the outdoor fire pit for s'mores, a nightly ritual built into the resort's cottage village.

None of it requires guests to leave the property. That convenience matters for parents trying to balance a getaway that feels adventurous but doesn't require six different reservations and a rental car.

Families chase outdoor time in 2026

Barnsley's outdoor-heavy approach lines up with the steadily growing trend of parents seeking vacations that connect kids back to nature. Hilton's 2026 Trends Report found 58% of parents plan to build in no-screen-time moments during their travels this year, and 84% of travelers overall said they look for opportunities for the whole family to play together; 86% of respondents value experiences over material gifts. The report also points to a broader appetite for adventure: 30% of travelers said they're more open to trying new or more adventurous experiences while traveling than they would be at home.

That desire to unplug isn't just about vacation. Pediatric experts say it matters well beyond the trip itself. The American Academy of Pediatrics, through its parent-facing site HealthyChildren.org, updated its digital media guidance to emphasize that screens shouldn't crowd out the sleep, physical activity, free play and family time kids need to develop.

They also encourage families to build in device-free stretches of the day rather than rely on strict time limits alone. For a lot of parents, an outdoor-centered summer vacation is an easy way to do just that without having to negotiate over a tablet at every meal. A week of when the "screen" is a fishing bobber instead of a phone does a lot of that work automatically.

A roundup published by Tucson cites Hilton's findings and notes families gravitate toward beach vacations, road trips and national park adventures this year, driven partly by a growing sense of nostalgia and a desire to slow down.

What that means for a resort like Barnsley

If 2026 is the year of the "quietcation," where travelers deliberately choose quieter getaways, Barnsley is delivering it at a luxury level. For a property with a working farm, a lake and miles of hiking trails, the timing works in Barnsley's favor. Its activities inherently connect families on a deeper level to nature. A canoe or a set of reins doesn't come with a notification badge. At the same time, they still deliver the kind of luxury touches, from farm-to-table dinners to spa treatments, that make the trip feel like a splurge rather than a compromise.

Multigenerational travel, in particular, tends to favor this kind of programming, since grandparents, parents and kids can all take part in the same activity without one age group being left out or overstimulated. It's the kind of shared, unplugged moment families say they remember years later, not because it was extravagant, but because everyone was actually there.

That combination addresses a tension many parents describe when planning vacations: the desire for a trip that feels indulgent for the adults but isn't a screen-heavy holding pattern for the kids. Resorts that offer horseback riding in the morning and a couples massage in the afternoon are positioned to capture families looking for that balance in 2026. It's a different pitch than the all-inclusive resorts and theme parks families have leaned on for decades.

Kimberly Stroh is an Atlanta-based family travel writer and the founder of Savvy Mama Lifestyle. Since 2015, she has been sharing expert travel tips, destination guides and parenting insights tailored for modern families.

Adults have been organizing entire vacations around a favorite performer for years now, flying wherever the tour happened to land and building the rest of the trip around a single show. The resort is betting that the same instinct, built into a Caribbean getaway, works just as well for a 5-year-old as it does for a Swiftie in her 20s.

Where the instinct comes from

The adult version of the trend has a name: "gig-tripping," or flying somewhere specifically to catch a favorite artist live rather than simply attending a show close to home. It's widely credited to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, which sent fans chasing tour stops across entire continents. One fan who couldn't land tickets in the U.S. flew to Portugal instead, paying a fraction of what a resale seat at home would have cost and turning the trip into a multi-country vacation along the way. Beaches is wagering that families will make the same kind of calculation, just with a much younger audience in mind.

A Caribbean resort makes its bet

As part of its annual Fall Fam Jam celebration, Beaches Turks & Caicos is launching what it calls its first kids' beach rave, led by viral DJ Lenny Pearce and paired with live performances from KIDZ BOP, which describes itself as the number one music brand for kids. Between the two acts, families get meet-and-greets, dance lessons and themed pool parties, and the celebration extends beyond Turks and Caicos to Beaches Negril, where sister programming carries the same branding.

Both acts are taking place at Treasure Beach Village, the resort's newest all-suite addition, where families can spend the rest of the trip at the Starfish Cinema, an infinity-edge lagoon pool, new waterslides and the resort's first food hall alongside a signature steakhouse. Layer in Caribbean-inspired Sesame Street programming, the resort's existing water park and unlimited watersports, and the beach rave becomes one part of a much bigger weekend rather than the whole reason for the trip.

Kids' entertainment is already a real touring business

Beaches isn't inventing the idea that children's entertainment can fill a schedule the way adult concerts do. Bluey's Big Play has sold out multi-city runs across North America, Europe and Asia since taking the animated series from screen to stage. Disney On Ice is celebrating 45 years on the road this year, evidence that touring shows built for kids can sustain an entire industry rather than a passing moment. Danny Go! Live turned a YouTube channel into a full touring production in a matter of years, and older acts like The Wiggles and Laurie Berkner have been proving the same basic idea works since long before anyone called it gig-tripping.

What Beaches is really testing

None of that guarantees families will fly to Turks and Caicos specifically because of a DJ built for toddlers. What it does show is that the underlying behavior, choosing a trip around a specific performer rather than a specific place, already has a track record with kids' entertainment on dry land. Beaches is simply the first resort willing to bet that behavior translates to a beach vacation, too.

If the wager pays off, it likely won't be because gig-tripping suddenly became a family activity overnight. It will be because one resort noticed a habit that already existed and gave families a reason to bring it on vacation.

Americans are the single largest source of overseas visitors to Kenya. They are also curious in a way the old fly-in, fly-out crowd was not, willing to give a city a full day before the wildlife claims the rest of the week. The numbers behind that curiosity are hard to ignore. Kenya drew a record 2.4 million international visitors in 2024, up 14.6% in a single year, and Americans led every overseas market at 306,501 arrivals. The city has been leaning in, staging its first restaurant week since the pandemic and drawing formal backing from the national tourism board to promote Nairobi as a culinary stop rather than a layover.

Beit é Selam brings the whole continent to 1 table

In the Westlands district, behind a baroque metal gate, Beit é Selam turns a single dinner into something closer to a map. The name means house of peace in Amharic, and the menu wanders from Ethiopian kitfo and fish wot to West African poulet mafe and jollof to a lamb Marrakesh burger, all served under fringed lamps and a wall of vintage speakers spinning vinyl.

The cabbage duet, grilled and dressed with tahini and sumac, is worth ordering twice. A companion's Marrakesh burger came back hearty and disappeared fast. Beit é Selam is the rare place recognized on the global 50 Best Discovery list that still feels like a neighborhood haunt.

Cultiva grows its own dinner in a Karen greenhouse

Out in leafy Karen, Cultiva grows much of what it serves and builds its menu around four ideas printed on a wheel: hunter, gatherer, farmer and fisher. The room is a converted greenhouse hung with woven pendant lamps, closer to a beach club than a farm shed. The beetroot salad ranks among the best anywhere, all crunch against cool cream, and the wood-fired pizza carries a real smoke. A charcoal-bun fried chicken burger arrives crisp with a chili kick and a banana-leaf flourish. It is the kind of place that rewards over-ordering.

Hemingways Nairobi does polish on a bigger stage

Also in Karen, Hemingways Nairobi does polish at scale. The hotel draws a busy international crowd, and dinner on the terrace fills up as the evening goes on. The kitchen sends out careful, pretty plates: bacon-wrapped scallops with roe and microgreens, a baked portobello stacked with wild rice and walnuts. It is a bigger, louder, more formal night than its sister property a few minutes away offers, and that contrast is the point.

Eden Residence is the quiet half of the same family

Nearby in Langata, bordering the Giraffe Sanctuary Forest, Hemingways runs Eden Residence, a calmer counterpart to its flagship. Where the main hotel hums, Eden settles, casual and unhurried, dinner set out on a veranda under the trees. The seasonal menu leans vegetable forward and confident. The cauliflower steak is one to remember, the garlic chips beside it are close to perfect and the peri peri lamb chops hold up. It is the version of a Nairobi dinner that asks nothing of you but that you slow down.

Where the city's appetite goes next

The window that makes Nairobi worth a detour now is the same one that always closes on a food city just before the rest of the world catches on. Tables are easy, prices are gentle and the kitchens are cooking for locals as much as for visitors. The Westlands and Karen restaurants sit close enough to string together across a day or two on either end of a safari, which is exactly how the smart travelers are starting to treat them. Get there before the reservations get hard to land.

And with peak travel season underway, millions of people may have to contend with this disorienting condition, which can cause sleep disturbances, daytime tiredness, headaches and nasty gastrointestinal symptoms.

But you can minimize the effects of jet lag — and not just by adjusting your sleep-wake schedule. What and how you eat and drink can make a difference too.

Jet lag occurs when your body’s biological clock is out of sync with the time zone you find yourself in. Usually, environmental cues such as sunrises and sunsets help set your internal clock. But when you cross time zones, it may take a few days for your body to adjust.

“I’ve personally experienced pretty severe jet lag before,” during two European trips, said Tara Schmidt, a registered dietitian at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “It really kind of ruined the first few days of my vacation.”

Eat on the local schedule at your destination

While symptoms of jet lag vary, digestive problems such as bloating, constipation or diarrhea are not uncommon, said Joanne Slavin, a nutrition expert at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

One way to minimize jet lag is to begin gradually shifting the timing of your meals as you get ready for travel. Schmidt suggested first moving them by 15 minutes, then a half hour, then an hour closer to the destination time zone.

Then, after you get where you're going, eat when the locals eat.

If it’s morning, have breakfast. A hearty one aligned with your new time zone can help you recover from jet lag, a 2023 study co-authored by Northwestern University researchers suggests.

As the day goes on, keep to the same schedule, having lunch and dinner at times appropriate for the location.

“Immediately go on your new schedule,” Slavin said.

To avoid stomachaches, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises keeping meals smaller just before and during travel. Schmidt said this is particularly important in the early days of a trip.

“Smaller meals tend to be more easily tolerated for people, especially if you have a sensitive stomach or maybe are dealing with some of those GI discomforts,” Schmidt said.

Later in the trip, she said, you may be able to ease into eating more at one sitting. Just be mindful about foods that you might not be used to, especially greasy or high-fat items.

“Enjoying a meal abroad is so fun, especially when you’re experiencing a new culture, a new food,” she said.

Watch what you drink on vacation

It’s also best to skip that glass of wine or pint of beer.

“As fun as it is sometimes when we travel, we really do endorse avoiding alcohol because alcohol is such a huge sleep disruptor,” Schmidt said.

Another pro tip: Use caffeine strategically. If you normally have a cup of coffee or tea in the morning, it’s fine to do that while traveling. But don’t have caffeine so late in the day that it will keep you up. And be aware that both caffeine and alcohol can make you more dehydrated.

“Dehydration can certainly worsen fatigue and those perceived jet lag symptoms,” Schmidt said.

Drink water before, during and after your flight to combat the effects of dry cabin air. At your destination, eight glasses of water a day is a good, easy-to-remember goal, but keep in mind that some people may need more fluids, others less, depending on things like weather and exercise. Cleveland Clinic experts suggest choosing bottled water if you have any questions about water safety.

When the trip is over, get back to your normal schedule

Experts say how and what you consume while traveling is only part of the equation for minimizing jet lag. But these changes complement the better known tips for adjusting your sleep schedule to the new time zone.

When your vacation begins winding down, the advice is much the same for sleep and eating: Ease back into your normal schedule and try to fully resume it at home.

“The sooner you get back to it, to all of your habits,” Slavin said, “the better off you’re going to be.”

The International Medieval Combat Federation's annual world championship roared into gear in northern Denmark this week. First staged in Spain in 2014, it features armor-clad competitors fighting with 14th-century medieval weapons. But it’s also a modern combat sport with safety rules and sporting conventions.

A mixture of historical and modern techniques

“It’s historically inspired,” combat federation spokesperson Kamila Studencka said. “It’s a mix of modern techniques with historical ones. We have something between full combat sports and fencing.”

And while the swords and axes are blunted, the battles are anything but harmless reenactments. Studencka said some competitors are attracted by “the violence,” while others prefer the technical aspects of face-to-face duels.

“Some people like the friendship and being a team member … to be a part of something bigger,” she added.

This year’s championship is being held in the shadow of Spøttrup Castle, a formidable Danish fortress that was completed around 1520.

The event has drawn fighters from 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Brazil.

Brazilian competitor Rodrigo Sinckevicius, who traveled with a team of eight from São Paulo, said he previously competed in jiu-jitsu and other mixed martial arts, but when he first saw this kind of medieval combat, he “couldn’t believe it.”

“People falling and grabbing and the sound of the steel cracking, it’s like something that you cannot fake,” added the 33-year-old, who works in sales back home.

Duels and team events

The four-day championships, which opened Thursday, see competitors battle in one-on-one “duels” made up of two one-minute rounds each. Opponents are eliminated after hitting the ground three times or when they submit. If neither happens, marshals declare a winner based on points scored.

There are also chaotic mass-team events, known as “Buhurt,” in which up to 10 competitors on either side participate.

Martin Gill, from Milton Keynes, England, said he first got involved “to hit someone in the face with an ax.”

“This had that kind of niche appeal to it, that people were willing to consensually come up and say, ‘You can hit me in the face with the ax, as hard as you can,’” the 37-year-old geotechnical engineer said.

The IMCF says fighters wear thick, shock-absorbing padded garments beneath the armor to distribute the force of impact, and that fights are strictly controlled by trained marshals who enforce the rules of engagement. It says that overall injury rates are comparable to those in mainstream full-contact martial arts.

Gill said almost everything the competitors wear, including his 30-kilogram (66-pound) suit of armor, is historically accurate. Some outfits and fighting techniques are informed by the writings of 14th-century Italian knight Fiore Dei Liberi and German fencing master Johannes Liechtenauer.

“We follow manuscripts as best we can,” said Gill. “Everything is legitimate techniques from all of their writings throughout the 14th century.”

A growing sport

Nearly 600 fighters are taking part in this week's championship. The sport, an unflinching blend of mixed martial arts, fencing, and historical reenactment, has been growing in popularity.

Competitor Alex King, a 37-year-old financial crime specialist from Shoreview, Minnesota, said that when he first started three years ago, there were just 10 or so members in his local team. Now there are over 50.

“In America, it’s definitely growing, with the short videos you see now highlighting the sport,” King said. “A lot of people have become interested.”

The last big event in the U.S. featured over 40 teams, he added.

Men and women compete in separate events. Miisa Kaivos, a 27-year-old bartender from Helsinki, Finland, said the women’s side of the sport is also “drastically growing all around the world.”

“It’s amazing to see,” said Kaivos. “It’s always nice to come to these events and fight each other, and have that awesome girl power.”

“It’s been just really rewarding to see the team kind of like, carry a little bit more confidence in their step,” Cantú told The Associated Press. “Maybe I’ve got some new confidence too.”

The feat caps a trajectory that began with Cantu getting his first star right out of the gate when Californios opened in 2015. He got a second one in 2018. At a June ceremony in San Diego, Cantú, with his wife Carolyn by his side, received his third star and a crisp white Michelin chef's jacket.

The accolade feels like validation not just for Californios but for the notion that Mexican food in Mexico and across the diaspora can be an elevated experience. Similar to fine dining Chinese restaurants just a few miles away from Californios, Mexican American restaurants have dealt with criticism for daring to charge more and offering tasting menus. Meanwhile, few bat an eye at French and Japanese restaurants with similar prices.

Shoot for the Michelin stars

The Michelin Guide, started in 1889 by French brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin, created a star-ranking system in the 1920s. Today, the guide has ratings for over 40,000 restaurants. To evaluate a restaurant, Michelin sends inspectors to dine anonymously. The inspectors said Californios ascended the ranks because it has never been “afraid to cross borders” on the plate, according to Michelin’s website.

From the first bite, Californios patrons experience the Texas-born Cantú's blend of Mexican culture with California ingredients. He starts a meal with a sope, a small hand-formed masa cake made with white corn and beans from a farm in nearby Santa Rosa. Then, with a spatula, caviar made in partnership with a Sacramento sturgeon farm is carefully placed on top.

“It’s just really, really delicious and kind of feels like a warm hug,” Cantú said. “It feels comforting.”

Michelin inspectors agreed.

Californios deserved a three-star promotion, one of five inspectors said, for dishes consistently “executed with such precision, refinement and clarity without losing the Mexican identity — things like kombu or the matsukasa yaki fish taco.”

Sometimes Cantú and his team would try to guess if a diner could be an inspector. That turned out to be a good reminder that “every guest gets the same quality of presentation and hospitality,” the chef said.

Mexican food's growing recognition comes as immigration enforcement gets harsher

In the past few years, Michelin has starred a number of Mexican restaurants including a 10-by-10 foot (3-by-3 meter) taco stand in Mexico City. The growing recognition comes at a precarious time for immigration enforcement policies and the treatment of immigrants — even those in the U.S. legally.

Not someone who seeks to inject politics into food, Cantú could not ignore constant headlines about federal immigration operations — some of which have resulted in deaths including a Mexican man in Houston and a Colombian man in Maine earlier this month. Immigrants are “the backbone of all these dish pits and kitchens,” says Cantú. He has shown support through gestures. In March, he collaborated on an “anti-ICE” fundraising dinner.

“The culinary world is like a huge supporter of immigrants and the need for immigrants and the need to treat people with respect,” Cantú said. “It’s hard for me to say much more.”

Being in a blue state, Cantú is certain most of Californios’ diners share that sentiment.

Gustavo Arellano, a food writer and journalist who’s also Mexican American, believes the cuisine’s popularity really helps humanize the immigration debate.

“You see this especially like in small Southern towns where the rhetoric is ‘I’m against illegal immigrants. I don’t want too many Mexicans,'” Arellano said. “But, then they look at the Mexican restaurant in town and they’re like ‘Well, not them.’”

Californios shows Mexican food is just as worthy of fine dining

Growing up, Cantú watched his father and uncle in Texas run a Mexican restaurant and tortilleria. As a chef working at high-end establishments in Austin and San Francisco, he found himself asking, “Why is no one doing Mexican cuisine and treating it with like extreme care?”

Inspired by the Bay Area, he settled on the name Californios. It's a nod to descendants of Spanish and Mexican settlers who settled in the 1700s and 1800s in what would become California.

Californios started with a $57 four-course tasting menu. The pushback was immediate.

“There was ton of like, ‘This is not Mexican cuisine,’” Cantú said. “Even from our families, you know, trying to explain a contemporary cuisine to a lot of people is totally foreign because people kind of think that cuisine exists in a cookbook and that it doesn’t change.”

Californios is at the forefront of what some call “alta California” cuisine, where the children of Mexican immigrants or immigrants themselves use classical chef training with Mexican flavors. The term refers to the former Spanish province north of Baja California; Arellano describes it as an “ideology” that originated in California and has spread across the U.S.

Raised flavor profiles and prices ultimately raise skepticism. Arellano argues people think this way partly because they're trying to keep Mexican food in a box.

“There's always going to be a knee-jerk reaction,” Arellano said. “It goes to this myth that Mexican food should be cheap because Mexicans, all of us are supposedly working class that cannot afford higher-end stuff. That's classist.”

Cantú plans to keep bringing attention to his Mexican-California brand of fine dining. A cookbook is in the works.

“Mexican cuisine is one of the most diverse and complex cuisines in the world,” Cantú said, “and there’s countless Mexican immigrants in the United States and Latin immigrants who have their own ideas and concepts of what things can be.”

Lesotho's high elevation and mountainous terrain combine to make it the coldest country on the continent, with temperatures in the highlands typically plunging to minus 8 degrees Celsius (about 18 degrees Fahrenheit) between June and August.

The Afriski Mountain Resort, some 3,200 meters (10,499 feet) above sea level, nestled in the northern Maluti Mountains, is Lesotho's single fully operational ski resort — and the only one in sub-Saharan Africa.

The majestic snow-covered landscape is ideal for skiing, and both seasoned and new visitors enjoy the slopes that are spread over 17 hectares (42 acres) surrounding the resort — about the size of 24 standard soccer pitches. The resort opened 25 years ago, a short bus or car ride from the nearest major town of Butha-Buthe, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.

Last year, tourism contributed about 7% to Lesotho's annual GDP of some $2.6 billion. For its part, Afriski provides a chunk of needed cash in a country cited by the World Bank as one of the poorest in the world — and its artificial snow machines ensure it stays open throughout the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.

Thousands come to a country Trump says no one's heard of

U.S. President Donald Trump may have joked in 2025 about Lesotho being a country that “nobody has ever heard of” but just a year earlier, the kingdom, bordered on all sides by South Africa and with a population of 2.3 million, celebrated 200 years of the founding of the Basotho nation and 58 years of independence from British rule.

Located in its entirety at and over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level, Lesotho sees a lot of snow — and skiing is growing in popularity here from a rare sport previously mainly associated with North America and the European Alps.

Most people drive into Lesotho from neighboring South Africa but international visitors can also fly in to the airport in Maseru, the country's capital.

Afriski's CEO, Theo Ferreira, says almost 70% of the visitors come from South Africa; the rest are mostly from Lesotho or elsewhere in southern Africa. The resort now has 227 full-time and seasonal employees, nearly all Lesotho nationals, with about 30 South Africans, working mainly as skiing instructors, he said.

While the resort has rooms for 420 overnight guests, the nearby Butha-Buthe and Mohlokong towns can offer extra accommodations in peak season. The busiest day so far this year saw over 1,400 visitors while in 2025, the record was over 1,600 day visitors and those staying overnight or longer, Ferreira said.

Because unreliable weather patterns can make natural snow scarce, the resort relies on artificial snow to make skiing possible all winter long.

Lesotho's snow may not be how you imagine Africa

The resort has played role in helping ski tourism emerge as another attraction in southern Africa, known for its wildlife and scenic coastlines along the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

For many visitors, Afriski is where they had their first ski lessons, braving falls and dusting themselves off before having another try, and another — until making that first, full glide down without falling.

Janco Smits, a student from Cape Town, South Africa, describes it as "an amazing slope to learn on.”

“At the start it was a little discouraging because you fall, and you fall hard,” he said. “But the people here, they gave me one lesson and after an hour, honestly, I felt confident.”

“When you think of the African continent, you don't think of snow. You think about ... the sun and the Sahara (Desert),” said Thato Ramaphoko, a first-timer at the resort from Pretoria, South Africa’s capital. "But that you can actually go to all that and also come here and it also snows at the same time, it is just mind-blowing, so I just had to see it for myself."

Visitors at Afriski can also sample a taste of Lesotho in the form of traditional sausage rolls and Maluti Lager, the country's proudly home-brewed beer.

As for a souvenir to take home, try the colorful Basotho blanket, which comes in vibrant colors and patterns that also pop up in local garments and are creatively integrated into various skiing jackets and gear.

For American tourists, Belize offers something few Caribbean destinations can: a vacation that combines rainforest adventure with an easy beach escape. Visitors can explore ancient Mayan ruins, hike through tropical forests or venture into caves before trading hiking boots for sandals the following day. Along the Caribbean coast, travelers can snorkel the world's second-largest barrier reef, hop between secluded cayes or simply unwind on the beach.

Belize welcomed more than 1.4 million visitors in 2024, the highest number in the country's history, as overnight tourism surged and new nonstop flights from the United States made the Central American nation more accessible than ever. The record-breaking year comes a year after officials announced an investment of roughly $250 million to expand the country's main international airport and accommodate continued growth.

A small country outpacing the Caribbean

Belize is, by Caribbean standards, tiny. It has a population of roughly 420,000 and a land area smaller than New Hampshire. Yet it has become one of the region's fastest-growing tourism markets.

The Belize Tourism Board reported overnight visitor growth of 21% in 2024, outpacing the Caribbean average and surpassing the country's pre-pandemic tourism record. Tourism now accounts for more than 40% of Belize's gross domestic product and roughly 60% of its foreign exchange earnings.

American travelers continue to fuel much of that growth. Texas and California account for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. visitors, followed by Florida, New York, Colorado, Georgia, Washington, and North Carolina. Most are arriving through Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport, which now serves an expanding network of nonstop flights from across the United States.

Belize's appeal is also quite practical: English is the country's official language, the Belize dollar is pegged at 2-to-1 with the U.S. dollar, and most major U.S. cities are only a few hours away by air. Those advantages, along with the country's blend of rainforest, archaeological sites and Caribbean coastline, have helped distinguish Belize from larger resort destinations across the region.

Preparing for the next wave of visitors

To keep up with demand, the Belize Airport Concession Company is undertaking what officials describe as a roughly $250 million modernization of PGIA over a 10- to 15-year horizon. A first phase, budgeted at about $60 million, is already underway. It comes with an expanded ramp, a new eastern taxiway, two-tier parking, and a larger cargo facility.

A second phase, estimated at $190 million, would add jet bridges, escalators and moving sidewalks to a terminal that until now has required passengers to walk across the tarmac in whatever weather happens to be arriving with them.

"The vast majority of people who come for overnight purposes come through the PGIA, so that's the first thing that they experience and the last thing," tourism minister Anthony Mahler told Belize's Love FM. He said the long-term investment will help accommodate future growth while improving the visitor experience.

Where rainforest meets the reef

Improved infrastructure may be bringing more travelers to Belize, but accessibility alone does not explain the country's rising popularity. What continues to set Belize apart is the ability to experience two dramatically different landscapes in a single vacation.

The country is one of the few destinations in the Western Hemisphere where it is genuinely possible to spend a morning climbing a Maya pyramid, an afternoon snorkeling the second-largest barrier reef in the world and a night in the rainforest. All within a single short trip.

Along the coast, the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System stretches for nearly 190 miles and forms part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-largest barrier reef in the world. The UNESCO World Heritage site is home to hundreds of fish species, vibrant coral formations and three of the Atlantic Ocean's four coral atolls, making Belize one of the region's premier destinations for snorkeling and diving.

Inland, dense rainforest covers much of the country, where protected reserves shelter wildlife, rivers and dozens of Maya archaeological sites. Ancient cities, including Xunantunich, Caracol and Lamanai, offer a glimpse into one of the Western Hemisphere's most sophisticated civilizations.

Actun Tunichil Muknal, the cave universally known as ATM, caps daily admission at 125 visitors and bars cameras after a tourist dropped one on a 1,000-year-old skull in 2012. It contains the calcite-encrusted skeletal remains of more than a dozen sacrificial victims, and is reachable only with a licensed guide after a 3-mile jungle hike and several stream crossings.

In the jungle lies the Sleeping Giant

Few properties illustrate the duality of a Belize trip better than Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge. It is tucked into the foothills of the Sibun River Forest Reserve, about an hour's drive from the airport. The property offers the kind of experience that has become central to Belize's tourism identity: equal parts adventure and comfort.

The Canadian and Belizean-owned property sits on 750 acres at the edge of a citrus grove that once served as a campground for British soldiers training in jungle survival, search-and-rescue and field medevac before Belize's independence in 1981.

"The hotel itself came about really slowly," said Tristan Chacon, the on-site tour manager, who joined the property in 2022. "It started off as a little thatched-roof hutch, which we called cabanas, and the Grove House restaurant. Those are the oldest buildings we have on site."

The lodge was named for a profile of the surrounding Maya Mountains that resembles a reclining figure. It opened to the public in 2008 and was fully renovated as a luxury resort between 2013 and 2015.

Days at Sleeping Giant lean into the wild. The lodge keeps 26 horses, 14 of them used for guided rides through the citrus grove and along the Sibun River, where guests can also paddleboard or kayak. The kitchen runs hands-on Maya cooking classes built around fire-cooked corn tortillas and traditional stews.

The staff organizes guided tours to nearby archaeological sites, including a day trip to Xunantunich, where visitors can still climb the El Castillo pyramid for a view across the Mopan River into Guatemala. A network of trails includes the almost 2-mile Great Tinamou, an open-concept treehouse called The Nest and a gazebo with a 280-degree view of the Sleeping Giant ridge and the river valley.

But the luxury sits alongside the adventure rather than apart from it. The Grove House, the lodge's main restaurant, is a two-story thatched-roof building with European-style dark-wood furnishings and Amazonian jungle-house bones. The lodge's open-air restaurant embraces its rainforest setting, with birdsong drifting through open windows and meals centered on fresh, local ingredients. Breakfast juice is squeezed daily from oranges grown on the property, while traditional Maya cooking techniques, including handmade tortillas prepared over a wood-fired comal, reflect Belize's culinary heritage.

Sleeping Giant demonstrates why Belize's tourism appeal extends beyond its beaches. Here, the rainforest isn't simply something to admire from afar but something visitors can experience throughout the day without giving up the comforts of a full-service resort.

Trading the jungle for the sea

About a two-hour drive south, in the seaside Garifuna village of Hopkins, the same collection operates The Lodge at Jaguar Reef. It is a beachfront sister property that shifts the focus from rainforest adventure to life on the Caribbean coast.

The four-star resort sits directly on the Caribbean, with two beachfront pools, an infinity pool with a swim-up bar and what the property describes as Belize's only over-the-water bar. Local artwork hangs in the cabanas; complimentary bicycles, kayaks, snorkel gear and fishing equipment are stacked near the dock. The pace is the opposite of the jungle: slower, saltier and less scheduled.

What makes Hopkins useful as a base is not the beach itself but what lies offshore. Boats run daily from the village to the cayes; small, often uninhabited coral islands that dot the barrier reef like punctuation marks. Guests can spend a day snorkeling at Glover's Reef Marine Reserve, a UNESCO-protected atoll, or arrange dive trips to the Mesoamerican system's deeper walls.

Island-hopping itineraries pair a stop at a deserted caye for lunch with afternoon snorkeling among sea turtles, nurse sharks and rays. For travelers who came mostly to read, the same boats can simply drop them on an empty stretch of sand for the afternoon and pick them up before sunset.

Beyond the reef excursions, Hopkins offers a quieter base than many of Belize's larger beach destinations. Its Garifuna heritage adds another layer to the experience, with opportunities to learn about the community's music, cuisine and traditions alongside time on the water.

The two properties are designed to be visited together. The first half of the trip is the wild side of Belize: horseback rides, ruins, caves, mariachi at night. Meanwhile, the second half is the soft side: turquoise water, a hammock, a fresh ceviche on the dock. A traveler arriving on the new United nonstop from San Francisco can be in the rainforest by dinnertime, on a boat to a reef two days later and on a plane home before the next workweek.

A destination at a turning point

The growth has not been frictionless. Conservation groups have raised concerns about coastal development, coral bleaching and the cumulative pressure of increased visitor numbers on a reef system that UNESCO has previously listed as endangered.

Rather than competing with high-volume destinations such as Cancún or the Dominican Republic, Belize has increasingly positioned itself as a higher-value, lower-impact destination. A 2017 ban on offshore oil drilling remains in place, while single-use plastics were phased out beginning in 2022. National tourism plans also call for balancing visitor growth with the protection of the country's reefs, rainforests and cultural heritage.

Much of that approach has helped keep Belize's tourism experience relatively uncrowded. While San Pedro on Ambergris Caye remains the country's most visited destination, many inland communities and protected areas still see far fewer visitors, allowing travelers to experience rainforests, Maya sites and coastal villages at a slower pace.

For most American travelers, the practical takeaway is simpler. What once often required a layover can now be reached on an increasing number of nonstop flights from major U.S. cities. A traveler who books the right Saturday in February can leave San Francisco at lunchtime, land in Belize City by sunset and be on a deck at the edge of the Sibun River, watching the Sleeping Giant turn purple in the dusk, before the second margarita arrives. By Tuesday, they can be on a boat to a reef. Both trips on one ticket.

Belize is no longer one of the Caribbean's best-kept secrets, but it has not yet lost the qualities that made travelers seek it out in the first place. As more nonstop flights bring Americans to its shores, the country's challenge will be ensuring that easier access does not come at the expense of the very reefs and ruins that are drawing record numbers of visitors.

This is the Gion Matsuri festival, born more than 1,000 years ago as a ritual to ward off epidemics and celebrated in the former imperial city of Kyoto throughout July.

“I am conscious of them when I’m riding on top,” Horikawa said. “When we’re assembling it as well, but I think the main time is when I’m riding on it.”

The parades — accompanied by dances, music and song — draw large crowds and tourists every year. The biggest floats can weigh up to 12 tons. Yet behind the festive atmosphere lies a tradition rooted in the worship of deities and rituals of protection.

“Those performances are not meant primarily for the entertainment of people,” said Fabio Rambelli, a religious studies professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “They are offerings to the gods.”

A festival that has layers of religious history

The Gion Matsuri originated in the late 9th century as a ritual to appease spirits believed to cause epidemics and to pray for protection from disease. It takes its name from Kyoto’s Gion District and “matsuri,” the Japanese word for festival.

At the heart of the celebration is Kyoto’s Yasaka Shrine, a Shinto site whose principal deity has long been revered as a protector against calamities. But the shrine’s history also reflects centuries of interaction between Shinto and Buddhism in Japan.

“Until about 150 years ago it was a Buddhist temple,” Rambelli said. “That’s part of the religious changes that have taken place in Japan.”

Back then, the sanctuary’s main deity was Gozu Tennō, an ox-headed figure believed to have the power either to spread epidemics or to avert them.

“It was a kind of syncretic deity — probably of Indian origin — with connections to Korea and local folklore,” Rambelli said. “A lot of gods in Japan are a mixture of different traditions.”

Early versions of the Gion Matsuri involved that deity, Rambelli said.

To show evil forces and spirits that their god would confront them, devotees carried him around the city in processions that resembled those seen throughout Kyoto today.

A shrine's turn from Buddhism helps shape today's Shinto practices

Japan’s government separated the two traditions of Shinto and Buddhism in 1868 during the Meiji era, effectively bringing Shinto shrines under state control and placing the emperor at the center of the new order.

“Because the emperor was the direct descendant of the goddess of the sun, they purified the whole system creating what now we see as Shinto,” said Andrea De Antoni, professor of anthropology and religious studies at the University of Kyoto.

De Antoni said a strong anti-Buddhist movement followed. Temples, mandalas and statues were burned and destroyed.

Shinto was formally separated from the state after World War II, but its traditions still reflect a broader history of religious and cultural influences.

“It is an institutionalized religion that revolves around ideas of deities called kami and different spirits,” De Antoni said.

“Kami shares its rules with general ideas of animism that can be found throughout the world, but there are a lot of similarities with certain parts of Southeast Asia and with the Pacific,” he added.

Ancient traditions bring communities together

Japanese festivals often serve as ways for deities to be brought into the streets for sacred or ritual purposes while also bringing communities together in celebration.

“This is the festival of all the people in the neighborhood,” said Jacques Garrigues, a Frenchman who has lived in Kyoto for three decades and who attended the Gion Matsuri procession with his son on Friday.

“We also come together through a certain sense of religion, although the religious significance is not the same as in France,” he added.

Among the traditions preserved by the Gion Matsuri is the choosing of a boy as a sacred messenger to the gods. During the parade, the selected boy is seen sitting on one of the floats, his feet never touching the ground.

Some key participants spend months getting ready for the celebrations. Different neighborhoods prepare their floats with great care and dedication, with many people trusting the floats will drive away evil spirits.

Atsushi Matono is responsible for erecting the shingi, a sacred tree placed at the top of one of the floats —the holiest part of the structure, to which a deity is believed to descend.

Like Horikawa, he describes feeling a sacred presence.

“I always carry out my work with great care and respect,” Matono said. “Feeling the presence of the gods.”