Reaching Marrakech from a U.S. airport used to mean a European layover, landing in Paris, Madrid or Lisbon first and losing the better part of a day. Royal Air Maroc, the national carrier, had long flown from a few U.S. cities to Casablanca, but the red city itself sat behind Europe.

Two U.S. carriers fly into Marrakech now. United was the first to try it and has since put more seats on the route. Delta added Atlanta last fall, and in June, Royal Air Maroc opened Los Angeles to Casablanca, the first nonstop link between the American West Coast and the African continent.

Morocco ranked among the trending summer destinations in this year's U.S. search data, and the interest reads less like a cheaper stand-in for Europe than like an appetite for the food and the history.

5 of the Middle East and North Africa's best restaurants are here

Five Marrakech restaurants made this year's 50 best list, more than Cairo, Abu Dhabi or Beirut, and only Dubai placed more. The ranking is voted for by an academy of 250 chefs, critics and writers spread across 19 countries. La Grande Table Marocaine at the Royal Mansour came in at 19th place and took the year's hospitality award, and its team spends part of every year traveling the country to track down old palace recipes and family cooking, then puts them on the menu.

Three of the five sit in Guéliz, the modern quarter north of the medina walls, and they are less interested in old recipes than in building something new. Farmers placed 49th and won the sustainability prize, cooking since 2024 out of a converted Art Deco gallery and sourcing from a permaculture farm on the city's edge. Chef-owner Erwann Lance runs Le Petit Cornichon at 21st place, and +61, an Australian-style bistro named after the country's dialing code, took the 31st spot.

2 medina riads and a mountain kasbah

In the Marrakech medina, Le Farnatchi is a 10-suite riad that British hotelier Jonathan Wix built from several old houses two decades ago and his son James now runs. It is expanding to 15 rooms, and its restaurant, Le Trou au Mur, cooks the traditional dishes that had fallen off Marrakech menus, the home food a local family would recognize.

Also in the medina, Palais Beit Al Noor opened at the end of 2025 inside a restored 18th-century residence, the newest of the three. Its Franco-Lebanese owners rebuilt it around three courtyards as a private home rather than a hotel, with 12 rooms each named after a Lebanese cultural figure. The chef works an open kitchen that serves guests only, and the tagines coming out of it are artichoke or quince, not the version on the tourist menu.

Less than an hour from Marrakech, Kasbah Bab Ourika sits on a hilltop at the head of the Ourika Valley. It is the one property here that is not historic, built from scratch in the 2000s to resemble an old kasbah, using pise, the rammed-earth technique Berber builders have worked in for centuries. Its kitchen uses produce from the property's organic gardens, with a menu that changes daily and seasonally.

More US gateways, and a farm hotel taking bookings next month

Visitors are also spending more per head than they used to. Morocco's tourism receipts reached 53.8 billion dirhams, about $5.8 billion, by the end of May, growing faster than arrivals and working out at roughly $743 per visitor.

For now, the nonstop map is narrow: United and Delta fly to Marrakech from Newark and Atlanta, and Royal Air Maroc reaches Casablanca from New York, Washington, Miami and, since June, Los Angeles. Much of that demand runs on diaspora travel and Morocco's build-up to co-hosting the 2030 World Cup rather than food tourism alone. The effect for an American planning a trip is the same: the European connection is now optional.

Virgin Limited Edition is putting a 37-suite hotel on a working farm 25 minutes from Marrakech, with three restaurants fed by its own citrus groves and vegetable gardens. Reservations open next month, with the first 22 suites due early in 2027 and the rest a year later.

Morocco set itself a target of 26 million visitors by 2030 and now looks likely to hit it two years early, with a draft roadmap for 2027 to 2030 reaching for 30 million instead. More visitors means more competition for them, and the kitchens that stand out will be the ones cooking something a traveler cannot order at home.

On the 10th floor of the Gale Miami Hotel & Residences, the last stop in the circuit is a bath of ice water. Three days before that, and a few miles east, Hard Rock Stadium hosted the last of Miami's seven World Cup matches. The tournament filled Miami's summer, and the cold plunge is what hotels are counting on to finish it.

Shifting the goal posts

Hotel desks that spent June fielding requests for match-day suites are now booking recovery massages. August is the hottest month in Miami, and it can be hard to attract tourists. That's where Spa Months Come in. More than 30 spas across the county cut their treatment menus to fixed prices through Aug. 31.

Miami Spa Months records those prices at $109, $159 and $199, depending on the tier and the property. Hoteliers lean on the program to hold guests through the softest weeks of the calendar. The category reached $6.8 trillion globally in 2024 and is projected to hit $9.8 trillion by 2029.

For travelers, rituals normally priced as special occasions briefly become ordinary purchases. At Gale Wellness Spa, an 80-minute hammam that lists at $350 is going for $199, and two shorter treatments run $159 apiece. Across the causeway, the largest wellness spa on the Eastern Seaboard appears on the same list, as does Tierra Santa at Faena, which blends South American ritual with biohacking.

A softer summer than the scoreboard suggested

The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau reported $22.7 billion in direct visitor spending for 2025, a record year; up 4.1% from 2024. Marcus & Millichap's Miami-Dade forecast expects hotel demand to grow 4.6% by year-end.

The World Cup was supposed to extend that run. Miami hosted seven matches, including the Bronze Final on July 18, and drew the strongest hotel bookings of any U.S. host city. Even so, 45% of local hotels projected a shortfall against forecast, and match-day occupancy across the market averaged just 24%.

What follows the tournament is the stretch of the year hoteliers here quietly dread. It is hot, humid, hurricane-adjacent and short on the conference business that props up the shoulder seasons. The county has spent decades discounting its way through it, and this year the discount comes attached to a category with real momentum.

Hotels have noticed. What was once an amenity is being rebuilt into a reason to book the room. A treatment room and a menu of Swedish massages no longer count as an offer.

Inside the Gale's 10th-floor circuit

Geography is the first thing worth noting about the Gale Miami Hotel & Residences, which sits downtown rather than on the beachfront. Wellness in Miami has long been a Miami Beach story, told through resorts with ocean-facing cabanas and price tags to match. This 51-story tower stands in the Worldcenter district, directly across from Kaseya Center and 6 miles from the sand.

Gale Wellness Spa occupies 18,000 square feet of the 10th floor, which is less a spa than a floor built around one. Five treatment rooms include a dedicated Vichy shower suite. Past them sit a yoga studio, an outdoor fitness terrace, private training rooms and a children's playroom. Guests are meant to spend the day, not the hour.

"At Gale Miami, wellness is an essential part of the guest experience, not just an amenity," said James D'Agostino, complex general manager for Gale Hotels. The offerings were designed, he said, so guests could "slow down, disconnect from the pace of the city, and leave feeling refreshed."

The heat circuit rewards anyone who works through it in order. A hammam holds a medium, humid warmth that loosens the shoulders first. A dry sauna follows, then a steam room, both warming from the inside out. By the end, the skyline beyond the glass fades into the background.

Then comes the cold plunge, and there is no graceful way to enter it. The ice bath is positioned as the closer for a reason; it resets everything the heat has just softened. It is 10 seconds of protest followed by roughly an hour of feeling genuinely excellent.

For Spa Months, the property runs three treatments rather than a single discounted massage. The 80-minute Gale Signature Hammam is $199, down from a standard rate of $350, while two 50-minute treatments, the Dead Sea Salt Escape and the Skyline Recovery Ritual, are $159 each against a regular price of $265. Guests can expect mineral-rich exfoliation, aromatherapy and cold plunge therapy.

Notably, nothing here lands in the $109 tier. That is a useful reminder of how the program actually works: the entry price can be found at smaller Brickell and Miami Beach studios, while the hotel spas cluster in the upper brackets, where a 40% discount off a $350 ritual is the real proposition.

Off-program, the standard menu starts with a Swedish massage, with a deep tissue upgrade available for an additional $36. It is the rare hotel upsell that changes the product rather than the packaging. Anyone who books here outside the promotional window should assume the upgrade is included in the price.

Bright, modern and understated, the building offers a calm contrast to Miami's more extravagant hotels. Casa Gianna, the main house restaurant, is Italian, working a high-heat oven that turns out properly blistered pizzas. Its starters are more inventive than you might expect. Cafe Gianna handles the rest, a streetside ventanita built on the Cuban window-cafe model, pouring espresso and Italian pastries from morning through lunch.

Even visitors who aren't staying overnight can enjoy the amenities. One floor below the spa, a 16,000-square-foot pool deck runs as the Gale Swim Club, with a bar and skyline views. An $80 day pass covers the pool, the fitness center and the bar. Food runs until 5 p.m., with happy hour until 8 p.m. That turns the wellness offering into as much a local business as a hotel one. It matters more in August than it does in February, when the rooms fill themselves.

The heavyweight on the beach

If the Gale is the challenger, Carillon Miami Wellness Resort is the veteran, and the difference in scale is immediately obvious. Its spa runs 70,000 square feet, the largest wellness facility on the Eastern Seaboard, and it operates a medical wellness division that pushes well past the massage-and-facial vocabulary. Cryotherapy, IV therapy and salt bath treatments all sit on the menu.

Carillon saw an opportunity in the World Cup, and launched a "Champion's Getaway" recovery package for the tournament. The package says a great deal about the resort's strategy. Rather than treating wellness as an amenity, Carillon positions it as a product that can be tailored to major events.

The property has been at this since before wellness became a boardroom term, and The Spa at Carillon Miami appears on this year's Spa Months roster alongside the newer entrants. Nearly every hotel in the county is now installing a cold plunge. Carillon has operated one long enough to know which treatments guests actually rebook.

Ritual meets biohacking at Faena

Tierra Santa Healing House at Faena Hotel Miami Beach makes the third case, which is that wellness does not have to look clinical or minimalist to work. The 22,000-square-foot space blends South American healing traditions with contemporary biohacking, a combination that sounds unlikely but works surprisingly well. The design maximalism Faena is known for runs through the whole space rather than stopping at the spa door.

Faena's participation is the quietly significant part. A property positioned at the very top of the market putting treatments into a countywide discount program reflects the realities of the season rather than the property itself. Even Collins Avenue is not immune to August's seasonal slowdown.

New money follows the trend

Perhaps the clearest sign that Miami's wellness shift is here to stay is the number of new wellness-focused developments now taking shape. Aman Miami Beach has opened on the site of the former Versailles Hotel, bringing a brand whose entire identity is wellness-first luxury into South Beach. Aman does not enter markets speculatively and cheaply.

Anantara Miami Resort & Residences reflects the same long-term outlook. It is Minor Hotels' U.S. debut for the Anantara brand, pairing a hotel with 100 branded residences and marketing what the company describes as vitality and longevity amenities. Branded residences are a long-horizon product, and attaching longevity programming to them is a wager that the buyer who wants a cold plunge in 2026 will still want one in 2040.

Together, the projects reinforce a broader shift already underway. Existing hotels are expanding their wellness offerings, new developments are placing wellness at the center of their identity and Miami's tourism industry is increasingly promoting the destination through that lens. More importantly, they show an industry betting that wellness will remain central to Miami's tourism and real estate markets long after the World Cup crowds have gone home.

The math behind the discount

The numbers help explain why wellness has become such a priority. A $6.8 trillion category growing toward $9.8 trillion is real money. Miami is better positioned than most American cities to take a share of it, with a dense supply of high-end hotels, a climate that cooperates year-round and an existing reputation for the body-conscious end of leisure travel.

Selling it at a discount is the harder part. Cutting a $350 treatment to $199 fills the table, but at 40% less, and Miami just spent four months leading the country in room rates. Trading price for volume in the weakest month of the year makes sense right up until it becomes the habit. Hotels here also compete with the islands a short flight away, which picked up nonstop service from Miami International this year. The Miami properties that come out ahead will be the ones turning a cheap treatment into something more durable: a room night, a dinner reservation, an $80 day pass.

Consider what the county is working with. Miami-Dade welcomed 28.3 million visitors in 2025 and generated $32.2 billion in economic impact, ranking it among the strongest destinations in the country, and very few of those visitors came in August. That gap is the entire reason a $350 ritual costs $199 right now. Tourism remains "a driving force behind opportunity and quality of life" across the county, GMCVB President and CEO David Whitaker said in reporting those figures, which is why a two-month discount aimed partly at residents is worth running at all.

Weather is the one variable nobody here controls, and after this summer the industry has learned it cannot count on a tournament either. What the county can offer instead is a reason to be indoors, horizontal and briefly, bracingly cold.

Plan your Spa Months visit

Miami Spa Months runs July 1 through Aug. 31, with treatments fixed at $109, $159 and $199 depending on the tier and the property. More than 30 spas participate, and a handful offer treatments priced above those tiers.

Booking directly with each hotel tends to be faster than working through promotional listings, particularly for weekend slots at the larger resorts. Beachfront properties fill first in August, while downtown availability holds longer. Budget for upgrades, which is where most of the real spending happens.

Miami International and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International both serve the county, and August airfares run among the lowest of the year. Rooms are cheap for the same reason the treatments are, and the plunge is bracing regardless of the season.

“Traveling with kids is a whole new world," said Dr. Shannon Thompson, a pediatrician at Cleveland Clinic Children's, adding that it's important to “enjoy your kiddo on your trip” as much as you can.

Here are some tips and tricks for parents to travel safely with young children — and have fun with them, too.

Look for amenities like cribs and high chairs before you book

Before you decide where to stay, consider your options for baby-proofing.

Check whether items like portable playpens, cribs and high chairs are offered to guests. If you are staying somewhere with stairs, a balcony or a pool, inquire about baby gates; if they are not provided, see if they are available for rent nearby or consider bringing travel-friendly foldable mesh gates. Pack electrical outlet covers and wipes to clean any dirty surfaces your kiddo might touch.

For babies, safe sleeping is still essential on vacation. Children younger than 1 should sleep on their back on a flat, firm surface such as a mattress in a bassinet, crib or playpen with nothing more than a fitted sheet, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The organization also recommends babies sleep in the parents' room — but not in the parents' bed — for at least the first six months.

You should also consider how you will get to your lodging: Will you fly in and rent a car or take a taxi, or take public transit from the airport? Will you mostly be driving or walking? For parents, these factors can determine whether you want to bring a stroller and a car seat, both of which you can gate check for free when you fly, or rely on using a sling or baby carrier.

Plan for snacks and diaper changes on the plane

“Flying with kids is one of those big, intimidating things,” said Thompson, the pediatrician. “I think the biggest thing to think about is always safety and then of course their comfort.”

While children under two can fly in their parents’ lap, the Federal Aviation Administration recommends securing them in their own safety seat, such as a car seat certified for use on planes. This requires buying a seat for your child.

For long-haul or international flights, ask the airline if they have bassinets available.

Food and drink for babies and toddlers, including breast milk, formula and puree pouches, are considered medically necessary liquids by the Transportation Security Administration. That means they are not subject to the standard 3.4-ounce (100-milliliter) limit for carry-on liquids. The same goes for ice packs used to keep such liquids cool. Let the TSA officer know if you have these in your carry on when you go through security screening.

In addition to snacks, don't forget to carry on diapers, wipes, a portable changing pad and sealable plastic bags for disposal. Bring extra clothes to layer or change in case of accidents or messy spills.

Swallowing and chewing can help with ear pressure, so nursing little ones or giving them a bottle or pacifier can ease discomfort during take-off and landing.

Speak with your pediatrician beforehand if your kiddo is prone to ear infections, and before traveling abroad, ask them what vaccines may be recommended.

Keep kids entertained on and off the plane

For flights with young kids, Christy Slavik, owner of the travel agency Mom Approved Travel, recommends “having little surprises that you can distract them with” — such as sticky mats for travel-sized play doh, suction cup toys and other games that are small and light to pack.

If sightseeing once at your destination, think about ways to make activities more fun and interactive. For art museums, bring notebooks that kids can draw in, or ask them what types of animals they can find in the paintings, Slavik said.

“Kids need a mission. They need games,” she said. “You have to get creative sometimes when you're traveling."

Exposing children to other cultures, foods and languages can also be fun. Some may enjoy picking out snacks at markets, for example, or learning foreign words for their favorite dishes and activities.

There are options for places to stay that are family friendly, with amenities such as pools or games. For those traveling abroad on a budget, many hostels offer private rooms for families so they don’t have to share a dorm-style room with bunk beds. Hotels and hostels provide the opportunity to meet other travelers, including fellow children who can become playmates.

The perks of traveling with extended family

Helping moms actually enjoy their vacation — and relax amid the stress that can come with planning and traveling — is a core goal of Slavik's travel agency.

One way parents can get a break is by planning trips with grandparents or other family members. This helps with babysitting duties, while also allowing loved ones to have special bonding time with kiddos. Just make sure they also have their own down time and aren't wearing themselves out, Slavik said.

“When you bring grandparents to a vacation, you're giving them the opportunity to experience those moments together,” she said.

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.”