Inhaltsverzeichnis für Spring 2023 in AFAR

AN RONG XU Photographer Born in China and raised in New York City, photographer and director An Rong Xu currently lives in Taiwan with his wife and newborn. For Tsiåh-pñg! (p.96), Xu shot the food, lively scenes, and unsung chefs at rechao eateries in the country’s capital. “I’m always drawn to [photographing] people who work in restaurants because they remind me of my father, who was a chef,” Xu says. “[The shoot] felt like I was spending time with him.” Xu’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the New Yorker. Find Xu on Instagram @anrizzy. DANIELA GERSON Writer Journalist Daniela Gerson has written about immigration and multicultural communities for 20 years. An associate professor at California State University, Northridge, Gerson is currently on sabbatical to…

In 2021, Costa Rica made headlines when it committed to increasing protection for the waters surrounding Cocos Island National Park. In reality, things are far more complicated. IN THE AQUAMARINE seas some 330 miles off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast lies one of the most pristine islands on Earth. Spanning nine square miles, the rectangular landmass is called Isla del Coco, or Cocos Island. A cloud forest breathes there. Waterfalls pour from jagged cliffs into rushing rivers, and rain-soaked jungles shelter some 400 insect species and 156 species of birds, including the endemic Cocos finch. In 1978, Costa Rica declared Cocos Island and its surrounding waters a national park. Today, it is uninhabited except for the park rangers, paramedics, and volunteers who live there. It is so remote that, aside from…

My name is Matika Wilbur. I am from the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes. Ten years ago, I sold everything, packed my bags, and hit the open road to begin a Kickstarter-funded mission to visit, engage with, and photograph more than 500 tribal nations. I learned many lessons, the most fundamental being: We are on Native land. My new book, Project 562, documents hundreds of people I met and stories I heard, a selection of which are excerpted on the following pages. North America is Indian Country. America’s first people have a deep and knowing relationship with its lakes, rivers, cities, estuaries, canyons, and mountains. But the mainstream stories told to children in America fail to reflect this truth—as seen in the songs we teach, the holidays we celebrate, our romanticized…

BEYOND PAPER STRAWS By now, guests are used to signs recommending they reuse towels and forgo bedsheet changes. Today, hotels are adding to these basic sustainability initiatives and taking on more responsibility. Globally, more than 20,000 participate in the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index to rank their carbon, energy, and water efficiencies. The latest Cornell report, issued in 2021, shows an almost 10 percent reduction in overall carbon emissions from 2017 to 2019. Reusing towels is still a good idea, but increasingly, the industry is aiming higher. Style meets substance in the Hilton Tapestry Collection’s new Hotel Marcel in New Haven, Connecticut, a repurposed brutalist Marcel Breuer landmark that uses solar power throughout the building, down to the laundry room and the restaurant that serves locally sourced dishes. Plus, guests…

AT THE BEGINNING of November, as olives begin their transformation from green to purple, Sarah Ben Romdane’s team of nearly 50 women farmworkers sets off. Under a golden sky in Bou Thadi, Tunisia, they split into groups and work tree by tree, which are spaced at least 50 feet apart—the same distance the Romans first planted their olive trees centuries ago. They loosen the olives from each branch using small hand rakes, allowing them to drop gently onto large nets spread out on the ground. The women sing one of several century-old songs while they work. “I have a garden of black olives, beautiful ladies come to harvest it,” the lyrics go. The singing slows as they collect the olives and bring them to the mill for cold-pressing to lock…

1 Snorkel in Indonesia The Oceanic Society provides more than 20 snorkeling tours around the world, including a 12-day trip in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat islands. Based aboard a motored schooner, up to 10 participants travel to Batanta Island, Waigeo Island, and other spots in the archipelago as they explore waters home to more than 1,500 species of fish and marine mammals. Participants learn about conserving the species found in the area from naturalist guides, who use sighting data to contribute to the region’s conservation plans. From $11,700 2 Help conserve the Great Barrier Reef in Australia Off the coast of Cairns, travelers can complete their Open Water Diver certificate and take a marine conservation tour with Australia-based No Limit Adventures. During a 12-day trip, participants might do everything from work…

WHEN I WAS 12, I became the shopkeeper for my family’s roadside produce stand. My life, as most people would have defined it, was small: The South Carolina town that contained my family’s farm had a population of 162 people, and a good number of them were related to me. Most folks who stopped by were on their way to somewhere else—the freshwater lake for bass fishing, a girls’ weekend in Charlotte or Atlanta. These out-of-towners would marvel at our prices, meant to be affordable for locals. “Everything is so cheap,” they’d say, filling their baskets with okra, tomatoes, and cantaloupes I’d picked that morning. I will never forget the nauseous feeling that unfurled in me when the things my family worked so hard to cultivate were described this way.…

Every day at AFAR, we think deeply about what makes a hotel experience truly extraordinary. The hotels we love don’t just wow us with their outstanding locations, design, and service. They’re continually looking to reduce their carbon footprint, benefit communities in meaningful ways, and connect guests to biodiverse landscapes. We showcase these values each year on our Stay List, AFAR’s compendium of the world’s best new hotels. The 15 properties featured in the following pages—vetted by our trusted network of editors, writers, and travel advisors—range from an idyllic farm retreat in upstate New York to a palatial, locally run hotel on Italy’s Lake Como. With choices like these, which will you book first? —JENNIFER FLOWERS Tanzania andBEYOND GRUMETI SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK The andBeyond Grumeti Serengeti River Lodge reemerged in 2022…

THE SAMARKAND GUESTHOUSE manager insists the breakfast room makes wishes come true. I consider sharing the quest that brought me from Los Angeles, but I’m dubious about his superstition. Instead, I focus on the spread—blinis, cherry compote, fried eggplant. The walls are a kaleidoscope of intricately carved and painted designs left over from the Jewish family who once lived here. Above the remnants of an altar is a benediction in Hebrew: MAY YOU BE BLESSED WHEN ENTERING AND BLESSED WHEN LEAVING. I need such a blessing, for I am here—in Muslim Central Asia—with an elusive goal: to uncover traces of my Jewish family more than 75 years after they left and never returned. Unlike the Bukharan Jews who had lived in this ancient city for hundreds of years, my Polish…

I’VE BEEN EATING at Taiwanese rechao restaurants for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of Taipei are of sitting outdoors at a short table with my parents as they ordered platters of wok-fried eggplant and poached calamari with sweet and sour chili sauce. Certain details stand out: the bright vermilion hue of the tables contrasting with pastel-pink plastic chairs, the flicker of a broken streetlamp on the corner, the sweat of my dad’s beer bottle, the incessant buzz of motorcycles whizzing by. As a young child visiting Taiwan from my home in the United States, I found rechao chaotic. But when I eventually moved to Taipei when I was 29, rechao restaurants became a sanctuary—places where I could meet up with friends and sit in the familiar,…

HOW TO GET AROUND Taipei has an extensive and reliable subway system, known as Metro Taipei. At a kiosk, purchase a reloadable EasyCard to pay fares; you can also use the card to buy goodies at FamilyMart and 7-Eleven convenience stores. WHERE TO STAY Shangri-La Far Eastern Taipei’s Shangri-La is the tallest hotel in the city, clocking in at 43 stories. First constructed in 1994, the building underwent a complete renovation in 2015. Today, the hotel has 420 rooms and suites, a rooftop swimming pool, nine bars and restaurants (including Michelin-approved Shang Palace), and excellent views of the city from its upper floors. It’s also some 20 minutes on foot to the roughly 64-acre Daan Forest Park, one of the most popular parks in the city. From $180. Mandarin Oriental,…

Disney is woven into my being: I wore out my Sword in the Stone VHS when I was a kid, and a couple of years ago, I even acquired a Fantasia tattoo. As I’ve grown up, so has my awareness of the corporation’s complexities, but I recently jumped at the chance to visit California’s Disneyland. To my delight, I was charmed by the design details that welcomed me at every turn. My dad splashed out on suites at the Disneyland Hotel and I loved the creative touches that permeated the space, which ranged from subtle to very, very extra. Lines for rides were events unto themselves, with atmospheric labyrinths and caves… I was gobsmacked by the exterior of “it’s a small world.” The late Imagineer Rolly Crump designed the facade…