We traveled to a ton of diverse places this year, from a staycation here in our hometown of Chicago, to a luxury Caribbean retreat, to a long weekend in our favorite European Capital City just to see one painting! My Top Five Activity list is always a really tough one to curate each year, but it’s always fun to reflect on all of the things we did and memories made. Here are my five (actually six!) favorites! 5. Spa Time…
We stayed at a really diverse range of resorts and hotels this year. From a tiny, boutique resort in Roatan, Honduras, to the epically luxe St. Regis in Chicago for a treat-yourself staycation. It was tough to not only narrow down the absolute best of the year, but ranking this year was also difficult, since the Top Five were all really spectacular. But the hard part is over, on to the list! 5. Bryant Park Hotel, New York City We…
As always, eating at restaurants in one of the greatest food cities in the world, is simply a privilege and a blessing that I do not take for granted. Standards for food and service in this city are high, and it often feels like any place you go is vying for relevance and trying extra hard to impress. There are plenty of places that fall short, and they don’t last long, but this year’s list includes some relative newcomers that…
My Top Five restaurants for the world list this year, while not totally devoid of Michelin stars, has very few, mainly because there were some truly stand-out restaurants that really outshined others this year regardless of international accolades. Overall, this list is also probably the least expensive list of restaurants on ChiLuxe Travel, which simply means that we ate really well on our vacations this year without spending a ton. Here we go! 5. Luna Muna, Roatan, Honduras Luna Muna…
We visited some of the busiest, most tourist-heavy cities in the world this year. What that means is that our year was full of some of the most touristy stuff you could do. We went to some of the busiest museums in the world, including The Louvre, and The British Museum. But what I also tried to do was take a few tours and go off the beaten path a bit, and try to get more of a sense of…
This was a tough list this year, mainly because we didn’t stay in too many spots that warrant being in anyone’s Top 5 list. I tried to save some money in London by staying at a pub, and there were some repeat stays in Las Vegas and Disney World that I didn’t bother to write about this year. That said, there were a few absolutely outstanding stays this year, and I wanted to highlight those three hotels and resorts in…
2024 was the year of big, big cities. We tackled three of the world’s biggest cities and one of the major goals in each place was to eat really incredible, hyper-local food. I think we succeeded in our quest this year, and it was tough to narrow down the top five best restaurants of the year. While the Chicago list had very few Michelin stars attached to it, our world list has a total of nine stars. I loved each…
This year, since we’ve eaten so much amazing food, I’ve decided to do two Top Five Restaurant lists – one for Chicago, and one for around the world. This year, the Top Five list for Chicago is going to be really steak heavy, but it’s all leading up to my Top Five Chicago Steakhouses list, which I hope to publish sometime in 2025. We ate really well here in Chicago this year, and I’m looking forward to another year of…
Well, Restaurant Week Chicago is here, starting tomorrow, and we will be checking out a few places next week and I’ll be posting updates right here on ChiLuxe Travel! But for now, a lot of folks ask me where the best places to eat in Chicago are, or where to go if you are here only for a night or two. This list is mainly geared more towards tourists in order to get the best taste of what Chicago has…
Much like with my Top Five Restaurants for this year, choosing just five activities was pretty darn difficult. We did so much cool stuff, especially in Bali and Costa Rica, that it was tough to narrow down which ones were the absolute best. I was pushed outside of my comfort zone on the hanging bridges in Costa Rica, and had one of the best spa experiences of my life in Bali, but they didn’t even make the cut! Read on…