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A hotel room with a desk and a window

Where to stay: choose your area first

Pick the area before the hotel. Compare each area by its travel links to the airport and sights, and by the travelers it suits.

Choose the area first, then the hotel or rental. The area you stay in sets how long you spend getting to the airport and the sights on your list, how quiet your nights are, and how much you walk each day. Price still matters, but a cheaper room can cost you an hour in transit each way. Use the area you choose to narrow the hotel and rental search that follows.

Start with your trip. List the sights you want to reach, note whether you arrive by air, and decide how much daily travel time you will accept. Families, solo travelers and business travelers weigh these trade-offs differently, so a central area that suits a couple on a city break may not suit a family with young children. Once you have a short list of areas, compare the hotels and rentals within each one side by side.

Europe

a large indoor mall with peopleEnglandWhere to stay in London: five areas comparedUpdated Oct 13, 2026a ferris wheel in a cityBelgiumWhere to stay in Antwerp: five bases, from the old center to ZurenborgUpdated Oct 4, 2026people sitting on chair near building during daytimeFranceWhere to stay in Paris: five neighborhoods comparedUpdated Oct 13, 2026a river running through a city next to tall buildingsNorth MacedoniaWhere to stay in Skopje: Old Bazaar, Macedonia Square or VodnoUpdated Oct 4, 2026A view of a city with a hill in the backgroundGeorgiaWhere to stay in Tbilisi: five bases, from the Old Town to VeraUpdated Oct 4, 2026green island aerial sceneryGreeceWhere to stay in Zakynthos: five bases from the Town to AlykesUpdated Oct 1, 2026gray and brown concrete cathedralGermanyWhere to stay in Cologne: four bases from the Old Town to DeutzUpdated Oct 3, 2026a city with many buildingsLithuaniaWhere to stay in Vilnius: four bases from the Old Town to UžupisUpdated Oct 4, 2026a bunch of flowers that are by some buildingsFranceWhere to stay in Annecy: four bases, from the old town to the lakeUpdated Oct 1, 2026white and brown concrete building beside river during daytimeFranceWhere to stay in Strasbourg: four bases from the cathedral to the stationUpdated Oct 1, 2026a pier in the middle of a large body of waterCyprusWhere to stay in Limassol: Old Town, seafront, hotel strip or villagesUpdated Oct 4, 2026brown Timan Faya wooden signageSpainWhere to stay in Lanzarote: four bases, Puerto del Carmen to FamaraUpdated Oct 1, 2026a group of people walking up a hill next to a body of waterNorth MacedoniaWhere to stay in Ohrid: old town, Kaneo, lakefront or the RivieraUpdated Oct 4, 2026the sun is setting over a small islandThe United KingdomWhere to stay in Jersey: St Helier, Gorey, St Brelade and moreUpdated Oct 4, 2026a bridge over a river with a waterfall in front of itBosnia & HercegovinaWhere to stay in Mostar: old town, fringe lanes, stations, BlagajUpdated Oct 4, 2026a body of water with a town in the distanceTürkiyeWhere to stay in Pamukkale: village, Karahayıt or DenizliUpdated Oct 2, 2026a lot of boats that are sitting in the waterCroatiaWhere to stay in Rovinj: old town, Golden Cape or Kuvi BayUpdated Oct 2, 2026Crowd gathered in a large, historic italian piazzaItalyWhere to stay in Siena: four bases, from the Campo to a Tuscan farmUpdated Oct 1, 2026white and brown concrete building near body of water during daytimeAustriaWhere to stay in Zell am See: town, Thumersbach, Schüttdorf or KaprunUpdated Oct 3, 2026A person standing in the middle of a snow covered forestFinlandWhere to stay in Rovaniemi: center, Santa Claus Village or a cabinUpdated Oct 4, 2026a statue of a woman holding a cell phoneArmeniaWhere to stay in Yerevan: four bases, from Republic Square to KondUpdated Oct 4, 2026a cable car going over a cliffGreeceWhere to stay in Kefallonia: Argostoli, Fiskardo, Assos, Skala or SamiUpdated Oct 1, 2026field and mountain near body of waterIcelandWhere to stay in Akureyri: center, old town, harbor or the hillsUpdated Oct 3, 2026a group of people swimming in a body of waterSpainWhere to stay in Menorca: four bases, Ciutadella to the north coastUpdated Oct 1, 2026
DestinationsWhere to go, when to go and how to get around in 221 countries. Every practical fact shows the date we checked it and who checked it.Where to stayNeighborhoods walked end to end: who each area suits, how far it is from the airport train, and the hotels we would book ourselves.PlanVisas and entry rules, travel insurance, eSIMs and rail passes, explained in plain words and rechecked when the rules change.EventsFestivals, concerts and tours with confirmed dates, rooms near the venue and the fastest way on to the next city.StoriesField reports and data stories from the road. We time the queues, count the costs and say what changed since last year.

Asia

KansaiTokyoBangkokOsakaSiem ReapMt FujiOkinawaKōbeManilaKyotoAll Asia

Caribbean

Fort-de-FranceNassauPort of SpainNegrilSan JuanOcho RiosHavanaEleutheraEl Yunque National ForestSosúaAll Caribbean

Africa

MarrakechRabatToubkal National ParkMaasai MaraCape WinelandsDiani BeachMombasaNairobiAswanSharm El SheikhAll Africa

Events

Sapporo Snow FestivalCherry blossomGion MatsuriDía de MuertosOktoberfestKandy Esala PeraheraEvents calendar

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