Welcome to our Leisure Travel Issue! In the past, you may remember our Leisure Lifestyle Edition, which included the announcement of our Leisure Lifestyle Awards winners and much more on the topic of leisure travel. This year, we tweaked our formula just a bit to still deliver all the need-to-know information on leisure travel, just in a format that closely mimics our regular issues.

No need to worry, this issue still includes the winners of our 2023 Leisure Lifestyle Awards, now in its 11th year! I remember when we first launched these awards as a complement to our annual GT Tested Reader Survey awards, and here we are more than a decade later. As you will see on page 28, this year’s roundup of winners includes many long-time favorites, including a 10-year winner, and some new leaders in the world of leisure travel.

If your leisure travels include Philadelphia in June, join us to celebrate this roster of best-of brands at The Union League of Philadelphia, located in the heart of the City of Brotherly Love, on Broad Street just blocks from City Hall, famous for a statue of William Penn perched on top. Next up on our awards docket, we announce The Trazees, from our sister web publication trazeetravel.com. These will be celebrated in Dallas, Texas, in August, during the Global Business Travel Association’s annual convention.

Leisure travel can take many forms. In the past year, my leisure trips included a Caribbean cruise with plenty of beach time, a more traditional form of a vacation; a long weekend getaway to Lake Placid, New York, which included active pursuits like hiking and fishing; and a trip to France, which had a decidedly historical bent with lots of tours. How do you define leisure travel, and what’s on your summer travel schedule?

Perhaps you will find some inspiration in this issue, from the many winners and our articles on the South Pacific, worldwide art shows and scuba diving to destination-focused pieces on Porto, Portugal; driving the Pacific Coast Highway; and island-hopping in the Caribbean. Join us next month for our annual Global City Guidebook and its one-page reports on cities around the globe. Until then, bon voyage!