Life

By Lilit Marcus, CNN Psadek, Cambodia (CNN) — After years guiding tourists around Cambodia, Nao Sok has a clear answer when asked which destination is most underrated: Oudong. Located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Phnom Penh, this was Cambodia’s capital from 1618 to the mid-1860s. The name Oudong comes from the Sanskrit word uttunga,

By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — It was the night before Thanksgiving, 1980. An unexpected blizzard had coated central Missouri in inches of snow. And John Morris’ car had just spun off an icy road and into a ditch. John was still sitting behind the wheel of his 1969 Chevrolet Nova, in shock. He tried

By Ali Halit Diker, CNN (CNN) — The village of Akyaka is one of those places you hope no one else finds out about. Tucked between pine-covered mountains and the cool, crystal waters of the Azmak River, it’s a picture of serenity. Whitewashed houses with wooden frames and sweeping eaves feel like part of the

By Yahya Salem, CNN (CNN) — International tourists visiting popular national parks in the US next year will be required to pay additional fees and raised rates on annual passes, the US Department of the Interior announced Tuesday. In a statement hailing a new “resident-focused fee structure that puts American families first,” the department said

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN Rome (CNN) — In video footage, it almost looks like an earthquake. The ancient Torre dei Conti, which has occupied a street corner of central Rome since medieval times, is suddenly enveloped in billowing clouds as falling bricks spew from a hole in its side. As more of its internal

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — When you think of clothing silhouettes that evoke power and presence, 1980s-era padded shoulders might come to mind, the kind seen on Grace Jones when she wore a sharply tailored Giorgio Armani suit for her 1981 “Nightclubbing” album, or more recently, Doja Cat, whose exaggerated take at the 2025

By Kati Chitrakorn, Antoinette Radford, CNN (CNN) — Anna Wintour described the American philanthropist and former journalist Lauren Sánchez Bezos as a “great lover of costume and obviously of fashion” when asked about criticism surrounding the Bezos’s role as sponsors of the 2026 Met Gala. Speaking to CNN in Doha, Qatar, at the inaugural Franca

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — Our pre-Thanksgiving travel news roundup is all about transportation, from flight attendants’ holiday survival tips to Egypt’s new high-speed rail and how the world’s oldest passenger ship began a new life on land. A unique airport and a unique plane Maho Beach, on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin,

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — Isidor and Ida Straus are remembered as two of the highest-profile victims of the Titanic disaster, and among the few first-class passengers to perish. The pair, who were depicted in James Cameron’s Oscar-winning 1997 movie “Titanic,” were offered seats in one of the lifeboats but refused to be separated.

CNN By Lex Harvey, CNN (CNN) — Fatima Bosch of Mexico has been named Miss Universe 2025 in a scandal-hit competition where she emerged as a fan favorite after she was berated by a Thai pageant director during a pre-pageant meeting, triggering a walk out by contestants. The 25-year-old humanitarian and volunteer was crowned by

By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — Navigating airports and airplanes can be stressful at the best of times. As millions of travelers take to the skies over the busy holiday period, that built-in stress can hit new heights. In the US, the now-ended government shutdown has also brought weeks of travel uncertainty. While shutdown-related flight

By Kati Chitrakorn, CNN (CNN) — In popular culture, the archetypal look of a witch is a female figure generally depicted wearing a black dress, robe, or cloak. Typically, she also sports a pointed hat and carries a broomstick that doubles as her mode of transport. It’s an image that was largely solidified by the

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN Bodrum, Turkey (CNN) — The mountainous Bodrum Peninsula rises over the vibrant blue Aegean Sea, its peak richly forested, its foothills stacked with white flat-roofed homes and hotels. On the peninsula’s exclusive northern coastline, superyachts bob between the ultra-luxury villas and hotels of Paradise Bay. In Bodrum town on the southern

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — A copy of the first ever issue of “Superman,” discovered in a Californian attic last year, has become the most expensive comic ever sold, fetching $9.12 million at auction. Three brothers from northern California discovered the issue of “Superman #1” while clearing out their mother’s attic after her death.

By Joe Yogerst, CNN (CNN) — It’s only taken a few hundred years, but the “Spice Islands” region of eastern Indonesia — now known as the Maluku Islands — is once again attracting attention. Virtually off-the-grid for global travelers just two decades ago, the archipelago and its hundreds of islands, along with several surrounding regions,

By Lex Harvey, CNN (CNN) — Fatima Bosch of Mexico has been named Miss Universe 2025 in a scandal-hit competition where she emerged as a fan favorite after she was berated by a Thai pageant director during a pre-pageant meeting, triggering a walk out by contestants. The 25-year-old humanitarian and volunteer was crowned by last

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — A self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has become the most valuable work by a female artist sold at auction after selling for $54.7 million. “El sueño (La cama)” – “The Dream (The Bed)” – grabbed the title at Sotheby’s in New York, after it surpassed the existing record

By Devon M. Sayers, Alexandra Skores, CNN (CNN) — The Transportation Security Administration is proposing an $18 fee for travelers without a REAL ID to pass through airport checkpoints. The fee would cover costs associated with new technology needed to verify the passenger’s identity, TSA said in a Thursday notice. REAL ID – a driver’s

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN Rome (CNN) — Italians have very strict rules when it comes to making carbonara. The classic combination of Italian pasta, pork and cheese are mixed with egg yolks and pepper preferably just moments before serving to create the perfect dish. Which is why, when jars of a pale creamy sauce

By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — Hitting the streets is a great way to catch a city’s real pulse — drifting through indie stores, ducking into coffee shops or grabbing a barstool somewhere lively. As global listing guide Time Out puts it, a city’s streets are where you’ll find “local life at its most authentic.”

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN Rome (CNN) — For more than two centuries, the Antico Caffè Greco has been part of the cultural landscape of Rome. Authors and artists, movie stars and princesses — even cowboys — have all made the pilgrimage to Via dei Condotti, at the foot of the Spanish Steps, to soak

By Kati Chitrakorn, CNN (CNN) — The Spring-Summer 2026 collections, shown across the main fashion capitals of New York, London, Milan and Paris during September and October, marked a season of significant change as a number of high-profile designers made their debuts at big brands. While many of those designs are not yet available for

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — What does a notorious gold toilet and a nearly destroyed Klimt painting have in common? They christened Sotheby’s first sale out of its new US headquarters in New York on Tuesday evening in a buzzy, record-breaking night. Early on, the headlining artwork by Gustav Klimt, “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,”

By Nayeli Jaramillo-Plata, CNN (CNN) — Flight delays and the recent government shutdown are pushing more travelers onto US highways this Thanksgiving, raising the risk of wrecks on what is already one of the most dangerous travel periods of the year, data shows. The crash rate on the Sunday after Thanksgiving is 65% higher compared

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — A self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is expected to break records when it goes up for auction in New York this week. The surrealist painting, being sold on November 20 by a private collector, is generating a frenzy of excitement, with experts predicting it could become the most

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — On Sunday, Jennifer Lawrence arrived at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles, part movie star, part walking advert. Her white silk dress, draped across her chest in an off-the-shoulder style with a cascading leg split, was designed by Jonathan Anderson for Dior — the French luxury label for which

By Rachel Tashjian, Leah Dolan, CNN New York (CNN) — What’s the best dressed painting of all time? It’s a question the Metropolitan Museum of Art hopes to answer with its next Costume Institute exhibition, which it revealed on Monday morning will be “Costume Art.” Opening May 10, the showcase will pair almost 200 artworks

By Richard Collett, CNN (CNN) — For decades, Somalia’s name has been shorthand for conflict, piracy and danger. Since the country’s civil war began in the 1990s, the country has had relatively few Western visitors. Yet, against the odds, the East African nation is now seeing a quiet rise in foreign tourists. About 10,000 tourists

By Christy Choi, CNN (CNN) — For more than seven decades, the family behind electronics giant Samsung amassed one of Asia’s largest private art collections. Now, with thousands of its priceless works in public hands following the death of the conglomerate’s chairman, the collection is being put to new use — as part of South Korea’s

By Terry Ward (CNN) — Is there a food more humble yet universally adored than the sandwich? And while one person’s go-to hamburger snack might be another’s katsu sando or chivito, there’s hardly a country on the planet that doesn’t turn to some type of bread with something stuffed inside it to cure a craving.

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — This week in travel: The world’s best cheese and plenty of delicious bread to pair with it, another Italian town offering sweet deals to new residents, plus a medieval village in France that earns top scores from the French. France’s favorite village France has for some years been the

By Zoe Whitfield, CNN (CNN) — It’s not uncommon for a bar or café to remind patrons that someone famous once ate there by having a physical photograph of said VIP on display. For 36 years however, at Davé, a Chinese restaurant on Rue Saint-Roch in Paris’s 1st Arrondissement, Polaroids of beloved guests were less

CNN By Kati Chitrakorn, CNN (CNN) — Two years ago, six young women — Sophia, Lara, Manon, Daniela, Megan and Yoonchae — went from relative obscurity to internet fame when the Netflix reality show, “Pop Star Academy,” turned them into the now-Grammy-nominated girl group Katseye. As their names were called out in the finale, the

By Kati Chitrakorn, CNN (CNN) — Two years ago, six young women — Sophia, Lara, Manon, Daniela, Megan and Yoonchae — went from relative obscurity to internet fame when the Netflix reality show, “Pop Star Academy,” turned them into the now-Grammy-nominated girl group Katseye. As their names were called out in the finale, the newly

By Barry Neild, CNN Bern, Switzerland (CNN) — Remember that time you had too much cheese, felt a bit queasy and — as a greasy sheen broke out on your forehead — you lied to yourself that it was salad from now on? Then spare a thought for the heroic judges at this year’s World

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — What does a cowgirl look like? For some, the question may call forth images of flanneled shirts, Stetson hats and bootcut jeans. But in escaramuza, the all-female equestrian sport imported by the US from Mexico, the answer is a little different. Before every escaramuza competition, each team lines up

CNN By Marnie Hunter, Alexandra Skores, CNN (CNN) — Air travelers have been on a wild ride this fall with flight cancellations and staffing shortages related to the US government shutdown, on top of the annual Thanksgiving crush still to come. Here’s what we know about air travel over the busy holiday period when millions

By Marnie Hunter, Alexandra Skores, CNN (CNN) — Air travelers have been on a wild ride this fall with flight cancellations and staffing shortages related to the US government shutdown, on top of the annual Thanksgiving crush still to come. Here’s what we know about air travel over the busy holiday period when 6 million

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — On Monday, Joe Jonas arrived at a taping of “Good Morning America” in New York looking a little bit like a high-school English teacher from 1998. His moss green zip-up Jacquemus sweater, worn atop a collared shirt and tie, with blue jeans and a Ford Mustang baseball cap, was

By Didem Kuzu, CNN Adıyaman, Turkey (CNN) — Mount Nemrut rises more than 2,000 meters over Adıyaman province, its slopes fading from olive groves into bare rock. From a distance, it looks like any other peak in the eastern Taurus range — until the colossal heads come into view. They sit in a solemn line

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — Dozens of British lawmakers have called for the release of 15 penguins “trapped” at a London aquarium without access to daylight or fresh air, saying their living conditions are “utterly unacceptable.” The 15 Gentoo penguins are housed in an enclosure at the Sea Life London Aquarium, located next to

By Julia Buckley, CNN Caltanissetta, Sicily (CNN) — The countdown to the holidays has begun. Christmas markets, mulled wine, ice skating — around the world, on every continent, people are starting to gear up to get into the festive spirit. But one Sicilian town is already focusing on what comes next: Easter. Caltanissetta, dead in

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — Two years ago, Gustav Klimt’s final portrait — a vibrant portrait of an unidentified woman with a fan — topped the artist’s auction record when it sold for a staggering $108 million. The Austrian painter’s record is expected to be shattered again by a monumental, six-foot-tall portrait of a

By Wayne Chang, CNN Taipei, Taiwan (CNN) — The Louvre’s “Mona Lisa,” the British Museum’s Rosetta Stone, MoMA’s “Starry Night” — major museums often have one must-see item that singlehandedly draws visitors from around the world. For the National Palace Museum, in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, the star attraction is somewhat humbler: a cabbage. Carved from

By Vivian Song, CNN Paris (CNN) — When the baguette received official UNESCO heritage status in Paris in 2022, the French delegation waved slender loaves of crusty bread triumphantly in the air, in a photo op that went viral around the world. French president Emmanuel Macron hailed the baguette as “250 grams of magic and

By Lilit Marcus, CNN (CNN) — This week in travel: a secret garden is a secret no longer in Beijing, one of France’s classic pastries is the subject of a surprising debate, and why some couples are ditching each other at the airport. Divide and conquer He likes arriving four hours early for a domestic

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — Just 80 years ago, traveling to Sydney or Melbourne from London or New York took more than a week. Now, a passenger aircraft that can complete make the journey without stopping is in the final stages of construction, Qantas announced on Friday, releasing first images of the plane as

By Marcel Krueger, CNN (CNN) — You’ve seen the French sauntering around with slender baguettes under their arms or sporting jaunty berets as they pedal bicycles laden with crusty bread. Those cinematic scenes are nice, but when you really get down to business — as my countrymen are inclined to do — it’s obvious that

By Oscar Holland, CNN (CNN) — In an age when clocks are found in most pockets and on every screen, watchmaker Col&MacArthur’s selling point is not just time, but history itself. Known for using unconventional materials — from Pearl Harbor seawater to meteorite moondust — in the name of horological storytelling, the brand is now

By Fred He Beijing (CNN) — When Ho Puay-peng first visited Beijing’s Forbidden City in the late 1980s, the Singaporean architect saw many of the historic courtyards used for storage, filled with garbage, and occupied by danwei (government offices). He summed it up with one word: “horrible.” That was when the majority of the sprawling

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — The city of Paris has announced a lottery with a twist: Instead of a cash prize, entrants can instead win the chance to be buried in one of the French capital’s most celebrated cemeteries. The unusual plan aims to restore tombs that have fallen into disrepair, while also giving

By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN (CNN) — There’s nothing quite like a festive market to bring out the Christmas spirit in people. While these events can be traced back to Vienna — the Austrian city’s first recorded December market was in 1298 — the tradition has spread across the world over the centuries. From Germany and

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — There are three things Amaarae can’t tour without — and no, it isn’t coke, ketamine and molly, despite what her song “Starkilla” suggests. Think more along the lines of a sauna, daily stretch routine and a bathroom floor so clean she could eat off of it. “Because I’m a

By Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN (CNN) — Holding an elegant black box embossed with the words “World’s Best Rice” in gold, Japanese chef Kenichi Fujimoto tilts his head and smiles — a flicker of skepticism on his face. “These things are often very commercial and not necessarily good,” says the Hong Kong-based chef/owner of Sushi

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — Sequins? In November? Groundbreaking. Yes, when Salma Hayek, Doja Cat, Iris Law, Angela Bassett, Alex Consani, Emma Roberts, Vittoria Cerretti, Demi Moore, Kaia Gerber and her supermodel mother Cindy Crawford arrived at the LACMA Art+Film Gala on Saturday, each wearing a glitzy dress by Gucci — the official sponsor

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN Kaçkar Mountains, Turkey (CNN) — In the little wooden hut perched high on metal-wrapped stilts, the drone is high, loud and insistent. With his beekeeping suit on, but hands uncovered, Hasan Kutluata squeezes the bellows on his pine-filled bee smoker. Pale wreaths swirl in the air, mirroring the mist that drifts

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — The houses are worn by weather and time, photographed in isolation like forgotten monuments. They have a haunted feel: Windows are boarded on Victorian-era turrets; paint flakes off the towering composite columns of a once-grand portico; wraparound verandas, perhaps once host to evening nightcaps and slow Sunday mornings, are

By Jeanne Bonner, CNN (CNN) — In our travel news round-up this week: advice for holiday travelers, a robot that could save old languages from dying out, plus a new super-luxurious overnight train in Italy. Holiday travel preview Have you thought about holiday travel yet? Time is just about up if you want the best

By Oscar Holland, CNN (CNN) — When Róisín Heneghan received a phone call 22 years ago announcing that her four-person architecture firm had been chosen to design one of the world’s largest museums, she thought it was a prank. She called the official back to ensure it wasn’t some elaborate ruse. “It was unreal,” she

By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN London (CNN) — It’s only been open for six years, but Rosewood Hong Kong has quickly become a distinguished feature of Hong Kong’s iconic skyline, as well as a force to be reckoned with in the luxury hotel scene. And after landing in the top three of the World’s 50 Best

By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — Claire Chabaud-Tropéano was walking through the streets of Brooklyn, New York, wondering if that night was going to change her life forever. That evening, Parisian Claire felt like she’d stepped into the New York City-based movies she’d grown up with: tree-lined streets, rows of townhouses, fall leaves under her

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — It might be the most famous — or infamous — toilet in the world: the 220-pound, 18-karat solid gold throne by the artist Maurizio Cattelan, which drew some 100,000 visitors when it first exhibited in the bathroom of New York’s Guggenheim Museum in 2016. Three years later, thieves, armed

By Fiona Sinclair Scott, CNN (CNN) — The Fondation Beyeler, home to one of western Europe’s leading modern and contemporary art collections, is turning its gaze toward a novel type of gallery — its own gardens. Located near Basel, Switzerland, the museum has long been a popular cultural attraction for its art as well as

By Krista Bo Polanco, CNN (CNN) — Jeff Robertson didn’t take Halloween decorations seriously until 2020, when he wanted to make his kids smile during the pandemic. Every year since, his yard in Holly Springs, North Carolina — and hundreds more across the country –— has been full of plastic skeletons of all sizes for

By Jori Finkel (CNN) — In a very rare and likely precedent-setting agreement, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston has agreed to return two works from 1857 by the Black potter David Drake, who made his ambitious jars while enslaved, to his present-day descendants. By the terms of the contract, one of those vessels

By Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — First it took hold at New York Fashion Week. Black feathers spilling out the front of a beige car coat at Brandon Maxwell. An Altuzarra knit two-piece that made its wearer look like they had been tarred and feathered, but beautifully rather than as some heinous ancient punishment. A

CNN By Jeanne Bonner, CNN (CNN) — In our travel news round-up this week: advice for holiday travelers, a robot that could save old languages from dying out, plus a new super-luxurious overnight train in Italy. Holiday travel preview Have you thought about holiday travel yet? Time is just about up if you want the

By Aaron Sagers, CNN (CNN) — Even though she had already been traveling for six years pursuing ghosts, it was a tour of an 1821 building in Savannah, Georgia, that left registered nurse Ashley Wiseman scared to tears. During an organized ghost-hunt weekend in 2018, the 41-year-old Connecticut resident was already feeling uncomfortable during the

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — There are no saints in the aftermath of a complicated breakup, and in one of the visuals accompanying Lily Allen’s latest album, “West End Girl” — interpreted as a post-mortem on her marriage to actor David Harbour — she assumes the role of the wayward nun, donning the familiar

By Nicole Mowbray, CNN (CNN) — It is fall 1981 and a 31-year-old Bruce Springsteen has just wrapped a wildly successful tour for his latest album, “The River.” But instead of returning to the studio to produce new songs — as was the preference of his label Columbia Records — the musician retreated to a

Story by Antonia Mortensen, video by Alessandro Gentile, Channon Hodge Tuscany, Italy (CNN) — Italy has an expensive new transport experience, and it’s not a Ferrari. The Dolce Vita Orient Express — unveiled earlier this year — is the country’s first homegrown luxury train, pitched as an homage to the 1950s and ‘60s, when glamor

By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — After Naima Green married her wife and fellow artist, Sable Elyse Smith, suddenly it seemed as if everyone in their orbit was curious if a baby would follow. As a teacher, Green loves children, and she has often photographed pregnant friends and new parents as a gesture for her

By Barry Neild, CNN Pamukkale, Turkey (CNN) — From a distance, Pamukkale looks every bit like a ski resort, with a cascade of brilliant white slopes and a scattering of tourists at the top, seemingly preparing to slalom down into the valley below. So why isn’t it melting away as midsummer temperatures nudge toward 100

CNN Travel staff (CNN) – Scary sells. Whatever the nature of their flesh, the spirits of the dead rake in very real profits when it comes to sightseeing. The tourists shelling out for the haunted houses that pop up in the fall like skeletons and spooky inflatables on suburban lawns are doing so for a

By Jenny Adams New Orleans (CNN) — – If you meet a local to hang out in the Bywater, they might suggest a matcha latte at Petite Clouet Café. Or, a visit to Chance In Hell SnoBalls, where icy confections come in wild flavors like dill pickle, ube or root beer. Petite Clouet is pale

Video and text by Isabel Rosales, Jason Morris and Cynthia Salinas Cappellano, CNN | Photographs by Elijah Nouvelage for CNN Stone Mountain, Georgia (CNN) — Why do we pay good money to be terrified? The answer lies somewhere within our psychology, our appetite for entertainment, and the primal thrill of surviving our inner boogeyman. Across

CNN Video and text by Isabel Rosales, Jason Morris and Cynthia Salinas Cappellano, CNN | Photographs by Elijah Nouvelage for CNN Stone Mountain, Georgia (CNN) — Why do we pay good money to be terrified? The answer lies somewhere within our psychology, our appetite for entertainment, and the primal thrill of surviving our inner boogeyman.

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — In our travel news round-up this week: Nevada’s haunted clown motel, Rome’s crypt adorned with the bones of 4,000 friars, plus Seoul’s legendary honky-tonk bar. Ouija boards explained Back in 1967, commercial Ouija boards were so popular that they outsold Monopoly in the United States. But what is the

By Oscar Holland and James Legge (CNN) — Audrey Eckert from Nebraska was named Miss USA on Friday, as the scandal-hit annual pageant returned under new ownership. The 22-year-old digital safety advocate beat 50 other contestants to claim the crown at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. Ivy Harrington from New Jersey and Chantéa