Where: Baltimore, Maryland
Chosen By: Laura Itzkowitz is an award-winning freelance journalist who writes for Travel + Leisure, AFAR, Architectural Digest, Vogue, and other publications. Based in Brooklyn, she constantly travels the world covering emerging destinations, luxury accommodations, eye-catching art and design and mouthwatering food and wine.
Why: Like Detroit and Buffalo, Baltimore is one of those underdog cities that’s gotten a bad rap, but seems to be on the brink of a renaissance. Three boutique hotels have opened within the last few years, which — for a city without world-renowned tourist sites — is pretty major. The newest of them — Hotel Revival, a Joie de Vivre Hotel — opened in May in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, where the infamous socialite Wallis Simpson grew up at the turn of the century before marrying Price Edward and becoming the Duchess of Windsor. It’s less than a mile from the 18-room Ivy Hotel, the only Relais & Châteaux property in Maryland, which is housed in a restored 1890s mansion and boasts one of the city’s most lauded restaurants. But perhaps the splashiest opening was the Sagamore Pendry, which opened last year in the 1914 Recreation Pier in Fell’s Point with a chic design, a pool overlooking the harbor, and dining by acclaimed chef Andrew Carmellini. Foodies have plenty to be excited about too, from the new Guiness Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House to the many black-owned restaurants like modern soul food favorite Ida B’s Table and the Land of Kush, a beloved vegan spot. I’m excited to visit in a few weeks and see what all the buzz is about.
A view of the St. Michaels Church from Broad St. in Charleston, South Carolina. GETTY
Where: Charleston, South Carolina
Chosen by Elisabeth Barker, is a luxury hotel expert at Travelzoo and travel influencer known as “Skirt & a Suitcase.” Follow her on Instagram.
Why: Southern hospitality is at its finest in this coastal town. For centuries, Charleston shaped the country’s history and today forges trends in cuisine, art and hospitality. A recent multimillion-dollar makeover of The Gibbes, the South’s oldest museum building, expanded galleries and unveiled new 3D technology to enhance accessibility for the visually impaired. A perennial on Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best list, The Vendue completed its final renovation phase in 2018 and future hotel guests can look forward to perusing hallways lined in buyable art, sampling Low Country cuisine and sightseeing from the multitiered rooftop bar overlooking Charleston’s steeple-filled skyline. The small city’s diverse heritage serves up a huge foodie scene including African fare, barbecue and seafood, but next year we will be lining up on East Bay Street to suck down fresh oysters, clams and crab claws when the high-end 167 Raw seafood counter opens its second location. Nonstop service to Charleston from Denver, Baltimore and Houston was introduced this year and in April 2019, British Air’s new nonstop flights from London Heathrow will begin touching down in Charleston, offering the first direct route for English travelers to visit their former colony.
The Estate at Kingsmill, a new private mansion that sits on a bluff overlooking the James River at Virginia’s Kingsmill Resort. PHOTO COURTESY OF KINGSMILL RESORT
Where: Colonial and Greater Williamsburg, Virginia
Who: Charu Suri is a freelance travel writer who regularly contributes to Architectural Digest, The New York Times, WSJ, Robb Report and Sherman’s Travel, among others.
Why: It is going to be a big year for this historic area: 2019 will mark the 400th anniversary of the first representative legislative assembly in the New World, the arrival of the first recorded Africans to English North America, the recruitment of English women in significant numbers and the first official English Thanksgiving in North America. There’s a lot to check out, including Casa Pearl, a new restaurant headed by a female chef, thrill attractions opening at Busc
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