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Condé Nast Traveler

Why This Japanese Town Is Blocking Their Best View of Mount Fuji

By Connor Sturges

How Malmö, Sweden Will Pull Off the Eurovision Song Contest

By Lina Abascal

How to Get Cheap Last-Minute Flights, According to the Experts

By Mark Ellwood and Blane Bachelor

Where to Eat, Stay, and Surf in Yamba, Australia

By Chloe Sachdev

Where to Celebrate Pride in the US This June

By Harrison Pierce

Finding Unexpected Joy on an Organized Day Tour Across Scotland

By Vicki Denig

Qatar Airways' New Credit Cards Offer Automatic Elite Status for One Year

By Chris Dong

An 8-Day Cycling Adventure From Tokyo to Kyoto

By Tom Vanderbilt

In Washington State's San Juan Islands, Time Stands Still and Nature Reigns Supreme

By Jesse Ashlock

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Gold list 2024.

The Best Hotels and Resorts in the World: The Gold List 2024

By CNT Editors

The Best Hotels and Resorts in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean: The Gold List 2024

The Best Hotels and Resorts in Mexico, Central, and South America: The Gold List 2024

The Best Hotels and Resorts in Europe and the UK: The Gold List 2023

The Best Hotels and Resorts in Asia: The Gold List 2024

The Best Hotels and Resorts in Africa and the Middle East: The Gold List 2024

The Best Hotels and Resorts in Australia and Oceania: The Gold List 2024

The Best Cruise Ships in the World: The Gold List 2024

Women who travel podcast.

Women Who Travel Podcast: An Astrologer Predicts Our Travel Plans

Women Who Travel Podcast: Bear Encounters in Nevada and Chasing Poachers on the Masai Mara

Women Who Travel Podcast: Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman's Record-Breaking Flights

Women Who Travel Podcast: Love, Loss, and Noodles in Cambodia

Women Who Travel Podcast: Director Lulu Wang Isn't Compromising

The future of travel, bright ideas in travel 2023.

Digital Nomads: Are They Crowding Destinations or Reviving Them?

By JD Shadel

The Future of International Travel Is Passport-Free

By Jessica Puckett

Sailing the Aegean Sustainably—Just Like the Ancients Did

By Elissa Garay

AI Chatbots Want to Plan Your Future Trips—Should You Let Them?

Can Aviation Ever Be Sustainable?

California Is Getting ‘World-Class’ High-Speed Trains

These Major Airlines Just Flew Planes Powered Entirely by Sustainable Aviation Fuel—So, What's Next?

By Rachel Chang

Wedding Guest Essentials 

43 Spring Wedding Guest Dresses for Every Type of Ceremony

By Meaghan Kenny

The Most Comfortable Heels to Pack for a Wedding

The best garment bags for travel, tested and reviewed, tested and reviewed: the best travel steamer to take on the road.

By Erinne Magee

The Best Packing Cubes to Keep Your Suitcase Organized

By Kristi Kellogg and Meaghan Kenny

35 Beach Wedding Guest Dresses to Pack This Summer

Experiences.

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Condé Nast Traveler will inspire your travel wish list with the best kept secrets of today's top tastemakers — from designers and architects, to writers and restaurateurs.

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Women Who Travel Podcast: Three Photojournalists on Revealing the Human Side of Conflict

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In Jordan, a Community Disrupted Awaits Travel’s Return

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The Best Body Sunscreens, Tested & Reviewed by Our Editors

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Travel + Leisure July 2023

TRAVEL + LEISURE™ is an indispensable guide to where to stay, what to eat, and what to do around the globe. With each issue, TRAVEL + LEISURE™ puts easy trip ideas, itineraries, and insider information right at your fingertips. Get advice from our travel experts and view the magazine’s award-winning photography.

in this issue

Contributors.

Jasmine Ting EVERYONE TO THE TABLE “The most challenging part of this trip was finishing all the food by myself,” says the New York City–based journalist, who spoke with innovators in Asheville, North Carolina, one of America’s hottest culinary destinations. “It truly was a good problem to have.” Samantha Falewée WIDE-OPEN SPACES On a scouting trip for this month’s Adventure Travel section, the T+L associate editor checked out Under Canvas Bryce Canyon, a glamping retreat near Utah’s famed national park. “Talking with cowboy Joseph Steed, as we rode horses through narrow slot canyons, was the highlight,” she says. James Rajotte COCINA MADRILEÑA “I often found myself squeezed into a corner, dodging waiters and trying not to bother diners,” says Rajotte, who photographed the food world of Madrid. “Capturing that authentic atmosphere is important, so I tried to be…

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

YEARS AGO, before social media gave rise to our obsessive need to document every waking moment, it was enough to book a “sit and flop” beach vacation. Americans were tired, vacation-starved, and content to go to a lovely hotel, order a sugar bomb of a cocktail and a wilted salad for lunch, and call it a day. The food could be middling, but if the views from our lounge chairs were spectacular, we didn’t worry that much about it. That era is long gone. In the decade or so since I started as an editor at Travel + Leisure, I’ve watched as the popularity of culinary travel has slowly and steadily changed the face of the hospitality industry. Beach resorts now have hydroponic farms and teams of chefs using tweezers in…

OCCITANIE La Manufacture Royale de Lectoure About five years ago, while walking the Camino de Santiago with her family, the Parisian stylist Christele Ageorges fell in love with the village of Lectoure and its 18th-century limestone buildings. She eventually bought an abandoned tannery and transformed it into this five-bedroom property filled with handmade objets, antiques, and flowers and foliage from the surrounding gardens. On warm days breakfast is served in the garden, which has stunning views of the Pyrenees. lamanufactureroyaledelectoure.com; doubles from $310. — Gisela Williams PARIS LA MAISON FAVART My husband and I first came across this romantic hotel while planning a trip to Paris in 2015. Located on the edge of the Second Arrondissement, the 39-room gem appealed to us primarily because it’s within walking distance of several marquee sights, including the Louvre…

MANI Kyrimai Situated on Greece’s wild Mani Peninsula, Kyrimai is a complex of stone buildings that dates back to the 1870s, when the region’s then-mayor turned the small harbor of Gerolimenas into a major trading post. Today the descendants of that visionary politician run this atmospheric resort, which has 23 rooms and suites, each uniquely decorated—try to book the three-story Tower Room, which has panoramic views of the Mediterranean. In the heat of the afternoon, you can float serenely in the pool, race the waves in the bay, or lounge in a deck chair listening to the rush and slap of the water against the pier. The restaurant is a local destination and may fill up in the evenings—in which case you can stroll to the nearby seaside tavernas for fresh octopus.…

SCANDINAVIA

SWEDEN Wanås Restaurant Hotel This captivating hotel in southern Sweden holds special appeal for art lovers: it’s located on a rural estate that’s home to an extraordinary sculpture park. The 11-room hotel, which occupies two 18th-century stone farm buildings, is outfitted with mid-century furniture and contemporary art. Outside, winding paths through gardens and woods lead to site-specific installations, like Eleven Minute Line, a land-art piece by Maya Lin that curlicues through a field of cows. The estate’s gardens and organic farm supply its excellent restaurant. wanasrh.se; doubles from $166. — G.W. A-LIST PICK I love the Hotel St. George (stgeorgehelsinki.com; doubles from $265), in Helsinki, Finland, for its natural light, calming color palette, and overall relaxed feel. But what makes me want to return again and again is the artwork and design finishes throughout…

NAPLES Palazzo Doria Napoli On September 7, 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi declared a unified Italy from the balcony of a palazzo on the Piazza Sette Settembre. Today that building is the six-room Doria Napoli, and a marble bust of the Italian patriot stands in one of the many restored galleries of the guesthouse, which opened in 2022 after a lengthy restoration. The décor is outrageously ornate: every inch of the hotel is festooned with Murano chandeliers, Baroque furniture, and trompe l’oeil frescoes. Book a room with a balcony overlooking Via Toledo and you’ll feel instantly in sync with the city below. The well-connected staff is at the ready to offer local intel—a must in always-on Naples. palazzodorianapoli.com; doubles from $320. — Jackie Caradonio PUGLIA NATURALIS BIO RESORT & SPA I stayed at this masseria, located on…

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Recent issues, travel + leisure - may 2024, travel + leisure - april 2024, travel + leisure - march 2024, travel + leisure - february 2024, travel + leisure - december 2023/january 2024, travel + leisure - november 2023, travel + leisure - october 2023, travel + leisure - september 2023, travel + leisure - august 2023, travel + leisure - june 2023.

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News & Views... finding out what's new

New openings and the latest ideas to help you organise great group trips and holidays.

What's New?

Soap stars take to the stage in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Charlie Brooks and Liam Fox have kicked off the UK tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as The Childcatcher and Grandpa Potts respectively.  

Chichester Festival Theatre: Cameron Mackintosh on new Oliver! production

Sponsored by Chichester Festival Theatre

Cameron Mackintosh has announced that a brand-new production of Oliver! will open this summer at Chichester Festival Theatre.

West End smash hit Six extends to 2025

Six has just extended its reign in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre with more than 152,000 seats now on sale.

Kym Marsh and Faye Tozer to share lead in 101 Dalmatians

Pop stars Kym Marsh and Faye Tozer will take to the stage as Cruella de Vil in the new musical adaptation of 101 Dalmatians.

GTOs react to new ‘tourist tax’ for day trippers to Venice

Group travel organisers have had their say on a new entry fee for Venice which aims to curb over-tourism. 

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Updates to 2025 RHS flower shows

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has announced that it will be taking its flower shows to different locations across the country from next year. 

Grumpy Group Organiser

Bed bugs, AI shenanigans and working from home drama

Technology is in the dock and our columnist has got an itch - Grumpy Group Organiser says it how it is.

Willy Wonka disaster in Glasgow, refunds for rain and the BT Tower

Why you need to deliver on your promises, a hotel package that caught the eye, and news about an iconic London landmark.

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News Story Archives

See Queen Mother’s private apartment at Walmer Castle

Walmer Castle & Gardens in Kent has opened the private apartment of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Port for the first time. 

Oscar-winning Ghost the Musical will tour the UK

Ghost the Musical will make a return to the stage this summer, embarking on a UK tour for the first time since 2019.

More time to visit Elvis exhibition and new artefacts on display

A cover from one of Elvis Presley’s guitars and his famous aviator sunglasses are on display at Direct from Graceland: Elvis at London Bridge until September. 

Jilly Goolden completes the 2024 GLT Show line-up

Wine critic, TV presenter and journalist Jilly Goolden is the third and final Seminar Theatre speaker to be announced for the 2024 Group Leisure & Travel Show at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes on Thursday 3rd October.

Win tickets to the GLT Awards 2024 dinner and ceremony

We’re giving GTOs the chance to win one of five pairs of tickets and join us at the five-star Royal Garden Hotel, London on Thursday 27th June for a night to remember.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is coming to London

The award-winning musical by Jethro Compton and Darren Clark will transfer to the West End following a sold-out run at Southwark Playhouse. 

More time to get group tickets for ABBA Voyage in London

The booking period has extended for the trailblazing show that continues to wow audiences at its purpose-built arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

Group tours to celebrate Sudeley Castle & Gardens’ milestone

Uncover key moments in Lady Ashcombe’s 50-year tenure as Sudeley Castle’s longest serving steward in a new display or tour at the Gloucestershire estate. 

Casting announced for London’s Starlight Express

Rehearsals are underway for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, with full casting announced for the new production that returns in the summer.

Group enjoy Leicestershire visit after GLT Show encounter

Keith Jordan had an excellent day with his Lincoln Retirees Group all because of who he met at the 2023 Group Leisure & Travel Show.

Exhibition celebrates 50 years since ABBA’s Eurovision win

Groups are being invited to celebrate ABBA’s iconic milestone through a new display at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. 

London Transport Museum display shows role of the Underground in war

Echoes of the Blitz: Underground shelters in Ukraine and London explores how underground stations and metro systems provide shelter to citizens during periods of war, through a range of photographs.

Exclusive group booking for Wicked the musical

Group travel organisers and coach tour operators can now book tickets for performances of Wicked the musical until December 2025. 

Line of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar and Doctor Who’s Peter Davison in Kiss Me, Kate

Adrian Dunbar and Peter Davison will be joined by Tony Award winner Stephanie J. Block this summer in musical comedy Kiss Me, Kate 

Bowood House display marks 250 years since discovery of oxygen

The new exhibition invites visitors to find out about Dr Joseph Priestley, the man who discovered oxygen in the laboratory at Bowood House in Wiltshire. 

More time to see The Play That Goes Wrong in London

Groups have got more time to catch The Play That Goes Wrong on stage, with a new cast also revealed to cause havoc at the Duchess Theatre in London.

Exhibitors explain the benefits of a day at the GLT Show

Success stories from Group Leisure & Travel Show exhibitors and why the event in Milton Keynes is a great choice when it comes to meeting GTOs and coach tour operators.

Watch: what is ATOL and how does it protect you?

A new video outlines what the ATOL scheme is for British holidaymakers when they book a package trip that includes a flight. 

3 huge London shows announce extensions for groups

Groups have more time to catch The Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton and Les Misérables in London as all three have announced extensions until 29th March 2025.

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Palate Pleaser

Wild and wondrous, blonde ambition, a slice of inspiration, category: travel.

Layer up – with direct flights from Miami and a luxury travel company curating bucket-list adventures, Norway is more accessible than ever. By Angela Caraway-Carlton. This doesn’t look real. It’s

Island Icon

By Angela Caraway-Carlton. A couple dressed in coordinating striped sweaters and sunhats is reading on loungers by the harbor, spritz cocktails in hand. The smell of the sea and the

By Angela Caraway-Carlton It never fails. When summer’s oppressive heat strikes, I begin daydreaming of winter wonderlands and permanently fix my television on Hallmark’s feel-good “Christmas in July” marathon. Last summer,

Spring Fling

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Coastal Splendor

With its wealth of breathtaking architecture, unforgettable gastronomic experiences and port wines, a trip to northern Portugal proves to be a wonderfully enriching adventure.

Retreat to Wellness

By Angela Caraway-Carlton. Surrounded by black reflecting pools and engulfed in morning sunlight on the spa deck, I’m attempting to mimic the graceful movements of my trainer who’s leading me

Harbors Unknown

Tired of the typical Caribbean circuit? Set a course for the unspoiled island of Nevis.

Islands Less Travelled

Rediscover the hidden gems of Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands.

No Passport Required

From a Bavarian-style village to a wine mecca that rivals France and Italy, a road trip through Washington State delivers a European adventure without the hassle.

Into the Wild

Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti sets the stage for the world’s greatest migration.

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Behind the scenes of Romania’s participation at the Venice Biennale 2024 with PM Cristian Alexandru Damian

Until November 24, 2024, Romania will present an exhibition exploring the complex relationship between work and leisure at the renowned Venice Art Biennale, highlighting the creations of Serban Savu. Business Review spoke with Cristian Alexandru Damian, the project manager of the national pavilion, to delve into the details and efforts involved in orchestrating such a project.

Can you provide insight into the logistical challenges and considerations involved in coordinating Romania’s participation in the Venice Biennale 2024, from selecting the project to managing the exhibition logistics?

One of the few Romanian competitions with significant state funding is dedicated to participation in the Venice Biennale. The national competition, refined over the years, emerged as a necessity of the local artistic environment and at its request. In 2010, an interinstitutional collaboration protocol was established between the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Romanian Cultural Institute, in which I participated. Thus, the method of participation was already known to me, especially since I was, between 2010-2018, the deputy commissioner/representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Romanian Cultural Institute for Romania’s participation at the Venice Biennale of Art/Architecture and also a member of the respective juries. Additionally, after my work at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Venice ended, I had the opportunity to coordinate and produce the national project of 2019. For this year’s exhibition, I have, of course, leveraged all the experience accumulated over the years, and I believe that the entire team – whom I take this opportunity to thank for their involvement and professionalism – has the necessary experience for a project of such magnitude.

The great advantage in forming the project team is precisely the starting point of this team: the connection between Șerban Savu and Ciprian Mureșan. They are, first and foremost, friends and studio colleagues, both artists, so the idea of participating in the Biennale as a duo was a natural one, born from the organic nature of their relationship. Personally, I have known them for many years (to not express in decades), and the integration of all the elements we intended to present came naturally. To add value to the project idea, which addresses the dimensions of work and leisure, we invited the graphic design studio Atelier Brenda from Brussels (Nana Esi and Sophie Keij) to create the “covers” of this exhibition. Their involvement in the project consists of a monumental (yet anti-monument) intervention on the facade of the pavilion, with additional visual elements inside, intended to provide the public with an initial key to understanding our project.

Unfortunately, participants in the competition organized to represent Romania at the Venice Biennale (Art and Architecture) face two major interrelated problems. The first would be that, compared to other countries, Romania struggles by waiting for the appointment of the general curator and the launch of the general theme of the edition, a theme always comprehensive, which could include any subject, although national projects are not expressly required to follow it; even if this aspect is particularly pursued, adapting a project to the general theme can also be done in the second stage of the competition or even later. Currently, the first stage of the competition takes place in November, and the second stage in January of the following year, leaving only three months until the opening, a very short time to cover all the key elements necessary for implementing such a project: logistics, obtaining external funding, preparing publications, borrowing and insuring the works (where necessary), etc.

This year, we are able to deliver the project on schedule and to the necessary standards, thanks to the support from Gallery Plan B, other private sponsors, and the Idea Foundation, which served as the organizational “umbrella” under which we entered this competition.

Romanian exhibits at the Venice Biennale consistently enjoy enhanced visibility, both internationally and within the country, particularly among experts. For this year’s event, we have collaborated with two key press agencies: Sutton, based in the United Kingdom, which manages our international promotion, ensuring significant exposure in global artistic communities, and DBO (Dăescu Borțun Olteanu), an agency renowned for its effective promotion of significant events within Romania. Additionally, we have not only prepared and organized the custodian teams, but have also set up a series of public debates. These discussions, coordinated by Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, a prominent cultural critic from Chișinău, will explore topics such as the history of mosaics, theories of labor in contemporary anthropology, economics, philosophy, and related subjects, and will be held in the New Gallery of the IRCCU Venice.

How do you anticipate the exhibition contributing to Romania’s cultural representation on the international stage and fostering dialogue on pressing socio-cultural issues addressed within the project?

The exhibition addresses a highly topical socio-cultural theme: the relationship between work and leisure. We are witnessing a shift towards fewer working hours and more rest days, sometimes on an experimental basis. Moreover, the line between the workplace and our living spaces is blurring, a trend accelerated by the pandemic which has brought the office into our homes. Additionally, we are rethinking the concept of labor as a medium of exchange: if work is compensated with leisure, traditional financial or monetary values may become redundant. Reflecting this concept, visitors to the Pavilion will encounter an installation by Atelier Brenda. This piece features a coin devoid of its conventional symbols (value and authority), replaced with pictograms representing human activities, proposing a new form of financial value.

Circularity in Action, the road Romania must take to become sustainable

Issue 4/2024

Two Romanian art galleries showcased at ARCO Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair

Cluj artists’ project secures Romania’s spot at Biennale di Venezia

Download PDF: Business Review Magazine April 2024 Issue

Centrokinetic, the largest network of medical rehabilitation clinics, is expanding to the western part of the country

European foreign direct investment faces first decline in three years

Digi Communications N.V. to distribute approx. RON 120 million in dividends

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This Airport Was Just Named the Most Luxurious in the U.S.

The research even accounts for if an airport has a caviar bar.

Angus Mordant/Getty Images

As any frequent traveler can tell you, flying can sometimes be a drag. Not the cruising comfortably at 35,000 feet part, but the getting through the airport part. Nightmarish parking, a lengthy line at check-in, the never-pleasant security line, and the search for your gate can all add up to an unpleasant experience before you even get to board. While we can't do anything about the airports that are due for a serious upgrade, we can at least point you to the airports that not only enhance the travel experience but make it. 

In February, All Clear Travel Insurance unveiled the findings of its research searching for the most luxurious airports in the world. To determine its rankings, the insurance service analyzed more than 1,800 airports, evaluating them on how many had a significant selection of passenger lounges available (minimum 10) via data by Loungebuddy, how many designer shops it has, and how many 4- and 5-star hotels are located nearby.

Each airport was also given a score on whether travelers could find a Champagne bar or caviar house too, because, you know, we all need that. After looking at all the airports the team shortlisted 69 and named New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) as the most luxurious airport in the United States.

JFK ranked as the 11th most luxurious airport overall, scoring high marks for its high number of lounges (22) and for the high number of luxury stores across its terminals (16). However, it lost points because it lacks any high-end hotels nearby, giving it a total luxury score of 48 out of 100. This pales in comparison to the No. 1 pick, Dubai International Airport (DXB), which scored 83 out of 100. 

Coming in a close second is the United Kingdom's Heathrow Airport (LHR), located in London with a score of 82 out of 100. Also in the top 5 are Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Qatar, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) in France, and Sydney International Airport (SYD) in Australia. The only other U.S. airport to make the top 20 is California's Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at No. 16.

See all the other airports to make the top 20 list at allcleartravel.co.uk . 

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Maya Rudolph Is a National Treasure

From SNL to the silver screen to awards show stages, Maya Rudolph always brings the magic. Her latest trick? Turning an out-of-touch billionaire into TV’s most endearing character.

“Everything feels like a secret,” she goes on, telling me about a friend of hers who was recently invited to some kind of ideas conference, “one of those things where they all go to some ranch somewhere and talk about things.” Her friend told her he was leaving the next day. “Where are you going?” she asked. “And he said, ‘ I don’t know ,’” Rudolph says. Her eyes, which are brown and round and already very large, like Bambi’s, widen further. “I was like, ‘What?!? Are they going to send you in, like, a Wonder Woman clear helicopter?”

.css-4rnr1w:before{margin:0 auto 1.875rem;width:60%;height:0.125rem;content:'';display:block;background-color:#9a0500;color:#fff;} .css-gcw71x{color:#030929;font-family:NewParis,NewParis-fallback,NewParis-roboto,NewParis-local,Georgia,Times,serif;font-size:1.625rem;line-height:1.2;margin:0rem;}@media(max-width: 64rem){.css-gcw71x{font-size:2.25rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-gcw71x{font-size:2.625rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gcw71x{font-size:2.8125rem;line-height:1.1;}}.css-gcw71x b,.css-gcw71x strong{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;}.css-gcw71x em,.css-gcw71x i{font-style:italic;font-family:inherit;} “That kind of infinite wealth… Anything can happen, which I find so fun. ”

That’s probably what Molly Wells, the character she plays on Loot , would do. The ex-wife of a cheating tech mogul whose $87 billion divorce settlement has made her the “third-richest woman in the world,” Wells is partial to excess and whimsy, which is one of the reasons Rudolph loves playing her. “Something I realized about myself fairly recently is I love magic,” she says. “And that kind of infinite wealth, it’s like magic. You can do anything, go anywhere. You can buy an island. Anything can happen, which I find so fun.”

Loot isn’t the only show in recent memory to spin preposterous but true headlines about the ultra-rich into satire. “The show writes itself” is something creators Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard routinely say whenever a photo surfaces of a certain serial monogamist and his new girlfriend in matching leather pants, or some megalomaniac decides to build a utopia in the desert, or, better yet, in space. Molly Wells’s disconnect—such as when she serenades inhabitants of a women’s shelter with a rendition of “All the Unhoused Ladies”—feels familiar, even as it’s dialed up for laughs. But unlike, say, The White Lotus or Succession , which portray extreme wealth as a kind of incurable disease, or a curse that dooms all who possess it to a lifetime of Machiavellian fuckery, Loot —with its lingering shots of stunning homes, rainbow suites of sports cars, and party montages set in international locations—makes clear that, actually, it is better to cry in a sprawling mansion, with a dedicated candy room, overlooking an infinity pool. “I would almost compare it to shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous ,” says Ron Funches, who plays Molly’s endearingly opportunistic cousin Howard, of the show’s wealth-porn aesthetic. “We’re making fun of the wealth and opulence, but at the same time it’s fun to see a house that’s, like, half an aquarium.”

If it sounds as if they’re trying to have it both ways, well, they are. “We’re definitely having our cake and eating it too,” Yang says. “But the observation that rich people are terrible and broken has been made, and as people who are relatively optimistic, we wanted to tell a potentially more optimistic story.”

“I’m obsessed with them. I want to be them somehow,” Rudolph says of icons she impersonates, like Beyoncé.

This extends to the character of Wells, who is given a more redeeming arc than we’ve come to expect of people in her position. “I’ve seen this rich person who is clueless and dismissive, and I don’t find it funny,” says Rudolph, who says it was important that Wells be “likable and interesting and someone you care about.”

This may be a hard sell to someone who sees “likable billionaire” as an oxymoron. “I’m pretty open about my left-leaning politics, and when it was first presented to me, I was like, I don’t necessarily want to be part of a show that is glorifying billionaires,” says Joel Kim Booster, who plays Nicholas, Molly’s caustic assistant. He was persuaded to take the role by the twist at the end of the first season, when Wells decides to give away all of her money through her charitable foundation. “When I found out we were going to end the show by saying plainly that billionaires shouldn’t exist, I was like, ‘Sign me up.’ ”

He and the other members of the cast were thrilled when, shortly after the first season aired, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, announced that he and his family were donating ownership of the company to fight climate change. “I don’t know if it was a direct influence,” says Rudolph, who was among those in the Loot group chat speculating that maybe Chouinard had been inspired by the show. “But it’s nice to think we might be able to rub up on somebody in that way. Because why not?”

Prompting the world’s billionaires toward the mass forfeiture of their wealth may seem like a lofty goal for a half-hour comedy, but if there’s anyone capable of inspiring that kind of benevolence, it may well be Rudolph, who is regularly referred to as a “national treasure” and was once literally compared to God by the New York Times .

“She has this innate likability,” says Booster, who first became aware of Rudolph when she was on Saturday Night Live in the early 2000s. “There’s a kind of purity to her intentions that makes you want to root for her.”

The early 2000s were, in retrospect, a uniquely toxic time in pop culture, and in comedy in particular, so it is indicative of Rudolph’s nature that she was able to come to prominence during this period without ever donning a fat suit. “I have a really hard time with mean comedy,” she says. “Those things that are like, ‘Oh, I’m being funny, but I’m making fun of you’? I can’t watch it. I can’t stomach it. And it doesn’t feel good coming out of me.”

She recalls a time she attempted to develop a character based on a friend’s “really fucking annoying girlfriend,” early in her tenure at SNL . “Because those are the characters that stand out, you know? You’re in a room like this, and you’re seeing somebody really obnoxious, and you think, Oh my god, that would make a great character. And then you write it, and you realize, I don’t want to hear this person talk.”

The impressions she did end up doing felt more like tributes than mockery. “I say it all the time, but I think I’m a drag queen, really,” says Rudolph, who played a lot of dress-up growing up. “I always wanted to be, like, this fabulous woman.”

She credits her mother, singer Minnie Riperton, for inspiration. Once a backup singer for acts like Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, Riperton had a breakout hit in 1975 with “Loving You,” but she died a few years later, when Rudolph was six. “Growing up in a house with this incredible mother onstage, but then also with my brother and my dad,” says Rudolph, who was raised by her father, a music producer, in Los Angeles, “I didn’t really feel like a real girl. And I wanted to be a real girl.” After college she thought she might be a fashion designer. Then she found the improv troupe the Groundlings and started dreaming about Saturday Night Live .

She joined the cast in 2000, around the time that Beyoncé was separating from Destiny’s Child. Rudolph was smitten. “I think a lot of my impressions come from watching people because I love them and I’m obsessed with them, and I want to be them somehow,” she says. “So when I started getting to play Beyoncé, I felt like, I know how to do this. Because it’s the same thing I did when I was little. You’re dressing up like a princess. You put on the leotard and some weird scarf, and you’re like, ‘This is my beautiful ball gown.’ ”

Rudolph thought she’d live in New York forever. Then she met Paul Thomas Anderson, the director of Boogie Nights and Magnolia , at an SNL afterparty he had come to specifically to meet her. “He said he saw me in a sketch and said, ‘That’s the girl I’m going to marry,’ ” she says with a note of mock suspicion. “But I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Maybe he just told me that to be sweet.”

They had their first child, a daughter, in 2005. “I thought, This is all going great!” she says. “I’d always wanted to have kids. I’d always wanted to live in New York. I’d always wanted to be on Saturday Night Live .” But Anderson, who is to the San Fernando Valley what Fellini was to Rome, was set on moving back to Los Angeles. For a while Rudolph tried commuting, flying back and forth to SNL , sometimes with her daughter in tow. “This little bald baby, listening to the musical guests warm up,” she says. “I look back and I can’t believe I did that. It was crazy. I don’t think I slept for two years.”

She left SNL in 2007 and committed full-time to Los Angeles. She and Anderson had three more children and settled into a life that, to all appearances, seems the platonic ideal of a freewheeling, artistic, bohemian Hollywood existence. He makes quirky, critically acclaimed yet commercially successful indie movies starring A-list ensemble casts. She plays quirky parts in commercially and critically acclaimed movies and TV shows starring mainly members of her friend group, which happens to consist of the best comedians and actors alive. Also, she occasionally shows up in a glorious caftan to save M&Ms in a Super Bowl ad or show Oscar presenters how it’s done.

“I think half the stuff I did is because a friend said, ‘Will you come and do this?’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, that sounds fun,’ ” Rudolph says. “I never really knew what direction I was going to go in. I still don’t want to know. I want it to be informed by what I’d like to do, as opposed to what I’m supposed to do. I think that’s when it’s the most fun and the most alive.”

This was how, back in 2018, Rudolph ended up forming a production company, Animal, with her longtime friends Natasha Lyonne and Danielle Renfrew Behrens. At the time she was in her mid-­forties and starting to realize she was becoming, for lack of a better term, an “elder statesman” of her tribe. “I thought, Why not use that power for good,” says Rudolph, who imagined herself as a “creative doula,” helping to usher into the world projects that, ultimately, belonged to other people.

The company was a success out of the gate, with an eclectic mix that included Lyonne’s Netflix series Russian Doll , the teenage rom-com Crush , and a documentary about a Lebanese heavy metal band. Lyonne, for whose animalistic ambition they named the company, was eager to keep going.

“But more and more I was starting to feel like there weren’t enough hours in the day,” says Rudolph, who started filming Loot in 2021. “It takes a lot to create a show, and it’s great to be able to create it, but then to actually show up and be on the set every day, it’s, ‘All right, then I don’t have time for this, this, and this…’

“I like working, but I don’t like killing myself. I used to not have a choice.”

“I like working, but I don’t like killing myself. I used to not have a choice, and so I did it, because that’s what you did. You exhausted yourself. You ended up in bed, comatose, because you left it all on the dance floor or whatever. But when you’re taking care of children, that’s not really an option.” So late last year she decided to step away to focus, she says, on “quality over quantity.”

Right now that means the eighth season of Big Mouth , the star-studded animated coming-of-age Netflix sitcom for adults, in which she voices the character of Connie the Hormone Monstress, and a role in John Krasinski’s upcoming fantasy comedy IF .

She and her friend Gretchen Lieberum are doing a few shows with their Prince cover band, Princess, and after her guest appearances as Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live , Rudolph is thinking about putting together a live show. “It’s such a great way to remember, Oh, you’re a live performer,” she says. “You love being on a stage with people who have got your back, who love you, you love them, you all make each other laugh. It’s a joy. It’s a luxury and a joy.”

“Also, I really want to get back into pottery,” she adds. Then she catches herself. “I’m pretty sure that’s actually a joke in Boogie Nights . Someone says they want to get into pottery, and you’re like, ‘Oh, honey.”

And, of course, there’s Loot , which she hopes will get renewed for a third season. There’s no shortage of material, after all, given Jeff Bezos’s and Elon Musk’s ongoing midlife crises. (“I’ve been noticing the Tesla Cybertrucks a lot lately,” she says, pulling up a picture of one of the Mad Max –style cars on her phone and snickering. “It looks like a little boy designed it.”)

It’s possible, also, that Loot ’s stealth mission to change the world via Apple TV+ may be bearing fruit. Just the other day, Joel Kim Booster sent an article to the group chat about an Austrian heiress who, to make a statement about inherited wealth, announced that she’s recruiting 50 strangers to help her determine how to give away $27 million of her inheritance. “I have no idea if she’s a Loot fan…” he said.

But who knows? Anything can happen.

Photographs by Ruven Afanador Styled by Rebecca Grice

Hair by John D at Forward Artists. Makeup by Molly R. Stern for Retrouvé at Forward Artists. Nails by Ashlie Johnson at the Wall Group. Tailoring by Kristine Gaplanyan for SCD Inc. Set design by Charlotte Malmlöf . Production by ViewfindersLA .

In the top image: Gucci cape gown ($12,000); Gucci Allegoria High Jewelry earrings and necklace.

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In London, a Houseboat Used to Be the Affordable Option. Not Anymore.

With land-based home prices increasingly out of reach, more Londoners are taking to the water. But as the canals fill up, even this affordable living option is becoming less attainable.

By Ben West

When you walk along the towpaths lining London’s 100-mile network of canals, a life on the water can appear idyllic. The boats dotting the winding banks look impossibly charming, romantic, colorful. Even better, they’re cheap to acquire compared with buying a conventional land-based house or apartment in the city.

“It’s so peaceful here,” said David Ros, a freelance sound designer who has been living on the London waterways for 15 years. “I wake up in the morning and open the side door looking out over the river, and the ducks are waiting for me to feed them. It’s just a really nice way to live.”

Mr. Ros, 62, took to the water all those years ago after his marriage broke up and his mother fell ill with cancer. “At the end of that, I didn’t really have much money as I hadn’t been able to work for quite a while,” he said. “I just had enough to buy a boat, so I got one.”

As he spoke, a kingfisher flew by and the sun cascaded through the windows of his 43-foot-long Dutch barge. He bought his current houseboat about six years ago for £30,000 ($38,000). It was a “complete wreck,” he said, so he did extensive renovations. Dating from 1940, the barge has an open kitchen/saloon in the bow, a bathroom with a shower and toilet, and a double bedroom in the stern. It’s a nice setup, if a bit cramped. “The headroom is one of the main disadvantages,” he said.

Mr. Ros says he’ll never to live on dry land again, as he prefers being “surrounded by nature.” But the reality is, he probably couldn’t afford a place he wanted, anyway. Home prices remain out of reach for many in London, with an average sale price of about 508,000 British pounds ($636,000), a 50 percent increase over the past 10 years. Meanwhile, a two-bedroom Dutch barge houseboat in the area will now run you around £190,000 ($238,000).

The option is almost too appealing — a new wave of residential boaters is stretching London’s canal support system past its limits. “It’s changed dramatically in the last few years,” Mr. Ros said. “There’s probably three times the number of boats, four times the number of boats than there were 10 years ago. And the demographic has changed; there are a lot more young people.”

Boaters have been living on Britain’s canals since the industrial revolution. But according to the Canal & River Trust, which looks after the nation’s waterways system, the number of residential boats in London has ballooned by 86 percent over the past decade, to more than 4,000. Boats without home moorings — that is, a legal place to stay put — have more than tripled.

“I think it is fair to say that the large increase in people living on boats in the capital is driven by the housing crisis and cost of living in London,” said Jonathan Ludford, the national communications manager for the Canal & River Trust.

With all the new boats on the water, even this affordable living option is becoming less attainable. Mr. Ros’s winter coal supply costs £22 ($29) per bag, and he needs at least 20 bags for the season. Prices for diesel and gas are also up about 50 percent, and the basic price of a boat license is rising.

Even so, the Canal & River Trust is not taking action to limit the number of boats, said Fran Read, the organization’s national press officer. “There is plenty of room, even in hot spots like London, where boat numbers are more concentrated,” Ms. Read said. “But there is a finite amount of canal, with some places very busy already. So if a boater doesn’t have a permanent mooring, they may not be able to find a mooring space just where they’d like.”

Residential boaters in London have two options: One is a permanent mooring, maybe in a marina or along the towpath, with an electric hookup for everyday functions. In inner London, permanent moorings are just about at capacity. The other option, more affordable but less stable, is to “continuously cruise,” whereby the boat has to move into what is essentially a parking spot at least every 14 days.

To ease congestion, the Trust is cracking down on rogue mariners. “If you don’t have a mooring, they move you on, just like a parking attendant,” said Mr. Ros, who has a permanent mooring for around £7,000 ($8,800) a year — a lot less than the typical amount in the area. “They have these people on bicycles controlling each area, logging how long each boat is there. You get fined £25 a day if you overstay.”

Ms. Read confirmed that boat living in London can be “considerably cheaper” than living on land, though it comes with unique challenges and isn’t for everyone. “We support any boater who is struggling wherever possible,” she said, “including directing them toward benefits that are often available for those living afloat on low incomes.”

Boaters on residential moorings can claim housing benefits the same as land-based residents. And the Canal & River Trust lobbied for boaters without home moorings to be included in the government’s Energy Support Scheme last year.

Mark Knightley, 41, and his partner, Tessa Roberts, 37, bought their first London houseboat about eight years ago after realizing that it was their best chance of living together.

“We were renting two separate places, living miles apart,” Mr. Knightley said. “And I’m an actor, while Tessa is a researcher, so we don’t have a lot of money. And the cheapest way of living together was to buy a boat.”

For five years, the couple lived on the 36-foot-long narrow boat in Hackney, east London, which they bought for about £35,000 ($45,000). “It had a bed that would fold out every night, and the floor space was about two square feet,” Mr. Knightley said. “But it was on a beautiful marina on the River Lee.”

Three years ago, shortly before their daughter was born, the couple upgraded to a 70-foot-long Dutch barge with a permanent mooring at South Dock Marina, by the Thames in Rotherhithe, southeast London, for around £200,000.

Mr. Knightley glowed about the community around them — “like nothing that we’d find anywhere else in London,” he said. “There’s a lot of creative people, and loads of history with the dock and the boats that are here.”

Still, it’s a schlep to the supermarket, and ordering food gets complicated when delivery drivers don’t understand your address. And of course, raising a child on a barge comes with its own challenges. In the winter, power outages are a problem, “which can be scary for a young child when she’s in the bath and we’re suddenly plunged into pitch-black darkness,” Mr. Knightley said.

“People assume we must be terrified about her safety all the time because of the water,” Ms. Roberts said. “But I think it’s the same as living near a road: You teach them to be careful around it and you don’t leave them unsupervised outside.”

But the couple’s biggest challenge recently has been the spike in costs. Boat license fees rose by 4 percent beginning in April 2022, and the Canal & River Trust has also phased in additional pricing bands for boats wider than 7-foot-1. Fees for boats more than 10-foot-7 wide are subject to an additional 5 percent.

Houseboats in Britain require a Boat Safety Scheme certificate, which must be renewed every four years. For narrow boats, the cost isn’t exorbitant — Mr. Knightley and Ms. Roberts paid £300 ($380) — but their mooring fees rose by 11 percent this year to £10,000 ($12,450).

“For our barge, it cost £13,000 ($16,500) for the certificate, although the work done to make it legally safe will probably last 10 years,” Mr. Knightley said. “The last time this boat came out of the water they had to replace the steel, and it cost £40,000 ($51,000). You should also do an engine service every five years or so.”

In their area of London, higher fees are part of a plan by the Southwark borough council to redevelop the marina, at a cost of £6 million. The goal is to address health and safety issues on the water and on the docks, create new wash facilities and a cafe, and replace old workshops that are currently in shipping containers with new purpose-built ones.

The plan, said Catherine Rose, a Southwark Council member for neighborhoods, leisure and parks, “will address urgent health and safety issues to help maintain a working marina and enhance the boat yard environment.”

To help ease the transition, she said, the council is offering a discount for boat-repair shops and staggering the rent increase over a three-year period for all existing boatyard businesses.

But boaters like Mr. Knightley and Ms. Roberts see the move as a way to replace lower-income boaters with more commercial interests. “There’s a lot of concern at the moment with the community here about how the council are essentially trying to force people out,” Mr. Knightley said. “The housing situation in London is horrendous anyway; they’re just making it even worse.”

The boaters tend to agree, though, that safety and security are urgent matters. The Metropolitan Police Service does not keep separate data on water crimes, but boaters say that crime at marinas, and even on boats, has long been a problem.

“I’d never live on a boat again,” said Janusz Konarski, 56, who did just that in London’s Little Venice from 1983 to 1995, before returning to land. “I didn’t ever feel secure. There was a bloke trying to steal my bike. Then we had a glue sniffer undoing the moorings because he was mentally ill. He pulled a knife on me, although the police got him.”

These days, Mr. Ros said, “it feels like there’s a lot of crime around. There’s a lot more breaking in, there’s a lot more general thievery going on. It’s desperate times here, and boats are an easy target.”

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Whether you’re renting, buying or selling, here’s a look at real estate trends..

A couple’s tiny cabin in the Catskills, one of the few extant examples of a popular 1970s design, had no heat or toilet . But it was theirs for $85,000.

Fueled by the public’s love of reality TV and desire to view luxury homes,  real estate agents are chasing fame  as fervently as they chase deals.

Property is generally worth less if it’s owned by a Black American. Here’s how the “Black tax” has affected homeownership  for Black Americans.

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A utilitarian walk-in shower works just as well as something nicer, so why spend the time and effort — and the money — to upgrade it? Here’s why .