four tourist travel opiniones

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Alguien usó el servicio de Four Tourist Travel???

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• Foz de Iguazú

Foz de Iguazú Preguntas y respuestas

12 respuestas

Si uno viaja solo, es una buena opción para ir del aeropuerto al centro de Iguazú.

No. Hice todos los circuitos por mi cuenta, lee el foro de las Cataratas y de Puerto Iguazu y con los buses y taxis llegue a todos lados!!!

Realizamos 2 excursiones con esta empresa, además de traslados aeropuerto-hotel-aeropuerto. La primera excursión fue a las Cataratas, en la cuál salió todo como estaba planeado. Los móviles que nos llevaron del hotel a Cataratas y de Cataratas al hotel estaban bien, y todo les funcionaba bien, incluido el aire acondicionado, que funcionaba tan bien que hasta hacía frío dentro del móvil en un día de 35º a pleno rayo del sol.

La segunda excursión fue a Minas de Wanda y Ruinas de San Ignacio. Este día hizo 33º aproximadamente, estuvo nublado en varios momentos y hasta lloviznó. El viaje eran 230km de ida, y 230km de vuelta. El móvil que nos tocó (móvil 6 patente AC976SZ) tenía el aire acondicionado prendido, pero no llegaba a abastecer a los pasajeros, sino que sólo abastecía al conductor, irónicamente. Todos los pasajeros estuvimos todo el día con mucho calor debido a esto, y cuando se lo comentamos al chofer simplemente dijo que el aire acondicionado no abastecía, se dio media vuelta y siguió con el recorrido. En el momento realizo la queja con la persona que nos vendió las excursiones (Daniel, que nos atendió excelente en todo momento), él envía la queja a la gerencia, y le responde Santiago Lewczuk "El aire acondicionado del vehículo funciona en correctamente en todo el vehiculo. Debido al calor no esta lo suficientemente frio dentro del vehiculo. Como suele pasar con todos los moviles en días como estos". Puro chamuyo, ya que el día anterior a pleno rayo del sol y con igual o mayor temperatura íbamos con frío al nivel de abrigarse dentro del móvil. Procedo a enviar directamente un mail a este Santiago de la gerencia, explicándole la situación y pidiendo una respuesta coherente, a lo que respondió exactamente lo mismo.

También realicé la queja por el conductor, ya que se la pasó realizando adelantamientos en la ruta y superando la velocidad máxima de las rutas por las que fuimos, a lo cual Santiago me responde "Respecto al límite de velocidad, le comentamos que nuestros vehiculos cuentan con limitador de velocidad, y más precisamente este vehículo AC 976 SZ, tiene un limitador de velocidad que impide que el vehículo exceda los 90km por hora y a su vez todos nuestros vehiculos cuentan con un tacografo, el estaremos chequeando para conocer el límite de velocidad del vehículo ese día". Claro, seguro respetó los limites si venía en una zona de 80km/h, pasamos a una zona de 60km/h y no tocó el freno. La comprensión de texto de Santiago me conmueve.

Encima no quería responder mi mail. Tuve que reenviárselo tras 5 días de estar esperando una respuesta, y recién ahí me respondió a las 2 horas.

Empresa poco seria la verdad. No la recomiendo para nada.

si, no es muy bueno desde Iguazu al aeropuerto, porque te buscan con mucho tiempo de anticipacion 3 o 4 horas antes del vuelo. El costo es de $150 por persona , si son tres o mas personas te conviene tomar un taxi, en 20 minutos estas en el aeropuerto y no te estan paseando por todos los hoteles de Iguazu hasta llegar al aeropuerto.

Hola, contrate el servicio de traslado ida y vuelta Aeropuerto - Hotel ($500) e ida y vuelta Hotel - Cataratas ($650) en total final $1150, yo era un pasajero solo y siendo tan económico pensé que algo estaba mal.

La verdad, me equivoque y por lejos, cumplieron con los horarios, combis de primera y además el teléfono que tiene para comunicarse por WhatsApp cada vez que escribí me respondieron enseguida. EXCELENTE SERVICIO, vale la pena mencionarlo. Le pongo 5 estrellas.

Me pueden decir como trasladarme del aeropuerto de Cataratas a un Hotel en Foz a las 22hs

Muchas gracias

Yo lo use este mes de septiembre para ir y volver del aeropuerto. Son 200 pesos por persona por trayecto y creo que si coges ida y vuelta son 350. No son muy puntuales porque te citan a una hora y llegan de 15 a 30 minutos tarde, porque van recogiendo por los hoteles

alguien uso four turist travel? cuanto sale por persona el traslado, gracias.

No recuerdo.

No lo conozco

Hola no se que es eso , solo fui de paso y a un restaurant con cena show

Four T Travel es una agencia local conformada por otras 4 agencias de la ciudad. no trabaja mucho pero el servicio es normal. Pero tenes ademas otras q son mejor ubicadas. Cuenca del Plata, Aguas Grandes, Caracol, Estas son las mas.

Qué hay cerca

Hacer una pregunta.

Obtené respuestas rápidas del personal y los visitantes anteriores de Foz de Iguazú.

Four Tourist Travel

Contamos con servicio de arribo y salida con cada vuelo que llega al aeropuerto Cataratas del Iguazú.

Llegamos y salimos desde todos los hoteles y alojamientos del centro de Puerto Iguazú sin costo adicional.

Con choferes preparados y vehículos equipados para una experiencia sin contratiempos.

Teléfono: 3757 680083

Correo: [email protected]

Dirección: Av. Córdoba esq. Misiones | Sucursal: Aeropuerto Internacional Cataratas del Iguazú (Sucursal 1)

Leg. Nº 11663

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Ente Municipal de Turismo

Municipalidad de puerto iguazú, puerto iguazú se encuentra ubicada en el extremo nordeste de la república argentina. junto a los países de brasil y paraguay conforma la triple frontera, donde los ríos dividen tres países rodeados de exuberante naturaleza. portal de la oferta del destino iguazú. puerto iguazú misiones argentina - año 2024.

Diseño Reemix Publicidad

Four Tourist Travel

Agencias de viajes y turismo.

1º de Mayo 103 , Puerto Iguazú , Misiones

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The 7 Most Controversial Travel Opinions

Caroline Morse Teel

Caroline Morse Teel is the Managing Editor for SmarterTravel Media. Follow her on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline .

Caroline joined Boston-based SmarterTravel in 2011 after living in Ireland, London, and Manhattan. She's traveled to all seven continents, jumped out of planes, and bungeed off bridges in the pursuit of a good story. She loves exploring off-the-beaten path destinations, anything outdoorsy, and all things adventure.

Her stories have also appeared online at USA Today, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Yahoo, Boston.com, TripAdvisor, Buzzfeed, Jetsetter, Oyster, Airfarewatchdog, and others.

The Handy Item I Always Pack : "Earplugs. A good pair has saved my sleep and sanity many times!"

Ultimate Bucket List Experience : Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro.

Travel Motto : "Don't be boring."

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat : "Aisle (when the first class private suite isn't available)."

E-mail her at [email protected] .

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Armrest allocation, clapping when the plane lands, and using the recline button—these controversial travel topics are guaranteed to start a full-on debate between frequent flyers.

Are you in agreement or are you misaligned with most of the traveling public? Travel site Kayak conducted a poll of the most hotly debated travel opinions to determine the Unspoken Rules of Air Travel .

Here’s what the survey found:

Cutting the Line Is Ok

About to miss your flight? According to Kayak’s survey, 57 percent of travelers will have sympathy for you (and will let you cut the line) if it’s the difference between making it to the gate in time or being left stranded.

Unattended Children Should Be Banned

Letting your kids run around the airport (or plane) freely in the hopes they’ll burn off some energy? 90 percent of respondents ask that you rein them in, voting that children shouldn’t be left unattended during travel.

Would You Pay Extra for a Kid-Free Flight?

Don’t Stand on the Moving Sidewalk

If your personal pet peeve is people who ride the moving sidewalks at the airport (rather than walking on it), you’re not alone—57 percent of travelers feel the same way. 

Just remember, moving sidewalks are a huge help to people with mobility issues—so try to extend some grace and patience when travelers aren’t walking on them. 

Clapping When the Plane Lands Is Annoying

Your fellow passengers ask you to hold your applause when the plane touches down. A close margin of 51 percent of flyers thinks this measure of appreciation is “pointless” because the pilots can’t hear you.

The Middle Seat Doesn’t Get Both Armrests

A surprising 57 percent of passengers have no sympathy for the person stuck in the middle seat, saying the armrests are up for anyone to grab. 

Should You Recline Your Seat on an Airplane?

Reclining Your Seat is Acceptable

Go ahead and lean back ( just please, do it the right way ) next time you fly. A vast majority (88 percent) believe that the recline button is offered for a reason.

Leave Your Socks On

Fellow flyers don’t want to see (or smell) your bare feet. Seventy-six percent of passengers voted that people should keep their socks on during a flight.

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We can’t be a pro-business state if we’re not telling Oklahoma’s story | Tourism official

Tourism and travel increasingly serve a crucial role in any state’s workforce pipeline. With a diverse job landscape allowing individuals to rethink where and how they live, Oklahoma is poised to attract new residents through visitation to the state.

Increased flexibility in jobs across the country, including remote and hybrid roles, has allowed more individuals to reflect on where they live and build their careers. A 2023 study by Development Counsellors International (DCI) revealed that the number of individuals who decide to relocate based on their trip to a destination is on the rise, making up about 14% of respondents — meaning millions of Americans could visit a place and decide they want to live there based on their travel experience.

The same study also confirms that people continue to prioritize quality of life as an initial motivation for relocating. Livability and affordability of a place are leading factors of quality of life, both of which are abundant in Oklahoma, presenting an opportunity to show off what our state has to offer as soon as travelers enter the state.

We know people are looking to move here, as evidenced by recent net migration growth that shows Oklahoma as No. 9 in the country for overall growth. Additionally in 2023, the population in the state grew at its fastest rate in a decade.

If today’s visitor becomes tomorrow’s talent, my vision and commitment to the state is to continue expanding the success of our tourism and travel operations, and ultimately attract more long-term Oklahomans who contribute to our communities by becoming permanent residents and taxpayers.

More: Oklahoma's state parks are crumbling. How will lawmakers fund much-needed fixes?

Oklahoma’s tourism operations have been extremely successful, despite outdated funding structures that have limited investment in recent years. As our state’s third-largest industry with an annual impact of $11.8 billion, tourism efforts attracted more than 18 million visitors, generated $833 million in state and local tax revenue, and supported over 103,000 jobs, contributing significantly to local economies.

To build on this momentum and continue showcasing what makes Oklahoma special to visitors, it’s necessary to collaborate across local and state tourism agencies, boards and commissions. But doing so will require changes in the way we are able to promote the state.

Currently our two funding sources that are dedicated to promoting the state and maintaining our tourist attractions are capped, and have been limited since 2015. Unfortunately, this has also capped economic growth and development in our state — from when the cap was put in place to 2023, the state has lost over $75 million in potential funding for statewide marketing and capital improvements.

Even with this limited investment in promoting Oklahoma, we’ve seen a 60 to 1 ROI. For every $1 spent on tourism promotion, we see a return of $60 in visitor spending. In order to capitalize on growth opportunities in our communities, we must modernize funding sources and put those dollars toward investment in promoting our state to attract visitors, and potentially, future Oklahomans.

We can’t be a pro-business state if we’re not telling Oklahoma’s story.

More: We can unlock the full potential of Oklahoma's tourism, wildlife, arts and heritage

Oklahoma is a top-tier destination for visitors of all ages, but it’s also a wonderful place to live, work and enjoy. By continuing to promote this and attract individuals through travel and tourism, we can ultimately build our workforce of tomorrow.

Shelley Zumwalt is the secretary of tourism, wildlife and heritage and the executive director of the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department.

I'm a travel writer who's been to 19 countries. Here are 4 'tourist traps' I wouldn't recommend — and where I'd go instead.

• I'm a travel writer who's been to 19 countries and experienced my fair share of tourist traps.
• While some really are worth visiting, I was disappointed by others.
• Here are four places that fall short, and where I'd recommend going instead.  

In my years spent traveling, I've learned that some places — often referred to as "tourist traps" — are successful at bringing in thousands of visitors because they're really worth visiting.

On the flip side, however, I've also spent my fair share of time being disappointed by a place or experience that didn't live up to my expectations. 

From Times Square in New York City to Switzerland's most famous peak, here are four places I wouldn't recommend — and where I'd go instead. 

Seeing the Matterhorn from Zermatt, Switzerland, was beautiful. But next time, I'd choose to spend more time somewhere like Lauterbrunnen.

I wanted to love Zermatt, the picturesque town at the base of the Matterhorn, so badly. So badly that I practically begged my family to put it on the itinerary when we visited Switzerland in 2022 , even though it was well out of our way.

They appeased me, and we spent a day in Zermatt — but I found myself wishing we'd gone elsewhere instead. 

The town's beauty and charm met my expectations; it looked like something out of a fairy tale. But it was also expensive and crowded, and after having just spent a few days camping in Lauterbrunnen , I wished I was still there. 

Lauterbrunnen, just a few hours away from Zermatt, is something out of a movie. As you drive into the village, you're greeted with cascading waterfalls from cliffs so high they get lost in the clouds. 

While you can see the Matterhorn in Zermatt from a distance, in Lauterbrunnen, you're surrounded by impossibly tall mountains in every direction. I thought it was more beautiful and peaceful than Zermatt, and I'd jump at the chance to return.

I'd been longing to see Versailles in France but was overwhelmed by the number of tourists. I'd rather spend an afternoon picnicking at the Eiffel Tower.

I'm still disappointed by how much Versailles overwhelmed me . 

I couldn't wait to get out of the palace, one of the things I was most excited to see during my last trip to Paris. Filled wall-to-wall with visitors, it made me more anxious than I'd been in a long time.

While I loved exploring the estate's gardens, next time, I'd skip the long commute to Versailles — which took about an hour from Paris by train — and set up a lunch under the Eiffel Tower . 

I did it on my first trip to Paris and truly enjoyed it. People-watching from a park near the monument was a great way to spend the afternoon, and it's what I'd do instead of revisiting Versailles.

Times Square in New York City is one of my least favorite places in Manhattan. I'd prefer to spend time in Central Park any day.

In New York City, Times Square is one of the most popular tourist traps  and, in my opinion, an overstimulating hellscape that's not worth visiting.

Instead, I'd choose to pick up food — maybe a bagel, slice of pizza, or a sandwich — and walk around Central Park.

Depending on where in the park you find yourself, you can still experience the city's charms, like performers, souvenirs, and food carts, but it's infinitely less stressful.

The Louvre is a bucket-list item for many, but nothing I'd ever do again. Instead, I'd like to see the Louis Vuitton Foundation.

I visited the Louvre for the first time in July, more out of a sense of obligation than anything — how can you visit Paris without seeing the Mona Lisa at least once?

Visiting the Louvre was exhausting ; every room was packed with visitors, and long lines snaked throughout much of the museum. I left shortly after seeing Leonardo da Vinci's most famous work and will likely never return.

Instead, I'd like to see other Paris museums locals recommended. The Louis Vuitton Foundation, for example, was brought to my attention more than once. If I ever return to Paris, I'd skip the Louvre and head there instead. 

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The 16 best Four Seasons in the world, according to travel experts who have stayed at them

Four Seasons is one of the most highly recognized and highly rated luxury hotel brands in the world. Guests can count on exceptional service and fabulous accommodations. But time and again, the brand goes beyond what's expected from a high-end hotel to craft an anticipatory, guest-first experience that leaves a lasting impression— so much so that TPG readers have bestowed upon it the 2023 TPG Award for Best Luxury Hotel Brand.

Although Four Seasons fields a mix of distinct urban and resort properties that grace bucket-list-worthy locales, as you'll see in the list below, all share that unmistakable Four Seasons flair. Details such as the legendary cloudlike beds and the staff's knack for remembering return guests' special preferences take the experience of staying at a Four Seasons property to the next level. In recent years, the brand has continued to show us that it's experimenting in ways other luxury chains might not be — opening its second tented camp, Naviva in Mexico, for example, and branching out with more over-the-top yachting and private jet excursions. Four Seasons keeps proving to world travelers that, even without a formal loyalty program, it's a brand well worth returning to for remarkable experiences.

It's hard to believe today, with nearly 130 hotels in locations around the globe — including Paris , Bangkok and Napa , California — but Four Seasons Hotels was founded back in 1961 with the opening of a single motor hotel in downtown Toronto geared toward business travelers .

More than six decades later, the chain's distinctive properties run the gamut from a safari lodge to a 14th-century convent, from tented camps to private islands. The company has even expanded to over-the-top Four Seasons Private Jet Experiences and Four Seasons Yachts . Two of its outposts have even been featured in the popular HBO series " The White Lotus ."

Related: These Four Seasons hotels are the real main characters of 'The White Lotus'

But you don't have to be a Hollywood star or a billionaire jet-setter to enjoy some of the chain's most incredible hotels. Here are 16 of the best Four Seasons in the world, and what makes each so unique.

It's worth visiting this nonpareil resort — tucked into a jungly valley on the outskirts of Ubud, Bali — for the dramatic entry alone. Guests traverse a wooden footbridge that leads them to the middle of a manmade lily pond, then descend a staircase into the reception area and lounge. There's truly nothing else like it in Bali, or in Asia.

With just 42 villas and 18 suites arranged down the side of the valley, practically to the banks of the Ayung River, the resort feels intimate and ultraexclusive. The suites are great for families thanks to their proximity to the hotel's Pici Pici kids club. But if you can, book into one of the villa categories, which start at a whopping 3,660 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. Alfresco areas include private pools and shaded terraces for lounging and dining. Indoors, guests will find teak floors and furnishings, hand-carved wooden screens and traditional ikat fabrics, not to mention gleaming dark-stone bathrooms with deep soaking tubs and views of the surrounding gardens or the river.

Although you could happily spend your entire vacation in your accommodations, book one of the hotel's special activities, like a private antigravity yoga session in the resort's lotus leaf-inspired yoga pavilion, or take a cooking class right on the river bank. Be sure to set some time aside for a spa treatment, like a traditional Balinese energy healing ritual or a rejuvenating facial with products from French beauty brand Codage.

It's easy to head into the heart of Ubud for a meal or two during your stay, but there's plenty to eat and drink around the resort, too, including traditional Indonesian dishes at the Ayung Terrace, contemporary European dishes and grilled specialties at Riverside by the resort's main pool, and a seven-course Balinese-skewing dining extravaganza at Chef's Table at Sokasi.

Rates at the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan start at $1,030 per night.

If you start to hear a certain theme song playing in your head when alighting at this Sicilian stunner, it's no wonder: The hotel was the backdrop for the second season of " The White Lotus ." Your stay will assuredly be less dysfunctional and intrigue-filled, though.

Located in the cliffside city of Taormina, where ancient ruins, spectacular Baroque architecture and picturesque Ionian beaches have drawn travelers for centuries, the history of San Domenico Palace actually dates back to 1347 when it was established as a small Dominican church and convent. It was transformed into a hotel by a noble family in the late 19th century and became a fashionable stop on the grand tour for decades. The hotel fell on hard times during World War II but reopened as a Four Seasons with 111 rooms and suites in July 2021 and is looking as magnificent as ever.

Rooms are decorated with ascetic simplicity in palettes of white, cream and taupe, start around 300 square feet and might have views of the town, the cloisters or the sea. All have Four Seasons' famously comfortable beds, though, and stunning black-and-white marble bathrooms.

Guests can start their day with a leisurely gourmet buffet breakfast at the Principe Cerami restaurant, which doubles as the hotel's fine dining dinner venue with contemporary Sicilian a la carte and tasting menus of specialties such as grilled branzino with purple artichoke and datterino tomato. After a morning exploring the town, wandering the hotel's fragrant gardens, checking out its historical art collection or getting in a workout at the fitness center, tuck into a lunch of light Mediterranean plates at the alfresco Anciovi restaurant, then find a poolside perch to while away the afternoon, or have the concierge arrange access to one of the popular beach clubs (note that some amenities are only open from late spring to early fall).

The plant-based therapies at the hotel's Botanica Spa pay homage to the healing knowledge of monastic orders and their marriage of local traditions and herb-based medicine. The Taormina treatment, for instance, includes a stimulating exfoliation followed by aromatherapy using Mediterranean maquis and a hot-stone massage — perhaps an allusion to nearby Mount Etna.

Rates at San Domenico Palace, Taormina, a Four Seasons Hotel start at $776 per night.

Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti combines the traditions of safari-style wildlife viewing with all the familiarity and comfort of a luxury hotel stay rather than a more typical tented camp , all in one of the most spectacular settings on Earth. Also, unlike many traditional safari camps, the hotel accepts guests as young as 2, so you can bring the whole family .

The lodge has just 77 guest rooms, suites and villas with panoramic savannah views. Some overlook the lodge's watering hole, where you might spot a herd of elephants or other animals coming for a drink on long, hot afternoons. The rooms are decorated much like upscale safari tents, with curtained four-poster beds, bright African textiles and rugs, and wooden decks for animal viewing. Their large stone-tiled bathrooms with deep soaking tubs, separate walk-in showers and enclosed water closets are a step up from what you'll find at more rustic camps, though.

Guests can book a la carte game drives to suit their schedule (this is a big difference from more traditional safari lodges, where drives are often included in the rate), as well as other excursions like hot-air balloon rides, walking safaris and photo tours. There's a kids club to keep the young ones busy and a beautiful pool for taking an afternoon nap before an evening activity. The hotel's spa treatments focus on traditional African healing practices and local botanicals, with signature therapies like the Ubuntu four-handed massage performed with neroli, baobab and wheat-germ oils distilled from sustainably wild-harvested local plants. There's also a well-equipped gym, which is still a rarity in safari settings (after all, you can't just venture out for a casual jog in the wild).

While here, guests can arrange lantern-lit dinners in the bush, enjoy grilled meats and other local specialties by the light of a bonfire in the hotel's open-air Boma Grill, sip cocktails and nibble tapas at the poolside Maji Bar and Terrace, and enjoy buffet breakfast in the morning and gourmet international cuisine at night at the hotel's main dining outlet, Kula's.

Rates at the Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti start at $863 per night.

Situated on a spectacular stretch of Vietnam 's central coast, the Nam Hai has been a long-standing favorite with jet-setters in Southeast Asia but only joined the Four Seasons family in 2016. Its proximity to three of the country's most noteworthy UNESCO World Heritage sites — the picturesque, canal-crossed town of Hoi An, the temple complex of My Son and the imposing imperial citadel of Hue — makes it the perfect launch pad for exploring Vietnam's cultural treasures.

The 100-villa resort sprawls across 86 tropical acres and features a stunning central complex of three descending infinity pools: one for families and two for guests ages 14 and older. The resort also has kids and young adults clubs to keep tykes and teens occupied. There are tennis and basketball courts and a variety of complimentary water activities to enjoy the beach and East Sea, such as kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding, plus cultural activities like hat-making and other traditional crafts and cooking courses.

Of course, if you just want to relax, you can book a treatment at the spa, where villas seem to float above a palm-lined pond, and the therapies include a ritual that utilizes eight quartz-crystal bowls to rebalance your energies and a Vietnamese salt scrub designed to leave you reinvigorated.

The guest accommodations are based on classical Vietnamese architecture and start at nearly 900 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, with romantic platform beds shielded from view by gauzy curtains, large living rooms and patios with daybeds. Enormous bathrooms house outdoor rainfall showers. Depending on the category you book, you might have a beachfront view or a private pool, too.

Cafe Nam Hai serves a bountiful breakfast buffet along with European and Indian dishes throughout the day. The Beach Bar shakes up tropical tiki cocktails along with a menu of Asian tapas right on the sand, while The Bar is moodily lit by lanterns and serves snacks and signature libations like a lychee martini. For Vietnamese classics at lunch and dinner, book a table at the beachfront La Sen restaurant.

Rates at the Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, Hoi An, Vietnam start at $609 per night.

Once you arrive at this South Pacific sanctuary , it's easy to see why it's such a hit with Hollywood heavy hitters, including Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. Its thatch-roofed overwater villas frame some of the best views of the atoll's famous Mount Otemanu, and the concierges can arrange for everything from solo beach yoga sessions to romantic dinners on a private island to yacht charters to explore the lagoon's teeming marine life. For families, there's also a kids club with a full roster of activities and babysitting services.

The 100 accommodations include classic overwater bungalows, some of which have private plunge pools, and one- to three-bedroom beachfront villa "estates." All start at more than 1,000 square feet and are decorated with teak wood furnishings, framed pieces of French Polynesian crafts and artwork, huge soaking tubs with lagoon and mountain views, large living rooms, and expansive outdoor decks to enjoy those trade wind breezes.

Guests can settle in at the beach or stake out one of the thatched pool cabanas for the afternoon. There's also a well-equipped fitness center, tennis courts and other activities such as scuba diving. Stop by the resort's boutique to pick up local craft items or some of its famous black pearls as souvenirs. The Te Mahana Spa fields a full menu of Tahiti-inspired treatments, including a stretching massage that utilizes a pareo, or traditional fabric wrap, and a rebalancing ritual using black pearl powder and algae to reinvigorate the body.

Casual Tere Nui serves breakfast alfresco along with weekly themed dinners that might feature local entertainment, while Fare Hoa Beach Bar and Grill cooks up seafood and steaks right on the water's edge. For upscale Mediterranean cuisine, there's Arii Moana, where the dramatic decor might make you feel like you're dining amid Bora Bora's reefs. Vaimiti is perched above the water and entices guests with Asian classics like sashimi, kung pao chicken and steamed fish with mango and tom yum sauce.

Rates at the Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora start at $1,279 per night.

Related: Four Seasons joins Chase's Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection

This Four Seasons has a slight edge over its sibling in the Colombian capital thanks to its setting in a historic 1946 mansion designed by one of the country's foremost architects, Santiago Medina Mejia (hence the name), who incorporated Spanish colonial-era materials, such as columns from demolished convents, into the structure.

No two of the 62 rooms and suites are identical, and starter-category superior rooms are a mere 258 square feet and have queen-size beds. Work your way up, though, and you'll quickly find interesting elements, including exposed-beam ceilings, dark wood-paneled walls and even fireplaces in some accommodations. All have Four Seasons' signature beds dressed in crisp, white linens, leather armchairs and ottomans, carved wooden furniture, bedside tables designed like vintage suitcases, 55-inch flat-screen televisions, and Nespresso machines. Their marble bathrooms are compact but stocked with plant-based products from Colombian beauty brand Loto del Sur.

The hotel has a small fitness center that's open by appointment only (so no one will be hogging your preferred machines or weights), and its tranquil spa proffers experiences like the Citrus Paradise Ritual, which begins with a grapefruit body scrub and a gold body wrap to restore the skin's radiance.

Although the hotel is in the trendy Zona G district, where restaurants and bars abound, stick around for at least one meal at its Spanish restaurant and bar, Castanyoles, which is set in a greenhouselike atrium and serves irresistible bites like fried calamari with mandarin lime aioli and 72-hour beer-braised short ribs with cauliflower puree and roasted baby vegetables.

Rates at the Four Seasons Hotel Casa Medina Bogota start at $480 per night.

One of two Four Seasons resorts in the Maldives , this one requires a seaplane flight from the international airport in Male but is well worth the extra effort to get there. Set in the pristine Baa Atoll, which is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru offers world-class activities and accommodations that make a vacation here the trip of a lifetime .

Guests can spend their days snorkeling the atoll's reefs, scuba diving, windsurfing, chartering sunset sails or fishing excursions and enjoying romantic dinners on secluded sandbanks. High rollers can bookend their trip with a journey aboard the resort's three-level luxury catamaran. The hotel even has a "Manta On Call" service (part of its efforts to protect these gentle giants) that will alert guests when manta rays are in the area and promptly whisk them away to have a snorkel with the enormous creatures.

Of course, you should also spend some quiet time by one of the four unique pools, including the main 50-meter infinity-edge one, the beachside Blu pool or the family-friendly, free-form children's pool, which has slides and a watery playground to keep kids entertained (there are also activities at the resort's kids club).

Wellness is a focus at this resort, and guests can work with on-staff ayurvedic doctors, yoga therapists and naturopaths to design multiday health regimens through the garden-set AyurMa Spa.

There are 103 accommodations set on the beach and over the water, including several two- and three-bedroom specialty suites, and you'll want to check carefully whether you have a sunrise or sunset view, depending on your preference. The beach bungalows start at nearly 1,000 square feet of indoor space and almost another 1,000 square feet of private outdoor space, while overwater villas have even more outside space, with private pools, sun decks, overwater nets for sunbathing and large lounging areas. The aesthetic is beach-chic: Rooms have minimalist four-poster beds, and the stone, wood and upholstered elements are mostly in sandy hues with a few dashes of cerulean and coral. Enormous bathrooms feature dual sinks, egg-shaped soaking tubs and organic bath products by Ila.

Since the resort is so remote, it's a good thing there are plenty of dining options to keep guests enticed. With menus by decorated chef Gaetano Trovato, Blu Beach Club serves all-day Italian fare, from abundant breakfast spreads to Neapolitan-style pizzas. Al Barakat proffers sumptuous, Arabian-inspired meals (a nod to the Maldives' position on ancient trading routes), including seafood tagines and Lebanese small plates. By the resort's reflecting ponds, you can order pan-Asian cuisine at Cafe Landaa (think: Indian tandoors and Japanese teppanyaki). Be sure to spend at least one sunset enjoying tapas and chilled cocktails at the overwater Seabar (there's also a vibey shisha bar below Al Barakat), while for something simple, head to the beachfront Fuego Grill for grilled catch of the day or steaks along with fresh vegetables and salads.

Rates at Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru start at $2,365 per night.

Even frequent visitors to the Japanese capital might not know about this new Four Seasons, which opened in September 2020 at the height of the pandemic. It occupies the top floors of a 39-story tower in one of Tokyo's oldest neighborhoods, adjacent to the Imperial Palace.

Its 162 guest rooms and 28 suites start at more than 500 square feet and overlook either the city's financial district or the palace grounds. Designer Jean-Michel Gathy's aesthetic is ultramodern, with clean lines, slim-profile furnishings and stark, black-stone bathrooms with traditional screenlike dividers. However, huge windows for plenty of natural light and abstract wall murals with nature-inspired themes bring the beauty of the palace gardens indoors. Of course, tech touches like iPads to request services, Nespresso machines and Bose speakers don't hurt, either.

Travelers can stay fit in the gym with personal training or arrange for yoga and stretching sessions, or take a few laps in the 20-meter indoor pool with skyline views. Start a spa session with a traditional ofuro (Japanese bath) experience, which is available in the men's and women's locker rooms, then ease into a yakusugi massage, which uses fragrant oil from Japan's famous cedar forests to combat jet lag.

But stay awake long enough to enjoy a specialty sip like a gin-and-cognac-based Yuzu Nagi at the hotel's cocktail bar, Virtu, a bite of Michelin-starred French fare (95% of the ingredients are sourced locally) at chef Guillaume Bracaval's Est or family-style Italian with fabulous views at Pigneto.

Rates at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi start at $642 per night.

This storied resort , with its colonial-style architecture and Versailles-inspired gardens, has been a magnet for sun-seekers since the Ocean Club first opened in 1962. It only became a Four Seasons, however, in 2017. Its Hartford Wing of accommodations was renovated at that time, while the renovation of the Crescent Wing was completed in 2023.

The Hartford rooms have a more plantation-style aesthetic with brown and white wood paneling, limestone floors and breezy lanais or balconies. The Crescent Wing faces the ocean and has a more contemporary look with wicker accents, curved headboards and bed benches, and marble flooring; bathrooms have stunning mosaic art and granite accents.

Guests can take their pick of three pools: a family-friendly lagoon, the turquoise Ocean Pool and the quiet, tree-shaded Versailles Pool. Families can also take advantage of the complimentary kids club for children 4 to 12 years of age, and babysitting services are available.

Treatments at the spa hew to their island surroundings and include a massage that incorporates frangipani-monoi oil and heated coconut poultices to ease away your tension. Of course, guests can also take advantage of both land- and water-based activities such as sessions in the fitness center, tennis and golf at the Ocean Club Course.

The resort is home to four restaurants and bars, including Dune by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, which serves everything from mango brioche French toast at breakfast to Bahamian lobster curry with fried plantains for dinner. Enjoy an oceanfront lunch of international and Caribbean specialties like jerk pork carnitas with pineapple pico de gallo at Ocean Blu, or a signature Vesper martini, chilled to perfection, at the Martini Bar and Lounge.

Rates at The Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort, Bahamas start at $1,213 per night.

The second tented camp in Four Seasons' globe-spanning portfolio, Naviva opened in late 2022 adjacent to the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita outside Puerto Vallarta. Spanning 48 jungly acres along the sweeping Bahia de Banderas, Naviva's 15 luxury tents perch atop rocky cliffs above the crashing Pacific.

Expect informal, high-end service here, where guests are meant to feel welcomed into the Naviva community (you even cross a cocoonlike copper and bamboo footbridge over a ravine to arrive) and encouraged to create their own bespoke experience. Basically, whatever you want, whenever you want it and however you like it. In practice, that means sharing your preferences well ahead of time and in detail ... but also letting go and trusting the hands-on staff to create moments of spontaneity and delight along the way since nearly everything, including all food and beverages plus one 60-minute spa treatment per person per stay, is included in the astronomical rates.

As for those kitted-out tents, there are just two categories. Regular tents have over 1,200 square feet of both indoor and outdoor space, while the Grand versions can top 1,700 square feet. All feature enormous outdoor decks with areas for lounging and dining plus private plunge pools (Grand tents' decks have sunken living areas with fire pits for breezy evenings). The interiors can open almost completely to nature thanks to enormous sliding glass doors and canvas flaps that can be raised or lowered. There are huge living rooms and separate bedrooms, plus light-filled bathrooms with elliptical soaking tubs with coastal views (not to mention outdoor showers).

The staff will tailor all meals to your preferences, but you can also settle in for locally sourced produce and proteins, including fire-grilled fresh seafood at Copal Cocina paired with fine wines or tequilas. Guests can spend days in their tent or lounging around the shared free-form Selva Pool, though a stroll to La Solana Beach for sunrise yoga might also be on the docket.

There are hiking trails galore, and personal training is available in the resort's outdoor gym. Guests can enjoy the aforementioned complimentary spa treatment (and book others a la carte) in one of the resort's cozy, forest-set spa pods. Treatments are tailored to each visitor and might include gemstone or marine collagen facials, rehydrating massages or energy healing sessions. Naviva is also home to a specially designed temazcal (a traditional Mexican heat lodge) for guided meditations.

Guests can take advantage of the amenities at the Four Seasons Punta Mita, too, including its restaurants, spa and golf courses.

Rates at Naviva, a Four Seasons Resort, Punta Mita, Mexico start at $3,950 per night based on double occupancy and require a two-night minimum stay.

With its bustling boulevards, extravagant baths, captivating museums and imposing historical landmarks, Budapest is a city where imperial grandeur is fully displayed. But even among its mix of medieval, neo-Gothic and art nouveau edifices, the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace still stands out. Originally completed in 1906 as a foreign office of the Gresham Life Assurance Company of London, the building had a checkered past during which it served as an army barracks and public housing before seeing its majesty restored as a classic luxury hotel. It joined Four Seasons in 2004 after a $110 million renovation.

In the heart of the city, on the Pest side of the Danube and directly across a parklike plaza from the famous Szechenyi Chain Bridge, the hotel is an ideal spot to base your stay in the Hungarian capital. Its public spaces include dramatic original features like its famous wrought-iron peacock gate, mosaic floors and a breathtaking glass and iron vaulted ceiling in its new lobby bar, Muzsa.

The 179 rooms and suites start at over 350 square feet and are bright and airy with decorative wall accents in an art deco style, comfortable sitting areas and bathrooms clad in gold and black marble. Although you're liable to spend your days walking the city's history-filled streets, there's a large fitness center and a seven-room spa with an infinity-edge pool. Treatments are enhanced with coveted Hungarian skincare brands like Eminence and Omorovicza.

Stop in for an evening cocktail at Muzsa, with its marble-topped bar, mirrored spirits shelves and bankers lamps (an ode to the building's history), or for a traditional Hungarian afternoon tea on the weekends. But take your time over breakfast or dinner at Kollazs — Brasserie & Bar, where morning specialties include an ultrarich French toast with quince and walnuts, and dinner skews classic French with caviar, oysters, white asparagus and sole meuniere — though you can find a few Hungarian must-eats like hearty chicken paprikash.

Rates at the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest start at $365 per night.

A private coral island, ultraromantic villas, roving giant tortoises ... what more do you need from a trip to paradise ? If it's fine dining, indulgent spa treatments and water activities galore, you've come to the right place.

Embracing a castaway-chic vibe, Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island's 71 suites and villas start at over 2,000 square feet and top out with the seven-bedroom presidential villa, which boasts nearly 106,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. Even the starter ocean-view pool villas entice with enormous indoor accommodations that include separate living room and bedroom spaces, where netted beds have hanging canopies and footboards reminiscent of ancient seafarers' wooden trunks. Palatial bathrooms feature dual vanities, deep egg-shaped soaking tubs and African textiles, as well as outdoor showers. Guests will also be delighted by private plunge pools and relaxation cabanas cooled by the Indian Ocean breezes.

Visitors can spend their days enjoying the complimentary activities at the Castaway Centre, including snorkeling, paddleboarding and kayaking, plus land-based pursuits like tennis and petanque, or luxuriating around the main pool or on the beach. Surfing lessons and scuba excursions can also be arranged (and be sure to feed the resident giant tortoises, of course).

The resort's Circle of Connection Spa takes a holistic approach to health inspired by the four elements of earth, air, water and fire, and can tailor treatments to your specific constitution, though some, such as the soothing and reinvigorating lavender-ginger poultice massage, seem like they'd be suited to pretty much anyone.

Guests take breakfast at Claudine, a Mediterranean-leaning restaurant with plenty of patio dining, including poolside tables. Later, check out the resort's new Japanese-inspired izakaya restaurant or opt for a full-on supper experience at its landmark Lighthouse restaurant, where dinner includes items like yuzu tuna tartare with smoked eggplant cream and pistachio-crusted black cod with parsnip puree and beurre blanc. You can also opt for beachside beverages at The Bar and the Castaway Bar.

Rates at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island start at $801 per night.

When it opened in 2006, Four Seasons Tented Camp near Chiang Rai in northern Thailand's Golden Triangle was an entirely new concept for the brand — a safari-style all-inclusive lodge set against a wild and rugged backdrop and designed by hotel impresario Bill Bensley.

The aesthetic is expedition-eccentric, reminiscent of a 19th-century explorer's encampment, albeit with many fanciful touches. Each of the 15 tents and the two-bedroom Explorer's Lodge has its own distinctive character and theme. All, however, feature hardwood floors, panoramic decks overlooking the jungle or the Ruak River (a tributary of the Mekong), sumptuous beds screened by diaphanous white curtains, outdoor showers, hand-carved wooden furniture, colorful Thai textiles and wall flaps that completely unzip into screens for uninterrupted views of the surrounding nature. Some have hand-beaten copper bathtubs to luxuriate in after a day of frolicking with the resort's resident rescue elephants, while others have oversized hot tubs on their decks.

Among the a la carte activities guests can arrange are tours of Chiang Rai, countryside cycling excursions, fishing with locals, cruises on the Mekong in a longtail boat and hikes through nearby villages or to waterfalls. The hotel's secluded spa, nestled in a bamboo forest, has specialty treatments, including a time-tested Thai poultice massage with aromatics including ginger, lemongrass, lime and camphor.

The hotel's all-day restaurant, Nong Yao, serves a selection of international, Thai and Lao dishes, such as Caesar salad, fresh spring rolls and pad Thai, among other dishes. Guests can unwind at the nostalgic Burma Bar, where the vibe feels very "Indiana Jones" in the evening with signature cocktails such as a lemongrass vodka martini. The hotel will also arrange private dinners with pairings in its wine cellar.

Rates at the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle start at $2,902 per night based on double occupancy, and a two-night minimum stay is required.

Incredible skiing in the winter, unparalleled mountain adventures in the summer, and fabulous rooms and amenities to enjoy year-round ... what more could you want from an American mountain retreat?

The Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole leans into an alpine-chic aesthetic, with wood and stonework galore, convivial dining rooms and a panoply of fireplaces to warm the public areas and accommodations.

During the winter , guests can count on ski concierges to curate the perfect powder experience, while in summer, outdoor experiences abound, including hiking, mountain biking, fly-fishing and more. Among the special excursions on offer are exclusive tours of the hidden gems of Yellowstone National Park and a private flight safari to view North America's wild wolves in their natural habitat.

There's a kids club to keep tots occupied year-round, and whether you're enjoying wintry climes or summer highs, you can always pop into the mountain-inspired spa for treatments like a hot river stone massage or a rejuvenating wrap that incorporates soothing chamomile, sage, wild arnica and willow bark.

Accommodations start at 500 square feet and have wood paneling and beams, pine-green furniture pieces and either balconies or fireplaces to enjoy or escape the chilly mountain air, respectively, plus full marble and stone bathrooms.

For mountain panoramas and hearty breakfasts of buttermilk pancakes or smoked wild king salmon on toasted bagels, as well as contemporary chophouse dinners of jumbo shrimp cocktail, Idaho trout almondine and various chops from Western ranches, book your table at the chalet-chic Westbank Grill. For lighter pan-Asian fare, there's Ascent Lounge, but nowhere beats the cheekily named Handle Bar for apres-ski drinks thanks to its impressive beer and whiskey selection.

Rates at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole start at $395 per night.

One of Paris's most famous hotels , the Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris is also one of its best — and has been since it first opened its doors to the public (and international luminaries) back in 1928.

The hotel's 159 guest rooms and 59 suites have benefited from a recent restyling by hotel designer du jour Pierre-Yves Rochon in the over-the-top style of the ill-fated Louis XVI, so expect crystal light fixtures, gilt accents, Versailles-like marble bathrooms and pastel palettes that will induce anything but ennui.

The renovated spa includes an indoor lap pool and an Arabian-inspired marble hammam, along with treatments crafted by Swiss spa brand Dr. Burgener and inspired by haute couture, among other options.

Paris has no lack of excellent restaurants, but you might want to stick around the hotel for more than a few meals since its three restaurants boast an astonishing five Michelin stars among them. At his three-Michelin-star Le Cinq, with its filigreed chandelier, chef Christian Le Squer serves memorable meals that might include gnocchi with sea urchin and cauliflower cream or Breton blue lobster with black truffles in a cabbage shell. For lunch, the gardenlike L'Orangerie is one of the city's see-and-be-seen spots, though that shouldn't detract from the unparalleled quality of dishes like the langoustine seared in its own juices and adorned with citrus and olive oil foam.

Rates at Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris start at $1,696 per night.

You might not guess it from its turn as the backdrop for the first season of "The White Lotus," but Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is one of the best family resorts in the U.S. Since it opened in 1990 as the chain's first tropical resort, it has developed a devoted clientele of repeat visitors who come for its welcoming ambience, its assortment of kid-friendly activities, unique excursions and excellent restaurants.

The 380-key hotel is in the popular Wailea development along Maui 's southwest coast, so there's plenty to explore and do, both at the resort and at its doorstep. Families tend to spend their days at the central Fountain Pool, which anchors the resort complex, or at the splashy Waterfall Pool; both have dispensers with reef-safe sunscreen.

Guests can also borrow snorkeling equipment or enjoy excursions like outrigger canoe paddles arranged through the activities center. Adults gravitate to the Serenity Pool. The resort has 80 cabanas sprinkled throughout its grounds, which are complimentary for guests to use, so be sure to take advantage (though if you're splurging, consider one of the two specialty Missoni cabanas by the Serenity Pool). Golfers have access to Wailea's Blue, Gold and Emerald courses, but more adventurous visitors can book one of the hotel's bespoke adventures like a Kona coffee helicopter tour or the "Fire & Wine" experience at historic Haiku House (a former sugar plantation) with a master sommelier pairing wines with dishes cooked over an open flame.

The spa is among the best in Hawaii, with an extensive menu of treatments, including a traditional rhythmic lomi lomi massage performed with pohaku hot stones, and a Celestial Black Diamond nonsurgical lift facial.

Rooms and suites start at 600 square feet and boast mountain, garden or ocean views from their private lanais. Consider a club-level upgrade for value-added amenities like complimentary buffet breakfast, snacks and nibbles throughout the day, wine and cocktails in the evening, and a complimentary candy drawer that should delight kids and adults alike. The room decor is bright and breezy with a white and taupe palette and Pacific blue accent art and pillows (plus amenities like Nespresso machines and 65-inch televisions). Enormous marble bathrooms feature soaking tubs and separate walk-in showers, plus dual vanities.

While here, guests can order grilled steaks and local seafood at the hotel's main restaurant (which also serves breakfast), Duo, dig into coastal Italian cuisine at Ferraro's Bar e Ristorante, sip creative craft cocktails at the lobby lounge, or book a table at an outpost of Wolfgang Puck's Spago for Hawaiian-Californian fusion specialties like Kona and Maine lobster ceviche with papaya and tangy nam pla fish sauce.

Rates at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea start at $995 per night.

Best credit cards for booking Four Seasons hotels

There are more than a dozen excellent travel rewards credit cards out there for hotel stays. The right one(s) for you will depend on if you're loyal to a particular program or chain, whether you want premium perks, and if you value benefits like annual free nights , automatic elite status and lucrative earning rates.

Here are three great credit cards to use for booking stays across a variety of hotel chains and independent properties while still enjoying money-saving features and high-end benefits.

The Platinum Card® from American Express

Earning rates: This card earns 5 points per dollar on airfare purchased directly with the airlines or through the Amex Travel portal (on up to $500,000 of airfare purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar). Plus, you'll earn 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotels booked with Amex Travel. All other purchases earn 1 point per dollar. Remember, Amex points transfer to Hilton Honors at a 1:2 ratio, to Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1 ratio and to Choice Privileges at a 1:1 ratio, and there are sometimes transfer bonuses.

Benefits: This card is absolutely packed with perks, but among the travel-related ones you'll want to maximize, including some hotel-specific benefits, are:

• Up to a $200 annual hotel credit , in the form of a statement credit, on prepaid Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings with Amex Travel when you pay with your Amex Platinum (Hotel Collection stays require a two-night minimum).*
• Access to Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection .
• Complimentary Gold status with Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy .*
• Up to $200 in statement credits annually for incidental fees charged by one airline you select.*
• Up to $200 annually in Uber Cash , valid on Uber rides and Uber Eats orders in the U.S. (split into monthly $15 credits plus a $20 bonus in December).*
• Up to $189 in statement credits to cover your Clear Plus annual membership .*
• A $100 statement credit for Global Entry every four years or an up-to-$85 fee credit for TSA PreCheck every 4 1/2 years (depending on which application fee is charged to your card first).
• Access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection , including Centurion lounges , Priority Pass lounges, Airspace lounges, Escape lounges, Plaza Premium lounges and Delta Sky Clubs (when traveling on same-day Delta flights).* Effective 2/1/25, eligible Platinum Card Members will receive 10 Visits per Eligible Platinum Card per year to the Delta Sky Club or to Grab and Go when traveling on a same-day Delta-operated flight.

*Enrollment is required for select benefits.

Annual fee: $695 (see rates and fees ).

Read our review of the Amex Platinum card .

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Earning rates: Earn an unlimited 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel , 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel and an unlimited 2 miles per dollar on all other purchases.

Benefits: Cardholders get $300 in credits annually for bookings made through Capital One Travel, plus 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary, starting on your first anniversary (worth $100 toward travel). Through the Capital One Premier Collection , cardmembers can enjoy free breakfast, on-property credits and room upgrades (if available) on stays at participating properties booked through Capital One Travel. They also receive up to $100 in statement credits for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry .

Annual fee: $395 (see rates and fees ).

Read our review of the Capital One Venture X .

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

Earning rates: This card accrues 5 points per dollar on travel booked through the Chase travel portal , on Lyft purchases (through March 2025) and on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases of $150 or more (through March 2025, with a limit of 25,000 bonus points). It also racks up 3 points per dollar on dining, select streaming services and online grocery store purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs); 2 points per dollar on all travel not booked through the Chase travel portal; and 1 point per dollar on everything else.

Benefits: Cardholders receive a $50 statement credit on hotel stays purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal upon opening the card and each following cardmember anniversary. They also receive a 10% bonus based on their total spending during the account anniversary year at a rate of 1 point for each $10 spent. This card also has some of the best travel protections in the industry, including trip cancellation insurance , trip delay insurance and primary rental car coverage , among other policies.

Annual fee: $95.

Read our review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred .

Related reading:

• Best hotel credit cards
• Get free breakfast, upgrades and more with the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts program
• The best hotel rewards programs in the world
• The best premium credit cards: A side-by-side comparison

For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum, click here .

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Gardens of Stone, Moss, Sand: 4 Moments of Zen in Kyoto

The city’s dry gardens seem timeless, but as these relatively new versions show, their design is still evolving. They offer spots for quiet contemplation in an increasingly overtouristed city.

Kyoto’s dry gardens forgo plants and flowers and instead use elements like gravel, rocks and moss to create contemplative environments. Credit... Andrew Faulk for The New York Times

Supported by

By Paula Deitz

• March 26, 2024

Once, when the Buddha was asked to preach about a flower he was presented, he instead “gazed at it in silence,” according to the British garden designer Sophie Walker in her book “The Japanese Garden.” In this spiritual moment Zen Buddhism was born, inspiring the serene and eternal dry or rock gardens called karesansui.

Unlike a garden designed for strolling, which directs visitors along a defined path to take in scenic views and teahouses, a dry garden is viewed while seated on a veranda above, offering the heightened experience of traveling through it in the imagination, revealing its essence in meditation.

With rocks artfully placed along expanses of fine gravel raked by monks into ripples representing water, they are sources for contemplation, whether they refer to a specific landscape or are serenely abstract. Ryoan-ji, which dates to about 1500, is the supreme example of the latter among Kyoto temples, with its 15 low rocks in five clusters set in pools of moss within an enclosed rectangle of raked gravel. The puzzle is that only 14 are visible at any one time, no matter where you sit to view it.

Change in Kyoto, Japan’s major city of temple gardens, is a quiet evolution. But a tour of several dry gardens designed within the last century — and even within the last few years — demonstrates that the Zen tradition is timeless when it comes to landscape design, and that moments of contemplation are still possible, even as the crowds grow bigger.

Upon arrival at the Zen monastery complex Daitoku-ji, in northern Kyoto, I headed to Zuiho-in, one of its 22 subtemples. The temple was founded in 1319, and then in 1546, the powerful feudal lord Sorin Otomo dedicated it to his family. This was during the period of Spanish and Portuguese missionaries in Japan. Like others, Otomo converted to Christianity but remained inspired by Zen Buddhism.

I entered along angled walkways until I arrived at Zuiho-in’s temple veranda to view the main dry garden. Though the style may at first appear traditional, this garden was designed in the 1960s by Mirei Shigemori, a landscape architect whose training was in the Japanese cultural arts: conducting the tea ceremony, flower arranging, and landscape ink and wash painting. As the Western Modernist movement entered Japan, he adopted it in combination with traditional arts and became determined to revolutionize a garden aesthetic that had remained fixed for hundreds of years. He succeeded in designing more than 200 gardens in Japan and even worked with the Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi on a UNESCO garden, collecting stones in Japan that Noguchi set in the garden at the organization’s Paris headquarters.

In the Zuiho-in garden, the gravel swirls are raked into high peaks as if far out at sea, with a chain of jagged pointed rocks like islands leading to a mossy peninsula crested by a massive stone representing Mount Horai, where, according to Taoist mythology, the heroes called the Eight Immortals, who fought for justice, reside. Referring to Otomo’s Christianity, rocks in a second garden define a cross, and three rows of squarish stones embedded in sand elsewhere in the garden could be seen as Shigemori’s Modernist signature.

Across town, in the Higashiyama district, the Philosopher’s Walk is a pedestrian path along the picturesque Lake Biwa Canal. First opened in 1890, it is believed to be named for a Kyoto University philosophy professor who strolled there while meditating. As you walk along it, depending on the season, the swift current below carries brilliant autumnal leaves or delicate cherry blossoms shed from trees lining the banks.

Honen-in, one of several Buddhist temples along the Philosopher’s Walk, is particularly popular in autumn, with its grand staircase and entry gate framed by vast canopies of fiery red Japanese maple trees. Two large, rectangular white-sand mounds along the central path are periodically raked by monks into new designs; last fall, a maple leaf was outlined on one and a ginkgo leaf on the other against backgrounds of ridges.

The high priest, Kajita Shinsho, who lives there with his family, had a private courtyard with a veranda that needed a garden, and last March he engaged Marc Peter Keane, an American landscape architect now living in Kyoto, to design it. A graduate of Cornell University, Mr. Keane has lived in Japan for almost 20 years and specializes in Japanese garden design. Like Shigemori, he has immersed himself in Japanese culture. His home and studio are now permanently in Kyoto.

Only three old, gnarled camellia trees remained on the rectangular site, with blossoms in season ranging from dark rose to pale pink and white. Mr. Keane’s idea was to represent the constant flux of nature, exemplified for him by the carbon cycle — the process by which carbon travels from the air into organisms and back into air. His garden, titled “Empty River,” creates what he described as “a physical expression of this invisible cycle through a river of pure carbon charcoal.”

He traced by foot a narrow serpentine “river” that winds around the roots and trunks of the camellias, and with the short charcoal sticks he placed in the long groove, it cuts a strong black line through a blend of fine brown and white gravel. There are no rocks, only small stones framing the courtyard and plantings, with Andromeda ferns in the corners. Its starkness is its beauty, softened only when camellia petals are strewed across the gravel in April.

Mr. Keane compares this distillation of design and materials to a haiku, the Japanese three-lined poem. But like the gardens of old, it also expresses the Buddhist concept of emptiness.

At Tofuku-ji , a temple, in the city’s southeastern district, Shigemori designed the garden of the Hojo, the Abbot’s Hall, as early as 1939, using materials found on site. His avant-garde vocabulary of straight lines and grids may have seemed sensational then, but it is beloved now for its harmonious vitality.

From the first veranda, you overlook the southern garden, with clusters of mostly jagged vertical rocks and ripples of raked gravel radiating out, terminating at the far end with five mossy mounds like sacred mountains in the sea. In the western garden, squarely trimmed azaleas alternate with square fields of white gravel, reflecting ancient land-division customs. Azaleas in Japan are closely clipped, so these bloom in gorgeous flat surfaces of deep pink.

Next, a vast checkerboard field of leftover square paving stones embedded in a carpet of moss seems to dwindle off to infinity in the northern garden. And finally, to the east, a pattern of stone pillar foundations recreates the Big Dipper constellation, with gravel raked in concentric circles around each pillar to emphasize its individuality.

Ukifune Garden

Mr. Keane’s 2022 Ukifune Garden (Drifting Boat Garden) is an allegorical interpretation of the chapter by the same name from “The Tale of Genji,” Murasaki Shikibu’s 11th-century novel about Prince Hikaru or “Shining” Genji, and his tempestuous romantic and political life at court.

Mr. Keane designed it as the Zen courtyard garden of the Genji Kyoto hotel, opened in April 2022, on the banks of the Kamo River, near where Genji builds his own grand estate and gardens in the book. Designed by the American architect Geoffrey P. Moussas, who also lives in Kyoto, the hotel’s plan incorporates the indoor-outdoor characteristics of Kyoto’s old merchant houses.

Mr. Keane was inspired by the “Genji” scene in which one of two powerful dignitaries vying for the favor of Ukifune, a woman of 22, travels through a snowstorm and absconds with her by boat on the Uji River. As they pass the Isle of Orange Trees, she recites a poem in which she likens herself to the drifting boat: “The enduring hue of the Isle of Orange Trees may well never change,/ yet there is no knowing now where the drifting boat is bound.”

Mr. Keane consulted with John Carpenter, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s curator of Japanese art, who told him of the late-16th-century “Genji” screen painting by Tosa Mitsuyoshi in the museum’s collection illustrating this famous scene. A copy of the panel now hangs in Kyoto next to the garden.

Mr. Keane installed a swerving “river” with gray river stones set ingeniously on edge rather than flat, giving the flow a greater sense of direction. The garden is set between two wings of the hotel, and the “water” appears to tumble down like a waterfall from one building into the next with a wide, flat steel bridge above, a viewing platform bringing the design to life. The banks on either side are densely planted with maple trees, lady palms, ferns and ground-cover moss. And a boat-shaped stone carries a large patch of moss, which Mr. Keane interprets as Earth drifting through the galaxy.

The gardens at Zuiho-in and the Tofuku-ji Abbot’s Hall garden require tickets. The entrance fee at both is 400 Japanese yen for adults (about $2.65) and 300 yen for children (about $2).

General admission to Honen-in is free, except for during the spring and fall opening weeks, which usually fall during the first week of April and the third week of November and cost 500 yen for spring and 800 yen for fall. The Empty River garden can be visited during those weeks.

The Genji Kyoto hotel garden is free to visit.

If you get hungry while touring gardens, Izusen , a restaurant in the Daiji-in subtemple of the Daitoku-ji monastery complex, offers multiple local specialties in set menus beautifully presented in mostly lacquered red bowls, which nest when empty. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. by reservation; 4,370 to 8,050 yen. It is near Zuiho-in.

Also by reservation, Yudofu Kisaki, a restaurant between the entrance to Honen-in and the Philosopher’s Walk, has vegetarian and tofu specialties. Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., last order at 6 p.m.; 4,370 to 8,050 yen.

For a companionable book to read on your tour, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Yasunari Kawabata’s post-World War II novel “The Rainbow” is newly available in English. Several chapters take place in Kyoto, and it can feel as though you are traveling together, often in the same gardens. Kawabata’s knowledge of plants was formidable, and the simplicity of his descriptions both natural and direct: “On the lawn in front of the gate, in the shadows of the pine trees, dandelions and lotuses were in bloom. A double-flowered camellia had blossomed in front of the bamboo fence.”

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

Italy :  Spend 36 hours in Florence , seeking out its lesser-known pockets.

Southern California :  Skip the freeways to explore the back roads between Los Angeles and Los Olivos , a 100-mile route that meanders through mountains, canyons and star-studded enclaves.

Mongolia : Some young people, searching for less curated travel experiences, are flocking to the open spaces of this East Asian nation .

Romania :  Timisoara  may be the most noteworthy city you’ve probably never heard of , offering just enough for visitors to fill two or three days.

India: A writer fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting Darjeeling, in the Himalayan foothills , taking in the tea gardens and riding a train through the hills.

52 Places:  Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

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