It’s a new year! (Or will be soon, depending on when you’re reading this.) Which means another edition of the Gold List, Traveler‘s annual compendium of our editors’ favorite hotels and cruises, our 30th time doing it. It’s wild to think back to where the world was when we put out the first one I was involved with: Pete Buttigieg was about to win the Iowa caucuses, Japan still thought it would be hosting the Olympics that summer, and COVID-19 was just an alarming headline about a seemingly distant new virus.
Consequently, each successive Gold List has felt a little different, but this one has probably been the most fun, since we had such an embarrassment of riches to choose from: In the past year, our global editorial team has been everywhere, stayed everywhere! Because we have been striving to emphasize how personal travel is, we asked a few of our editors to go really deep on their choices, resulting in wonderful portraits of hotels, from LA’s Chateau Marmont (by Megan Spurrell) to Kokomo Private Island in Fiji (by Maggie Shipstead). I also have some nice things to say about Josun Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, in Seoul. Don’t forget to peruse the complete list of 75 hotels and 12 cruises online—and be sure to check out our annual companion package too, Best Places to Go in 2024!
Personal and deep is how I’d characterize the other storytelling in this issue. From Eleni Gage’s exploration of her roots—and humanity’s—in Athens and Peter Heller’s evocative summoning of the atmosphere of the Marquesas Islands (I keep hearing the Ultravox song “Reap the Wild Wind” when I read it; you’ll see why) to Sarah Khan’s dive into Portugal’s Islamic heritage and Cynthia Rosenfeld’s snapshot of a recovering Marrakech, these are pieces that capture the intersection of person and place in the best possible way.
Condé Nast Traveler’s annual Gold List publishes on December 13.
This article appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.
