North and Central America
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Los Angeles is a city where glamour and style are timeless. As the Donmar Warehouse prepares to revisit 1940s LA with its new show, City of Angels, we pick 10 locations that still exude old-school allure
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The Hairspray and Pink Flamingos director cruises his hometown’s diners and bars and reveals the exact location of Divine’s ‘poop scoop’
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Share your top places to eat in San Francisco and you could win a £200 hotel voucher
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This collection of rare tracks by indigenous musicians from Canada and the northern US is a timely reminder of marginalised voices and plain great music, writes Kitty Empire
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Alissa Walker of A Walker in LA argues in favour of an unsung public transit system whilst highlighting the glitz and grit of The Big Orange
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White sand, azure sea and palm trees on your doorstep … from India to Indonesia we round up Asia’s best affordable winter-sun idylls
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Find you inner Robinson Crusoe at these Caribbean, Pacific and jungle hideaways
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Photographer Vivienne Gucwa captures the empty streets of New York in the snow. These images are from her book NY Through The Lens
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The London- and Miami-based DJ gives a tour of the restaurants, clubs, beaches, and art galleries that make the US city such a vibrant destination
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Costa Rica is one of the world’s most popular eco-tourism destinations, with travellers drawn to national parks, reserves and rainforests. It also grades lodgings for sustainable practices. We select 10 of the best
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Backcountry skiing is always demanding and often dangerous, but it’s the only way to really get to know a mountain personally, says Tim Neville
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The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall seemed to have a great time on their tour of Mexico and Colombia
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Denton is a small Texan town with a world-class music scene, including homegrown bands like Midlake and Neon Indian. But a shadow hangs over its future as a creative hub as it votes on whether to ban fracking within city limits
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Observer photographer Antonio Olmos takes a selection of images of Mexicans dressing up for the Day of the Dead celebrations in San Andrés Mixquic and Mexico City
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GrrlScientist: This interesting video shares some of the calls made by a few owl species, including the calls made by one of the world’s most widespread bird species, the barn owl.
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Mexico City’s hotels are as full of character as the place itself. From boutique B&Bs to palaces with old-school charm, there’s much to explore – without busting your budget
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The creator of the Harry Bosch series of detective novels looks beyond LA’s freeways to bring us a piazza full of mariachi musicians, historic bars, gorgeous views and tiny jazz clubs
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Canadian street photographer Tyler Biard of Cities and Citizens tells us why his home city, with its enormous parklands and eccentric approach to architecture, is a city on the up
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Cannabis tour operators are heading for Colorado where new dispensaries (shops), and weed-friendly clubs and hotels are popping up to make the most of the relaxation of marijuana laws
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What can you expect from an American road trip? Breathtaking views, vintage cars, long and winding roads – and cupcake ATMS. Here is a special photographic journey across the US, as seen by our readers
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‘The van takes off and everybody starts smoking joints’. An edited highlight from John Waters’ account of hitchhiking across America
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In the picturesque countryside of Quebec, Omerto is the world’s only commercial producer of aperitif tomato wine
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From a Canadian bookshop opened by Alice Munro in the 1960s to one in the island of Santorini started by drunk Oxford students, some of the world’s most exotic booksellers feature in The Bookshop Book, published as part of a UK-wide Books are My Bag campaign to support the bookselling industry in the run-up to Christmas. Its author Jen Campbell introduces some of the finest
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In America, waitresses are central to the diner experience, dispensing wisdom and wit as well as coffee and apple pie. Author Candacy Taylor visited more than 44 US cities collecting stories from ‘lifers’ who have been serving tables for up to 60 years
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There are lots of great ways to see the Rockies – skiing, trekking, a road trip – but for Aaron Millar a storm-tossed hike, abseiling in darkness and (not) sleeping halfway up a cliff proved to be the best
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The Canadian crime writer and former Toronto Star columnist on the views, food, art and design of the city
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Washington is known as the Evergreen State, but its stunning national and state parks offer an abundance of colours, ranging from white-capped mountains to islands in the deep blue ocean
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After the second world war, the American road trip became a cultural phenomenon, as artists journeyed across the States in search of inspiration. Here are some of the most iconic images by photographers who, down the decades, have treated the great American highway as a muse
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Gone Girl’s Amy resents Kansas City for its lack of hipster cool. But in real life our writer discovers a town buzzing with potential
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Controversial multi-million dollar museum is world’s first dedicated to exploring the diverse issues of human rights worldwide, with exhibit topics ranging from genocide to school bullying
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From mid-century poverty to contemporary love stories via an account of the 1893 World’s Fair, here is a roundup of our readers’ top Chicago literature
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After a busy road was diverted through a tunnel, Fort Point has been transformed into one Boston’s hippest districts
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Boston’s Fort Point and Seaport district is the city’s up and coming area, with a dynamic food scene, cutting-edge galleries and a decent line in craft beers
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From the gold rush to the beat generation to the cyberspace revolution, the changeless thing about San Francisco is that everything seems cutting edge, all the time, says Pico Iyer
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Wigwams, clowns and train carriages: if you’re looking for offbeat accommodation for your next US road trip, here are 10 places to find a kitsch kip