RSS Feeds
Critic's Choice
A monthly series in which Times critics and columnists review the best places on Earth to pursue their particular passions.
DESTINATION: TOKYO
Yoshikazu Mera stands less than 5 feet tall, barely a head higher than the closed lid of the piano next to him. His face appears ensnared in eternal boyhood. His hair is cut in a cuddly Beatle mop. He is wearing a white shirt with puffy sleeves and shoulders, billowing gold lamé pants, platform shoes and a dramatic cape. He is the Hello Kitty of countertenors, men who sing in a woman's range.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | CHILE
One car, 16 days and 4,500 miles of Chilean roads.... You call this a dream drive?
CRITIC'S CHOICE | POLAND
In venues as unlikely as an alleyway and a one-time brewery, a surprising contemporary scene takes wing in three Polish cities.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | SYDNEY
In Australia's food-obsessed seaport city, chefs bring precision to their craft, reinterpreting Asian and Continental cuisines with the freshest ingredients. The world is taking notice.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | DUBLIN
Beneath Joycean kitsch, a visitor can find the literary soul of the city, past and present.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | BERLIN
Innovative galleries and artists, museums packed with treasures give the city its soul.
CRITIC’S CHOICE | BARCELONA
Latin music is the vibrant, heart-thumping essence of Catalonia's capital, where the sound never stops.
CRITIC’S CHOICE | LONDON
London's hot new bands and cool venues, its energy, its edge. Long live the scene.
CRITIC'S CHOICE / MILAN
Shopping is high art in this Italian city that knows how to strut.
CRITIC'S CHOICE / HAWAII
Searching for the deserted-island fantasy of a hit TV show, a visitor finds an even better escape -- Oahu's North Shore.
CRITIC'S CHOICE / SHANGHAI
Infused with energy and ambition, the city's buildings reflect its cosmopolitan past.
CRITIC'S CHOICE | PARIS
Why visit this legendary city only to while away the hours in the recesses of its fantastic movie palaces? Film lovers say it's cinematic heaven.