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Famous filming locations in Chicago

Chicago is a beautiful city with towering buildings, world-class architecture, and iconic bridges and elevated train lines. But it also has a gritty, industrial past that gives it a darker sort of beauty. Due to this landscape, it’s no surprise that the city has long been a favorite backdrop for filmmakers. Whether you’re a local or planning a trip, a great way to get a new perspective on the Second City is to view it through someone else’s lens. Here’s our list of the top 11 best films set in Chicago (well, and Gotham City) to inspire your visit.

1. Backdraft

Photo: Universal Pictures

The best firefighter thriller ever made was set in Chicago, and they really went all out with getting locations around the city. It’s far from a perfect film, but it’s pretty damn good and definitely worth watching. While a bit heavy-handed at times, it does capture some of the blue collar spirit of Chicago, as well as the political culture and corruption.

2. The Blues Brothers

The 1980 musical-comedy The Blues Brothers might be the most Chicago movie on this list. The film features more shots of Chicago locations, both iconic and obscure, than you can even count. Musical cameos by the legendary likes of James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and John Lee Hooker alone would make the movie worth seeing even if it wasn’t such a classic. The final police chase scene all around Chicago and through downtown is legendary and made it one of the most expensive comedies ever filmed.

3. The Fugitive

Photo: Warner Bros.

This story of a wrongly accused man on the run and trying to prove his innocence uses Chicago as a backdrop to great effect. The climax of the film is a chase scene through the famous Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade where you see the traditional dyeing green of the river. There is also a shot of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. As a suspenseful action movie, this film delivers with a fast pace and some intelligent writing. As a Chicago film, it gives a real feel of the city.

4. Hoop Dreams

There are quite a few great documentaries set in Chicago but none that can touch the masterpiece that is Hoop Dreams. Shot over five years in the mid-90s, the film follows two African-American teenagers on the Southside of Chicago as they work toward their dream of becoming basketball stars. The film documents not only the lives of the two protagonists but also of life on the Southside in a way that outsiders normally would never find. The film holds up just as well today, over two decades later.

5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Photo: Paramount Pictures

A contender for best-known Chicago movie, this John Hughes ‘80s comedy about an uber-charismatic teen who skips school with his girlfriend and best friend has some truly iconic Chicago shots. Some of the most memorable scenes feature the Art Institute of Chicago and a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. This is a great film and especially one to see if you’re getting ready for a trip to Chicago.

6. The Breakup

This rom-com featuring Chicago-native Vince Vaughn has a lot of ties to Chicago, which is no accident. Vaughn and the writer, another Chicagoan, insisted on it. The movie uses iconic locations like Wrigley Field; The Riviera concert venue, which they correctly refer to as “The Riv”; and the Pilsen neighborhood tavern Skylark. Certain characters’ last names, such as Grabowski and Riggleman, are even little inside jokes that only Chicago sports fans will understand.

7. Chi-Raq

Photo: Roadside Attractions

Chi-Raq is a play on “Iraq” and is sometimes used as a nickname for Chicago due to the unfortunate violence that is common in certain neighborhoods. It’s also an excellent film by legendary director Spike Lee set in the city. Based on the ancient Greek play “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes, the film follows a group of women organizing against violence after a child is killed by a stray bullet. It’s frenetic and disjointed at times, but it’s absolutely worth watching to see a side of the city that is too often portrayed through a one-dimensional lens.

8. Adventures in Babysitting

There sure were some great films made in Chicago during the ‘80s, and one of the best that doesn’t get its due is Adventures in Babysitting. It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when riding the trains was dangerous and downtown was actually a bad neighborhood. This film will take you back to that era, albeit in a comedic way. The climax of the movie on the sloped roof of the Crain Communications Building is a classic scene.

9. High Fidelity

Photo: Touchstone Pictures

Way, way back in the year 2000, Wicker Park was still a somewhat edgy Chicago neighborhood with artistic cache and with people who still shopped at record stores. That’s the setting for this great film starring Chicagoan John Cusack. It showcases Chicago without relying only on famous landmarks, and it captures a snapshot of the city at a moment in time when Chicago was undergoing big changes.

10. Candyman

The best horror film set in Chicago is one that holds up surprisingly well, even more than 25 years on. While the Cabrini Green Housing Projects where this film is set have long been demolished, some of the racial tensions examined in the movie persist. Beyond that, though, it’s just a great movie that follows an urban legend to terrifying places.

11. The Dark Knight

Photo: Warner Bros.

Batman’s fictitious Gotham City is mostly based off New York City, but to really capture the grit and grime of Gotham, director Christopher Nolan turned to the Windy City. The result is a great film, arguably the best superhero film of all. Chicago is rendered into a surrealistic city that is at once bleak and futuristic but still recognizable. The chase scene shot on Lower Wacker Drive along the river is as iconic of a Chicago film scene as you’ll find.


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App for meeting people in airports

Maybe Delta had it right with those napkins after all.

Since a new study from HSBC found that one in 50 travelers finds love on an airplane, it seems perhaps scrawling your digits on a branded cocktail napkin and slipping it to a sexy stranger isn’t such an impossible play.

Along those same lines, App in the Air — a travel app designed to help frequent fliers do things like estimate TSA wait times and get real-time fight updates — is also getting into the in-flight hookup game. The seven-year-old app is promoting a feature allowing fliers to see who else is on their flight, in their airport, or at their destination. It allows said fliers to then message each other in hopes that they too will find a love connection while wandering aimlessly through the skies.

No promises that love connection won’t have a family in Chicago you’re uncomfortably confronted with during a grand romantic gesture. But in theory, it seems like an inventive way to find love.

The sequence works like this: Before your flight, you can log in and see other app users on your plane, or who’ll be in the airport the same time you are. You’ll be able to see all sorts of personal information about those people that was completely unacceptable to know about a stranger 10 years ago, like their job, home country, and how many hours they’d spent in the air that year. If they look like a suitable person to kill a layover with, you’ll be prompted to hit them up with pre-programed ice breakers like “Let’s grab a coffee?”

Or if you’ve got dating app game like MJ, feel free to use your own opening line. Just be aware that App in the Air can be screenshot without your knowing, and you’d hate to end up as a viral, frequent-flying douche.

Assuming they respond, you can message back and forth like on any app, ideally finding a mutually agreeable place to meet for coffee. Or whatever. You hit it off, agree to meet up in Denver next Wednesday, and eventually live happily ever after.

Hey, people have met stranger ways.

Of course, your dating pool here is limited to other people using the app, which isn’t exactly as ubiquitous as Snapchat. And you may run the risk of awkwardly sitting next to someone who just totally ignored your DM for the next five hours. But if you truly do travel fearlessly, this travel app may be your new friend. Or, at least, give you a better way to break the ice than a cocktail napkin.


More like this: Is it ethical to hook up with locals abroad?

The post This travel app wants to help frequent fliers hook up appeared first on Matador Network.

Super Mario park coming to Universal

Nintendo fans who have dreamed of stepping into their favorite video game to ride flying turtles and hang out with Princess Peach are in for a treat. Late last year, photos allegedly leaked from a Comcast employee town hall meeting revealed plans for a new Universal theme park in Orlando. The photos appear to show plans for a new park called Fantastic Worlds with a focus on Super Mario World.

While Nintendo has officially declined to comment, its website does admit that “Nintendo-themed areas are coming to Universal Studios Japan, Universal Orlando Resort, and Universal Studios Hollywood. These will be expansive, immersive and interactive. They will be highly themed and authentic environments filled with multiple attractions, shops and restaurants.”

If the leaked images are to be taken as authentic, they suggest that the Fantastic Worlds park will be one of the largest Universal has ever built. Like the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, it will employ the hub-and-spoke design, making it different from the more circular design model that Universal typically uses. This means the new park will revolve around a central icon in the middle of the park though it’s still unclear what that may be.

While the leaked documents don’t officially confirm specific themes, they do seem to be heavy with Super Mario designs, as well as featuring Universal’s classic monsters — long rumored to feature in future park designs. A Waterworld-themed stunt show is also rumored to be in the works.

The new park, whatever form it may take, is expected to open in the early 2020s.

H/T: Thrillist

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Best places to travel in April

There’s an old cliché about April showers bringing May flowers, like that’s some kind of optimistic mantra to get you through four weeks of saying, “The weather really should be getting better by now.” But how about instead of finding clever rhymes to survive the unexpected doldrums of April you just get the heck outta town? April is the month where cherry blossoms bloom from DC to Japan, baseball gets back in season, and New Orleans isn’t yet soul-crushingly humid. And it’s Laotian New Year! And there’s loads of bacon in the Bay Area! Read on to find the dozen best spots for your April escape.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Photo: Suzanne C. Grim/Shutterstock

Now that the chaos of Mardi Gras is over, it’s time for a whole new kind of chaos in New Orleans — the 50th annual New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Festival running from the 25th to the 28th. This year’s headliners include The Rolling Stones, Santana, Katy Perry, and The Dave Matthews Band, and lots of other, ahem, older acts who might never tour again. April also brings the opening of the new Sazerac House Museum, the largest space ever devoted to the history of a single cocktail. The weather hasn’t gotten so humid you can feel yourself dehydrating as you stumble down Bourbon Street, and though the city will still be at premium prices, it’s a more relaxing time to visit than earlier in the year.

Japan

Photo: Taromon/Shutterstock

April is the height of cherry blossom season in Japan, where cities throughout the country are covered in pink, bushy landscapes. Different cities boast blooms at different times; late March brings flowers to Kansai and Kanto and the middle of the month is ideal for the Shiroshi River. During the Ogawara Festival, over 25,000 people descend on Ogawara the city to see the view of “1,000 cherry trees at a single glance” as the trees lining the Shiroshi come to life. Later in the month, the park surrounding Hirosaki Castle gets into full bloom from about April 23 to May 6. If you’re feeling extra romantic, the park even offers a special picnic package, limited to 20 people per day.

Loire Valley, France

Photo: Antoine2K/Shutterstock

Art majors, time to finally flex your muscle because 2019 marks the 500th anniversary of the French Renaissance. The country will have all varieties of festivities going on all year, but April will be the best time to observe the anniversary in the Loire Valley. The death of Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of the events that symbolized the Renaissance’s beginning, and from the April 13 to May 1, the town where he died — Amboise — will be hosting all sorts of celebrations and commemorations. In addition to riding through the gorgeous rolling green hills of the region and tasting wine along the way, you can also learn Renaissance dancing in Langeais from the 14th to the 25th, then perform in circles at night while flutes and tambourines play on.

Lexington, Kentucky

Photo: masisyan/Shutterstock

The Kentucky Derby is in neither Lexington nor in April, but you can catch many of the horses that’ll be running in it during the Spring Race Meet at Keeneland Race Course. The nation’s top horses will be running qualifying races all month, giving you a chance to preview, bet on, and curse at horses and jockeys you’ll likely see in next month’s Derby. When not burying your face in the racing form, you can also tour and dine at some of the sights from the most recent season of Top Chef, which was filmed around the state. Check out the Caribbean-inspired Fida’s Caribbean Cafe and its spice-loving BBQ Jerk Burger, as well as Epping’s on Eastside, which sits in an old Epping Bottling Works building and features ingredients sourced from around Kentucky. And of course, no trip to Kentucky would be complete without sampling the state’s famous hooch, both on and off the Bourbon Trail.

Coachella Valley, California

Photo: holleratyourbui/Shutterstock

You don’t even need to know who’s headlining the Coachella festival this year to make a trip to Indio and its surrounding areas. Because that festival hasn’t been about the music since they brought Tupac back from the dead, and the party there is the real attraction. After you’ve immersed yourself in modern music for the festival’s first weekend from the 12th to 14th, you can cruise around the still-temperate California desert and take in some of its bizarre-yet-beautiful roadside attractions. After that, hit the festival’s second weekend from the 19th to 21st to catch all the acts you couldn’t see over the sea of cellphones the first weekend. Then stick around from the 26th to 28th for the Stagecoach Festival and catch top country acts like Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, and Jason Aldean.

Washington, DC

Photo: Songquan Deng/Shutterstock

Though you may find yourself fighting every middle school tour group in North America, April is still hands-down the prettiest time of year to be in the nation’s capital. Cherry blossoms line the Potomac River, and the pictures of the pink blooms against the white DC monuments are the best you’ll ever get. Spring also brings the beginning of baseball season, and your chance to catch the Washington Nationals (maybe with Bryce Harper?) during a sunny day game before temperatures get unbearable. If you’re a fan of The West Wing, hit up the Jefferson Hotel, which is honoring the show’s 20th anniversary with immersive West Wing experiences like show memorabilia in the rooms, Ginger’s Popcorn in the hotel kitchen, and “The Bartlet” cocktail at Quill.

St. Lucia

Photo: James R Schultz/Shutterstock

Spring is shoulder season in St. Lucia, when the holiday crowds have died down and the barrage of summer visitors hasn’t yet shown up. It’s also well before storm season hits the Caribbean, meaning you can enjoy lower prices on flights and hotels without the inherent pre-vacation storm tracking that comes with summer trips. While hiking the Pitons and driving through the world’s only drive-through volcano at Sulphur Springs should definitely be on the agenda, you’ll definitely want to be at Jade Mountain from April 4 to 7. That’s when chef Allen Susser hosts a Wine Weekend with The World Wine Guys, offering wine pairing dinners, wine tasting, and rum tastings under the stars on the resort’s expansive, skylit rooftop.

Sebring, Florida

Photo: Sebring Soda Festival/Facebook

Lovers of sweet, carbonated beverages rejoice! Your Disneyworld is only a couple hours south. April 5-7 turns everything you love about a craft beer festival into a family-friendly affair with the second annual Sebring Soda Festival, where you’ll have a chance to sample over 200 craft sodas from all over the world. There’ll be the usual lineup of colas, ginger ales, root beers, and cream sodas, plus flavors you’ll never see elsewhere like caramel apple, prickly pear, and candied bacon. There’ll also be stuff from Gene Simmons’ Money Bag sodas, as well as cult favorites like Cheerwine, Moxie, and RC Colas. And if you feel like acting like a grown up at the end of the night, there’s a Pop and Fizz cocktail tasting and pairing party Saturday night from 4:00-8:00 PM.

San Jose, California

Photo: Bacon and Beer Classic

They call the Santa Clara Valley “The Valley of the Heart’s Delight” though your heart might disagree after what you subject it to in San Jose this April. That’s when the nation’s greatest collection of bacon-inspired dishes descends on Avaya Stadium on the 13th for the Bacon and Beer Classic. Bay Area food luminaries like The Art of BBQ, Sweet Dragon Baking Co., Sodacraft/Pop Bistro, Flugger’s Bacon, and over 25 others will be serving up unlimited quantities of bacon-laden delights, which you can wash down with over 100 different beers and ciders.

To burn off, like, two of those samples, get out and enjoy the prime Northern California weather by the Santa Cruz Mountains nearby. Or just give up on health altogether and pig out the next night at the city’s surprisingly affordable Michelin-starred Portuguese gem Adega. Then sip wine in the hills above the Apple HQ mothership at world-renowned Ridge Vineyards.

St. Maarten

Photo: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

You’ve gotta love the partying spirit of the Caribbean, where nearly every month of the year one of its beautiful, green-and-turquoise islands is throwing its annual Carnival. April is St. Maarten’s turn, where the 50th edition of Carnival promises to be the biggest and best the island has ever thrown. So big that the festivities actually begin in March with 33 days of mas, or pre-celebration celebrations. Then from April 20 to May 7, there’ll be colorful, jubilant parades called “jump-ups” full of elaborate costumes and nonstop Soca music. You’ll also be treated to nightly concerts, loads of local food, and one or two adult beverages to help you along the way.

Venice, Italy

Photo: givaga/Shutterstock

The incredible sinking city of Venice shines brightest in April. Flooding has subsided (mostly), tourists who came for Carnival are gone, and the weather has warmed up without the stench of summer setting in yet. The month also welcomes the feast of St. Mark — Venice’s patron saint — on the 25th, and it’s a much more locally loved celebration than Carnival. Festivities include a gondola regatta through the canals of the city, plus daylong celebrations in St. Mark’s square. Once the party is over, April is a great time to check out museums like the Gallerie dell’Accademia and Peggy Guggenheim Collection before they are completely jammed with tourists. Or you can catch an opera in one of the most spectacular venues in the world at the Teatro La Fenice.

Laos

Photo: Suriya99/Shutterstock

Happy Laotian New Year! You didn’t know it was Laotian New Year? Well, it would be hard to escape if you were in this under-appreciated southeast Asian paradise that most Americans only know as the home to Hank Hill’s neighbor. If you want to experience Laos, April is the time to go; the country celebrates Songkran, a New Year’s celebratory week of festive parades, fragrant markets, and engaging concerts. Just be sure to get a case for your phone and wear underwear under anything white: Songkran tradition dictates people splash each other with warm water to wash away the previous year’s sins. Though unlike similar festivities in Thailand where people take to the streets armed with Super Soakers, Laotians are typically nice enough to ask before they douse you — but you can never be too careful.


More like this: Everything you need to know about Japan’s 2019 cherry blossom season

The post The best places to travel this April appeared first on Matador Network.

Best activities in Asheville

The peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains, encased in greenery and reaching over 6,000 feet, have a national park named in their honor. It’s home to more biodiversity than any other in the park system. Spanning the borders of both Tennessee and North Carolina, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is also the most visited park in the system with over 10 million annual visits. Just east of the park, the bustling city of Asheville couples unmatched scenery and easy access to the park. Add in a friendly, outdoorsy vibe and Asheville is the perfect landing spot for your Great Smoky Mountains getaway.

Access an unbusy visitors center and trails in the heart of the park.

Photo: ehrlif/Shutterstock

Asheville is located between the Great Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northern part of North Carolina. You’ll get more peak views driving into the park from Asheville than from the popular vacation towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge to the west of the park — and the drive from Asheville to the park gate takes less than an hour. Another bonus of basing yourself in Asheville is that you’ll experience far less traffic heading into the park during the busy months of summer. Along the way you’ll pass shimmering lakes, forests, and bustling businesses, all of which provide plenty of things to do and see before and after you head into mountains.

From Asheville, you have a few options to get into the national park. The most straightforward is to hop on Interstate 40 and cruise west. However, this is more of a streamlined interstate to get drivers through the park more quickly, so there aren’t many pull-offs to enjoy the views along the way. To get into the heart of the park, get off the interstate at exit 27 onto US-74 and head towards Cherokee, then go north on US-441 towards Oconaluftee. Here, you will find trails that are just as beautiful as those on the main side of the park but less frequented during peak season.

When you pass Cherokee and continue north, Oconaluftee is the next significant point of interest. This scenic area has a small visitors center and a historic village, offering a unique vantage point of the area even to those who’ve visited the Smoky Mountains before. As a bonus, the elk that frequent the area can usually be seen at dusk or dawn before they head back into the mountains. Keep your eyes peeled as they love to scrounge for food. If you happen to see an elk while driving, never stop your vehicle. Find a parking spot or turn around to see it again as sudden stops can cause a collision and back up the roadway.

Take advantage of lesser-visited attractions on the park’s eastern side.

Photo: Kurdistan/Shutterstock

If you’ve never seen an old grist mill, make sure to stop by the one at Mingus Creek after you’re done at Oconaluftee. This 1886 mill is still operational and debatably makes the best cornmeal around. But the real perk is that this is where you’ll find the trailhead to the Mingus Creek Trail, a hike as breathtakingly beautiful as it is isolated. The trail is an out-and-back hike of 5.8 miles rated moderately challenging, and if you feel like pushing on further, it does connect to other trails along the way. You don’t have to do the whole trek in order to reach incredible views, however. After a little over a mile of walking, you’ll encounter a fork in the road that leads to a spooky old cemetery on the right fork.

Keep driving along US-441 until you encounter the Swinging Bridge Quiet Walkway Trailhead, a name much more convoluted than the hike itself. This trail is a short out-and-back jaunt with breathtaking views of the hills and forest. Many people actually miss the trail by never looking past the overlook. Look for a small weathered tan sign at the edge of the parking lot and, upon closer inspection, you will see “quiet walkway” and a set of pointed instructions to “take your time.” Once you’ve abided the directions at the overlook, taking in all of the expansive mountain views, venture over to the trail to soak in even more natural beauty.

Toast to your adventure in town with craft beer.

Photo: MilesbeforeIsleep/Shutterstock

Few things go better with exploring the outdoors than beer, and few places do beer as well as Asheville. Opportunities abound all over town to cheers with a well-deserved brew and chat away about the day’s adventures. Asheville Brewing Company is your first port of call, a friendly brewpub that not only serves amazing craft beer but also delicious pizza and burgers, as well. You can sit outside at both its downtown and North Asheville locations.

Another strong pull is Wicked Week Brewing, located downtown and offering a bustling patio scene. For something a little more lively, hop on over to Off The Wagon Dueling Piano Bar Asheville. You’ll find it on the last brick road in Asheville. The inside has a very 1920s vibe though the musicians here are anything but old-school. Prepare to have an exciting and entertaining night as the over-21 crowd experiences a different kind of piano dueling.

No matter where you stay, drink, or play, you will not feel the “touristy” vibe in Asheville. It’s easy to feel like a local here, particularly if you’ve spent time in similarly outdoorsy, hipster-friendly, mid-size cities like Boulder or Missoula. Asheville blends southern history, good food, and a friendly atmosphere. These features, coupled with it’s close proximity to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, make the town your perfect basecamp. If you haven’t had enough adventure by the time the next morning comes, the river of beer awaits.


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The post How to use Asheville as your base for Great Smoky Mountains National Park appeared first on Matador Network.

China limits access to Everest base

If you’re planning on scaling Everest anytime soon, you’d better be prepared. And that doesn’t just mean being in excellent physical shape. The base camp on the Chinese side of Everest is now officially closed to visitors who don’t have the proper climbing permits. People can still visit the Rongbuk monastery just below base camp but won’t be able to reach the 17,060-foot base camp itself.

The new measure is an effort to reduce the amount of waste visitors are leaving behind on the mountain, as more and more people are beginning to approach the mountain from the Chinese side in Tibet. Whereas the Nepalese base camp can only be reached after two weeks of hiking, the Tibetan camp is accessible by car, making it more attractive to many tourists.

According to the Chinese Mountaineering Association, 40,000 people visited the base camp in 2015 (the most recent year data is available). China’s aim in restricting access to the base camp is to allow time and space for clean-up efforts. Three clean-up operations last spring resulted in the collection of eight tonnes of waste, including mountaineering equipment left behind by climbers and a startling amount human feces. This year, the clean up will be focused on removing the bodies of mountaineers who have died in the “death zone” — the area about 26,000 feet up the mountain where the air is incredibly thin. Given the altitude and cold temperatures, bodies can potentially remain here for decades. Some bodies, like that of an Indian climber called “Green Boots” who perished there in 1996, are actually used by climbers as markers and milestones to determine how far they are from the summit.

You can still obtain a permit and access the base camp. Authorities are, however, limiting the number of available permits to just 300 per year.

H/T: BBC

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The post China is restricting access to Everest base camp until human bodies and waste are cleaned up appeared first on Matador Network.

Restaurants and bars Dubai airport

Dubai is one of the best places to first experience Middle Eastern culture. Sure, it can be a bit gaudy and flashy at times (see: man-made resort islands shaped like a palm tree), but it’s also one of the most culturally diverse cities in the region. To experience it all, you first have to get there, and the easiest way to do so via the Dubai International Airport, which is one of the most popular airports in the world.

The number of shopping opportunities far outweigh the number of eating options in DXB. There are some gems if you have time to sit down, however, and one or two places that aren’t fast food if you need sustenance on the quicker side. No matter which terminal you’re in, you’re never far from a caffeine fix and café food thanks to the more than 20 Costa Coffees in the Dubai International Airport.

If you’re looking for something more substantial, these are the best restaurants and bars to eat and drink at in the Dubai International Airport.

Terminal 1

Photo: Dubai International/Facebook

The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck: There’s a good chance you know of Wolfgang Puck. The upscale chain is everywhere, and the location in the Dubai airport proves how consistent a restaurant can be. There’s Italian options like pizza and pasta, steaks, and salmon. The wine bar offers by the half glass, by the glass, and by the bottle.

The Draft House: An American-style sports bar with all day breakfast and nearly 20 TVs. Along with beer, there’s also plenty of fried bar snacks and burgers.

Photo: Dubai International/Facebook

The Noodle House: No surprises here, but The Noodle House specializes in noodles. Menu items draw inspiration from Thailand, Singapore, China, Japan, and Malaysia. There are noodle soups, wok noodles, ramen noodles, and pad Thai. Opt for the small plates or dumplings if you’re not trying to overstuff before your flight.

Cadiz Lounge & Tapas: A large selection of spirits, wine, and cocktails to go along with Spanish-style tapas like fried calamari, cheese, and charcuterie.

Taqado Mexican Kitchen: No, Mexican food is not the first thing you think of when you think of grabbing a bite in the largest airport in the Middle East. As you might expect, it’s not going to match up to something local or from California or even anywhere else in the US. It’s still not a bad option if you like build-your-own bowls and burritos in a Chipotle-style restaurant.

Terminal 2

Bombay Chowpatty: Other than fast food options, there’s not much in Terminal 2. This Indian restaurant is just about your only option, but if there’s only going to be one, it could be worse. Options include tandoori chicken naan, sandwiches, and South India dishes like vada and dosas.

Terminal 3

Photo: Sorbis/Shutterstock

Heineken Lounge: No shocker here, but this is an easy go-to place to grab a beer. In addition to Heineken, there’s Amstel, Budweiser, Tiger, Sol, and London Pride. There’s quick bar snacks and pizza if you’re hungry.

Giraffe: A 24-hour restaurant that has menu items from just about everywhere. The type of place you can order huevos rancheros or muesli for breakfast, a po’ boy or bahn mi for lunch, and chicken malay curry for dinner. The bar serves wines primarily from France and Italy.

Seafood Market: Seafood with a pan Asian influence. Noodle soups, nasi goreng (Indonesian spiced seafood fried rice), and crab bisque are all available. A relatively long sushi list is also available if you’re up to sushi in an airport.

Photo: Dubai International/Facebook

Jack’s Bar & Grill: American-style bar with southern food like crawfish bisque, cajun jambalaya, and hickory barbecue pulled beef quesadilla. The bar portion is heavy on the Jack Daniel’s but also has a full range of spirits, wine, mass-market beer, and basic classic cocktails.

PAUL Bakery & Restaurant: A long list of juice mixes are on offer that will cleanse any residual post-flight feelings (or get you ready for a long haul). The food is upscale French style with options like soup of the day, fondue, and salmon salads.

Cho Gao: A quick place for takeaway pan-Asian food like dumplings and sour soup.


More like this: Why Dubai is the best trip to dip your toes in Arab culture

The post Where to eat and drink in the Dubai International Airport appeared first on Matador Network.

Best hikes by big cities in Europe,

Europe’s top cities all have some things in common: landmarks recognized the world over, food worth cooping up on a flight for, and some sort of beer or wine culture come to mind. But it’s a special few that have all that and spectacular hiking within or just outside of city limits. Luckily for anyone who likes to break up museum visits and diet-defying meals with cardio and bird’s-eye views, these seven European metropolises make it easy to add hiking to your itinerary. Here’s the best trek by each one.

Sörmlandsleden, Stockholm, Sweden

Photo: Fabian Skog/Shutterstock

Of course Sweden’s capital is a stone’s throw from one of the country’s most extensive trail networks. It’s so close, in fact, that hikers can actually set off on the Sörmland Trail from the Björkhagen metro station in Stockholm. Not far outside the city, the trail dips into forest valleys and passes lakes that are ripe for bird watching on its way to the coast. The full trail covers more than 600 miles, but it’s split up into shorter sections that are between one and 13 miles long. Bring a tent if you’re interested in an overnight. There are some shelters along the way, but you’re better off sleeping under the stars.

Planet Trail, Zurich, Switzerland

Photo: PixHound/Shutterstock

The promise of halfway decent views is all it takes to sell a hiker on a new trail. This trail, which runs between Uetliberg mountain and the Felsenegg vantage point on the outskirts of Zurich, certainly has the views, but the two-hour hike also has a theme that’ll make you nostalgic for fifth-grade science class. It takes you on a tour of the solar system, past models of all eight planets plus Pluto, with every meter of trail standing in for a million kilometers of space (roughly one foot to 200,000 miles). It’s more of a long walk than a strenuous hike, so that’s two reasons this one’s good for the family.

Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh, Scotland

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A city as pretty as Edinburgh deserves to be viewed from above. And there’s no better place to take in every medieval, neoclassical inch than from Arthur’s Seat, the tallest point in Holyrood Park not far from the city’s Royal Mile. A hill fort tracing back at least two millennia sits atop the extinct volcano, which no doubt dates back many more millennia. It’s a steep, rocky climb up 823 feet to the top, with some stretches of meandering escarpment. You’ll find routes of varying difficulty, including a popular trail that runs through the Salisbury Crags.

Mount Parnitha, Athens, Greece

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Half an hour north of Athens by car is Mount Parnitha, the tallest range in the vicinity and the prancing grounds of Greek god and flutist Pan, according to myth. The mountain has a wealth of hiking and mountain biking trails, karst caves decked out in stalagmites and stalactites, herbs to pick and animals to spot, religious monuments, and old fortresses denoting Greece’s ancient history. Enjoy the forested hills and views over Athens on any combination of the site’s 12 marked trails, including those leading to and from the mountain’s hiking refuges, Bafi and Flambouri, where you can stop for a rest or even stay the night.

Dublin Mountains Way, Dublin, Ireland

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A 40-minute car or bus ride will take you from Dublin’s city center to suburban Shankill, starting point of the long-distance Dublin Mountains Way trail that winds up in Tallaght, a large suburb in South Dublin. The whole thing is around 25 miles and would take about 12 hours of hiking to finish in one go, but it’s broken up into three more manageable sections: Shankill to Three Rock mountain, Three Rock to Hell Fire Club, and Hell Fire to Tallaght. Therein are even shorter sections that make for great day hikes through the forests and valleys outside the city, including up to the highest point and most popular lookout in the Dublin Mountains, Fairy Castle.

Medvednica, Zagreb, Croatia

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Zagreb sits just south of Mount Medvednica, most of which belongs to a nature park that anyone in Croatia’s capital can easily get to via public transport. There are dozens of well-marked trails on the mountain with caves, mines, springs, churches, and lodges where hikers can get a hearty meal interspersed throughout. Follow the relatively gentle Leustek trail through quiet forest or set your sights on Sljeme, the tallest peak, over 3,000 feet up.

Barlindåsen Ridge, Oslo, Norway

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World's most sustainable restaurants

Farm-to-table dining is no longer a niche concept. Restaurants around the world are sourcing local produce, minimizing waste, and reducing energy use. Part of the drive to sustainability is because of flavor — fresh, local food simply tastes better than the same food out of a package — and part of the recent resurgence of sustainable practices in restaurants is because it’s what the people want.

While there are locations where local and sustainable food has always been present, this new crop of environmentally conscious restaurants take the concept to the next level. Below, you’ll find places that value sustainability without compromising on flavor and experience.

1. Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, Spain

Photo: Azurmendi/Facebook

Azurmendi has three Michelin stars and has twice won the Sustainable Restaurant award from World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Surrounded by forestry in the Basque region of Spain, the hilltop atrium building uses solar panels and a geothermal energy system to keep the restaurant warm in winter and cool in the summer. None of this is hidden away or kept secret. Guests can tour the surrounding greenhouses and rooftop vegetable gardens. Two menus are offered. A “seasonable experience for the five senses,” both menus serve truffled egg and vegetable-based dishes like dry asparagus. Meat and seafood dishes are also on the menus, including dishes like shrimp with vegetable juice and frozen “old” tomato.

Address: Legina Auzoa, s/n, 48195 Larrabetzu, Vizcaya, Spain

2. Relae in København, Denmark

Photo: Relæ/Facebook

It’s easy to see why Relae has won the hearts and praise of the Michelin Guide reviewers. The restaurant prioritises sustainability in all aspects — from the design of the restaurant to the menu — and it reports back on its efforts in a Sustainability Report. The interior is clean and minimal in the typical Scandinavian style. The tables are zero-waste and made from the entirety of local oak tree, and the chairs are recycled. The design is just one element, as 90 to 100 percent of the food is certified organic at any point and time, and all the produce comes from mostly biodynamic farms that don’t use pesticides or chemicals. Even the filtered drinking water (served in old wine bottles) is reused when it’s collected and used for cleaning the restaurant. The menus serve what’s seasonally available, but if you see the Jerusalem artichoke mousse with passionfruit, order it.

Address: Jægersborggade 41, 2200 København, Denmark

3. Captain’s Galley in Scrabster, Scotland

Photo: Captain’s Galley Seafood Restaurant/Facebook

Captain’s Galley is a seafood restaurant surrounded by the Scrabster Harbour in Scotland. It’s a member of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts that Prince Charles is a patron of. The restaurant has a five-pillar value system to respect the food: sustainability, seasonality, traceability, simplicity, and integrity. Owners Mary and Jim Cowie use only local produce and source all the seafood within a 15-mile radius of the restaurant. The short menu constantly changes depending on what’s available, but the risotto of smoked salmon, crab, and aged carnaroli rice is a favorite. If all that seafood makes your sweet tooth ache, get a ginger crème brulee or lemon drizzle cake for dessert.

Address: The Harbour, Scrabster KW14 7UJ

4. Septime in Paris, France

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France is known for its sustainable food, and the country regularly tops lists of most sustainable food systems. Even large cities like Paris have locally focused restaurants. Of all the sustainable places in France, Septime stands out. The menu is 80 percent plant-based, and 99 percent is sourced from France. Beef is too detrimental to the environment for the restaurant, but you will find other meat, all of which is purchased whole, and all parts of the animal are used. On top of all that, the restaurant is working with farmers and other restaurants to save 1,400 seed varieties for Conservatoire du Gout.

Address: 80 Rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, France

5. Narisawa in Tokyo, Japan

Photo: NARISAWA/Facebook

Yoshihiro Narisawa’s eponymous Tokyo restaurant, Narisawa, opened in 2003 and has a relaxed experience that belies the care put into every detail. Narisawa uses the term “innovative satoyama” when speaking about his restaurant. Sato is where people live, and yama means mountain. Put together, satoyama is about the sliver of Earth where people and nature coexist. Narisawa highlights that relationship with the Earth. The seasonal menu is always changing to reflect what’s available, but a dish that has been on the menu since 2010 is Bread of the Forest, which is made using sakura, fermented soybean milk, and burdock root crisps. The butter served with the bread is styled to look like a stone covered in moss.

Address: 2-6-15 Minami Aoyama, Minato 107-0062 Tokyo Prefecture

6. Uncommon Ground in Chicago, Illinois

Photo: Uncommon Ground/Facebook

Uncommon Ground has two locations, one in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago and the other in Lakeview. The Edgewater restaurant is the first organic certified rooftop farm in the US. It grows everything from vegetables to herbs, and the produce is surrounded by a variety of flowers like marigolds and sunflowers. The rooftop also has two beehives, and the honey is used in the food and cocktails. The native bee houses provide a home for local bee populations at risk of extinction. In the summer months, you can to book an open house tour of the roof and take in the sunset while drinking Uncommon Ground’s certified organic Greenstar beer.

Address: 1401 W Devon Ave, Chicago, IL

7. Nomad in Surry Hills, Australia

Photo: Nomad/Facebook

Australia is one of the most sustainable countries, and that goes for its food as well (just look at how they handle Australians’ avocado obsession). Nomad in Surry Hills, near Sydney, is an example of the best that Australian sustainability can offer. It’s located in a converted warehouse with industrial brick walls and hanging LED lights. The restaurant uses locally harvested and sustainable firewood instead of charcoal. Nomad ethically sources its meat and buys the whole animal, breaking it down in-house and using every part. Other sustainability actions at the restaurant include using only local wine, repurposing used oil into biodiesel fuel, and serving as a solar panel host site for the local community.

Address: 16 Foster Street, Surrey Hills, NSW 2010

8. Mil in the Andes Mountains, Peru

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The chef Virgilio Martinez is no stranger to sustainable restaurants. His restaurant Central in Lima is recognized for its efforts, and his latest venture, Mil, takes everything a step further. Mil sits more than 11,500 feet above sea level near Inca ruins above Cusco. The menu consists of eight courses, or “moments” as the restaurant calls them. Each moment explores how an ingredient was used before the world had a highly unsustainable global economy. Mil works with SINBA to repurpose all organic waste. Sustainability includes the people who grow the food as well. Martinez has a close relationship with the surrounding communities and farmers, and suppliers get 50 percent of harvest profits. This includes chocolate sourced in Quillabamba. Since Peru has a wide range of culinary influences, Mil serves a wide selection of dishes including Lupinus legume, pork belly, avocado and rocoto pepper.

Address: Vía a Moray, Maras, Peru


More like this: 7 easy things you can do to be a more sustainable traveler at hotels

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Insane new suites in Vegas hotel

These hotel suites in The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas are putting typical hotel rooms to shame. As part of their $690 million renovations, the hotel has revamped its Hardwood and Kingpin suites to include a half-sized basketball court and full-sized bowling lanes respectively.

Photo: Palms Casino Resort/Facebook

Photo: Palms Casino Resort

The regulation size half basketball court in the Hardwood Suite is the first of its kind in the world. The 10,000-square-foot, two-story suite has two bedrooms, a professional locker room, a hidden whiskey room, a game room with pool and poker tables, a 16-seat bar, and basically lets you pretend to be Michael Jordan for a night. According to the website, the suite is “the ideal spot to host a party, kickback with a group of friends, or have some competitive fun on the court.”

Photo: Palms Casino Resort/Facebook

Photo: Palms Casino Resort/Facebook

At a measly 4,500 square feet, the Kingpin Suite has two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a pool table, several large-screen televisions, a bar, and, most importantly, two full-size bowling alleys. The alleys come equipped with everything you need, including shoes, bowling balls, and an automatic scoring system.

It should be no surprise that neither suite comes cheap. According to Lonely Planet, The Hardwood Suite is $20,000 per night while the Kingpin Suite is $15,000 per night.

H/T: Lonely Planet

More like this: The most unique hotels from around the world

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