Travel insights and tips on some of the top attractions and best cities in the world

A Southern California trip puts world-famous theme parks, beaches, and wildlife encounters within easy reach, but all that convenient fun comes at a price once admission, hotels, parking, and meals start adding up. The good news? You don't have to cut the attractions you came for. By traveling during quieter seasons, choosing your hotel location carefully, limiting parking fees, and focusing on three or four must-see destinations instead of a dozen, you can keep costs under control from the start.

The DoSeum in San Antonio is a hands-on children's museum built around science, art, and imagination. It packs an entire day's worth of building, splashing, and pretend play into a museum designed specifically for kids ten and under, but a toddler and a nine-year-old rarely want to explore it the same way.

Just steps from the famous sea lions of PIER 39, Aquarium of the Bay brings you nose to nose with the animals living beneath the surface of San Francisco Bay. Walk through 300 feet of clear acrylic tunnels while sharks and bat rays glide overhead, meet sea stars, anemones, and juvenile swell sharks in the touch pools, and watch North American river otters tumble through their Watershed Creek habitat.

New York's history is richer than 5th Avenue. The harbor still holds the island where millions of new arrivals first set foot on American soil, and the skyline still carries the tower that announced the modern age.

A trip to New York City in fall reveals what the locals love about their hometown. The Big Apple shines when summer crowds wane and crisp autumn air refreshes the streets. In these months before winter's chill sends people hurrying indoors, neighborhoods hum with activity and seemingly every corner leads to a new discovery.

If a first visit is on your calendar, this Epic Universe guide walks you through the park's layout, each of its worlds, and the planning strategies that help you fit the most into your day, plus how the park connects to a larger Universal Orlando Resort vacation.