Samantha Brown, host of Samantha Brown’s Place to Love, in Rothenburg, Germany.
Samantha Brown’s Place to Love
Samantha Brown, host of Samantha Brown’s Places to Love on PBS, is one of the most recognizable and trusted faces of travel on PBS. The two-time Emmy-award-winning series debuts its 8th season on January 3, 2025, which coincides with Brown’s 25th Anniversary as a TV personality and a pioneer in travel. During that quarter of a century, Brown has hosted 14 TV series and created an astonishing 338 episodes of television, traveling over 2.5 million miles across 65 countries in the bargain. It’s her smart, lively and inquisitive on-air personality that has made her one of PBS’s favorites. Yet she says she’s just as curious and excited as she was when she began.
“Yes, even more so, and that’s not to be a Pollyanna about it at all,” Brown said in a recent phone interview from her Brooklyn home. “You know, at the beginning of my career, I always felt I had to temper my wonderment because that could be perceived as naïve or unworldly. I was just scared because I was on camera and didn’t want to sound or look like an idiot. But now I just let it loose because I have age and experience on my side. So now, when I ask a question, I’m just as curious. I just get to show it more.”
Eating oysters on the North Carolina coast.
Samantha Brown’s Place to Love
Her new season brings viewers with her to places as disparate as Costa Rica, South Dakota, New Orleans, North Carolina, Germany, and Route 66, among other places.
In New Orleans, her mandate was “Nothing in the French Quarter,” so she looked for hidden gems outside the popular tourist area, including the National World War II Museum and cycling the Tammany Trace. In an episode devoted to “The Crystal Coast of North Carolina,” Brown encounters the wild horses of Shackleford Banks, visits Beaufort’s boat-builders, and samples oysters on Harkers Island.
Samantha Brown in South Dakota.
Samantha Brown’s Place to Love
Brown also delves deep into Americana this season, heading into the Black Hills of South Dakota, encountering bison at Custer State Park, driving the Needles Highway, and exploring the Badlands.
The land is stunning, and you can’t believe what you’re seeing,” Brown said. “Everything from the Crazy Horse monument and the Native American experience to the Minuteman Missile sites that were built during the Cold War.”
“I thought Route 66 was phenomenal,” Brown said. “It’s such a beautiful trip through American history that we’re not taught in school.
Two episodes are devoted to following Route 66, driving the section from Missouri to Oklahoma and then from Oklahoma to Texas, starting at the St. Louis Arch and visiting sites as diverse as the. Oklahoma’s First Americans Museum, the Cadillac Ranch, and the Devil’s Rope Museum.
Samantha Brown on Route 66.
Samantha Brown’s Place to Love
“I thought Route 66 was phenomenal,” Brown said. “It’s such a beautiful trip through American history that we’re not taught in school. You’re meeting Americans that you don’t meet on the coasts. Route 66 doesn’t technically exist anymore so you have to drive to find these pieces of it.”
Further afield, she devotes two episodes to Germany in the new season, because “it’s such a hot destination.”
One episode focuses on Berlin, Leipzig, and Meissen. In Berlin, she explores iconic landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate, experiences Berlin’s vibrant art scene, and a small museum telling an unknown story of the Holocaust. She tours Europe’s first porcelain producer in Meissen and explores little-visited Leipzig. The second episode is on the Romantic Road and explores Mainz’s Roman ruins and wine bars, the Art Nouveau museum in Wiesbaden, and the medieval charm of Rothenburg.
Then there’s Costa Rica, a favorite destination of Americans. Here, Brown takes the road less traveled.
“I’ve done both coasts of Costa Rica,” Brown said, “so I was really excited to just kind of stick to the middle because the coasts are where most of the big resorts and tourism are.”
Samantha Brown shooting a scene in Costa Rica.
Samantha Brown’s Place to Love
Heading off the beaten path, she travels through the lush rainforest of Mistico Park, learns about sustainable farming at Vida Campesina, and takes a wild whitewater tubing adventure on the Rio Celeste.
“Travel in the middle of Costa Rica, and you’re already avoiding the crowds,” she said. “We stayed in really nice places for $125 a night with pools and a nice breakfast, and it was very affordable. The waterfalls were chugging, and the animals were out, and that’s why you’re going to Costa Rica.”
Brown adds that “we went in July, their wet season or, as they like to call it, their ‘green season.’ This ties in with one bit of feedback we always get from viewers. They always ask, ‘When did you shoot this so we can make that same decision?’ We go to a lot of places during the shoulder season or even the off-season, and viewers would like to know when we were there at the beginning of the show. It’s going to be even more important going forward because of overtourism. When you go, changes everything.”
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