A Luxury Travel Blog

When it comes to ski holidays, Switzerland has something of a reputation as the playground of the rich and famous. Whether this is down to its cinematic appearances (Heidi, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), its clientele (the Beckhams being one recent example), its stunning, majestic scenery or its prestige (St. Moritz has played host to ski holidays since 1864), it’s hard to say. Whatever the reason, the Swiss Alps are the location of choice for the skiing connoisseur.

As a result of this, there is a healthy supply of luxury ski chalets available in any of the top-name Swiss resorts. For those who have never experienced a luxury ski holiday, a luxury ski chalet typically comes with a personal chef, a full-range of technological treats (iPods, HD TVs) and mod-cons (saunas, hot tubs) and a chauffeur. Chaperones may be available to escort children to ski school if on a family ski holiday and plenty more besides depending on your requirements. Think of it as staying in a 5 star hotel where you’re allowed to raid the fridge.

St. Moritz is one of the headline Swiss ski resorts, having not only been open since 1864, but having hosted the Winter Olympics in both 1928 and 1948, whilst Zermatt offers the most spectacular scenery, sitting as it does in the shadow of the imposing grandeur of the Matterhorn mountain.

At a close second, Saas Fee offers 13 peaks reaching 4,000 metres above sea level for some more outstanding scenery.  In the sort of surroundings that only the Swiss Alps can offer, and with a long and prestigious history of providing for the rich and famous, whichever resort you end up in will turn a group ski holiday into a luxury ski holiday.

Nick Lewis writes for Eclipse Ski, a Brighton based ski holidays agency.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

I was inspired to write this article by a comment made by Nick P on another of my articles on ALTB.

Pattaya is much maligned, even by expats who live in Thailand. Those of us who live, or have lived, in Patters are the butt of many jokes. You’ll have heard the one about the Pattaya jumpers (desperate foreigners who’ve lost every penny and see no way out other than flinging themselves off a high balcony). No doubt you’ll have heard of the cash cows and the walking ATMs, and how some hapless idiots lose everything, often within days of arrival in Sin City. I don’t dispute it happens. It does. But Pattaya has a lot more to offer, so please let me set the record straight.

Pattaya is the second largest city in Thailand and, as a big city, has a lot to offer for all sorts of people. Yes, downtown Pattaya is a sleaze hole. No arguments from me there. But there are sleazy places in most cities. I don’t write off London, for example, as a cess pit just because of the pros at King’s Cross or the sex for sale in Soho.

If you look beyond the so-called “entertainment zone” of central Pattaya, there’s a great deal on offer which is worlds away from the sleaze and sex industry. By the way, I’d like to take this opportunity to mention anti-slavery, which is a cause I care a great deal about.

To the north of Pattaya, you have the quiet suburb of Naklua with its excellent markets full of fresh local produce and established community of locals and long term expats. Some of Pattaya’s best hotels and restaurants are situated towards the north of the city. It’s hard to imagine a Sunday brunch anywhere in the world to match the one at the Amari’s Mantra restaurant.

On the subject of restaurants, visitors to Pattaya are spoiled for choice with gourmet treats. Just buy the local paper, the Pattaya Mail, and read their “Dining Out” section. There’s seafood restaurants, fine dining, international festivals, world class chefs, and many regular foodie events. Yum! It’s gourmet heaven.

To the south, you have Jomtien, a popular holiday resort. Pattaya is also rapidly expanding to the east, but I’ve very rarely ventured there so I can’t comment on that.

Beyond the city, there are numerous golf courses. Many people come to Pattaya for the fabulous golf courses at very reasonable prices. There are other tourist attractions too, as you’d expect from a place where tourism is such a major part of the economy. The vast majority of the people are honest and friendly – it’s a comfortable place to be.

If you want to sit in a seedy girlie bar (or indeed in BoyZone) and get ripped off by a good-looking stranger who amazingly falls in love with you immediately, then you can easily find that too. No problem! But Pattaya is about a lot more than that, so I just wanted to speak up in favour of the place I called home for several years.

Pattaya has numerous top class luxury hotels and resorts. I believe the King of Sweden holidays at the Dusit Thani, which is situated at the north end of Pattaya.

So you see, Pattaya has a lot more to offer than seedy sex. Perhaps you just need a little bit of insider information to see it.

As we all know, France is renowned for producing some of the finest wine on Earth, and among the towering buildings of Paris, wine is the drink of choice. Where better to go on a stag weekend for the more sophisticated gentleman?

Stag weekends don’t all have to be about strippers and beer, but this pre-conception can put off the more discerning man from having one. This is a shame, as the tradition of a stag party is a fine one: one last hoo-ra before getting married in whatever form you like. For a more luxurious stag weekend, a wine tasting tour of Paris easily fits the bill. Visiting a number of different bistros and restaurants from the Left Bank to Montmartre, and perhaps a visit to one of the royal cellars near the Louvre is a delightful way to see out the final days of bachelorhood in possibly the classiest city in Europe.

If you feel like venturing further afield, the stag weekend in Paris could turn into a small road-trip, visiting different vineyards close by to see where the grapes are grown, and the wine is made, as well as sampling the taste.

Either way, pre-arranged wine tasting tours of Paris and the surrounding area are easily booked, and many stag companies are looking to attract more upmarket customers and offering such tours, so if you’re best man to a groom that insists he doesn’t want a stag do, because he’s not into that sort of thing, perhaps suggest a wine tasting stag weekend in Paris.

Nick Lewis writes for Eclipse Ski, a Brighton based ski holidays agency.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

Charley Boorman (of Long Way Round fame) is bold enough to offer his own recommendations. The actor has teamed up with American Express to suggest ‘The One Thing‘ you should do when you visit Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, and Edinburgh. Think you know these cities well? His recommendations are surprisingly savvy and inventive. You can watch him enjoy unique adventures from a visit to Amsterdam’s smallest microbrewery (Brouwerij de Prael) to a private CV tour of Paris. His vodcasts are worthwhile, whether you’re a seasoned globetrotter or looking for a fresh adventure nearby.

Located in the town of Taormina, the Hotel San Domenico Palace in Sicily is an impressive reconverted Dominican monastery dating back to 1430 and is one of the world’s most historic hotels. It’s set in the terraced gardens with poolside views of the sea and Mount Etna.  The original structures of the monastery are still in use – the church today serves as the hotel’s congress centre and former monks’ cells are guestrooms.  The original furniture and frescos are visible throughout the hotel.

If you’re in Australia and fancy a proper winter Yuletide celebration rather than the usual Christmas summer barbie, then why not enjoy Christmas in July? Visit Peppers Manor House, Southern Highlands (south of Sydney) on 3rd July 2010 for a spectacular Christmas feast.

Accommodation is available, in addition to the five-course gourmet dinner at $95 per person. You can look forward to turkey and all the trimmings, Christmas carols, and a truly indulgent time.

The Hilton Brisbane has been running its foodie Masterclasses since 1995, and this year is no exception. This year’s event will be held on the 24th and 25th of July 2010. Tickets cost $350 for one day or $595 for two days. The Hilton is also offering special hotel packages for the Masterclass Weekend.

There are 20 sessions each day for food and drink aficionados to choose from. Participants may choose five sessions per day according to their programme of events, which is outlined on the Masterclass website. Naturally the event attracts top names such as Antonio Carluccio and Gordon Ramsay, as well as Australian and other international chefs and winemakers. It’s one for the serious gourmet!

But it’s not all serious, you are intended to have fun too as you “taste, learn, laugh and sip your way through each day”. Enjoy!

If you like your food then why not visit Cologne and experience a delicious culinary journey through Asia at the Excelsior Hotel Ernst’s award winning Taku restaurant. Taku, Cologne’s most famous Asian restaurant was recently awarded the Busche Gala ‘Foreign Restaurant of the Year 2010′. Head Chef Nicolas von Auersperg will take you on a culinary journey through Asia tasting delicacies from Japan, China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Taku, the house of hospitality is known for its fine Asian cuisine and timeless elegance. The restaurant located in the 5* Excelsior Hotel Ernst in the centre of the city is proud to serve some of finest Asian cuisine in Cologne from traditional Thai curries to some of the best Sushi in Germany.

Taku can be booked for private kitchen parties where you can become acquainted with the Asian cuisine. The celebration begins with Taku’s signature champagne cocktail ‘Taku’s Rose’ followed by an array of Asian specialties. You then get the chance to take part in helping the chefs at various cooking stations around the restaurant. What better way to truly experience the Orient.

If you’re going somewhere, the obvious thing to do is to book a hotel room. But have you considered the alternatives? Sure, there are home stays and other places, but they’re not really for the luxury traveller although they can be quite interesting. What I’d like to tell you about is a viable luxury alternative to staying in a hotel – a serviced apartment.

At its most basic, you get the equivalent of a good standard of hotel room plus a kitchenette. At its best, oh wow, some of these suites are seriously impressive. Not everyone wants to cook when they’re travelling, but having a kitchen or even a kitchenette can be very handy. And it’s very rare to get that in a hotel (although we did find such a thing in our suite at the lebua at State Tower, Bangkok).

To be honest, I don’t really know what the difference is between a hotel room and a serviced apartment. A good serviced apartment has all the usual facilities of a hotel – swimming pool, gym, room cleaning daily, room service, food, etc. It’s just like a hotel, with a bit more and usually around the same price as a hotel room.

I travel quite a lot, and in future I’m definitely going to look out for serviced apartments as well as hotel rooms before deciding where to stay.

Oakwood celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with an array of exciting celebration campaigns centered on the theme of trust. One of these golden anniversary campaigns include the “50 Nights in 50 Months” contest, where visitors to the specially designed Oakwood Asia Pacific microsite can stand a chance to win 50 nights to be used in Oakwood properties across Asia, over 50 months. All that needs to be done on this microsite is to send an e-postcard to friends, describing the meaning of trust. Each additional e-postcard sent earns an additional chance to win the grand prize. The winner will live the luxe life at Oakwood’s luxurious serviced apartment brands, including the premium Oakwood Premier, designed to cater to the finest of tastes – Oakwood Premier Prestige Bangalore features a functional helipad and AZOK, the popular modern Indian roof-top restaurant by Vineet Bhatia, the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star, is housed in Oakwood Premier Mumbai.

I recently had the pleasure of staying at the Sea Sand Sun, a luxury resort and spa near Pattaya. Did I say “luxury”? That’s an understatement! This place is superbly luxurious. If I could write this review in one word, that word would be WOW!

But you luxury travellers are going to want a bit more information than that, so here’s the heads up on this hidden tropical Paradise, which is only about 30 minutes’ drive away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Pattaya. It’s easy to get to via the main East Coast highway, and is clearly sign-posted from the main road (Km 163 on the seaward side of Highway 3) so you should find it easily enough – now you know where to look.

On arrival, we (my husband came along with me to carry the bags) were greeted by smiling staff who checked us in promptly, handed us a refreshing coconut drink, and loaded our luggage on to an electric buggy. The resort is quite large so if you don’t want to walk around, you can phone reception and ask for one of their buggies to take you from A to B. It was such a beautifully landscaped place that we preferred to walk everywhere, except on arrival and departure when we had luggage to shift.

The words “large resort” may conjure up an image in your mind of loads of people milling about, along with all the accompanying hubbub and bustle. Nothing could be further from the truth in the case of the Sea Sand Sun resort. The space was used to provide seclusion and privacy. There are only about 50 units of accommodation (some with two bedrooms) here, and it’s quite easy not to see other people if you prefer the peace and quiet of your own company.

Our accommodation was gorgeous. We had a secluded villa with a private pool which could also be used as a jacuzzi. We had every facility one could ever want from a luxury break. I could tell you about every little detail (actually, I was very taken with the design of the shower taps) but I’ve been told to write a review, not a book. The villa was wonderful with no attention spared to detail and comfort. Of course you can see the accommodation itself on the Sea Sand Sun’s own website.

The resort is laid out in a very convenient and sensible way too. Although we were given a plan of the resort, a quick glance was all that was required to orient ourselves. Basically there is a main path running along the centre to all the facilities with branches off the path, left and right, leading to the villas.

The reception is at the top, then at the foot you can find the spa, the free-form infinity pool with jacuzzi area, and outdoor restaurant. Oh yes, and the private beach.

Unlike Pattaya’s main beach where people are just about sitting on top of each other, there was no one to be seen on this one! I knew the resort had a private beach, I never expected to get the whole beach to ourselves. (No deckchairs reserved by someone else at 6am here!)

We were treated like VIPs by the staff. They know how to make guests feel valued and indeed they’re even used to royal visitors, as some members of the Thai Royal Family holiday at the Sea Sand Sun too.

If you really want seclusion, there’s also the option of private dining in your own villa, but we enjoyed visiting the restaurant, which serves terrific Thai food as well as international choices. There’s live music every night by Jay and Kookie who are really fun people and excellent entertainers.

Additionally, the resort has a very attractive meeting room which can be used for their corporate clients. If you have to attend a corporate meeting, I can’t think of a nicer environment to do it in.

This place was an amazing getaway from the stressful pace of life. After a two-night stay we left completely rejuvenated and relaxed. As I said in my first paragraph – WOW! As the resort itself says, it’s “so near, yet so far away from hassles”.

PS: We are pleased to be able to offer our readers a 10% discount if you’d like to stay at the Sea Sand Sun. Just mention A Luxury Travel Blog when you book with them.

For summer 2010 season the Belvedere Hotel in Mykonos, Greece, has opened with a stunning new look. This includes the debut of a new Martini Bar, a redesigned lobby, private VIP residents’ lounge and a selection of new luxury rooms. The result confirms the Belvedere’s position as one of the chicest and desirable destinations in the Greek Islands. The Belvedere’s owners, brothers, Nikolas and Tasos Ioannidis with their sister Domna have pulled together a team of experts, including the celebrated chef Nobu Matsuhisa, George Calombaris who have created signature restaurants at the hotel. New contemporary uniforms have also been designed by fashion designer Neil Barrett, while New York star architect David Rockwell, who created the W Hotel concept for Starwood has masterminded the sophisticated new look. Finally acclaimed mixologist Dale de Groff, the creator of the Cosmopolitan has created a collection of adventurous signature cocktails for the new Martini Bar.

With outposts in Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Singapore, the supperclub franchise is famous for serving up sumptuous suppers in sex-infused adult surroundings. Fortunately for those who reside in London, supperclub’s newest venue in Notting Hill lives up to the brand’s signature style. The interiors are as sleek as you’d expect, with a black-and-red bar for pre-supper drinks and a split-level dining room used for dinner and dancing. The square space is quite a sight to behold with bright white used throughout, from the glossy floor to the sofa-style seating that frames three walls. Cleanliness is considered, with glitzy guests required to take off their Louboutins before curling up on canvas cushions to enjoy the camp entertainment that unfolds before them. There are no menus here, so dinner is always a surprise mix of cuisines. With style and substance carefully balanced, supperclub challenges preconceptions of a night out and brings heady glamour back to the capital with a cool bar/restaurant/club combo.

Nick Clarke is Web Editor at Hg2 luxury city guides.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

Want to cook like a true Italian? Take a course at one of these luxury hotels and soon you’ll be throwing the most popular dinner parties in town.

L’Andana, Tuscany: Chef Christophe Martin teaches culinary secrets from the Maremma region; there’s also a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Villa Pitiana, Tuscany: The cookery school takes place in a beautifully restored monastery kitchen and focuses on local rustic cuisine.

Masseria Torre Maizza, Puglia: Visit the markets of Monopoli with the chef and return to the old stables where you’ll be taught how to prepare regional specialities, including fresh pasta and panzerotti in the wood-fired oven.

The Anna Maria Historic Green Village, is a new development soon to get underway on Pine Avenue in Anna Maria Island, created by the owners of the luxury vacation rental company Pineapplefish, Mike and Lizzie Thrasher. The Village will consist of 8000 square feet of retail space, including café and beautiful gardens, for Islanders and visitors to enjoy. One of the most notable elements of this project, is the extensive, ‘green’ initiatives that are being incorporated. The whole Village will be run using renewable energy sources, including ground-source heat pumps, photovoltaic electricity generation via solar panels, and solar hot water. The project will also see the recycling of some of the old buildings from the Island to incorporate into the build, bringing new and old together. One of these buildings is a 1935 Sears Catalog Cottage, that was donated to Mike and Lizzie and was moved last week, very slowly by truck, from its current site on the Island, to its new spot on the development! The majority of the Anna Maria Historic Green Village will be open to the public by the Anna Maria Pier Centennial in Spring 2011.

The Palace Wing of the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Mumbai is currently being restored following the events of 2008 and Taj has launched a microsite to keep customers informed of progress. In the next few months Taj will be reopening the Rooms and Grand Suites of the heritage wing in a phased manner.  The microsite talks about the renowned restaurants that are already fully operational. It also showcases the rich history of Taj, its heritage, royalty, art and architecture ) and encourages people to share their special memories of Taj on the site.