A Luxury Travel Blog

Next month, on 8th October 2008, The Ritz’s Executive Chef, John Williams, has created a five course gastronomic menu cleverly matching each course to one of the Champagne House’s finest offerings, resulting in the most remarkable experience. Experts from the House of Perrier-Jouët will be on hand to advise diners on how best they can appreciate the different wine that will be presented with each course.

This extraordinary evening will commence with a Champagne and canapé reception prior to dinner being served in the magnificent surroundings of the 18th Century William Kent House at The Ritz. Visit http://www.theritzlondon.com/events/jouet_menu.asp to view the menu and the Champagnes for the evening. Prices are £160 per person.

Set close to the edge of the Grand Canyon’s southern rim, the El Tovar Hotel has a restaurant where the views are to die for. Here, Southwestern flavours prevail throughout the menu, whether it be buffalo carpaccio on roasted crostini or wild Alaskan salmon tostada with a tequila vinaigrette. The best tables go quickly on a first come first serve basis, so be prepared!

Enjoy England have got 8 luxury Escape to Hadrian’s Wall Country 2-night breaks for 2 people to give away in a free prize draw. Stay in one of 4 Marriott hotels in the region (Newcastle Gosforth Park, Newcastle MetroCentre, Sunderland, Durham) - and they’ll even throw in a year’s free pass to all English Heritage wall sites.  To enter, simply click here. Entries must be received by 30th September 2008.

Celebrate fall at Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa. After a long, hot summer, there’s nothing like the refreshing crisp air and legendary fall colours of the Fraser Valley. Enjoy the serenity of nearby Minter Gardens, with its inspiring views and breathtaking surroundings. Or, just relax in our hot springs pools and enjoy the incredible beauty. To help you plan your trip, they’re offering special midweek fall packages, complete with spa treatments and garden passes. And best of all, we’re just a short drive from Vancouver. What’s not to fall for?  Package prices start from $328.

Don’t miss your last chance to attend Atlanta’s Premier Wine Tasting Festival, the 12th Annual Vineyard Fest at Chateau Elan. More than 100 domestic and international wines will be available for guest tastings with wineries from Chile, Argentina, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia and New Zealand plus regional wineries from California, New York, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia participating. Sample seven of Chateau Elan’s restaurants and enjoy live music by League of Decency and an acoustic performance by St Barth’s musician Stéphane Cano. Ticket price $75. All-inclusive of wine, food, wine seminars, cooking demonstrations, grape stomping, and live entertainment.

Here’s a restaurant with a difference.  Diners can arrive by a 15-minute gondola ride some 7,700 feet above sea level.  Unsurprisingly, the views are to die for with the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies visible on the horizon. This is Eagle’s Eye Restaurant at the Kicking Horse Resort in Golden, British Columbia.  It’s led by Alain Soret who brings French flavours to locally-sourced produce such as wild BC sockeye salmon, as well as game and other delicacies that will get your mouth watering. Request a fireside table to make your evening extra special.

The Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong has launched a new treatment - a caviar collagen facial. Available from 19th August to 30th November 2008, and priced at HK$1,400 this 75-minute facial is designed to rejuvenate tone and texture while leaving skin with a more youthful glow and softer feel. Guests booking their facial before 5 p.m. may choose the extra-luxurious option of the caviar collagen facial followed by a hair blow dry in the Mandarin Salon with a glass of Champagne for an additional HK$200.

Benefits of the caviar collagen facial include instant firming effects, reinforcement of the skin’s natural defence system and gentle soothing of irritated skin. To ensure the benefits continue, guests are given a moisture serum to take home and apply for the following seven days. For best results, an intensive five-week programme is recommended.

An all-villa luxury boutique resort called The Princess d’Annam Resort and Spa has been launched Ke Ga, close to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, two months later than previously planned. The 57-villa and two-bedroom beachfront home resort is to offer four swimming pools and 21 plunge pools, along with a five-star restaurant fusing Vietnamese and French cuisine. A special feature is the Princess Spa, which has separate wings for men and women.

Open for dinner from March to October, Rossellinis is a 2-star Michelin restaurant that overlooks the craggy cliffs of the Amalfi coast. Expect Meditteranean cuisine with a southern Italian influence. There are a number of updated Neapolitan dishes to be enjoyed here, such as crystallised amberjack fillet served with roasted artichoke and potato salad with anchovy sauce. To get the most from the venue, arrive early for a place on the terrace.

At the back end of last year the Burj Al Arab launched Junsui- a modern buffet restaurant offering authentic Asian dishes prepared live in opulent surroundings specifically designed by Khuan Chew. Junsui, meaning ‘Pure’ in Japanese, is open to external guests for lunch and dinner, as well as serving breakfast to in-house guests. The restaurant consists of twelve live cooking stations, incorporating authentic cuisine (hot, cold and pastry) from China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea. The family-friendly restaurant is be located on the ground mezzanine floor, with stunning views over the Arabian Gulf, The Palm and The World islands, and includes an adjacent cocktail lounge for pre- and post-dinner drinks.

Beijing’s newest hotel opens today, fractionally late for the Olympics but still able to take advantage of the spectacle. The Opposite House has 99 generous rooms (reputedly among the largest in Beijing) and was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. This new boutique hotel has a Mediterranean restaurant and one that specialises in North Asian cuisine, as well as two bars, a café and a facility for private dining.

The new James Bond exhibition at London’s Imperial War Museum goes beyond the fiction and explores the astonishing truth behind the world’s most famous secret agent. This is the first major exhibition devoted to the life and work of the man who created James Bond.  It runs until 1st March 2009.

There’s more to Altantic City than just gambling and two new hotels that have both opened this summer are helping to re-iterate that point. The Water Club from the Borgota Hotel Casino & Spa is a $400 million hotel that bills itself as “Atlantic City’s first cosmopolitan-lifestyle hotel” with 800 rooms, a spa with five sensual pools, and six designer retail shops. The Chelsea on the other hand has 330 rooms, two signature Stephen Starr restaurants, a 10,000 sq. ft. luxury Sea Spa and a red hot social scene at the 5th Floor.

An insight into Tahune Airwalk, one of Tasmania’s best-known attractions.

Le Château d’Ouchy opens its doors today.  It consists of a hotel, restaurant, lounge bar and terrace, offering a stunning place to relax and unwind on the shores of Lake Geneva. The re-opening of Le Château d’Ouchy is the result of a model collaboration between the Loterie Romande (which has invested some 15 million CHF in the renovation fo the property) and the Lausanne Palace & Spa, responsible for the administration of the illustrious establishment.