As the Olympics gather pace in Rio (c’mon Team GB!), one of the most vibrant and photogenic cities on the planet, I decided to take a look back at some of the other great cities that have hosted the world’s biggest sporting event. Impossible as it was to pick just a handful, here are a […]
Summer is here (sort of) and so begins the pretty predictable exodus to the popular parts of Europe, from the Spanish Costas and cypress tree-dotted hills of Tuscany to the beaches of the South of France. These places are popular for a very good reason, but for anyone seeking even a smidgeon of originality (or […]
South America’s popularity as a luxury destination shows no sign of slowing down and, if anything, visitors seem to be wanting to get ever further off the beaten track to explore the less well-trodden corners of this cracking continent. So in the self-same spirit of exploration, here are seven South American secrets that may not […]
Sorry for the seemingly negative rider in the title, but we think it’s important to note that the Northern Lights – the eerily beautiful display of shimmering colour sometimes visible in the night skies over the Arctic Circle – are a natural phenomenon and so by no means guaranteed. I’m sure that’s stating the blindingly […]
The concept of scuba diving for leisure has been around since that clever Frenchman Jacques Cousteau perfected the aqualung, but it’s only really of late that luxury diving holidays – where the diving on offer is as outstanding as the accommodation – have come to the fore. Here are my favourite luxury diving hotels across […]
If there’s one holiday that you really, really want to get right it’s the all-important honeymoon. That’s one of the main reasons newly-weds tend to play it safe and follow a well-worn path to a handful of classic romantic destinations such as the Maldives, Italy or Tanzania. Don’t get me wrong – these destinations are […]
Spoiler alert to any adolescent girls reading this – Justin Bieber does NOT make the list. Sorry about that. The rest of you can breathe a sigh of relief and read on, because Canada is where it’s at. Bears and belugas in Manitoba To describe this extraordinary confluence of wildlife wonders as original doesn’t come […]
It’s that time of year where we try to predict the destinations that will hit the heights in the next 12 months. So, after consulting my crystal ball and deciphering those all-enlightening tea leaves (and some scientific stuff too, promise), here are my tips for the Six Best Luxury Travel Destinations in 2016. Tanzania This […]
Anyone who has dived in a popular destination such as the Red Sea will know that good, accessible dive sites tend to attract several boat loads of scuba lovers, so you may be in spectacular marine surroundings, but in the company of other divers. The solution? Take the seven seas aboard a luxury liveaboard dive […]
OK, OK, so the following cities aren’t completely secret, otherwise no-one would live in them, and then they wouldn’t technically be cities, but let’s just say these are magnificent metropoli that either fly under the radar entirely, or don’t feature in the upper echelons of people’s luxury city break wish lists when they really, really […]
When talking about Iran, and in the interests of expectation management, I always like to start with the negatives. The visa situation is still a bore (although soon to improve, inshallah); ladies need to wear a headscarf at all times in public; there’s no booze (anywhere – not even in the 5* city hotels); the […]
After years spent travelling around Scandinavia (apologies to pedants – I’m including Iceland in here alongside Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) I have developed a healthy case of what can only be described as Scandimania – a love of all things Nordic. While we Brits seem to be succumbing to certain elements of the self-same […]
The talk of the travel town in the last year is how Burma has become a victim of its own success. How (apologies for the GCSE-level economic analysis to follow) demand has outstripped supply for guides and quality accommodation and how the country might be over before it has even begun as a luxury travel […]
It shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise that a continent-sized country has something to see all year round, but British visitors to the USA do still tend to trend towards the obvious places in the obvious months. Nothing wrong with that, per se, because there are very good reasons for going to, say, New York […]
Over the last couple of years the little country of Georgia nestled in the Caucasus has crept quietly onto the radar… And now we’d like to trumpet it from the rooftops, for two gorgeous luxury hotels have opened causing quite a buzz on the scene. If you’re into wine, food, art, music, hiking and riding, […]
Something’s up in Portugal. Despite a stellar history and a heritage that saw the nation become the great seafaring pioneers of the Age of Discovery in the 1500s, this small country on the geographic (and, dare we say, metaphorical) margins of Western Europe has of late been happier flying under the radar. But that might […]
