Paris
This isn't a hotel in a trenchcoat that leans nonchalantly against a lamppost smoking a Gauloises, indifferently attractive through understated magnetism, but rather one that kicks its legs up in the air to bawdy music, brazenly baring its frilly...
Split
As every student of Croatian history worth their salt will know, the old town of Split sits within the walls of 4th Century Roman emperor Diocletian's reign. But don't worry if you were smoking behind the bike sheds when that lesson was going on,...
Chicago
If it's true good things come in threes, then here at Caffe Streets in Chicago those things are the wooden ceiling, the overhead counter lighting and the backlit barista bar metal perforated panelling. Norsman architects went to town with marbled...
Beijing
As Swire Hotels prepare to open their latest design-led, art-filled spectacle - EAST, Beijing - we've partnered with them, and the chain's very own culture and design blog You'd Be Much Better Here, to celebrate their portfolio of jaw-dropping Far...
Singapore
According to the owners of Broadcast HQ, there are only three things you need in life: meat, mead and music. Well, we can think of a couple of others but since Singapore has extremely harsh criminal penalties and this is a firmly law-abiding (ahem)...
Turkey
Eeeeh, hostels weren't like this in my day. Pestilent flea pits, most of them. Mind you, I was at the £3-a-night end of the market, and beggars can't be choosers. Still, times are changing, and thankfully for those travellers with light wallets...
San Diego
There's something softly psychedelic about the colours, lighting, mirrors and wonderment at W San Diego – the beneficiary of a $5 million refurb by Mister Important Design, whose brilliant Chambers Eat and Drink we fell in love with last year. MID...
Manchester
An oast house, as everyone with the internet and a search engine knows, is a building in which hops are dried for the brewing process. The Oast House in Spinningfields, Manchester, is now a place in which to dry, feed and water people after they...
Chester
A lovely little city, Chester. The Romans founded it when they built a fort here, and the city walls that remain are some of the finest surviving examples in Britain. After that, a succession of important historical dynasties left their...
Vancouver
The menacingly-named L'Abattoir, between Goaler's Mews and Blood Alley in Vancouver's Gastown district, is nowhere near as intimidating as the neighbourhood names suggest. Although the building was originally the district's first jail, fear not....
Amsterdam
It may call itself a guesthouse, but Maison Rika is unlikely to be making it onto the pages of Lonely Planet; in fact unless your backpack is made by Luis Vuitton I would look elsewhere, as rooms go for just shy of €200 a night without...
Athens
Aristotle walks into a bar, and the barmaid slaps him. Aristotle asks why. The barmaid replies that his view on the passivity of the female element in procreation is essentially misogynistic. That's the sort of joke that will get much funnier...
City Notes
Salon Volta is a new barbershop in Laval, Quebec, that rethinks the familiar codes of grooming through a concept centred on craft and community. Moving away from the traditional model, the project positions itself as a space where barbering unfolds...
City Notes
Interior design studio and creative consultancy Ste Marie has completed Olia Ristorante and Mimi Bar, a pair of hospitality venues conceived as a day-to-night sequence at the base of new residential tower Citizen on Jasper. Commissioned by Corso 32...
City Notes
On a private estate in central Ukraine, YOD Group has reimagined the traditional mazanka — the archetypal rural home — for the contemporary era. These 50 square metre guesthouses reinterpret the vernacular, translating thick whitewashed walls...
City Notes
Situated at the edge of Montmartre, where Pigalle’s energy meets Parisian rooftops, Hôtel Rochechouart is a 1929 Art Deco landmark given a contemporary pulse. Design duo Festen has restored the building’s historic details while threading a...
Dispatches
Some people discover mixology behind a bar on a busy Friday night. Others come to it through years of hosting dinner parties, obsessing over flavor combinations, or spending too much money on bitters collections they absolutely did not need. However...
Dispatches
There was a time when wedding bar service meant a single bartender, a few bottles of wine, and maybe a keg if the couple was feeling casual. Those days are long gone. Today's couples are rethinking the bar as one of the most meaningful parts of the...
Dispatches
Do you want to give your bathroom a fresh, trendy look with new tile? Tiles in the bathroom do more than just keep water from getting on your walls and floors. They can also give your area a joyful, colourful, tranquil, or futuristic vibe. There are...
Dispatches
Traditional birdwatching frequently seems like a commitment. It may involve long-haul flights to remote locations, getting up early in the morning, and spending hours in uncertain weather. Even then, sightings can never be guaranteed. For many, the...