New York
Many a relaxing weekend away has been spoilt by tearing around the region ticking things off your “to do and see” list, or by the nagging guilt that creeps up when you are lying by the pool not ticking anything off any list other than the...
Madrid
Great strides have been made in the last couple of years to crack the seemingly tough nut of providing hotel quality accommodation at hostel prices, with a proliferation of “design hostels” popping up in major cities. An investment banker...
Mexico City
Condesa df is about as far removed from the traditional image of Mexico City as you can get. No thronging crowds to be seen, no traffic chaos – in fact the motoring here is so wonderfully stuck in the past it's actually clockwork. That's one way...
Tuscany
How many times have you heard "X is the new Tuscany"? Too many, that's for sure. And why? What's wrong with the old Tuscany? "Too many Brits/Americans/Germans (delete where appropriate)", "been there, done that", "too touristy" they say. Well,...
Basque Country
George Orwell had an informed and interesting take on the Spanish attitude to orderly organisation; his time fighting the right-wing General Franco as a volunteer in the ranks of one of the opposing socialist militia groups left him with an...
Barcelona
Barcelona has always been an important city, from the time it was a fort for Roman soldiers, and in the Gothic Quarter you can still find many examples of architecture from across the ages. But it was the arrival of visionary architect Antoni Gaudí...
San Sebastián
The Hotel Maria Cristina – A Luxury Collection Hotel, has quite a heritage. Built in the Belle Époque, named after and inaugurated by Spain's Queen Consort, host to the annual San Sebastian International Film Festival and the stars that attended;...
Kyiv
To many people a mirror is just the bearer of bad news in the morning. On its own, bearable enough, but stick a load of the reflectors together and the bad news gets a lot worse – just ask Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon or Scaramanga in The Man...
Penang
It doesn't get much more colonial than this – Macalister Mansion is about as archetypal an example of far-flung Imperial influence as you are likely to see. Named after its founder Colonel Norman Macalister, former governor of the Malaysian island...
Patagonia
The region of South America called Patagonia got its name from the Spanish explorers who turned up with Magellan's 1520 expedition – the natives were rumoured to be giants, twice the size of the stumpy Europeans who stood only 5'1”. In fact,...
Paris
More than a few hotel owners have used a grand name to disguise a crap establishment, but there's no such duplicity in evidence from the Hôtel Paradis in Paris. For the design-conscious modern traveller it lives up to the billing in style, and even...
Australia
If our hedonistic readership is feeling a trifle guilty after overdoing the merry-making during the festive period (and we certainly hope you did), the Hotel Gabriel, Paris, might be the answer to your prayers. A place where all sins will be...
Stuff Crush
Weirdness is a notion long entwined with the concept of creativity. Mocked by the strait-laced confined to their boxes of conformism, celebrated by the bold and the brave who pursue the outré as a means of pushing beyond the banal. In Weird...
City Notes
In Montreal’s Little Italy, a new arrival is making waves with a fresh take on Italian dining. Pasta Pooks, which opened in March 2025, is a compact five-seat takeout counter serving pasta and natural wine in a space that marries Old World charm...
City Notes
A once-forgotten 19th-century residence in Savannah’s historic district has been brought spectacularly back to life, reincarnated as The Douglas; a refined 16-room boutique hotel at 14 East Oglethorpe Avenue, where design meets old-world...
Dispatches
In a country where club floors open with Buddhist chants and Ladyboys offer dawn alms in corsets and stilettos, Elizabeth Waterman has found a world of contradictions too vivid to ignore. Over the past three years, and across four extended trips,...
Dispatches
No matter what type of business you run, a clear and comprehensive digital marketing strategy should be at the heart of it. Companies are continuing to invest more and more into getting themselves noticed online, and if you aren’t up to date with...
Dispatches
Moving, renovating, or downsizing in a fast-growing city like Dallas can quickly become overwhelming. Between tight housing transitions, unpredictable weather, and the sheer logistics of packing up a home or office, it’s easy to feel buried under...
Dispatches
Drivers race the yellow light constantly. It's become normal behavior. Someone sees the light turn yellow and accelerates to beat it rather than slowing down. Another driver is already committed to going through. They collide in the middle of the...
Dispatches
Once upon a time, hotels were where we went to escape real life, and homes were where we returned to it. Today, that separation is disappearing. The warmth, comfort, and design sophistication that once defined boutique hotels are now finding their...