Search results for

In a remote spot off Vancouver Island in British Columbia, surrounded by rain forest, mountains, and beaches, the Clayoquot Wilderness Retreat first opened in 1998 as an overnight floating lodge experience; since then, it has grown into a luxury tent retreat. While the camp has a rugged outpost atmosphere, with huge stone fireplaces and a long wooden cookhouse, it’s an outpost with every possible luxury: from white linen tablecloths and polished silverware to soft comforters and high-thread-count bedding.

Superlatives reign at this massive Palm Beach resort. Among the outsize offerings? The biggest casino in Aruba, with more than 500 slot machines and 26 gaming tables, as well as the island’s largest spa. Its 414 accommodations aren’t lacking for space either: Each room has a walk-in closet, double-sink bathroom, and private balcony; the highest-end suites are so palatial their balconies alone measure up to a sprawling 500 square feet—with ocean views to sweeten the deal. When you’re not playing roulette or indulging in a moisturizing coconut-milk wrap, kick back in one of the beachside palapas, or practice your breaststroke in the free-form pool, complete with cascading waterfalls and a volleyball net (a serene adults-only pool features a swim-up bar if that’s more your speed). In keeping with the more-is-more theme, guests are spoiled for choice with seven on-site restaurants, bars, and cafés, including a Ruth’s Chris Steak House, where the 500-degree plates ensure another best—the hottest meal in town.

“Buongiorno, Signor Farley,” said Umberto, the head waiter at Hotel Missoni’s Cucina restaurant. By the beginning of the third day of my stay, the staff knew my name. And what I drank with breakfast. An espresso doppio was delivered to my table a minute later. “Prego,” the server said.

You’d think I was in Italy. In fact, I was 2,500 miles southeast of the country’s heel, in the capital of diminutive, oil-rich Kuwait. Opened in spring 2011, Hotel Missoni, owned by the eponymous fashion and home furnishings house, is one of many designer-conceived hotels that have popped up around the globe.

I have to confess: I have a complicated relationship with fashion. Maybe it’s related to my childhood. (Isn’t everything?) In the seventh grade, I wore a T-shirt to school that read, “My Son Is in the Navy.” My trend-conscious peers, who clearly had no sense of irony, laughed at me until the final bell rang. When I wore bowling shoes to high school, I was similarly mocked. How would I do in a hotel designed by a couturier?

I was picked up at the airport in Kuwait City in a Maserati (a complimentary perk for all Missoni guests). Not a bad start.

The property (like its sister hotel in Edinburgh, which opened in June 2009) is the brainchild of the Missoni family matriarch, Rosita. The hotel’s 169 rooms were designed to feel like her home. Compact Hans Wegner wishbone chairs and tuliplike Eero Saarinen–designed tables rest on hardwood floors, and everything—espresso cups, towels, even the swimming pool—displays the colorful striped patterns Missoni is known for. Generous helpings of turquoise, gold, and beige are splashed throughout the hotel to evoke the bayfront landscape outside, and every room looks out on the ever-expanding Kuwait City skyline. Like many things Italian, the hotel is simple and comfortable.

The Missoni team, which is fine-tuning its approach before opening hotels in larger markets, learns fast. There are no design hotel clichés here: no faucets with the function designed out of them, no overly formal staff. “Are those Camper shoes?” a waiter asked me one day at breakfast. I nodded. “Like bowling shoes,” he said. “Very cool.” Here, it seemed, fashion and I got along great.

965/2577-0000, from $414. This appeared in the September, 2012 issue.

Steps from the sand on Princess Margaret Beach, Jack’s Beach Bar is the perfect spot for an alfresco lunch, happy hour on the terrace, or both. It’s a good choice for dinner, too, although landside access is tricky, with lots of stairs and rough terrain that’s difficult to navigate in the dark. Whenever you come, look forward to local ingredients, prepared with an international touch. Pair the tropical quinoa salad with the catch of the day, or opt for the famous fried chicken, served with your choice of mango chutney, smoky barbecue sauce, blue cheese dip, or Mama’s Hot Sauce. If you’re having too much fun on the water, order something from the delivery menu and Jack’s will bring it directly to your boat—the restaurant delivers up to almost two miles from the beach.

Le Petit Hotel is housed in a former leather merchant’s building that dates back to 1867 and boasts original stonework arches and pillars at its entrance. Truly a “petit” hotel, its 28 rooms are spread across four floors and divided into S, M, L, and XL. Although it’s small, the hotel packs a stylish punch, mixing century-old exposed brickwork and stone with funky hardwood floors and modern-day luxuries—from free Wi-Fi and iPod docks to platform beds and multi-jet massage showers. In the guest rooms, splashes of bold, sunny orange and black accents create a contrast to the fresh white walls. Situated in the heart of Montreal’s fashionable Old Port area, guests are just steps from much of the city’s best shopping, dining, and art.

The house in which U.S. statesman Alexander Hamilton was born in 1757 and lived until he was eight years old (when he moved with his family to St. Croix) is now a museum dedicated to tracing his life and achievements. The stone house itself, while handsome, is mostly a restoration, but inside you’ll find fascinating texts describing Hamilton’s childhood, upbringing, and subsequent contribution to politics.

The small museum also features a range of interesting artifacts that chart the history of Nevis, starting with the indigenous Amerindian peoples through the arrival of the Europeans and continuing right up to the present day. After touring the displays, visit the modest gift shop, where you can pick up souvenirs like local stamps and prints.

A devastating fire on April 15, 2019, has closed the interior of the cathedral to visitors. Plans to rebuild and reopen the structure are being made, but at present, visitors are not allowed near the site.
For a first-time visitor to Notre Dame, investing in the audio guide is essential to understand this overwhelmingly significant Paris icon. There’s a lot to see and absorb—history, architecture, artifacts, theology—and the audio guide gives a much-needed sense of direction and context. Even without spiritual ties, the awe-inspiring grandeur of the cathedral is not to be missed from every angle—tour the naves, stroll around the entirety of the exterior, take in the city from the top of the towers, walk along Quai de Montebello to view it from across the water, or admire it from a river cruise down the Seine. The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris is everything everyone says it is and more.

Dedicated to saving threatened marine wildlife, particularly the marine mammals of the Mediterranean, SOS Grand Bleu invites visitors to St. Jean Cap Ferrat to set sail for an afternoon on the historic Santo Sospir sailboat. Catch up with endangered dolphins and whales and follow their pods as guides educate guests on the various species that populate the local ecosystem and the importance of marine conservation across the globe.

The Columbia Icefield is one of the largest masses of ice south of the Arctic Circle, an otherworldly expanse straddling the Continental Divide. You can get on the ice in two ways: Take the Brewster tour company’s Ice Explorer snow coach (a massive four-wheel-drive vehicle), or climb the toe of the glacier with Athabasca Glacier Icewalks, a company specializing in half-day and full-day strolls toward the perfect photo op. The trek over the ice is easy enough for most families to do, and the sensation of gliding on top of a glacier borders on the spiritual. Get lucky, and your guide will let you check out a glacier crevasse up close.

Nothing says Santorini like an aqua-blue infinity pool, and Katikies has three of them—all the better to take in westward-facing sunset views. Carved out of the cliff side 300 feet above the Aegean, the hotel’s public spaces are connected by a series of bridges and Escher-esque stairways as they descend from the town of Oia above it. Cube-shaped rooms and suites are minimalist but inviting, nearly every surface painted or clothed in calming white; all have verandas, while a few large suites have outdoor plunge pools or Jacuzzi tubs and alfresco seating areas. Upon check-in, guests are given cell phones to summon 24/7 service from anywhere on the property. They use them to order light snacks at the poolside bar and restaurant or make reservations for some of the best sushi on the island at the champagne bar, but the candlelit rooftop restaurant—serving Greek and Anatolian cuisine—is about as romantic as it gets.

Getting to Onar Andros requires a fair amount of determination. A ferry from Athens or Mykonos takes you to one of the northernmost Cycladic islands (there’s no airport nearby); once you arrive at the port in Gavrio, it’s a slow 25-mile drive to the hotel. Your reward, however, is a tiny slice of Eden, an enclave of 10 stone-and-timber cottages set amid a lush river valley that’s only a five-minute walk to Ahia Beach, arguably the most beautiful in all the Cyclades. Built and maintained by the owner, Mateo, the accommodations are deliberately spare yet modern and comfortable, each with a pergola-shaded veranda with loungers and a hammock. Meals are served at a communal table, and what Mateo doesn’t grow organically, he sources from local fisherman, farmers, and bakers. Guests can even accompany him to pick fruits and vegetables to be used in that night’s dinner. After all, this is a place to ditch your devices and surrender to your surroundings.

Upon your arrival at this 556-room resort, you might be disappointed to find a small pool instead of sandy palapas overlooking the sea. But the Renaissance makes up for its location on a busy thoroughfare in the capital city of Oranjestad with its own private island, a 40-acre oasis dotted with pink flamingos and iguanas. After an eight-minute water-taxi ride, you can choose between two distinct beaches—one adults-only, the other designated for families—plus an array of vacation-friendly amenities. A beachside bar and grill serves up burgers and wood-fired pizzas; an open-air spa offers Swedish and cold stone massages, as well as reflexology; and an extensive water-sports program includes activities like snorkeling, scuba diving, and ocean kayaking. If that’s not enough to tire you out for the evening, a steak house and casino await back at the main resort.

In 2012, one of the world’s richest men—Oracle founder Larry Ellison—bought 97 percent of the island of Lanai. The single sweeping deal (reputed to cost $300 million) included the exquisite Four Seasons Resort, overlooking a marine reserve. The resort’s dining experience par excellence is Nobu, where celebrity chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa presides over the perfect marriage of Japanese dishes and Peruvian ingredients. Kick things off with crispy Brussels sprouts or scallops with jalapeño salsa, then move on to sushi, hand rolls, or Wagyu beef. Save room for the Bento Box dessert with green tea ice cream and chocolate flourless cake. Or go old-school, if it’s on the menu, and order the mochi pound cake backed by yuzu-cherry jelly and peanut butter ice cream.

The Wauwinet makes the most of its coastal setting between the Atlantic Ocean and Nantucket Bay. Next to the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, the resort has 32 rooms, plus four cottages with separate living rooms and the three-bedroom Anchorage House across from the main inn. In addition to private beach access and bikes to explore the island, guests can take out a kayak, play a game of tennis, or watch a movie in their room with hot buttered popcorn. A spa offers sea-inspired facials, massages, and body treatments. TOPPER’S restaurant is known for its Retsyo oysters, harvested only 300 yards from the restaurant, and offers transfers to and from White Elephant Hotel’s Brant Point Grill on its 21-passenger boat, Lady Wauwinet. The inn also provides regular shuttle services to the ferry and Nantucket town (about 10 miles away), and outside of peak summer season will drive guests to the village of ‘Sconset in its 1947 Woody station wagon.

Accessible only by seaplane, Kuredu rewards the adventurous with a secluded stretch of powdery white sand on the Lhaviyani Atoll. The resort is popular with dive enthusiasts thanks to its PADI certification center, but water babies of all stripes will find plenty to love, including snorkeling, catamaran sailing, kiteboarding, and private dolphin-watching trips. Those who would rather stay dry might prefer to hit the links: the country’s first golf course is right next door. A range of simple yet comfortable villas and overwater bungalows, many with private pools or Jacuzzis, provide a low-key crash pad after days spent among the waves; couples seeking even more quiet stay in the adults-only section of the property. Housed in a cylindrical domed aquarium on nearby Hurawalhi Island, the much-photographed 5.8 Undersea Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, giving guests yet another opportunity to get close to their aquatic neighbors.