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Why we love it: A private island resort where guests can truly disconnect

The Highlights:
- Just eight casitas and 400 acres of nature
- A strong commitment to sustainability
- A hyper-local culinary program

The Review:
Off the Pacific coast of Panama, near the border with Costa Rica, floats a lush island that indigenous people dubbed Palenque, or “sanctuary.” Once home to an ancient, pre-Columbian community, the island stood empty for hundreds of years—save for the all the wildlife, birds, and flora—until Ben Loomis arrived. For five years, the architect and designer lived on site, sleeping in a hammock by night and getting to know the land by day. Eventually, he put both his background and love for nature to use by creating this private island resort, dedicated to the principles of sustainable luxury.

There are just eight beachfront casitas and one Villa Estate on the 400-acre island, so privacy is a given. Each of the 650-square-foot casitas has direct beach access, an outdoor tub, organic bath products, daybeds and hammocks, artisan-made furnishings, and a mini-bar stocked with local juices, snacks, and beers. Standout amenities include binoculars, a yoga mat, and a meditation cushion, plus a water bottle to use around the resort; Wi-Fi is free, but “island speed.” In addition to the main beach that fronts the casitas, guests have access to six other sandy stretches, along with nature walking and hiking trails, a main infinity pool, a spa, and complimentary use of kayaks, snorkels, and paddleboards. Meals are full of fresh, sustainably sourced ingredients and vibrant Panamanian flavors; rates include three meals a day, along with snacks and non-alcoholic drinks. An Island Foraging experience brings you closer to the culinary process as you learn to fish using ancient techniques, pick goodies from the island’s orchards, and hunt for wild ingredients along rainforest trails. Off-island excursions like whale watching, island hopping, and more can also be arranged, but with the run of a place like this, it’ll be hard to leave.

Affordable diffa (Moroccan-banquet-style) dinners can be frustratingly elusive in this town, so sweet little Darori is a breath of fresh air if you want to go all-out traditional without blowing the budget. It occupies a cozy courtyard dining area furnished with old French dressers and saffron-hued carpets—ignore the rather jarring tourist-board video projections, or ask to sit facing away from them, and focus instead on digging into Fassi favorites like pigeon pastilla, beef and prune tagine, and pastries like the old Moroccan standby of mille-feuille with lashings of crème anglaise and seasonal fruit, all for an affordable price.

A visit to Hong Kong isn’t complete without a ride on a sampan. Head to the Aberdeen Promenade along the southwestern shoreline of Hong Kong Island and hop aboard a sampan, one of the small local boats operated mostly by elderly Tanka and Hoklo women who hail from the traditional boat-dwelling seafaring community. For the equivalent of about $10 per person, get a 30-minute ride around Aberdeen Harbour, under Ap Lei Chau Bridge, and past the other junks, houseboats, trawlers, fancy yachts, and even giant cargo vessels and cruise ships. For a voyage with a bit more emphasis on sightseeing, try one of the two popular red-sailed junks—the historic 36-passenger Duk Ling and the replica 80-passenger Aqua Luna—that can be boarded either from the Tsim Sha Tsui Piers or Central Pier 9.

Myrtle Allen is Ireland’s answer to Alice Waters: The centenarian chef has lobbied the Irish parliament for better food policies, earned some Michelin stars, and, 50 years ago, opened a restaurant called the Yeats Room in the town of Shanagarry, an hour east of Cork City. She eventually added bedrooms upstairs and called it Ballymaloe House, and her sous-chef-turned-daughter-in-law, Darina Allen—who has written canonical Irish cookbooks and helped lead Ireland’s Slow Food movement—tacked on the Ballymaloe Cookery School and farm two miles from the main house.

This is thus the seat of Ireland’s food royalty, and it shows. The restaurant spins flavorful dinners out of whatever comes in from the farm or East Cork’s fishing boats, and the cookery school has become known the world over for teaching expert and novice chefs to make pizzas, ferment pickles, cook baby food, and grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Even without all that, the ivy-fronted house—and cabins and cottages on the farm’s grounds—make for a simple, pleasant country retreat.

Swim with large southern stingrays in the warm blue water around Gibbs Cay. This secluded seven-acre island is a short boat ride from Grand Turk and a popular day trip for many visitors. The stingrays are quite friendly after years of regular feeding and interactions with humans. Your boat guide will provide fish scraps to feed the rays as you snorkel in the shallow water. Day trips may also include time on the island and stops to snorkel and dive for conch.

There is a staggering amount of artwork on display here. It is said that if you stood at each piece for just one minute, it would take you four years to see everything. Created by Pope Julius II in the early 16th century, the museums have expanded over the past 500 years to their current size of more than 12 acres! Highlights include the Borgia Apartments, the Raphael Rooms, the Gallery of Maps, and of course, the sublime Sistine Chapel.

Bermuda’s Hog Penny Pub has the friendly ambience and laid-back vibe of your favorite neighborhood watering hole. Come prepared to enjoy traditional British pub fare, from fish and chips to Indian curries, in an atmospheric half-timbered room. One of Mike Swan’s pieces of advice for every traveler to Bermuda is to, “Get to know some locals and you’ll discover the island is a ‘small town’ in the middle of the Atlantic.” Visit Hog Penny, and you’ll likely have some new Bermudian friends before the evening is over.

The lion cub was licking my hand as if he were a puppy!

In 1992, Bill Lark opened the first new Australian distillery in 150 years, pioneering a now thriving Tasmanian industry that boasts more than 10 producers of single-malt whiskey islandwide. Most are concentrated in the south, and Drink Tasmania’s whiskey tours visit the best of them. At the original Lark Distillery in the Coal Valley, whiskey connoisseurs can learn the whole process, from brewing to peat smoking to distillation. Old Kempton Distillery produces apple liqueur, spiced schnapps, and lavender malt in addition to its single-malt, which features barley grown here at the historic Dysart House in Kempton. Belgrove Distillery takes that a few steps further, growing its own rye, spelt, wheat, and barley and using a smoker that head distiller Peter Bignell designed himself.

It doesn’t get more quintessentially Australian than this: waking up to a symphony of kookaburras and the heady scent of eucalyptus, the sight of kangaroos roaming freely about the 7,000-acre nature reserve. You might be tricked into thinking you’d slept under the stars—if it weren’t for the four-poster bed, flicker of a warm fire, and sunrise reflected from the glittering private pool. A three hours’ drive west of Sydney, this luxury ecolodge feels worlds away, surrounded by sandstone bluffs and sweeping plains filled with leafy gumtrees and Wollemi pines. It has 40 homestead-style villas that are as eco-friendly as they are indulgent: materials sourced within a 60-mile radius, solar panels for hot water and lighting. Highlights include the Aussie cuisine, mostly grown and sourced within 100 miles of the resort (and included in the all-inclusive rate, along with a premium minibar). A fruit orchard and edible garden supplies organic herbs, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.


The most intriguing aspect of the property is an original farmhouse, built around 1832, that hosted Charles Darwin in 1836. Today, the homestead functions as a museum that highlights the Indigenous, settler, and agricultural history of the valley. The comprehensive program of activities gets guests off the homestead: There are peaks to climb, glowworms to ogle, and horses to ride. Following a landslide in 2022, Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley has faced access issues. It is temporarily closed.

It took a 1920s cotton magnate and a 1980s oil heiress to create the city’s most iconic stay, the former incorporating hallmarks of European design into a 10,000-square-foot house the likes of which had never been seen in Dallas—think Italian marble columns, 19th-century Spanish cathedral doors, and a ceiling inlaid with 2,400 separate pieces of wood. The latter transformed it into the Mansion Restaurant, which remains an award-winning favorite, adding a new wing with 143 guest rooms and suites and establishing the first property in the now-global Rosewood chain. Past the signature peach facade, the since renovated accommodations mix modern technologies with gracious amenities, historic touches, and residential-style décor—a combination that’s proved a hit with visiting dignitaries, international business travelers, and privacy-seeking celebs. A small pool, fitness center, and massage treatment rooms round out the facilities in the new wing, while meeting rooms and event spaces are located in the mansion’s gorgeous former living quarters. Young professionals flock to the leather-walled Mansion Bar for after-work craft cocktails and live music on weekends, while the brunch crowd heads to the Terrace restaurant to dine around outdoor fireplaces and oak trees hung with lanterns. Just don’t pass up ordering the legendary tortilla soup at The Mansion.

If you’re a fan of history and/or photography, be sure to spend time at Charles Fort in County Cork. This National Monument of Ireland is the bastion on the water’s edge near Kinsale, and is open year round. The fort was built on the site of an earlier stronghold known as Ringcurran Castle, that was featured prominently during the Siege of Kinsale in 1601. The fort you see today was built in the 1670s and 1680s to a star fortification design - a layout specifically designed to resist attack by cannon.

When it opened in 2010, the Matilda injected contemporary style into San Miguel’s old-town hotel scene—and the accolades have been pouring in ever since. On a quiet side street a block from the lush Parque Juárez—and past a small entry courtyard shaded by jacaranda trees—the boutique lodging has filled its public spaces with modern art and decor: Witness the video installation wall behind the reception area, the Aldo Chaparro light sculpture in the bar, and the works by noted “naked crowd” photographer Spencer Tunick in the hallways. (One piece that doesn’t fit the mold is the 1940s-era painting by Diego Rivera of the owner’s mother Matilda, which hangs in the ground-floor lounge.)


Bright and airy guest rooms are spread out over a few small structures and have streamlined custom furnishings, plush linens, and Malin + Goetz bath amenities. Cap a morning spent touring the city’s famous cathedral with a dip in the small infinity-edge pool that sits in the central courtyard, or a Tata Harper facial at the jewel-box spa; body treatments use fresh ingredients like corn, cocoa, and locally grown lavender custom-blended in the on-site apothecary, and a private hammam rounds out the perks. Then enjoy elevated local delicacies at the indoor/outdoor Moxi restaurant, featuring ever-changing tasting menus by celebrated Mexico City chef Enrique Olvera.

The Art is a worthy base for those looking to explore the galleries of the Denver Art Museum, the Clyfford Still Museum, and the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Arts, which are all within a few minutes’ walking distance. In fact, the glass-walled property feels a bit like an exhibition space in its own right: Upon arrival, guests are greeted by Leo Villareal’s dazzling 22,000 LED–bulb installation above the entrance, while hundreds of other works by the likes of Frank Gehry appear throughout the public spaces—see them on a guided tour of the hotel’s art collection, offered on Saturdays. Minimal guest rooms have light wood furnishings, luxury linens, and neutral walls—the better to serve as a blank canvas for more original artwork—as well as windows overlooking the mountains or city lights. If you’ve worked up an appetite with all that cultural appreciation, order the signature burger with spicy mayo at FIRE restaurant, or sip a Matisse martini with Colorado-made vodka on the fire pit–warmed terrace.

Cap your trip to Machu Picchu with a pisco sour on the Orient-Express train ride back to Cuzco. After boarding this luxury train for dinner and the return journey, everyone meets in the bar car for a drink. Live music, the rocking of the train, and the excitement from just experiencing Machu Picchu is a buzz to remember. Soon all the passengers are dancing as they travel through the steep mountainsides under the stars. —Lauren Maggard This appeared in the August/September 2013 issue. Image courtesy of Orient-Express