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The Carrington’s long and rich history spans nearly 125 years since her opening by Sydney hotelier Harry Rowell. Originally named The Great Western, this Grand Old Lady soon became a popular retreat for international guests, Sydney’s elite, and adventurers eager to explore the Blue Mountains’ natural wonders. The hotel is steeped in history, tales of adventures and royalty, and perhaps even a ghost tale or two. The walls are covered with vintage photographs and the place looks like it was sealed in a time capsule (and yet still boasts modern amenities like wifi). The hotel bar is vintage, perfect for a glass of wine or local pint after a long day of adventures in the Blues. There are function rooms, a pool table, an elegant dining room (plus a more casual dining establishment, which used to be the town bank, on the property, as well as a stand-alone pub), as well as a 100-year old regulation snooker table. An onsite bottle shop is available, offering a wide variety of gourmet foods and excellent beers and wines, and a brewpub is even in the works.

Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, a Seven Mile Beach favorite on Grand Cayman, combines luxury with sustainability. Here, a 143,000-watt solar array (among the largest in the Cayman Islands) generates electricity. The hotel also harvests rainwater for landscaping and uses aluminum water bottles instead of plastic.

In addition to being family friendly—it has a great kids camp—Seafire is animal friendly. For example, it has special outdoor lighting to prevent distractions for the local turtle population, who use moonlight to guide them to the sea. The property also has trained a group of local divers, deemed “Seafire Guardians,” to help with local coral reef regeneration. The resort’s commitment to the area’s wildlife makes it ideal for travelers looking to support the island in a responsible way.

From October to February, sperm whales, humpback whales, and pilot whales make their way from the cold Atlantic to the warm waters of St. Lucia to breed and mate. Whale-watching tours leave from Castries and some of the other towns on the west coast and sail north to south to spot the whales, breaching and spouting, from a safe distance. Over the last few years, sperm and pilot whales have more frequently been spotted than humpbacks. It’s not unusual to see schools of spinner and bottlenose dolphins along the journey. Some whale-watching trips offer lunch as well as a chance to snorkel and swim, so shop around for the excursion you want.

It’s not just the real animals that attract people to Sweden’s largest zoo and wildlife park, located two hours’ drive southwest from Stockholm. Many Swedish children love to come because of Bamse’s World, an amusement park dedicated to a popular cartoon bear, Bamse, who is the world’s strongest bear due to his consumption of thunder-honey. There are real brown bears, too, at Kolmården, along with the big-name Nordic animals (moose, wolves, reindeer, etc.) and foreign visitors (elephants, giraffes, tigers, gorillas, and bottlenose dolphins in Scandinavia’s first dolphinarium), plus roller coasters and other rides.

Just a 45-minute floatplane ride from Anchorage along the banks of the Talachulitna River and Judd Lake, this multistructure resort combines a six-room flagship lodge, which was renovated in 2017, with a lakeside bar and dining room (and 500-bottle wine cellar); a private four-room lodge; and two smaller individual cabins, all with views of either the Alaska or Tordrillo ranges. But guests don’t come here to just ogle the mountains—they take them on. With Olympic gold medalist Tommy Moe and Alaska heli-ski pioneer Mike Overcast behind the resort, plus access to 1.2 million acres of untrammeled terrain with runs that top out at 7,500 feet, world-class heli-ski adventures are practically guaranteed. And an exclusive partnership with Winterlake, another notable resort nearby, allows guests to heli-ski even further north into the Tordrillo Range and Neacola Mountains.

In the Napa Valley—and in Yountville, in particular—most hotels err on the side of sophisticated luxury. Which makes the North Block Hotel’s quirky style such a breath of fresh air. With the look of a Mediterranean town’s cobbled street, complete with lemon trees and hand-painted tiles, one of Napa’s few modern boutique hotels also displays quirky pieces like The Big Book of Boobs in its lobby. It’s hard to pass through the lobby without having a friendly concierge hand you a glass of bubbly, and the umbrella-shaded “sidewalk” tables seem like places you’d actually while away the hours over bottles of good wine with good friends. The trendy restaurant channels a midcentury Italian cool that’s more Fellini than Michelangelo, unlike most Napa wineries’ inclinations, and the fact that it doesn’t have a Michelin star is actually a vote in its favor in sometimes stuffy, star-saturated Yountville. Of course, the spa is still as luxuriously pampering as any in wine country, and the understated rooms are as decked out with designer amenities as they ought to be—and you might actually be having enough fun to enjoy them.

Stop at Scribe Winery and pick up a bottle of their newly released rosé to pair with oysters at Hog Island in Marshall, CA. Picnic tables overlook Tomales Bay and must be reserved in advance. Throw the oysters on the grill or eat them raw and don’t hesitate to ask the staff to share shucking tips. This appeared in the May 2014 issue.

Driving in any direction on the Hummingbird Highway, it would be hard to miss this white shack surrounded by cars, in a small clearing immediately next to the road under the shade of a very large tree. Ms. Bertha’s Tamales has little signage, but no signs are needed for locals. Everyone knows about Ms. Bertha Lisbey and her tamales. They are said to be the best in Belize. One of her spiced, gooey chicken-and-corn tamales is a perfect break. Pair it with a hot sauce she has been making almost as long as the tamales, and a cold soda in a glass bottle.


Since Ms. Bertha is now 75 years old, some days it is her daughter who’s the one serving loyal customers and first-time visitors, drawn by the stories that you’ll hear in every corner of the country. The small shack can serve hundreds of tamales a day during peak season yet each one is prepared with the same attention and love. Everyone sits on benches, patiently waiting their turn. There aren’t many places to stop along the Hummingbird Highway, but that’s not the only reason you shouldn’t pass by Bertha’s without turning in. Make sure you stop.

There are two Paradise Beaches on Kos. One is northeast of Kefalos. It’s quite nice with facilities, a bar, and crystal clear waters. The other is southwest of Kefalos. It’s also quite nice with facilities, a bar, and crystal clear waters. The difference is the first one is very easy to get to and prone to getting covered in a crush of humanity while the second one (pictured above) is found at the end of a loooong, winding, dirt road (complete with sheer drops!) and only very lighted spotted with a few clothing optional occupants. Don’t worry, the way is clearly marked with signs pointing the way to Kavo Paradiso Beach FKK. FKK of course short for Freikörperkultur — a German movement whose name translates to Free Body Culture. Now when I say it has facilities, I mean it has around 7 or 8 umbrellas to rent with accompanying chairs. And when I say it has a bar, I mean it has a teeny-tiny shed manned by a blissfully quiet Greek fellow selling Mythos beers for 2 euros a bottle. And when I say it has crystal clear waters, I mean it! This was by far my favorite beach on a recent trip to Kos and well worth the death defying drive to reach it!

Perched on a steep hill in the lovely neighborhood of Alfama, you will in no doubt leave with a great souvenir or gift. Sellers throw down blankets or rugs in rows and sell a variety of hand-made goods, antiques, books, clothes, military objects, etc. I took home two wonderful brass bottle openers and a couple of old world maps. Getting to the market is easy and the trip there is quite beautiful; take the Tram 28, or Tram 12 up the hill through the tight, and narrow neighborhood streets (becos). After you’ve spent all of your Euro, take a short walk over to the Santa Engracia Church, Museum of Decorative Arts, or the National Pantheon. Oh, and don’t forget to take in the views and snap a few pictures.

Hillside Farmacy is a farm-to-table restaurant in Austin built around a pharmacy theme. While it may sound odd, the execution is brilliant, with incredible food and wonderfully eclectic design. The restaurant space was formerly the home of a 1920s pharmacy owned by Austin‘s first African-American pharmacist. The decor features authentic apothecary items (from a different 1920s drugstore)—a vintage collection of medicine bottles, antique cash registers, tin ceilings, and wooden cabinets. But it’s the “F” in the deliberately misspelled Farmacy that nods to the emphasis on simple, fresh food. The restaurant works with local food purveyors and regularly changes the menus around the highest-quality seasonal ingredients. Local cheese, homemade pate, artisinal breads and pastries, raw bar, charcuterie are all available here. Dishes include bangers and eggs, buttermilk bisquits and gravy, and bison tartare. Other perks include an old fashioned soda counter and a shaded outdoor patio. If I were a local here, this would definitely be one of my favorite go-to places.

The three-towered, blue-and-green glass property is remarkable for its connecting, undulating tiered design inspired by terraced Balinese rice paddies and the elevated gardens that seem to hang from above. Designed by Singapore starchitects WOHA, the Parkroyal on Pickering is almost an extension of the green space in front of it—Hong Lim Park—with 160,000 square feet of gardens, reflecting pools, waterfalls, planter terraces, and vertical landscaping. Eco-mindfulness is evident elsewhere: photo sensors monitor light usage, showers are low-flow, sheets are changed on alternate days (less frequently if requested), and rooms have refillable glass water bottles. The property’s most striking space is the fifth-floor wellness area, where cabanas are shaped like giant bird cages, and the infinity pool looks out above the park with a view of the shophouses across the way. The generally compact rooms espouse the Scandinavian-sleek look.

You can only drink two martinis at the hotel bar at Dukes Hotel in Mayfair. The bartenders won’t serve you any more—that’s how potent they are. This is the place to come in London if you secretly wish you were a member of a gentlemen’s club, and if you want a martini made with all the fanfare—the drinks trolley brought to your table, the bottle, straight from the freezer, shaken as you sit and watch. There are cheaper places to drink, that’s for sure, but do they have green leather armchairs and white-jacketed bartenders and portraits of distinguished 19th-century gentlemen looking at you approvingly from the walls? There’s also a cognac and cigar garden.

It was raining when we arrived in Donostia-San Sebastian, but the skies cleared on our second day, and we rode the funicular railway up Mount Igueldo to take in the view back on the city, La Concha Bay, and the empty beach. The “low” travel season had just begun, and the strange little children’s amusement park on the mountaintop had shuttered up for the fall and winter, adding just the right disorienting touch of weird desolation to the Basque country panorama.

If you only have time to shop one place while in Cape Town, make it the Watershed market on the V&A Waterfront. A magnet for, well, virtually everything, the stalls and shops feature all the classic South African goods, from gorgeous green malachite bowls and bracelets to souvenirs made of springbok hide, recycled bottle caps, and even pressed protea flowers. There are also outposts of beloved local brands like Skoon (for sustainable beauty products), plus art (both affordable and aspirational), East African kitenge fabrics fashioned into simple Western styles, adorable baby clothes, and hand-painted leather clutches that are guaranteed to get compliments no matter where in the world you take them.