As its name indicates, the entertainment destination is managed by global hotel and casino giant Hard Rock International. But it is owned by the federally recognized Tejon Indian Tribe.  The history of the tribe permeates the property, beginning with the ceremonial blessings bestowed during an invitation-only grand opening attended by the Courier. Inside, the casino proudly displays tribal artifacts and artwork, highlighting the role the Tejon have  played in the history of the southern San Joaquin Valley.

Of course, this being a Hard Rock, authentic music memorabilia are ever-present as well. A 30-ft.-tall sculptural guitar at the entrance pays tribute to the intricate basket weaving of the tribe as well as the acoustic guitars popularized by local music legends Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. 

Step onto the 150,000-square-foot-casino floor, and you will swear you’re in Las Vegas. In addition to more than 2,000 slot machines and 50 live table games, facilities include exclusive VIP rooms for blackjack and baccarat and exclusive Plum Lounge. 

Dining options include a Hard Rock Cafe, Deep Cut Steaks | Seafood and YOUYU for a modern take on Asian noodles. The casual Marketplace Food Hall offers everything from artisanal pastries to street tacos and wood-fired pizzas. 

Hard Rock International COO Jeff Hook noted for the Courier that the drive to the propery is less harried compared to casinos in desert areas. He added, “I like to say, ‘Take the stress-free way to exciement.’”

https://casino.hardrock.com/tejon. 

The post Looking for a Glitzier Getaway? This new Vegas-style casino is only 1.5 Hours Away appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Experience Sonoma Ranch Life

NewTree Ranch, founded by hospitality veteran, designer and chef Edward Newell, is set on a sprawling private estate in Healdsburg, California, about 10 miles from the charming town square. In a short time, Newell has built a devoted under-the-radar following for its transformative, nature-rooted wellness experiences, that are redefining group travel around genuine connection and healing. 

“As a lifelong traveler, I’ve experienced what it means to feel truly welcomed and cared for, and that perspective shaped every detail of NewTree Ranch,” Newell told the Courier. “We’ve created a space where guests can fully exhale, knowing they are held in an environment that is both deeply intentional and quietly luxurious.”

That welcoming could also include a helipad landing on the ranch grounds from the nearby Santa Rosa airport, right in front of the main house, a four-bedroom Estate Villa. Up the hill is the second accommodation, a two-bedroom luxe Barn House, but no matter where you stay, expect to be greeted by two adorable Golden Retrievers serving as “mascots” of the property.

Start your morning with farm-fresh eggs plucked from the chicken coop near the barn, followed by a goat yoga or sound healing session. The afternoons are perfect for stand-up paddle boarding or canoeing on the lake, hot air ballooning, apple picking, hiking, or perusing one of the three gardens and plucking a few fresh asparagus or snap peas. You will also find the floral bounty in every room of the house with tastefully arranged fresh bouquets, and classes are also available to try your own hand. 

Horseback riding through the ranch is an opportunity for guests to connect more deeply with the property’s natural landscape and enjoy the calming benefits of time spent with the ranch’s rescue animal menagerie.

Back in the villa or barn, the pantries are well stocked with farm-fresh eggs, veggies, seasonal fruits, along with preserves, and salsa made on the grounds for serve-yourself breakfast or snacks throughout the day. This is true farm-to-table dining and not just a marketing slogan. 

“Here, people step away from the pace of everyday life, reconnect with the land through meaningful experiences and leave feeling restored, grounded and inspired—rooted, in part, in the rhythms of our regenerative garden and farm, where the health of the soil and the well-being of our guests are one and the same,” added Newell.

Daytime meals might include a bento box from a local Japanese spot, sandwiches from highly coveted Quail & Condor, or a handmade pizza from the wood-fired oven in the garden. For evening dining, an award-winning personal chef can be arranged for meals cooked in the Estate Villa gourmet kitchen, utilizing fresh veggies and produce from the grounds that showcase the ranch’s seasonal bounty. Catered events from some of the best regional cafes, bakeries, and gourmet shops, including caviar tastings, can also be organized, but if you book for more than six nights, the latter is a complimentary perk. Newell also encourages exploring beyond the gates and partners with many top local restaurants, extending the ranch experience while providing guests coveted access to some of the area’s most acclaimed culinary talents.

As the sun sets, take a stroll or soak in the pair of outdoor claw-foot bathtubs by the glamping tent with a glass of local wine. Up by the Barn House, there is a Japanese Tea Garden with a deep soaking stone tub and a glass pavilion with a view that can be set up for a massage. Below that area is a full gym and a commercial catering kitchen for events. The ranch is a popular spot for weddings. 

Wine tasting can also be arranged in-house, as well as excursions to nearby vineyards such as Kendall-Jackson, or a meal at refurbished Victorian B&B Madrona Manor. The town square of Healdsburg, with specialty shops, galleries and cafes is a short 10-minute drive from the ranch, and you can take the ranch Rivian for exploring further. For more information visit newtreeranch.com.

Also in Healdsburg, local pioneer Charlie Palmer of Dry Creek Kitchen, recently opened the contemporary Appellation Healdsburg Hotel, with dining options including Folia Bar & Kitchen and a rooftop bar-lounge with vineyard and garden views.
https://www.appellationhotels.com/hotels/california-healdsburg/

For offsite activities, Sonoma Zipline Adventures in Santa Rosa offers several guided eco-courses from the high-adrenaline to beginner or a Night Flight Tour at sunset through the redwoods. 

Historic Ojai Hotel with Resident Tortoises

Hotel El Roblar is not just a historic ranchero 1919 property in the heart of town, and the longest-standing property, but also the home for two Aldabra Giant Tortoises visiting from the Turtle Conservancy. Abra and Cadabra are 15 and 20 years old, respectively, but can live up to 150 years. This endangered, vegetarian species live in the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean and can also reach 600 pounds. Guests can gently pet them, but if you want to see more, schedule a visit to the nearby Turtle Conservancy with the front desk.

After a 50-year closure, behind the meticulous property restoration are Eric Goode, Ramin Shamshiri of Studio Shamshiri, Warner Ebbink and Jeremy McBride. As a homage to the early California missions, the 50-room hotel preserves its Spanish Revival architecture. 

On property, two distinct dining venues led by Chef Brandon Boudet (from Little Dom’s in LA) include Condor Bar, serving modern Mexican cuisine, and La Cocina for a casual breakfast or lunch. Additional spaces include an intimate lobby bar with a distinctive mural that depicts the natural history of the Ojai Valley, by artist Stefano Castronovo, a contemporary of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Most of the hotel’s impressive artwork was sourced locally. 

Guest rooms are divided among the Main House, which holds 31 rooms, many with garden terraces, 11 private bungalows with expansive patios, and the newly added Sycamore House, offering eight cabin-style rooms. The hotel’s design preserves original architectural details, including the Mission-style entry archway, the lobby’s stone fireplace, and classic Monterey-style furnishings. 

On the way to visit the turtles, or to take a dip in the pool, with six cabanas, you will encounter a lush Spanish walled garden with soaring palm and dragon trees, charming Spanish-style fountains, inlaid tile work, mosaic murals, and vibrant potted plants. 

Just across the street, visit the Ojai Playhouse, a 200-seat single-screen movie theater, opened in 1914, adding to the historic charm of downtown. And, every Wednesday evening, they collaborate with the hotel for a dinner and a movie night. Every Condor Bar reservation (made via Resy) at 5 p.m., comes with a complimentary movie ticket per patron to the 7 p.m. showing. theroblar.com

Big Bear Mountain Retreats and Bald Eagles 

Big Bear’s newly reimagined lakeside retreat, Hotel Marina Riviera, A Casetta Hotels Property—known for resorting and maintaining historic buildings from the Casy Cody in Palm Springs to Surf Rider in Malibu and The Pearl Hotel, San Diego—opened its doors along the shores of Big Bear Lake in June 2025. 

Think of this as an updated version of retro-American lake leisure with mid-century mountain décor across 42 guest rooms, with wood-burning fireplaces, housed within the property’s original 1968 Viking lodge. Enjoy the year-round heated pool, cold plunge, and barrel sauna overlooking the vast Big Bear Lake, along with restorative rituals that invite calm, connection, and a deeper return to nature. With pet-friendly rooms, lakeside paths, and scenic winter walks, the hotel makes it easy to bring your four-legged plus-one along for an escape. 

Of course, the winter activities include skiing and snowboarding or hanging out in a heated igloo on the patio, but the spring, summer and fall bring boating, hikes and bike rides around the lake, and fire pits for brisk evenings of stargazing or lakeside lounging. 

The hotel’s signature restaurant, and the area’s only true lakeside dining experience, De La Nonna at the Water’s Edge, serves wood-fired comfort dishes, natural wines, and favorites from the contemporary Italian brand that made a name in the downtown LA Arts District for focaccia-style pizzas.

Just beyond the shoreline, resident bald eagle pair Jackie and Shadow, have amassed a large national audience via a live-streamed nest overlooking the surrounding pine forests. The pair recently laid new eggs, drawing thousands of daily viewers and renewed social media attention. This moment offers a distinctly “only-in-Big-Bear” cultural touchpoint, blending wildlife, an alpine setting, and modern Americana storytelling.  hotelmarinariviera.com

Private Cabins from Arkouda Stays 

Arkouda Stays is a newly launched hospitality group redefining the open-air getaway. Founded in 2025 by partners Joseph Lontos, Donna Mulchand, and Todd Calongne, the brand was created around a shared belief: meaningful travel happens when people can slow down, disconnect, and fully experience true nature.

Arkouda Stays brings together two distinct yet complementary properties between the Arkouda Cabins and the forthcoming Arkouda House. The vision is to offer stylish, accessible stays that connect travelers to nature, and adventure, yet with comfort in a chic design aesthetic.  Whether you are drawn to the modern lodge atmosphere of Arkouda House or the intimate, nature-immersed setting of Arkouda Cabins, each property balances function and character in the forest, along with upgraded wellness amenities such as sauna pods and cold plunges.

These two new additions to the area confirm that Big Bear is not just a winter getaway, but also a top destination for fresh air wrapped up in a cool mountain escape. Arkouda Cabins is now open and accepting reservations year-round. arkoudacabins.com 

The post What’s New in California for Spring-Summer Travel 2026 appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Next year marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, so let’s start there. 

Philadelphia: America’s 250th anniversary celebration in July and events all year

The birthplace of the United States is preparing for the country’s big anniversary, so you can visit all year for select neighborhood and community events across the city. 

Activations include a full calendar of cultural festivals, attractions, and experiences rooted in community, including a new public event, “Bells Across PA.” This program will feature local artists designing 20 large replica Liberty Bells, each being displayed in a different area of the city. Another celebration is the “Neighborhood Tour Series,” taking place over 20 weeks in the spring and summer of 2026 and featuring a different community each time.

Stay at the newly renovated historic Bellevue in the city center and dine at one of Marc Vetri’s eponymous Italian eateries, Michael Solomonov’s Zahav, or Friday, Saturday, Sunday, which is one of North America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Park City: Sundance Film Festival Jan. 22 to Feb. 1, 2026

With the final season of the late Robert Redford’s pioneering Sundance Film Festival taking place in January 2026 before it moves to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027, this is one schedule of independent films not to miss. Stay at the Montage Deer Valley with fireplaces and outdoor firepits, the Bourbon & Burgers restaurant, Yama Sushi, and a bowling alley for burning off a little steam indoors, plus ski-in, ski-out options. 

San Francisco: The Super Bowl Feb. 8, 2026

If you plan to travel to the Bay Area for the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, consider staying at Nobu Palo Alto. Make sure to allow time in your schedule for a visit to San Francisco. As part of a Union Square revitalization, acclaimed chef and restaurateur Michael Mina is opening Bourbon Steak San Francisco, a new expression of his popular steakhouse concept. Adjacent, The Eighth Rule, a bourbon-driven bar developed by two-time MVP and four-time NBA champion and entrepreneur Stephen Curry (husband of Ayesha Curry), will also open inside the hotel. This is Curry’s first foray into hospitality, two years after launching his Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Gentleman’s Cut. 

“We believe in San Francisco,” said chef Mina, “and we are committed to continuing to provide spaces where people can come and eat, drink, celebrate, and feel welcome in one of the best cities in the world.”

Palm Springs: Modernism Week Feb. 13-23, 2026

Marking its 21st year, the mid-century architecture and design festival offers a staggering 500 events over 11 days amid a stunning desert mountain backdrop and plenty of poolside parties.

Stay in the middle of downtown, at the Thompson Palm Springs, the sleek, new property with a world-class art collection. Dine and drink at brand-new Bar Issi, by Marissa and Matt Hermer of Chez Mia, also designed by Fettle, and inspired by the iconic 1970s imagery of Mediterranean glamour along the Italian coastline.

New York: New York Fashion Week in February and September, and the Met Gala on May 4, 2026

While both fall and spring Fashion Week events will congregate around Spring Studios, the Met Gala in May is all about the revitalized Upper East Side and Ground Zero for years has been The Mark Hotel. With a private apartment-living feel (The Mark Penthouse is the largest in North America), the property was designed by Jacques Grange. The Mark is dog-friendly, with a “Spoiled Dogs Menu” created by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who has a variety of dining concepts in the hotel, from his namesake flagship eatery with the best truffle burger, to a collaboration with Caviar Kaspia, and a haute dog cart in front. This is a prime location with easy access to Central Park and The Frick Collection. The hotel offers private tours of the Met and a new Augustine Bader spa coming in the new year.  

Austin: South by Southwest (SXSW) March 12-18, 2026

What’s new at SXSW in 2026? For the first time, all conferences and festivals run side by side with seven days of interactive media, film, television, and music. With the Austin Convention Center redevelopment, SXSW 2026 transforms downtown Austin into a creative village.

To get the lay of the land, you should probably start on South Congress. This block runs from the north to the south of the city and is where you can find casual Austin staples such as Güero’s Taco Bar, where everyone from President Clinton to Matthew McConaughey has dined.  

Hotel Van Zandt is a boutique hotel nestled in the heart of Austin’s Rainey Street District for live music, just steps from Lady Bird Lake and the vibrant downtown district. Inspired by the city’s musical roots and rich Texas history, the rooms and suites have a sophisticated rock ‘n’ roll charm, including the rooftop pool deck (with piped-in underwater music) and art installations throughout the property.

Washington, D.C.: National Cherry Blossom Festival March 20 to April 13, 2026

The Tidal Basin is the most popular spot to view the D.C. cherry blossoms in spring, with more than 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees.  Stay nearby at The Jefferson, a dog-friendly boutique hotel dating back to 1923 with a Beaux-Arts architectural style that’s located steps away from the White House. The two Michelin Key hotel offers lavish suites, a state-of-the-art fitness center, an in-house historian for curated itineraries, a dedicated Book Room with a First Library book program, a private wine cellar, 24-hour butler service with in-room mixed cocktails, and all-day dining at The Greenhouse beneath the lobby skylight. 

New Orleans: Jazz and Heritage Festival April 23 to May 3, 2026

For one of the largest musical gatherings in the states, head to the Big Easy, where you can catch a diverse group of talent from Lenny Kravitz and Pearl Jam to Harry Connick Jr. and Trombone Shorty, along with local, African and Native American village-style marketplace crafts and food. 

New to the area are two charming boutique properties, The Garden District Hotel and The Blackbird Hotel, that are both helping to shape a new chapter for the city while celebrating a new culinary era with award-winning restaurants. The design-forward properties’ distinct personalities and amenities include The Garden District Hotel’s 47 retreat-like guestrooms, heated saltwater pool, and the city’s only swim-up bar, and The Blackbird Hotel’s 13 unique guestrooms, sultry lobby bar, and pool area surrounded by lush greenery.

Louisville: Kentucky Derby May 1-2, 2026

After a day at the races, stay at the 21c Museum Hotel, pioneers in launching a contemporary art-inspired hotel in 2006 by visionary art collectors and preservationists, Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. Their mission? To make contemporary art more accessible by offering free, 24/7 exhibitions while sparking economic revival in historic downtowns. Stay in The Apartment, 21c’s sky-high sanctuary overlooking the Bourbon City skyline.

Newer to the scene is Hotel Bourré Bonne (meaning good bet), with a design and art influenced by the city’s historic French Beaux-Arts architecture and the city’s famed horse racing culture and French origins of Kentucky bourbon.

San Diego: NASCAR June 20-21, 2026

For car racing, comic book collectors, and soccer fans, the NASCAR series at the Naval Base in June, the Comic-Con festival at the Convention Center in July or the new FC Major League Soccer, which debuted in 2025 at Snapdragon Stadium, should be summer and fall (September-October) draws, respectively. 

To continue the romp, stay at the completely refurbished Lafayette Hotel in North Park—a haven for Hollywood elite in the 1940s and ‘50s. The over-the-top maximalist design with bold zebra and floral motifs includes a main circular lobby bar, vintage bowling alley, breakfast diner, basement speakeasy with live music, and a lively pool bar scene. Next door is an upscale Mexican restaurant in a church setting, complete with stained-glass windows, with masa and mole created from family recipes by chef José Cepeda. 

Chicago: James Beard Awards June 13–15, and the Route 66 Centennial on Nov. 11, 2026

To keep up with the level of culinary excellence and excitement of the annual James Beard Awards, dine at chef Grant Achatz’s Alinea, celebrating 20 years—and dozens of accolades. 

In addition, Palmer House, North America’s longest-operating hotel, since 1871, and another landmark Chicago destination, is celebrating the Route 66 Centennial in 2026 with a “Get Your Kicks Near Route 66” package, commemorating Illinois as the road’s official starting point. This will offer hotel guests luxe accommodations, welcome cocktails at the hotel’s speakeasy-inspired lounge, Original Palmer House Brownies (the baked treat was invented at the hotel in 1893 for the World’s Fair), a Google Map with points of interest and a Spotify playlist of cruising songs to set the mood.

Aspen: Art Week and The Aspen Art Fair July 29 to Aug. 2, 2026

While you might enjoy an annual ski trip to one of Colorado’s top mountain ranges, consider a trip to this tony town off-season during the summer months, especially during Art Week and The Aspen Art Fair in its third year, which is gaining international momentum—the second edition drew more than 4,000 galleries, curators, and collectors from across the globe.   

Stay at Hotel Jerome, and you will have easy access to the fair which takes place along the corridors and ground-floor suites of the property and even spills out onto the terraces. Do make time to have drinks at one of the hotel’s historic bars and admire the permanent collection of black-and-white photographs of the town, curated in partnership with the Aspen Historical Society.

“The Hotel Jerome is synonymous with Aspen and the heart and soul of town,” Becca Hoffman, CEO and founder of The Aspen Art Fair, told the Courier. “There is no better place to host a contemporary and modern art and design fair.”

Vegas: Formula 1 (F1) Nov. 20-23, 2026

Public charter service JSX has expanded routes from its private terminal near Hollywood Burbank Airport that will have you at the racetrack with ease and zero airport hassles. Once you arrive, stay at the luxury five-star Wynn Las Vegas with new dining spots such as the iconic Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse from New York, or head “next door” to The Venetian for the new Michelin-starred Cote Korean Steakhouse from Miami and New York with curated artwork by Damien Hirst and design by David Rockwell. For more meat, The Palazzo opened a new 20,000-square-foot Bazaar Meat by José Andrés offering a tableside martini cart and a special illuminating chocolate dome dessert, Sphere Graffiti, with a mallet to break it open, revealing an assortment of sweet treats. “It’s almost more Vegas than Vegas!” shared chef Andrés about the new spot. The Venetian Resort is the only place fans can get the full experience of Sphere with concert and hotel packages, plus preferred seating.

Miami: Art Basel and Design Miami Dec. 5-7, 2026

During this busy time, most activities take place in the Miami Design District or South Beach. As the leading international art fair in the Americas, Art Basel Miami Beach welcomes 284 premier galleries from 43 countries and territories across the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. At this same time, Design Miami celebrates its 20th anniversary of creating a global forum for collectible design.

For a prime (and relaxing position) stay at the Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club in Miami Beach. It is located in a historic 1930s mansion property, with modern suites and sweeping ocean views that will make you feel far from the fray when you need to recharge. The Champagne Bar is great for drinks before delicious fresh pasta at Lido, and Thomas Keller also has a restaurant on the property with a bar and live jazz. 

The post Where to Go in 2026: Top U.S. Travel Destinations appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Baja California

While Todos Santos and La Paz have gained popularity in recent years, Cabo San Lucas and Los Cabos are still perennial favorites and the development boom with top brand hotels continues. 

With over $900 million in new hotel investments and more than 900 upscale rooms set to open by 2027, including brands like Soho House, St. Regis and Park Hyatt, the Cabo area boom is not slowing down anytime soon. Rosewood Residences Old Lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula is under construction and another high-end luxury hotel and residences will debut in Mexico with the opening of Raffles Estera East Cape Resort & Residences, slated for 2029, marking the brand’s first resort in North America with seven restaurant offerings.

Finally getting its due, the culinary scene is also gaining acclaim following its recent Michelin Guide debut, featuring one Michelin Star to Cocina de Autor at Grand Velas, multiple Green Stars, including Acre by master chef Arturo Rivero and Flora’s Field Kitchen by Rebecca Weitzman, along with dozens of Bib Gourmand nods for other eateries.

Old favorites like Las Ventanas al Paraíso, a Rosewood Resort are still top of the game with 12 Signature Beach Villas and the 28,000-square-foot Ty Warner Mansion, plus the Michelin Guide-recommended Árbol. La Botica is a new speakeasy-style, Cuban-inspired craft cocktail destination voted one of the “50 Best” in the world with the ambiance of a vintage apothecary accompanied by live entertainment. Recent collaborations include Mi Golondrina, with beautiful Mexican hand-embroidered clothing made by Mexican artisans, and the summer-long “Best of Baja” initiative featuring talent from destinations such as Todos Santos, La Paz and Valle de Guadalupe, highlighting chefs, artists, winemakers and emerging fashion labels from the region.

San José del Cabo has a new market, Sabores San José, which is similar to the Art Walk on Thursdays. Every Tuesday evening, from 5 to 9 p.m., the historic center transforms into a pedestrian-only zone featuring a walking food experience from local producers and restaurants. The event also includes live traditional music and folkloric dance. While you are in the Arts District area, check out Michelin Guide-recommended NAO and its signature fusion of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines.

Coronado

Once you arrive in San Diego, all eyes are on Coronado Island this summer with the iconic Hotel del Coronado in the final stages of a six-year, $550 million revamp, which came to fruition with the Veranda beachfront Victorian building and Nobu del Coronado, which opened in May. Other reasons for a revisit include private beach bonfires and the leash-free Coronado Dog Beach, personalized surf lessons, and a culinary and historical walking tour of the island. 

Carlsbad

If you missed the flower fields this spring and the new butterfly encounter, not to worry. The summer programming has just begun with strawberry picking to “secret garden spa parties” at the newly revamped Omni La Costa that includes yoga and sound healing. Several new Michelin Guide-recognized restaurants by Eric Bost (formerly of Auburn in Hollywood) include Jeune et Jolie, Campfire, and his two latest—Wildland for excellent all-day fare (including a genius pizza sandwich)—and Lilo for an intimate counter tasting experience. The best part is you can take the train from Union Station in L.A., which drops you off right in the heart of charming Carlsbad, where restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques await. 

Also new and within walking distance to the ocean, Little Victory Wine Bar is a natural wine and seasonal cooking spot from the team behind Encinitas’ cult-favorite Little Victory Wine Market—led by husband-and-wife duo Jeremy Simpson (Bestia) and Kirsten Potenza. Together with chefs Kelly and Elliott Townsend (Long Story Short), they were inspired by the cave à manger of Paris and Copenhagen and offer in-house cured “tinned fish” and skin-contact wines by the glass.

Newport Beach

Since the devastating Palisades fires, many residents have relocated to this area for a beachside retreat. The Pendry hotel holds the new Elwood Club for live music, wine tasting, art, fashion, wellness and sporting events. And its former private Italian-Riviera-inspired restaurant, Viamara, is also now open to the public. The sun-drenched décor will make you want to linger for a long lunch with branzino and a Negroni.

Catalina

After a 17-year absence, Catalina Island is offering horseback riding again. Most rides take 45 to 90 minutes and include hills, valleys, clifftops with ocean views and potential encounters with deer and island foxes. Catalina Horseback Adventures is reviving a tradition that goes back to the 1930s, when Catalina’s owners, the Wrigley family, set up a ranch known as El Rancho Escondido, which grew into an Arabian horse-breeding operation. The working ranch continues, 12 miles outside Avalon and is open for Saturday tours. For more touring, Catalina Island’s custom-guided golf cart tours are now available to explore Avalon. In a little over two hours, you will learn about the history of the location and the lifestyle of its residents. 

After your ride or tour, Catalina Brewhouse offers the only craft beer on the island, brewing six small-batch brews by Danny Gutierrez. For the newest waterfront restaurant, Pier 24 is located where the original Antonio’s Pizza was, paying homage to the original Steamer Pier, once home to William Wrigley’s cross-channel vessels, the S.S. Avalon and Catalina. Large picture windows look out onto the harbor for amazing views, along with two patios. 

Long Beach 

When catching the Catalina Express out to the island, Long Beach is a great port destination before or after your excursion. The refurbished 185-room Fairmont Breakers Long Beach is the area’s only luxury hotel with Queen Mary harbor views, a jazz club dating back to the 1920s (when it was a haven for stars of the era), a rooftop bar-lounge, several dining options and the area’s first luxury spa, with treatments that include lipstick readings. This is a grand hotel with Art Deco-inspired interiors and five culinary destinations, including coastal Italian fare at Nettuno on the ground floor and the notable return of the Sky Room, where you can start your meal with a Champagne-caviar cart, end with a Bananas Foster cart and enjoy a beef Wellington for two in between. Head upstairs to Halo after dinner for a nightcap or sunset views, as it’s the only rooftop bar in Long Beach. 

Rancho Palos Verdes

With plenty of walking trails with sweeping ocean views along the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Terranea Resort’s Sound Series at Nelson’s returns this summer for live music and dancing under the stars. This year’s series features 27 nights of oceanfront performances with the South Bay’s best local bands, ranging from reggae and country to pop and rock classics, taking place most Friday and Saturday nights through Aug. 30. Another reason to revisit this resort is its refurbished $4.5 million oceanfront spa with treatments that include a Harmonic Aura Awakening with healing Himalayan singing bowls and a HydraFacial. 

Santa Monica 

The hospitality boom continues in Santa Monica for its 150th anniversary on July 24 of this year. For the first time in its history, the Shore Hotel’s ground-floor restaurant is open to the public, along with a new indoor-outdoor poolside bar. Order a full seafood platter with jumbo black tiger shrimp, or the lobster roll with avocado and sriracha aioli, along with craft cocktails. Also on Ocean Avenue, a trio of San Francisco imports has opened, including Fitoor for upscale Indian fare, Ghirardelli chocolates, and Pacific Catch for daily Pacific Rim seafood specials, hearty cocktails, fish and chips, salmon burgers and sea bass brochettes. They also offer an “Aloha hour” from 3 to 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Channel Islands

With Oxnard Shores and Ventura Harbor also becoming beachside havens since the Malibu fires, a Channel Islands boat ride is not far away. The five remote islands to tour are referred to as “The American Galapagos,” and the new Channel Islands National Park mobile app makes it easy to schedule ahead. The free app includes self-guided hiking tours and interactive maps with points of interest, and the Island Packers provides the boat rides and chartered cruises for spotting whales and other sea life. 

Montecito 

Adjacent to the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge, the Post Montecito is a new outdoor lifestyle collection of shops and restaurants from Los Angeles-based developer Runyon, who is also behind the Platform in Culver City.  Retail offerings range from accessories by celebrity favorite Janessa Leoné, swimwear by Colombian designer Maygel Coronel and menswear by The Optimist. Italian restaurant Ospi Montecito (which also has locations in Brentwood and Venice), as well as Bogavante, a seafood-focused eatery that’s the sibling to Loreto in L.A., and a courtyard coffee cart, Little King from the popular Buellton cafe— are all centered around a playful mixed-media ceramic fountain, “It’s Raining,” by late Santa Barbara artist Marge Dunlap. 

Down on Coast Village Road, Bar Lou is a new brasserie from the owners of Little Dom’s in Los Feliz, located in a French Riviera-inspired bungalow with ample patio space for ordering oysters to sea urchin spaghetti, steak au poivre or fried zucchini blossoms with anchoiade sauce. During Friday lunch, they offer a Creole spin with Gumbo Ya-Ya, festive cocktails and Cajun music. Just across the street, the new Lion’s Tale, located inside the Montecito Inn, is perfect for martinis and bites of Koji-cultured butter with oat sourdough, smoked trout dip, and Oscietra caviar. And you’ve heard of the Urban Wine Trail, but now there is one for bivalve pursuits. The Oyster Trail is a new outing that starts at Clark’s Oyster Bar (from Aspen) on Coast Village Road.

Nearby Rosewood Miramar Beach has a new outdoor semi-private dining experience at the Michelin Star and Michelin Green Star restaurant. FronteMare by Caruso’s offers an interactive dinner for up to 12 guests. Each dish is created live by chef Massimo Falsini using the bounty from his onsite herb garden, Santa Barbara’s farmers markets and the ocean. And, speaking of, you can now take a surf lesson at the new club curated by local pro legend Adam Lambert. If you continue your journey up the coast, stop at The Barn at The Hilt Estate in Sta. Rita Hills (the closest Santa Ynez Valley winery to the ocean) for a tasting of its Estate Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. 

Pismo

You might have viewed Pismo Beach as a seaside pit stop on your way to San Luis Obispo or Paso Robles for wine tasting, but the tiny town has a resort hotel and restaurant worthy of its own visit. Vespera Resort on Pismo Beach sits along the city’s Central California Coast boardwalk and offers guests access to a canine-friendly beach with ocean views and stargazing with in-room telescopes in the evening after dinner at the Somerset Grill. 

Pequin Coastal Cocina at the resort just announced the return of its Winemaker Dinner Series for 2025. Sustainable purveyors include Motley Crew Marketplace & Ranch, Sunrise Organic Farm, Tootie Fruity and Foxen Vineyard & Winery. The winemaker dinners will run from June to September, ending with Fess Parker Vineyard and Winery from Santa Barbara.

Big Sur

As the hillsides of Big Sur bloom back to life, 1,200 feet above the Pacific Ocean, with panoramic sea views, Sierra Mar at the Post Ranch Inn reopens its doors with a fresh take on seasonal dining: the Spring Chapter menu, which includes zero-proof garden cocktails. This new culinary event celebrates the spirit of renewal with a mix of ingredients from the onsite chef’s garden. Standouts are the chef’s garden salad with local greens and herbs, finished with cured lemon vinaigrette and egg yolks from onsite hens; and the California squab with smoked beets, endives, pickled cherries and port jus. In addition, the restaurant walls now hold an exhibition of underwater photography by Chuck Davis, showcasing Monterey Bay and Big Sur’s marine life.

Carmel

Perfect for a romantic escape, girls trip or solo getaway, Casa Palmero at Pebble Beach is tucked along the iconic 17-Mile Drive and steps from Carmel-by-the-Sea. This intimate Mediterranean-inspired hideaway was recently renovated with 24 luxe rooms and suites with cozy fireplaces, deep-soaking tubs and private terraces. Start the day with a spa treatment or sip fresh juice poolside, then enjoy a curated picnic in a Lexus (the house car) along the coast, and wind down with a complimentary happy hour in the cozy Living Room. Guests also enjoy access to Pebble Beach’s exclusive Beach & Tennis Club and a scenic 9-hole course at The Hay.

Half Moon Bay

Designed by Hirsch Bedner Associates, The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay recently completed a multimillion-dollar refresh that included the guest rooms, suites, spa, and signature restaurants Navio and The Conservatory. In addition, the resort has a new partnership with luxury women’s apparel brand Foray Golf, resulting in a package that celebrates the growing numbers of women in the sport with an 18-hole round of golf per night’s stay at Half Moon Bay Golf Links and an essential Foray Bag with golf accessories and apparel. In another exclusive partnership, Sazerac will create a custom whiskey blend for the property that you can sip at Ocean Terrace’s famous fire pits.

Mendocino County

Stretching out on 90 miles of prime Pacific coastline with close to 100 wines and 12 diverse American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), 24 state and national parklands, including “The Redwood Corridor,” and 450 unique accommodations, plus a wealth of local farm products from honey to hard cider and even cannabis, make this region a top Northern California getaway. If you do not want to drive, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Sonoma County airports are all good options. 

Start at Pennyroyal Farm with a morning tour of the award-winning farmstead creamery to meet the dairy goats and sheep and learn about the integrative methods behind both the estate wines and cheeses, with a final tasting including the signature Sauvignon Blanc.

Earthspoke Farms has expansive fields of more than 5,000 dahlia plants and hundreds of colorful annuals and perennials with U-Pick Flower Field Days and a DIY Bouquet Bar. For the local version of the Basque spice Piment d’Espelette, dried chiles are produced at Boonville Barn Collective, a woman-owned operation from seed to jar, along with olive oil, sea salt and a variety of heirloom beans. Tours are by appointment only and do stop for a wine tasting nearby at Lichen Estate.

Other pursuits include a tour of Schnaubelt Distillery, opened in 2023 in Noyo Harbor, offering Smoked Salmon Vodka and Candy Cap Mushroom Bourbon, or you can visit an apple grove near a 130-year-old Red Gravenstein apple tree for Gowan’s world-class ciders, made onsite for six generations, with organic heirloom apples.  Set in Anderson Valley, one of Mendocino’s top wine-growing regions, this new 2.5-acre lavender farm shares space with Foursight Winery, a small family-owned operation crafting premium Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. The 15-acre estate marking the entrance to Boonville is a perfect prelude to a day of play with 25 wineries dotting the 15-mile stretch to the sea. Peak bloom season is June through August, so you have the whole summer to explore. 

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Are you trying to secure VIP tickets to the U.S. Open this year? Perhaps you are feeling more adventurous and want to track mountain gorillas in East Africa or simply score a table at La Dolce Vita in Beverly Hills on a Saturday night. Look no further than this client-driven platform whose dedicated lifestyle managers provide members with personalized support.

Quintessentially’s U.S. CEO Lauren Wilt oversees the brand’s strategy, corporate development and day-to-day operations with a team of 50 across six cities.

Wilt joined the company as Head of Membership in 2013, after a previous role at the Cipriani Group.  Here are her insights on the growing concierge industry and traveling in 2025. 

Explain the services that Quintessentially provides. 

Travel, tickets and dining are our most common request categories; however, what makes Quintessentially truly unique and stand out are all the other things we do for our members. We take a 360-degree approach to lifestyle management, which means we support our members in all facets of their lives. From day-to-day support like finding dog walkers, to arranging appointments and sending gifts to loved ones, we also have specialists in numerous areas such as property and estate management, education and private clubs.  

What are the most in-demand travel or hospitality requests from your clients?

Time and time again, we see members who want to travel to familiar destinations such as Aspen or St. Barts and explore new places for their larger trips. They rely on us the most to tell them about the top properties, must-try restaurants and “must-visit” destinations to put it on their radar during the planning process. There has been an uptick in wellness-focused retreats; North American destinations like Mexico and Arizona and global destinations like Switzerland, Thailand and beyond. There has also been a surge in exploring the unexplored, which means destinations like Bhutan, which is not only a trending destination but also has great traction among our members globally and provides the opportunity to stay at luxury accommodations like the Aman or Six Senses. On a smaller scale, we are being tasked with requests like quick ski trips. The Presidential Suite at Hotel Jerome was a member favorite over Presidents Day weekend, for example. 

Is there a particularly challenging request that your team was able to resolve?

Earlier this year as the catastrophe of the fires has wreaked havoc on Los Angeles, it has been a particularly challenging time, not only as the CEO who has a large team in California but as a long-term LA resident and member of the community. Understanding the impact these fires have had on our members has been devasting, but it’s been encouraging to know we’re a team not only of experts, but also of friends, sisters, daughters, mothers and fathers who care about our members like their own community. As everyone has been impacted in different ways, we’ve been able to help families relocate for short-term stays in comfortable hotels while they wait to return to their homes, find suitable rental properties within certain criteria for those who have lost their homes completely and work with trusted organizations to provide a resource to members looking to make contributions for those in need. 

What trends are you seeing in luxury travel in 2025?

Luxury travelers are prioritizing self-care and holistic well-being. This includes stays at wellness retreats like SHA Wellness offering personalized programs like yoga, meditation, nutrition and spa therapies, and Chenot Palace Weggis, which offers advanced programs that focus on rejuvenation to delay the onset of biological aging. These destinations—be it in the mountains, by the ocean or at cutting-edge urban spas—are seeing a surge in demand.

Belated and extended honeymoons: Weddings now are so much different than they used to be because more and more frequently the couple has a global network of friends. This, coupled with the growing popularity of destination weddings, means that often couples are now taking a pause between their wedding and honeymoon. It’s nice to fully reset and prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon, which may take place in exotic locations like Mozambique, the Outback, Rwanda and beyond.

Soft travel: Traveling somewhere to reset and relax versus packing it in. The era of jam-packed itineraries is fading and is now being replaced by a desire for slow, intentional travel. Luxury travelers are seeking destinations where they can truly reset—long stays in serene locations, which for some may be tucked away in Jackson Hole and for others St. Barts, providing both a time to connect with nature and experiences designed to refresh both body and mind.

Cultural Immersion: Travelers are looking for meaningful engagement with local cultures. They want to explore destinations through hands-on activities like cooking classes, art workshops or guided tours with historians, creating deeper connections and more authentic memories. A property that comes to mind is Hacienda AltaGracia, tucked away in Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica, which gives it edge and creates an environment where cultural immersion is at the root of who this property is and everything they do. 

Adventure Tourism: Luxury adventure travel is booming as avid travelers want an outside-the-box experience; there really seems to be a surge in making once-in-a-lifetime trips at the forefront of their planning. From expeditions in Antarctica to glacier hiking in Iceland to private safaris in Africa, the focus is on tailor-made experiences that balance thrill with comfort—think luxury campsites, expert guides and personalized itineraries.

You have recently visited Nicaragua, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Costa Rica for surf trips and completed a 500-kilometer cycle challenge across the South of France. Any personal traveling tips for a seamless experience on the road or in the air?

Travel prepared: Before arrival, I’ve done my research and worked with our expert team of travel advisors to map out where I want to eat, what I want to see and experiences throughout the trip.  While this helps set me up for a successful vacation, there are a few habits I always follow upon arrival. 

Walk: I love to take a walk right away. This helps with much-needed fresh air after travel and to get my bearings in a new place. If it’s a city break, I love to see what’s around the immediate area, and if I pass a local grocery store, I always pick up some local snacks, which can be a great indicator of the culture. If it’s a country or nature holiday, a walk helps me to see what’s on property and explore what’s available during my stay. 

Talk: Whether it is to people in the airport, the taxi driver to my hotel or the person checking me in, I always try to be as friendly as possible and ask questions. Locals are a great way to learn about your destination’s history and culture. They will also know of citywide events to look out for and are a great source for insider tips when navigating a new destination, such as an off-the-beaten-track local restaurant or shop.

Unpack: It takes a few minutes, but I find in the long run it’s a time-saver during a vacation.  Unpacking also helps me feel settled and at home in an unfamiliar place. 

Gratitude: I try to ensure I understand and can say basic words and sentences in the local language, especially greetings and words of gratitude.

Which Beverly Hills properties or restaurants are the most sought-after for bookings?

Polo Lounge (The Beverly Hills Hotel), Dante (The Maybourne Beverly Hills), Matsuhisa, Sushi Note Omakase, La Dolce Vita, Nozawa Bar, Funke, Matū and Marea.

What do you never leave home without and why?

Besides my phone, there are a few things I tend to never leave home without. First, I love my Smythson cardholder, which is personalized with my initials. I’ve never been a fan of large wallets, and my Smythson fits in any pocket, with everything I need whether staying local or traveling domestically. Wherever I go, I also always have a Kosas Lip Fuel within arm’s reach. It’s my lip balm, lipstick and lip gloss all rolled into one super sleek tube that fits anywhere. Finally, when traveling, I never leave home without my Kindle. I’m an avid reader and this fits easily into any purse or carry-on luggage. I’m also a huge advocate for packing cubes, which help me stay organized and efficient on any trip. My favorite packing cubes are my monogrammed Mark & Graham set. 

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Located just 20 minutes from the international airport and 12 minutes from the center of town, Amanjena, which translates to “peaceful paradise,” feels a world away from everything. Arrive through its gates and instantly enter a serene Moroccan fantasy world, where the open-air reception is furnished with antiques and decorated with a display of colorful spices from the region. Guests are immediately captivated by the awe-inspiring water feature outside. The black-bottom tranquility pool sets the tone for the entire resort—amplifying the architecture and lighting of the property at night when it reflects off the water—and juxtaposes the desert landscape, creating what seems like an impossible oasis.

“The first time I was at Amanjena was about 15 years ago with my wife,” says Cape Town, South Africa–based architect Stefan Antoni, principal and founder of SAOTA Architecture and Design, which is responsible for everything from mansions in Bel-Air to hotels across Africa and Europe. “I was an early ‘Amanjunkie’ and had been to a lot of the early Aman hotels in Asia. Amanjena was built in 2000, but it feels centuries old and very much of its destination, which is a testament to its architect, Ed Tuttle [who also designed the first Aman, Amanpuri, in Phuket].”

Indeed, so much of Amanjena’s appeal rests in its ability to pull the guest into the destination and immediately feel a connection to the local architecture, the landscape, and the soul of Marrakech. And, for its next phase, just a handful of special villas at Amanjena will allow its esteemed guests the privilege of owning a piece of the luxury oasis. Sprawling across 13 acres, Amanjena currently features 40 rooms, ranging from 1,883 to 12,163 square feet, a spa with four treatment rooms and two Turkish hammams, two clay tennis courts, and access to the adjacent Amelkis golf course and two additional nearby golf courses. There are also two signature restaurants, one serving traditional Moroccan cuisine in an intimate area centered around a marble fountain, and one serving informal Japanese fare for three meals daily.

“Right now, Amanjena is this hidden gem of a property, and we had the fortune of there not being much directly around it,” says Antoni. “The unused land next to it was the perfect opportunity to create something truly special.”

The homes that Aman is creating will consist of elegantly and harmoniously designed three- to six-bedroom villas, staying true to the brand’s ethos. “So many of the hotels in Marrakech are elaborate and over the top, but Aman is more Zen. The DNA of the brand is very unique, so to that end, we’re carrying on with a subdued feel,” says Antoni. “From what I’ve experienced at the other Amans around the world, there’s always a quietness and sense of balance and symmetry. The architecture is very considered, so that you can feel calm and really let go.”

The residences at Amanjena include three villa layouts, ranging from 16,400 to 24,300 square meters in size, all with private gardens, swimming pools and open walls to immerse the owner in the surroundings.

“When you’re in the city center [of Marrakech], you see these tall walls, which are made of local mud with the texture of straw and grass in them. They have these smallish openings, where you’ll get a glimpse of some incredible oases inside,” says Antoni. “For us to extract that essence, what Marrakech architecture is all about, was really important, but without being a pastiche or copy of the traditional—it’s our interpretation of that.”

The residences will feature similar architectural walls that are found throughout Marrakech, as well as a dusty design palette with accents of lime-washed oak, stone and patinated bronze, which complement honed travertine tiles and Tadelakt plaster walls.  The resulting homes honor the region with traditional materials but contemporary layouts, with indoor spaces that flow seamlessly onto private terraces and roof gardens by way of pools and courtyards.

“We spent a lot of time studying other Aman hotels, specifically their layouts and connections and the sequencing of spaces,” says Antoni. “As you enter the villas, you will experience the unraveling of the mystery in the design from the arrival, the layering of the internal spaces and then the garden and water elements … each is laid out like a palace, so that they can condense and expand as needed, never feeling too big or too small for the site.”

Although Marrakech dates back to 1070 and is steeped in history and authentic charm, it’s also constantly evolving, whether with new museums, restaurants or an increasing number of international visitors who come each year to discover its charms. “Marrakech is so central and close to Europe, but it’s also just one step away from America and one step from Asia,” says Antoni. “It’s a very well-positioned city and very multicultural. Not to mention, it will have the World Cup in 2030, and there’s even an area where you can ski. The region offers so much, but there’s no place better to experience it than at Amanjena.”  

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A visit to Oaxaca, Mexico, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, anytime from October to May is ideal. The temperature is always pleasant and the rains are yet to come. But if I had a preference, it would be in early November. For the adventurous, the Day of the Dead (Nov. 1-2), combining pagan and Catholic rituals, is exciting, vibrant and full of activity. For me, the perfect time is always the day after the day after the Day of the Dead. The chaos, noise and mayhem have calmed, leaving the colors, statues and joy behind. Already one of the most brilliantly glowing cities in Mexico, a country full of color and beauty, Oaxaca is bathed in the bright primary colors of its buildings and the intense ornamentation of its many churches. A very approachable city, ideally you should reserve at least four days for your visit. Besides the city itself, not-to-miss sights are Monte Albán and, time permitting, Mitla, both important archaeological sites and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, full of Zapotec and Mixtec history. 

Historically, the rugged topography of the Oaxaca region was both a curse and a blessing. The curse was in the difficulty of growing crops, but its blessing was its isolation and mineral and gemstone-rich land. The two primary Indigenous cultures, Mixtec and Zapotec, were in constant conflict, with the Mixtecs predominating until the arrival of the Aztecs in the 15th century. Their dominance was short-lived, however. Misjudging conquistador Hernán Cortés for a god, the Aztecs almost immediately lost their stronghold and influence to the Spaniards. It was an ideal location for the conquerors to set up headquarters as they stripped the region of its gold, silver and jade. It is rare to find so much history, Indigenous culture, art and craft in one location. 

Hotels of every level of luxury and sophistication are found throughout the city center. We chose the historic Quinta Real, a stone’s throw from the famous Templo de Santo Domingo and one of the many blocks with long open-air markets selling everything from jewelry to gelato. Like so much of Oaxaca, the Quinta Real is tied to the conquest by the Spanish and its post-colonial history. Originally built as the Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena by Benedictine monks, it was inhabited by Dominican nuns. Steep stone steps lead to the rooms on the upper levels, all built around courtyards, as are most buildings and houses in the area. Many of the 16th-century paintings originally belonging to the Dominican order still hang on the walls. But as tied into the religious history of the city, it is even more connected to its political profile. The Revolution of 1859 by local hero Benito Juárez changed everything, at least for a time. Juárez, the first elected Zapotec president, nationalized the church and seized its many properties, including the convent, turning it first into government offices and then a jail. Later it was a school, a warehouse and eventually a luxury hotel. The old chapel was even used as a movie theater. Yes there are more modern accommodations with greater degrees of luxury, but there is nothing to compare with the history and flower gardens that make up the Quinta Real. That, and the grasshopper omelet they serve at breakfast. 

Walking to the Templo de Santo Domingo, we were immediately immersed in the design and meaning of Baroque architecture. Almost Gothic on the outside, it has two tiled bell towers and a central fascia of tablets depicting lives of the saints with a few conquistadors and contemporaneous citizens thrown in for good measure. But it is the lavish interior that brings the definition of Baroque clearly into focus. Excessive decoration leaving no tile unturned, the Templo has a lavish gold-leafed nave with an arched ceiling of saint portraits encased in ornate gold frames, accented by arched lapis blue ceiling tiles. Each column is bejeweled with statues of saints, some known, mostly not. There is even an elaborate “Tree of Life” with various “sainted” Spanish knights occupying the branches. This is the architectural style for which more is never enough, and an empty inch is a design flaw. Dazzling when entered, it only expands in extravagance. 

Combining the sacred with the irreverent, symbols and statues of the “dead” surround the grounds of the church where vendors hawk their miniature skeletons and totemic animals. Oaxaca is a city of contrasts, historical and artistic. It is home to many churches and a cathedral, many adjacent to one another. But it is also the birthplace of Benito Juárez, who, schooled originally in a seminary to enter the priesthood, became the first democratically elected Indigenous (Zapotec) president of Mexico who established, at least for a time, a clear boundary between church and state, something the conservative party and the church were determined to recoup. Oaxaca is also home to Juárez’s acolyte and later bitter rival, Porfirio Díaz, who replaced the democracy of Juárez with his own autocratic rule, a rule that spurred the Mexican Revolution of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. In so many ways, Oaxaca is the center of everything. 

Parallel to the political history is the art history of the region. Rufino Tamayo, a contemporary of the muralists Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros, was a modernist painter, born in Oaxaca of Zapotec origin. A Mexico City resident in adulthood, he returned to Oaxaca to build an art museum that featured his personal collection of pre-Columbian art. Choosing different colors for each room, highlighting a different era of the archaeological history of Mexico, the shades bring out nuance in the pieces that might otherwise blend into a beige or gray background. In its own approachable way, the relatively few, colorful rooms contain artifacts of the highest quality, rivaling the much larger and more famous National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art is must-see. 

The artistic thread continued when Tamayo mentored his protégé Francisco Toledo, a Zapotec artist whose influence in Oaxaca may be even greater. Already an internationally recognized artist at the age of 19, he studied and worked in Paris and New York but returned to his home state where his commitment was immediately felt.  

Our first stop was Toledo’s Art Library and school (Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca – IAGO). Built around a bougainvillea-shaded patio, rooms of art-related books, most from Toledo’s personal collection, form the body of a cultural center that includes the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photography Center and the Eduardo Mata Music Library, all part of the art school he founded. Artwork is hung everywhere, but it was the Day of the Dead altar set up at the exit celebrating Toledo, who died in 2019, that resonated the most. Orange and red streamers hung near his portrait, with candles and celebratory bread loaves, decorated with skulls lining the shelves below his picture. We were in the perfect mood to walk some more along the avenues populated with giant skeletons in party dresses under multicolored flags that created an umbrella over the temporary “Dead” sculptures. Many of the buildings, all painted in various hues, sported skulls or ceramic animal heads. Walking toward the  Zócalo, the large courtyard in the city center, we passed the Catedral Metropolitana, Oaxaca’s only consecrated cathedral, flanked by giant, Rodinesque sculptures of downtrodden men and women carrying the load of the world. Created by Oaxacan artist Alberto Aragon Reyes, “Procession: Time of Giants” is striking in its use of metal. The poverty it portrays is, to a certain extent, an honor to the cathedral behind it, a more modest structure than many of the other churches.  

A return to the hotel meant a return to the bar and one of the excellent mezcal-laced cocktails. Tequila, in all its permutations, may be the national liquor of Mexico, but mezcal has a distinct smoky taste and is a specialty of the Oaxaca region. A cocktail is always a great beginning to one of Oaxaca’s renowned restaurants. Now a foodie paradise, Oaxaca boasts many starred restaurants, all with a distinct Mexican flavor, highlighted by molé. Fear not. Molé, a sauce made from dried chiles and any combination of various ingredients, but always chocolate, is definitely not the black, gelatinous glop so often passed off as a Oaxacan specialty. Mole comes in many flavors and colors and can range from delicate to strong, depending on the amount of spice and chocolate. Not being a fan, it took a lot to convince me to try, but after my first taste of red mole (coloradito), followed by green and then pink, I was a fan. The delicacy of the sauce enhances the flavor of the meat and does not overpower.  

Monte Albán is a must-see, regardless of the time allotted for a visit to the region. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this pre-Columbian archaeological site is not quite an hour outside the city center. Monte Albán was the preeminent Zapotec city for almost a thousand years, founded around 500 B.C. and totally abandoned in 800 A.D. Situated on top of a plateau in the mountains above the valley floor, its elevated location provided an ideal view of invading armies. Terraces of varying levels were designated for the important religious and political leaders, with the workers, tradesmen and farmers living on the lower levels. Although rediscovered in the late 19th century, it remained almost untouched, covered with vegetation, until large-scale excavation began in 1931. A main plaza occupies the center where religious rituals were held. Temples surrounded the plaza where many stone monuments are found (Las Danzantes) depicting the brutal fate of captured soldiers. Large, monumental stairways, like those found in Teotihuacan outside Mexico City, lead to platforms, possibly sacrificial. The remains of white “plaster” can still be seen on some of the buildings. There is, of course, a ballcourt, one of two thought to have occupied the edge of the plaza. It was a game played with life-and-death consequences. Some artifacts can be found in the adjacent museum, next to the gift store selling hats (you’ll need one); but most of the artifacts discovered during the original excavations can be seen in the wonderful Museum of Oaxacan Cultures next to the Church of Santo Domingo, another must-see (but more on that later). 

While not a must-do when on a limited schedule, Mitla, the other archaeological site outside Oaxaca City, offers a look into the architecture and design of the Zapotec culture, still thriving when the Spanish invaded. Inhabited around the turn of the first millennium, Mitla was a thriving city of Mixtec and Zapotec population in an area that supported more than 500,000. Much of the site was devoted to the dead, believed to be a burial site for the rich and ennobled. The construction was very sophisticated, using blocks that fit together seamlessly like those built by the Incas in Peru. Adorned with carvings along the building cornices, creating a crown molding whose decoration was often enhanced by fresco-like painting and fretwork on the walls, these funerary properties were built around courtyards, not unlike the modern architecture of Oaxaca. Smaller and more manageable than Monte  Albán, a trip to Mitla can easily be combined with a trip to Santa Maria del Tule to visit the massive 1500-year-old Tule Tree. Its size and scope make it one of the wonders of the world. At 130 feet tall and 145 feet in circumference, it defies logic.  

Many tourist agencies encourage trips to the outskirts to visit San Bartolo Coyotepec, famous for its black pottery, made here for hundreds of years. The town of San Martín Tilcajete is famous for alebrijes, those animal figurines made from copal wood, hand painted with natural dyes and decorated in dots, stripes and geometric shapes, often sprouting spines of thin wood. Heresy, perhaps, but unless you are determined to see how these crafts are made, your time is better spent in Oaxaca City Center where literally hundreds of shops feature these arts. Be judicious, look carefully at the art, compare the products of the innumerable shops and then fill your luggage with your treasures. 

The Centro de Artes de San Agustin (CaSa), not far from the city, is an art complex started and funded by Francisco Toledo on the grounds of a huge, converted textile factory. Part art gallery, there was a fantastic comprehensive exhibit of Toledo’s art on view at the time, part workshop and part art school, it is worth the short trip to experience the campus that also includes a paper factory, again, started by Toledo.  

Another must-see in the city center is the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures, located in the former convent attached to the Templo de Santo Domingo. An incredible museum, built around a courtyard surrounded by columns and arched walkways, it is almost encyclopedic in its holdings. Many of the artifacts discovered at both Mitla and Monte  Albán found their way into these collections. Intricate jewelry in gold and jade is found next to ritualistic carvings and ceramics of the skulls of men and animals. The library of Francisco Burgoa, also part of the complex, contains over 30,000 works, including incunabula, bibles in Latin, Greek, Syriac and Hebrew, as well as 16th-century books printed in Mexico. A bronze death mask of Juárez is prominently displayed. It is here, on the grounds outside, that Francisco Toledo presented another gift to his hometown, creating the Ethnobotanical Garden on land behind the Templo de Santo Domingo. It highlights the many plant species used by the Indigenous population for cultural rituals, food and medicine. It is also because of Toledo-led protests that the garden was created when the government was trying to use the space for a parking lot. 

This just scratches the surface of a marvelous city. So much can be discovered on your own including the Mercado Benito Juárez and its endless booths of food, spices, clothes and decorations. There’s so much more to explore from the many other museums, world-class restaurants and village markets. But that’s for my next trip, and there will be one. 

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The Resort 

Amangiri debuted in 2009 with just 34 suites. Its luxury tented resort, Camp Sarika, opened in 2020 with 10 spacious accommodations to further immerse guests into the stunning setting of the 900-acre resort. The property also includes a 25,000-square-foot wellness center, restaurant and access to the nearby Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and Lake Powell. 

The Residences 

Each of the private homes at Amangiri will be situated on five to 19 acres. Homeowners will have access to all the hotel amenities at the adjacent Amangiri resort, as well as the Aman Private Office, which coordinates access to global services across the entire Aman portfolio of properties. 

The Location 

Amangiri is located in Canyon Point, Utah, about 550 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The closest airport is Page Municipal Airport (PGA), just 25 minutes from the property. 

The Architect 

Based in Los Angeles since 2012, Masastudio was founded in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1997 by Marwan Al-Sayed and Mies Anderson. In addition to being one of the original architects of Amangiri, the firm has created homes for private clients and institutions across the world. Recent projects include everything from a modern estate in Dallas on four acres with a creek running through it, to custom residences in Bel-Air and Brentwood, as well as international work that includes private homes in Dubai and a tea museum in Southern China.

When Amangiri opened in 2009, on 900 acres of pristine desert landscape, it not only helped introduce an American audience to the previously Asia-centric Aman brand, but it also helped introduce a worldwide audience to a unique landscape in the American Southwest. Arriving at the property feels like entering one of the world’s most exclusive luxury resorts, and the beginning of a restorative stay, thanks to its unique surroundings.

Miles of sandstone terrain, undulating mountains, crisp clear skies and an abundance of silence are just some of the most distinguishing aspects of the property. Its striking architecture and legendary Aman services and amenities have made it a bucket-list destination, even from its early days.

Over the years, the resort has continued to evolve to accommodate the needs of a more globally inspired traveler. With the 2020 opening of Camp Sarika, the 10-key luxury tented experience at Amangiri, private, safari-like accommodations reach up to 2,820 square feet and feature glass walls, fire pits and private plunge pools. The resort’s expansion speaks to a more nature-loving traveler, eager to be further immersed in the landscape, while still within reach of the finest services and amenities from one of the world’s leading hospitality brands. 

Now, the Aman Residences at Amangiri offer a unique opportunity to live at one of the most acclaimed resorts in the world, in an organically designed home that blends seamlessly with its surroundings, courtesy of the resort’s original architect, Marwan Al-Sayed of Masastudio. 

The Resort: From Idyll to Iconic

With 34 rooms, a 25,000-square-foot spa, signature restaurant and iconic views—from endless landscapes of the plains to the monolithic rock formation appearing to erupt from the swimming pool—Amangiri has been wowing guests for more than 15 years. “There are few hotels in the world as unique as Amangiri,” says the resort’s General Manager Kerry Hing. “Many guests are often lost for words when discovering the property for the first time. They may mention that it feels like going to another planet. The scale of the desert scenery—where you can see miles away—combined with the colors and textures of the million-year-old rock formations invites reflection and wonder.”

Hing also says that the rugged wilderness and mineral design of Amangiri are usually appreciated in layers. The pace of the desert encourages guests to slow down and take the time to notice more details, whether it is a specific feature or opening in the concrete design, or the subtle variations of the light on the sand dunes and towering mesas throughout the day. 

Because the inherent landscape of the surroundings encourages visitors to pause and absorb the calming energy of the region, it was a natural fit for Aman to create a residential component to the property so that guests could linger in the setting for extended amounts of time. Although an initial concept for residences at Amangiri was drafted at the time of the property’s opening, Aman chose to focus on cementing the resort and the brand before turning its attention to residences. Now, after Amangiri has become one of the most recognizable destinations in the world, the timing has been right to focus on the residential plan, which was conceived by the resort’s original architect, Marwan Al-Sayed. 

The Architecture: A Seamless Union Between Nature and Man  

Los Angeles–based architect Marwan Al-Sayed of Masastudio first set foot on the land that now holds Amangiri in 1999. “Creating Amangiri was a completely unique project,” he says. “I was based in Phoenix at the time, and the developers were interviewing different firms in the area. When they realized that their top picks, Rick Joy [of Studio Rick Joy], Wendell Burnette [of Wendell Burnette Architects], and I all knew each other, they asked us to collaborate on the project.” 

Al-Sayed admits a collaboration of such established firms is rare, but the site was so spectacular and the project so intriguing that all three firms eagerly signed on. They formed their own joint firm for the project, ITEN Studio, and had a completely open collaboration. “There was no competition between us—we all put our egos aside and decided that the best idea on the table wins,” says Al-Sayed. 

The design team traveled to numerous Aman properties, mostly in Asia, to immerse themselves in the brand’s ethos and DNA. Upon returning to the site and developing a plan, they were predominantly inspired by the light and surrounding environment. “So many of the surrounding places to stay in the region are built right next to the highway, like an old roadside American motel,” says Al-Sayed. “But here, we built entirely into the landscape—not just on top of it. Our mission became to create something that would resonate but not detract from what’s already there. Because there was nothing else like this in the area, it put the region on the map in a way that had never been done before.”  

For the property’s next chapter, Al-Sayed, who has frequently traveled back to Amangiri since its opening, observing how the property has matured and evolved, has created a new residential plan for a collection of villas, which will have unique characteristics prescribed by their individual settings. 

“The way I look at it, is that there is the main area with the hotel, with a valley above it, which will have some villas, and then two other valleys will each have a handful more,” says Al-Sayed. “It’s as if Amangiri is the trunk of the tree and these villas are the branches and leaves that extend from it.”

Featuring many of the same materials found at the main resort, the new villas will each have a living room, dining room, loggia pavilion that opens to outdoor spaces and a swimming pool with its own unique rock feature. “The rooms are like a series of blocks that get adapted to the landscape,” says Al-Sayed. “Although each residence is made from the same materials, they will all feel different because of the way they engage the rock and the land. If you’re visiting someone else’s residence, it will be familiar but different.”  

The Environment: Nature Makes for the Best Neighbor 

Amangiri is surrounded by 900 acres of sand dunes and sandstone cliffs, making it a unique playground for hiking, rock climbing, exploring the nearby national parks or just luxuriating in the tranquility the property exudes. From the air, most of the land around the resort appears flat, but Al-Sayed explains that there’s actually quite a bit of undulation in the landscape that allows for not only a variety of outdoor pursuits but also for the architecture of new residences to be tucked into the folds of the landscape. The natural terrain provides organic privacy, as well as an intertwined experience with the outdoors, intrinsically linking the homes with the landscape. 

“The location in the high desert is a completely unique setting to experience nature year-round,” says Hing. “Amangiri experiences all of the four seasons, each with their own charm. Spring and fall enjoy balmy temperatures during the day with cooler mornings and evenings—they are the ideal seasons for outdoor adventures. The dry heat in the summer is the perfect companion for a day lounging at the pool or exploring the picturesque Lake Powell. Winter is usually colder with clear blue skies and therefore the best time of the year to retreat to the spa or go and discover the surrounding national parks.”

Indeed, the natural landscape of the resort is one of the biggest draws, with Amangiri offering an incomparable way to experience it. “I went to boarding school in Colorado and spent every spring break in Utah,” says Al-Sayed. “I have memories of hiking and biking there in spring, and the main swimming pool at Amangiri reminds me of how I’d see natural pools in the area fill up from the seasonal rains. The region is like the American version of the Greek Islands to me—a wonderland of rock and water. People coming from Europe have never experienced those expanses and scale and sense of space. It’s a magical playground in itself.” 

Among some of the unique experiences to be had in the property’s “magical playground” is Via Ferrata, a series of cables and ladder rungs fixed to rock faces, allowing climbers to ascend on the property’s steep mountain routes. “This is popular with our guests as they offer both a physical and mental challenge with the reward of breathtaking views on top of the mesas,” says Hing.

After exploring the nearby terrain, guests often understand the more subtle connections between the resort’s architecture and surroundings. “When we were developing the original materials of the resort, we decided to make it out of concrete, which was made from the existing sandstone around the property,” says Al-Sayed. “By using materials from the site, which have minerals in it, over time the walls have come to reflect what happens in the nearby rocks. They’ve aged in a natural way, just like the landscape around it.” 

Wellness: Beyond the Gym 

Much like the Japanese art of Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, spending time in the natural landscape around Amangiri is inherently relaxing. “We used to always say that just being at the property feels spa-like,” says Al-Sayed. “The rocks there are 165 million years old. My daughter [who has visited with me many times over the years] said that the energy they give off is palpable. With the residences, we tried to create a spa-like ambiance, so that you feel like you’re in harmony with what’s there.” All of the residences Al-Sayed has created are meant to settle into their site, without being overdesigned or overimagined. 

Nearby, at the property’s 25,000-square-foot wellness center and throughout its grounds, Amangiri offers a variety of movement sessions to encourage a reconnection of body, mind and spirit, using the power of the natural elements to rejuvenate and rebalance. “Some of the most unique experiences here are yoga at sunrise on the top of Tower Butte [after a short helicopter flight, guests enjoy their own private, open-air yoga studio 1,000 feet above Lake Powell], as well as our Longevity Fitness, a combination of balance, stability and mobility-oriented routines, and Ai Chi, a total water-based body relaxation and strengthening process based on Tai Chi and Qi Gong,” says Hing. 

Al-Sayed points out that living in a resort should be adaptable to everyday life, with the serene setting enhancing the lifestyle and daily routines. “When we created the residences, we utilized the palette in nature as much as possible. We often say that light is the final finish,” he says. “We typically build custom homes, which we fit to our clients like a tailored suit. Here, we used the site as the client, tailoring each structure into the site for a holistic living experience that not only looks good,  but also feels good.”   

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Whether luxury travelers desire to savor Singapore’s eclectic tastes, delve into Japan’s geisha heritage, stroll through captivating UNESCO World Heritage sites, soak in Thailand’s eco-beauty or shop till they drop in Hong Kong, one fact is clear for 2025 and beyond—Asia travel, including luxury cruising, is booming.

No longer are consumers taking just one big annual vacation. Instead, they’re heading out on two, three or even more robust trips a year. Virtuoso, a network of top luxury travel advisors, recently revealed that its 2025 travel sales to Tokyo are up 116% year-over-year. From the luxury cruise side, “Japan is Asia’s hottest destination,” says Shawn Tubman, senior vice president of sales and trade marketing, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, with Southeast Asia another big draw.

Helping to fuel demand for Thailand is Season 3 of “The White Lotus,” now airing weekly on HBO and Max. The storylines focus on interactions between global travelers and hotel staffers at a luxurious Thailand resort. But while the tales are pure fiction, the settings are authentic. Many scenes were filmed on location at sumptuous resorts in Phuket, Bangkok and Koh Samui, Thailand, as well as at Thai beaches and eco-preserves.

As a result, “Koh Samui is getting tremendous exposure of its natural beauty,” says Tubman. “That will generate demand for not only Thailand, but also the rest of Asia.” From his perspective, “Luxury cruising will benefit, particularly as people realize how accessible the exotic Asia destinations are via cruising.” Simply put, I totally concur, based on my personal experiences from multiple Asia ocean voyages, most recently a two-week voyage from Tokyo, Japan, to Singapore on Silversea’s ultra-luxury Silver Nova.

Over the years, I’ve traveled within Asia on escorted land tours, city stays and extensive independent trips. I love it all, but luxury ocean cruising is a hassle-free way to travel in comfort and style, plus touch many cultures in multiple Asian countries. For example, while sailing on Seabourn a few years ago, I enjoyed a great night’s sleep and room service breakfast delivered by my suite’s butler while sailing in Southeast Asia.

Less than 90 minutes later, I was off the ship and exploring Sihanoukville, the second-largest city in Cambodia. At a local market, I watched locals haggle loudly with vendors to get the best price on fresh fruits and veggies piled high on produce stalls. Seated on the floor, a fish seller sloshed his hands inside a tub of water, causing the live fish to splash and leap. His convincing performance resulted in a female onlooker nodding and quickly buying a fresh catch. It was a rewarding cultural snapshot of the local lifestyle.

Another two hours later—after a stroll through an ancient temple—I was ensconced back aboard Seabourn Ovation. After a luscious dinner and a great night’s rest, another exotic locale beckoned me in the morning.

Japan and Southeast Asia Soaring

When planning an Asian luxury cruise, booking early allows travelers to savor the pre-cruise anticipation, research “must see/must do” shore activities including any private arrangements, and have the best choice of snagging their preferred stateroom or suite on a luxury ship.

Many cruise lines have already opened Asia sales through spring 2027. For example, on Feb. 16, 2027, Regent Seven Seas Cruises will offer a 14-night “Cities of Mystery and Magic” itinerary from Bali (Benoa), Indonesia, to Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand. The 746-passenger Seven Seas Explorer will sail into Surabaya, Semarang and Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Malaysia; and Singapore (with an overnight stay).

One plus is that this itinerary also visits Borneo and Brunei. Arriving at Kota Kinabalu (Borneo), Malaysia, travelers might head out on Regent Seven Seas’ five-hour “Lok Kawi Wildlife & Handicraft Market” excursion. It’s a great way to view exotic, native animals at a wildlife park, learn about medicinal, endemic and exotic plants, including carnivorous pitcher plants, and stroll through a local handicraft market.

Never been to Muara, Brunei? I recommend Regent Seven Seas’ four-hour “Splendor of the Sultan” excursion. Guests will peruse the Royal Polo Grounds, opulent Empire Hotel and the Sultan of Brunei’s magnificent 1,788-room palace. They will also gaze at the monarchy’s Royal Regalia exhibits.

This voyage will also offer a call at Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City) before concluding at Bangkok (Laem Chabang). “Bangkok is a fantastic city with access to Siem Reap, Cambodia,” Tubman explains. So, by booking a pre- or post-cruise land package, cruisers can also see and do more in Thailand’s capital city and the countryside, as well as head to Cambodia to explore Angkor, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

More New Options

Between September 2026 and May 2027, Silversea’s 596-passenger, ultra-luxury Silver Muse and Silver Moon will operate 17 Asia voyages. Targeted at Southeast Asia, Silver Muse will sail to both marquee ports and less-visited gems, such as Vietnam’s stunningly gorgeous Ha Long Bay. It’s home to limestone karsts, islets, fishing villages and ancient caves.

On certain voyages, luxury travelers will also go ashore at Chan May, a gateway for excursions to Hue’s Imperial City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Coron on the Philippines’ Palawan Island with beaches and scuba diving sites. Silver Muse’s itineraries are also combinable for travelers to create a 28-day Southeast Asia vacation.

Silver Moon will, in turn, operate in-depth Japan itineraries. Two voyages during the 2027 spring Cherry Blossom season will include an overnight in Osaka, Japan. In just one of many touring options, guests might book Silversea’s exclusive S.A.L.T. (Sea and Land Taste) shore excursion to celebrate the science of umami with an acclaimed Japanese chef. Some Silver Moon voyages will offer later-than-typical departures from Busan, South Korea and Kanazawa, Japan, so that guests can spend more time ashore.

On March 1, 2026, ultra-luxury Seabourn’s 600-passenger Seabourn Encore will set sail from Singapore to Yokohama, Japan. One perk for those planning a big Asia trip is “voyage length flexibility.” For example, they might book the 15-day “Southeast Asia: Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan” itinerary. It visits Ho Chi Minh City (overnight) and Danang, Vietnam; Hong Kong (overnight); Keelung (Taipei); and Tokushima, Japan.

Two other options for that same departure date—both entitled “Southeast Asia and Japan’s Crafts & Spring Blossoms” sailings—will alternatively create a 29-day or 43-day vacation. All three options begin with the two-week sailing, but guests booked on the longer trips stay aboard for more cruising and many other ports of call, among them Beppu, Japan, famed for its “hells” or bubbling hot springs.

For those who love leisurely “days at sea,” one Asia and Australia option is Cunard Line’s 23-night voyage from Singapore to Sydney on Feb. 22, 2026. Before setting sail, though, travelers might venture atop Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands for incredible views from its observation deck. Alternatively, perhaps stroll through the Singapore Botanic Gardens; its National Orchid Garden sports 1,000 species of orchids plus 2,000 hybrids.

As for the cruise itself, Cunard’s 2,996-passenger Queen Anne will spend three days at sea, then two full days in Hong Kong, another two days at sea, one day in Manila, the Philippines, before two more days at sea and a day in Bitung, Indonesia. Well, you get the picture. More sea days follow, interspersed with visits to Darwin, Airlie Beach and Brisbane, Australia, before an overnight in Sydney.  

New this year fleet-wide, Cunard has introduced holistic “Harper’s Bazaar” Wellness at Sea programs. Spanning three days each, three optional curated wellness programs—“Relax,” “Recover” or “Energize”—include a selection of spa treatments, some premium ELEMIS products and unique, nutritionally balanced dining options.

In early 2027, Crystal’s “World Cruise” will depart from San Diego, Calif. As the 740-passenger, ultra-luxury Crystal Serenity sails across the Pacific, several April 2027 segments will explore Southeast and East Asia. Guests can learn about Indonesian culture at Semarang’s temples, explore attractions in Singapore and Bangkok, visit the Great Wall of China and chow down on dim sum in Hong Kong.

Crystal Serenity will then continue to South Korea and Japan. There, guests will visit multiple destinations including Busan, South Korea. One destination highlight is the Gyeongju National Museum, displaying ancient Silla Kingdom artifacts.

Returning to China in 2026-2027 is upper premium Azamara. For example, on Oct. 16, 2026, Azamara Pursuit will operate a 15-night “China Intensive: Beijing, Shanghai & Hong Kong” voyage. One plus is that this 702-passenger ship is right-sized for sailing directly into the heart of Shanghai. Another itinerary hook is the unusual embarkation point of Incheon, South Korea, not far from Seoul, the nation’s capital. So, guests who desire to explore more of South Korea can do so pre-cruise.

In Incheon itself, military history buffs should head to the Memorial Hall for the Incheon Landing Operation. Built to commemorate the 1950 Korean War landing led by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, it displays copious military equipment (both inside and outside) from North and South Korea plus other artifacts, photos and flags of 16 war participants. 

Upscale foodies might board Oceania Cruises’ 670-passenger Regatta on April 3, 2026, for a “Cherry Blossom Splendor” voyage round trip from Tokyo. Highlights will include top-notch cuisine and culinary activities on board, plus cultural experiences ashore at nine Japanese ports and Busan, South Korea.

More in Asia

Expanding in Asia, Viking now offers enticing new China itineraries that include a voyage on the 930-passenger Viking Yi Dun, combined with overland stays in China, including Tibet. Separately, Japanese cruise line Mitsui Ocean Cruises, part of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, has opened sales for its cruise vacations in North America. As a first step, Architects of Travel will support sales of the new-to-fleet, 458-guest Mitsui Ocean Fuji (the former Seabourn Odyssey) by promoting it to North American travel advisors. Another former Seabourn ship will arrive in 2026. This is one development to watch.

Many premium lines such as Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Disney Cruise Line also sail in Asia, as do such small-ship operators as Scenic, Aqua Expeditions, Aurora Expeditions, Ponant, Windstar Cruises and others. For instance, Ponant’s 184-passenger Le Jacques Cartier operates a 14-day “Islands, Cities and Volcanoes of Indonesia” voyage, departing Jan. 7, 2026. While sailing between Bali and Singapore, guests can sip a cocktail at the ship’s underwater Blue Eye lounge and gaze out whale-eye-shaped windows to look for marine life. 

Aurora Expeditions’ 130-passenger Greg Mortimer will operate a new 16-day “In the Wake of Wallace: Indonesia & Borneo” itinerary from Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia, to Singapore on Oct. 24, 2026. And between September 2026 and May 2027, Windstar Cruises’ new 224-passenger Star Seeker will offer 12 departures of a 10-night “Grand Japan” itinerary between Tokyo and Kobe in Japan, plus other Asia itineraries. 

Another option for Asia travelers is a river cruise on the Mekong, Yangtze or Ganges rivers. Experienced river operators include AmaWaterways, Scenic, Viking, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, Avalon Waterways, Pandaw and others. This fall, Pandaw’s new 10-cabin Kochi Pandaw will debut on a new “Kerala Backwaters” itinerary round trip from Kochi, India. And in October 2025, Viking’s new 80-passenger Viking Tonle will begin sailing the Mekong River. 

If you’re wondering if there is still time to book an Asian cruise for this year, the answer is “yes.” Tubman stresses that “It’s possible to still book some space this year and next winter.” 

Whenever or wherever one travels in Asia, be sure to relax and cherish the moments. After a long day of Hong Kong touring late last year, I ordered room service in my luxurious suite on Silver Nova and then nestled into a chair on my private veranda to admire the up-close skyline views. But I had forgotten that each evening the city puts on “A Symphony of Lights,” the world’s largest permanent light-and-sound show. Suddenly, dramatic music enveloped the waterfront, and colored light beams danced and twirled across the skyscraper facades. It was pure magic. Best of all, those moments of visual splendor unfolded on my private perch on an ultra-luxury ship. 

The post Asia’s Allure appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

By reputation, the perpetually lemon-scented Amalfi Coast is almost peerless in its stunning beauty and sophistication. Just take a dip in the languid waters of the Netflix series “Ripley.” It fully captures the slow-motion riot of the treacherous roads, the decaying decadence of the crumbling buildings and the linen-clad beautiful people who still call it home. Built into the rocky hills, the houses tumble down the cliffs, seeming to float or be attached by invisible wires holding them up like alert puppets. The white of the buildings reflects almost blindingly off the blueness of the water. When a close friend rented a villa on the Amalfi Coast and invited us to come, the answer was a very quick YES!

Our villa, actually two country houses, was on a hill in Piano di Sorrento, off the beaten track but overlooking Sorrento, the coast and Capri. We settled in comfortably, meandering around the grounds filled with trees laden with apricots, oranges and, of course, the ever-present lemons. Our tiny neighborhood was populated by two cafes and a mini market whose hours of operation were at the owner’s caprice. There was even a tiny clothing-souvenir shop specializing in homemade linen shirts, dresses and pants. The sewing machines were in constant use producing brightly colored shirts and (alas) pants with lemon motifs.

Sorrento was our first eagerly awaited foray. Devoid of some of the harrowing hairpin turns that would await us on our trips to Positano and Amalfi, it was an introduction to driving in Italy where lane markings are mere suggestions, and the game of “Chicken” seems to be embedded in the DNA of anyone with a driver’s license; truly a case of “he who hesitates” loses. If roundabouts didn’t have stop signs, tourists would wait until the inevitable two-hour lunch break before they could progress.

Sorrento, the tip of a peninsula in the Gulf of Naples, is not technically part of the Amalfi Coast but shares some of its physical beauty. From the Sorrento harbor, boats and ferries leave for the islands and the cities of the Amalfi Coast. Mount Vesuvius with its dual peaks is an easily identifiable landmark, and Pompeii is halfway between Naples and Sorrento. It’s ironic, or at least disingenuous, of a tourist to complain about tourists but Sorrento, even in May, is nigh unto unmanageable. Rife with accommodations from the five-star variety to suspect B&Bs, the shops along the main pedestrian street sell tacky souvenirs and brag of so-called handcrafted wood inlay works of art but are just factory showrooms churning out ashtrays and plaques. Contributing to the claustrophobia were the hundreds of Bermuda short-clad men, women and children lined up behind flag-waving guides dashing through the stores and monuments before being herded back to one of the megaliners (4,500 passengers and more) docked in Naples. That it was Sunday may have been a contributing factor, something we would be able to judge when we returned.

Sorrento, on Tuesday after the hordes had departed, was much more pleasant because our host treated us to a boat ride, “yachting” luxuriously from Sorrento to Amalfi with the young, charming and gorgeous Capitano Antonio, viewing all the coastal towns along the way. He skirted the working fishing villages and less-traveled harbors like Nerano, one of his favorites, and brought us into the three-island Gallos archipelago for a close view of this famous property. Craggy, lacking vegetation, it was Léonide Massine, the famed Russian choreographer and dancer of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, who fell in love with the island and its medieval tower, converting it into a villa and dance studio. No wonder Rudolf Nureyev felt an attachment, buying it in the early ’80s, further renovating it and living there until his death. It has since been refashioned into a luxury villa where visitors may swim in the waters but, unless they can ante up the €250,000 per week rental (including servants, cook and boat), they are forbidden to set foot on the island.

Pacing the trip perfectly, we gazed up at the road, one we would repeatedly take in the next few days, winding through the imposing mountainous rock facings on one side and the little protected cliffside leading to the water far below on the other. Built into the rock are the towns and villages that dot the coast. Colorful pebble beaches abound, accessed by stairways carved into the rocks descending unimaginable heights. The barely-clad bathers were young and hardy, unless they had arrived by one of the anchored boats.

Positano is world-famous for its beauty and rightfully so. Gazing at it from the sea, it appears like a many-layered wedding cake, elaborately iced and inviting. Many of the boats anchored off the shore were on a grander scale than ours, equipped with motorized rafts or dinghies to transport their passengers to shore where they can dine, drink and frolic. The beach is crowded and the pastel buildings overlooking the sea (they all overlook the sea) have vast terraces and balconies. The exclusive properties are either near the bottom of this cliffside town or at the very top. I must confess that in all our trips past Positano, we did not venture into the town. Theoretically, it would have been possible to traverse the tiny streets, but it appeared that the vast majority of people visiting the actual town parked haphazardly, with the emphasis on hazard, along the upper road and walked down, a rather daunting prospect at any age. Still, the pastel combinations of Positano need to be seen to be believed. It is the very definition of a jet-set hamlet where it’s easy to imagine the linen-clad visitors, cocktail in hand, trotting from party to party and then back to the yacht.

Continuing through the bay, Antonio led us into the Fiordo di Furore, a pristine beach in an inlet accessed from the tiny town by 3,000 steps. Furore is home to an 11th-century church containing frescoes by Giotto and his students. How, one must ask, did they get there in the first place, let alone why? It’s one of many puzzles to be contemplated all over the Amalfi coastline. It is the arched brick bridge, 28 meters high, traversing the fjord, from which there is a high diving contest every year, that provides its unique feel.

We were able to dock in Amalfi, larger, more bustling than any of the other towns, allowing us the time only for a purchase at the pasticceria and a few lemon-scented souvenirs. Our lunch was at the Torre Saracena, a 16th-century tower that was part of the city’s defense system. The views to the northwest are of Amalfi, and to the southeast, Atrani of “Ripley” fame. We’ll get a closer view of Atrani, Amalfi’s poor relation, when we drive to Ravello. The food was wonderful but the views were better. But then, all of the views have been panoramic and stunning. Our trip back to Sorrento was at a faster pace and we enjoyed a crisp breeze as we retraced our earlier steps, making sure to renew our sunscreen.

We would return to Amalfi the next day, taking the treacherous SS163 with its serpentine curves, hairpin turns, series of long tunnels and blind mirrored corners dreading the sound of a bus honking its arrival. The lanes, marginal under the best of circumstances, are often further constricted by parked cars along one edge or the other. Even worse are the sightseeing viewpoints where cars spill out onto the roadway waiting for a place to stop, competing with the ever-present vans selling fresh juice, lemon granita and T-shirts. The trip never got easier and the anxiety never lessened; but in each case, we lived to tell about it. Arriving again in Amalfi, our small group split up, the more intellectual choosing to climb up to the Duomo and its Byzantine facade of inlaid striped marble and stone. The 63 wide stone steps lead to a vast porch, semi-enclosed by a series of arched window-like openings giving it a Moorish flavor. Others of us, the more superficial members of the group, myself included, went in search of artisanal souvenirs. The shops closest to the harbor are crowded with the same lemon-themed souvenirs found in every other town in Southern Italy. Walking slightly off the beaten track are the more interesting stores of inlaid wood furniture, handmade paper and ceramics of more unique design. After lunching on garlic-flavored focaccia, myriad antipasto and fish, we returned to the car and wound our way slowly back across the hills and treacherous roads.

For our next excursion, we chose the small town of Nerano with its seafood restaurants on the water. Lo Scoglio was a trip to the rarefied air of the jet set. Although we arrived by car, most of the guests in this terraced restaurant were ferried from their private yachts by Lo Scoglio’s motorboat, arriving at the restaurant’s landing platform. Stanley Tucci, in his series “Searching for Italy,” declared their Spaghetti alla Nerano with zucchini and provolone to be his favorite pasta. The food was sumptuous, the service attentive and the local wine delicious. Lingering on the multicolored pebble beach for a few moments, we made a last stop at the mini market to buy vodka and crackers, indispensable for our evening cocktails. Lemon twists were in abundant supply from the villa’s trees.

We left early the next morning for our trip to Ravello, east of Amalfi and north of Salerno. It’s famous for its hilly location and view of the blue coastline to the west; and east, the grassy highlands of its rival city Scala with its vineyards and olive groves. Ravello is known for its two exquisite botanical gardens, the Villa Cimbrone and the Villa Rufolo. Villa Cimbrone is a long walk uphill, far from the city center; not the option we took. Instead, we headed straight for the Villa Ruffalo, a palace built originally in the 13th century but rescued and renovated in the 19th century by Francis Neville Reid who bought the villa in 1851 and installed the elegant gardens that can be seen today. Its pavilions are terraced such that each looks down onto the next, all with a view of the bay far below. In spring it is a riot of neon-colored flowers and green sculpted hedges. Excavations in recent years have uncovered artifacts and foundations from its 13th-century origins. Towers and courtyard columns attest to the Moorish influence of the times. One can easily see why this garden has enchanted so many over the years, including Richard Wagner and Maurits Cornelis Escher, who may have been inspired by the Torre Maggiore’s staircase.

Although Ravello is also on the list of tourist must-sees, our early start avoided most of the crowds. Much to our dismay, the restaurant we wanted was closed, but the shop owner next door suggested we try Osteria Ravello, a family-run restaurant at the far end of town. With its outdoor terrace and excellent food, we were well cared for, especially when the owner’s mother adopted one of our group showering her and us with extra attention and treats. Returning to the center and the shopkeeper who had made the original recommendation and reservation, we found lots of souvenirs to take home and even some to keep. It was now mid-afternoon; the tour groups had begun to arrive, and it was time to leave.

Our final outing to Positano was for a birthday celebration. The storied Hotel Il San Pietro is at the summit of Positano just before Praiano. It has sweeping views of the entire bay, but most importantly it has valet parking. Tiered on the hillside, there are tennis courts, a pool and deck, a spa and garden and a small private beach far below, all accessed by an elevator built into the rock. Of course, one always has the option of walking, but a glance at the stairway was one more reason to hope the elevator was operational. Cocktails were first in order at the beautiful bougainvillea-filled terrace bar where Bellinis with fresh peach almost matched the stunning views. The San Pietro’s Michelin-starred main restaurant, Zass, is open only at night so we held our celebration in the beach-adjacent Carlino, an al fresco lunch spot where they have a farm-to-table concept drawn from their garden. The pasta was as fresh as the fish, and the atmosphere was festive. Sated, we were back on the road to the villa to pack up and snack on leftovers from previous evenings.

The Amalfi Coast, land of sun and endless lemon trees—it is not surprising that each local restaurant offers its own artisanal Limoncello, and we sampled any and all put in front of us. The sharpness of the colors, the salt in the air, the hairpin turns that seem to cantilever over thin air will be memories we always keep. And to all who follow, take a boat along the coast to get the full flavor of life on those shores. So don those linens and, for a brief moment, you too can be a jet-setter. 

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While the Aman brand didn’t originate  in Indonesia, it certainly established its foundation there, with much of its hospitality heritage stemming from the Southeast Asian country’s architectural vernacular, as well as the rich Eastern philosophies of wellness. The Aman brand debuted with the opening of Amanpuri in Phuket, Thailand, in 1988, followed by the opening of Amandari in Indonesia’s Balinese cultural capital of Ubud in 1989. In the years since, Aman opened Amankila and Amanusa in 1992, Amanwana in 1993, Amanjiwo in 1997, and launched a sailing yacht, Amandira, through the area in 2015.

“Indonesia is the heritage and background of the Aman brand,” says Jann Hess, the General Manager of Amankila and Regional Director of Aman Indonesia. “The strongest DNA of the brand comes from the people here, and the ethos of how the brand always aims to blend in with local culture stems from here too.”

While these Aman properties are all well-established, the region’s increasing popularity over the years has made it prime for new development, as well as for people to rediscover the foundation and heart of the Aman brand, with the U.S. bringing more visitors to Aman’s properties than any other region. “Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands and more than 700 spoken languages, as well as breathtaking landscapes and culture,” says Hess. “It’s also 3,600 miles wide from east to west, so it takes some time to fully explore.” Here, the experienced hotelier, who has spent the last decade with Aman Resorts, guides us through what makes each property particularly unique—as well as what’s ahead for these legacy properties.

Amandari— An Enchanted Forest Haven

“In the beginning days of the Aman brand, the idea was that the resorts would feel like homes where you are welcoming friends,” says Hess. Nestled in Bali’s uplands, about 15 miles from the sea, Amandari is surrounded by Bali’s most verdant landscapes, filled with Hindu temples and shrines, rainforests, and numerous craftspeople and artisans. Here, spacious suites offer a variety of residential-inspired configurations, complete with private pools that reflect the tonal greens of their surroundings, as well as open-air rooms for seamless integration with the outdoors to let in views of the Ayung River Gorge and River Valley, rice paddies or landscaped gardens. Materials like teak, marble, as well as thatched roofs and coconut define the building palette.

“At Amandari, you can see how from the beginning, the Aman brand always developed in a way that blended in with what was already around it. It sets the standard for all the resorts to follow,” says Hess. Today, guests at the property can visit the neighboring village filled with galleries and artists; be led by an Aman guide through local markets; explore the nearby iconic temples; go on a cycle journey through rice fields; trek alongside a picturesque lake; experience Balinese spiritual counseling; or simply bask in the environment and absorb the stunning nature.

Amankila—A New Home for Aman Lovers

Historically, Bali was divided into nine kingdoms, each ruled by a different royal family. Set in the ancient kingdom of Karangasem, on the eastern side of Bali, Amankila is set among some of the island’s most culturally significant sites and compelling landscapes. “It’s hard to find a place more unique than this,” says Hess. “Bali is quite large [about 2,230 square miles], but there’s so much you can do here without going too far.” Hess points to Balinese cultural experiences like visiting one of the water palaces, Tirta Gangga, hiking along the stunning gray-sand coastline, as well as snorkeling and diving.

First built in 1992 by architect Ed Tuttle, who is responsible for other Aman resorts like Amangani and Amanzoe, the property has long inspired guests with its cliffside home featuring sweeping views of the Lombok Strait, as well as its intimate accommodations with canopied beds, soaking tubs and private terraces. Now, Amankila is creating just nine exclusive residences, designed by Singapore-based Studio NvS. The expansive properties range from 29,000 to 61,000 square feet, boasting outdoor terraces, private pools and an elevated hillside position to take in sweeping ocean views.

“Each villa is being designed to host multigenerational families and/or groups of friends,” describes Hess. “They’re created on a large scale, each comprised of elegant pavilions and seamlessly blending with the rest of the resort.”

Residences will range from three to five bedrooms, with homeowners having the option to add additional pavilions for spaces like an office, media room or meditation lounge. Owners will have full and preferred access to all hotel amenities and services, in addition to the Aman Private Office, which provides global services across the entire Aman portfolio.

Aman Villas at Nusa Dua—An All—Villa Resort for a Truly Exclusive Stay

Golden beaches, oceanside temples and frangipani-scented hillsides set the background at Aman Villas Nusa Dua, where each private, two-story villa comes with a team of two butlers and a private chef. The all-villa resort feels more like its own private residential enclave, where its seven homes, ranging from 45,552 square feet to 58,727 square feet, occupy a total of 153 private acres. Since opening in 1992, the property has been catering to guests seeking customized experiences in a unique setting. Its position on Bali’s southernmost peninsula provides proximity to the Bali National Golf Club as well as some of the island nation’s most stunning white-sand beaches. Complementing the stunning setting, the architecture of the villas comes from Kerry Hill Architects, who have designed Aman resorts across the world, including the forthcoming property in Beverly Hills. “Kerry Hill’s work, especially in these early Aman properties, really set the tone for the brand, and you can see how decades later, not only is it still relevant, but it’s also still inspiring,” says Hess.

Amanjiwo—Where History Meets a Contemporary Sense of Serenity

Overlooking the world’s largest Buddhist sanctuary, in the bucolic bliss of central Java, Amanjiwo draws guests with its tranquil setting and natural attractions. “The resort overlooks the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Borobudur, which is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple,” says Hess. “There’s a feeling of serenity when you’re here, so much so that ‘Amanjiwo’ actually translates to ‘Peaceful Soul.’” Here, the resort’s 33 rooms form a semi-circle around the central spaces, with views looking out to the cascading rice paddies, Kedu Plain, and four volcanoes. The inland setting, just 35 miles from the coast, is deeply immersed in the island’s rich culture, with guests frequently coming to experience Aman-led private visits to Borobudur, trekking into the nearby mountains, or simply resting in the tranquil landscape and lounging by the pool.

The architecture of the property deeply reflects its storied surroundings, with legendary architect Ed Tuttle designing accommodations with local stone, gracious pavilions and walled gardens. “Ed Tuttle was also the architect of the first Aman, Amanpuri in Phuket, and helped establish the brand’s design vocabulary, looking to merge modern comforts with historic and Indigenous attributes,” says Hess.

Although the options for accommodations range as large as the Dalem Jiwo Suite with two bedrooms, each in their own pavilion, a Javanese-stone swimming pool, two outdoor lounging bales and nearly 13,000 square feet of private space, those seeking to make their refuge even more personal have the option of purchasing one of the forthcoming private residences at Amanjiwo. “We’re currently in the process of creating four villas, each in the language of the current property and Ed Tuttle’s direction,” says Hess. “We’ll never create more than four, though, because it’s important that the property stays small and doesn’t impose on the protected UNESCO site.”

Construction of the villas is already underway, with options for three or four bedrooms, and designs by Sydney-based Manasara architects, who have created various residences and projects throughout Indonesia. The residences will be placed above the hotel for elevated views, and each will feature pavilions for bedrooms, living and dining, as well as expansive terraces and gardens, complete with an 18-meter private pool. Lots range from approximately 30,200 square feet to 37,700 square feet, but should owners ever feel the need to leave their environs, they have full access to all of the amenities at the Aman resort.

Amanwana—Tented Luxury on the Remote Moyo Island

There are tented camps, and then there are the tented camps that Aman creates. Those familiar with Amangiri’s Camp Sarika experience will recognize the full-nature immersion that Aman creates with its camp-style retreats. At Amanwana, instead of being surrounded by a boundless desert oasis, guests have the unique experience of waking up on Moyo Island. Measuring 135 square miles and accessible only by boat or helicopter, the island is part of the Moyo-Satonda National Park and offers calm turquoise waters, lush savannahs and rich forests. Here, just 17 tents rest in a tranquil bay on the western coast of the island. Each of the permanent tents measures 625 square feet and features plush beds, picture windows, wooden decks, full bathrooms with showers, and views of either the ocean or the jungle. “It’s unique that Aman can offer these five resorts in one country for guests to experience,” says Hess. “Each one is designed in complete harmony with its setting to offer something different to each guest. Of course, they can be experienced individually, but when a guest books stays across multiple properties, we can really create a personalized itinerary so that each retreat offers meaningful culture, memorable experiences, and the Aman-level of luxury.”

While the untouched setting of Amanwana is perfect for swimming with whale sharks in the Saleh Bay, scuba diving and snorkeling in the nearby untouched reefs, trekking through the jungle to explore hidden waterfalls, or experiencing a massage at the open-air spa set among tamarind trees, the emphasis here is always on the feeling of being a million miles away in a place still almost completely undiscovered by mainstream travelers.

Amandira and Aman By Train— Journeys Off the Beaten Path

Launched in 2015, the luxury sailing yacht Amandira is the most recent addition to the Aman Resorts portfolio in Indonesia. “This custom-built, two-masted sailing yacht is modeled after a traditional Indonesian Phinisi sailing and diving vessel,” says Hess. “It’s a fantastic complement to our properties on land because it gives our guests such a unique way to see Indonesia and its many islands from a different standpoint.”

Itineraries for Amandira include journeys to the Spice Islands, where powder-white-sand beaches merge with volcanic mountains and uninhabited shorelines, as well as the Komodo Cruise Expedition, where guests track and photograph the elusive Komodo dragon in its UNESCO-protected home of the Komodo National Park. Both journeys are offered only a few times a year due to weather, but each includes an incomparable stay aboard the 52-meter Amandira, where just five cabins ensure an intimate experience, and a crew of 14 ensures top-tier service.

“For another unique Aman experience, we have the Aman train journey,” says Hess. “It’s something we came up with during the pandemic that’s become a really special and popular experience.” Just twice a month, Aman guests arriving to Amanjiwo via Jakarta can board the luxury carriage, which seats 10 guests, for a 6.5-hour scenic ride. “We have a resident anthropologist on board who talks about Indonesian culture and sites you see along the way, which is a wonderful way to ease into and learn about the country,” says Hess. “It’s also a great reminder that some of the best ways to explore and absorb Indonesia are by sitting back and slowing down.” 

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From its inception, Aman has always pursued the creation of dynamic resorts and residences in incomparable settings. Never compromising on location or architectural integrity, the brand portfolio now includes 35 hotels, resorts and residences across 20 countries, reaching storied destinations such as Bhutan and Marrakech and global metropolises including New York and Tokyo. 

As the first Aman to be located on the West Coast, Aman Beverly Hills will combine the cherished brand’s ability to craft captivating retreats in an unparalleled setting. The project, designed by Kerry Hill Architects (KHA) from Singapore, will be the crown jewel of One Beverly Hills, a multibillion-dollar, 17.5-acre oasis set at the most iconic intersection in Los Angeles, where Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards meet. Aman will join the preexisting Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hilton to create a unified development that will include 10 acres of public and private botanical gardens featuring more than 200 species of California native and water-wise plants and trees. Aman Beverly Hills will raise the bar of luxury in the area, offering a 78-key Aman hotel, two residential towers and a members-only Aman Club, all set on a private parcel with botanical gardens and secluded pathways reserved exclusively for the owners of Aman residences.

What is Aman?

Aman, the Sanskrit word for “peace,” has spent the last three decades cementing itself as a global leader in luxury hospitality. The first Aman Resort was created in Phuket in 1988 to replicate the feeling of being in a private home, with just a handful of rooms. Although the brand has since evolved, its main ethos of making guests always feel at home has long been the common thread running through the brand’s history. 

“Our studio was founded in Singapore 45 years ago, and we’ve spent the last 35 of them working with Aman,” says Tanuj Goenka, Director of KHA. “Our brands started their journeys together, and we’ve been proud to complete 13 Amans around the world. Over that time, Aman has always valued an environment that sets the properties apart, but the brand is not static—it has had a tremendous ability to move with the times, but without ever losing its soul.” 

The now Switzerland-based hospitality brand has always been synonymous with thoughtful design, peerless service and refined taste—qualities it will be bringing to Los Angeles, where it will introduce the city to a new level of luxury. At the recent World’s 50 Best Hotels awards, Aman was recognized as the first-ever winner of the “Most Admired Hotel Group Award,” where it was called out as a “pioneering purveyor of ultra-luxe, wellness-forward stays.” Indeed, Aman Tokyo, which was also designed by KHA, landed as the #7 hotel in the world, while Aman New York landed spot #37, wowing guests with its spacious suites, stunning three-story spa and peaceful atmosphere, all while being located in one of the busiest cities in the world. The New York property was the third U.S. project for the brand, following the landmark 2007 opening of Amangani in Jackson Hole, where the 40-key resort overlooks the Grand Tetons, and the spectacular 2009 debut of Amangiri in Utah, set among red-rock canyons and 900 acres of the Colorado Plateau. Also in North America, the brand features properties in the Dominican Republic (Amanera) and Turks and Caicos (Amanyara), where guests are just a stone’s throw from the U.S. but feel transported to a world away by the captivating environments Aman so thoughtfully designs. 

A Setting Like No Other 

Beverly Hills may consist of just 5.71 square miles, but the tiny enclave has reached world-renowned status as one of the most elite and sought-after luxury destinations in the world. In the early 1800s, the city began as an agricultural community. By 1912, it was welcoming its first hotel, The Beverly Hills Hotel; by the 1920s, historic mansions as Pickfair (the home of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford) were being constructed; by the 1960s, Fred Hayman and Aldo Gucci were turning Rodeo Drive into a glamorous luxury retail destination with the openings of Giorgio Beverly Hills and Gucci; by the 1990s, the city’s zip code was immortalized by the series “Beverly Hills 90210”; and in 2027, the city will become even more elevated with the launch of Aman Beverly Hills. 

“I’ve been to California many times and was already familiar with Beverly Hills before we came onto this project,” says Goenka. “[Another world-renowned architectural firm] Foster and Partners had already put plans in with the city and gained approval for a project that included a botanical garden that would drape around the master plan. The idea of living in a garden in the middle of a busy city, which is predominantly a car city, meant that the Aman resident would have the opportunity to live in a truly special space.” Goenka adds that as he and his colleagues visited private homes around the city, they always noted the generosity of the landscape and the vistas. “We observed how private homes in L.A. take in the natural landscapes, the views, the surrounding nature, the sky … it was important that we brought that all into this vertical project,” says the architect. 

Now, the residences will occupy the two towers at Aman Beverly Hills, allowing for ample space to be dedicated to outdoor gardens that will make each unit feel like a private retreat that embraces the outdoors instead of hiding from them behind walls of glass and steel. But Aman Beverly Hills is not only a lush oasis for residents—its accompanying hotel will offer a new level of vertical luxury the city has never seen before. As the first new luxury hotel in the region in nearly a decade, it will raise the bar by offering guests a new way to experience Beverly Hills, complete with unparalleled design, top-tier service and exclusive amenities. 

Incomparable Design

Deep overhangs, lush, verdant gardens on every level, an abundance of natural wood—there is nothing typical about Aman’s plan to bring vertical living to the heart of Beverly Hills. “This is not your ubiquitous glass-and-steel high-rise,” says Goenka. “We considered how the building would be viewed and lived in from every angle and at different times of the day.” To that end, the glazing of each floor is set back from the edges of the building, with space for plantings, private pools, and undersides of timber that allow both residents and passersby to feel as if they’re immersed in lush landscaping. 

“We’ve created five Amans in Bhutan, which is one of the only carbon-negative countries in the world, and we created the Aman in Kyoto, which rests within a forest, near several UNESCO World Heritage Sites,” says Goenka. “We took the same propensity towards nature with this project, immersing the residents in a beautiful garden setting not on just the ground plane, but on every level.” Natural materials like limestone and natural woods will be used throughout, with the line between interiors and exteriors intentionally being blurred. “We only take on projects where we can be responsible for both the architecture and the interiors. We never want someone in one of our environments to distinguish where the architecture starts and stops. Instead, the indoors and outdoors should flow seamlessly,” he continues. 

KHA is collaborating with Los Angeles–based RIOS for the landscape architecture, whose work can be seen at some of the city’s most prestigious private residences, as well as at larger corporate projects for clients like NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures and Larry Ellison. “We didn’t want the landscape to be secondary; we wanted it to be substantial,” says Goenka. “Trees and plants are set within and all around the buildings—not just in an isolated planter box—so it breaks the illusion that you’re even in a building and instead feels like you’re living within nature. There are also multiple swimming pools and water features, so you truly feel like you’re in an oasis.” Adding to the residential feel of the project, a series of walking paths throughout the property will allow both hotel guests and residents to feel like they’re in their own refined neighborhood, immersed in fresh air. 

Units at Aman Beverly Hills start with two-bedroom homes of 3,100 square feet and extend to five-bedroom units that command 10,500 square feet. Penthouses will offer 25,000 square feet of private space, as well as bird’s-eye views across the city, taking in the ocean, the glittering city below and the verdant Los Angeles Country Club located just west of the site. Every residence of three bedrooms and up has a private pool, and even the smaller two-bedroom units have outdoor onsens.  

“Almost 30 years ago, Aman was one of the first hotel brands to allocate as much space to their bathrooms as their bedrooms,” says Goenka. “We’ve been a pioneer in celebrating the bathing experience as a ritual, and the bathing and dressing areas we’ve created in the homes here are equal to if not larger than the sleeping areas.” In the primary bedrooms, wet areas in the bathrooms extend to the outdoor terrace and pool. The sleeping, bathing and dressing areas have the option of being opened as one free-flowing space or partitioned off at times, so as not to disturb a sleeping partner. 

Each primary suite will contain a double vanity, a WC, a shower with steam option and a freestanding tub oriented to the views. “Typically, bathrooms are designed with lower ceilings than in the bedrooms, but we worked hard to make sure it was the same,” says Goenka. “Once everything is open and slid away, it will feel like one continuous open plan.” 

KHA’s design draws inspiration from American mid-century culture, yet as an international hotel with bespoke solutions, the project incorporates the finest products from around the globe to create a contemporary, exclusive and state-of-the-art destination. 

Life at Aman Beverly Hills

Much like one of the nearby exclusive estates, the approach to Aman Beverly Hills is considered the moment a resident crosses the property. Entry for the residents comes from either Santa Monica or Wilshire Boulevard along a private, secured drive. From there, residents can park in the thoughtfully designed subterranean garage or leave their car with the valet. As residents walk into the lobby, they’re met with a concierge team and staff to help assist with bags and groceries. 

The ground floor includes common areas for residents to greet visitors or hold meetings. From there, three elevator banks host private lifts that take residents directly into their homes. 

While the units at Aman Beverly Hills are truly a special opportunity, the Aman Club is another unique offering. As the social hub of the project, the space will include an entertainment zone, a screening room and jazz club, multiple food and beverage outlets, as well as wellness and fitness facilities. The members-only club is open to all residents of the Aman Beverly Hills, as well as other Aman aficionados who have applied for membership, creating a collective of like-minded individuals. 

Indeed, a sense of community is important to Aman Beverly Hills, with the project feeling like its own master-planned neighborhood. “What we’ve seen in our other residential projects like Amanpuri in Thailand, is that the homeowners at Aman properties are quite compatible and enjoy getting to know each other,” says Goenka. “Especially around certain times of the year or around holidays, they’ll all be there and celebrate together.” With the Aman Club and generous outdoor spaces acting as central gathering spaces, residents are meant to meet, interact and build bonds over the prestigious community that they’re all now a part of.  

“When you look at our other projects, there’s always a clear reference to the property reflecting its location. For instance, in Tokyo, in terms of materials and aesthetics, there’s a clear reference to it being in Japan, but it’s not inherently or too literally Japanese,” says Goenka. “Instead, we prefer subtle references to where the project is. We’re influenced and inspired by the local vernacular, but we aren’t copying it. We’re always looking to distill design to its most essential elements, allowing it to sit lightly within the setting.” 

Upon its completion in 2027, Aman Beverly Hills won’t just wow guests and residents with its striking architecture; it will envelop its guests and homeowners with a sense of calm, peace, and an appreciation for the setting and environment never offered in Southern California. 

The post A Piece of History appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Like most of the coast, Naples, the most densely populated city in Italy, is built into the hills. It is the center of the city, starting with coffee and a pastry at the historic Cafe Gambrinus that pulls you magnetically toward the harbor, passing the historic Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest continuously active opera house in Italy. Older than La Scala, it was constructed in the 18th century when Neapolitan opera ruled the world. The path, along the Via Vittorio Emanuele II (he was the first king of an independent Italy, so he’s enthroned in every city and town) continues toward the Castel Nuovo, a beautifully preserved medieval castle and art gallery, leading to the port. One of the largest in Italy, it is from here that you can take a ferry to Sicily, Sardinia, Capri, Sorrento and Amalfi. It is also a dock for the mega cruise ships, the floating Las Vegas hotels, like the Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas (5,448 guests).

On our way past these monuments, our fabulous guide, Fiorella, led us through small alleys, pointed out the colorful hilly Spanish Quarter and the 19th century Galleria Umberto, boasting an enormous domed glass ceiling that looks as though it was built yesterday but is only a few years younger than the Galleria in Milan. Explaining the working class history of Naples, she led us down the Via Santa Lucia, a veritable study in the socioeconomics of the city because one side of the street is decidedly upper class with its expensive restaurants and luxury apartments and the other side is straight out of Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend” with crumbling tenements, laundry flying from all the windows (although to be fair, you will find drying laundry throughout the city), and dangerous alleyways. But more than anything, Naples is the gateway to Mount Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii. And the first stop, in order to understand that ancient site must be the National Archeology Museum.

Housing most of the original treasure found during the excavation of Pompeii, an ongoing process, the frescoes, statuary, glass works and especially the mosaics give you a first glimpse at the wonders that were part of Pompeii. The artifacts found in the museum, including the haunting mold of a prostate woman agonizingly reaching for escape from the ash and heat, were removed from Pompeii for restoration and better preservation. The recreation of the Villa of the Papyri gives an overview of patrician life in what was the playground of rich Romans seeking shelter from the politics of the big city. Philosopher and naturalist Pliny the Elder, admiral of the Navy, was stationed on a ship outside the area. He directed his ship to approach the shore so he could rescue a friend. Instead Pliny the Elder died on the beach, found by others in the following days. His nephew, Pliny the Younger, living close enough to Pompeii to observe but far enough to remain safe, wrote about the early stages of the eruption and its aftermath. His are the best remaining records of what happened. Two of his original letters to Tacitus, the Roman historian, are housed here. But nothing quite replaces the wave of awe that overtakes you as you enter the gates to Pompeii itself.

Pompeii, a mere 30-45 minutes outside Naples, was built over a Greek settlement and many of those artistic and architectural influences remained. In the shadow of Vesuvius, its previous eruptions were ancient history to Pompeiians of the day. Despite the earthquakes that plagued the area, it was Pompeii’s location on the sea south of Naples that made it particularly appealing to wealthy Romans who built enormous villas, farmed the rich land and set up an extensive commercial district. When entering the main gate, it is important to remember that everything you will see was buried, at least partially, in ash and lava by Vesuvius in 79 AD. Many of the treasures were pillaged by thieves and survivors shortly after the eruption, but it was not until 1592 that the first walls were uncovered. True scientific excavations didn’t begin until almost 200 years later.

Passing by a Necropolis with its cedar trees and stone markers, one comes upon the amphitheater, built to hold 20,000 with a series of special entrances designated for the upper class, the working class, women and slaves. Here, gladiatorial contests were held; cages for humans were separated from those of their animal adversaries. The acoustics are good enough that concerts, including one by Elton John, have been held there in recent years.

The grounds of Pompeii are enormous and it is impossible to cover everything, so a good guide is imperative. A highlight for us was the avenue of shops. There were restaurant counters with holes for soup tureens, the equivalent of Pompeian fast food. A bakery with its ovens was recently discovered. Along a different corridor there is a laundry with massive tubs where clothing and household goods were bleached and beaten by servants and slaves. Utilizing natural hot springs, there were spas and baths for all levels of society. Like Amsterdam, Pompeii had its red light district where brothels were designated by on-the-nose signage. Sculptures and pictures engraved on the stone roads and stucco buildings were of male appendages used as direction pointers and door knockers.

Behind such earthly businesses were the homes of the well-to-do with their lawns and Greek statuary. The truly wealthy and powerful had their mansions even farther beyond the commercial district; mansions with myriad rooms, baths, fountains, vast lawns and the remains of frescoes on the walls and mosaics on the floor. Continuing our path from the shops and lesser mansions, we arrived at the Grand and Piccolo Theaters, built like Greek theatrons with steep rakes, grass floors and perfect acoustics. And all this was building up to the finale—the Civic Forum, the heart of daily life with its public buildings of administration and justice, markets delineated by the troughs dug into the road to drain water and waste, fountains and massive columns leading to the Temple of Jupiter with its statues on the hill overlooking the surrounding valley, a magnificent sight that is the culmination of any visit to Pompeii. A two-and-a-half-hour walk in the open air is sufficient for a taste that was ancient Rome before a volcano leveled an unprepared populace.

There is still so much of Pompeii to be discovered and you can learn more by watching the excellent new documentary series on PBS called “Pompeii: the New Dig.” You will get an up close and personal view of the extraordinary newly found and still colorful frescoes, including one that depicts what may have been an early ancestor to the revered Neapolitan pizza! 

Naples should definitely be on your bucket list, not just for its ancient history and unique architecture, but also from a culinary point of view. You’ve never tasted pizza until you’ve been to one of the much-lauded restaurants. L’antica Pizzeria da Michele, with its hours’ long lines, is Michelin starred! 

“See Naples and die” says the old Italian proverb. Instead, I’d prefer to just go again. 

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If your first visit to The Maybourne Riviera is on a radiantly sunny day—and this being the Côte d’Azur, it’s likely—prime yourself for a moment beneath the Louise Bourgeois steps through the glass-walled Riviera Restaurant to one of the clifftop hotel’s many terraces.

The extended wraparound terrace reveals the most incredible panorama. Below lies the grandeur of Monaco, its customary streak of superyachts gliding in and out of Port Hercules; to the left, beyond the terracotta rooftops of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the last few kilometers of France give way to the promise of Italy. Time your arrival right and a dazzling spectacle faces you: a cavalcade of swooping, looping hang-gliders. The hotel’s airy aerie provides a thrilling foothold from which to observe their antics.

Hypnotizing as that spectacle is, aesthetes will find their attention drawn indoors. Years in the making, The Maybourne Riviera, with exterior design by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, provides a canvas for a generation of creatives: the interiors by André Fu, Bryan O’Sullivan Studio, Pierre Yovanovitch and Rigby & Rigby are bright and joyful. The Riviera Restaurant’s squishy chairs are a chipper cobalt-blue; sun loungers circling the infinity pool are vibrant bursts of tangerine. And museum-worthy artworks are strewn throughout, as if on show at a collector’s home. Any sense that grand hotels in the South of France need to be traditional is dispelled: it feels fun, not fusty or formal.

That playfulness is also on show at top-floor restaurant Ceto, recently awarded its first Michelin star, where cute centerpieces of delicately crafted glass sea creatures attract admiring glances. But the focus soon shifts to the Mediterranean delicacies of chef Mauro Colagreco, who led Mirazur, in nearby Menton, to the top of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Locals were proud of that accolade, though it is hardly surprising that a restaurant in this bountiful idyll between mountains and sea would rank so highly; this is a place where everyday activities are infused with reminders of nature’s supremacy. 

Amble the walkways by The Maybourne’s Riviera’s restored gardens and you might catch a drift of fragrance from flourishing citrus orchards and herb beds. Within Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, a 2,000-year-old olive tree still bears fruit. And even in on-the-go, moneyed Monaco, at the venerable food market La Condamine, residents linger over aperitifs, their designer bags stuffed with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Of course, much of that fresh produce makes its way back to the hotel. Already a Maybourne mainstay through his relationship with The Connaught, Jean-Georges Vongerichten makes his South of France debut here. His eponymous restaurant will offer superlative sashimi and other delicacies with its sushi bar overseen by the renowned Japanese chef Hiro Sato. Benoit Dutreige’s creations are typically more calorific, and undoubtedly worth it: the pastry chef’s afternoon tea is pretty as a picture and comes complete with zesty Menton lemon tart and crumbly passionfruit and mango macarons.

A mid-afternoon nap pairs beautifully with a languid lunch and the hotel’s rooms and suites have been designed as sanctuaries in which to linger. Each one has a terrace offering its own knockout view; interiors are crisp and tranquil; mammoth marble bathtubs are irresistible. The hotel’s common areas are captivating too, with surprising, arresting artworks everywhere to admire. A number of mid-20th-century pieces by Le Corbusier are secreted here, alongside a dynamic sculptural work by Conrad Shawcross that is embedded in the corner of Riviera Restaurant, and a 2017 addition to Annie Morris’ poignant “Stack” series.

Of course, cultural pursuits also abound beyond the hotel’s grounds. Monaco’s creative cachet was bolstered by the 2021 opening of its own Hauser & Wirth gallery: the introductory Louise Bourgeois exhibition was announced to the public with one of the artist’s mammoth arachnids on a nearby lawn. Hauser & Wirth’s modern art is intended to push boundaries, but these surroundings have always compelled and inspired artists and creatives. Nearly a century ago, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, pioneering architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray built villa E-1027: a striking bone-white modernist house that recently reopened to visitors after a five-year renovation. Gray’s prescient appreciation of space and proportion means the home could almost have been constructed today, and its clean, crisp form has influenced present-day designers the world over. A notable neighboring property, also open to visitors by prior arrangement, is considerably more rustic. Cabanon de Le Corbusier is a wooden cabin by the aforementioned Swiss-French architect, whose murals add a colorful jolt to plain interiors.

The duo’s enduring legacy provides a poetic reminder that many of the pleasures they enjoyed remain readily available now. From their homes, it’s a short drive to the perfume capital of Grasse, where pastel-pink roses that bloom each May are integral to Chanel N°5. Visit in July and you should see purple pastures ablaze with lavender. Near Cannes, monks have resided on Île Saint-Honorat since the fifth century and their industriousness is admirable: among many duties, they tend the island’s eight-hectare vineyard, whose wines are available for sale.

Whichever crest of the Riviera calls your name, there’s always the irresistible lure of the sea. With endless sunshine draping shimmering diamonds on its surface, the Mediterranean is the star of the show, from the seaside cafés of Nice to the boisterous bars of Antibes. In Monaco, locals gravitate to the newly renovated Larvotto Beach, while The Maybourne Riviera guests can convene at the hotel’s Riviera Playa beach club, footsteps from the sea. That exclusive enclave also serves seafood by Colagreco, so it’s somewhere you could discreetly and effortlessly while away a day. But my favorite spot is back uphill, at The Maybourne Riviera, by the spa, on a lounger or in the infinity pool, gazing on an expanse of sea and air that is a deep, endless blue. And as dusk falls, the panorama becomes more spectacular still. The heavens turn mesmerizing shades of peach and plum and scarlet, as the sun sinks again into the mighty Mediterranean. 

To experience The Maybourne Riviera visit,  maybourneriviera.com. @themaybourneriviera 

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The institutions that define England—not just the governmental, but also the cultural—tend to be marked by their tendency to divide, to split opinion, to push apart. Pubs are different; pubs pull together. Our pubs are where high and low mix, where friendships likely and unlikely are forged, where love stories are both sparked and snuffed. They are there whatever the weather, or mood. In Belgravia, they hold particular value. Long one of London’s most fashionable districts, from time to time it is still taken as somewhere for little more than top-end shopping and cars that look like sharks and sound like bears. But, beneath this gilt veneer, there is still a community to be found. There are actors and politicians, those big in finance, those big in media. Rumors swirl of the last remaining old-world aristos. There are the art collectors, the antiques specialists. In truth, the area draws all sorts, from curious travelers and students to those who simply fancy wandering London’s prettiest streets. And all of these, at one time or another, end up in a pub. There is confluence. These are Belgravia’s best.  

THE WILTON ARMS

The Wilton was never a bad pub per se, but, by the time it closed in time for Christmas 2019, some 193 years after its 1826 opening, the old girl needed a rest. Now that she is revived, refreshed, redone—she is a looker. Part wood paneling and an ornate carved bar, part a subtle shimmering gold wall and mid-century leather seats, the Wilton is both old and new. What you might call timeless chic. It draws a lazy Sunday crowd with their dogs, for the excellent roast beef, and a lively after-work Friday crowd who laugh a lot, drink a lot and flit between a straightforward but decent draught beer list (Meantime, Guinness, Grolsch, but try the Allsopp’s pale ale) and cocktails (the Negroni and Espresso Martini impress).

71 Kinnerton Street

thewiltonarmssw1.com

THE GRENADIER

Some pubs are superstars; some feel like secrets. And some, like The Grenadier, defy logic by being both. Perhaps SW1’s most celebrated pub, it sits tucked away down a winding alley, a prize for the curious. Over three centuries old, it is resplendent in white and navy, the red sentry box nodding to its early days as an officers’ mess for bear-skinned Grenadiers, the regiment who have served 15 monarchs, including our present. It serves a finely-turned-out menu of upscale pub food on its little terraces and in the compact bar. They’re proudest of the beef Wellington, probably because the duke the dish is named after used to eat here. But you’re more likely to find the well-heeled sharing bottles of rosé or drinking pints of the pub’s own bitter. These might include Brad Pitt or Lady Gaga, but, as with a recent trip, they could just be smiling visitors pinning cash to the ceiling—it’s a tradition to pay the debt of Cedric, the guard killed here for cheating at cards. “We get all sorts in here,” the girl behind the bar says, with one of those looks. Including, it turns out, a ghost.

18 Wilton Row

grenadierbelgravia.com

THE ALFRED TENNYSON

Sometimes pubs are not pubs at all, but landing decks, places to meet, second homes. The stylish Alfred Tennyson has some of this, sitting as it does on the cobbled corner of Kinnerton and Motcomb streets; it has, in recent times, become a landmark of sorts. One might meet at the Tennyson. But people linger too, drawn to its impeccable menu—try the monkfish, paddling in a pool of mussels, or the lamb rump, bundled up with fat and good things in a croquette. Linger is the right word. “I suppose we’d say the Tennyson is our grown-up pub,” says affable co-owner Sam Pearman, who also runs The Thomas Cubitt nearby and others further afield. “You might come for a long, boozy lunch and stay for brandies.” He laughs. You get the sense he may have done it a few times; you might, too.

10 Motcomb Street

cubitthouse.co.uk

THE STAR TAVERN

This is not a boozer—boozers are not a Belgravian speciality—but it is, gloriously, a proper old-fashioned pub, the kind where afternoons are gently lost as pristine pints are passed over the wraparound bar to a bohemian local set sat on stools. It is, then, heaven. Its Victorian frontage is gloss black and brass and strewn with flowers, a dark blazer with a carnation through the pinhole. As per most Fuller’s pubs, the beer is kept very well—their London Pride is particularly fresh, and there is a “now pouring” board listing the specialties and curiosities filling the pumps—while their selection of ales has won them Camra awards. The Star is a beacon of sorts; The Star is aptly named.

6 Belgrave Mews West

star-tavern-belgravia.co.uk

PAXTONS HEAD

Many of the pubs on these streets are tucked-away places that feel like cottages which strayed into town. Paxtons Head offers something substantially different and is particularly well suited to bigger groups and the breadth of age and interests that such groups customarily envelop. A hall of old oak and cut-glass, the enormous central bar serves an egalitarian range of drinks—easy-going lagers (Camden Hells, Estrella), pumped pints of bitter, both cheap and expensive wine, lots of spirits—while the menu is unfussy but unfussily priced, too (fish and chips are decent). Downstairs is a pool table and screens for sport; upstairs is a pretty dining room. There is, then, both room and a welcome for everyone. It is a commendable thing.

153 Knightsbridge

greeneking-pubs.co.uk

THE ORANGE

Though it’s named after an old brewery that sat on this site (itself named after a coffee house that came before it), The Orange seems a suitably playful moniker for this place, which is a little sister of sorts to The Alfred Tennyson. “We tend to think this is our more Mediterranean one,” says co-owner Sam Pearman. Like the Tennyson, it is beautifully turned out—it is rustic but not really, has painted posters of oranges and lemons, and a blackboard with the day’s specials—and offers an excellent pizza menu alongside the likes of grilled red prawns simmering in their shells, hake tart with preserved lemon and a wine list where it’s hard to go wrong. Little wonder the crowds here, often couples and young families, are all so cheery. 

37-39 Pimlico Road

cubitthouse.co.uk 

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It was 11 p.m. on a Friday last November. We’d driven from the Crypto.com Arena, having watched the Lakers succumb to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The ride was helped by it being undertaken in a super-smart, matte-black Aston Martin Lagonda, but it had been a long, old schlep all the same.

What we needed was fortification, possibly in the form of a cocktail or two. Luckily for my restaurateur friend Oliver Peyton and myself, we had arrived back at our hotel, The Maybourne Beverly Hills, and so the night was looking up. The hotel was bought by Maybourne in 2020 and since then, has been utterly and rather wonderfully transformed.

You could tell this immediately from The Maybourne Bar, elegantly designed by André Fu, because it was packed. Not in an annoying, why-is-there-nowhere-to-sit kind of way, but in an appealing, who-are-all-these-lovely-people kind of way. 

The hotel bar is well and truly back. In fact, it’s backer than Burt Bacharach and his backing band wearing backpacks. The last time the grand hotel bar was in such demand was in the late 1980s. The cognoscenti of London, New York and L.A. ran out of patience with cocktail bars, ran out of patience with nightclubs and restaurants, and wanted somewhere cooler to convene.

And so, they started going to smart hotel bars, on the Upper East Side of New York, in London’s Mayfair and in Beverly Hills. And now it’s happening again: these bars are setting a new standard. The best have always offered a safe haven from the world outside, and over the years have become a sophisticated womb in which to sip Champagne or cocktails with impunity.

But drinking culture has morphed into something far more egalitarian. It’s no longer a novelty to be able to find a perfectly mixed Ramos Gin Fizz. That means hotel bars have had to up their game, finding yet another gear. London is leading the way, as any traveler can tell if they visit the Blue Bar at The Berkeley, The Fumoir at Claridge’s or the Connaught Bar, the latter recently named the World’s Best Bar for a second year running.

Particularly interesting are The Painter’s Room, a beautiful Art Deco creation (there is a lot of pale pink onyx) on the ground floor of Claridge’s, and the Red Room at The Connaught, both designed by Bryan O’Sullivan. The latter is a secret hideaway, accessible only through a velvet-curtained doorway from the hotel’s Champagne Room.

Both bars are arresting, in part because both have art in their DNA. In The Painter’s Room is an impressive mural and a stained-glass window by Annie Morris. In Red Room are works by more visionary women: Louise Bourgeois, Tia-Thuy Nguyen, Trina McKillen and Jenny Holzer.

In The Painter’s Room you’ll be treated to a new generation of groundbreaking cocktails, or you can stick to a selection of well-executed classics. Red Room, in contrast, focuses on rare vintages and first growths, available by the glass, and a capsule collection of six cocktails.

As the world continues to grow and change, there is a joy in the few things that stay the same. Much as we may crave change, exploring new kinds of living, some things never alter. One of them is the desire to drink cocktails in extraordinary places.  

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One of the greatest bars in New York City opened its first West Coast outpost in the summer of 2023. Zachary Weiss recounts the history of Dante’s, an institution whose finest iteration now sits atop the rooftop of The Maybourne Beverly Hills.

There’s a beautiful din to be heard upon stepping into either of Dante’s bustling New York City outposts: convivial conversations peppered with laughs; the stacking of finished plates that once played host to delectable bites such as arancini al ragù; and, of course, the unmistakable shaking of a cocktail, before it’s poured into a frosty glass. It was a similar ambience, in 2015, that served as a siren call to Linden Pride and Nathalie Hudson, who took a chance on acquiring what was then a charming, albeit slightly run-down, café in Greenwich Village. 

New Yorkers by way of Australia, the husband-and-wife duo were shown the space, a jewel box on MacDougal Street, under one condition: Caffe Dante, which opened in 1915, had to remain as such. “There were rumors the space would be converted into another cupcake shop. The owner, Mario, just couldn’t let that happen,” Pride tells me on a sunny afternoon as we sit outside Dante enjoying an orange juice. “He was holding out for the right person to continue the legacy of the restaurant. As we were sitting there getting acquainted with him over espresso and sambuca, it dawned on us that we were ready to do this. Australia has an incredible Italian presence, so we were well-acquainted with casual, all-day service, but we knew we eventually wanted to add a bar.”

In the beginning, Dante’s clientele remained firmly in two camps: the octogenarians who favored the tried-and-true coffee service and the younger set who sought out the venue for its budding menu of Italian-inspired bites and cocktails; a secret for those living within a few blocks. “Nathalie would work days and I’d do nights. When she had our daughter, Noa Grace, we’d literally hand the baby to each other as we crossed paths,” Pride remembers with a laugh. 

Among the regulars was “Elvis” director Baz Luhrmann, a fellow Australian who quickly became their best customer. “We were making about $300 a day for about a year,” Hudson recalls. “We were fortunate Baz was living across the road at the time. He came in one day and said, ‘I heard these Aussies had opened this place.’ He wanted a coffee then changed his mind to a Negroni. We worked out an arrangement where Linden would take Negronis across the street to Baz’s house for his guests. Then he was nice enough to start taking his meetings outside the shop, so he’d be in the café with notable friends. This led to a moment on Thanksgiving when Baz and Catherine [Martin, Luhrmann’s wife] hosted a dinner party for 30, including Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It really was surreal.”

 These days, Dante’s reputation precedes itself. The crowd is often equal parts local loyalists—some of whom order their “usual” with a simple glance toward the bartender—sitting with first-timers aware of the accolades the café has amassed over the past decade, as coffee has taken a back seat to bustling weekend brunches and artfully crafted cocktails. These awards hit new heights in 2019 when Dante was crowned the World’s Best Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s fiercely competitive ceremony, hosted in New Orleans, and later garnered the number one spot in the World’s 50 Best Bars list. 

 In 2020, they opened another outpost on Hudson Street, which served as an impromptu hub to send out pre-batched cocktail kits during the pandemic then became a center of gravity in the West Village hospitality circus. It was here that the love story of Maybourne and Dante began in 2022, when Dante West Village hosted the launch of “Claridge’s: The Cocktail Book.” “The conversation started simply about throwing a party and grew to a week-long residency of events in the West Village, so it was this immersive experience where we really got to know each other and connect,” says Pride. “The logical next step was to work on a pop-up together in London or the South of France, but then the opportunity to provide something long-term at The Maybourne Beverly Hills came up. Every step along the way from that first meeting, which began with trying to work out how to do an event together to working out how to build a business together, has had that same fluidity and serendipitous connection.”

 It’s all come to fruition on the rooftop at The Maybourne Beverly Hills, where signature libations such as the Negroni Bianco and Seville Spritz live alongside dishes designed with an eye toward fresh, seasonal ingredients. Dante Beverly Hills has come to life through wood-fired pizzas served poolside as well as roasted Santa Barbara black cod, organic chicken and rainbow trout, all from nearby suppliers. “The produce is so fresh and flavorful. We certainly want to take advantage of that,” says Hudson. “It’s like bringing the Amalfi way of life to California.” 

To book an evening at Dante Beverly Hills, visit dantebeverlyhills.com. 

@themaybournebh 

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With its bare brick walls, smart, buttery-soft leather banquettes and gleaming open kitchen, Muse is very much a modern Mayfair brasserie. Staff are clad in pristine white T-shirts; a professional barista bar serves serious coffee and the lighting is elegantly expensive. There’s even a giant 200-year-old olive tree smack bang in the center of the room.

Then, of course, there’s the food. Being an all-day operation, freshly made croissants, French toast, shakshuka, acai bowls and Full English turn gently, as the day goes on, into vibrant salads, homemade pasta, wood-oven-baked pizzas, grilled fish and Thai king prawns. For pudding, the sort of patisserie that tastes as beautiful as it looks. But Muse is no ordinary restaurant, rather the extraordinary Claridge’s staff canteen, situated two floors below the lobby.

“This really is the toughest crowd,” says Head Chef Jorge Baumhauer da Silva with a smile. “They come here three times a day. All of them food critics. And they’ll let me know if they don’t like it!” He runs a brigade of 15 chefs, who start cooking breakfast at 5:30 a.m., then carry on throughout the day and night, feeding around 600 employees. His kitchen very much fits in with the Claridge’s ethos of promoting from within. “It’s all very exciting, as the general manager wants chefs to train down here and eventually go upstairs to the main hotel restaurants. We have kitchen porters becoming commis chefs, and see this as very much a training ground, an incubator for talent.”

And it’s not just the chefs they share with the main hotel, but ingredients too. The Muse kitchen uses the same meat and fish suppliers as the Claridge’s restaurants, as well as the patisserie. There’s a grab-and-go section for those in a hurry, with fresh sandwiches and juices, as well as the aforementioned barista, using a state-of-the-art Faema coffee machine that produces expressos, lattes and flat whites by the dozen.

It’s about as far removed from the classic restaurant staff lunch as you can possibly imagine. Rather than a bowl of dreary mush, quickly knocked up from kitchen scraps by some harried sous chef and wolfed down in seconds on their feet, the Claridge’s family sit in relaxed comfort. Some of the tables are filled with big groups, chatting away merrily, while others have solo diners, replying to emails or just taking a quiet break. It’s a place to decompress and relax, a welcome respite from the hard work upstairs. Equally important, there’s no charge for any of the food or drink.

The room has a palpable buzz, the sort of well-fed bonhomie that characterizes a decent restaurant. Claridge’s Culinary Director Simon Attridge looks around the room with pride. “Staff food is so very important. If they’re happy, they go out and deliver,” he says as I tuck into impeccable fish and chips. “The food has to be perfect to get the magic upstairs. For me, it’s the most important restaurant in the hotel.” In short, Muse is the beating heart of Claridge’s, as happy workers mean happy guests. “Staff are gold,” he goes on. “If you don’t care about them, then someone else will. I’m so proud of how people can progress in this kitchen. You really get a feel for future stars.”

Muse is the most democratic of places too. You’ll find Paul Jackson, the general manager, eating alongside his staff. “It was very important to me that people could eat here as many times as they wanted,” he says, “and I didn’t want any restrictions.” Jackson was one of the driving forces behind Muse and is palpably proud. “We just had to make sure the restaurant was amazing.”

Just after noon and things are getting busy. Pizzas fly off the counters, along with French onion soup, vegan calzone, lemon chicken escalopes, cauliflower cheese pasta, kimchi, antipasti and oozingly lactic burrata. Oh, and not forgetting raspberry pavlova and chocolate eclairs. Michael Lynch has been at the hotel for 45 years, working his way up to head butler. He’s charming and loquacious, but not a man to mince his words. “Muse is fantastic,” he says, between bites. “They love us here at Claridge’s.” He pats his tummy and laughs. “I’m a good advertisement for the food.”

The light is cleverly designed to mimic sunshine pouring through the windows, and the room has a bright, airy feel. “Having fresh fish every day is incredible,” he says, tucking in. “It’s very different from the old canteen.” And, because the cooking is of such a high standard and the choice so vast, staff don’t feel the need to go out for their lunch. Glenn Piper, Foyer and Reading Room Restaurant Director, says Muse has made all the difference. “A few years ago, people would go out over the road. Now, all my team eat here.”

It’s not just the daytime staff who are looked after but the equally essential people who take care of the guests, and hotel, during the night. There’s fresh food available through the wee hours, and full roasts on Sundays too. As ever, everything goes back to the team who make Claridge’s one of the greatest and best-loved hotels on Earth. “To be successful, you need good people,” says Attridge, gazing out over Muse. “Jorge does an amazing job, and I don’t have to worry about it. But as long as the staff are happy, then I am happy.” Wise words. Because Muse is not so much a staff canteen as a proper restaurant in true Claridge’s style. And, ironically, probably the only place in town where even those legendary concierges will be unable to bag you a table. @claridgeshotel  

The post Muse Reviews appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

From the moment that William and Marianne Claridge opened their home to guests in 1812, the hotel has woven itself into the colorful tapestry of Mayfair life. In the ensuing two centuries, it has survived wars and pandemics. And it has welcomed world leaders, Hollywood royalty, actual royalty and, very occasionally, me—drawn moth-like to this enduring flame of glamour.

The syncopated rattle of cocktail shakers, the chiming of clinking Champagne flutes and the susurrus of conversation remain the sweetest background music. The hotel’s feeling of friendly grandeur remains intact. The checkered marble floor of the lobby gives every arrival a sense of occasion and, no matter how long the absence, the concierge team greets guests with appropriate words of welcome and a smile. Claridge’s is a living entity and, like the most exotic of living entities, it renews itself over time. Now an elegant evolution is afoot.

Over the course of seven years, Claridge’s has undertaken one of the most audacious building works ever seen in Mayfair. Digging down five floors and going up two floors, the works have actually doubled the hotel’s footprint, without moving any walls. This has perfectly positioned the venerable grande dame of Mayfair to offer the finest guest experiences and hospitality for the next 200 years of her life.

For those concerned that the hotel they know and love will be changed beyond all recognition, rest easy. The Claridge’s that we know today has very little in common with the Claridge’s that I first encountered 40 years ago, and next to nothing in common with the modest hotel that first opened in the 19th century. Even within my years, the hotel has moved with the times. I am old enough to recall the days when what is now Claridge’s Bar was the Causerie, where Battenberg cake was served for tea to the sound of a string quartet in the lobby, and when Gordon Ramsay dished out rum baba and foie gras in the restaurant.

One of the things that makes this hotel so special is how it embraces modern life yet maintains the traditional fixtures that make it unique. This is a hotel that has a working lift installed in 1896, yet also has Claridge’s ArtSpace, a gallery that occasionally accepts cryptocurrency. Old favorites, such as the chicken pie, are still served in The Foyer & Reading Room, but there’s also L’Epicerie: a private dining space akin to a gastronomic ringside seat or royal box, from which to observe the theatre of a world-class kitchen. 

This is an institution that feels equally at home hosting the Queen’s reception for the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 as it does a 2020 music video for The Rolling Stones, which features racy dance moves from actor Paul Mescal. 

On a recent visit to one of the new rooms, my corner suite had been refurbished by Pierre-Yves Rochon yet was in complete harmony with its historic counterparts. This happy meeting of past and present is evident in the way that an 18th-century chinoiserie cabinet, repurposed from another part of the hotel, can sit alongside contemporary modern art and a Bluetooth speaker, in case you’re seized by the urge to “do a Mescal” and dance through the suite. It is high praise to call a hotel a home from home, and this is a suite into which I would happily move from home. It has everything from a terrace overlooking Mayfair’s rooftops to a bathroom stocked with Anatomē unguents, stored like artists’ supplies in screwtop metal tubes.

That painterly packaging is a timely reminder of the role that Claridge’s continues to play in the artistic life of the capital. Claridge’s understands perfectly the transformative power of art. During the renovation, it was thought that the central staircase needed something to reward the eye. With Damascene immediacy, Damien Hirst was called. “Does Damien Hirst even do stained-glass windows?” I hear you ask. “No,” said the artist. “But I do now.” 

The result is the first foray into this centuries-old medium by Britain’s most emblematic artist of the past half-century. Realized by Hirst using the skill of Reyntiens Glass Studio, the effect is staggeringly beautiful, with light filtering through insect wings of every hue. “I love Claridge’s and I love light and I love butterflies,” Hirst tells me. “I wanted to create an optimistic kaleidoscope of hope and light and butterflies, and I think the result speaks for itself. I love how it’s turned out.”

Impressive as the installation is, it’s far from the only artistic intervention in the building, the renovation has been carried out with an aesthete’s eye for beauty. The result is jewels such as The Painter’s Room. For generations, it languished as a cloakroom and a banqueting preparation area, but during the 1930s it was a bar—and now, thanks to London artist Annie Morris, it is again. Morris’s whimsical murals transform a space no bigger than a railway carriage into a venue that is a contemporary London riposte to New York’s Bemelmans Bar. If you prefer a bottle of fine wine rather than a cocktail, you can now head underground to the cellar: a temperature-controlled, 21st-century temple to Bacchus, designed to showcase an extraordinary collection of more than 1,000 wines and Champagnes. Director of Wine Lupo Thoenis has composed an epic that takes the oenophile from 19th-century Madeira to the rarest of unicorn wines from the world’s great vineyards.

Claridge’s now extends more than 120 feet below ground. There were many challenges in excavating 35,000 tons of material while remaining fully operational—not least that the only building plans that could be found existed in a one-page article from The Builder in 1931. To avoid disrupting or damaging the lobby, all the materials going onto site had to first pass through an opening no bigger than 6.5 feet by 6.5 feet, then down alongside 61 steel columns that hold up the Art Deco section of the building, before being installed beneath the 90-year-old concrete foundations. Fifteen specialist miners from Donegal used hand-held pneumatic spades to clear the ground while upstairs afternoon tea continued to be served as if nothing unusual was occurring. 

The great renovation has also gone up as well as down, rising nine floors above London W1, making it one of Mayfair’s tallest buildings. At its summit is The Garden Pavilion, The Penthouse at Claridge’s, which, with its own private entrance from which guests are whisked skywards, is an experience unlike anything in London. How many Mayfair hotel rooms have their own rooftop pool, garden, gym and that sine qua non of civilized living, a glass-walled music pavilion complete with bespoke concert-hall Steinway—all set against a captivating vista that embraces London’s famous landmarks?

But arguably the most important underground offering is a restaurant that you are unlikely ever to visit. Muse is the “staff restaurant,” though this phrase scarcely does justice to a venue that would be packed with guests were it not restricted to those who work at the hotel. With exposed brick walls, dark oak refectory furniture and marble-topped tables around an ancient olive tree, an espresso bar and even library alcoves, it is truly extraordinary. 

Little wonder, then, that when I spoke to Head Concierge David Young, he spoke of his pride at working here, ‘‘Each generation discovers Claridge’s for itself. I’m really excited by all of the new developments, because it keeps that spark alive for the next generation of guests. You’ll see them breezing through the famous revolving doors and talking to their own children about how things have changed since they were young. It’s a constantly evolving story—one we are all so proud to be a small part of.”

Explore Claridge’s rooms and suites further at claridges.co.uk. 

@claridgeshotel  

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Have you noticed how fewer people are now wearing logos? The drop has been attributed to the hit TV series “Succession” as well as those following in the footsteps of its cashmere-clad, one-percenter cast by dressing head to toe in Brunello Cucinelli. But the idea goes back further, to the concept of “stealth wealth” that arrived in tandem with the onslaught of “bling,” enshrined in Old Money’s ability to achieve a level of preemptive privacy by avoiding the outward signs of success.

Now this movement—dubbed “quiet luxury” and prevalent in the staterooms of superyachts and private air terminals across the planet—has entered the hospitality industry with the unveiling of The Emory, a ground-breaking all-suite hotel opposite Hyde Park and the latest addition to Maybourne Hotel Group’s portfolio of London hotels. Rising sail-like in Knightsbridge, the only UK hotel to be designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour (whose Co-Founder Sir Richard Rogers passed in 2021) began life nearly a decade ago, during which time its edifice lay mysteriously clad behind a protective facade.

Those lucky enough to join its General Manager, Knut Wylde, on a private tour of the property will have discovered a new concept in hospitality that moves the dial sharply in a city not short of showy openings. With 60 suites arrayed across nine floors, topped off by a penthouse with 360-degree views and a residents-only rooftop bar, The Emory delivers the same feeling of intimacy and calm one associates with truly residential settings. The name comes from Middle English, first documented around 1068: it means “home strength” or “industrious leader.”

“We set out to create a modern London masterpiece with magnetic appeal,” recalled Wylde, as we surveyed Hyde Park and the hinterland of Belgravia that lies below it. “At one stage, we were looking to create a private member’s hotel. And even though we’re not doing that anymore, we have retained quite a few of those elements. The desire wasn’t to create something ostentatious or over the top, but something with more of a residential feel. Understated luxury, quiet hospitality.”

Reflecting this drive for human-scale sophistication, each guest floor is the work of a world-renowned design practice, including Champalimaud Design, André Fu, Rémi Tessier, Pierre-Yves Rochon, Patricia Urquiola and Rigby & Rigby, whose wraparound, floor-to-ceiling glass penthouse truly justifies the term sensational. “Richard Rogers was a visionary architect who approached architecture with an inside-outside perspective,” explains Rigby & Rigby’s  CEO, Iain Johnson. “When we saw the building, we were inspired by the huge amount of natural light that comes in and the beautiful views out across the city. Our concept therefore was inspired to be light, both in terms of colors and textures, but also creating a space that felt more minimal and did not feel crowded or cluttered.”

According to André Fu, achieving The Emory’s spirit of considered living relies on its sense of amity. “It’s no longer about a sense of formality, or the use of exuberant materials,” he says. “What’s essential is you feel that the space is intimate; that there’s a greater sense of you feeling easeful and relaxed. I’ve talked extensively about this spirit of relaxed luxury and The Emory is a very good amplification of that.”

For The Emory’s larger suites, Fu has set forth a welcoming palette of dusky salmon pinks and pistachio, combined with intricate marquetry, underlining the cohesive spirit of classically inspired, contemporary urban style that runs throughout the property.

Elsewhere, Champalimaud Design’s Principal Interior Designer, Elisabeth Rogoff, has drawn on Richard Rogers’ ability to “instill his vision of the future into the architecture” to demonstrate how elevated design ideals can coexist with streamlined ideas, emulated in sleek and highly functional guest rooms “designed to feel like an intimate yacht cabin, a haven away from the hustle and bustle of the capital.” Champalimaud Design’s overall vision? “Ease of living presented in a beautiful way.”

Bottling the sort of lightning that attracts the modern nomad—a breed of traveler in need of relaxation with the promise of a carefully curated cultural experience—is no mean feat. Thankfully, Maybourne specializes in the challenge. Wylde believes a little breathing space is a luxury in itself. “It’s all about discretion,” he says, referencing the protective veil provided by The Emory’s off-street entrance on Belgravia’s historic Old Barrack Yard.

Discretion also informs the public/private realms of the hotel. Only those dining at abc kitchen, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s acclaimed New York casual dining concept on The Emory’s ground floor, will likely notice the comings and goings of what will soon be recognized as London’s most culturally erudite clientele.

Rémi Tessier is responsible for the design of both abc kitchen on the ground floor and the residents-only rooftop bar and cigar lounge. The ground-floor space features artwork by Damien Hirst, an expansive vertical glass wine cellar, and the hotel’s bar made of solid green onyx, natural cedar and other rare materials. As for the rooftop bar and cigar lounge, two distinct glass boxes ensure extraordinary views over London and a rarified, members’ style atmosphere.

For Tessier every detail was meticulously constructed: all the furniture, lamps and fabrics are bespoke and designed by himself. “The execution has been realized by the best craftsmanship of the highest level of quality. Particular attention to the lighting design has taken place. The two rooftop spaces are irrigated by natural light to bring together a sense of peacefulness and timelessness.

“The space has to nurture the souls of the guests, to bring them happiness and joy,” explains Tessier, underscoring the idea that The Emory’s service will be anticipatory, intuitive and seamless.

And if Wylde is confident that The Emory represents something hitherto unseen in the capital, he’s even more excited about Vongerichten’s arrival into the new property. “One of the key things about having Jean-Georges back at this location is that he originally opened his first restaurant in London restaurant, Vong, here on Knightsbridge in 1995. So it’s great that Jean-Georges is coming back—it’s like a homecoming.”

For more information, visit the-emory.co.uk.

@theemorylondon

Building The Emory

RÉMI TESSIER

Best known for his work with superyachts, Dreamliner jets and extraordinary private residences, Paris-based Tessier is also responsible for The Penthouse at Claridge’s and Cédric Grolet at The Berkeley.

ANDRÉ FU

Award-winning Hong Kong-based designer Fu has worked on galleries, hotels and restaurants. He recently created Claridge’s spa and The Berkeley’s new suites.

PATRICIA URQUIOLA

Spanish design titan Urquiola has collaborated with Louis Vuitton and Missoni. This is her first project for Maybourne.

PIERRE-YVES ROCHON

A French luxury specialist who has brought a chic sensibility to over 200 hotels, spas and restaurants around the globe. He recently created The Mayfair suite and The Octagon at Claridge’s.

RIGBY & RIGBY

World-leading luxury interior specialists, this London-based design collective recently created the AlphaTauri showroom in Knightsbridge. It is also responsible for suites at Claridge’s and The Maybourne Riviera.

RICHARD ROGERS

Senior Partner at RSHP with Ivan Harbour and Graham Stirk, Rogers was one of the world’s foremost architects before his death in 2021. During his remarkable career he was also responsible for the entrance canopy of The Berkeley.

CHAMPALIMAUD DESIGN

Founded by luminary Alexandra Champalimaud, this New York design agency is best known for Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland and The Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Champalimaud Design also created a Mayfair Suite at Claridge’s.

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Embarking in Lyon

From my lovely Mount Pipet hillside perch in southeastern France, I gazed across Vienne’s medieval and Baroque cityscape to the Rhone River beyond—savoring a truly “frameable moment.” Nestled 20 miles south of Lyon, Vienne was once a former Celtic tribe capital and one of Roman Gaul’s most important towns between 121 B.C. and 275 A.D. As I began my destination immersion during an AmaWaterways “Colors of Provence” luxury river cruise late last year, I was mesmerized by Vienne’s cityscape. 

I spotted the Saint Maurice Cathedral, a Gothic and Romanesque jewel built mostly between the 12th to 16th centuries, plus other ancient, medieval, Baroque and urban structures. In the distance, the meandering Rhone was crowned with cascading vineyards. Glancing downward, I then laid eyes on Vienne’s spectacular Roman-era theater. Back in its day, the venue  welcomed 13,000 or so spectators. Abandoned for centuries, it was restored in the 20th century, and today hosts  performances. 

My fellow passengers and I embarked the 152-passenger AmaKristina, a modern, luxurious river vessel, in Lyon. We had several days to explore France’s third largest city and gastronomic capital as well as nearby Beaujolais wine country. Then as the ship sailed southward along the Rhone River, we went ashore for port calls not only at Vienne, but also Tournon/Viviers, Avignon and Arles, where our  itinerary ended. 

With the AmaKristina as a home base, passengers could take advantage of excursions from Lyon that included a search for “Black Diamond” truffles and a visit to the famous les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, an incredible indoor food market that is a feast for the senses. 

I chose the Beaujolais wine tasting tour, which took us motoring through lovely rural countryside to Domaine de Fond-Vielle, a small, family-run wine estate in Oingt village. After a brief vineyard tour, we headed into the winery to taste charcuterie, fresh bread, a 2022 Beaujolais Blanc, a 2022 Pink Tower Beaujolais, and a Beaujolais Vielles Vignes 2021, among other vintages. Yes, it was copious wine early in the day, but as curious explorers, we persevered! 

For active guests, AmaWaterways also typically organizes a guided Lyon bike tour. It’s a plus that AmaKristina carries its own fleet of bicycles—used both for bike tours and for guests’ independent exploration. 

The AmaKristina headed next to Vienne and the above-mentioned views from Mount Pipet. Guests could also opt for a walking tour with a stop at the impressive Augustus and Livia Temple, built between 20-10 B.C. in honor of Caesar Augustus and his wife Livia.

Tournon, Viviers, Avignon

Our cruise also journeyed to Tournon, a gorgeous, grandiose village with an imposing castle, monuments, terraced vineyards and incredible panoramas. The river line’s tours include a steam train ride, a red wine and chocolate tasting experience or a hike and wine tasting in Tain-l’Hermitage across the river. 

For a unique experience after sundown, a special “ghost tour” is arranged for guests. Guided by an expert dressed in Renaissance-era attire, it stars the town’s “residents of yesteryear,” also dressed in period clothing, who reenact significant events and legends.  

Next up, AmaKristina called at
Avignon, center stage for Western Christianity in the 14th and 15th centuries. Today, it oozes historic charm as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s also well-known for its 12th century Saint Benezet Bridge, sporting just four of 22 original arches, and the subject of the famous “On the Bridge of Avignon” children’s song. 

Art and architecture enthusiasts will love Avignon as it’s home to superb art museums and the impressive Palace of the Popes, one of Europe’s largest medieval Gothic structures. In addition to walking and biking excursions, the line offers a tour to Pont du Gard, built in the first century B.C. to supply Nimes with water. As the world’s highest Roman aqueduct bridge, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is also the only three-tiered Roman structure of its kind still standing. Additional choices include a Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine tasting experience or a Grignan truffle farm visit. 

Famed for its ancient, two-tiered Roman amphitheater, Arles, our final “Colors of Provence” destination, also beckons with strong artistic connections.

Both Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso once called this city home. In fact, peering down into Arles’ river inspired van Gogh to paint “The Starry Night.” Contemporary art fans will be interested in Luma Arles, an art complex, park and The Tower, designed by Los Angeles’ own Frank Gehry. 

In Arles, AmaWaterways’ guests can choose a van Gogh walking tour, bike tour or city walking tour, or a tour to Les Baux de Provence, a picturesque hilltop village. We loved browsing that village’s shops, cafes and art galleries, set amid castle ruins. 

Sailing Along the Rhone River 

While the ship was sailing from destination to destination, we had plenty of time to enjoy the comforts of the AmaKristina. The large Main Lounge is the central hub of the ship, an inviting place to socialize filled with comfortable couches, a piano, dance floor, full bar and expanses of windows for natural light and riverbank views. 

The Sun Deck offers a small, heated pool with a swim-up bar, plus plenty of loungers and tables. It is the best spot on board for unobstructed, panoramic views. Fitness buffs can head for an interior exercise room or exterior walking track. Plus, guests can book an onboard spa or salon appointment. 

Food and Drink 

As a member of the exclusive Chaine des Rotisseurs, AmaWaterways offers gourmet dining inspired by the destinations visited. In addition to the ship’s Main Restaurant, a light Bistro lunch, quick breakfast and afternoon tapas are served in the Lounge. 

The line offers a complimentary Sip & Sail cocktail hour in the Main Lounge and Bar just before dinner (with free soft drinks, wine, beer and cocktails). Guests also receive complimentary soft drinks, wine and beer with lunch and dinner service, plus complimentary sparkling wine and mimosas at breakfast. 

The Chef’s Table

As soon as possible after boarding, guests should make a reservation for The Chef’s Table. That seven-course tasting menu experience serves just 28, and  books up quickly. Available on a complimentary basis once per sailing, it unfolds in a lovely aft restaurant that features an open-view gallery and a curved wall of windows for soaking in river views. 

Highlights of our Chef’s Table experience included cured Atlantic salmon with avocado mousse, a delicious coconut lemon grass soup and slow-roasted Argentinian beef ribs with truffle jus and potato parsnip puree. 

Upscale Accommodations

As for accommodations, AmaKristina offers 155-to-235-square-foot staterooms and 350-square-foot suites. I opted for a signature double balcony stateroom, with both a full exterior private balcony and separate French balcony. 

Our stateroom furnishings included a desk area with several drawers, mini-fridge, complimentary water (refilled daily) and a large flat-screen TV
with complimentary English-language entertainment-on-demand. High-speed Wi-Fi is also complimentary.  

We slept soundly on a comfortable, sumptuous queen-sized bed (convertible to two twins) with a soft duvet, high-thread-count Egyptian sheets and down pillows. 

Amenities in the expansive (for a cruise ship) marble bathroom include a large shower with multi-jet showerhead, and upscale bath and beauty products.

 Multiple 2024-2025 Sailings

AmaWaterways’ “Colors of Provence” departs from spring through the end of the year. A bonus in  late November and December are the winter markets along this wondrous stretch of the Rhone. Pre- and post-cruise extensions are available in Paris, Barcelona and more. 

www.amawaterways.com 

Top Five Reasons to Choose a River Cruise Vacation

1. Heart of the Destination
   Ocean cruises sail around countries and stop at coastal ports. But,  river cruises sail directly through a country. Passengers simply walk off the ship into the heart of Paris, Budapest or other beloved European cities. 
2. Intimate, Upscale, Not Crowded
   A river cruise vessel typically serves from 90 to 250 guests. You’ll sail with like-minded passengers who are more interested in history and culture than in partying aboard a massive ship.  
3. Convenient Travel
   When travelers book a European land tour, they’ll pack and unpack repeatedly.  They’ll also spend time on airplanes, trains, motorcoaches or private cars. In contrast, a river cruise ship is a floating hotel. After a day of exploring a destination, guests simply stroll back aboard, relax and enjoy scenic river views from their private balcony, while the ship sails away.
4. Lovely Spaces, Upscale Digs
   Today’s luxury river cruise vessels feature sleek, modern design with lovely public spaces for relaxation, dining, enrichment and fitness. In addition to guest lecturers,  demonstrations and wine tastings, evenings are filled with entertainment that ranges from pianists to singers and even local folk troupes.
5. Inclusive Luxury 
   Luxury river cruises are more of an “all-inclusive” product than many ocean cruises. Therefore, guests typically won’t have to pay separately for soft drinks, teas and coffees, alcoholic beverages, Wi-Fi, gourmet dining, specialty culinary experiences, wine tastings, gratuities, port fees, taxes and some shore excursions. (Varies by line) 

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“You Look Simply Outrageous in That Car!”

That proclamation, from the driver of one of the ubiquitous open-air tour buses on Santa Monica Boulevard, greeted me as he pulled up alongside. “Well, who wouldn’t?” I responded. Forget Ozempic and a trip to the salon. Competition for attention is tough in Beverly Hills, where the people, shops and—yes cars—are known for their glamour. But if you want to stand out above the rest, try driving one of these… a McLaren GT. And it doesn’t hurt to opt for this crazy electric blue number that we were lucky enough to test out for a few days.

We were quite simply impossible to miss, even on a rare cloudy weekend in Southern California.

Aside from its whip-smart super car looks, the McLaren GT is the real deal: a top speed of 203 mph; a carbon fiber chassis; a Launch control button that, when activated from a standing start, might just rearrange your internal organs. Price: $204,990. Yes, pricy. But one drive and you, too will think, “Hmmmm, worth it!”

Of course, none of this automotive prowess should ever be experienced on the streets of well-mannered Beverly Hills. I feel obligated to say that since this beast made me think twice about being a responsible driver. But you wouldn’t want to let all this talent go to waste. That’s why the McLaren GT begs to be slogged on a racetrack.

This brings up another curious point. How many cars come standard with a “track” setting on the center console? This beauty does. The track mode setting disables the dynamic safety features like skid control. All the better to slide around a racetrack’s tight corners and truly experience the GT’s extraordinary acceleration and dreamy taut handling.

But here’s the plot twist. The McLaren GT is shockingly comfortable in both the driver’s and passenger’s seats. It’s also roomy inside. Really. And there’s a frunk (front trunk) and a rear hatch. Plenty of room for a weekend getaway’s worth of luggage. The drive mode dials on the center console allow for your choice of comfort, track and sport. And each one really does behave differently. It’s like a bag of Skittles. You’ll want to try them all.

During a weekend driving around Beverly Hills, we felt at once, incredibly safe and exhilarated. I’m happy to report that none of the city’s famous police officers had to take time away from their rounds to lock me up for misbehaving or impound my pretty blue wheels! But I confess that I was constantly secretly compelled to be naughty, egged on by the siren song of that resonant engine.

Trying out the McLaren on the famously windy hills north of the city was another adventure. Avoiding the myriad cavernous potholes – no easy feat – I made Mulholland my little test track. The McLaren’s go-cart-like honed steering is other-worldly. Just the slightest pull on the wheel is enough to point the car to follow Mulholland’s rapid-fire S curves.

And then there’s the McLaren’s g-force-inducing acceleration, coupled with the brut wonderful engine sound of the car’s V8 engine. Certainly no one needs power at the ready like this. But it sure is fun. I had a wicked little run on the 10 Freeway, which was a bit intimidating. Not because the McLaren GT wanted to gallop. Oh no, it was because the car sits a mere few inches above the tarmac, so low as to almost disappear. While gunning at freeway speeds, surrounded by sky-scraper-tall SUVs and even taller semi-trucks, it was a tad disconcerting to thread the lanes, hoping no one would step on me. I shudder to think how invisible this fun-sized racer would have been in a more muted color.

Back up on Mulholland, where ironically, I felt safer, I don’t think the smile left my lips for the entire stretch between Coldwater Canyon and Beverly Glen. If you saw a turquoise blue blur rush by last week, it was likely me. Sorry!

What a car!  

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During the one-hour debut program, Stone takes us behind the scenes in Hong Kong. He visits with friends, farmers, fishermen and cooks in markets, restaurants and obscure locations, to uncover unique customs, rare ingredients and preparations that make up the fabric of this fascinating culture. Here is a taste of what he uncovered in Hong Kong and what you might find on the menu back home.

BHC: Why was Hong Kong your first choice for the new season of “Field Trip”?

Curtis Stone: Plans were in the works to get to Hong Kong four years ago, and well, we all know what happened. We had not been to Asia in the [first] Field Trip series, though I have traveled to Hong Kong several times and have always loved it. The city is dynamic with such an incredible quilting of history and old traditions, coupled with the new and modern.

What surprised you the most about the country and culture on this trip?

I think that blending of the old and the new was not something I expected to intertwine so seamlessly. Old temples dot a modern metropolis, and you could easily pop into an old noodle shop for an inexpensive lunch and be eating at a Michelin-starred restaurant for dinner.

Did you discover any new and interesting ingredients on the journey?

I had no idea about the reverence given to dried seafood. Michelin-starred chef Vicky Chen of Vea met me on Des Voeux Road and introduced me to ingredients that are far more expensive than the caviar and truffles on Western menus. I had never encountered dried fish maw, which are the bladders of larger fish like sturgeon. So many dried ingredients have medicinal uses. Vicky told me that his mother would visit these shops as she would a pharmacy when he got sick. We picked up some dried sea cucumbers and went back to the restaurant where he showed me the rehydrating process, which can take up to a week and how he uses his background in French culinary techniques to present them on his fine dining menu.

In the small fishing village of Tai O, I encountered a woman in her 80s who was curing the yolks of duck egg. Her name was Po Po. She separates hundreds of the whites and yolks a day and lets them dry in the sun. She gifted me a few.

Are you utilizing any of them back home in your kitchens at Maude or Gwen?

I have grated the dried egg yolks over pasta at home. They have an umami quality to them that just melts into the dish. I am not sure either restaurant is quite ready for the sea cucumber serving, but it was incredible. I would not be able to do it justice the way Vicky did either.

Why is Hong Kong a good travel destination right now?

There are a million things to do in Hong Kong. Beyond first-rate shopping and cultural experiences, of course, I am all about the food. Archan Chan worked for my mate Andrew McConnell in Australia. She is manning the wok at an incredible spot called Ho Lee Fook. It is rare to see women leading a restaurant, but Archan is a trailblazer. The whole crew loved her. Before she invited us over and cooked dinner, we met up with her at her favorite dumpling spot, Saam Hui Yaat, where the dumpling master has been at it for 40 years. She showed such respect for her elder who was filling hundreds of baskets a day with different shaped dumplings. Next, Archan took us to the island of Sai Kung and the boardwalk where we bought her favorite razor clams from vendors with small boats selling their catch. We ate so well during our time there. From that old school dim sum, to celebrating a cameraman’s birthday over hot pot, to our first crew meal of Peking duck to a lunch of Peking goose. I mean, go for the food alone.

Do you have any seasoned tips for navigating and working with jet lag?

I am one of those enviable people who can fall asleep at the drop of a dime. The best jet lag tip I have heard, which seems to work, is to drink a bottle of water every hour you are on a flight. You will not get dehydrated and will have an easier go of making the time adjustment on the ground.

When preparing for a trip, what can you never leave home without?

I do everything in my power not to check luggage. My Rimowa is my trusty carry on. Also, my favorite pro tip is to pack things wrinkled and have clothes laundered and pressed at the hotel.

Where else will you be traveling for the series?

I am looking to show off more of Australia at some point and may do an episode closer to home in Los Angeles. 

Curtis Stone’s Top Five Essential Experiences in Hong Kong

1. Head to a rooftop bar at night to catch the famous light show on Victoria Harbor.
2. Hit up Kung Ho Beancurd Factory in the Sham Shui Po neighborhood. Renee So left her career in finance to help her dad with the family business. The sweet tofu pudding is something I never tasted before and delicious. They have been making the tofu the same way for the past 60 years.
3. Visit Tai O on Lantau Island if time allows. You’ll be rewarded with street vendors, fishing boats, men playing Mahjong on the decks of stilted houses, and a shrimp paste that will enhance your fried rice game.
4. Get out of your comfort zone. I met Sam Lau, a man almost twice my age and a martial arts legend whose most famous student was Bruce Lee. He masters in Wing Chun and quite easily humbled me and kicked me into next year.
5. Walk as much as you can. While there is great public transportation, I enjoy seeing as much of a city on foot as I can. The network of escalators on Hong Kong Island is like nothing I have ever witnessed. 

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The Northwest Passage has an allure that has captivated travelers and explorers for hundreds of years. Captain Cook approached the Passage from the west in 1776, making one wrong turn after another and never quite got past what we now know as the Bering Strait. Recognizing the value of a shorter passage across North America, the British continued to fund expeditions, the most famous of which was in 1845, led by Sir John Franklin, a marginally qualified, under-funded and poorly prepared naval officer. Full speed ahead in two ill-suited ships, he made it farther than most before disappearing. His ships became mired in ice and eventually all crew died of a combination of scurvy, starvation, exposure and, as it turns out, lead poisoning from their canned goods. After his disappearance, rewards offered by the government and the tabloid press attracted a massive search. Although most of the buccaneers who followed in pursuit died, the end result was a more complete map of the Northwest Passage waterways. It wasn’t until many years later, in 1906, that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen triumphed in traversing the passage. Amundsen, with a small ship and a crew of six, often having to winter over when his ship became ice-bound, interacted with the native Inuit, something the Brits refused to do. From them he learned how to survive the winters and how dogs could be used to traverse the ice (a technique he would use successfully in becoming the first to land at the South Pole). Cruising the Northwest Passage in luxury is a very recent phenomenon.

Our trip began in Reykjavik, Iceland, a truly charming and interesting location offering tectonic plates, massive fjords and glaciers, geysers and beautiful waterfalls. From there, we were flown to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland to board our ship, the Seabourn Venture. Kangerlussuaq, a desolate spot on the sea where the remains of the World War Two air force base are still visible, did, however, give us an introduction to the kinds of glaciers we would see throughout the cruise. So much of this very brown landscape was created by the silt deposited by the glaciers pulled by gravity inexorably to the sea.

Our first port stop was in Sisimiut, 24 miles north of the Arctic Circle. That it is the second largest city, 5,600, gives you an idea of the sparse population spread out over 836,300 square miles, 80% of which is ice. We toured the village with its colorful buildings, each color signifying a specific purpose: Blue – fishing; Grey – community government; Yellow – schools; and Red – historic preservation. It rained incessantly and foolishly forgoing our “wet” wear, the protective overpants worn for landings, we returned soaked to the gills. Luckily each stateroom had a “warming” closet equipped with a high powered towel warmer where we could hang our clothes and set our shoes out to dry.

Our next stop, and in retrospect my favorite, was Ilulissat, located on a fjord. It has been populated for 4,000 years, but the story of the Inuit migration from Siberia over millennia is another story entirely.  It is not coincidental that Ilulissat in Greenlandic means iceberg because it is home to the Jakobshavn Glacier that produces 10% of all the Greenlandic icebergs. Learning from our previous mistake, this time we layered up properly, beginning with a pair of woolen socks followed by long underwear, over which I added a pair of ponte pants and another pair of socks. Then came the base layer T under a turtleneck nylon shirt topped with a cotton T; nylon rain pants were pulled on over the bottom layers which would then be pulled over rubber boots. Finally the bright orange winter parka, lined with another jacket, a wool beanie and warm gloves finished the look. 

One enters Ilulissat through the mandible of a whale, much like a bower greeting the many passengers that stop there. The smell of fish permeates the air where halibut and turbot are the big exports. Walking south to the Ice Fjord Center, Dore Mandrup’s gorgeous undulating building nestled into the hillside, we climbed up the roof for our first view of the fjord’s icebergs. A long wooden boardwalk leads most of the way down to the Kangia icefjord through yellow tundra speckled with tiny red flowers. A mud and rock path leads the rest of the way. The sheer expanse of the icebergs, riddled with fissures and literally sculpted into unearthly shapes, is breathtaking. Later that afternoon we returned for a boat tour. Zipping around the icebergs, the captain asked if we’d like to see whales. There’s only one answer to that question and we began to follow the gulls that flew overhead, a sure sign of the presence of whales who are a harbinger of fish. We soon found ourselves in the midst of an area brimming with humpbacks playing, flapping their white flippers, and waving their tails as they pec slapped mere feet from the tiny trawler.

The Karrat Fjord was our final Greenlandic excursion where we sailed between two glacier land masses that are over 150 million years old. Careening around the myriad-shaped icebergs in our zodiac (a 12 passenger rubberized motor boat), occasionally reaching down to touch or bring an iced tidbit aboard, something for which Martha Steward was vilified that very morning.

Crossing Baffin Bay to the Nunavut Territories and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, we left Greenland, arriving in Pond Inlet, an Inuit village with no visible source of income. Although the waters are rich with Arctic char and cod, the fish are not exported globally like they are from other Nunavut villages. There is a modest industry of hunting and fishing tourism for the polar bears and caribou that populate the hills. This is a very isolated and private area where photography of residents is restricted and in some cases forbidden, something that is probably true of all Inuit cultures and villages. Our walk through town revealed a very barren landscape and neighborhoods of manufactured homes. Accompanied everywhere by a local villager, ostensibly to protect us from cars (of which there were very few), all roads led to the community center where a show was staged for us, narrated by a local woman who explained the significance of what we watched. Demonstrations included the “lip pull” (exactly what it implies) contest and the amazing “throat singing.”

On Philpots Island, we toured the icebergs and shore by zodiac as our guide, Peter, gave us a lesson in global warming as he explained that as the ice cap increasingly melts, the water level and temperature rises. That afternoon, climbing on land, we saw several walruses as we explored the tundra and rocky hills that yielded great views of the surrounding islands.

Croker Bay, a fjord on the south coast of Devon Island, was where we had our first polar bear sighting. Sighting may be a slight exaggeration since the bear was a tiny dot. Through the GSS (Gyro-Stabilized System), the ship’s super high powered camera capable of zooming in on distant objects, it looked like a giant white anteater with long legs, nose to the ground searching for food in the barren landscape. Looking forward to the zodiac ride that would follow the bear along his shoreline excursion, we had to keep a considerable distance between the zodiac and the land because these lumbering creatures are surprisingly agile, fast, graceful and capable of swimming swiftly for prey. And that’s what we were in our zodiac—the bottom half of an Eskimo Pie.

Next stop was Beechey Island, famous for its role in the Franklin expedition. It was here that the graves of several seamen from his ill-fated trip were buried, headstones marking the graves. Recent exhumation revealed a great deal about their lives, cut short, as suspected, by the aforementioned scurvy, starvation, lead poisoning and exposure. It’s difficult walking terrain with no growth, just rocks, shiny pebbles and some ancient coral reef riddled with lichen but worth it for the views of its yellow-gray buttes reminiscent of Arizona’s Monument Valley;  sheer cliffs of rock slabs with pebble slides cutting through them. Beechey Island was also the scene of my greatest humiliation as I tried to lift my leg over a pebbled shelf and fell forward in slow motion. Immobile, dressed like Randy in “A Christmas Story,” only my pride was hurt as I needed the help of three people to pull me up.

The first of several days at sea began promisingly enough with a pod of bowhead whales in the distance, recognized by their spouting. But that’s all we got, blows. Truly they were teasing us because they put on a water spray show worthy of the Bellagio Hotel.

Closer to shore, as we passed through the Bellot Strait, there was another polar bear sighting in the distance. They could have been small white rocks, but wishful thinking made them bears. As the temperature dropped, everyone moved indoors from the observation deck, some heading for cocoa and others for the lecture on the doomed Franklin expedition when the announcement went out that musk ox had been sighted on land. We, the now jaded passengers, knew to head to the ship’s cameras in the observation deck. Seen on the GSS , they looked like brown buffalo dripping in fur.

Continuing around the Nunavut Territory on our way through Coningham Bay on Prince of Wales Island, we are delighted to see three polar bears—a mother on land and two cubs frolicking in the water. Clearly mom was looking for some quiet time away from the kids who would be staying by her side for three years. Farther to the left, three more adult bears appeared. The afternoon zodiac ride was very eventful as we got an up close and personal view of more bears, one of which was deader than a doornail, lying on his back, massive paws in the air. Several previous zodiac guides had informed their passengers that the bear was resting after a big meal, especially because there was a beluga whale carcass close by being pecked by gulls. But no, this bear was going to feast no more. Swinging left in the water, we spied another three bears, the smaller of which had recently laid down. He, too, was a goner by the time we got close (a relative term); he was definitely not moving. The others continued up the hill, leaving their friend behind.

After another day at sea and the endless blue of the water, we landed in Cambridge Bay, population 2,000, the largest of the Inuit towns we would visit. It was here that Roald Amundsen’s historic ship, the Maud, ended up. Bought by the Hudson Bay Company in 1925, it sank in the harbor and was left  in the mud for almost 100 years. Recently a small band of Norwegian “tourists’ rescued it and brought it back to Norway for restoration. The smart bet is that it never returns to Canadian shores and will be permanently displayed in Oslo, near the Fram, the historic vessel that Amundsen used in his successful expedition to the South Pole.

The highlight of Cambridge Bay was the recently completed Canadian Arctic Research Center, a scientific center that conducts research on all plant and animal life in the polar regions. It was also here in the bay that the Martin Bergmann, the ship used by the Arctic Research Foundation (ARF), was docked. The ARF recently discovered the long lost “Terror,” one of the two ships in Franklin’s ill-fated attempt to cross the passage. Ironically, the “Terror” was found beneath Terror Bay. Had anyone asked the Inuits in the region, they’d have found the ships long ago. Had Franklin asked their advice, he might have lived.

Continuing along the shore of Victoria Island, we visited Johansen Bay by zodiac. Overcast and cold, we were treated to the sight of two whiskered seals frolicking in the choppy water. The rock strata on shore were magnificent, manifesting many colors. As the weather became more threatening, our zodiac guide Sierra, a California girl with degrees in arctic ocean sea life and archeology, booked it back to the ship. Husband Larry, sitting in the bow, was soaked from head to toe, despite his rain gear. The afternoon was spent on Edinburgh Island where the flora and lichen were exceptionally bright and, like Johansen Bay, the rock strata exhibited many colors. An ambitious group of hikers working their way up the hill spotted a grizzly bear in the distance (actually a brown dot that was eventually revealed by high power photography to be a bear).

A dense fog settled in, preventing us from seeing the famous Smoking Hills, a natural phenomenon caused by sulfuric ponds and smoking rocks. The fog lasted several days, a monotonous gray over choppy waves. Finally, on the morning of September 14, close to the end of the tour, we opened our curtains to find sun and a horizon in view; even better, a sea of small ice, more cubes than floes, appeared, making it more scenic for those hardy souls to take the polar plunge scheduled for later in the day. Hardy, in this case, is a euphemism for anyone crazy enough to jump into 31 degree water primed only with a shot of vodka and an awaiting sauna several decks up. It would turn out that it was even too cold to watch from our balcony. My idea of adventure is binoculars in one hand and a tumbler of Grey Goose in the other.

This day was magical for reasons other than watching people jump into ice cold water. We were soon treated to the sight of families of walruses lined up on the ice floes, visible to the naked eye but better seen through binoculars. Their large brown bodies looked like fat blobs on the ice; groups huddled together keeping warm 100 miles from shore. Due to the shallow depth (47 meters), it was a prime feeding area. The ship was able to maneuver silently toward them to give us a better look. A polar bear eventually popped into view, necessitating a move and delay of the polar plunge. Later that evening, a pod of gray whales was spotted off the bow. Although it was 10:15 pm, they could still be seen spouting and occasionally tail slapping.

The next day we spotted a couple of humpback whales. Avoiding the observation decks, we went up to the Bridge where we were the only civilians with a bird’s eye view of the whales, receiving a personal running commentary by one of the in-house photographers. It was really special and informative and believe me, a whole lot warmer. That evening we left the drapes open, hoping for the Northern Lights, nirvana to Arctic travelers. Roused from a sound sleep at 1:00 am, the hoped for announcement came that the Northern Lights could be spotted. Groggily rising from bed and throwing on a robe and slippers, we ventured out on our veranda where above, a green haze filled the sky.

These three weeks were a slow motion riot of all things promised — whales, walruses, seals, polar bears, magnificent land formations, historical sites and peoples, cultural education and Northern Lights. We saw climate change close up in its most undeniable form. The experience of passing where so many tried and failed is extraordinary. So is the realization that what we experienced is not only irreplaceable, but also disappearing fast. You become part of history.

Neely Swanson spent most of her professional career in the television industry, almost all of it working for David E. Kelley. In her last full-time position as Executive Vice President of Development, she reviewed writer submissions and targeted content for adaptation. As she has often said, she did book reports for a living. For several years she was a freelance writer for “Written By,” the magazine of the WGA West, and was adjunct faculty at USC in the writing division of the School of Cinematic Arts. Neely has been writing film and television reviews for the “Easy Reader” for more than 10 years. Her past reviews can be read on Rotten Tomatoes where she is a tomato-approved critic.

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I would like to introduce you to pleasures hidden in plain sight —the covered passageways. These passages, an ingrained part of Parisian heritage, were first introduced in the late 18th century as a safe respite for shopping. Paris in that era was dark, dirty and inhospitable to most. There were no sidewalks, the streets were muddy and often flooded, a situation that was very discouraging. To promote shopping and bolster a nascent cafe society, enclosed passageways were designed and built throughout Paris; passageways that featured chic clothing boutiques, cafes and restaurants, bookstores and purveyors of delicacies. There were so many it was said that one could go from passageway to passageway in the rain without getting wet. The first was an immediate hit and spawned many others. Soon there were more than 150 throughout central Paris. Today only 20 remain, most if not all on the right bank, with the degree of luxury dependent on location.

Most of these ancient shopping malls have labeled archways announcing their presence. But you must look for them as they are usually squeezed between commercial buildings. 

Palais Royal
The prototype of these arcades was in the courtyard around the Palais Royal near the Louvre. Owned by Louis Phillipe, cousin of Louis XVI, and rich beyond measure, he was, nevertheless, in constant need of money. A shopping arcade wrapping around three sides of the palace gardens was proposed and he jumped at the opportunity. Although the original structure, started in 1786, was torn down (perhaps a metaphor for Louis Philippe’s own demise during the revolution), the current sophisticated arcade was reconstructed in 1829. Today, that arcade remains accessible through the garden and protected on all sides by an imposing gold-topped black metal “fence” separating the gallery sidewalks from the foliage. I would recommend this as your first stop. Not precisely a passage, it is more like a protected arcade, an outdoor ground floor to the official ministerial buildings above it. Tour all three sides and you’ll find avant-garde clothing boutiques catering to today’s “flaneurs,” contemporary art galleries, shoe shops, both classic and outrageous, and, significantly, Le Grand Véfour, the formerly Michelin-starred restaurant, opened in 1784 and still serving. Entering via Rue de Montpensier will take you to the courtyard via the Comédie Française.

Galerie Véro-Dodat
Paradoxically, this very upscale arcade was started in 1826 by two butchers. Today it is home to Christian Louboutin, antique furniture stores, sculpture galleries, decorative arts, fine arts and cafés. The immaculate tiled floors and ornate lamps maintain its aura of 19th-century luxury. Accessed from the ironically named Rue du Jean Jacques Rousseau, the Enlightenment writer who wrote “Discourse on Inequality” and “The Social Contract,” and the tony Rue St. Honoré, it is located adjacent to the Bourse de Commerce, the old Commodities Exchange built in 1763 and now the home of billionaire François Pinault’s art collection (yet more irony for the ghost of Rousseau). 

Galerie Vivienne 
Virtually across the street from the gardens and arcades of the Palais Royal you will find a vibrant, still thriving, sophisticated shopping arcade built in 1826. 
Anchored by the Legrand Filles et Fils wine shop, it began life as a tea and spice store in 1880 by François Beaugé. Pierre Legrand bought the establishment and founded his wine boutique after the First World War. It is said that Pierre invented the profession of wine curator, selling wine and educating the public about them. It passed from generation to generation until recently when the Legrand family sold a majority stake to a commercial group. Still, much of the original enterprise remains including the beautiful wooden bar and fixtures. Not the oldest wine shop in Paris, it is still considered one of the best. They offer a large selection from their cellar as well as the opportunity to sample rare vintages. Climbing the stairs to the first floor, look up and see the ceiling insets made of wine corks designed and executed by Pierre after buying the establishment. Like the original store, it is here that you will find their selection of fine caviar, foie gras and smoked fish. If you were to follow the spiral stairs up another floor you would find yourself in the original living quarters of the Legrand family, now used as business offices. 
Proceed a few yards down the hall and you will find the Librairie Jousseaume, one of the original tenants of Galerie Vivienne. Originally opened in 1826 and passing from one owner to another until 1890 when the Jousseaume family bought it. It is now being run by the fourth generation, François Jousseaume. The bookstore has been well kept up but there is nothing left of the original, save the layout. Jammed to the rafters with used books, both rare and current, M. Jousseaume reigns over his bookstore. Not particularly interested in answering questions, he thrust a gently used copy of Patrice de Moncan’s 2012 book entitled “Literary Promenades: The Covered Passageways of Paris,” an indispensable guide if you want to read about what Charles Baudelaire or Colette had to say about their contemporaneous wanderings in the various passageways; not so much if you’re trying to discover the actual history of these hidden gems. M. Jousseaume was more forthcoming when he found out that this article was for the “Beverly Hills Courier.” He wanted to know all about what he called the “city of millionaires.” 

Galerie Colbert
Adjacent to Vivienne, this arcade, crowned with an enormous glass dome in the entryway with its bronze sculpture below, used to be bustling with shops. Now it is primarily a branch of the National Institute of Art History, its boutique spaces used as classrooms for the Sorbonne. All that remains of the boutiques are the placards above the rooms indicating what used to be there. Next door is the restaurant Le Grand Colbert. Originally built in 1637 and eventually sold to Jean Baptiste Colbert, Louise XV’s Minister of State, it passed to the aforementioned Philippe d’Orleans in 1719 and then to the state in 1825. The original building was destroyed to make way for the Galerie in 1828 but was rebuilt and opened as a store. It became a restaurant in 1900. Renovated in 1985, you can still find some of the original mosaics on the ground. It was used as a primary location in the 2003 film “Somethings’ Gotta Give’’ starring Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves and Diane Keaton, causing a tourist rush that has calmed and now, once again, it is a sophisticated Parisian lunch spot. Ironically, it’s right next door to a student cafeteria.

Passage Choiseul
Close by, on the other side of the National Library and not far from the Opera, is the Passage Choiseul. Built between 1826 and 1827, it’s bustling with young people, there for the inexpensive, street food restaurants. Beautifully restored, it sports a peaked glass ceiling, popular in the day, and the longest corridor of any of the remaining passages. At the end of the passage is the Théatre des Bouffes Parisiens founded in 1855 by Jacques Offenbach for his operettas. From 1986 to 2007 actor Jean-Claude Brialy was the director. Today it features comedy shows.

Passages des Panoramas
Walking north to the area called Les Grands Boulevards, a more working class area on the south side of Boulevard Montmartre, is the oldest (1799) and perhaps most famous passageway. Narrow like Choiseul, its location and that of its neighboring Passage Jouffroy is, ironically, where Boulevard Haussmann becomes Boulevard Montmartre. Ironic because it was Haussmann who began to rebuild the streets and neighborhoods of Paris in 1854, modernizing them, widening the boulevards and putting in sidewalks. With these improvements came the modern Parisian department stores like BHV (1855), le Printemps (1865) and Galeries Lafayette (1894). It was the very nature of these improvements and the competition from the larger stores that doomed the passages.

The Passages des Panoramas’ narrow corridor and beautiful tiled floor is full of restaurants but no tables for seating. Signs above the doorways indicate the original stores, but none remain. This is where the Stern engravers set up shop in 1834 and passed down through multiple generations until it closed and became a deluxe café. It had been the oldest existing engraver in Paris and Mme. Stern ran the store well into her 80s. In a conversation with her almost 20 years ago, she lamented that this store, run continually by a family member since its opening, would have to be sold because none of her children were interested in carrying on. While giving me the history of her wonderful shop, she stopped momentarily to greet one of her neighbors, the director of the adjacent Théatre des Variétés. That director? Jean-Paul Belmondo. He ran the theater from 1991-2004. The theater, originally in the arcades of the Palais Royal, moved to the Passages des Panorama in 1807 where it has been in continual use. Before Offenbach started his own theater, he premiered his works here.

Even with fewer shops, the Passages des Panorama is part of history. It was here, in 1834, that gas lighting was used for the first time. The peaked glass roof, the old gas fixtures and the wooden boutique entryways remain along with the memories and, of course, the prerequisite bookstore, a fixture in almost all the passages.

Passage Jouffroy
Directly across the Boulevard Montmartre is the Passage Jouffroy. Built in 1845 to capitalize on the popularity of the Passage des Panoramas, it houses the Musée Grevin, Paris’s answer to Madame Tussauds of London. Built in 1882 it specializes in wax recreations of horrific crimes and scenes from the French Revolution; the modern montages and figures are considerably less interesting. The highlight of the museum, architecturally speaking, is its street-facing separate Art Nouveau entrance.

At the end of the first corridor is the little Hotel Chopin. It opened in 1846 and is one of the oldest hotels in Paris. Originally called the “Family Hotel” it changed names in 1970 in honor of Chopin who, rumor has it, would meet George Sand there. Full of small boutiques and significant art galleries, there is a very large bookstore that has been there since the opening of the passage. 

Short on time? After a visit to the Louvre, step into the gardens of the Palais Royal to see the courtyard laid out with short columns of different sizes conceived and constructed by Daniel Buren, then continue on to the arcades. Consider it dipping your toes into les passages de Paris.

Neely Swanson spent most of her professional career in the television industry, almost all of it working for David E. Kelley. In her last full-time position as Executive Vice President of Development, she reviewed writer submissions and targeted content for adaptation. As she has often said, she did book reports for a living. For several years she was a freelance writer for “Written By,” the magazine of the WGA West, and was adjunct faculty at USC in the writing division of the School of Cinematic Arts. Neely has been writing film and television reviews for the “Easy Reader” for more than ten years. Her past reviews can be read on Rotten Tomatoes where she is a tomato-approved critic. For the past few issues, Swanson has contributed pieces about her travels in London and Paris.

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Marina del Rey 

Sail away from the record-setting heat from the always-popular Marina del Rey. Its large harbor holds a host of sailing options for everything from whale watching to watersports, parties and sunset cruises. To charter one of these vessels, GetMyBoat has over 130 rentals and water experiences ranging from pontoons and wind power sailboats to luxury yachts. But cruising the California coast isn’t all the company offers, jet skis, kayaks and stand up paddle boarding are also available.

The average cost of a boat charter is about $250 per hour in Marina del Rey, but you can find boating experiences on GetMyBoat for less than $100, and most of the boat rentals are charters that come with a USCG-licensed captain, so you can kick back and relax while cruising around Marina del Rey.

According to Val Streif, Marketing Manager of GetMyBoat, “Boating is a top activity right now because it’s bringing people together to enjoy the outdoors in a relaxing way and it’s the perfect multi-generational family activity.” In addition, she sites Marina del Rey as a top location because there’s always a good chance you’ll see wildlife, including dolphins, whales, and sea lions. “Seeing a sunset from a boat is also a special experience, and you can cruise up to Santa Monica or venture to Venice Beach, two popular locations that are easily accessible by boat from Marina del Rey,” she said.

Before or after your chartered cruise, stop for brunch, drinks or dinner at the newly revamped SALT restaurant overlooking the harbor where you can order oysters, caviar and cocktails. Other recent local dining developments include KazuNori for sushi, HiHo burgers and UOVO for pasta, plus Alfred Coffee from Beverly Hills and West Hollywood is opening nearby.

Another popular summer activity is bike riding near the beach, and just up the coast in Santa Monica, Shutters and Casa del Mar hotels offer bikes for their guests. Cruise along the boardwalk which is easily accessible and the staff will even set up a picnic lunch right in the sand with cushions, tables, umbrellas, charcuterie snacks, sandwiches and real coconut water – among other treats.

If you desire a hit of wellness, Malibu has a new destination, Rafi Lounge, for sound baths, meditation and classes, but you must be a member to enjoy the Pacific Ocean views from the lawn. 

Santa Barbara

Of course, you can rent boats and bike ride along the California coast in Santa Barbara. Make sure to visit Stearns Wharf, California’s oldest wooden working wharf. The wharf celebrates its 150th anniversary with a festive party on Oct. 8 (if you want to plan ahead), or be sure to visit during Wharf Wednesdays on the first Wednesday of each month, to take advantage of special restaurant deals and live music.

Over the summer, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden opened The Backcountry, a four-acre outdoor adventure space for kids. Located along Mission Creek, it features activities such as fort building, fallen log obstacle courses, waterfalls, a maze, hikes through different habitats and herb gathering.

If you’re up for a hike, try the Mesa Trail near the new visitors center with informational kiosks opened within the UC Santa Barbara North Campus Open Space. Here you can explore a vast 136-acre coastal wetlands area that includes grasslands to ocean bluffs. This area has a free public parking lot, open from dawn to dusk, at 6975 Whittier Drive in Goleta.

Also, earlier this year, the Santa Barbara Zoo opened the Australian Walkabout, a 15,000-square-foot habitat designed to transport guests “Down Under,” where they can walk among the wallabies, kangaroos and emus.

If interior design and shopping is your passion, the Summerland area has become a go-to destination for chic home decor and antiques, including Field + Fort, The Well, Porch and Garde. Recently, a new outpost for British-born designer Rachel Ashwell’s Shabby Chic, a new Home Crush showroom (an extension from its downtown Santa Barbara shop and design studio), and a new takeover of The Big Yellow House by Big Daddy’s Antiques featuring custom furniture, rugs and rotating art.

For wine tasting, you will not need a designated driver for the nearly 30 member wineries, many within walking distance of each other and downtown beaches, on the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail. At least six new tasting rooms are opening and three others are on the move or expanding as of 2022. Frequency Wine Co. moved to a historic courtyard surrounded by Spanish Colonial Revival architecture and lush foliage in the Presidio Neighborhood. Kunin Wines has a new location in downtown Santa Barbara with a focus on sparkling wines and rosé, along with education and cheese pairings in partnership with The Cheese Shop.

Santa Barbara Winery, the oldest winery in Santa Barbara County, moved to a new tasting room location in the Funk Zone and Pali Wine Co. opened a second location in this area as well, and you will not need a designated driver to explore this area on foot. 

For dinner, Rare Society is a new throw-back steakhouse (also in the Funk Zone) inspired by Las Vegas that features large format steak platters for sharing and craft cocktails. At the Kimpton Canary Hotel just off State Street, Finch & Fork has been revamped with a sleek modern look and a pedigreed new executive chef Craig Riker who makes upscale comfort fare. If you find yourself in Montecito, a new sushi experience just opened at the Rosewood Miramar hotel. AMA Sushi is an intimate 13 seat bar offering one omakase pairing seating each evening or an à la carte menu with outdoor seating as well. 

Huntington Beach

Head down the coast to Huntington Beach aka Surf City USA where you will find 9.5 miles of sandy flat beach and great waves due to the currents around Catalina. This area is also home to the International Surfing Museum, the Paséa Hotel & Spa right next to the pier where you can schedule an exfoliating body treatment with ginger oil at the Balinese spa, have rooftop drinks at the Waterfront Beach Resort or listen to music and mingle at The Bungalow by the same owners as the original in Santa Monica. Think of this area as a more accessible alternative to Laguna Beach and it’s also closer to L.A.

Oceanside 

After decades as just a pit stop on the way to San Diego, the profile and popularity of this once overlooked beach town is booming. There are destination hotels, museums, Michelin recognized restaurants, a buzzing craft-beer scene and close proximity to the beach and LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, which is continually a top draw for families year-round. 

“Oceanside’s approach to self-improvement over the last decade has been about celebrating its history, preserving its unique character and introducing thoughtful new experiences that highlight the creativity and innovation of its locals,” said Leslee Gaul, CEO, Visit Oceanside. “The combination [of new experiences] has made this a place where people want to come, hangout and immerse themselves in the Oside vibe.”

The Surf Girl Pro Championship competition is held each fall on the beach near the Oceanside Pier right in front of the new surf-themed Mission Pacific Hotel and sister property The Seabird Resort with a Cape Cod esthetic. On the grounds, a draw for film buffs is the 1887 bungalow, known as The Graves House, that was used as a key location in the original “Top Gun” movie. The space is now a HIGH-pie concept serving gourmet sweet and savory hand pies made with fruit or cheese and choice of dipping sauce. You can also find memorabilia from the movie, including a refurbished Kawasaki Ninja ZX90 0 Motorcycle, identical to the one Tom Cruise rode in the film. Other nostalgic Americana touches include vintage furniture, one-of-a-kind needlepoint installations from artist Mary Lou Marks.

For dining on-site, try the new Chef’s Table experience at Valle, a Guadalupe Valley Kitchen, helmed by one of Baja’s most acclaimed Chefs, Roberto Alcocer. Upstairs, The Rooftop Bar at Mission Pacific has also launched a new menu of shared plates and locally inspired cocktails, with a portion of sales of “The Jetty” cocktail, named for one of Oceanside’s most iconic breaks, going to benefit USA Surfing’s elite training programs.

If that activity is a little too rambunctious for you, walk over to the new poolside sound baths at The Seabird Resort.
Or, take advantage of the new vintage Rambler camper and Surf Concierge service set up on the beach providing guests with beverages and snacks, sand toys, water activities, umbrellas, towels and lounge chairs for the perfect beach day.

If you did come for the surf, check out the incredible art collection curated by the Oceanside Museum of Art across both hotels before signing up for a surf valet experience and private lessons, with North Country Surf Academy for an opportunity to surf alongside professional surfer and third-generation Oceanside resident, Duran Barr.

A short stroll away, there are a few cool developments in Oceanside for coffee and boutique shopping such as the The Rising Co. – A Maker’s Collective or Tremont Collective, which has surf shops, Communal coffee and flower shop, along with Shootz Fish + Beer for local brews and tacos. 

Around town, The Plot has recently introduced the Thursday Night Live Music series. Every Thursday from 6:30-8:30 p.m., guests can enjoy an evening of free live music on the patio, surrounded by the restaurant’s regenerative garden. The goal is to share a no-cost experience to provide a space to connect with neighbors, expand cultural experiences and support local talent, all the while enjoying a delicious plant-based fare from the restaurant.

At award-winning Wrench & Rodent —the unorthodox sushi and Japanese izakaya focused on total utilization — Chef-owner Davin Waite and his team have launched a dry-aged fish program, which ensures a responsible and sustainable model with minimal waste. Expect traditional dry-aging techniques with various species such as Bluefin, Pacifico bass, kampachi, and salmon. 

Just over the Buena Vista Lagoon, which separates Oceanside from Carlsbad, State Street siblings Campfire and Michelin-starred Jeune et Jolie have just released new summer menus under the creative direction of Executive Chef Eric Bost. And if you find it hard to snag a reservation at Jeune et Jolie, try the smaller rotating Menu du Bar, available at the bar and lounge where walk-ins are welcome. 

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Israel’s Ministry of Tourism has announced that on Jan. 9, the country will reopen its borders to all international travelers.

“We are thrilled that our incredible country is once again opening its borders to travelers worldwide,” said Eyal Carlin, Tourism Commissioner for North America. “Israel continues to take countless necessary steps to ensure a COVID-safe experience for both those coming into the country as well as our residents. It’s important for our visitors to feel confident when exploring our country and we’re so excited to welcome everyone back!”

The following guidelines that were announced in November for entry into the country remain in place. Those guidelines require all visitors to:

Take a PCR test 72 hours before an out- bound flight, fill out a passenger declaration, and take a PCR test upon arrival in Israel (must quarantine in hotel until results return or 24 hours pass – the lesser of the two).

To enter the country, visitors must:

• Have been vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at least 14 days prior to the day of entry into Israel;

• Those that have received the booster vaccine dose, and at least 14 days have passed since received, can enter Israel;

• Have been inoculated with one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least 14 days prior to the day of entry into Israel ;

• Have recovered from COVID-19 and who present proof of the results of a positive NAAT test at least 11 days prior to the day of entry into Israel;

• Have recovered from COVID-19 and have received at least one dose of the WHO- approved vaccines.

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“We’re featuring summer colors and a collage-based background that highlights the various icons that make Beverly Hills what it is,” Julie Wagner, President and CEO of the CVB, said of the summer campaign. “The idea is to remind people that we’re not like everybody else. That, when you come to Beverly Hills, it is truly a different experience.” The summer campaign includes bright shades of yellow, orange, pink and blue, while the fall color scheme showcases the shield logo in burnt oranges and warm teals. The holiday palette includes deep blues, reds, and greens with pops of color. The juxtaposed imagery is quintessential Beverly Hills: Rodeo Drive, the Beverly Hills sign, City Hall, the Beverly Hills Hotel and of course, palm trees. 

Typically, the Beverly Hills trademark city shield logo is either black and white or gold and white. The CVB Committee requested use of the vintage logo with multicolored treatments.

“This is fantastic,” Council Liaison, Vice Mayor Lili Bosse, said. “It is kind of Andy Warholesque, with the Beverly Hills twist. So again, CVB, thank you for being so forward thinking and visionary and you have my, not surprisingly, complete support.”

“We tried to use this with the standard colors but really it just didn’t pop,” Wagner said. “It really took the whole look and feel of the campaign down.”

“I love it,” Bosse said. “The color and the freshness…I love the concept of taking the vintage shield and freshening it up.”

Mayor Robert Wunderlich echoed Bosse’s statements, adding, “It all looks good to me.”

The CVB’s most recent campaign, “As You Wish,” debuted in March of this year and showcased the bespoke services and world-class amenities found in the city through the lens of five pet ambassadors. The campaign underscored ways that the city caters to the needs of today’s global travelers–and their furry companions. 

The Committee will meet again in September to present holiday headlines and provide updates to Council Liaisons. 

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La Samaritaine, the legendary 100-plus-year-old Paris department store, is the centerpiece, as well as namesake of the project. Snuggled on the banks of the Seine, near Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Louvre, it is renowned, among other things, for its 1920s-era Art Deco façade, imposing iron and glass roof and gold leaf-adorned central staircase. It is an historic monument in France, a testament to both Art Nouveau and Art Deco design. Inside lies 215,000 square feet of shopping space, plus a window into day-to-day Parisian life. Closed since 2005 for safety reasons, it has been sorely missed by residents and visitors alike.

LVMH has spent the last seven years on a grand makeover, transforming Samaritaine from a classic department store to the anchor of a mixed-use urban experience. An undulating glass façade now greets visitors on the Rue de Rivoli, designed by Japanese firm Sanaa. The Pritzker Prize-winning firm is also responsible for 343 exterior screen-printed glass panels. The reimagined Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf department store will feature 600 brands, new concept stores “Loulou” and “Rivoli,” 12 restaurants, the “Voyage” space combining gastronomy, art and “memorable experiences,” L’Appartement, a private shopping experience amidst artwork, plus the largest beauty space on the Continent.

The timing of the June 21 unveiling was auspicious, coming shortly after Europe lifted the ban on non-essential travel by foreigners. Tourism in France – and elsewhere – is still in need of a jump start. And retail as a whole was already suffering globally, even before the pandemic. The bold new Samaritaine complex, with its hotel, restaurants, office space and more, is expected to become a destination in and of itself. 

It is no surprise then, that no less than French President Emmanuel Macron attended the inaugural ceremony, along with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH. LVMH already owns upscale Parisian department store Le Bon Marche, as well as a majority stake in luxury travel retailer DFS Group, which operates La Samaritaine. 

“No other department store has such compelling links to the two faces of Paris, one engaged with the historic economic vitality of the recently renovated Les Halles and the other overlooking the Seine, offering the most beautiful view of the world’s most beautiful city. The completion of this project, which both creates jobs and promotes a unique Parisian art de vivre around the world, is also a great source of pride for our Group in France and in Paris. Many of our Maisons were founded in Paris, where we intend to make an active contribution to economic recovery, as well as the worldwide appeal of France,” said Arnault. 

The entire Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf project is a model of forward-thinking mixed-use planning. In addition to the department store and hotel, structures include a nursery and 96 public housing units operated by Paris Habitat. A pedestrian square with access to the Pont Neuf will help with a hoped-for renaissance of the neighborhood between the Louvre and Les Halles. 

In total, the development included some 753,000 square feet of renovated or newly built space. Cheval Blanc Paris is a key component. The first urban hotel from LVMH faces Quai du Louvre and will welcome guests on Sept. 7. Interiors of its 72 rooms and suites were created by American architect and designer Peter Marino, who has transformed an Art Deco building overlooking the Seine. 

Marino also has the commission to design Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills for LVMH. The ultra-luxury hospitality, retail and dining project is expected to open on Rodeo Drive in 2025. Plans call for an innovative, yet classic 115-guestroom bespoke hotel, as well as ground-floor LVMH retail establishments and exclusive dining venues. Additional features include rooftop pools, a private club and expansive penthouse space. 

During the June 21 Paris inaugural, executives noted that it may take one or two years for tourists to fully return to France. Once things get back to normal, La Samaritaine is expected to attract some 5 million visitors per year. With any luck, many of them will also make their way to Beverly Hills.  

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“It is imperative that L.A. County residents continue to take steps necessary to curb the spread of COVID-19 and contain new sources of infection until we can achieve higher levels of vaccination in California and globally,” said an April 7 statement from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health). 

The new Public Health Travel Advisory and Guidance issued on April 5 indicates that non-essential travel out of state or out of country is still not recommended. 

For those that must travel, the following applies:

All travelers who are not fully vaccinated should get tested with a COVID-19 viral test 1-3 days before travel. Travel should not be initiated until a negative test result is returned. All travelers who test positive or develop symptoms of COVID-19 must isolate and follow County isolation instructions. Do not travel when symptomatic or with a positive COVID-19 test result, regardless of vaccination status.

Persons who are not fully vaccinated arriving in or returning to the county from other states or countries could easily introduce new sources of infection (potentially including new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus). All non-essential travelers who are not fully vaccinated arriving in or returning to California from other states or countries must quarantine. 

Fully vaccinated persons may travel but should continue to take precautions. If asymptomatic, no quarantine or testing is needed upon return.

According to Public Health, a person is “fully vaccinated” if at least two weeks have transpired since the person received the second dose in a 2-dose series (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) OR one dose of a single-dose vaccine (Johnson and Johnson/Janssen).

Persons who are fully vaccinated can travel safely within the United States. While international travel poses additional risk, fully vaccinated persons may travel internationally provided they take precautions while traveling and they have a negative viral test prior to flying into the United States. 

Fully vaccinated persons should continue to take precautions to protect others when they travel. Those precautions include wearing a mask on any form of public transportation, avoiding crowds and remaining at least six feet from anyone not traveling with you. Washing hands often or using hand sanitizer (with at least 60 percent alcohol) is also recommended. 

Upon return, fully vaccinated people should self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms, isolate and get tested if symptoms develop. With international travel, a viral test 3-5 days post travel is recommended. 

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The bucolic grounds of the Hotel Bel-Air, with swans floating by the entrance bridge, has always been an ideal spot for an escape. The property is offering a new staycation experience with a relaxed check-in and check-out time based on guests’ schedules. “We have seen a large increase in reservations from drive markets and many are booking our staycation offer, which allows guests to check-in and check-out at their preferred times,” General Manager Denise Flaunders told the Courier.

According to Flaunders, guests like to maximize their time on the property lounging poolside or relaxing on their private patios with landscaped gardens. To add to the specialized experience, visitors can now order a bespoke picnic basket, have a romantic candlelight dinner in their room and even order ingredients to leisurely mix up their favorite cocktails. The staff will also arrange in-room wellness amenities with a bubble bath experience, yoga instructor on the patio or an aromatherapy treatment. “Our guests do not have to travel far to feel like they are truly getting away for a much-needed vacation,” added Flaunders.  Of course, the Wolfgang Puck-helmed patio restaurant is available anytime to outside guests as well.

Former CEO of GBK Productions, Gavin Keilly, who produced VIP/celebrity gifting suites every awards season, has channeled his talents into GBK Brand Bar at the Kimpton La Peer. The shop features everything from bathing suits to CBD sundries, doggie-duds by Chanel and Badgley Mischka, to designer masks from Gucci and Prada.

While you’re shopping, sip wines by the glass or selections from the coffee bar. Food options include caviar, vegan cheese and rosé all-day on the first Saturday of the month. Taco Thursdays bring $2 tacos and complimentary drinks with a street party scene.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Brian Ogawa, the former executive chef from Nobu, makes sushi which you can take to go or eat in on the back-patio of the hotel.

If you’re craving a more urban atmosphere, missed during your annual culture trip to New York, downtown L.A. has new skyline offerings.

While many downtown hotels are temporarily closed, the London and Williamsburg, Brooklyn import, The Hoxton, reopened in late July on Broadway. The Pilot rooftop restaurant is a cozy spot for an all-day menu featuring black truffle pasta, wood-fired Neapolitan pizza or Spanish paella for two (weekends only). After 5 p.m., order the Olive Oil Gin martini with grappa and St. Germain. Should you have one too many, a staycation is not a problem. If you’d like to have a small gathering with close friends, colleagues or family, “the apartment” on the second floor is also available for rent with a private kitchen and conference-screening room.

Another mid-century modern newcomer drawing an artsy, eclectic crowd, The Wayfarer opened in early August on Flower Street with an enviable skyline view from The Rooftop bar and lounge that specializes in Tiki cocktails. Currently, they are open for dinner Thursday through Sunday and brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For a little more culture wrapped up in a historic building, the Hotel Figueroa is celebrating 94-years on Aug. 14. The hotel was originally opened as a safe haven for women travelers in 1926, and today is continuing its ongoing Featured Artist Series?partnership?with Society6, showcasing the works of local, independent female artists.

For complete seclusion, Nobu Ryokan Malibu is accepting reservations for only eight of the 16 luxury ocean view accommodations, complete with deep teak soaking tubs and indoor-outdoor fireplaces, to allow for full social distancing. You can also have Nobu sushi and sake delivered in-room from the famous restaurant thanks to a special menu for guests.

There is no need to leave your personal space or the soothing waves unless you feel like taking a sunset walk along the shore.

The post Getaway for a Day, Close to Beverly Hills appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Beloved American culinary icon and Francophile Julia Child spent her last years in Santa Barbara, but not before she changed the ho-hum dinner table forever by introducing American’s to her cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and her television show “The French Chef.” 

Last summer, the City of Santa Barbara proclaimed her birthdate of Aug. 15 as official ly Julia Child Day. For the first time since her death 16 years ago, her eponymous foundation for gastronomy and the culinary arts is co-hosting an annual celebration with the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience from Mar. 13 to 15. 

This great culinary escape takes place over three-days with more than 40 events in and around the American Riviera of Santa Barbara where you can eat and drink in some of the finest restaurants with top chefs, sommeliers and mixologists, plus actually learn a skill or two. Interactive events range from mastering paella to making your own olive oil or just meandering around Lotus Land in search of unique shrubs that might end up in your 5 p.m. cocktail later. 

In addition, some of L.A.’s top toques will be in town and participating in events from Ludo Lefebvre, Sherry Yard, Chris Bianco, Vartan Abgaryan, Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken.
“I love love love Santa Barbara,” Lefebvre told the Courier. “It is such a beautiful destination that truly embodies the California dream of coastal living. Being able to cook a meal at the magical Alisal Ranch and Resort paired with dessert by the talented Valerie Gordon, is pretty much as good at it gets.” 

Sharing the infectious celebration further in the county, The Hitching Post will also be featuring Julia-inspired specials including their oak-fired quail, polenta and grilled ratatouille using the late chef’s famous recipe. Bob’s Well Bread Bakery is doing special menu croque monsieur for the occasion. 

This one-of-a-kind epicurean event will be a celebration of both Julia Child and Santa Barbara’s culinary scene. The late cookbook author, chef and TV personality was passionate about teaching others about the culinary arts–and was an aficionado of Santa Barbara, as a longtime resident. The culinary experience aims to gather the community and visitors to celebrate and learn more about the bounty of abundant local resources found in farms, ranches, vineyards and the ocean and the value of where good food comes from and how to cook. 

The non-profit organization in Child’s name gives grants to support research in culinary history, scholarships for professional culinary training, food writing and media, as well as professional development and food literacy programs.

www.juliachildfoundation.org

Highlights of the weekend include: 

-A new, complimentary downloadable Julia Child map of the chef ‘s favorite haunts in the Santa Barbara area for self-guided tours, specially created for the launch of the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience. 

-Border Grill on the Beach: SBCE Signature Luncheon featuring Julia Child Award Recipients Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. 

-Tour of the wine cellar and Julia Child- inspired dinner at San Ysidro Ranch. 

-Documentary screening of “Nothing Fancy” and dinner from Chef Claudette Zepeda (El Jardín) at Belmond El Encanto 

-Five-course dinner at Bettina with special guest Chef Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco. 

-An evening with Raj Parr and Chef Kiran Bheemarao at Bibi Ji. 

-Sunday Brunch at Miramar Rosewood Beach Resort with James Beard Foundation Award-Winning Pastry Chef Sherry Yard. 

-Alisal Guest Ranch exclusive after-party featuring Chef Ludo Lefebvre. 

-Savor Santa Barbara: SBCE Neighborhood Tasting, showcasing Santa Barbara’s unique culinary districts at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. 

Paella Class and DIY Gin and Tonic Bar at Loquita. 

Jonata Winemaker Dinner at The Lark with Chef Jason Paluska.

40 additional unique educational and experiential sessions including: 

-Santa Barbara’s History Through Food (with acorn pasta demo) at Barbareño. 

-Farmers’ Market Tour & Gourmet Dinner with Executive Chef Greg Murphy at Bouchon. 

-SBCE Wine Academy seminars, including “Santa Barbara Wine 101.” 

-Olive Oil Master Class with Theo Stephan from Global Gardens. 

-Ganna Walska Lotusland Tour and Garden Cocktail Making Class. 

Event pricing ranges from $15 for a single event to the all access Platinum Pass for $995 per guest. The net proceeds of the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience will flow to 

The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. The majority of those funds will be used to support a range of nonprofits in Santa Barbara County. https://sbce.events/ 

Where to stay 

Favorite local hotels include the Four Season’s Biltmore, San Yisidro Ranch, El Encanto and Rosewood Miramar who are all holding special events during the festival, so check their website for special rates and packages. And, if The Hotel California by the beach and famous Funk Zone is sold out, there is a charming bed and breakfast a few blocks away appropriately called the Hideaway. 

Alisal Guest Ranch 

Just north near Solvang, the more than 10,000-acre ranch is located amid green rolling hills with charming cottages holding wood burning fireplaces that have been refurbished by celebrity designer Nathan Turner. They are having a pot luck with local chef on Sunday night, Mar. 15 and the after party with Ludo Lefebvre on Mar. 16, and this will be a great ending to the weekend in Santa Barbara. Typically, a stay includes a morning horseback ride or hay wagon ride to the property’s historic adobe for an al fresco cowboy breakfast, an afternoon of Santa Ynez Valley wine tasting, or hiking and fly-fishing, with dinners prepared by Executive Chef Anthony Endy who has taken the rustic dining experience to a new level. 

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From celebrated homes and hotels to shopping structures it’s staggering to see the world-class architects that have brought their talents to the desert landscape. Structures from William F. Cody to E. Stuart Williams and John Lautner encompassing styles ranging from Spanish Revival to Hollywood Regency and ultra-modern class one historical sites built with steel and stone to withstand the harsh elements. 

This year, it seems that landscape design is also celebrated equally with interiors and the main structures. “Modernism Week’s popular Landscape Design and Outdoor Living series continues to offer exceptional insights into indoor-meets-outdoor living,” said Paul Ortega, Landscape and Outdoor Living Captain. “Modernists can attend compelling talks, interact with qualified landscape professionals or participate in the Modern Garden Tour. All of our events bring together ideas, talent, research and practical advice for people who want to know more about authentic California desert living.” 

The Modern Garden Tour experience embraces the aesthetic of drought tolerant and desert-friendly plants while touring stunningly designed private modern gardens located in the area from minimal to lush. 

Once again Modernism Week’s CAMP (Community and Meeting Place) will act as a central hub for Modernism Week 

information. Located at 230 Museum Way (near the Palm Springs Art Museum), entrance is free and open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

The following events will also be offered at Modernism Week’s CAMP Headquarters: 

Ask a Landscape Designer – 30 minutes of advice from a professional landscape designer presented by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. 

The American Garden at Midcentury – Join Jonathan D. Lippincott as he covers some of the important American landscape architects of the midcentury modern period including Thomas Church, Garrett Eckbo and Dan Kiley. 

Robert Royston in Palm Springs: A Book Signing and Tour of the Circle and Becket House Gardens– A book signing, tour and conversation between JC Miller, author of Robert Royston, and Palm Springs garden owner Brent R. Harris about Royston’s final project. 

California Post-war Landscape Architecture Today – Author Jeffrey Head guides us through a conversation on the influence of modernist landscape architects like Church, Eckbo and Halprin in today’s California landscapes. 

The Backyard, a Biography – Freelance nature writer Denise Maher explores the America backyard in a visual as well as psychological and cultural treatment of outdoor built spaces utilizing Maher’s own catalog of landscape projects as well as underseen images from Julius Schulman’s archive at the Getty Research Institute. 

Desertscaping: Past, Present and the Future – A panel on the history and practice of sustainable horticulture in the Coachella Valley and California’s desert regions. 

Home Highlights This Year: 

The annual Modernism Week keynote address will be presented by architect, artist, professor, and set designer Daniel Libeskind who will share his incredible journey with the public. “Architecture is the atmosphere, the story that has been created, and you are part of it,” he said.

The Modernism Week Featured Home Tour will be of the Axiom Desert House which holds Resource Furniture’s multifunctional pieces, including the Flex Outdoor Sofa, also on view during the Modern Garden Tour and the prefabricated container house Buhaus, which highlights how space optimizing furniture can be both efficient and luxurious. 

Each year, Modernism Week offers exclusive tours of featured homes, and this year it has added a special showcase home: the Gillman Residence, built in 1948 by architectural designer Herbert W Burns. The property has been restored in time for Modernism Week by the dynamic duo at Thomboy Properties. 

Featured Homes include the Guggenheim House, located in the Indian Canyons neighborhood, this 1967 architectural gem was recently remodeled by Grace Home Furnishings to capture modern Palm Springs style. The interior spaces feature a cohesive blend of contemporary furnishings and vintage pieces, with the bold color palette embodies the carefree Palm Springs lifestyle. 

As part of the iconic Canyon Estates neighborhood, architect Charles DuBois’ freestanding “Executive Home” was one of the last and most expensive properties in the development when it was first built in 1972. New furnishings and décor by Christopher Kennedy add glamour. 

Known as the Wave House (1955) for its curving roof that mimics the San Jacinto mountains, it’s being opened publicly for the first time since its remarkable restoration. It was one of more than forty houses in and around Palm Desert designed by local-born Walter S. White. In 2018 this home became the first Palm Desert landmark to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Experience Palm Springs’ transformation from midcentury modern to contemporary architecture and design at Mesa Modern, a featured design house in collaboration with interior designer Michelle Boudreau, landscape architect John Feldman of Ecocentrix and the design team of Juniper House that gains its inspiration from a global perspective on art, architecture, and interior and landscape design. 

Top parties include: The daughter of the desert Nancy Sinatra appearing at the Historic Plaza Theatre and the ‘Nutty Professor’ Party at the home of Jerry Lewis. 

Modernism Week Opening Night Party: Space Modyssey celebrates 15 years of Modernism Week. The Palm Springs Air Museum will be transformed into a futuristic space station, complete with intergalactic cocktails and atomic party cuisine and the legendary David Bowie tribute performer “Space Oddity.” 

A few reoccurring events not to be missed: 

Green Gables featured Home – The lime green slanted awning and cinder block façade of this home, built by architect Palmer Krisel in 1957, reveals meticulous restoration with terrazzo floors and interiors by H3K – who also owns the property. The entryway holds a dot series painting of Jackie O. by Hank Hudson and the pool is flanked by colorful hoop string chairs. 

The Cree House – Albert Frey’s 1955 residential home project perched on a hilltop in Cathedral City has been methodically preserved and maintained thanks in part to being owned by the same single family. While famous faces from Jennifer Aniston to Brad Pitt have stayed on the property, it has never before been open to the public. Tours will be offered daily during the festival. 

Walker Guest House Replica – In the sandpit behind the Kimpton Rowan hotel next to “The Babies” sculptures by Czech Republic artist David Cerný, lies the full-scale replica of the Paul Rudolph designed Florida beach bungalow created in 1952. Highlights include the wooden pulley windows like on a sailboat and compact galley style kitchen. 

Sunnylands Home Tour – A returning favorite to the line-up, this A. Quincy Jones home project completed in 1966 for philanthropists Walter and Leonore Annenberg has hosted state dinners, political summits and celebrity galas over the years. Tours include the grounds with 300 bromelias, main house with Rodin sculptures, impressionist art collection and guest quarters where Presidents Obama to Bush and Regan have stayed amid the custom William Haines decor. 

Walking or bus tours of historic neighborhoods – From the Movie Colony where you will find Frank Sinatra’s old Twin Palms house by E. Stewart Williams, to Old Las Palmas, The Mesa, and Tennis Club areas. These historic neighborhoods are laced with Spanish Colonial Revival and Hollywood Regency style homes once owned by Bette Davis, Liberace, Bing Crosby and Gary Grant to newer dwellers, such as Leonardo Di Caprio in Dinah Shore’s old compound and Trina Turk’s 1936 classic Art Moderne “Ship of the Desert” home. 

The 13,000 square-foot glass encased steel building housing the year-old Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center used to be a savings and loan building designed by Stewart Williams in 1961, and rehabilitated by the architecture firm Marmol Radziner, who also restored the famed Neutra-designed Kaufmann House. The building has recently received Class 1 Historic Site protective status and should be a must stop regardless of any shows you might be attending. 

Modernism Show and Sale- Over 85 dealers of furnishings, paintings, and accessories ranging from 40’s to 70’s will descend upon the convention center. From Danish Modern furniture to Off the Wall art hailing from Los Angeles to local dealers, there are treasures to be found for every home esthetic. 

Celebrity designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard who owns the old Playboy Mansion in the Movie Colony neighborhood has recently turned the Sands Hotel in Indian Wells into a provocative mid-century modern Moroccan hideaway. 

The Modernism Show is also a must on Bullard’s annual calendar. “People come from around the country to show their best wares and a lot of dealers will save their best finds for this show.” Some of those amazing vintage finds can be had under one roof at the convention center with dozens of dealers. 

Bullard has seen a big change in the formerly sleepy desert town since he designed his first hotel in the area, The Colony Palms. 

“For Modernism week you will see people flying in from New York, Paris, Berlin, and Finland. The world’s eyes are on this city and it’s brought a cosmopolitan vibe to it with amazing restaurants, real fashion, and incredibly interesting people. Just on my street there is the president of Sony, a movie star, and a rock star, it’s crazy.” 

For tickets and more info: https://www.modernismweek.com/ 

Where to stay: 

Located in a Palms Springs residential neighborhood close to the Ace hotel, one of the most talked about newer spots is the California ranch-style, pet friendly 38-room boutique Villa Royale hideaway. Built in 1947 the property holds three pools with mountain views, fireplaces, Marshal amps and an impressive art collection with over 50 oil paintings including portraits of Dennis Hopper and Debbie Harry by Juan Antonio Casas. Upon entering, guests are greeted with a shot of mezcal and a spray- painted mural by Los Angeles tattoo artist Sagent Staygold entitled “Welcome to Your Paradise.” For dining and cocktails, the cozy Del Rey bar and Mediterranean tapas restaurant features more great art works amid the mid-century modern furnishings. It truly feels like a private residence that you will not want to leave. 

Located in Indian Wells and redesigned by Martyn Lawrence Bullard, this former 1950’s apartment structure behind The Nest watering hole, has turned it into The Sands Hotel including guest rooms with outdoor bathtubs, black and white canvas pool-side cabanas, a spa with mirrored mosaic titles and Pink Cabana restaurant with tropical custom wallpaper – a nod to Paul Williams. 

Known as ‘the Rodeo Drive of the desert,’ book a room at the luxury 150-room Hotel Paseo located on El Paseo in Palm Desert. This hotel also holds its own impressive rotating art gallery along with inspiring local works peppering the hallways and public areas, such as the Welcome to Southern California painting by artist Tom Swimm. Try booking a stay in the custom 1950’s airstream by the backyard lawn and relax from the hectic schedule with a spa treatment, bocce ball or a complimentary Tai Chi class. 

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As part of the Palms $690 million property-wide renovation, owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta dipped into some of their personal art collection for the over-the-top Hirst accommodation that also includes a Himalayan salt room, a club-size bar flanked by two giant tanks filled with formaldehyde marlins and a view of the strip from your cantilever jacuzzi accented with the British artists greatest works from pharmaceuticals to butterflies. The rate of $200,000 for a two-night stay (minimum) includes $10,000 worth of credit that you can use at an array of new restaurants ranging from Food Network celebrity chefs Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, Marc Vetri, and the new Banksy themed Greene St. Kitchen. 

There is a natural curiosity factor but according to Palms Hotel Manager Jon Gray, “We are already seeing a response and attracting the type of guest we were hopeful to be getting with this type of partnership. People that are true fans of Damien to casino players, corporate clients and cash guests.” And, those guests need to be high rollers with a million-dollar credit line, Gray and his team have actually been entertaining clientele with a much higher bankroll which has exceeded expectations. 

But the Palms is not new to this extravagant suite game. Having built the Fantasy Towers back in 2005 with The Hardwood suite, featuring a basketball court and The Kingpins Suite with a bowling alley, the world-renowned Rockwell Group was called in to over-haul both, which range in price from $15,000 to $20,000 per night, and just reopened in January of 2019. 

Both suites still remain big draws for entertainers in the nightclub – Kaos recently opened with headliners Cardi B. and Travis Scott – who want to throw an impromptu afterparty to casino players. “We also have a ton of advanced bookings from a corporate NBA League weekly buy-out to bachelor party weekends and people were inquiring about New Year’s Eve before the summer,” says Gray. “We have been very pleased so far with the demand on those rooms.” 

Just on the heels of the Palms news, the Venetian recently revealed a $450,000 four- night “Want the World” suite package (via Robb Report) that includes private jet transportation and a diamond 5.5-carat diamond bracelet. It’s too soon to tell how in demand the suite will be but if booked throughout the year, the new offer could rack up $41 million dollars of annual revenue. 

In other major cosmopolitan cities, these types of suites are not an aberration. In New York, space comes at a premium so The Ritz-Carlton, Central Park has recently undergone a full renovation that includes The Presidential and The Royal Suite that sells for $35,000 per night. Generating up to four bedrooms, the expansive living and dining room is also filled with specially commissioned photography from highly regarded artists, and tomes of fashion houses. While the price points are considerably lower than in Sin City, there is not a Learjet to fuel up or jewelry store to hit before the guest checks in. 

According to Mr. Winfred van Workum, general manager, “Generally, the suites are booked between 30 to 60 days prior to arrival. We are fortunate to welcome a wide variety of guests in the Legendary Suites including Heads of State, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, as well as celebrities. Due to the large size of the suites and the ability to customize the number of bedrooms, the length of stay can last from three days up to a full month at times.” 

The legendary Waldorf Astoria in New York (owned by Hilton) is undergoing a renovation which is set for completion in 2021, while the Beverly Hills property opened in 2017, takes discretion very seriously. The Presidential Suite at the West Coast flagship has a private screening room, private gym, and private kitchen all for $25,000 a night. (They recently lowered that price to $20,000.) According to General Manager Vanessa Williams, “The suite is usually occupied and generally booked up to several months in advance by a mix of international clientele who tend to stay for up to one month.” If it’s booked every night for a year, the revenue from this suite can generate up to $9,125,000. 

Overseas, the demand to expand with bigger and better continues. The Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria Penthouse holds a private roof garden, an art collection that includes a Warhol series, a Karl Lagerfeld sofa and taps made of Swarovski crystals, while the newly renovated Petronius Suite offers a Valcucine Kitchen furnished with state-of-the-art equipment for private dining and entertaining. Both run about $12,244 per night. 

Even world-renowned historic properties such as Dorchester Collection’s The Beverly Hills Hotel has recently unveiled new bungalows themed after Hollywood legends – previous suites include Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra. The new Marilyn Monroe bungalow has a Chanel No. 5 perfume bar and a library of her films and books that runs a mere $8,500 per night, and the mysterious Howard Hughes aviation-themed bungalow, in the same price point, has received the most interest perhaps because Hughes lived in the bungalows on and off for 30 years. These themed abodes are so popular with guests, and a Charlie Chaplin bungalow was just added at $7,700 per night. 

Around the world, more exotic locations in the Middle East and Africa are as well known for their topography as they are for luxe accommodations that yield a hefty price tag and travel industry buzz, even if you can only dream of staying there. The legendary names from Burj Al Arab Jumeriah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, who offers a custom 24 karat gold iPad for guest staying in one of the popular $10,000 per night Royal Suites, to the Grand Riad at Royal Mansour in Morocco surrounded by almost 20,000 sq. ft. of private gardens for over $43,000 per night, is often booked 3 months in advance by visiting heads of state or an international family. 

For many island escapes, having celebrity clientele adds to the cache and the demand. At Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas two bedroom over water pool residence offers guests a private infinity pool overlooking the lagoon along with glass bottom bathtubs and the option to charter your own private seaplane or yacht. Prices range from just under $5,000 and go up to over $30,000 per night for the Pavilion. 

The villas are used for everything from private dinner parties to a vacation getaway for super models such as Kate Moss along with royalty, sports superstars and rock stars from Great Britain to Russia and Germany who tend to stay up to 2 weeks with up to a year in advance booking. 

One of the most sought-after locations in the world is Laucala Island’s Hilltop Residence (Leading Hotel of the World) in Fiji. This resort within a resort houses the main villa with a lap pool and two spacious guest villas that all come with a private cook, chauffeur, and nanny starting at $45,000 per night. Managing Director, Peter Nilsson personally vets every booking request for the villa which usually is arranged three to five months out for ultra-high net worth individuals from different parts of the world who stay for up to 14 days. 

As for the post-hurricane ravished Caribbean rebuilding is still underway but so are additions. Wymara Resort and Villas in Turks and Caicos has up 9,000 square feet of oceanfront accommodations in Turtle Tail with the areas only swim up platform. Six villas debuted in 2018 and more will be added in 2019 with a starting price of $10,500 per night. “We made a strategic decision to develop a villa product in response to our guests,” said Bruce Maclaren, co-developer and owner of Wymara Resort and Villas. “When we surveyed what was available in Turks + Caicos in terms of a contemporary and sleek Villa product, we discovered there was really no option that would appeal to today’s discerning travelers that seek out great design married with an incredible location. We believe our villas fill that void and we’ve received incredible feedback since their debut in summer 2018.” 

In the luxury market high suite hotel game, the apparent message is: ‘build it and they will come.’ 

The post The High Stakes Market of Expensive Hotel Suites is on the Rise in Beverly Hills and Around the Globe appeared first on Beverly Hills Courier.

Now it seems every high-end brand from Waldorf Astoria to the Montage has opened along the corridor with Nobu in the North, Viceroy in the South, and Four Seasons to the East. 

With all of this new development and construction, the corridor is getting crowded. In 2019 alone, the destination will have seen 10 new hotel openings or expansions and anticipates another seven in 2020. It’s no surprise that international arrivals from private jets are up 17 percent. But with big-name brands branching out to more remote locations, there is plenty of room for all and hotel occupancy is up to 87.8 percent – a steady climb from previous years. To support this huge demand, Los Cabos has dramatically increased the air connectivity from Los Angeles which now represents almost 50 percent of all air routes connecting L.A. with Los Cabos in just a few hours. 

Rodrigo Esponda, Managing Director of Los Cabos Tourism Board, who just opened a new trade office in Century City to keep up with the growing demand, spoke to the Courier about why Los Cabos is a premier luxury travel destination in Mexico. “Los Cabos is the fastest growing tourist destination in Mexico with more than three million tourists visiting every year (40 percent from California). It’s no secret why this number keeps growing year after year. The destination offers a clear differentiation in value versus other locations in terms of experiences, attractions and beautiful geography. And, whether a traveler is interested in a trip focused on nature, adventure, romance, sports, cuisine, complete relaxation or a mix of everything in between, they can find the right trip for them here.” 

Real estate purveyors have shown their belief in the value and growth of the destination as well with investment in commercial development from hotels to villas and office buildings. Here are a few highlights and what not to miss when planning your next visit, upcoming holiday vacation or potential purchase. 

The Corridor 

Located in the Twin Dolphin master community, along with a golf club, Montage Residences, and Maravilla, The Montage is an exceptional new addition to the well-traveled corridor section that connects the towns of Cabo San Lucas to San Jose del Cabo. 

The verdant grounds hold 250 plant species and walkways leading to several main swim-up bar laden pools and the beach area. One of the main perks here is you can actually go into the water and the small bay in front of the property is set up for water sports and snorkeling. Yes, there are a few small boats that will cruise past but the property is blue flag certified so no vendors are allowed to approach you on the beach. 

While there is a public area but guests of the Montage have private cabanas and lounge chairs with full-service drinks, food and even suntan lotion, and a section of ping-pong and other games. There is even a carpet set up to walk down to the shore so you won’t burn your feet or get sandy after a dip in the water. They think of everything and the service is exceptional. 

When you’re feeling peckish, Marea is an all-day restaurant with an ocean view or you can head to the main lobby area to Mezcal where they specialize in the local spirit and tasting menus. If you really love mezcal, be sure to leave time to visit the 40,000 square foot spa for a “mezcal renewal massage” where essential oils mixed with the liquor are used, followed by a drink of the same. 

North of Cabo San Lucas 

Nobu – The eponymous brand from the world’s most famous Japanese chef, has also headed south of the border. The minimalist, spacious and austere resort is located about 30 minutes north of the main town and about 50 minutes from the airport. If you want to play golf and chill by one of the three main pools with a sake cocktail, this is your spot. Naturally, you can dine on prime sushi and even some specialty items with a Latin flair created just for this location such as the short rib mole miso or crunchy lobster tacos. 

The Zen, Miyabi, Sake, and Nobu Suites all come with butler service who can help you book breakfast at Malibu Farm, and all the suites include a wooden Japanese soaking tub and shower room. For VIPs, the bar cart will knock on your door right before sunset to whip up your favorite drink on the house. 

According to Trevor Horwell, Chief Executive Officer Nobu Hospitality, “Our partners at RCD Hotels are very important to us and the decision to go into Cabo was based on our relationship as well having a successful presence in Mexico where we have had two restaurants for over ten years. Cabo is also a prime visitors’ market from the west coast U.S. where we have several restaurants and a hotel presence and many of our customers travel frequently to the region so it naturally makes sense for us to be there.” 

You won’t be completely alone up in this neck of the woods as The Hard Rock Hotel has also opened an all-inclusive branch right next door. But they should really consider opening up even part of the grounds to hotel neighbors, especially if there is a concert in town. Rounding out the offerings, Quivira residences is also nearby with a world- class Jack Nicklaus golf course dubbed the “Pebble Beach” of Cabo. By 2021, the St. Regis will also be adding a hotel and residences to the mix. 

San Jose del Cabo 

Zadún, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve has been swiftly inducted to the discerning Virtuoso portfolio. Situated on the coastal sanctuary of Puerto Los Cabos in San Jose del Cabo, with panoramic Sea of Cortez views, the ground encompasses 87 guest rooms, 28 suites, and 42 villas. The two-story beachfront Grand Reserve Villa, at almost 6,000 square feet, will offer two bedrooms, a kitchen, private pools, outdoor shower, and a butler. 

The property is surrounded by the 27-hole Puerto Los Cabos Golf Course, featuring three courses by legends Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus. Other draws include the spa, with a modern interpretation of a traditional Mexican sweat lodge that aims to cleanse your body, mind, and spirit, and a sound room will offer therapy that resonates through the flooring to facilitate deep meditation.

And, most importantly, there is a Jean- Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment program, with expert naturalists providing educational activities for all ages focusing on the sustainability of the region’s landscape and culture. 

Concepted by Mexico-based architect, Miguel Angel Aragonés, the 194-room Viceroy, also new to this part of town, offers a beachfront pool and bar as part of five on-property dining venues- including the iconic “nest-like” restaurant Nido, and a rooftop bar and restaurant, CieloMar. The ethereal white tones and modern furnishings the brand is synonymous with are alive and well in this region of Cabo. 

East of Cabo 

One of the most talked-about areas in Baja has been the East Cape and the brand new Four Seasons Costa Palmas which offers total seclusion spanning a two-mile stretch on the Sea of Cortez. This location is not for guests who want to party in Cabo, or shop in San Jose (they are both about one hour away), but for a complete emersion in the secluded 100-acre grounds with an organic farm. 

“I fell in love the first time I visited and I swam in the calm, warm Sea of Cortes,” said Jason Grosfeld, CEO of Irongate, real estate, and development firm. “Where else can you find 2 miles of swimmable warm water and the opportunity to create today’s version of an international resort? It just doesn’t exist in North America. The natural attributes of the land and the sea drew me.” 

You will be able to spend all day at the beach indulging in water sports near the marina before retreating to the Tata Harper spa with private villa-style rooms. At night, you’ll want to pick out a fresh catch of the day at Milos restaurant specializing in a bounty of Greek-style seafood.

When the entire resort is completed, there will be a full residential development, golf course, and yacht club with Aman opening their first Mexican resort, Amanvari, in 2020. According to Gosfeld, “The setting and proximity gave us the platform to bring in the world’s leading 5+ star hospitality brand, Four Seasons and Aman, and pair it with an international marina and an unmatched members-only beach and yacht club that will become the heartbeat of Costa Palmas for its members. Our vision is to create a more modern version of the master-planned resort. A resort that marries a refined aesthetic and modern design with a spirit of adventure that touches every person who visits or calls Costa Palmas home.” 

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Maybe it’s the fight-for-the- throne fantasy and romance of so many UNESCO World Heritage Sites and medieval villages. Perhaps it’s the Italian food that can rival Italy (yes, really), or the stretches of picturesque Dalmatian coast. There’s no denying that interest in Croatia shows no signs of slowing down. 

A decade of glorious GOT hype (record-breaking Emmy nods for its last season) has made Dubrovnik a top tourist attraction. But why not avoid the crowds, especially during the summer months? Our approach will have you going far beyond the “King’s Landing” set by not starting your vacation in Dubrovnik and also traveling off-season to other stunning locations. 

If you begin your journey in the northern capital of Zagreb and make your way south to the coastal towns of Sibenik, Trogir, and Zadar, a wealth of cathedrals, architecture, museums, boutiques, and great restaurants await without the throngs of Dubrovnik. As for the weather, you won’t need more than a sweater in the evening unless you plan to hit the holiday markets in December. 

We also recommend going inland to Sinj, a charming mountain town with an equestrian heritage. From Sinj, Krka National Park with its meandering waterfalls, makes for a fascinating day excursion. While these towns and sites are off the beaten path, they offer the same historical significance and wealth of activity – in addition to a few GOT sightings – as the more touristy port locations. 

Zagreb Capital City Culture 

If you begin your trip north in the old-world capital city of Zagreb, the modern Amadria Park Hotel is a great option. The hotel features a full-service fine dining restaurant with its own wine and champagne labels, chic bar and casual café. The property opened at the end of 2018 and offers a great alternative to the more formal Esplanade or well-worn Palace Hotel. 

Gather your bearings with a short stroll down one of the shopping streets leading to the main town square and clock tower which is a popular local meeting spot. Depending on the time of year, this is also ground zero for the Christmas and holiday market stands. Either way, there are vendors with hot or cold wines, local cherry liquor, chocolate confections and large sizzling grills filled with an array of sausages. 

To see more of the city, take a ride up the Zagreb funicular – the world’s shortest – to reach the Dolac open-air farmer’s market and the upper town near St. Mark’s Church; Strossmayer promenade; Stone Gate and Lotrš?ak tower for the canon shoot at noon. 

Pop into Otto & Frank bistro for lunch where you can drink draft beers and nibble on gourmet truffle burgers. They also serve all-day breakfast, including a traditional ham and poached eggs, if the jet-lag has gotten the best of you. 

While there are museums offering everything from contemporary works to arts and crafts, there is none more unusual than the quirky Museum of Broken Relationships. If that sounds too depressing, try the Museum of Mushrooms where you can flex your gastronomic knowledge to learn all about rare fungi. 

For a panoramic view of the city, head to the 360 ? Observation Deck which overlooks landmarks such as the spiraling towers of the Zagreb Cathedral which is the tallest building in town. If you’d like to go a bit farther afield, continue your tour through the lower town to the Botanical Gardens or the Zoo.

Zagreb is very walkable and transportation is easy with trams. A few things to help you save time, money and navigating: 

Zagreb Card, http://zagrebcard.com/?lang=en 

Zagreb Be There app http://www.betherezagreb.com. 

Unique Zadar 

From Zagreb, it’s fairly easy to rent a car and drive three hours to the seaside town of Zadar. 

Zadar’s city walls are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s an easy walk from the walls to the scenic boat harbor. Check into the old-world charm of hotel Bastion. Its rooftop penthouse suite features a Jacuzzi with a view. Visit http://www.hotelbastion.hr/ 

Be sure to have lunch or dinner at Foša. Take a seat inside or on the scenic terrace located on the tip of a historic port overlooking the island of Ugljan. This is widely-regarded as one of the best restaurants in the country. The menu features a mix of local Croatian seafood specialties and Mediterranean dishes including Bacala which is a dried and salted cod fish. It’s possible to make an entire meal out of the olive oil ‘flight’ with four different versions for bread dipping, along with the local wines featuring a merlot and the indigenous white marastina grape from the Dalmatian coast. Maraschino cherry liquor is another local treat. 

After lunch, take a stroll along the waterfront to visit a few unique art installations. Along the shore, notice a set of descending stone steps by artist Nikola Baši? called Organ of the Sea. This ingenious work is comprised of 35 different pipes of varying lengths under the water. The stairs emit a louder sound with each oncoming wave, creating a melodic cacophony that is hauntingly beautiful. 

Walk near Zadar’s planetarium installation and Roman square at dusk. There’s a slightly sinister feel to some of the dark passageways and corridors around by the church and museum. Beware, though. It’s easy to get lost. There’s a reason why filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock “the master of suspense” loved Zadar. 

A Jaunt to Trogir 

A two-hour drive from Zadar, Trogir lies across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. It’s yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for its Venetian architecture, among other attractions. With cobblestone streets, a harbor filled with fishing boats, as well as cathedrals, and palaces, this is a mini-Dubrovnik. It’s also “Qarth” from “Game of Thrones” so it’s a win-win for HBO fans.
The city is easy to navigate on foot. One of our favorite walks is from the main church to lunch at Italian seafood-themed restaurant Calebotta, for the delicious grilled squid. After lunch, take a short 30-minute drive farther south to Split. 

Split by the Sea and Diocletian’s Palace 

Split has a convenient airport, so you can depart from Croatia from there. Or, simply return back to Zagreb via a more inland route. If you do decide to stay in Split, check into the coastal view hotel Cornaro with its rooftop panorama bar featuring stunning views of the city. This hotel is also just steps from the National Theatre and promenade. Take an easy stroll down to the water past high-end shops and cafes. Meander along the small stone walkways around the rectangular Roman emperor Diocletian’s Palace and octagonal-shaped Cathedral that lead to small boutiques, woodcrafters and cheese and wine shops. Be sure to seek out Sigmund Freud’s house on your rambling route. If you’re lucky, you may stumble upon a four tenors impromptu concert in an open-air circular dome. 

For more information visit 

https://visitsplit.com/en/1/welcome-to-split. 

http://www.cornarohotel.com. 

On the way back from Split, take a city tour of nearby Sinj. The destination is a must-see for equestrian buffs. For more than 300 years, on the first Sunday in August, a colorful knights’ tournament and parade known as Alka of the Sinji take place. Learn more about the town’s celebration of defense from the Ottoman conquerors when you visit the Alkar Palace and Museum of the Alka of Sinj. 

The main part of Sinj is very walkable, with its museums and cathedral. A new commercial Heritage hotel will open later in 2019. For now, the town is reminiscent of a page out of a medieval fairy tale. 

On the outskirts of town, a new restaurant on a small farm serves one of the best versions of traditional Croatian fare in the entire country. Kod Luke has a homey, family-style feel, but incorporates sophisticated presentations and techniques. Chef Luka Kirzanac, makes wood- fired meats, crispy fry bread, meat stuffed in cabbage or wrapped with bacon, whipped potato balls, crepes and other specialties paired with local wines.
Visit  http://www.npkrka.hr/en/

http://www.visitsinj.com/en 

Krka National Park and Šibenik 

Head farther inland and north to the nearly 70 miles and over 1,000 plant species that encompasses Krka National Park at the basin of the Krka River. Beautiful waterfalls, a Roman aqueduct and 19th-century watermills await. 

Depart the park and head to the fortified UNESCO World Heritage town of Šibenik for the perfect ending to this route. Another charming waterside town, highlights include the Cathedral of St. James and its baptistery that dates back to 1440. Just across the square is the perfect place to savor one last Mediterranean-Croatian meal. Gradska vije?nica specializes in freshly-caught bronzino and risotto, served under the Venetian-style arches. 

Indeed. GOT might be gone, but there is still plenty to explore in Croatia. 

For more information visit 

http://www.sibenik-info.hr/turi-sticke-zajednice-sibensko-kninske-zupanije/ 

For more information, visit: http://croatia.hr 

Getting there: 

Instead of flying through another European capital city for your inevitable layover (no direct flights from Los Angeles), fly on Turkish Airways to Istanbul for a few days and then head directly to Zagreb. Many of the planes have been upgraded, along with the business and first- class airport lounges. 

https://www.turkishairlines.com/ 

If you do decide to go in December for the holiday markets: 

• Advent on European Square in Zagreb (Dec. 1, 2019 – Jan. 6, 2020) – pedestrian zone in the very heart of the city offers a vivacious Advent event: souvenir and Christmas decorations market, a selection of food and beverages and music events in the evening. 

• Advent Wreath (Dec, 1,.2019 – Jan. 6, 2020) – the traditional Christmas Fair will take place during Advent in the streets surrounding the Jela?i? Square. 

• Advent on Zrinjevac (Dec. 1, 2019 – Jan. 6, 2020) – through the alley of plane trees, you will reach the old music pavilion, which will welcome you in its Christmas, fairy-tale look and leave you breathless. 

• Ice park (Dec. 1, 2019 – Jan. 6, 2020) – Christmas fairy tale awaits you in one of the most beautiful Zagreb’s parks, with an ice skating rink, selected food and beverages, as well as music events. 

• Fooling around (Dec. 1, 2019 – Jan. 6, 2020) – Strossmayer square in the heart of Zagreb, between Zrinjevac and Tomislav square is becoming a colorful vivid canvas. Discover entertainment, food, magic, dreams and fun. 

• Advent in Maksimir (Dec. 1, 2019 – Jan. 6, 2020) – the rich variety of quality educational and fun programs for children, along with programs and a selection of offers for grown-ups, for all visitors who wish to enjoy the magic of Advent season with their kids. 

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