The click clacking of heels on the cobbled streets tingles your senses. The background rumble of water taxis sets the stage for your Venetian experience, a melange of excitement and and a whirl of confusion – it’s almost impolite not to get lost in Venice. To the naked eye, Venice is Italian. The Venetians speak […]
Athenaeum, London. Blissfully British.
Throw a Coutts card over your shoulder in London and you won’t have any trouble securing a five-star boudoir, complete with brass door knobs and chocolates on your pillow, especially in Mayfair. The affluent beating heart of the city. But is that what you want? What distinguishes the garish from the graceful? The ostentatious from […]
Coco Collection, Mesmerising Maldives
Even for a seasoned flyer, approaching the primary Maldivian island of Male instils a sense of foreboding, a rustling in the gut that sends the brain into frenzy. Will he make the runway or hurtle off the end? Slamming into what arguably could be one of the most beautiful green seas I’ve ever seen. The […]
Craving The Crane Resort, Barbados
Albert has been coming to the Crane for over 30 years. He is almost 80 years of age and he doesn’t look a day over 60 by the way, must be the great banana bread and rum. He journeys to the Crane every day, and stays for hours, pottering along the world famous Crane beach, […]
Barbados’ Blissful Beach Houses at the Crane Resort
Crane resort’s tag line is ‘resort living, perfected’. A phenomenon rarely seen in the hotel industry, and yet, here it works, with the latest offering, the Beach Houses, an idyllic haven. Established in 1887, the Crane defies space and gravity with its ever-expanding portfolio. Erosion of the east coast has been ongoing for centuries, 99% […]
Monastero Santa Rosa, Bay of Salerno. Discreet Indiscretion.
As indiscretions go, my visit to the confessional in Monastero Santa Rosa was, shall we say, not quite a full disclosure. Latent guilt weighed heavily on my mind, though rich cake and sweet prossecco are repeatable offenders. It’s difficult to resist temptation in such angelic surroundings. My penance you ask? 50 laps of the azure […]
Palazzo Avino, Amalfi Coast. Mythical, Magical.
Palazzo Avino (formerly Palazzo Sasso) is a restored 12th century architectural marvel. Once built to be a palace it still serves its name well, the darling of the romantic village of Ravello, I’d call it the Narnia of the Amalfi Coast. Just as the Chronicles of Narnia are set in a fictional realm, a fantasy […]
Altapura, Val Thorens – Ski Palace Perfection
You’ve heard of a ‘ski palace’, right? Me neither. Not until I ascended into the clouds surrounding Val Thorens and was greeted by the five star Altapura hotel. At a heady altitude of 2300m, it could have been the lack of oxygen, or the sheer elegance of the hotel, hard to say – but I […]
Koh I Nor, Val Thorens – Sparkling Luxury
Val Thorens, is “Anti-Bling Luxury” or so the tourist board says; they have a point. Even though the newest hotel on the block is named after a 105.6 carat diamond, the feeling is still of ‘do what you like, as you like, when you like’. Pretention dissipates and that in itself is a promising start […]
The Merrion Hotel, Dublin. Hidden Treasure, Elegant Delight.
Merrion Square is the epitome of Georgian Dublin. Wandering around, it is hard to believe that around 250 years ago the area was farmland on the edge of Dublin city. A far cry from the plush, leafy suburbia that it is today. As a child, Oscar Wilde lived at No 1 where rumour has it […]