Travel

For decades, the alpine town of Megève has quietly maintained its position as one of France's most elegant ski resorts. Less ostentatious than Courchevel but no less chic, it's a destination that balances heritage and sophistication, with cobbled streets, horse-drawn carriages, and views that frame Mont Blanc like a painting. While winter remains its high season, Megève is increasingly a year-round destination, with plenty to offer even after the snow begins to melt.

Seeking a respite from the everyday drizzle of London, we decided that only a weekend in Paris, ensconced in the sybaritic embrace of a Sweett Apartment, would lift us out of the doldrums. Thus, we crossed the Channel, lured by the siren call of café life and the promise of existential wellness, Parisian-style.

I mention the Maldives and already you are conjuring up a far away paradise, powder white sandy beaches, crystal clear turquoise sea and the bluest of blue skies you have ever set your eyes on. Yes certainly it is paradise but what sets the Sun Siyam resort group apart from the others is the staff. The minute you arrive the staff greet you with the words “welcome home”, well if your home is heaven you have returned. 

I’VE embarked on a fair few snowboarding holidays in winters past, and they’ve been either tight-budget affairs or entailed trying to arrange every part of it myself and cutting corners where I could – neither ideal for when you just want to let your hair down and enjoy the slopes of a long weekend. 

On this four-day trip to Avoriaz, France, however, my every whim and worry were taken care of from start to finish, and in some style, meaning the bar is now raised forever.

An island perfectly suited to a geologist, a poet or indeed an artist! For Lanzarote has such an awe-inspiring setting: dramatic, expansive, picturesque and welcoming. This island of cacti and volcanoes, though highly individual, summoned to me the glories of other lands. The long sweeping landscape, punctuated with the occasional finca, evoked the beautiful expanse of Andalusia. The straight, low and narrow back streets of habitation with those of Colombia. The aridity and jagged landscape of the Sahara with which it is globally parallel.

Kris Griffiths reports on an extraordinary hotel in northern Michigan and its symbiotic relationship with a 1980 cult film, and how he’s waited over 30 years to visit – the same weekend hundreds of other fans of the film annually do too…
 

If it’s Tuesday, it must be the Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic in Cannes. After a summer that felt like a blur—over ten destinations ticked off, including the usual escapades with adventure car tours—this iconic hotel was a fitting crescendo. The Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic is not just a stay; it’s an experience. So, once more unto the breach.

What fun sometimes merely to fly and flop. To be just 20 minutes from a small airport like Olbia. To see out over a wide expanse and lie under the great globe of unblemished sky that’s simply serene. To witness the mesmerically azure blue sea along miles upon miles of untrammelled coastline.

Flock to this Eternal City, this ‘urbs sacra’ for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, the first ordinary jubilee since the Great Jubilee of 2000. Celebrate a special year of grace as the jubilee begins just before Christmas to end on the Epiphany next year. For the papacy gives the Jubilee a spiritual meaning in granting the remission of the temporal punishment of sins for all pilgrims who visit Rome during this specific year. The most exciting and well-known rite is the opening of the Holy Door (open only during the jubilee year): a symbolic re-enactment of the opening of the gates of Heaven.

My son Ben and I are self-proclaimed water adventurers, happiest when zipping across the waves on powerful motorised watercraft – better known as WaveRunners. Nothing beats the adrenaline rush of carving through water at high speed, and we’re always looking for new thrills.