Luxury Hotels|Restaurants|Resorts
It’s 6pm. Two sleepy pairs of legs are heading to the 20th floor of a building in the centre of Reykjavík. We walk into an empty foyer surprisingly devoid of the hurry-home hussle of workers sharing the tower. I notice, happily, that Icelanders are rather good at clocking-off on time. The lift pings our arrival and we’re greeted by Anni, our warm and welcoming Tower Suites concierge who shows us to our room – one of 8 suites.
We were ready to give up. And I am oh-so-pleased we didn’t. If we had, we’d have missed one of the most spectacular sights we’d ever seen. It’s giving me goosebumps just thinking about it (and no, I’m not just talking about the cold!).
“Why wouldst thou leave calm Hartwell’s green abode...Apician table and Horatian Ode?”
Lord Byron referring to Louis XVIII’s departure from Hartwell House.
Owned by the National Trust, Hartwell House is an exceptional opportunity to stay in a magnificent and eccentrically decorated English stately home in Buckinghamshire. Set in 90 acres of verdantly landscaped garden, just 40 miles from London, it personifies a style and character unique to Jacobean (and Georgian) country houses.
If Imagination had a home, Iceland would be it.
If you’ve ever fancied hosting a fabulous party on a superyacht, why not turn your wedding into something all your guests will remember?
A wedding on a yacht can be a sublime way of celebrating that all-important day. The right yacht can easily accommodate luxury catering facilities, bars, dining areas and cloakrooms for up to 200 guests. Including seated dinner, different dance floors, pools and a jacuzzi.
Maybe the long, rather forgettable name of Bad Kleinkirchheim puts people off visiting which surely contributes to this resort being quieter than you would expect for a village in an extremely picturesque valley. The locals simply call it ‘BKK’. The village is also long as it follows the wide valley bottom but, along the way, it has more attractions than most resorts that make it a year-round holiday destination.
I was determined to immerse myself in Japanese modernity.
I didn’t sadly get to visit the gadgets and gimmicks of Akihabara, famous for its many electronics shops but I went instead to Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Here young girls, dressed up as rebel schoolgirls with their ties at half-mast, dream of being snapped up as models. Both kitsch and cute as they acted out their fantasy of perfection for the Instagram age.
Christmas and New Year are all about tradition from the religious aspects leading through to two occasions when memorable dinners are de rigueur. For these festivities, you can justify exploring beyond the normal choices. For me, the best wines are those fresh discoveries; they add new, pleasurable and exciting experiences to the dinners.
Interview With Jeff Hadeed Managing Partner South Point Hotel Antigua.
South Point is a privately owned all suite boutique hotel that enjoys an exclusive waterfront location next to Antigua Yacht Club in the heart of English Harbour in Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Follow the Swiss; they know the best places to stay for a holiday and they do not have to go far; within sight of Mont Blanc is Conge in Italy’s Aosta Valley. They jointly account for the most visitors to this idyllic village of some 1,500 inhabitants.
Conge is just over 1,500 metres above sea level on a plateau at the confluence of four valleys. From our second hotel’s suite we could steal a glimpse of the snow covered summit of Mont Blanc between the mountains and from the other window; we had an uninterrupted view across the National Park to the Paradis glacier.
