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The Datai Langkawi: leafy Malay playground
My last time here was as a sulky teenager: back then, the Datai, easily Langkawi’s crowning hotel jewel, was firmly out of reach as an...
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The Shinmonzen: Kyoto’s can-do attitude
I need to start this anonymous review with a spoiler alert: the Shinmonzen in Kyoto is one of the best hotels I’ve experienced. In fact, it was so...
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Hollywood dream factories: LA’s legendary hotels
Los Angeles’ volume of high-wattage personalities makes it flashier than a premiere’s photography pen. However, some places are so legendary – even...
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Seeking paradise with Soneva hotels’ founders
Sonu Shivdasani and his wife Eva Malmström are a match made in heaven. Or at least a match that made heaven, having founded Soneva hotels back in...
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Byron Bay: where hinterland meets hedonism
Life in Byron is uncomplicated. Uncomplicated, but sprinkled with an ineffable magic, like your favourite cupcake. It’s barefoot beach meditation,...
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Loved up and away: the best hotels for Valentine’s Day
Whether you’re app-cruising through cuffing season, taking those tentative steps into serious relationshipping, put a ring on them long ago, or...
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A winter guide to Cornwall
Cornwall in the summer is not a hard sell – there’s golden sands, sun-warmed sea and they’re serious about ice cream. In spring, hedgerows heave...
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Five English country manors to go wild in
Even if you haven’t seen the divisive bit of feverish, aughts-set cinematic pomp that is Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, you may have seen TikToks of...
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Fjord-ing address: the best Scandinavian weekend city breaks
Such is the new-you power of the Nordics, even a short Scandinavian city break will see you transformed: cardamom bun in one hand, bike handlebar...
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Far and away: the most remote luxury hotels in the world
So you need to disappear. Maybe the Monday morning gridlock’s finally ground you down, maybe Interpol are on your tail – we won’t ask too many...
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Where to stay in 2024
Sure, your new year’s resolution could be to quit one of your naughtier habits or schlep down to the gym – or you could just stay resolved to keep...
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The essential New York shopping guide from the editors who know
On screen, shopping in New York is presented as a national sport — thanks to Sex and the City, when Carrie Bradshaw was often seen balancing...
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Hotel Motto: oh, Vienna
We’ve been in Vienna a mere three hours when I think I spy our hotel on the wall of the city’s most popular art gallery. Excitedly we scrutinise...
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10 of the best Christmas markets in Europe for 2023
As the nights get longer and the mornings frostier, cities in Europe are once again set to get tipsy on mulled wine and festooned with fairy...
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Palazzo Luce: Italian art and soul
I realise, standing under a sky-high shower looking through a polished brass door back into our bedroom, what it is to stay at Lecce hideaway...
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Flight-free travel with Eurostar
Eurostar, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways. For one, a generous luggage allowance frees your shopping hauls from the tyranny of...
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A weekend guide to Margate
Below ground in Margate is the mysterious Shell Grotto, a series of chalk-walled salons adorned with millions of seashells that’s getting on for...
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Healer’s choice: the best luxury spa hotels in the UK
The formula for a first-class spa hotel is simple enough: bespoke treatments plus boutique brands and somewhere warm and bubbly to soak in. Add a...
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Pipe dreams: a history of Malibu surf culture
It’s all too easy to race through Malibu if you don’t know what you’re looking for. The beach city occupies a long and absurdly thin wedge of land,...
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The world’s best winter honeymoon destinations
Just because you’ve tied the knot over the colder months doesn’t mean your post-nuptial getaway has to be a frosty affair. From holing up in a...
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City of the surreal: a love letter to Cartagena
I followed the green parrot down Calle de la Inquisición and into Plaza Bolívar. It sat smartly on the shoulder of a stern-looking elderly woman...
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Let it snow: the best luxury ski hotels in the US
As the mercury drops and the slopes get their winter coats on, we look at the US resorts, east and west, where you’ll want to kit up this season....
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Mirabó de Valldemossa: Balearic bliss
We pass the centuries-old capital, and drive through flatlands where old windmills are a souvenir from this Balearic island’s past. Rising up into...
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Villa La Coste: la vie en rosè
After a particularly hilarious Uber ride from Marseille airport – one that involved getting lost down a dirt road in the woods during a storm (with...
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Tinsel towns: the best Christmas city breaks in Europe
Yep, it’ll soon be the time of year again to dig out that Christmas jumper, dust off your baubles, and deep dive into some serious seasonal spirit....