Is the fate of many unique, virtually abandoned villages in the unknown corner of Abruzzo sealed? Not if Swedish-Italian millionaire Daniele Kihlgren can help it. In 1999, a solitary motorbike trip proved to be a revelation for this modern-day idealist. By chance, he stumbled upon the almost-deserted hilltop village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio in the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park in the Apennines. He was struck speechless, not only by the outstanding beauty of the setting, but also because almost everything was untouched. Read more »

Meet the M/Y Legend, the world’s first mega yacht built to venture into the globe’s coldest, farthest-flung corners. With her 77 meters and gadgets like a mini-submarine, snow scooters, and a Eurocopter, she’s the ultimate way to explore waters that are tricky to reach even with expedition ships. During an endless, soft pink summer night when the sun never sets, with a view of Mount Français, the highest mountain in the Antarctic Peninsula, and a group of killer whales in the distance, I raise my glass of crisp Sauvignon Blanc to being here in one of the most hard to reach regions on the planet. Read more »

Our expedition leader Johan Väisänen has the looks of a Viking with the vigour of Ben Hur. The latter also refers to the sled on which he skilfully balances while zipping through a cold and silent, white landscape. Johan is a modern charioteer, with the only difference that the carriage is a wooden sleigh pulled forward by six hyperkinetic husky dogs. Read more »

Step with an open mind into one of the most closed and unknown countries in the world. North Korea is not only wonderfully interesting, but also surprisingly accessible. In 2013, the curious traveller who wants to experience one of the last Communist dynasties should book a ticket to Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) aka North Korea. Exclusive travel is an understatement here because less than 5000 western tourists visit this little known Asian country annually. If you are the kind of traveller who likes to come home with original stories and photos that nobody else could have taken then put this destination high on your hotlist. We answer five questions on how to do it. Read more »

In dreamy Montana, heaven knows no end. This quiet corner of America’s Northwest is the territory of America’s last, genuine cowboys. Montana is also famous for its Big Sky, endless and ever changing. The best way to experience this state is to stay in comfortable guest ranches like Triple Creek Ranch, owned by Craig Barrett, the former CEO of the American IT company Intel. Read more »

On the skis in the morning, in the afternoon some serious shopping and when evening comes, relaxing with a Spritz or Hugo in a cosmopolitan bar. Why stay in a boring and artificial resort if you can be in Innsbruck, the urban ski mekka of the European Alps? Every visit to Innsbruck really should start (and end) in the 360° bar. Order one of the favourite cocktails of this region, the Italian Venetziano (aka Spritz) made with Aperol and prosecco and enjoy the view over the city surrounded by snowy mountaintops. Read more »

I am wearing three pairs of socks, two thermals, three shirts, a sweater and an expedition jacket, but I am still freezing. The arctic wind slashes against my face as we ride east on qamutiks, or komatiks, authentic Inuit wooden sledges pulled by snow scooters, to base camp. For five hours our small group swishes over the frozen ice of Eclipse Sound and along the shores of the majestic Sirmilik National Park, part of Baffin Island. I am burring my head deep into the warmth of my fluffy but colossal parka, hiding from the icy wind. Read more »

Bet that Shackleton and Amundsen would never have dreamed of this. Fly the Drake and cruise Antarctica. Yes you heard it right, skip the feared Drake Passage and go directly to the White Continent. Until recently, only scientists and researchers used the back door to get into Antarctica. Not by ship, but flying from Chile. Why sail across the Drake if in just three hours you can be standing with both feet on the Last Continent, safe and well.  Read more »

Check into the enigmatic and historic 800 year old Jagdschloss Hotel of Count Stolberg-Stolberg and discover Kühtai, a tranquil skiing village high in the mountains of Austrian Tyrol. When Franz Joseph I, the former Austrian Emperor and husband of the captivating empress Sisi, came here to hunt deer and chamois, he had no idea that his beloved Kühtai would one day be one of the most charming ski resorts in the Alps. Nevertheless, until now Kühtai has remained a closely guarded secret. Read more »

What was once a family-run guesthouse hidden in a simple building has three years ago been transformed into one of the most talked about design hotels in the Alps. Standing in front of Hotel Wiesergut it seems almost inconceivable that a 14^th century building is hidden inside the tightly modern architecture. It’s also hard to believe that the stylish owners, Martina and Sepp Kröll, were once farmers, and actually still are. Sepp still has his cows alongside the alm high up on the mountain. Read more »

The best way to explore a vast and almost inaccessible national park in Alaska is to hop on a bush plane and fly along. My rendezvous with the wilderness is somewhere in a forgotten corner of Alaska, around six in the evening. That is, as long as the weather holds. It’s the end of June and the sun never sets in the evening. “Park alongside the log cabin and wait, but stay away from the stretch of ground beside the car park.” were the instructions in the email. I am in tiny Chitina, population 150 people. Read more »

What is the result when an Asian country tries to manage the tourism industry by charging a fair amount of entry tax to the adventurous traveller? Plus when it wants to keep far away from the madding backpacking crowds? Take 20.000 visitors a year and mix it with a 100% Buddhist population in a landlocked country with dreamy landscapes that will tantalize every serious travelista. Ok, you have to have a certain budget to get in. But who wouldn’t pay a bit more for a destination where the happiest people in the world live, where chilli peppers are eaten as a vegetable rather than a spice and where the beer, called Red Panda, is devilish tasty? Read more »

When we are not on the road or travelling for our job, we are at home in Antwerp. One of the best parts of being home is that you can cook your own food, eat your own breakfast or dinner. When you want, what you want. Recently we got an assignment from Food & Wine Magazine to cook 10 easy & quick recipes from Grace Parisi and shoot the result.These 10 recipes are very straightforward and not complicated. They don’t break the bank and they are great for during the week or even when you are having friends over. Read more »

Slow Food is above all linked with its charismatic founder, Carlo Petrini, but from the very beginning, Vito Puglia equally pulled his weight. Twenty years on, this true pioneer doesn’t reside in a busy head office in northern Italy, but under an olive tree at his exceptional restaurant Perbacco in southern Italy. Only ‘noses’ and insiders know where it is. This restaurant is the playground of Vito Puglia, born and raised in Cilento, a little known region of southern Italy. Vito grew up to become one of the first pioneers and founders of the Slow Food movement. Read more »

Why go to an ordinary restaurant if you can taste the real Italian cuisine presented by a proper Mamma at her home? Thanks to the Home Food project every traveller to the land of la dolce vita can now experience a real, Italian evening in the company of a real, Italian famiglia. You can do just like us and pick any location in Italy, whether it is a town or even on the countryside and see if there is a mamma, a cesarina, willing to cook for you. Our Home Food experience is with Leda di Timoteo and her husband in the charming town of Sulmona in the hinterland of Abruzzo. Read more »

Amangiri is an ode to the mysterious rock formations of southern Utah and the ancient Navajo culture. An enclave of luxury and style in America’s most dramatic desert landscape. Take one of the world’s most influential and eccentric hoteliers, bring him together with several prominent American architects and drop them into the magical moonscape of immense rock formations, mesas and rolling hills somewhere deep in southern Utah.

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Until very recently a no-go destination for many travellers, Burma aka Myanmar has now become an absolute favourite. With endearing nicknames such as the ‘golden land’ or ‘land of the smile’, everybody wants to go now. Who wouldn’t want to visit a country where until very recently time literally and figuratively stood still, cut off from the rest of the world? Read more »

Escape Stockholm and get away from the city to taste the real Nordic food at David at Home. The Swedish chef David Enmark was tired of working in big kitchens and decided it was time to go back home. His house is located on Tranholmen, a quiet island with no cars where only 300 people live permanently. Read more »

What better to escape the winter, the cold humidity and a hectic life than venturing into the deep Sahara of Morocco? Spend some unforgettable evenings with the Touareg nomads, also known as “les hommes bleus” and be surrounding by nothing else than the endless dunes of this grand desert.  Read more »

After two years of building, Amanzo’e opened in August 2012 on a huge plot of land along the eastern coast of the Peloponnese. It is near the coastal town of Porto Heli and only a boat ride away from the jet set islands of Spetses and Hydra. When in 2006 Adrian Zecha was taken to this spot, the hilltop of Aghios Panteleimonas, he said, “This is an Aman site.”  Read more »