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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

In the old days they were smartly build wooden fishing installations battling with the fierce sea along the coast of Abruzzo. Nowadays these trabocchi are the most charming seafood restaurants in Italy. They look a bit alien with the silhouette of a giant crab walking on its thin, fragile stilts along the shores of the Adriatic coast. Most tourists in a hurry will barely notice them. Others travel from far away just to come and eat here. Tell any Italian that you plan to have some frutti di mare on a trabocco, and you are guaranteed to get many wide smiles. Read more »

London likes to keep fit, well rested and in shape these days. In anticipation of the 2012 Olympics, new hotels and spas are popping up all over the UK capital. 2011 saw the opening of the Corinthia hotel in Whitehall and it’s impressive four-floor Espa Life spa and gym. This grand old building was previously the Ministry of Defence HQ and has now been revamped by GA Design. The spa is sumptuously kitted out with calacatta and black marble, tiled hammam-style steam rooms and a curious swimming pool – the lighting around it works so that movement in the water is reflected on the ceiling. Read more »

The most promising chef in Europe might have Viking blood and long hair but he is nothing but a sheep in wolf’s clothing. To demonstrate, the 28-year old Magnus Nilsson of restaurant Faviken puts on his furry wolf’s coat before he heads out in the freezing cold of North-Sweden. Temperatures of minus 30C won’t stop this young chef or his kitchen team to go out foraging. Underneath meters of thick snow they look for fresh juniper branches, still green and aromatic and burried under the icy landscape of Jamtland. We’re talking mid-winter when the sun barely is seen above the horizon and subzero temperatures that make you quickly head for a warm place, preferably next to a roaring fire. Read more »

Although the apartment hotel STAY is still our number one in Copenhagen – think afordable huge, lofty rooms with lots of space and smart, Danish design – we have to mention the first design hotel in the world. To be specific, it’s room 606 of the Radisson Blu Royal in Copenhagen that drew our attention. Forget Schrager and Starck as the pioneers of design hotels. It was good old Arne Jacobsen who created in 1960 the first design hotel avant la lettre. The hotel was integrated in the SAS House, built for the Scandinavian Airlines System. Only the full name of SAS makes you think back to those glamorous days of being stylishly up in the air. Read more »

Barely eighty years ago Spitsbergen was the Arctic end of Europe where only the polar bear reigned supreme. A century later, he shares his icy empire with a town of seasoned Norwegians and the rare tourist who ventures this far north. The Svalbard archipelago, of which the largest island is Spitsbergen, lies midway between Norway and the North Pole. Any traveller looking for Arctic sensations will easily find them here (just one comfortable SAS flight away from Oslo or Tromsø). Everyone reaches 74° north, but you have to be a bit more intrepid to reach 81° latitude. Read more »

Why stay in a small hotel room when you can have a spacious, serviced apartment or loft for the same price? Stay is a brand new hotel concept located on the Island Brygge, a fast developing residential area, just a five minutes drive from the centre of Copenhagen. And one a stone’s throw from the buzzy meat packing district. Stay offers a total of 193 apartments with 15 different layouts, ranging from a one bedroom 90 m2 to an Atelier XL of almost 150 m2. The design is Scandinavian minimalism with furniture from quality Danish brands. Read more »

So you are bored of skiing in the Alps? Tired of pistes that are black of thousands kamikaze skiers populating them? You long for virgin snow and wild sceneries? Look no further than 70° North, where you can ski from summit to sea. All it takes is to book a room in the extremely cosy Lyngen Lodge owned by the Englishman Graham Austick and his Norwegian partner. Graham invites his guests to climb 1500-meter high mountains so they can ski down in extremely fluffy and pure snow. Read more »

Life can be sweet, especially if you live in Antwerp and you swing by restaurant Het Gebaar owned by top-patissier Roger Van Damme. To set the mood, the restaurant looks like a gingerbread house found in the small botanical garden in the city centre of Antwerp. Van Damme takes deserts and sweet dishes to a new level and got rewarded for this with a first Michelin star in November 2010. This young chef has also a soft spot for Japan. It all began when he first visited Tokyo for a culinary get-together with ex-El Bulli chefs from around the world. Read more »

Does the real Italian deal still exist? Si, si! You just need to pack your bags and head to the direction of unknown and Mafia reputated West-Sicily to board an aliscafo that will whisk you away from one charming island to another. Welcome to the Isole Egadi, three minuscule freckles in the sun-tanned face of the South of Italy. So far, only local Italians who fill up the island in July and August have discovered these three Mediterranean pearls. Read more »

Board now the most stylish, ultra-slick boat in the world. Maybe you don’t have the cash to buy one of these handcrafted and tailor-made beauties, but for a modest 5700 euro a day, you can rent a Wally in the Med. We must admit, it’s a hard choice between all those streamlined beauties. First there is the 106′ ” WALLY B”, sailing around the Western Mediterranean like Sardinia, Cote d’Azur, Corsica and Southern Italy. This beautiful sailing and motoryacht can host 6 guests and has a crew of 5 (skipper, deck hand, engineer, cook and stewardess). Read more »

“I am a sheep in wolf’s clothes”, says Vesa Junttila, artist, car lover and quaint habitue who hangs around in Panimo Barin Saariselkä, a small, snow-covered village in Finish Lapland. Besides skiing or sledging trough empty ice-landscapes, people travel here to dig gold and trade them in Panimo bar for beer, food and even lodging. Even the guys at Morgan Stanley think it’s great. Now, do I still hear someone complaining about not travelling because of recession? Just find some gold in the rivers of Finish Lapland and enjoy the Sami hospitality until you run out of gold. When you do, just dig some more. Dig it? Read more »

Classe Touriste goes globelicious. Ever dreamed of travelling around the world? Almost no limits, no frontiers. Just one ticket. It’s easy as 1,2,3. Book a round the world ticket with oneworld and fly, just like me, to anywhere you want. Our RTW trip will take us to Finish Lapland, Helsinki, Miami, Cayman Islands, Mexico City, Riviera Maya, Vancouver, Whistler, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Taipei, Manila en some lost island in the Philippines. Read more »