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 »

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 »

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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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 »

For extreme close encounters with impressive silverback gorillas, you have to travel to the magnificent Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. Sissies better stay home, because gorillas now and then like close. Very close. Sometimes you can almost feel their breath when they are standing right in front of you, looking inquisitively into your face. 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 »

Voted as the happiest place in the world, Vanuatu might be the Pacific’s best-kept secret. Here, the ocean is blue, the beaches are white and empty and the smiles of the Ni-Van are big and plentiful. The greatest plus of these 83 islands that make up Vanuatu is that it offers a mix of comfortable to even luxury lodging and an authentic and fascinating culture. After climbing active volcanoes or visiting custom villages it’s time for extreme relaxation in one of the luxury resorts. Read more »

Pack your bags (not more than 20 kg please and no Manolo or Gucci needed anyway), hop on a plane for half a day and embark on a trip of a lifetime. Final destination is Botswana where the mighty lions roar louder, the safari camps are more comfy and the views are more va va voom. If you need a helping hand to select one or two camps out of the numerous luxury options, then follow our advice and be a happy camper. Read more »