Destinations

KwaZulu-Natal is one of South Africa’s most underrated and undiscovered destinations, especially given its wide range of highlights all within easy driving distance of one another.  In just 10 – 14 days you can combine world class hiking, rich and diverse culture, delicious local cuisine (think Durban curries and bunny chows), a dramatic, emotive history

The table at Scorpios that appears on your screen when you search is not the table worth having. The table worth having at Scorpios does not appear on any screen. As CEO of Concierge Unique, I want to be clear about what I mean by this, because it sounds like the kind of thing people

Dubai is a city that is seemingly synonymous with luxury. It’s a city where even the police force owns a Bugatti Veyron, and one where the acceleration of wealth is like nowhere else. It’s hard to imagine that in 1968 there were only 13 registered motor vehicles in the entire emirate of Dubai. Today, things

There’s a specific day every November when it tips over. Not a date you can mark on a calendar – more a feeling. The clocks have gone back, the heating’s come on, and somewhere around the third consecutive grey afternoon you start doing the maths on how many more weeks of this there are. Quite a

Almost anyone who’s been to the Lake District will rave about the destination as one of the most beautiful corners of the UK. This UNESCO World Heritage Site enjoys repeat visits from those who know the area well, and regularly hosts Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, school trips, day trippers and more. Using UK demographic models,

In an age when many cruise ships resemble floating cities, Windstar Cruises offers an elegant alternative: intimate yachts designed for a more personal way to explore the world. Carrying between 150 and 350 guests, Windstar’s fleet delivers immersive, authentic experiences with exceptional service. As the cruise line’s motto promises, sailing with Windstar is 180 Degrees from

There is a version of the private chef experience in Mykonos that goes like this. Someone books a villa. The villa description mentions that a chef is available. A chef arrives. Food is produced. The guests eat it. By the standards of what was promised, nothing went wrong. There is another version. The chef who

The world’s most rarefied tables are rarely found on the most obvious streets. They are tucked into medieval alleyways, nestled beneath alpine peaks, hidden behind dry-stone walls in lavender-scented valleys. For those who know where to look, a single reservation can become the most compelling reason to explore a corner of Europe you might never

Ask travel professionals who handle the Turkish coast regularly and most of them will say something similar about Kalkan. It gets an unusual number of repeat bookings for a destination this size. People go once and come back. People who come back twice tend to stop looking elsewhere. The standard explanation is the contrast between

Mykonos is not, by reputation, a place associated with rest. It is associated with the opposite of rest — with late nights, with music that continues until the sun comes up, with the specific kind of exhaustion that follows a week of doing everything the island makes available at full commitment. This reputation is entirely

South Africa is rightly synonymous with wild spaces, with plenty of lodges offering a connection to nature. What Melozhori Private Game Reserve offers is something rather unique: a luxurious and exclusive lodge escape, two hours from Cape Town. Wanting to take advantage of this, seven friends and I headed to Melozhori for three days of

The first thing that hits you isn’t luxury. It’s silence. Not the engineered kind—no scented lobby, no curated playlist humming through polished marble. This is older than hospitality. Heavier. A kind of Pacific stillness that doesn’t ask for your attention so much as assumes it. Volcanic rock rising out of open ocean like it’s always

A client called me from outside Noema at twenty past nine on a Tuesday evening in August. He had a reservation for nine o’clock. He had been at the villa when he should have been in the car, and he had spent the intervening twenty minutes standing in a road with no reliable pavement trying

The UK countryside is much-loved by both residents and visitors alike. Famed for its beauty, the rural landscape of the British Isles is home to lush, green landscapes that are the envy of many other parts of the world. As well as being home to a number of stunning national parks, the UK is a

On 7th June 1930, a young Alfred Wainwright – then in his early twenties – went on a day trip to Windermere and decided to climb a nearby hill. The panoramic view from the top transformed his life forever. That summit was Orrest Head, just a short, 15-minute drive from our luxury holiday apartment at

Let me tell you about a call I received one July, about four days before a client’s arrival in Mykonos. He had booked a villa through a well-known platform. Magnificent photographs. Strong reviews. Considerable money paid. And then, four days out, the owner rang to say it was not available. Double booking. The platform was

A narrowboat holiday might not be everyone’s idea of luxury. But approach with an open-mind and you might be surprised. A number of canal boats nowadays are kitted out to a surprisingly high standard, and it’s perhaps more about the luxury of the lifestyle in any case – the slow pace of life and the

On Portugal’s famed Algarve, the sun shines for over 300 days a year on Victoria Golf Resort and Spa, Managed by Accor. A luxurious hotel, relaxing in extensive grounds, that has been managed by Accor for the past year.  Less than 12 miles east of Faro’s international airport, an easy taxi ride carries guests through

Athens is not a city that reveals itself quickly. Mykonos does. You arrive, the light hits you, the sea is there, the island announces itself without reservation. Athens takes longer. The best of it is not on the surface and it is not in the guidebooks, and the people who leave after three days having

In July, the wind at Mykonos arrives every afternoon without announcement and without apology. It comes from the north, it comes with force, and it has been doing this for several thousand years without any particular interest in the plans of the people sailing beneath it. The Greeks call it the Meltemi. Charter brokers, in

Port Vauban’s status as the centre of Mediterranean superyacht culture stems from a combination of historical significance, strategic location, industry infrastructure and luxury lifestyle appeal. As a hub for yacht owners, charter guests, crew and marine businesses, it continues to influence the operation, development and future direction of the European superyacht sector. The significance of

Mykonos has one runway. It is short, it handles a significant volume of traffic in July and August, and the approach over the Aegean in certain wind conditions is the kind of thing that concentrates the mind. The island has been handling this situation for decades and the operation is professional. What it is not,

It restores people without trying to. The wellness travel industry has become extraordinarily good at packaging the one thing that cannot be packaged. Rest. Genuine, unscheduled, nervous-system-level rest. Walk through any luxury travel fair and you will find sleep retreats, breathwork itineraries, cold plunge protocols, and anti-inflammatory meal programmes layered into every second proposal. There

The Southern Way is the name Tourism New Zealand has given to the network of routes linking the south of the South Island into one explorable loop. From Oamaru and Dunedin on the east coast, down to the Catlins and Stewart Island, through Murihiku Southland and into Fiordland before the icing on the cake of

This coming Saturday a couple from California land at Keflavík at a quarter to nine in the morning. They have nine days. They are not basing themselves in one town and taking day trips out from it. They are going all the way around the island, the full Ring Road, with their own guide and

I have been doing this since 1999. Twenty-five years. The telephone calls at two in the morning. The villa owner who said no, and then said yes. The yacht that needed a crew change forty-eight hours before departure. The table at the restaurant that had been fully booked for six weeks until it was not.

For many Avios collectors, 100,000 points feels like a significant milestone. It’s enough to turn everyday spending, credit card bonuses and a few flights with British Airways, Iberia, or any of the other Avios earning airlines, into something much more exciting: a long-haul adventure, a premium cabin experience, or even multiple trips across Europe. The

Kubili House is tucked into a seriously wild corner of South Africa‘s Thornybush Private Game Reserve in the Greater Kruger ecosystem. People who know luxury safari travel have always loved this place. But right now, things are moving fast behind closed doors as the lodge has changed hands. The new owners are keeping the original

With Summer now officially underway (it starts on 1st June each year according to the Met Office), there’s no better time to explore the UK‘s wonderful array of gardens open to the public. Regular readers will be familiar with some we have visited in recent years – such as the wonderful National Trust Crook Hall

Spend long enough in a good hotel and you start to notice what’s missing. You can’t wander into a kitchen at midnight for a glass of wine without putting on shoes. Dinner is whenever the restaurant decides it is. The terrace, if there is one, belongs to everyone. A luxury villa solves all of this