Libby’s Naked Wines diary: I visit Oxford’s trendy new rooftop March 26, 2025 This week in Libby’s Naked Wines diary, our wine columnist visits Oxford Simon Drake glides up to me in a jacket that looks and feels like he has skinned the Velveteen Rabbit. Indeed, it is so soft I pause for just longer than is potentially acceptable to stroke his velvety arm – before he gently [...]
I went storm chasing in Canada – but this Hawaii-style holiday offered so much more March 25, 2025 The irony is not lost on me that on the day I fly out to Canada’s Vancouver Island to chase some of the world’s gnarliest weather, the UK is being battered by its biggest storm in decades. Flights are being cancelled by the minute – airport boards lighting up red like Eighties arcade machines; travellers [...]
CitizenM breaks every Paris hotel rule – here’s why I love it March 22, 2025 CitizenM Gare de Lyon breaks every Paris hotel rule, but it's one of the most memorable stays in the city, writes Anna Moloney.
Hannes Myburgh’s Meerlust Estate is wine tasting paradise March 18, 2025 Meerlust Rubicon was the first wine I bought en primeur. This is the process of buying wine while it is still aging, ahead of it coming to market. It means securing sought-after bottles at potentially lower prices while the winemakers receive an early cash flow. I felt very grown up and sophisticated and rather lucky [...]
Aboriginal healing: mind-body-spirit therapy unlike anything else March 10, 2025 Aboriginal healing therapies use some of the oldest techniques in the world. Lisa Kjellsson ventured into the wilderness to look inwards I’m in a location on the travel wish list of landscape photographers the world over. The sandstone cliffs above Number 16 Beach, in Rye on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, overlook a rock formation that resembles a dragon’s [...]
Diving for wine in the ocean paradise of the Maldives March 7, 2025 You don’t think of the Maldives as a wine country. It’s dry for a start, and no vines grow on these sandy atolls. But exciting things are happening here. Emerald Maldives Resort and Spa have started aging wine on the sea floor and, to show there are no depths I will not go to for [...]
Amsterdam city break: Where to stay and what to do March 7, 2025 Amsterdam is about to have its moment. This year marks the Dutch capital’s 750th birthday, with a year of celebratory events scheduled, while Eurostar has just restarted its fast direct London-Amsterdam service following the completion of a new terminal in Amsterdam, making it easier and quicker than ever to reach the Dutch capital. Where to [...]
Finca Cortesin in the Costa del Sol: Golf meets five star luxury February 24, 2025 Anyone who has visited southern Spain will know there is much more to the region than the tackier excesses of the Costa del Sol. For culture there is Moorish-steeped Malaga; Mijas and Estepona retain traditional white-washed Andalusian charm; while even Marbella has an enchanting old town a world away from the beach clubs. Like the [...]
The Ritz-Carlton puts the ‘grand’ in Grand Cayman February 24, 2025 People either come here to make money or they’re running away from something,” Dan told me in Grand Cayman’s Backroom cigar and cocktail bar. The somewhat jaded 40-something American finance bro whose surfer-esque brown hair could easily be slicked back, Patrick Bateman style, was facing a dilemma. He’d reached the eight year point at which [...]
The future of the Swiss Alps? A ski holiday in Andermatt February 19, 2025 In the social hierarchy of Swiss Alps ski resorts, Andermatt has long sat in the shadow of its counterparts, but thanks to a raft of foreign investment in recent years, the former garrison town’s star is on the ascendancy. For now, at least, the ski area of Andermatt-Sedrun is regarded as fairly snow sure, usually [...]