‘Thai fantasy’: the 7 best hotels in Thailand (one for every mood) Life&Style Thailand has more hotspots than I have excuses to go back, with a stay for every mood. You can come to explore or to retreat, to detox with conviction or undo it just as efficiently. Between the Andaman’s limestone-framed bays, Bangkok’s kinetic sprawl, and the mist-slicked jungles of the north, it is Southeast Asia’s great [...]
The Bangkok hotel that finds perfect calm amid the chaos Life&Style Bangkok is rarely quiet. The Thai capital barrels forward at full volume: Woks hiss and clang in open-air kitchens, tuk tuks chase traffic like motorised dragonflies, and scaffolding sprouts where centuries-old ruins once stood. The streets pulse with unfiltered life. Anthony Bourdain once likened it to “being inside an electronic rice cooker with the lid [...]
I lived like a queen at the fabulous Raffles The Palm Dubai Life&Style Dubai for the weekend? It’s easier than you’d think with direct flights from London, guaranteedsunshine and the promise of being thoroughly spoilt at Raffles The Palm. Raffles started as a humble 10-bedroom bungalow in Singapore in 1887 and evolved into one of theworld’s most legendary hotels. More than a century later, one of its newest [...]
The remote Maldives island blending local culture with luxury September 18, 2025 We all do the same thing when we arrive in paradise. Snap-happy eager beavers, scrambling to photograph the first swinging hammock, the first lopsided shell, the welcome coconut drink raised towards the sea, held out like a newborn Simba over Pride Rock. Arriving at Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru in the Maldives, you will undoubtedly do this. [...]
‘Our guests like to eat’: The Maldives hotel with incredible food, gorgeous sealife and 24 hour butler service July 25, 2025 At Malé Seaplane Lounge on the final leg of my journey to a rather gorgeous hotel in the Maldives, I found a glossy coffee table book. Inside were photographs of tropical sunsets, grinning locals, and thoughtful essays on Maldivian culture. I wanted a copy; it was a welcome shift from the influencer reels I’d scrolled [...]
Is Atlantis The Royal ‘The most ultra-luxury resort in the world’? June 27, 2025 The phrase “Disneyland for adults” is thrown around to describe everything from Monaco to Miami, to certain Soho House outposts. At Atlantis The Royal, the 795-key mega-resort on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, the comparison actually holds up, except this time Mickey is wearing Balenciaga, and demanding tableside caviar bumps. This isn’t so much a hotel as [...]
Inside the Belfast boutique hotel taking on Airbnb June 20, 2025 Can this hotel-private home crossover concept take on Airbnb? Julia Khamissa checked in to delve deeper THE CONCEPT Room2 bills itself the world’s first ‘hometel,’ a hybrid between hotel convenience, boutique design, and Airbnb-style autonomy. Think flexible booking, pet-friendly policy, and a kitchenette in (almost) every room. Room2 Belfast is set in a modern, curved [...]
Howl like a wolf and imitate monkeys and this new London spa June 20, 2025 At new London spa Shoreditch &Soul, strangers laugh like wolves in a 40-person sauna. Could this be London’s most joyful answer to the wellness boom? One of my favourite TV quotes comes from Samantha in an early Sex and the City episode: “You can’t swing a Fendi purse without knocking over five losers.” I recycle [...]
The Menorca country manor that will blow you away June 3, 2025 We’re not short of country estates in the UK, and perhaps for that reason, they’re not something we look for when plotting a Euro vacation. But Vestige Son Vell, a newly established boutique hotel in southwestern Menorca, is a stately home that challenges that instinct. It ticks all the boxes for a week in the [...]
