August 2018 by Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia

HOTELS / CITIES / ISLANDS / CRUISES / AIRLINES + MORE

SO Sofitel Bangkok

ELEGANT ESCAPES Sofitel Hotels & Resorts is an ambassador of modern French style, culture and art-de-vivre around the world. Each address, whether in the rebellious urban style of a SO Sofitel or the contemporary elegance of a Sofitel, exudes an understated sense of luxury, always adding a touch of French decadence to the very best of the locale.

SO Sofitel Bangkok is where culture, fashion, flavour and people converge. Amidst the buzz of Bangkok and with panoramic views over Lumpini Park, this bold statement of art and design is the result of collaboration between Thailand’s leading designers. With playful themes inspired by the elements, rooms are distinct with high-tech touches like an Apple Mac Mini and free WIFI. The five restaurants feature fresh ingredients and artisan craftsmanship, from Red Oven restaurant’s live cooking stations to the bespoke dining at Park Society restaurant. For an extra splash of fun at The Water Club, the SO Pool Party is a full day of signature drinks and guest DJs, held on the last Saturday of the month.

SO Sofitel Hua Hin

In a vibrant coastal town famed for its seafood and colourful markets, SO Sofitel Hua Hin immerses guests in contemporary tranquility. Luxurious rooms are inspired by the resort’s

Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila

Tranquil and timeless, Sofitel Krabi Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort recreates the grandeur of a bygone era. Set between the beach and Naga Mountain, its manicured lawns, abundant palm trees, and an enormous free-form swimming pool offer panoramic views of the Andaman Sea at every turn. Beautifully decorated rooms highlight the French-colonial ambiance with pastel tones, rich teak flooring, and exquisite Thai touches. Recreation opportunities are nearly limitless with floodlit tennis courts, volleyball, a jogging track, a ninehole golf course and an opulent spa. Krabi’s crystal-clear waters are perfect for kayaking or canoeing, and hidden beaches are only a speedboat ride away.

Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit

twin passions with themes of either SO Arty or SO Nature, while private villas and the special SO Family Kids House are ideal for travelling with family. The expansive SoFIT fitness centre open around the clock so guests can always look their best, and two swimming pools with sun loungers or cabanas are the ideal place to show off the hard work. For Bangkok’s trendsetters, celebrities and everyone who enjoys socialising, the exclusive SO Beach Party and other buzzing events are the place to see and be seen in Hua Hin. In an art deco tower, Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit offers French savoir-faire at its finest. Elegantly appointed rooms are the ultimate meeting of modern and traditional, with state-of-the-art technology, timber floors and spacious marble bathrooms. Le SPA with L’Occitane is a luxurious centre of well-being alongside a fully equipped fitness centre and a beautifully landscaped swimming pool. Innovative restaurants and bars showcase the very best in refined dining, and the hotel’s premier restaurant, Voilà!, showcases a ‘cuisine on stage’ concept with exquisite French cuisine. For business travellers who expect impeccable personalised service, Club Millésime delivers the exclusive atmosphere of a private club.

Sofitel Krabi Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort

Renowned for its iconic design, famous Filipino hospitality and enviable views of shimmering Manila Bay, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila is an elegant urban getaway nestled in an exclusive resort setting. Well-appointed rooms and suites blend French elegance, local craftsmanship, and the finest luxuries. For discerning gastronomes, award-winning Spiral restaurant is a culinary journey with masterful dishes from 21 “dining ateliers”. An ideal location for everything from high-powered board meetings to lavish product launches, the elegant Grand Plaza Ballroom, event rooms, and air-conditioned marquee tents in landscaped gardens make this one of the region’s premier event hotels.

For more information, visit sofitel.com or accorhotels.com.

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August

ON THE COVER High above Bawah Reserve, a new eco-resort in Indonesia. Photographed by Scott A. Woodward.

features 84

Bawah Beckons A new eco-reserve in a little-visited chain of Indonesian isles hosts the ultimate private haven. Entranced by the castaway scenery, Grace Ma is even more enchanted by the locals who open their paradise home to her. Photographed by Scott A. Woodward

c l o c k w i s e F R O M t o p : s c o t t a .w o o d wa r d ; s i m o n wat s o n ; t h e i n g a l l s

92 100

Hawaii Here We Come To explore Hawaii beyond the resorts, take to the sea. When Peter Heller joins a smallship cruise with stops at four different islands, he comes face-to-face with the archipelago’s wilder side. Photographed by The Ingalls

100

Sicilian Renaissance There’s a new spirit of optimism in Sicily, where the hardships of past generations are fading. Exploring enlivened city streets, new museums and renovated palazzo, Charlotte Higgins finds a fresh-faced island. Photographed by Simon Watson

tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

In Every Issue

T+L Digital 10 The Conversation 12 Editor’s Note 14 Wish You Were Here 110

contents

Bangkok from a different perspective; cultural kicks are not a crime in this new Hong Kong heritage hub; and a chocolate factory on Sumba Island offers a sweeter way to unwind.

22 Neighborly Appeal As Six

Senses’ first city hotel opens in a historic neighborhood of Singapore, we settle into the row of converted shophouses and find the brand’s culture of spa and sustainability is alive as ever.

30 Valley and Vines With its

laid-back cellar doors and friendly vintners, the Hunter Valley wine region is a frequent retreat for well-heeled Sydneysiders—and worth adding to your itinerary.

Special 45 World’s Best Awards Every

year, we ask the T+L audience to rate airlines, cruise ships, cities, islands, hotels and more to find the very best in travel. This year, hundreds of thousands of readers took part in selecting the winners and, as always, they surprised us. Be warned: our list of their picks will inspire some serious wanderlust.

36 Testing the Waters In Japan,

home to tens of thousands of mineral-rich onsen, hydrotherapy isn’t just an occasional indulgence—it’s a way of life.

28 Pearl of the South Venture

beyond the bright lights of Phuket and the sandy shores of Krabi to Koh Mook, a tiny off-the-beatenpath island in Thailand’s deep south with much hidden beauty to discover.

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

fr o m l e f t: C o u r t e s y o f t h e p e n i n s u l a b a n g k o k ; p e t r i n a t i n s l ay; c o u r t e s y o f z a b o r i n ; i a n l l o y d n e u b a u e r

19 Reasons to Travel Now See

t+l digital

Lookout

Uncovering Bhutan’s Mystical Secrets This ancient, mountainous kingdom remains a place of tall tales. One intrepid writer journeys into the clouds to find out if the legends are true.

Shinta Mani Angkor Raises the Bar in Siem Reap All-star designer Bill Bensley imbued the plush villas at this Cambodian oasis with serious style and a touch of whimsy.

the Food Scene Blooms in Fukuok a Good luck finding a bad meal in this city, where innovative young chefs are upping the ante with contemporary spins on Japanese classics.

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fr o m l e f t: s c o t t a . w o o d wa r d ; l e i g h g r i ff i t h s ; d a i s u k e i k e d a

this month on tr avel andleisureasia.com

An indulgent new wellness retreat in Nusa Dua, Bali; an off-thebeaten-path adventure in Okinawa; a new exhibit offers insights into Singapore’s National Gallery; the latest travel deals and much more.

the conversation Even if robots don’t inherit the Earth, they certainly seem headed for service-industry supremacy: Alibaba-backed Chinese food-delivery firm Ele.me has a new fleet of drones carrying orders to clients on specific routes in Shanghai, while Beijing company ForwardX plans to create a vision-powered suitcase to follow you around the airport autonomously. Here, more robotic helpers you might see on your next trip. Bionic Bartenders Cruising Southeast Asia from November 2019, Royal Carribean’s Quantum of the Seas will offer cocktails at its Bionic Bar, where two mechanical bartenders can shake, stir and strain drinks after guests make their order on an app. Robot Room Service Japan’s Henn-na Hotel was the world’s first to be staffed by robots—life-like androids that are multilingual, have face recognition technology, can check you in and carry luggage. High-tech Help Deployed to help the travel influx during this year’s winter Olympics, robotic cleaning staff can be seen rolling around Seoul’s Incheon Airport. As well as vacuuming, the bots can offer gate details to lost passengers.

we love seeing our readers’ most ephemeral travel memories.

The five-level Aguinid Falls, Cebu. By @thegingerwanderlust.

Taking a break in the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur. By @vwbabs.

A couple of cheeky monkeys on Mount Batur. By @balisunrise.asia.

A monk hops into a temple in Mandalay. By @janellesoto_.

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In-room Guide Marriott has installed Amazon Alexa voice assistants in select hotels in the U.S. Set alarms, play music, order room service and call housekeeping just by saying the words.

august 2018

daipur, Java, the Four Seasons Bali at Sayan, Singapore Airlines, the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok and The Peninsula Hong Kong. Oh, and Changi International Airport and Como Shambhala, too. What all of these have in common is a prominent place on our 2018 World’s Best Awards (page 45) as voted on by Travel+Leisure readers around the world. Asia is hot, in case you hadn’t heard, and I’m not just speaking of the August readings on thermometers along Queen’s Road Central or Raffles Boulevard. The region is home not simply to great hotels, resorts and airlines, but to companies that continually adapt and improve to stay that all-important step ahead. Consider that six of the top 10 cities in this year’s awards are in Asia. Take a bow Udaipur, Ubud, Kyoto, Luang Prabang, Hoi An and Chiang Mai. Or, if you’re more of an island person, all but two of the top 10 are within striking distance: Java, Bali, Lombok, the Maldives, Palawan, Cebu and down-under locales Waiheke and Tasmania. If there was ever any doubt that Asia-Pacific airlines rule the skies, Singapore Airlines claims top international carrier for the 23rd year running, followed by Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, ANA, Eva Air and Air New Zealand, as well as Emirates, Qatar and Etihad. As far as hotel groups go, Four Seasons has six entries in the top 100, and Rosewood, Anantara, Banyan Tree and Shangri-La also leave their mark. Yet, the readers’ favorite brand this year is Six Senses, which has opened its first city hotel. See “Neighborly Appeal” (page 22) for a peek at their new boutique address in Singapore. Of course, we can always think of a host of other favorites and openings around Asia that aren’t listed here just yet. In “Bawah Beckons” (page 84), we head to a new ecoresort in Indonesia—but check back each month so you have ample opportunity to get a head start on next year’s awards.

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a u g u s t 2 0 1 8 / t r av e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m

From my travels To say that the great travel options around Asia are growing exponentially is an understatement. New hotels and resorts in Bali, the Maldives and Kuala Lumpur, to name just a few, appear almost weekly. Still, a personal favorite for me remains the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle (fourseasons.com) in northern Thailand, which made it onto our World’s Best list as a favorite resort. It’s a place like no other and not just because visitors learn to adapt to the camp’s permanent residents, a herd of elephants that will win you over. The setting—beyondcomfortable tents perched on a Thai hillside peering into Burma—is nothing short of spectacular. Just like all our vacations should be.

fr o m l e f t: Irfa n S a m a r t d e e ; c h r i s t o p h e r k u c way ( 2 )

editor’s note

ADVERTORIAL

THE PINNACLE OF TASTE

Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur elevates the city’s drinking and dining game. Mixing it up at Bar Trigona. Yun House chef Jimmy Wong.

Plush rooms, park views.

What’s the biggest buzz in Kuala Lumpur? Bar Trigona—named after the native Malaysian bee that brews the best honey, and brimming with notes, scents and memories from all over the country—is opening with a hand-crafted drinks menu that has us flying high. “Every cocktail has a story,” says award-winning head bartender Ashish Sharma. “I feel a strong responsibility to deliver unique, unexpected beverages incorporating sustainable, local ingredients.” Find this considered approach, full of flavor and flair, innovation and tradition, in all six of the eateries and lounges in the all-new Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur. This gastronome’s haven in KLCC serves up globetrotting offerings for every palate, including Western, Arabic, pan-Asian… and, at Yun House, topflight Cantonese from veteran Hong Kong chef Jimmy Wong. Culinary traditions fortified by the highest quality ingredients and artisanal presentations in a modern setting? Yun House is primed to be the most coveted Chinese table in town. Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur’s general manager Tom Roelens believes in pushing boundaries and setting a new bar “not by doing things differently, but by doing different things.” In Kuala Lumpur, he says, “there’s a new vibrancy”—and we say it starts with those busy bees at Trigona, and infuses every epicurean experience in the hotel. Skyline views have never tasted so sweet.

Be among the first to experience this new standard of luxury in Kuala Lumpur: Bookings made at least seven days in advance will receive 15% off the room rate, daily breakfast, and more.

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travel+leisure southeast asia Vol. 12, Issue 8 Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia is published monthly by Media Transasia Limited, 1603, 16/F, Island Place Tower, 510 Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Road, North Point, Hong Kong. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Produced and distributed by Media Transasia Thailand Ltd., 14th Floor, Ocean Tower II, 75/8 Soi Sukhumvit 19, Sukhumvit Road, Klongtoeynue, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand. Tel: 66-2/204-2370. Printed by Comform Co., Ltd. (66-2/368-2942â&#x20AC;&#x201C;7). Color separation by Classic Scan Co., Ltd. (66-2/291-7575). While the editors do their utmost to verify information published, they do not accept responsibility for its absolute accuracy. This edition is published by permission of Meredith 225 Liberty Street, 8S-212 B, New York, New York, 10286, U.S.A. Tel. 1-212/522-1212 Online: www.meredith.com Reproduction in whole or in part without consent of the copyright owner is prohibited. subscriptions Enquiries: www.travelandleisuresea.com/subscribe ADVERTISING offices General enquiries: advertising@mediatransasia.com Singapore: 65/9029 0749; joey@mediatransasia.com Japan: Shinano Co., Ltd. 81-3/3584-6420; kazujt@bunkoh.com Korea: YJP & Valued Media Co., Ltd. 82-2/3789-6888; hi@yjpvm.kr

REASONS TRAVEL NOW august 2018

T+L’s monthly selection of trip-worthy places, experiences and events. no.

See Bangkok from a new perspective to celebrate two decades of The Peninsula hotel. Get to know a more cultural side of the Thai capital during special 20th anniversary celebrations for The Peninsula Bangkok (bangkok.peninsula.com; doubles from Bt7,000; experiences available until April 2019, from Bt8,700). The vaunted property is commemorating their birthday with 20 intrepid VIP experiences, ranging from bike treks and tuk-tuk adventures to cocktail trails to rarefied yoga and meditation sessions, each designed to facilitate a deeper connection to the city. Here are a few highlights:

c o u rt esy o f t h e p e n i n s u l a ba n g ko k

Tour the city’s hidden lanes by bike.

+ Spirituality seekers can test their devotion at the sunrise Hatha and Vinyasa yoga session at the historic Gong Wu Shrine, perched on the Chao Phraya River. After rebalancing chakras, this complimentary experience offers private encounters with three Gong Wu statues, an energizing juice, and a short walk through Princess Mother Memorial Park. + Join a three-hour morning prayer with monks at Wat Pho and Wat Arun’s private

special access chambers, known as kudis. Included is a Pali chanting blessing by ordained Theravada Buddhist monks. + If you’re looking for well-rounded wellness, sign up for the private muay Thai program: a 60-minute lesson from The Peninsula’s resident instructor that takes place in the shaded garden by the hotel’s sacred banyan tree, and includes a complimentary pair of boxing shorts. Your workout will be followed by a

90-minute traditional Thai massage in The Peninsula’s spa. + A six-hour bike tour of the city’s backstreets stops at secret sites, hard-tofind residential markets, and lesser-visited neighborhoods. Tour hidden laneways of royal Rattanakosin Island, and, across the river in the old capital of Thonburi, visit the fragrant Portuguese bakeries of Kudee Chin and the arty warehouses of Lhong 1919. — Adam H. Gr aham

tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

/ reasons to travel now / no.

Get your cultural kicks in a former Hong Kong prison. After eight years’ work and an HK$3.8 billion investment, the old police offices and jail cells of Central Police station, Central Magistracy and Victoria Prison have reopened as Tai Kwun, a new hub for heritage and arts in Hong Kong. The revitalized site will offer a range of cultural and education programs, including exhibits, films and performances. The inaugural exhibition, 100 Faces of Tai Kwun, on until September 2, celebrates the storied past of the 150-year-old compound, immersing visitors in 100 narratives of former officers, offenders, shop owners and kaifongs (neighborhood associations). Of course, it wouldn’t be Hong Kong without the promise of good food: try Jiangnan cuisine at Old Bailey’s by the group behind Duddell’s; grab cocktails at famed Bangkok bar designer Ashley Sutton’s Dragonfly lounge; and David Thompson’s new modern Thai restaurant, Aaharn, opens here next month. taikwun.hk.

Tai Kwun’s old Police Headquarters Block. Two new buildings house exhibition spaces.

The D Hall prison is now home to a storytelling space.

no.

Some luxury hotels brew their own beer; others raise their own Wagyu. Indonesian island eco-resort Nihi Sumba joins the locavore arms race with its own chocolate factory, run, delightfully, by a man named Charly. “Chocolate is good for endorphins and has mind-opening qualities,” says Charles “Charly” Esposito, who was invited to replicate his Bali-based chocolate factory on Sumba by Nihi CEO James McBride. “We built the factory in a spiritual area, so it helps people reconnect with themselves. But it’s also just about having fun.” While the workshops are aimed at younger guests—kids make organic chocolate from scratch using local cacao beans—the chocolate also features on Nihi’s spa menu, with a Chocolate Massage added to their wellness experiences last year. Guests can take part in yoga and meditation sessions before a gentle massage with cocoa butter and raw cacao. Chocolate’s high caffeine content is said to stimulate blood flow and tighten skin; an included mini cocoa facial rejuvenates skin from pollution. Charly is currently in talks to develop another Bali-based factory as well as one in China, at the famed Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province. Willy Wonka plus kung fu–master monks… what could be more magical than that? nihi.com; doubles from US$795; Chocolate Massage US$400 per couple. — James Durston

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

fr o m to p : c o u rt esy o f Ta i K w u n ( 3 ) ; c o u rt esy o f n i h i

With its fairytale chocolate factory, this Sumba Island resort spa takes the sweet life literally.

/ checking in /

A new face for Six Senses, on Duxton Road in Singapore.

Neighborly Appeal Known for its off-the-beaten path resorts, Six Senses has made a splash in Singapore with its first city hotel. Jeninne Lee-St. John settles in to the row of converted shophouses, where she finds the brand’s culture of spa and sustainability is alive as ever. Photogr aphed by Scott A. Woodward

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

In the predawn, groggy and grumpy immediately after a 10hour red eye, turns out that the Six Senses Duxton is the exact place you want to check in to. Pull up in front of this pretty façade on a lane off Tanjong Pagar under the inky sky and enter under the stained glass awning through the wrought iron glass doors. No need to adjust your eyes to too-bright lobby lighting— inside’s dark, moody vibe befitting this early morn is a function of the all-black canvas with pops of yellow. Yep, black and yellow. That you’re not awash in a tropical sorbet palate is the first sign of departure from their barefoot luxury resorts. As this Singapore boutique is the first ever Six Senses in a city, a few more aesthetic adjustments are in store. Checking in is a barely noticed breeze, though a glance down the photogenic main hallway (mental note: later position yourself in front

of that wall of lacquer vases) has you locking eyes with a waitress setting up for breakfast, which starts at 6, which is not yet. “Oh, you’re the one we’ve been expecting,” she says smiling. “How was your flight? May I get you some coffee or tea?” Indeed, you may, let me just pop to my room to freshen up. As you’re heading up a black flight of stairs to your black and bamboo room, the feeling is nothing so much like a hotel as one of those next-gen condo buildings, where the sleek apartments prioritize efficient use of space over an abundance of it, where there are communal areas for working, meeting, eating and drinking, where you feel pretty chuffed about living because wow does this place show off just how much style you have. The 49-room hotel is in eight restored shophouses that used to be The Duxton Hotel in a sweet, low-

rise, heritage district. The awardwinning makeover was a fitting job for designer Anouska Hempel, the London boutique-hotel pioneer who opened Blakes in a converted South Kensington townhouse 40 years ago. Hempel was also a Bond girl, and boy does this little property have sex appeal: four-poster beds, Chinese

Eight little shophouses all in a row.

Yellow Pot bar features an antique stainedglass ceiling.

tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

/ checking in /

By Grace Ma

Restaurant Ibid

The abbreviated Latin term ibid means “from the same source” and that’s a philosophical way to look at Nanyang food, which refers to plates created by a population that emigrated from China and settled in Southeast Asia with a new cultural identity synthesizing influences of East and West. The 54-seat culinary lab is set in a former riverside trading district, where chef-owner Woo Wai Leong, the inaugural MasterChef Asia winner, explores his roots and heritage with contemporary flair. Twists on familiar items—such as a common baked flatbread from China that’s stuffed with spring onions and mozzarella and eaten with a dollop of yeasted butter, crispy laksa leaves and a dash of laksa oil; and a soybean ice cream with textures of Sarawak pepper meringue and toasted sesame seeds—are sure to evoke ruminations on what it means to be part of the Chinese diaspora. restaurantibid.com; tasting menu from S$78 for four courses.

Front-desk manager Miguel Gamboa offers a singing-bowl bath upon check-in.

screens, cloisters and shutters and all that dominating black. Thatched roof pool villas the rooms are not, but Six Senses devotees will recognize all the brand’s signature tenets—sustainability, social conscience, wellness, conviviality— coursing throughout. For a taste of what this means in an urban space, take the in-room drinks. There are small-batch (but largesized) local liquors in the mirrored, already-most-Instagrammed minibar in Singapore; and, in the fridge, complimentary handblended healthy tonics created by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physicians whose office across the street makes it easy for them to conduct consultations at the hotel. Indulgence and temperance, modern and ancient, yin and yang. There are eight room categories, and no two rooms are exactly alike. Two suites built on air shafts have sky-lit lounges, nine duplexes boast spiral staircases, and in one suite the bed seemed to take up 90 percent of the bedroom, reminding me of a romantic little pied-à-terre I once rented in Paris. Duxton Road is a narrow laneway, and rooms on the front of the three-story building are basically in the street. Windows are sound-proofed, but if you open the shutters, you could probably read the lips of someone standing across the way. I’d call that a good thing: with this full immersion in local life, it’s no chore to descend from your plush pad to run errands,

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

or head to a class up at CruCycle, which offers Six Senses guests discount sessions. Day one, I had a super early breakfast—the à la carte menu is diverse and smartly curated; I bookended each morning with homemade açaí yogurt, and a basket of thin-skinned har gow—then a nap. At 1 p.m., I was in a window seat in the lobby (the treatment room was not yet complete on my visit), with 83-year-old Physician Goh Toh Jiam asking me extremely personal questions via a translator, his congenial pharmacist, Sharon Tham. Whenever Eastern medicine practitioners feel my pulse and issue grand pronouncements about my humours, I have competing urges to roll my eyes, and to change every single thing about my life. It’s hard to resist the soft-spoken rationality of Goh, who has been practicing TCM for half a century, which says a lot in Singapore where the government actively tries to keep things pure. The Practitioner’s Board only accepts degrees from two local colleges or eight approved ones in China, and prohibits doctors from mixing treatments—besides herbs, TCM uses ground ingredients like sand, crystals, sandalwood, agarwood and copper—with Western medicines or antibiotics. “Western medicine tries to eliminate the problem,” Professor Zhang Mao Ji, one of Goh’s partners, said when he ambled up to join my now quite public diagnosis. “TCM is

s i d e b a r : c o u r t e s y o f r e s ta u r a n t i b i d

Cantonese Unbound Into the wealth of Chinese restaurants in Singapore enters a trio aiming to reframe the traditional menu with forgotten recipes, regional diversity, and health and sustainability as their driving flavors.

about balance. You can live with the problem if you contain it. It’s about stabilizing the body, strengthening immunity so your body can do its own work.” To help circulation of my chi, Goh said I needed to focus on my kidney, liver and digestive systems. But in TCM, a condition is never fixed—nor is the solution. Your body is affected, Zhang said, by the time of day, the season, astrology, your location, so doctors might suggest different foods or medicines based on those factors. Jetlag is a good example—“your organs are not functioning at the right time,” Goh said—so he prescribed me pills to take before, during and after my next long-haul. Likewise the anti-hangover pills, filled with detoxicants to line the liver, are meant to be downed preand post-alcohol consumption. Any doctor who gives me meds to make drinking easier is a hero. Especially in this hotel, where the seductive Art Deco bar under an antique, golden stained-glass ceiling beckons. The neighboring Keong Saik district is a hotspot (see: Neon Pigeon and Potato Head Singapore), and within this little Duxton enclave are temptations aplenty, including cocktail-culture standard-bearer The Tippling Club, Mexican garden

Physicians Goh Toh Jiam and Zhang Mao Ji.

party Lucha Loco, lobster shack Pince and Pints, and new French bistro and wine temple Ma Cuisine, with a vintage port cave to die for. Tea is a less intoxicating beverage, but its devotees no less fervent. This I learned on a visit to nearby Yixing Xuan Teahouse, which provides the hotel’s teas and where founder Vincent Low walked me through the 4,000-year history of tea, and explained the differences among the varietals. (Pu’er cakes are the only tea that gets better

Craft your own cocktail in the minibar.

Yellow Pot

At Six Senses Duxton’s stylish modern Chinese restaurant, braising, steaming and slow cooking become hip again, partly because of British designer Anouska Hempel’s unconventional black-andgold design, and partly because of the chef’s mandate. Sebastian Goh was charged with keeping the Six Senses commitment to wellness and sustainability in his menu, avoiding additives and flavor enhancers, and using only suppliers with responsible sourcing practices. From juicy, goodness-in-one-bite appetizers such as chilled organic tomatoes infused with preserved li hing plum and micro herbs to a wholesomely delicious steamed Kühlbarra barramundi with gingerscallion pesto, he succeeds in sending power-packed nutrients through your veins, with flavors that whet the palate rather than overwhelm it. Even heady herbal and botanical cocktails like the sultry bar’s signature Escape to Kaifeng—Tanqueray and house-made chrysanthemum cordial—make happy hour sound like breakfast. For those who prefer alcohol-free tea, there is a bespoke selection of scented leaves curated by nearby family-run Yixing Xuan Teahouse. sixsenses.com/ hotels/duxton/dining; set lunch for two from S$65 excluding drinks. >>

/ checking in / Energizing morning yoga.

The Pearl suite breaks with the hotel’s dominant gold and black.

bathrobes: Six Senses has stocked up on insanely light, fluffy, reversestitching, hoodie bathrobes from über-eco The Madison Collection, which sends a water filter to a Haitian or Dominican family for every purchase. Clearly I needed to document my sporting one outside the sunny hotel entrance, and frontdesk manager Miguel Gamboa was a game photographer, who at the same time greeted passersby gawking at the new addition to the ’hood. I’d say the sense of community will only increase when sister hotel Six Senses Maxwell opens in a few months. Less than a 10-minute walk away, the larger, double-wide row of converted shophouses will contain the joint property’s spa and outdoor pool. Til then, though, you can find me on Duxton’s long, front portico, in my bathrobe, listening to the echo of newly arrived guests standing in singing bowls getting their welcome gong baths, and sipping my yuzu martini. Right after I pop six of Physician Goh’s anti-hangover pills, of course. sixsenses.com; doubles from S$390.

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Circa 1912

Owner David Yip and his team whip up Lingnan (an old name for the parts of southeastern China to northern Vietnam that was home to many ethnicities including the Teochew, Hakka and Cantonese) dishes that used to be served only to the wealthy. With the 1912 fall of the Qing dynasty and founding of the Republic of China, former private cooks began opening restaurants to the masses. Circa recreates their forgotten recipes (such as winter melon with crab and Chinese ham; and an incredibly smooth three-grain congee) from scratch, or with elements sourced from remote cottage producers. You’ll leave with a sense of admiration at the refined and nuanced taste of a golden era in Chinese culinary history. circa1912.com.sg; lunch for two from S$60.

sidebar: courtesy of circa 1912

over time; white is three times healthier than green, is known as spring tea because it “comes to life like a newborn baby” at the end of April, and its three classifications are based on which buds you pick.) The two-hour chat was lubricated by a traditional tea ceremony and punctuated by his own imbibing aphorisms: “Always remember that China is the home of tea. Not Japan,” and “Adding milk and sugar is always completely wrong.” Low was like your favorite harrumphing old guy neighbor, and Duxton Hill is a patch of properneighborhood Singapore: small, strollable, quiet and cozy. It felt so natural to take a quick walk to a piece of public park for a private yoga session with Su Sze from Life Blossoms, the hotel’s designated Zen maestro. Birds chirped in the shady tree above and the hum of the singing bowl slowed time. I felt as at home lying in that patch of grass as I did working on my computer at the communal table in the main hall of the hotel—or, even, as I did chilling outside in a bathrobe. Let me pause a second in praise of their

3,970

4949

/ beach / The best way to explore Koh Mook’s hidden Emerald Cave is by kayak.

The tiny island’s most frequented attraction is Emerald Cave, a tropical lagoon concealed inside a towering limestone amphitheater that’s almost too beautiful to be true. High season sees it crammed with daytrippers who longtail it in from Koh Lanta and beyond, but to get beyond the crowds, hire a kayak from Mong’s Bar (Farang Beach; 66-8/07171517; kayaks from Bt100 per hour) and paddle north along the rocky coastline for 20 minutes to the mouth of a sea cave, where a 50-meterlong subterranean river empties into the lagoon. Kayaking around the entire island takes about three hours and is a brilliant way to tour the untouched beaches and coves and rugged beauty of Koh Mook’s mountainous northwest. Farang Beach is the best strip of sand on the island—a limestone massif to the north shelters the bay’s emerald waters, and resorts, restaurants and bars are all in wandering distance.

EAT

Pearl of the South

Beyond the bright lights of Phuket and the sandy shores of Krabi, Koh Mook—Pearl Island—is an oft-forgotten jewel of southern Thailand. Here’s how to spend a lazy few days on this idyllic yet underrated isle. Story and photogr aphs by Ian Lloyd Neubauer

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Southern Thai food is famously fiery, and heavily influenced by the Muslim-populated regions near the Malaysian border. Seafood takes center stage on the island, and fresh crab should be the order of the day. Curries here are rich and flavorful—seek out an authentic massaman or turmeric-infused yellow curry. For a

modern take on a classic, try the green curry chicken pizza at Sa Biang (mooklamai.com; mains from Bt200), a Mediterranean-style restaurant at Mook Lamai Resort. Just up the road is the family-run Hilltop Restaurant ( fb.com/ hilltoprestaurantsong; mains from Bt200), loved for its honey-roasted chicken and steamed duck, but rapped for its slow service. De Tara ( fb.com/kohmookdetara; mains from Bt100; drinks from Bt140) is a simple little al-fresco resort and restaurant that kisses secluded Au Wua Nawn Beach.

DRINK

Come sunset, climb the steep higgledypiggledy staircase to Ko Yao Viewpoint

( fb.com/koyaobungalows), and sip colorful cocktails on the wooden deck that overlooks the Andaman. For rustic island tipples, head to the southern end of Farang Beach, plant yourself on a daybed or foldout chair in front of Mong’s Bar (drinks from Bt50) and order your sundowners. Alternatively, Ting Tong Bar (Farang Beach; drinks from Bt70) is a little livelier, with a DJ and fire show, though it is only open every second or third night.

STAY

Perched on a sandy spit 500 meters east of the Fisherman’s Village, Sivalai Beach Resort

(komooksivalai.com; doubles from Bt9,500) was relaunched last year following the refurbishment of all 60 bungalows. Think polished hardwood floors, teak and bamboo furnishings and gleaming hotel-style bathrooms. Halfway between Farang Beach and the fisherman’s village is

Mook Lamai Resort and Spa (mooklamai.com;

doubles from Bt4,800). This whitewashed boutique resort cut

Sivalai Beach Resort sits on a palm-fringed cape. ABOVE: Thai-style bungalows at Sivalai. INSET: Massaman curry from De Tara.

straight out of the hi-so suburbs of Phuket has eight little villas and three elegant suites fronted by a slick, floodlit pool. But the newest and most charming place to stay is Nature Hill ( fb.com/ naturehillkohmook; doubles from Bt2,000), on a forested hillside a short stroll from Farang Beach. There are six welldesigned air-conditioned bungalows with folding French glass doors, large balconies and exteriors made from locally salvaged wood.

GETTING THERE

There’s no airport on Koh Mook, which is perhaps why the island still remains so untouched, so be prepared for a journey. From Trang Airport, take a 50-minute drive by minibus to Kuan Thung Khu pier, where a 15-minute ferry ride or 30-minute longtail boat ride can connect you to Koh Mook. During high season, November to April, there are daily hour-long ferries from Koh Lanta, or three-hour ferries from Phuket.

t r av e l a n d l e i s u r e a s i a . c o m / a u g u s t 2 0 1 8

/ long weekend /

Valley and Vines

A frequent retreat for well-heeled Sydneysiders, the nearby Hunter Valley wine region is worth adding to your itinerary. By R ay Isle. photogr aphed by Petrina tinsl ay

Bistro Molines, in Australia’s Hunter Valley, serves French country fare overlooking the vineyards.

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

/ long weekend /

from top: Pan-fried snapper, asparagus, clam velouté and parsley oil at Emerson’s, in Lovedale; preparing for a morning ride over Hunter Valley with Balloon Aloft; at Kirkton Park Hunter Valley, a resort set on a sprawling estate in Pokolbin, the lobby evokes a grand manor house.

Austr alia’s oldest wine region also happens to be its easiest to visit. A two-hour drive north of Sydney, Hunter Valley is home to some 150 wineries, many of which trace their roots to the 19th century. Vineyards stream down from the foothills of the Brokenback Range, sharing space with grazing land for cattle. While the winemakers produce Shiraz, as they do in the rest of Australia, Semillon is the benchmark variety here. These featherweight white wines are thrillingly vibrant and citrusy when young, but as they age, they take on richness and depth—think of toast topped with tart marmalade, but without any sweetness. A standout food scene and activities such as hot-air ballooning give travelers even more reason to make the drive. The weather is mild and the cellar doors are open yearround. Sit back with a glass of cold Semillon as you look out over a vineyard to the Brokenbacks turning blue in the twilight, and you won’t regret your detour from the city.

FRIDAY

The drive from Sydney is a straight shot up the M1. Take a left onto the B82 at Freemans Waterhole; when you reach the town of Cessnock, you’ve arrived. From there it’s 10 minutes to Lake’s Folly (lakesfolly. wine), where a ramshackle tasting room belies the cult status of the winery’s world-class Cabernet. The currant- and tobacco-scented 2016 is gorgeous. Bistro Molines (bistro molines.com.au; mains from A$40), in the tiny town of Mount View, is a must for lunch, not just for chef Robert Molines’s excellent French country cuisine (don’t miss the rich pâté) but also for the flower-filled dining room and its views of the vineyards. From there, a 15-minute drive will bring you to Brokenwood (brokenwood.com.au), founded in 1970 and still one of the valley’s standout producers. A fee of A$5 allows you to taste a dozen or so vintages. Try the 2016 Hunter Valley Shiraz, which incorporates grapes from the famed Graveyard Vineyard. After your tasting, check in to Kirkton Park Hunter Valley

(kirktonparkhuntervalley.com.au; doubles from A$169), a hotel tucked away on 28 hectares of rolling countryside that’s a great base for the weekend. The blue and white décor and manicured gardens—not to mention the high tea served every >>

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/ long weekend /

day—suggest an English country estate, albeit with an Aussie slant. If you’re in search of exercise, there are tennis courts and a vast indoor pool. Kirkton’s own restaurant is very good, but for dinner I booked the two-person chef’s table at Emerson’s (emersonsrestaurant. com.au; mains from A$39), in Lovedale. This put me in the kitchen itself, where I got to watch the über-talented Emerson Rodriguez at work creating dishes like pan-fried snapper with clam velouté and parsley oil.

SATURDAY

Get up early, because the best way to appreciate the sweep and beauty of Hunter Valley is by hot-air balloon, and trips lift off before sunrise. Balloon Aloft (balloonaloft. com) has an impeccable safety record, and its guides are a wisecracking but professional crew. I watched dawn spread over the valley from 600 meters up before we descended to float above vineyards and more than a few startled kangaroos. After your ride, enjoy breakfast and plenty of coffee at Peterson House (petersonhouse. com.au), the meeting point for the excursion. Then move on to Tyrrell’s Wines (tyrrells.com.au), owned by the same family since it was established in 1858. Take the tour of the original dirt-floored winery, then try current releases

©2018 Marriott International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Preferred Guest, SPG, The Luxury Colletand their logos are the trademarks of Marriott International, Inc., or its affiliates. A minimum of three-night stay is applied. Terms and conditions apply. Black-out dates may apply. Subject to availability.

A glass of Shiraz at Brokenwood.

like the 2012 Vat 1 Hunter Semillon in the intimate cellar door. Have a light(ish) lunch of charcuterie and cheese at Usher Tinkler Wines (ushertinklerwines.com), paired with a glass of its complex Reserve Chardonnay. The sleek cellar door at nearby Thomas Wines (thomas wines.com.au) is where you’ll find the brilliant and outspoken vintner Andrew Thomas. My favorite of his offerings is what he refers to as his “grand cru” Semillon, from the Braemore Vineyard. Thomas firmly believes in this grape: “You pair Hunter Semillons with some freshly shucked oysters, a bucket of prawns, some sashimi—that just takes everything to the next level.” I tested out his theory at chef Frank Fawkner’s inventive Exp (exprestaurant.com.au; tasting menus from A$100). Barramundi with spiced oil and heirloom lettuce, together with an aged Brokenwood Semillon? The man was right.

SUNDAY

Head up the valley to the town of Broke, home of the winery Margan (margan.com.au). Andrew Margan’s wines have consistently scored five stars in revered industry guide James Halliday Wine Companion since 2009, and the cellar door showcases their reds. “It’s always been a dilemma,” Margan says. “We make lighter, less power-driven Shiraz in a world that thinks power equals quality.” I enjoyed the peppery White Label Shiraz, then had lunch on the sunlit patio at Margan’s acclaimed restaurant, which draws ingredients from the winery’s own gardens, orchards, olive trees, chickens, lambs, beehives...you get the idea. From Margan it’s a 10-minute drive to Krinklewood (krinklewood.com), owned by the charming Windrim family and one of the Hunter’s few biodynamic estates. Try the Sparkling Shiraz while you watch the farm’s Limousin cattle, pigs and peacocks wander about.

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/ wellness / Private stone baths at Niseko ryokan Zaborin.

Testing the Waters

In Japan, home to tens of thousands of mineral-rich onsen, hydrotherapy isn’t just an occasional indulgence—it’s a way of life.

In Japan, the bath is not for getting

clean. I tried to remember this as I descended into the sulfurous waters at Noboribetsu, a tranquil ski resort set on a crater in the country’s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido. Noboribetsu has several hotels, including Dai-ichi Takimotokan (takimotokan.co.jp; doubles from ¥24,850), where there are seven different pools for all sorts of ailments. The iou-sen (sulfur spring), while unappealing in name, brings beauty to its soakers: it’s said

to expand capillaries in arms and legs and improve complexion. The alkaline water felt soft, like easing into expensive sheepskin slippers. Bathing culture holds strong in many parts of the world, from Scandinavia to Russia, but it wasn’t until I moved to Okinawa, in the far south of the country, that I understood its primacy in Japan. Escaping to an onsen on the weekend is a quintessentially Japanese pastime. There are more than 27,000 of them throughout the country, the

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result of tectonic and volcanic activity that produces geothermal waters. To be officially classified as an onsen, the water must exceed 25 degrees Celsius and contain at least one of 19 designated minerals, each offering a particular promise of good health. The benefits of hot baths, from their anti-inflammatory properties to their calorie-burning qualities, are well-known—there’s even a branch of traditional medicine, balneotherapy, dedicated to their healing powers. Now, >>

courtesy of zaborin

By Amelia Lester

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/ wellness /

wellness enthusiasts, increasingly attuned to the physical and spiritual advantages of taking the waters, have become more interested in this centuries-old Japanese tradition. Professor Yuko Agishi, balneologist and professor emeritus at the Hokkaido School of Medicine, has outlined three benefits of hot springs. First are the effects of heat on the body, which Agishi says increases the production of hormones and stimulates the immune system. Second is the effect of the minerals. Sulfur, as I now know from Noboribetsu, gets the blood pumping; sodium may cure bronchial disorders and diabetes; calcium is good for stomach maladies and allergies. To see dramatic benefits, however, balneologists caveat that onsen treatment should be thought of as a lifestyle choice, not a quick fix, which brings us to its third benefit: psychological well-being. At Noboribetsu, I saw how Japanese visitors, especially older ones, dedicated their entire day to the bath. They would arrive at breakfast

indoor bathing; sometimes, it’s only through the ryokan that a bather can gain access to an outdoor hot spring. On check-in, guests are given a yukata, or belted cotton robe, which they wear everywhere. Najimu, a word for the pleasant dynamic that develops when sitting in quiet communion, as at an onsen, means “to become accustomed to.” It entails a stripping away of layers both social and physical. A studied nonchalance about nudity prevails, codified via a system of unspoken rules, which can be intimidating. The first time I went into the women’s locker room at Noboribetsu, I watched what others did and thought I was getting it right, starting with a shower to scrub away outside dirt. An elderly lady approached me and gestured at the large towel I was carrying into the bathing area. This was for afterward, she indicated, >>

The restorative Noboribetsu hot springs.

What exactly is... Moringa? Call it the new kale. The tropical tree moringa produces leaves that are rich in antioxidants,

minerals, and vitamins A, B and C. Popular in health-food stores as a supplement in pill and powder form, the superfood is now cropping up at hotels in healthy drinks and salads. Holisitic health retreat Como Shambala Estate (comohotels.com; doubles from US$550) in Ubud uses the fresh leaf grown throughout Bali in nourishing stews and salads, and Rockhouse (rockhousehotel.com; doubles from US$145), a cliff-side resort in Negril, Jamaica, adds moringa from their on-site organic gardens to refreshing smoothies. Sri Lankan Ayurvedic center Spa Ceylon (spaceylon.com) blends the traditional herb into many of its soothing products, including a clarifying clay mask and detoxing body oil, and has treatment outposts across Asia.

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fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f z a b o r i n ; © J NTO

The Zen lobby at Zaborin.

with soaking hair and sandals, and in the evenings look exactly the same. As a novice, I didn’t find spending that much time in the steam especially appealing. Instead, I’d hike in the national park next to the crater or seek out a ramen shop for lunch, then retreat to my hotel’s bath complex before dinner. It was not, by any means, an especially active trip, but my daily dip left me feeling as accomplished and invigorated as if I’d climbed a mountain. For the Japanese, there is also the comforting component of ritual to the onsen retreat. Although there are public, open-air hot springs, the traditional way to visit the baths is to stay at a ryokan. These Japanese inns are set up as they have been for centuries: tatami mats, floor cushions, and, tucked away until sunset, futon beds. Those located near hot springs pipe in water for

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/ wellness / back in the changing area. While moving between baths, the only permissible drying implement is a small hand towel. Though I enjoyed the low hum of conversation in the big bathing complex, I was eager to soak in my own private tub. About two hours northwest of Noboribetsu, in the resort area of Niseko, is Zaborin (zaborin.com; villas from ¥150,000), considered one of Japan’s finest ryokans. The journey was not easy: I drove on snowy roads through remote villages, dipping in and out of cell service, occasionally thwarted by a fallen tree. But arriving at Zaborin, in a secluded pocket of the Hanazono forest, felt like a return to a platonic ideal of the country. On check-in, guests are greeted with a tea ceremony and given an ash-gray linen yukata. I noticed the wood underneath my toes was warm; the staff explained that hot springs powered the underfloor heating. Each of the 15 private villas has two private baths: stone outside,

Zaborin is nestled in tranquil forest in Hanazono.

cedar inside. The spring water is rich in magnesium, said to have a sedative effect, as well as calcium, good for suppressing inflammation. Each night I’d fall asleep to the soft trickle of water from the indoor bath. In the morning, I’d sip green tea in the outdoor tub and watch the snow blanket the trees before heading down for a breakfast of firm local tofu topped with bonito flakes, steamed river fish and pear juice. Snowed in for three nights, there was thankfully very little to do other than pad around the thoughtfully

curated library and, of course, take multiple baths. Despite its dense mineral content, the water was surprisingly transparent. Even as a faithful user of high-tech beauty serums, I had to admit that upon leaving Zaborin, my skin had never seemed so clear, so weirdly pore-less. I also left the ryokan with a memory of being suspended in the hot waters of the stone tub on my villa’s balcony, watching the snow fall on the surrounding birch trees. In that moment, I felt a peace that will be hard to re-create.

Water Worlds Hydrotherapy soothes the mind as much as the muscles. While flotation tanks have swept Asia recently, and the Aquatonic seawater therapy pool at Ayana Resort & Spa Bali is a perennial favorite soak, these destinations offer new remedies to try.

The Songkran Shower room at The Ritz-Carlton.

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Opened last year, The Ritz-Carlton’s Spa Village integrates traditional Thai spa practices with the island’s surrounding nature. The Songkran Shower ritual begins all therapies, and the Thai Aquatic Freedom experience, which marries gentle stretching with weightless aqua therapy, is the spa’s signature. ritzcarlton. com; doubles from Bt13,875.

Retreat at the Blue Lagoon Iceland

The country’s most visited attraction, this geothermal spa complex near Reykjavík now has a 62-room luxury hotel. Guests can book Lava Cove, an exclusive wing of the Retreat’s spa, for a six-hour period of in-water massages and silica salt scrubs—in their very own private lagoon. bluelagoon. com; doubles from US$1,810.

Lefay Resort & Spa

Set above Lake Garda, in Italy, this retreat emphasizes traditional Chinese medicine—even in its water therapies. In the Florida Whirlpool Tub, jets target vital meridian points to restore energy and improve circulation. Doctors also recommend essential oils that the staff will add to the tub for your specific ailments. lefayresorts.com; doubles from €305.

fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f z a b o r i n ; t h a n e t k a e w d u a n g d e e

The Ritz-Carlton, Koh Samui

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Edited by Jacqueline Gifford

Near Mount Bromo, Java— this year’s top-rated island—definitely has its head in the clouds.

tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

Top 100 Hotels 1 Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan Indonesia 98.22 2 Ballyfin County Laois, Ireland 98.00 3 Frangipani Beach Resort Anguilla 97.88 4 Inkaterra La Casona Cuzco, Peru 97.87 4 Inverlochy Castle Hotel Torlundy, Scotland 97.87 6 The Mulia Bali, Indonesia 97.81 7 Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa Torres del Paine, Chile 97.38 8 Temple House Chengdu, China 97.26 9 Nihi Sumba Island Indonesia 97.06 10 Nayara Springs Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica 97.04 11 Oberoi Amarvilas Agra, India 97.02 12 Amandari Bali, Indonesia 96.96 13 Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa 96.95 14 Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba Sacred Valley, Peru 96.84 14 Six Senses Douro Valley Lamego, Portugal 96.84 16 Eolo – Patagonia’s Spirit El Calafate, Argentina 96.71

17 Oberoi Rajvilas Jaipur, India 96.69 18 Gibb’s Farm Karatu, Tanzania 96.62 19 La Residence Franschhoek, South Africa 96.57 20 La Réserve— Hôtel & Spa Paris 96.44 20 Viceroy Riviera Maya Playa del Carmen, Mexico 96.44 22 The Oberoi Mumbai 96.42 23 Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru 96.36 24 Rambagh Palace Jaipur, India 96.33 25 The Lowell New York City 96.27 25 Taj Lake Palace Udaipur, India 96.27 27 Huka Lodge Taupo, New Zealand 96.20 28 Taj Exotica Goa, India 96.18 29 Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa Johannesburg, South Africa 96.13 30 Cala de Mar Resort & Spa Ixtapa, Mexico 96.11 31 Mandarin Oriental Bangkok 96.07 32 The Peninsula Paris 96.00 32 The Peninsula Tokyo 96.00 32 Resort at Pedregal Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 96.00

35 Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa Sacred Valley, Peru 95.88 36 Lodge at Edgewood Tahoe Lake Tahoe, Nevada 95.78 37 Six Senses Yao Noi, Thailand 95.75 38 Rancho Santana Rivas, Nicaragua 95.74 39 Cavas Wine Lodge Mendoza, Argentina 95.73 40 Montage Kapalua Bay Maui, Hawaii 95.72 41 Hotel Wailea Maui, Hawaii 95.64 41 St. Regis Bora Bora Resort French Polynesia 95.64 43 Borgo Egnazia Savelletri di Fasano, Italy 95.62 44 Fogo Island Inn Newfoundland 95.61 45 Las Ventanas al Paraíso, a Rosewood Resort San José del Cabo, Mexico 95.60 45 Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek Ranch Saratoga, Wyoming 95.60 47 The Oberoi New Delhi 95.58 47 Southern Ocean Lodge Kangaroo Island, Australia 95.58

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49 Il San Pietro di Positano Positano, Italy 95.48 50 Sheen Falls Lodge County Kerry, Ireland 95.47 51 Rosewood San Miguel de Allende, Mexico 95.36 52 Twin Farms Barnard, Vermont 95.36 53 Nayara Resort, Spa & Gardens Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica 95.35

54 The Oberoi Gurgaon, India 95.33 54 Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve Lodges Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa 95.33 56 Jade Mountain St. Lucia 95.32 57 Le Meurice Paris 95.29 57 Taj Bangalore, India 95.29 59 Badrutt’s Palace Hotel St. Moritz, Switzerland 95.23 60 La Mamounia Marrakesh, Morocco 95.22

61 Banyan Tree Cabo Marqués Acapulco, Mexico 95.20 61 Hacienda AltaGracia, Auberge Resorts Collection Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica 95.20 61 Palace Hotel Tokyo 95.20 61 Spectator Hotel Charleston, South Carolina 95.20 65 Carlton Hotel St. Moritz, Switzerland 95.14

l auryn ishak

Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan, a 60-room retreat near Ubud, got your vote as the No. 1 Hotel in the World. It was one of 27 properties in Asia that made the Top 100 list, the most of any region this year.

What makes the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan so special? The lush Ayung River Valley setting, dramatic architecture and immersive local experiences. the in-house farm is a calm setting for meditative wellness and the spa works with spiritual healers.

66 Singular Patagonia Puerto Bories, Chile 95.11 67 The Alpina Gstaad, Switzerland 95.06 68 Post Ranch Inn Big Sur, California 95.01 69 Nizuc Resort & Spa Cancún, Mexico 95.00 70 Primland Meadows of Dan, Virginia 94.88 71 Raffles Singapore 94.83 72 Chileno Bay Resort, Auberge Resorts Collection Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 94.82

73 Rosewood Mayakoba Playa del Carmen, Mexico 94.80 74 C Lazy U Ranch Grand County, Colorado 94.77 75 InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa French Polynesia 94.75 75 J.K. Place Capri, Italy 94.75 77 Wickaninnish Inn Tofino, British Columbia 94.74 78 Taj Diplomatic Enclave New Delhi 94.73

79 Triple Creek Ranch Darby, Montana 94.70 80 Amanpuri Phuket, Thailand 94.67 80 Farm at Cape Kidnappers Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand 94.67 80 Katikies Santorini, Greece 94.67 80 Qualia Hamilton Island, Australia 94.67 84 The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel New York City 94.64 85 Aman Venice 94.64

86 Pendry San Diego 94.62 87 The Setai Miami Beach 94.60 88 The Cloister Sea Island, Georgia 94.53 89 Four Seasons Resort the Nam Hai Hoi An, Vietnam 94.43 90 Hewing Hotel Minneapolis 94.42 91 The Lanesborough London 94.40 91 Sol y Luna Sacred Valley, Peru 94.40

93 Alila Manggis Bali, Indonesia 94.39 94 Planters Inn Charleston, South Carolina 94.37 95 Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, Thailand 94.36 96 Brewery Gulch Inn Mendocino, California 94.35 97 Esperanza, Auberge Resorts Collection Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 94.33

98 Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo Taormina, Italy 94.21 99 Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, Thailand 94.19 100 Hotel Maria Cristina, a Luxury Collection Hotel San Sebastián, Spain 94.18

Hall of Fame On the list for the past 10 years.

Tie Indicates a true tie.

tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

Six Senses, the resort brand popular for its wellness initiatives and eco-friendly practices, is rapidly expanding. This year, the company opened its first city hotel: Six Senses Duxton, in Singapore’s historic Tanjong Pagar district. properties in bhutan, cambodia and more are on the way.

Top 20

T+L Online

WANT MORE WORLD’S BEST AWARDS? Head to tandl.me/worldsbest for photos, extended lists and videos. From safari lodges to Caribbean beach resorts, you’ll find inspiration for your next getaway with photographs of all the winners.

Check out immersive video content of World’s Best destinations—including Hilton Head Island, Anguilla, Udaipur and more.

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

Don’t see one of your travel favorites in our rankings? You can nominate it to be a candidate for next year’s survey.

1 Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas 96.77 2 Red Carnation Hotel Collection 95.33 3 Oetker Collection 94.80 4 Oberoi Hotels & Resorts 94.51 5 One&Only Resorts 93.88 6 Rosewood Hotels & Resorts 93.38 7 The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts 92.13 8 The Peninsula Hotels 92.04 9 Alila Hotels & Resorts 91.81 10 Auberge Resorts Collection 91.64 11 Aman 91.57 12 COMO Hotels & Resorts 91.48 13 Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas 91.44 14 Montage Hotels & Resorts 91.33 15 Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris 91.25 16 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts 90.64 17 Thompson Hotels 89.88 18 St. Regis Hotels & Resorts 89.84 19 Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts 89.53 20 Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts 89.26

Scores shown have been rounded to the nearest hundredth of a point; in the event of a true tie, winners share the same ranking.

courtesy of six senses

hotel brands

Cities & Islands

Top 10

cities overall

Though Mexico claimed the top two cities in the world, Udaipur led the six Asian cities that dominate the top 10. For island getaways, Indonesia was the runaway favorite, taking home the top three spots.

1 San Miguel de Allende Mexico 91.94 2 Oaxaca Mexico 90.52 3 Udaipur India 89.31 4 Ubud Indonesia 88.74 5 Kyoto Japan 88.42 6 Florence Italy 88.29 7 Luang Prabang Laos 88.20 8 Hoi An Vietnam 88.09 9 Chiang Mai Thailand 87.93 10 Charleston South Carolina, U.S. 87.79

Top 10

Udaipur and its rich history that dates back to the 16th century is reflected in its lakes set in the expansive desert of Rajasthan.

50â&#x20AC;&#x201E;

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1 Java Indonesia 95.28 2 Bali Indonesia 94.06 3 Lombok Indonesia 93.88 4 Maldives 90.48 5 Waiheke Island New Zealand 90.21 6 Palawan Philippines 90.04 7 Mauritius 90.00 8 Cebu Philippines 89.10 9 PĂĄros Greece 88.76 10 Tasmania Australia 88.70

t e rr a b a b y/ g e t t y i m a g e s

islands overall

Flow18

Ebb6

JW Marriott Singapore South Beach

We believe in experiences to enrich your passions. Delight in our designer rooms and discover our award-winning restaurants and bars in the heart of Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art and culture district. Experience the ultimate staycation with packages complete with a 60-minute massage at the signature Spa by JW. jwmarriottsingapore.com 30 Beach Road Singapore 189763

Deluxe Room

Spa by JW

Destination Spas Many resorts promise health-focused getaways—but which ones actually deliver? This year, our readers chose properties with deep experience in wellness, from Bali to as far afield as Germany and Mexico.

just outside ubud is como shambhala estate, a holistic healing luxury resort that swaddles you in the serenity of lush nature whether you book one of their retreats or come for À la carte zen.

Top 5

1 Schloss Elmau Luxury Spa & Cultural Hideaway Elmau, Germany 96.83 2 COMO Shambhala Estate Bali, Indonesia 96.35 3 Rancho La Puerta Tecate, Mexico 95.83 4 Body Holiday St. Lucia 93.84 5 Maya Tulum Resort Tulum, Mexico 86.62

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On the list for the past 10 years.

c o u r t e s y o f C o m o S h a m b h a l a E s tat e

international spas

6:16PM The moment Makati took your breath away Cherish a moment in Fairmont Makati, an urban sanctuary of understated elegance among Manilaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s renowned shopping and lifestyle centers. As our guest, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be treated to spacious rooms and suites with floor-to-ceiling windows for unparalleled views of the glimmering skyline, accompanied by an atmosphere of sophisticated excellence and serenity. Gateway to your perfect Makati moment. fairmont.com

Singapore Changi Airport’s new terminal 4 reinterprets colorful scenes from the city itself indoors.

Transportation Top 10

Top 5

international airlines

international airports

car-rental companies

1 Singapore Airlines 90.36 2 Emirates Airline 88.00 3 Qatar Airways 86.83 4 Japan Airlines 85.73 5 Air New Zealand 84.44 6 Cathay Pacific Airways 84.15 7 All Nippon Airways (ANA) 83.98 8 Virgin Atlantic Airways 83.78 9 Etihad Airways 83.71 10 Eva Air 83.48

1 Singapore Changi Airport 90.55 2 Hamad International Airport, Doha 86.99 3 Dubai International Airport 86.50 4 Hong Kong International Airport 84.38 5 Haneda (Tokyo International) Airport 82.32

1 National Car Rental 80.37 2 Enterprise Rent-A-Car 78.69 3 Hertz 76.43 4 Alamo Rent A Car 74.53 5 Sixt Rent A Car 73.89

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With Singapore Airlines’ new first-class service on the A380-800, two suites can be combined to make a double bed.

On the list for the past 10 years.

fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f c h a n g i a i r p o r t g r o u p ; c o u r t e s y o f s i n g a p o r e a i r l i n e s

Singapore Airlines soared along for the 23rd year in a row, while its home port of Changi continued to expand and improve in its spot at the top of the table.

In chengdu, temple House wraps modern and traditional designs into one to form a vibrant hotel in this historic city.

Asia

Top 10

cities

islands

resort hotels

1 Udaipur India 89.31 2 Ubud Indonesia 88.74 3 Kyoto Japan 88.42 4 Luang Prabang Laos 88.20 5 Hoi An Vietnam 88.09 6 Chiang Mai Thailand 87.93 7 Tokyo 86.96 8 Bangkok 86.71 9 Siem Reap Cambodia 86.54 10 Thimphu Bhutan 86.23

1 Java Indonesia 95.28 2 Bali Indonesia 94.06 3 Lombok Indonesia 93.88 4 Maldives 90.48 5 Palawan Philippines 90.04 6 Cebu Philippines 89.10 7 Phuket Thailand 86.14 8 Boracay Philippines 86.14 9 Koh Samui Thailand 85.07 10 Koh Lanta Thailand 82.50

56â&#x20AC;&#x201E;

1 Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan Indonesia 98.22 2 The Mulia Bali, Indonesia 97.81 3 Nihi Sumba Island Indonesia 97.06 4 Oberoi Amarvilas Agra, India 97.02 5 Amandari Bali, Indonesia 96.96 6 Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa 96.95 7 Oberoi Rajvilas Jaipur, India 96.69

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8 Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru 96.36 9 Rambagh Palace Jaipur, India 96.33 10 Taj Lake Palace Udaipur, India 96.27

Top 10

Top 5

city hotels

hotels hong kong

1 Temple House Chengdu, China 97.26 2 The Oberoi Mumbai 96.42 3 Mandarin Oriental Bangkok 96.07 4 The Peninsula Tokyo 96.00 5 The Oberoi New Delhi 95.58 6 The Oberoi Gurgaon, India 95.33 7 Taj Bangalore, India 95.29 8 Palace Hotel Tokyo 95.20 9 Raffles Singapore 94.83 10 Taj Diplomatic Enclave New Delhi 94.73

1 The Peninsula 92.60 2 JW Marriott Hotel 92.42 3 Four Seasons Hotel 89.86 4 Mandarin Oriental 89.33 5 Grand Hyatt 87.40

On the list for the past 10 years.

courtesy of temple house chengdu. opposite: courtesy of six senses

Crowd-pleasing islands in Indonesia and a romantic, palace-rich city in India scored bigâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as did the many great hotels that call these places home.

winner spotlight

Top 5

hotels bangkok

hotels singapore

hotels tokyo

resort hotels india

resort hotels indonesia

1 Mandarin Oriental 96.07 2 The Peninsula 93.17 3 Banyan Tree 90.67 4 Shangri-La Hotel 90.40 5 JW Marriott Hotel 85.71

1 Raffles 94.83 2 Four Seasons Hotel 93.28 3 Ritz-Carlton, Millenia 92.96 4 Capella 92.32 5 Grand Hyatt 88.43

1 The Peninsula 96.00 2 Palace Hotel 95.20 3 Ritz-Carlton 93.33 4 Mandarin Oriental 93.04 5 Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi 91.37

1 Oberoi Amarvilas Agra 97.02 2 Oberoi Rajvilas Jaipur 96.69 3 Rambagh Palace Jaipur 96.33 4 Taj Lake Palace Udaipur 96.27 5 Taj Exotica Goa 96.18

1 Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan 98.22 2 The Mulia Bali 97.81 3 Nihi Sumba Island 97.06 4 Amandari Bali 96.96 5 Alila Manggis Bali 94.39

Guests at Six Senses Yao Noi, in Thailand, can head for the beach or simply lounge in their villas: all come with private pools, and most overlook the limestone karsts in PhaNg ngA Bay, which make for a great day of island-hopping.

Top 10

resort hotels southeast asia

1 Six Senses Yao Noi Thailand 95.75 2 Amanpuri Phuket, Thailand 94.67 3 Four Seasons Resort the Nam Hai Hoi An, Vietnam 94.43 4 Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, Thailand 94.36 5 Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, Thailand 94.19 6 Banyan Tree Phuket, Thailand 93.60 7 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai, Thailand 92.95 8 Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort Chiang Rai, Thailand 92.67 9 Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle Chiang Rai, Thailand 91.29 10 Belmond La Résidence Phou Vao Luang Prabang, Laos 91.16

Bygone bangkok The Mandarin Oriental Bangkok (mandarinoriental. com; doubles from US$500), voted the best hotel in the city this year, has a history as illustrious as its guest list, which has included W. Somerset Maugham, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mick Jagger. Built in 1876 as “the Oriental,” the first luxury hotel in the Kingdom of Siam, the riverside property has evolved into a sprawling oasis; its romantic Bamboo Bar remains the place for gin and tonics. Throughout the Thai capital, you can find similarly atmospheric venues. Don’t miss the Jim Thompson House (jimthompsonhouse. com), a collection of six teak bungalows built in 1959 by the architect turned silk magnate. A museum showing Thompson’s furniture and Southeast Asian antiques, the houses beautifully encapsulate Thai craftsmanship. At the Art Deco– inspired Scala Theatre (apexsiamsquare.com), arched ceilings and a sweeping double staircase recall the cinemas of yesteryear. Moviegoers are still issued handwritten tickets and escorted in by attendants in sharp jackets and bow ties.

tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

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Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific Readers gave accolades to classic favorites, such as New Zealand’s rustic-luxe Huka Lodge and the sophisticated Langham Melbourne.

Top 5

Top 3

cities

resort hotels the south pacific

Top 5

islands

1 Waiheke Island New Zealand 90.21 2 Tasmania Australia 88.70 3 Cook Islands 88.52 4 Moorea French Polynesia 87.56 5 Bora-Bora French Polynesia 86.42

Top 5

city hotels

Spread over 17 oceanfront hectares, the St. Regis Bora Bora Resort draws honeymooners with its Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant and pampering spa, set on its own private motu (islet).

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1 The Langham Melbourne 92.00 2 Park Hyatt Sydney 90.37 3 Park Hyatt Melbourne 89.76 4 Shangri-La Hotel Sydney 87.82 5 The Langham Sydney 87.37

On the list for the past 10 years.

1 St. Regis Bora Bora Resort French Polynesia 95.64 2 InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa French Polynesia 94.75 3 Four Seasons Resort Bora-Bora, French Polynesia 93.86

Top 4

resort hotels australia & new zealand

1 Huka Lodge Taupo, New Zealand 96.20 2 Southern Ocean Lodge Kangaroo Island, Australia 95.58 3 Farm at Cape Kidnappers Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand 94.67 3 Qualia Hamilton Island, Australia 94.67

Indicates a true tie.

c o u r t e s y o f s t. r e g i s b o r a b o r a r e s o r t

1 Sydney 85.25 2 Melbourne 83.47 3 Queenstown New Zealand 82.85 4 Auckland New Zealand 80.17 5 Wellington New Zealand 79.21

luxurious thrills unveiled Discover the crown jewel of luxurious dining in Vietnamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hidden paradise at JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay. Unlock wondrous arrays of the finest delicacies at the newly launched PINK PEARL restaurant with elegantly-curated French cuisine set in the beachfront mansion of the fabled Lamarck University, crafted by the famed architect, Bill Bensley. To reserve your seats, call +84 297 377 9999 or email mhrs.pqcjw.pinkpearl@marriott.com JW MARRIOTT PHU QUOC EMERALD BAY Kem Beach, Phu Quoc, Vietnam

PinkPearlJWMarriottPhuQuoc jwmarriottphuquoc.com

Europe Seaside destinations and culinary centers in Greece, Italy and the Iberian Peninsula had some of the strongest showings this year. Top 10

cities

islands

1 Florence 88.29 2 Rome 87.16 3 Istanbul 87.09 4 Porto Portugal 86.42 5 Seville Spain 86.36 6 Barcelona 86.31 7 Kraków Poland 86.30 8 Lisbon 86.13 9 Siena Italy 85.81 10 San Sebastián Spain 85.75

1 Páros Greece 88.76 2 Orkney Islands Scotland 88.50 3 Azores Portugal 88.37 4 Santorini Greece 87.94 5 Crete Greece 87.57 6 Mílos Greece 87.43

7 Skye and the Hebrides Scotland 87.37 8 Sicily Italy 86.44 9 Mykonos Greece 86.31 10 Corfu and the Ionian Islands Greece 86.11

In Paris, La Réserve— Hôtel & Spa is set in a 19th-century mansion close to the Champs Élysées.

Top 10

city hotels

1 La Réserve— Hôtel & Spa Paris 96.44 2 The Peninsula Paris 96.00 3 Le Meurice Paris 95.29 4 Aman Venice 94.64 5 The Lanesborough London 94.40 6 Hotel Maria Cristina, a Luxury Collection Hotel San Sebastián, Spain 94.18 7 Le Bristol Paris 94.15 8 The Goring London 94.06 9 J.K. Place Roma Rome 93.75 10 Le Negresco Nice, France 93.68

Top 10

resort hotels

1 Ballyfin County Laois, Ireland 98.00 2 Inverlochy Castle Hotel Torlundy, Scotland 97.87 3 Six Senses Douro Valley Lamego, Portugal 96.84 4 Borgo Egnazia Savelletri di Fasano, Italy 95.62

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5 Il San Pietro di Positano Positano, Italy 95.48 6 Sheen Falls Lodge County Kerry, Ireland 95.47 7 Badrutt’s Palace Hotel St. Moritz, Switzerland 95.23 8 Carlton Hotel St. Moritz, Switzerland 95.14 9 The Alpina Gstaad, Switzerland 95.06 10 J.K. Place Capri, Italy 94.75

On the list for the past 10 years.

fr o m L e f t: c o u r t e s y o f L a R é s e r v e — H ô t e l & S pa ; courtesy of J.K. Pl ace Roma

Top 10

The boutique J.K. Place Roma, opened in 2013, occupies a 19th-century building near the Spanish Steps that was formerly an architecture school.

Top 5

resort hotels united kingdom & ireland

1 Ballyfin County Laois, Ireland 98.00 2 Inverlochy Castle Hotel Torlundy, Scotland 97.87 3 Sheen Falls Lodge County Kerry, Ireland 95.47 4 Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa St. Andrews, Scotland 91.43 5 Ashford Castle County Mayo, Ireland 91.41

Top 5

resort hotels france Top 10

hotels paris

1 La Réserve— Hôtel & Spa 96.44 2 The Peninsula 96.00 3 Le Meurice 95.29 4 Le Bristol 94.15 5 Hôtel Plaza Athénée 93.40

6 The Ritz 92.82 7 Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme 92.70 8 Four Seasons Hotel George V 92.65 9 Hôtel de Crillon, a Rosewood Hotel 91.88 10 Shangri-La Hôtel 91.87

Top 5

Top 10

hotels rome

hotels london

1 J.K. Place Roma 93.75 2 Hotel Eden 93.08 3 Hotel de Russie, a Rocco Forte Hotel 92.80 4 Hotel Hassler 91.03 5 Rome Cavalieri, a Waldorf Astoria Resort 89.45

1 The Lanesborough 94.40 2 The Goring 94.06 3 The Stafford 93.43 4 London Edition 92.00 5 Hotel 41 91.26

6 Corinthia Hotel 91.24 7 Soho Hotel 91.20 8 Taj 51 Buckingham Gate 90.95 9 Rosewood 90.92 10 Chesterfield Mayfair 90.74

1 Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, a Four Seasons Hotel St.-Jean-CapFerrat 92.97 2 Hôtel du CapEden-Roc Cap d’Antibes 92.67 3 Château Eza Èze Village 91.05 4 Château de la Chèvre d’Or Èze Vi llage 90.11 5 Trianon Palace, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel Versailles 88.71

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Modeled after a traditional Puglian village, Borgo Egnazia has 29 stand-alone villas, multiple pools, and a cooking school.

Europe, continued Top 5

Top 5

Top 3

Top 5

hotels barcelona

hotels florence

resort hotels greece

resort hotels italy

hotels venice

1 Mandarin Oriental 91.83 2 Hotel Arts 90.53 3 Hotel 1898 90.27 4 Cotton House, an Autograph Collection Hotel 90.15 5 Casa Fuster 87.73

1 Hotel Lungarno 93.00 1 Villa Cora 93.00 3 Belmond Villa San Michele 92.67 4 Four Seasons Hotel Firenze 91.93 5 Hotel Brunelleschi 90.18

1 Katikies Santorini 94.67 2 Canaves Oia Santorini 94.17 3 Blue Palace, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa Crete 90.11

1 Borgo Egnazia Savelletri di Fasano 95.62 2 Il San Pietro di Positano 95.48 3 J.K. Place Capri 94.75 4 Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo Taormina 94.21 5 Grand Hotel Tremezzo Lake Como 93.94

62â&#x20AC;&#x201E;

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court esy of Borgo egna zia

1 Aman 94.64 2 Belmond Hotel Cipriani 92.43 3 JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa 91.30 4 Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel 90.84 5 Baglioni Hotel Luna 86.74

Indicates a true tie.

Continental United States

Whether this year’s top hotels have been open for one year (the Lodge at Edgewood Tahoe) or 26 (Post Ranch Inn), all share a common thread: discreet service, timeless design and a true sense of place. Top 10

cities

1 Charleston South Carolina 87.79 2 New Orleans 85.71 3 Savannah Georgia 85.48 4 Santa Fe New Mexico 85.06 5 New York City 83.38 6 Chicago 83.07 7 San Antonio Texas 81.62 8 Asheville North Carolina 81.54 9 Nashville 81.22 10 Honolulu 81.04

islands

1 Hilton Head Island South Carolina 85.99 2 Golden Isles (Jekyll Island, Little St. Simons Island, Sea Island, St. Simons Island) Georgia 85.24 3 Kiawah Island South Carolina 85.10 4 Mount Desert Island Maine 85.00 5 San Juan Islands Washington 83.10 6 Amelia Island Florida 82.97

7 Florida Keys 81.91 8 Nantucket Massachusetts 81.71 9 Outer Banks North Carolina 81.63 10 Longboat Key Florida 80.88

Top 15

city hotels

1 The Lowell New York City 96.27 2 Spectator Hotel Charleston, South Carolina 95.20 3 The Beekman,a Thompson Hotel New York City 94.64 4 Pendry San Diego 94.62 5 Hewing Hotel Minneapolis 94.42 6 Planters Inn Charleston, South Carolina 94.37

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7 Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills California 94.00 8 London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills California 93.57 9 Inn of the Five Graces Santa Fe, New Mexico 93.44 10 The Jefferson Washington, D.C. 93.25 11 French Quarter Inn Charleston, South Carolina 93.13 12 Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, California 93.00 13 The Langham Chicago 92.84 14 XV Beacon Boston 92.83 15 Hotel 50 Bowery New York City 92.80

Top 15

resort hotels

1 Lodge at Edgewood Tahoe Lake Tahoe, Nevada 95.78 2 Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek Ranch Saratoga, Wyoming 95.60 3 Twin Farms Barnard, Vermont 95.36 4 Post Ranch Inn Big Sur, California 95.01 5 Primland Meadows of Dan, Virginia 94.88 6 C Lazy U Ranch Grand County, Colorado 94.77

7 Triple Creek Ranch Darby, Montana 94.70 8 The Setai Miami Beach 94.60 9 The Cloister Sea Island, Georgia 94.53 10 Brewery Gulch Inn Mendocino, California 94.35 11 The Swag Waynesville, North Carolina 94.14 12 Stephanie Inn Cannon Beach, Oregon 93.90 13 Rabbit Hill Inn Lower Waterford, Vermont 93.89 14 Chanler at Cliff Walk Newport, Rhode Island 93.76 15 Little Nell Aspen, Colorado 93.71

On the list for the past 10 years.

c o u r t e s y o f H i lt o n H e a d I s l a n d V i s i t o r & C o n v e n t i o n B u r e a u

Top 10

South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island has some 20 kilometers of pristine beach.

samui.intercontinental.com Renowned as the best spot on the island for sunsets, InterContinental® Samui Baan Taling Ngam Resort is set within a quiet, secluded 22 acres and offers inspiring views over the Gulf of Thailand. This stunning resort – named in The New York Times “1,000 Places to Visit in Your Lifetime” – comprises 79 rooms, suites and villas, all designed with privacy and seclusion in mind. There are four fabulous restaurants and bars, the award-winning Baan Thai Spa by HARNN, and a host of fun activities ... for adults and kids alike. Whether guests are seeking a romantic getaway or a family vacation, they will find their own exclusive sanctuary at this extraordinary retreat.

Top 10

hotels new york city

resort hotels greater miami beach

1 The Lowell 96.27 2 The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel 94.64 3 Hotel 50 Bowery 92.80 4 Archer Hotel 92.72 5 The Quin 92.71 6 The Iroquois 92.00 7 The Knickerbocker 91.83 8 Hotel Elysée 90.75 9 Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue 90.67 10 The Chatwal, a Luxury Collection Hotel 90.56

Continental U.S., continued Top 5

Top 5

hotels greater los angeles

hotels chicago

hotels washington d.c.

hotels charleston

1 Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills 94.00 2 London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills 93.57 3 Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills 93.00 4 The Peninsula Beverly Hills 91.88 5 Mr. C Beverly Hills 90.59

1 The Langham 92.84 2 The Peninsula 92.71 3 The Thompson 90.92 4 Talbott Hotel 90.24 5 Chicago Athletic Association Hotel 89.26

1 The Jefferson 93.25 2 The Hay-Adams 91.66 3 Sofitel Washington D.C. Lafayette Square 88.21 4 Ritz-Carlton 87.85 5 Melrose Georgetown Hotel 87.60

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1 Spectator Hotel 95.20 2 Planters Inn 94.37 3 French Quarter Inn 93.13 4 Zero George 92.57 5 The Dewberry 92.13

1 The Setai Miami Beach 94.60 2 The Betsy South Beach 93.39 3 Palms Hotel & Spa Miami Beach 91.48 4 Four Seasons Hotel at the Surf Club Surfside 91.11 5 Soho Beach House Miami Beach 90.12 6 The Standard Miami Beach 90.00 7 Acqualina Resort & Spa Sunny Isles 87.55 8 COMO Metropolitan Miami Beach 87.33 9 W South Beach 86.96 10 Faena Hotel Miami Beach 86.95

Top 10

resort hotels northeast

resort hotels florida

1 Twin Farms Barnard, Vermont 95.36 2 Rabbit Hill Inn Lower Waterford, Vermont 93.89 3 Chanler at Cliff Walk Newport, Rhode Island 93.76 4 Nantucket Hotel & Resort Massachusetts 93.50 5 Wequassett Resort & Golf Club Harwich, Massachusetts 92.17 6 Lake Placid Lodge Lake Placid, New York 91.91 7 Inn at Hastings Park Lexington, Massachusetts 91.73 8 White Elephant Nantucket, Massachusetts 91.71 9 Hidden Pond Kennebunkport, Maine 91.43 10 Harborside Hotel Bar Harbor, Maine 91.17

1 The Pearl Hotel Rosemary Beach 93.47 2 Little Palm Island Resort & Spa Little Torch Key 93.41 3 Henderson, a Salamander Beach & Spa Resort Destin 93.40 4 Opal Sands Resort Clearwater Beach 92.81 5 Sunset Key Cottages Key West 92.24 6 Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort Naples 91.40 7 Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island 90.99 8 Gasparilla Inn & Club Boca Grande 90.83 9 Sandpearl Resort Clearwater Beach 90.51 10 Resort at Longboat Key Club Longboat Key 90.35

On the list for the past 10 years.

courtesy of the lowell

The terrace of the Garden Suite at the Lowell, an apartment-style room in New York City that also has a wood-burning fireplace.

Top 10

Continental U.S., continued Top 10

Top 10

resort hotels west

resort hotels california

1 Primland Meadows of Dan, Virginia 94.88 2 The Cloister Sea Island, Georgia 94.53 3 The Swag Waynesville, North Carolina 94.14 4 Inn at Willow Grove Orange, Virginia 92.93 5 Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort South Carolina 92.91 6 Old Edwards Inn & Spa Highlands, North Carolina 92.22 7 Blackberry Farm Walland, Tennessee 92.00 8 Lodge at Sea Island St. Simons Island, Georgia 91.65 9 Inn & Club at Harbour Town Hilton Head Island, South Carolina 89.86 10 The Willcox Aiken, South Carolina 89.56

1 Lodge at Edgewood Tahoe Lake Tahoe, Nevada 95.78 2 Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek Ranch Saratoga, Wyoming 95.60 3 C Lazy U Ranch Grand County, Colorado 94.77 4 Triple Creek Ranch Darby, Montana 94.70 5 Stephanie Inn Cannon Beach, Oregon 93.90 6 Little Nell Aspen, Colorado 93.71 7 Stein Eriksen Lodge Deer Valley Park City, Utah 93.08 8 Resort at Paws Up Greenough, Montana 92.70 9 The Sebastian Vail , Colorado 92.30 10 Jenny Lake Lodge Moose, Wyoming 91.87

1 Post Ranch Inn Big Sur 95.01 2 Brewery Gulch Inn Mendocino 94.35 3 Solage, Auberge Resorts Collection Calistoga 92.83 4 Resort at Pelican Hill Newport Beach 92.79 5 Auberge du Soleil Napa Valley 92.33 6 Calistoga Ranch, Auberge Resorts Collection Calistoga 92.14 7 Ventana Big Sur, an Alila Resort Big Sur 92.13 8 San Ysidro Ranch Santa Barbara 92.11 9 Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa San Diego 92.00 10 Bardessono Hotel Yountville 91.78

Located in the 49-hectare Waianapanapa State Park, just north of the town of Hana, Honokalani is the most famous black-sand beach on Maui.

Hawaii

Maui scores as the most popular island, as does the Montage Kapalua Bay resort. Top 5

islands

1 2 3 4 5

Maui 88.42 Kauai 88.07 Big Island 86.17 Oahu 84.12 Lanai 79.49

Top 15

winner spotlight

farm-to-table maui There’s more to the No. 1 Hawaiian island than the beaches. Maui’s food scene continues to be another big draw for visitors, thanks to a crop of talented chefs and a growing appreciation for native produce. Don’t miss chef Sheldon Simeon’s Tin Roof (tinroofmaui.com; mains US$7–$15), a buzzy, unassuming spot for noodles in Kahului. Leoda’s Kitchen & Pie Shop (leodas. com; mains US$10–$16), a popular stop on the drive from Lahaina to Wailea, is all about pies: try coconut cream, macnut choc, or savory Hamakua mushroom. At the atmospheric Mill House (millhousemaui.com; mains US$16–$55), in rural Waikapu, chef Jeff Scheer sources many ingredients (avocados, carrots, papaya) from the restaurant’s own 600-hectare plantation, and the locally caught fish (mahimahi, snapper, ahi) is a standout.

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

resort hotels

1 Montage Kapalua Bay Maui 95.72 2 Hotel Wailea Maui 95.64 3 Ko’a Kea Hotel & Resort Kauai 94.11 4 Four Seasons Resort Lanai 92.94 5 Fairmont Kea Lani Maui 92.94

6 Four Seasons Resort Hualalai Big Island 92.70 7 Trump International Hotel Waikiki Oahu 92.38 8 Travaasa Hana Maui 92.00 9 Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina 90.84 10 Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea 90.65 11 Halekulani Oahu 90.47 12 Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii Big Island 90.00 13 Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua Maui 89.69 14 Westin Hapuna Beach Resort Big Island 89.56 15 Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows Big Island 89.44

On the list for the past 10 years.

M at t A n d e r s o n P h o t o g r a p h y/ g e t t y i m a g e s

Top 10

resort hotels south

Timeless Charm, Priceless Experiences Delight in our private pool villas’ 300sqm of genuine comfort complete with 24-hour bespoke services by Neighbourhood “Patih”, top-of-the line amenities and artful modern design inspired by Bali’s sublime culture, all located right in the heart of vibrant Seminyak.

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One of 410-year-old Quebec City’s top attractions is its old quarter, home to boutiques, restaurants and hotels.

The Caribbean, Bermuda & the Bahamas Our readers weren’t deterred by last season’s hurricanes: seven of the top 10 islands were impacted by the storms—and are now on their way to recovery.

Quebec City stays on top, while Cape Breton Island won for the first time since 2006. Top 5

Top 3

cities

islands

anguilla, in the british west indies, brims with great hiking, beach cafÉs, and new boutique hotels.

Top 10

islands 1 Quebec City 84.18 2 Vancouver 81.85 3 Victoria British Columbia 81.78 4 Montreal 81.10 5 Toronto 78.68

Top 5

city hotels

1 Rosewood Hotel Georgia Vancouver 92.41 2 Ritz-Carlton Montreal 92.21 3 Wedgewood Hotel & Spa Vancouver 91.11 4 L’Hermitage Hotel Vancouver 90.13 5 Auberge SaintAntoine Quebec City 89.58

1 Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia 87.88 2 Vancouver Island British Columbia 84.59 3 Prince Edward Island 82.61

Top 5

resort hotels

1 Fogo Island Inn Newfoundland 95.61 2 Wickaninnish Inn Tofino, British Columbia 94.74 3 Clayoquot Wilderness Resort Tofino, British Columbia 91.47 4 Rimrock Resort Hotel Banff, Alberta 91.40 5 Post Hotel & Spa Lake Louise, Alberta 91.33

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

1 Anguilla 87.43 2 Virgin Gorda British Virgin Islands 85.43 3 Jost Van Dyke British Virgin Islands 84.89 4 St. John U.S. Virgin Islands 84.77 5 St. Lucia 84.04 6 Turks & Caicos 83.93 7 Vieques Puerto Rico 82.63 8 Bermuda 82.52 9 Cuba 82.45 10 Aruba 82.41

Top 25

resort hotels

1 Frangipani Beach Resort Anguilla 97.88 2 Jade Mountain St. Lucia 95.32

3 Curtain Bluff Resort Antigua 94.11 4 Tensing Pen Negril, Jamaica 93.92 5 Ladera Resort St. Lucia 93.47 6 Anse Chastanet Resort St. Lucia 92.96 7 Round Hill Hotel & Villas Montego Bay, Jamaica 92.94 8 Cap Maison St. Lucia 92.82 9 Jamaica Inn Ocho Rios, Jamaica 92.74 10 Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort Aruba 92.50 11 Sandals Grenada Resort & Spa Grenada 91.76 12 Four Seasons Resort & Private Residences Anguilla 91.74 13 Nisbet Plantation Beach Club Nevis 91.47 14 Reefs Resort & Club Bermuda 91.34 15 Zemi Beach House Anguilla 91.29 16 Rockhouse Negril, Jamaica 91.17

17 The Cove Eleuthera, Bahamas 90.92 18 Malliouhana, Auberge Resorts Collection Anguilla 90.76 19 Eden Rock St. Bart’s 90.67 20 Marigot Bay Resort & Marina St. Lucia 90.53 21 Shore Club Turks & Caicos 90.50 22 Kimpton Seafire Resort & Spa Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands 90.35 23 Jumby Bay Island Antigua 90.32 24 Galley Bay Resort & Spa Antigua 90.26 25 COMO Parrot Cay Turks & Caicos 90.24

On the list for the past 10 years.

fr o m t o p l e f t: I n s ta n t s / g e t t y i m a g e s ; At l a n t i d e P h o t o t r av e l / g e t t y i m a g e s

Canada

Mexico & Central & South America Peru had a strong showing this year, with a combined total of nine city and resort hotels ranking among the World’s Best.

Top 5

cities central & South America

cities mexico

city hotels mexico

1 San Miguel de Allende 91.94 2 Oaxaca 90.52 3 Mexico City 87.65 4 Mérida 85.81 5 Guadalajara 84.56

1 Rosewood San Miguel de Allende 95.36 2 St. Regis Mexico City 93.33 3 Four Seasons Hotel Mexico City 91.33 4 Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada San Miguel de Allende 89.17 5 W Mexico City 88.91

islands mexico & central & south america

1 Cuzco Peru 85.29 2 Rio de Janeiro 82.60 3 Antigua Guatemala 82.49 4 Buenos Aires 81.22 5 Bogotá Colombia 80.49

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

1 Galápagos Islands Ecuador 88.53 2 Easter Island Chile 86.67 3 Isla Mujeres Mexico 83.00 4 Caye Caulker Belize 82.86 5 Ambergris Caye Belize 80.38

Top 5

resort hotels central america

1 Viceroy Riviera Maya Playa del Carmen 96.44 2 Cala de Mar Resort & Spa Ixtapa 96.11 3 Resort at Pedregal Cabo San Lucas 96.00 4 Las Ventanas al Paraíso, a Rosewood Resort San José del Cabo 95.60 5 Banyan Tree Cabo Marqués Acapulco 95.20 6 Nizuc Resort & Spa Cancún 95.00 7 Chileno Bay Resort, Auberge Resorts Collection Cabo San Lucas 94.82 8 Rosewood Mayakoba Playa del Carmen 94.80 9 Esperanza, Auberge Resorts Collection Cabo San Lucas 94.33 10 One&Only Palmilla San José del Cabo 93.35

Top 10

city hotels central & south america

1 Inkaterra La Casona Cuzco, Peru 97.87 2 Sofitel Legend Santa Clara Cartagena, Colombia 93.28 3 Palacio del Inka, a Luxury Collection Hotel Cuzco, Peru 92.79 4 Hotel Casa San Agustín Cartagena, Colombia 92.62 5 JW Marriott El Convento Cuzco, Peru 92.00 6 Belmond Copacabana Palace Rio de Janeiro 91.56 7 Belmond Hotel Monasterio Cuzco, Peru 91.30 8 Algodon Mansion Buenos Aires 91.20 8 Hotel B Lima, Peru 91.20 10 Casa Gangotena Quito, Ecuador 90.71

On the list for the past 10 years.

1 Nayara Springs Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica 97.04 2 Rancho Santana Rivas, Nicaragua 95.74 3 Nayara Resort, Spa & Gardens Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica 95.35 4 Hacienda AltaGracia, Auberge Resorts Collection Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica 95.20 5 Mukul, Auberge Resorts Collection Rivas, Nicaragua 93.05

Top 10

city hotels south america

1 Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa Torres del Paine, Chile 97.38 2 Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba Sacred Valley, Peru 96.84 3 Eolo – Patagonia’s Spirit El Calafate, Argentina 96.71 4 Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa Sacred Valley, Peru 95.88 5 Cavas Wine Lodge Mendoza, Argentina 95.73 6 Singular Patagonia Puerto Bories, Chile 95.11 7 Sol y Luna Sacred Valley, Peru 94.40 8 Vines Resort & Spa Mendoza, Argentina 93.22 9 Sumaq Machu Picchu Hotel Peru 93.07 10 Tierra Atacama Hotel & Spa San Pedro de Atacama, Chile 92.83

Indicates a true tie.

Ya d i d L e v y/ r o b e r t h a r d i n g / g e t t y i m a g e s

More than a million visitors a year take in the colonial architecture of Cuzco, the gateway to Machu Picchu.

Top 10

resort hotels mexico

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La Residence, set on 12 hectares of farmland and vineyards in South Africa’s Franschhoek Valley, has 16 lavish suites—all individually designed by owner Liz Biden.

Africa & the Middle East Top 5

Top 3

Top 5

city hotels

resort hotels

safari lodges

1 La Residence Franschhoek, South Africa 96.57 2 Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa Muscat, Oman 93.00 3 Beresheet Mitzpe Ramon, Israel 91.40

1 Gibb’s Farm Karatu, Tanzania 96.62 2 Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve Lodges Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa 95.33 3 Mfuwe Lodge South Luangwa National Park, Zambia 93.88

1 Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa Johannesburg, South Africa 96.13 2 La Mamounia Marrakesh, Morocco 95.22 3 Cape Grace Cape Town 93.53 4 Ellerman House Cape Town 92.69 5 Giraffe Manor Nairobi, Kenya 92.35

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

4 andBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania 93.33 5 andBeyond Ngala Safari Lodge Kruger National Park, South Africa 93.18

Top 3

Top 5

islands

cities

1 Mauritius 90.00 2 Seychelles 85.09 3 Zanzibar Tanzania 80.27

1 Cape Town 87.63 2 Beirut Lebanon 87.04 3 Jerusalem 86.46 4 Tel Aviv 83.70 5 Marrakesh Morocco 82.99

On the list for the past 10 years.

COU R TESY O F LA R ESIDENCE

Hotels with dramatic settings—whether near Tanzania’s wildlife-rich Ngorongoro Crater or in Israel’s windswept Negev desert—impressed T+L readers.

From biking in Burgundy to gorillatrekking in Rwanda, active, adventure-filled vacations have grown in popularity, and that’s the focus of many of this year’s winners.

Alluring Africa, founded by native Kenyan Sunit Sanghrajka, creates customizable wildlife trips to destinations such as Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park.

Top 10

mega-ship ocean cruise lines

river cruise lines

1 Cunard 87.48 2 Disney Cruise Line 87.22 3 Princess Cruises 85.42 4 Holland America Line 83.91 5 Celebrity Cruises 82.70 6 Royal Caribbean International 78.90 7 Norwegian Cruise Line 76.50 8 Carnival Cruise Line 76.16 9 MSC Cruises 75.23 10 Costa Cruises 71.48

1 Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection 96.70 2 Viking 94.99 3 Tauck 94.48 4 Aqua Expeditions 94.17 5 Grand Circle Cruise Line 92.52 6 Crystal River Cruises 90.04 7 Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours 88.83 8 Vantage Deluxe World Travel 88.33 9 Avalon Waterways 86.72 10 AmaWaterways 86.00

Top 10

tour operators

Safari outfitters

1 Artisans of Leisure 98.99 2 ATJ (formerly Asia Transpacific Journeys) 97.32 3 Classic Journeys 96.58 4 Adventure Unbound, a ROW Company 96.11 5 DuVine Cycling & Adventure Co. 95.70 6 Trek Travel 95.65 7 TCS World Travel 95.41 8 Journeys Within, a Wild Frontiers Company 95.33 9 VBT Bicycling & Walking Vacations 95.12 10 Tauck 94.96

1 Alluring Africa 99.64 2 Roar Africa 98.60 3 Africa Adventure Consultants 97.76 4 Rothschild Safaris 97.33 5 Micato Safaris 97.24 6 Extraordin ary Journeys 96.67 7 Travel Beyond 96.65 8 Lion World Travel 96.57 9 Deeper Africa 96.46 10 Wilderness Safaris 95.83

Cruise Lines Readers praised these winning brands for their experiential itineraries, which range from themed transatlantic voyages to expedition sailings in the Galápagos.

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection’s S.S. Antoinette, which sails to France, Germany and the Netherlands, channels 18th-century opulence.

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

On the list for the past 10 years.

fr o m t o p : c o u r t e s y o f a l l u r i n g a fr i c a ; c o u r t e s y o f u n i w o r l d b o u t i q u e r i v e r c r u i s e c o l l e c t i o n

Tour Operators & Safari Outfitters

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Methodology How we conduct the world’s best awards.

A SURVEY DEVELOPED by the editors of Travel + Leisure, in association with research firm M&RR, was made available at tlworldsbest.com in the United States and at tlworldsbest.com/intl for readers of the magazine’s international editions from November 6, 2017 to March 5, 2018. Readers were invited to participate through Travel + Leisure magazine and its international editions, T+L tablet editions, newsletters, social media and travelandleisure.com. M&RR maintained, monitored and kept the survey website secure, and also collected and tabulated the responses. To protect the integrity of the data, after the survey closed, Travel + Leisure and M&RR screened the responses to identify fraudulent votes, which were eliminated from the final tallies. Respondents were asked to rate airlines, airports, car-rental agencies, cities, cruise ships, destination spas, hotels, hotel brands, islands, tour operators and safari outfitters on a number of characteristics. For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, Travel + Leisure HALF-PAGE_August 2018.pdf 1 7/5/2018 3:28:49 PM above average, average, below average or poor. The final scores are indexed averages of these

responses. Scores shown have been rounded to the nearest hundredth of a point; in the event of a true tie, winners share the same ranking. In most categories, respondents could also rate optional characteristics; these ratings are not included in the overall scores. For the cruise category, respondents were asked to rate individual ships; the results were combined to generate scores for cruise lines in different categories. The categories are: megaship ocean cruise lines (capacity of 2,200 passengers or more), large-ship ocean cruise lines (600 to 2,199 passengers), midsize-ship ocean cruise lines (250 to 599 passengers), small-ship ocean cruise lines (249 or fewer passengers) and river cruise lines. Some cruise lines may appear in multiple categories depending on the makeup of their fleet. The entire rankings for cruise lines can be found online. A minimum number of responses was necessary for a candidate to be eligible for inclusion in the World’s Best Awards rankings. Some companies were eligible to be rated in multiple categories; they were scored independently for each category.

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categories and characteristics AIRLINES Cabin comfort, in-flight service, customer service, value. AIRPORTS Access, check-in/ security, restaurants/bars, shopping, design. CAR-RENTAL AGENCIES Vehicle selection, vehicle availability, car-rental location, service, value. CITIES Sights/landmarks, culture, food, friendliness, shopping, value. CRUISE SHIPS Cabins/facilities, food, service, itineraries/ destinations, excursions/ activities, value.

DESTINATION SPAS Accommodations/ facilities, treatments, service, food, value. HOTELS Rooms/facilities, location, service, food, value. HOTEL BRANDS Locations, rooms/ facilities, food, service, value. ISLANDS Natural attractions/ beaches, activities/ sights, restaurants/food, people/ friendliness, value. TOUR OPERATORS AND SAFARI OUTFITTERS Staff/guides, itineraries/ destinations, activities, accommodations, food, value.

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17 - 19 October 2018 Marina Bay Sands Singapore

s c o t t a . w o o d wa r d

Bawah Reserve, a new eco-retreat in the South China Sea, page 84.

/ august 2018 / The Bawah Reserve seaplane carries us to a

community-minded, private-island resort in Indonesia | We tool around Hawaii in a boutique cruise ship | Sicily steals our hearts with its fresh lease on life

Bawah Beckons

An eco-reserve in a little visited Indonesian archipelago hosts the ultimate private haven. Entranced as she is by the castaway scenery, Grace Ma is even more enchanted by the locals who open their paradise home to her. Photographed by Scott A. Woodward

A castaway’s commuting options, as seen from Bawah Reserve’s Treetops restaurant.

tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

As modes of transport go, seaplanes are already pretty exciting. They float. They fly. They’re usually candycolored.

But I’ve never seen a more excited bunch of seaplane passengers than the group I flew with to Bawah Reserve, a cluster of six islands smack in the middle of nowhere in the South China Sea, home to the first Indonesian resort island to be accessible exclusively by this mode of transport from Singapore. Getting this far required some major motor calisthenics. Before the seaplane received its license to fly in January, the resort’s first guests had to embark on a six-hour ferry-car-yacht expedition to get there. Even with the seaplane, it took me 3½ hours door-to-door from my home in Singapore to my overwater villa in Bawah, via Batam airport where we boarded the 12-seater Amphibious Twin Otter 300 plane on the tarmac. Fast-track immigration at Batam is part of the deal, but not always available. We queued up like everyone else on our way there but skipped the line on our return. Flying east over Bintan, my friend Shanne and I peered through the clouds, marveling at how quickly the built-up land gave way to a vast sea expanse. Scott, the photographer, was shooting the barefoot pilots. The food consultant and another journalist were looking at a map

The 35 villas, like this overwater bungalow, are cozily rustic. LEFT: Feel the breeze from Bawah’s infinity pool. RIGHT: Get set for a water landing.

with Bawah’s travel manager, Vio Sutar, and chief operating officer, Paul Robinson, who was explaining why the ostensibly 278-kilometer trip takes 80 minutes (Singapore military zone restrictions mean that you can’t take the most direct flight path). Then there was Ethan Sim, fine arts undergraduate-to-be and son of Bawah’s architect, Sim Boon Yang, visiting the resort for the first time to create artwork for its two one-bedroom deluxe beach suites. He was casually sketching an impressively realistic portrayal of the whole scene in the plane. Ethan perked up once Paul shouted, “Oh look, dolphins!” We strained our eyes for the tiny ripples of gray in the water below. “Quite rare to see them,” he said. I decided they were in fact heralding our arrival, because just then Bawah loomed into view, large mounds of green with rocky outcrops and sandy patches rising above the distinct outlines of coral reefs through the shimmering clear waters. I almost thought we were in the Maldives, only these lush islands were prettier. The plane started to descend for a fly-by around the island cluster. Those on the aisle (me) were ruing their seating choices as everyone ooh-ed, ahh-ed and snapped away until we glided to a graceful stop at the jetty where beaming staff awaited with icy towels and tea.

Bawah (“under” in indonesian) reserve is

located at the lowest portion of the 255-island Anambas archipelago, which together with Batam and Bintan, forms part of Indonesia’s Riau Islands. British shipping entrepreneur and avid explorer Tim Hartnoll happened upon the six uninhabited islands—Bawah, Batu

Tokong, Elang, Lidi, Muerba and Sangga—in 2006 during a yacht expedition, snapped them all up as soon as he could, and, with several investors, set about developing a resort. He and Boon, the Singaporean architect, stuck to a no– heavy machinery mantra in the construction, using only manual tools and labor—meaning workers broke rocks by hand. It was a costly five-year endeavor but they were determined to leave the original ecosystem intact. There’s much to protect. Preliminary flora and fauna mapping reports by the provincial forestry office show some native species flourishing here, including the rare keruing belimbing tree. “The keruing’s seeds are typically disbursed by wind less than 100 meters from the tree. Given that Bawah is a small and remote island, it’s remarkable to find it here,” said Jerry Winata, head of Bawah Anambas Foundation, the community arm of Bawah Reserve. “We were told that they’ve never seen a tree of that species this big in the Anambas until they came to Bawah.” Also: the entire island chain lies adjacent to the famed 6-million-square-kilometer Coral Triangle marine region that includes parts of countries tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

Step right off the seaplane into paradise.

during a hike, our guide spoke with enthusiasm about plans to name the trees

such as Indonesia and the Philippines, stretches to the Solomon Islands, and encompasses 76 percent of the world’s coral species and the most coral reef fish diversity on the planet. Basically, it’s a special place and the owners know it. “We wanted to preserve it and keep it unique,” Tim told me over e-mail. “We wanted it to be an eco-resort for a limited number of people who want to explore and experience the nature that exists in this remote location.” What it is is an incredibly green, all-inclusive, luxury private-island experience where the sustainability factors include tangible benefits to the local community, interacting with whom will be a wonderful highlight of your visit. Taking into account both their rural gentility and the laidback tropical pace, 3½ hours from Singapore seemed almost confusingly close. As we trundled down the forked jetty in our buggies, on either side we saw the safari-tented canopies of the beachfront suites that line the southern coast of the island and, in front, the saddleback rooftops of the dining venues peeping through the dense foliage like mushrooms in teal fields. “It is a reflection of the isles’ silhouettes,” Boon explained of the pavilions’ design. “Just like a mother and her offspring cascading down a hill.” Bawah’s eco features include recycling water from the rain and the sea, heating water with solar power, and using only glass bottles and bamboo straws. The rustic yet modern design makes creative use of rope and organically formed wood, a natural habitat to attract, say, cephalopods and invertebrates. Giant, latticed bamboo lamps resembling a school of jellyfish float above a 20-seater dining table etched out of recycled teak, and overhead at Jules Verne Bar hovers a chicken-mesh octopus, its sprawling tentacles looking like they might grab that drink from your hands as you sit distracted at the island’s best spot for sunset views. Such playfulness extends to the villas, where guests’ names are spelled out in sand glued onto wooden boards hanging at the entryways and a hidden mini bar comes stocked with your favorite drinks (your villa host will slyly enquire during check-in). There are airconditioning units discreetly installed behind the headboards—we were grateful for the retreat on blazing cloudless afternoons—but on cooler evenings the ceiling fan and the mosquito netting enveloping the beds allow you to fling the doors open to the elements. (Tip: If bringing a roommate rather than a significant other, make sure she doesn’t mind your being a thick curtain away from where she is brushing her teeth or soaking in the tub while you sneak in a quick clothes change or use the toilet.) tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

Having everything from laundry (yay) to wellness treatments (double yay) and three meals a day included is heavenly, but it also means endless dilemmas. Do I snorkel, have another massage, or sip my third watermelon juice by the infinity pool with killer views of the lagoon surrounding the jetty? Do I go back to the recycled copper bathtub after dinner or hang out by the pool to watch an outdoor movie beneath the stars? Meal decisions were thankfully much easier. We ate whatever the suave chef Omar Bernardi served up, and his local signatures done with finesse didn’t disappoint: fragrant cod, snapper and tongkol tuna wrapped in coconut palm leaf and served with coconut rice and curry was a favorite, and the green-tea noodles with scallop, seaweed, flying fish eggs and sesame oil gave a satisfying umami punch.

Asri, a native from Letung, which is two

hours away from Bawah by speedboat, trained as an English teacher, came on as villa host at Bawah when it opened a year ago, and is now a housekeeping supervisor and knowledgable guide. During a onehour hike through the rainforest that ended at a spectacular westerly lookout point, he spoke with enthusiasm about plans to name the trees, and how he loved the camaraderie among his colleagues and the enduring harmonious relationship among nature, the nearby communities and the resort guests. “We are all different, but we must be respectful,” he said. “Do you enjoy this place?” I asked. “Absolutely,” came his unhesitating reply. Forty percent of Bawah’s employees are from the Riau provinces, and, partly via the Bawah Anambas Foundation, the resort aims to improve the lives of area communities. “We look at ‘above, below, beyond’ initiatives,” Paul said. “With the locals, we share sustainable practices such as composting and fishing with traditional methods, and provide employment through English and hospitality training classes.” Bawah has a team that patrols the surrounding waters to

ensure that no anchor is dropped within 20 meters of the marine conservation zone and no damaging practices like dynamite fishing are used. But cordial relations are never sacrificed for rules; those who contravene them are usually given a gentle reminder and explanation about the importance of saving the seas. On a boat tour around the islands, we passed Elang, where a five-bedroom private villa with a raised infinity pool is under construction and planned to be ready next year. Here, we chanced upon Pak Bah, a member of a community of former sea gypsies who for the past three generations have resettled themselves on the island of Mengkait, 45 kilometers away. Humble and shy, he had jacks and grouper swimming in a basket on his small wooden boat. His people, who are mainly Catholic and Christian, speak a Suku Laut dialect unlike the common Melayu language spoken in the rest of the predominantly Muslim Anambas. So, through our guide and translator, Didi, we asked questions about Pak Bah’s life, and he patiently showed us how to fashion a simple fishing line from leaves, a rock and a hook. The Mengkait, Didi said, have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the ocean. Like 75 to 80 percent of the region they are primarily reliant on the fishing industry—a statistic that Bawah is working with the Indonesian government to reduce by implementing projects such as organic farming for which the resort

can be both partner and market. In the meantime, buoys are set up around the islands for fishermen who have been working throughout the night to tie up their boats rather than float in the perilous open seas. They are provided with fresh water, and they are asked to pass the resort their garbage for disposal. It’s all in keeping with the ideals of harmonious co-living, Jerry told me, and he should know. He spent his first three months on the job for the foundation residing among the villagers on Mengkait, Kiabu and Telaga, the farthest islands from Terempa, the district capital. “Each village is distinct,” he said. “It’s great to want to help them, but we only know what they really need when you hang out with them.” And so, while privacy may be a big selling point for Bawah—there are only 35 suites and villas at the resort, and the six islands hold 13 private beaches—it was the friendly human and lush nature connections that brought an intimate dimension to our stay. Off a southern beach, a group of staff leapt off a platform into the lagoon, their laughter eliciting our waves, and our admiration at their work-life balance. Snorkel instructors Didi and Omar (yes, chef Omar: double duties are common here) were so reassuring that they convinced non-swimming Shanne to don a lifejacket and jump off the boat. The two men watched her like a hawk, while I gave chase to Nemos, milkfish, mackerel and one elusive sea turtle. Sunset was the cue for staff and guests to converge at the Beach House near the eastern overwater bungalows for sundowners on a carpet of soft sand to the soundtrack of gentle lapping waves. Amid the flickering tea lights, we could barely see each other or the food (eventually identified as California rolls, and fish crackers made by local villagers) served on plates on tree stumps, and I may have drunk someone else’s water, but no one cared. The two-year-old daughter of Bawah’s live-in permaculturist, Jonathan Semo, gleefully scampered barefoot at the water’s edge—what has become her own backyard. Malcolm and Patricia, a sprightly retired couple

in their 70s (one of three pairs we met during our stay), raved about their previous three days snorkeling, kayaking—“We picked up a few floating plastic bottles along the way,” Patricia said, pleased at her small role in preserving the environmental sanctity of Bawah—and playing table tennis with the staff at their quarters, and how they were looking forward to more island fun like jungle hikes in the remaining four. It made me even more mournful that our trip was relatively short. On the day of departure, Shanne and I dithered between a final dip in the pool, a half-hour foot massage or just lounging on our villa deck taking in the picture-perfect view of cotton-swirled blue skies, rippled lagoon waters and the emerald hills of Muerba and Sangga. Massage slots were fully booked, though, so that was decided fairly quickly. So lost were we in the serenity of the moment that 45 minutes before we were scheduled to catch our seaplane, we realized we still had lunch to eat and the buggy we had called 15 minutes before had not arrived. Rather than blame the staff, we thanked them for being wise enough to leave us alone to savor the island’s final bits of bliss. bawahreserve.com; all-inclusive package for two from US$1,780 a night for a garden suite, including transfers from Singapore, full board, unlimited wellness treatments, non-motorized water activities, and daily laundry.

Plenty of space for private moments. FROM FAR LEFT: Smiling staff like Puri greet you by name; cuttlefish tagliatelle with 63-degree eggs, caviar and bumbu kuning (yellow sauce); pomegranates add flair to Grouper Bar’s bellini.

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Hawaii,

The island of Molokai is a point of departure for UnCruise Adventures’ sevennight tour of four Hawaiian islands. Opposite: Diving from the top deck of the Safari Explorer, a 36-passenger ship in UnCruise’s fleet.

To explore Hawaii beyond the resorts, take to the sea. When Peter Heller joins a small-ship cruise with stops at four different islands, he comes face-to-face with the archipelago’s wilder side. photogr aphs by The Ingalls

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Humu humu nuku nuku apu a’a is the name of Hawaii’s state fish.

It’s an elegant little reef triggerfish, with yellow chevron pinstripes and a blue lip, but I really think the Hawaiians selected it because its name is fun to say. I pointed and tried to shout it into my snorkel. If the word is tough to pronounce under normal conditions, it’s even more difficult underwater. My wife, Kim, and I followed the fish in and out of cauliflower coral heads, through a cloud of striped surgeonfish and swaying schools of bright-yellow tangs. We passed a parrotfish, which crunched its coral breakfast so loudly we could hear it. The humu kept a dignified pace. We kicked along a coral cliff, which

dropped into deeper blue, and out to a cluster of rocks where the surge broke into a blizzard of bubbles. When we lifted our heads into the air, we saw the black lava cliffs of western Lanai, the green slopes rising behind them, and the dark basalt columns known as the Five Sisters strung across the sea. It was mid-November, and we were on a weeklong voyage that took us to four of the Hawaiian Islands: Molokai, Lanai, Maui and Hawaii, a.k.a. the Big Island. The tour was operated by UnCruise Adventures, which is an odd name for a 22-year-old company that runs cruises from Alaska to the Galápagos Islands, but

meeting locals, which we did on our first night. At a hula performance on Molokai, the sparsely populated island where many believe the dance form was born centuries ago, we watched as 10 girls rotated in unison to the music, painting pictures with their hands. The littlest girl, who must have been seven years old, called out “No ka pua,” which means “because of the flower.” Then they shaped flowers with their fingers, reached for the sun, and brought their hands to their hearts. It gave me what locals call “chicken skin,” or goose bumps.

T A pod of spinner dolphins at play between Maui and Hawaii. clockwise from below: Kayaking off the coast of Kailua-Kona; the Safari Explorer off of the island of Hawaii.

the un comes from an effort to be different from other lines. UnCruise prides itself on flexibility. It doesn’t tie itself to scheduled port calls, so the itinerary can be guided by weather, wildlife and whim. If the captain spots a pod of humpbacks, he can follow it; if he wants to explore an intriguing section of coast he’s never seen, he can do it. UnCruise describes our ship, the Safari Explorer, as a “boutique yacht.” It carries only 36 passengers. It was designed for both comfort and adventure. It tows two eight-meter skiffs, which can bring snorkelers close to shore, and is outfitted with kayaks and paddleboards. The cabins are cozy and paneled in cherry, and each comes with a pair of waterproof binoculars. The food is superb, with most ingredients locally sourced along the way. The trips are about engaging with the land and its wildlife. They’re also about

he next morning, after breakfast on board, we took the skiffs into port and drove to a high point overlooking the spot where the Halawa Valley meets the ocean. The valley cuts into the eastern end of Molokai; it’s narrow and steep and covered in rain forest. A stream wound out of the trees into a protected cove flanked by sea cliffs. When we turned and traced the valley inland, we could see it end in a wall of mountains and the thread of a waterfall. Polynesians reputedly first landed in Hawaii at this river mouth—a fire pit in the valley dates from 600 A.D. At a shelter near the river, Anakala Pilipo Solatorio, a farmer in his seventies who is a direct descendant of those first settlers, blew the conch shell of welcome. Pilipo and his son Greg have embarked on a mission to keep the old ways and language alive. Pilipo pressed his forehead and nose to each visitor in the traditional greeting. He told us to inhale. In this way, he said, two people exchange ha, the breath of life. Half the group stayed at a shelter near the sea, and the rest of us hiked a couple of kilometers to the waterfall. We passed towering koa trees, which have been prized by canoe makers for centuries. White-rumped shamas sang in the canopy. The trail was littered with passion fruit and kukui nuts, which are so oily the early Polynesians burned them for light. Through the forest ran the stone walls of an ancient seventerraced temple. Dai Mar Tamarack, our expedition leader, pointed out a smooth stone Molokaians consider sacred; for more than a thousand years women gave birth on it.

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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: A sea turtle near Mala Wharf, on Maui; ahi tuna and soba salad aboard the Safari Explorer; Anakala Pilipo Solatorio blows a conch shell to welcome travelers; a hike overlooking the Puu Pehe sea stack off Lanai.

We passed a parrot fish, which crunched its coral breakfast so loudly we could hear it

This made me think about how Hawaii itself was born from the sea. A crack in the earth’s crust spewed magma in what geologists call a “hot spot,” creating islands. The movements of the tectonic plates carried the islands in a northwestward direction, and still do. This process is occuring 3,800 kilometers from the nearest landmass, and whatever has arrived here—plant, animal or human— has made a great effort to do so. On the third day we reached Lanai, which is almost wholly owned by Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison. After our snorkeling adventure with the state fish, we walked around tiny Lanai City, which is set in a grove of Cook Island Pines and, at an altitude of 500 meters, is cool and breezy. We stopped at a shop that sold art made by local schoolchildren and bought a sea turtle made from shells. That evening in the ship’s library, Dave Simonak, a 63-year-old doctor from Texas, played James Taylor songs on an old guitar, while I talked about books with Lyn Bixby, a retired journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner who lives in northern Vermont. Lyn’s wife, Debbie Bixby, a nurse practitioner, was getting a complimentary massage on another part of the ship. Our fellow passengers were mostly couples and, refreshingly, ranged in age from their twenties to their sixties. Collectively, we made a game and adventurous group, dedicated to spending as much time outside and underwater as possible. The ship crossed the channel to Maui overnight, and we woke to precipitous green mountains and the low red roofs of the little port of Lahaina. We grabbed our snorkels again and skiffed into the Mala Wharf, which was demolished in 1992 by the devastating Hurricane Iniki. The long wharf tumbled into the bay in a tangle of beams and concrete slabs. Now encrusted with corals, it has become one of Hawaii’s most popular dive sites. Kim and I put on our masks and swam over it. I gasped: five adult sea turtles rested five meters down on a flat chunk of concrete. The largest must have weighed as much as a linebacker. One eyed Kim as she swam above, then glided to the surface beside her with three easy strokes of its long front flippers. Kim had to arch herself to keep from touching it. The turtle took a breath and sailed slowly back to its bed.

I took a breath and dove clumsily. Under the concrete slab, a two-meter whitetip reef shark idled and watched me. It seemed the aloha spirit extended to the ocean, because we greeted each other and happily went our own ways. Dai Mar told us to take a couple of hours of shore leave, just when we needed it. Kim and I strolled hand in hand through the shops of Lahaina and bought—what else?—Hawaiian shirts and mother-of-pearl earrings.

ne of the unique things about UnCruise is its open-bridge policy. Passengers can wander up at any time and sit with the captain or the officers and learn about the route. If the officers need privacy, they shut the door. At daybreak on the fifth day I grabbed a mug of Kona coffee from the lounge and climbed to the bridge. The famous northeast trade winds had kicked up, and the ship was pounding through a quartering swell in the Alalakeiki Channel between Maui and the tiny, uninhabited island of Kahoolawe. Captain Winston Warr was at the wheel. We were heading southeast and could see the volcanic crater of Molokini ahead. The dark water of the channel was whipped to whitecaps. “Humpback at one o’clock,” the captain said. A kilometer off our starboard bow, a cloud of mist blew off the waves. Then another. The whale was running fast on the same heading. And then, out of the chop, it breached. A massive black missile leaped and crashed down, sending up an explosion of white. “That’s something that never gets old,” the captain said. The next morning: the western side of the Big Island. We anchored in the lee of the dormant volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, each of which rises some 4,000 meters. The guides broke out the kayaks, and we paddled along lava cliffs and through a lava arch. We saw pale limpets clinging to the black rock. White tropic birds with long tails flew out of their nests on the cliffs. Debbie and Lyn are old hands at kayaking, and they paddled in perfect sync, looking like a winged creature. I tried to stand up and fell in. Back at the ship, we inhaled a lunch of loco moco, an unlikely stack of sticky rice, beef and gravy topped with a

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molokai Halawa Valley

Kaunakakai

Lahaina

maui

lanai

UnCruise itinerary (runs both ways)

Kawaihae

Kailua-Kona

hawaii

Cruising the hawaiian Islands A weeklong sailing with UnCruise allows travelers ample time to experience Hawaii’s natural environment by both land and sea.

Hawaii's coast is a natural playground, both at sea and on land.

augus t 2018 / tr av el andleisure asia .com

The Cruise UnCruise Adventures offers its all-inclusive Hawaiian Seascapes itinerary every week between November 3 and April 6, 2019. The cruise is seven nights long and can be taken from Molokai to the island of Hawaii, or in reverse. uncruise. com; from US$3,995 per person. Getting There For cruises departing from Molokai, fly to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, then continue via Hawaiian Airlines to Molokai Airport. For cruises departing from the island of Hawaii, fly to Kona International Airport. UnCruise provides transfers between the airport and your vessel if you notify it of your flight plans at least 60 days before sailing. The company also offers extended land stays in both Hawaii and Molokai.

What to Pack Casual, sunprotective clothing and hiking shoes are recommended for on-land excursions, and a brimmed hat and sunglasses are a must. Bring a swimsuit and water socks for snorkeling, a sweater or fleece for breezy evenings, and a light shell or rain jacket. UnCruise supplies masks, snorkels, fins, refillable water bottles and sunscreen. Further adventures UnCruise is the only small-ship cruise line to feature itineraries within the Hawaiian Islands. It also runs cruises to Costa Rica and Panama, the Galápagos Islands, Mexico’s Sea of Cortés, Alaska’s Inside Passage, coastal Washington State and British Columbia, and the Columbia and Snake rivers in Washington and Oregon. — Peter Terzian

pa s t o r s c o t t/ g e t t y i m a g e s

fried egg. Afterward, Dai Mar dropped the gangplanks off the high decks and some of us tried seven-meter backflips. On the evening of our last full day, as dusk fell off the town of Kailua-Kona, we tugged on wet suits and skiffed close to shore. Kim and I jumped into the inky water and swam to a surfboard that had a dive light shining from its bottom. Six of us clung to one board, and Mark, one of our chefs, flippered us toward the glow of submerged floodlights. These lights rested on the ocean floor, and scuba divers sat around them as if at so many campfires. Their plumes of bubbles rose in eerie columns. Schools of silver flagtails drifted in the beams that shone down from the surfboards. We could hear the clicks of a pair of huge bottlenose dolphins as they coasted through the murk. And then I saw why we were all there. The lights, both on the boards and on the seabed, attract plankton, which manta rays eat like popcorn. Something caught my eye, and I looked back at one of the flood lamps down in the rocks. I saw wings that were much longer than any bird’s, but moved just as fluidly. A flash of pale underneath. They reminded me of the undulating arms of the hula dancers, whose motions are sometimes inspired by the creatures of the ocean. The manta ray must have been three meters across. It sailed over the light and blotted it out, then vanished in a sea as black and inscrutable as sleep.

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Sicili There’s a new spirit of optimism in Palermo and Sicily’s far west, where the hardships of past generations are fading into memory. Exploring enlivened city streets, new museums, and renovated palazzi, Charlotte Higgins finds an island ready to show a fresh face to the world.

Photographed by Simon Watson

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an clockwise from top left: Francesco

Colicchia, owner of Colicchia, a sweetshop in Trapani; an art installation in Palermo’s Zisa cultural quarter; an exhibit by Israeli artist Shay Frisch at ZAC gallery, in Palermo; busiate topped with fried potatoes at Saragó. opposite: Palermo’s Via Orologio, part of the recently pedestrianized centro storico.

arly evening: the perfect time for a stroll through Palermo’s centro storico. Eighteenth-century palazzi lined the streets, their windows framed by the ruffs and frills of Baroque stonework. Some were in a state of utter dilapidation, others alive with the sound of laborers bringing their stately façades back to life. From the dustcovered sidewalks, churches reared up in a profusion of carved decoration. My partner, Matthew, and I stepped inside the Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita and were greeted by a riot of Rococo stuccowork created by Giacomo Serpotta—a Palermitani artist who turned this interior into a theater of religious storytelling, rendering statues of the virtues and scenes from the Passion in plaster as crisp and white as royal icing. The whole of Palermo, in fact, seemed to us a theater, the window of each store or artisan’s studio offering a snapshot of drama: a tailor in his workshop strumming on a mandolin; a confectioner’s store piled high with marzipan fruit; a shop lined with models of Padre Pio, a favorite cult figure of southern Italy identifiable by his mittens and brown cassock.

Boats in the harbor of Trapani, a medieval city on the far western coast of Sicily. clockwise from Below: Carlo Bosco and Maria Giaramidaro, proprietors of Saragó restaurant, in Trapani; shopping for local produce at Palermo’s Mercato del Capo; the streets of Trapani; Trapani’s seafront.

It was early September, a popular week to get married in Palermo, and the guests in all their finery were hanging around outside those spectacular Baroque churches, downing coffee at nearby bars before their various ceremonies. (No one hangs around quite so stylishly, it turns out, as a Sicilian wedding guest.) As the light began to fade, it seemed like a good idea to stop for a pre-dinner negroni. We ducked through an archway on a narrow, darkening street to find Caffè Internazionale: a slender, vine-shaded courtyard filled with scattered tables, where we were met with a friendly greeting from the owners, Italian artist Stefania Galegati and her African-American husband, Darrell Shines. As well as serving an excellent cocktail, the couple hosts concerts and art workshops in the mazelike series of rooms out back. We chatted with Galegati and Shines as their children scampered about in the golden light. Later, feeling hungry (it’s hard not to feel hungry in Palermo), we stopped at a hole-in-the-wall named Ke Palle, on Via Maqueda, where we ordered arancini the tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

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Black fagottini with mussels, calamari and a tomato-saffron sauce at Osteria dei Vespri, in Palermo. clockwise from left: Restaurant tables lining the streets of Trapani; Porta Felice, one of Palermoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original city gates; Guests at the Teatro Massimo, the restored home of Palermoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s city opera.

size of tennis balls, crisp and hot on the outside, their interiors collapsing into a delicious morass of eggplant, rice and cheese. We ate them—along with some panelle, earthy-tasting golden squares of fried chickpea batter— sitting on a bench, watching a group of boys play an intensely serious game of soccer in a square, their goalposts a fountain and a set of church gates.

t has not always been like this in Palermo. The very fact that we were able to stroll through the city center is evidence of a sea change, a revival driven by steady but hard-won victories against organized crime and a refreshed urban landscape. What, a decade ago, would have been a hair-raising walk along potholed footpaths amid roaring traffic and fumes is today a pleasant, pedestrianized amble, with many main streets now home to restored old buildings and intriguing new restaurants. Inhospitable streets were just one symptom of neglect in the Sicilian capital, the center of which was left derelict

The whole of palermo seemed to us a theater, the window of each store or studio offering a snapshot of drama by decades of poverty, local government inaction, and organized crime—the work of La Cosa Nostra, or the Sicilian mafia. Mary Taylor Simeti, an American who came to Sicily in the 1960s and stayed, wrote On Persephone’s Island: A Sicilian Journal at the height of Palermo’s troubles in the 1980s. In it, the author portrayed a city center plagued by collapsing ancient buildings, where the Teatro Massimo, its magnificent opera house, lay closed and silent and where, above all, the community was cursed with regular mafia killings. The most notorious moments were the assassinations of magistrates Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, both killed in 1992 while investigating La Cosa Nostra. Many other magistrates were murdered too—adding to a list of 527 “innocent,” or non-mafioso, Sicilians killed since the what is thought to be the first murder back in 1871, with the vast majority of deaths taking place from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s.

The fight against the mafia has been long and arduous—and it is not yet over. The current mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, who also presided over the city in the late 1980s and again in the 90s, has been one of La Cosa Nostra’s most vocal opponents. During his current stint, which began in 2012, he has been focused on transforming the image of the city from a hotbed of organized crime into an outward-looking community that welcomes both immigrants and tourists, honoring this island as a junction between cultures and continents. Pedestrianizing the main arteries has been part of Orlando’s mission in recent years; he is pleased, too, that Palermo’s last Gay Pride march was said to have attracted a crowd of 200,000. I met him at the town hall in Piazza Pretorio, his suite of offices splendidly palatial with their Murano-glass chandeliers, antiques, and deep upholstered sofas. He told me that for much of the 20th century, “Palermo was the capital of the mafia. It was known across the world as the capital of the mafia. The words mafia and Palermo were almost interchangeable. There were people in this chair who were friends of mafia bosses. In fact, there was one mayor who was not just a friend of mafia bosses—he was a mafia boss.” Now, however—a quarter of a century after the killings of Borsellino and Falcone—Palermo has been named Italy’s Capital of Culture for 2018, a reversal of its dark history and an achievement of which Orlando is immensely proud. The city’s bid for the title emphasized its links to the African and Arab worlds—relationships that have been central to Palermo’s identity since at least the 12th century, when its glorious Arab-Norman churches were built. (Most notable among these is the cathedral just outside Palermo in the town of Monreale, the interior of which is a golden haze of biblical stories picked out in exquisitely detailed Byzantine mosaics.) In fact, the year 2018 may prove something of a watershed for the city: until November it will also host Manifesta 12, one of Europe’s most important biennial art festivals. Exhibitions and installations are scheduled in some of Palermo’s most striking locations, including a war-damaged 17th-century church, a disused theater, and the city’s glorious botanical gardens, where we walked among groves of bergamot, orange, lemon and citron; through 19th-century greenhouses filled with giant cacti; and past ficus trees with trailing aerial roots. There are some important openings in the city this year: the Palazzo Butera, for example, a lavish 18th-century building in the Kalsa district purchased in 2015 by the wealthy northern Italian Massimo Valsecchi and his wife, Francesca. It will open as a museum for their art collection, which contains works by names ranging from Annibale Carracci to Gerhard Richter. Francesco Pantaleone, the owner of one of the very few contemporary art galleries in the city, is working with the Valsecchis to stage a spectacular installation to coincide with Manifesta 12: the Norwegian artist Per Barclay will flood the palace’s stables with a thin layer of oil, creating a mirrorlike surface that will reflect its processions of columns and fan vaulting in its dark sheen. (Pantaleone tr av el andleisure asia .com / augus t 2018

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and Barclay have undertaken a similar project in the past, carefully flooding a Palermitan oratory with a layer of milk, so that its elaborate Serpotta stuccowork seemed to loom from a still, pale lake.) This summer will also see the full reopening of the city’s superb archaeological museum, known as Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonio Salinas. Housed in yet another glorious palazzo, with galleries opening out onto cool courtyards, it was only partially accessible when we visited. The museum will display, among other things, sculptures from the great Greek temple complex of Selinunte, on Sicily’s southern coast. They include amazingly vivid fifth-century-B.C. reliefs, fragments of their original paint still clinging to them, that show graphic scenes from classical myth, such as Actaeon being ripped apart by his own hunting dogs.

o try to get a better grasp of the impact of La Cosa Nostra on the residents of Palermo, Matthew and I took an “antimafia” tour of the city with a group called Palermo NoMafia. It was led by an activist named Edoardo Zaffuto, who, in 2004, was one of a group of exasperated friends in their 20s who began a grassroots movement against the pizzo, the “protection” payment extorted from local businesses by the mafia. Back then, he said, the mafia “was like a parasite. They were asking for money and getting it from the entire town.” It would always be relatively small, affordable amounts—the idea being that everyone would end up paying, conferring a kind of legitimacy on the practice. In the beginning, he and his friends staged guerrilla actions—pasting posters around the city that proclaimed, “An entire people who pays the pizzo is a people without dignity.” Over time they transformed themselves into a consumer movement. Now their organization, Addiopizzo (“good-bye extortion”) has around 1,000 signed-up restaurants, shops and other businesses that resolutely refuse to bend to the criminals. (An orange sticker in the window with the slogan “Pago chi non paga,” or “I pay those who do not pay,” identifies these establishments.) Zaffuto’s tour began outside the elegant Teatro Massimo—now home to a flourishing opera company. The program has included a staging of the Italian classic Rigoletto by the actor and director John Turturro, as well as more adventurous repertoire such as Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s The Hand of Fate. Looking up at the building’s grand Neoclassical exterior, it was hard to imagine that from 1974 to 1997 the theater stood empty, supposedly under renovation, but really the victim of the city’s mafia-induced sclerosis. But the mafia, Zaffuto cautioned, is far from wiped out. We followed him through narrow alleyways between the tumbledown buildings that frame the Mercato del Capo, Matthew and I eyeing hard ricotta salata, tiny ferocious chiles called denti di diaboli, and salted Pantelleria capers to take home. As we entered the market proper, Zaffuto pointed out a stall owner—his table a glut of green basil, Romanesca cauliflower, and comically long, pale-green cucuzze, or Italian zucchini—who had affixed a crude

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cardboard sign to his table announcing the murder, the previous week, of his brother, a victim of an ongoing internecine struggle between criminal factions. The tour ended, as all Sicilian walks should, with the promise of hearty food—this time at the Antica Focacceria San Francesco, where it was easy to forget Sicily’s troubled history amid plates of sharp-sweet caponata made with eggplant, tomato and plenty of celery. For meat lovers, there were pani ca’meusa, or rolls stuffed with fried veal spleen and sprinkled with ricotta.

he cultural rebirth that Palermo has enjoyed in recent years has begun to spread to Sicily’s far west, traditionally the wildest, poorest, most mafia-dominated part of the island—and, as a result, less of a tourist destination. But today, amid the undeniable hardship that characterizes life in Italy’s extreme south in the long wake of the European debt crisis, there are signs of revival here, too. We began a tour of the region by driving to the Belice Valley, where, in 1968, the village of Gibellina was destroyed by an earthquake. It was afterward rebuilt as Gibellina Nuova on a new site, with the help of an array of prominent artists and architects. One artist, the Umbrian Alberto Burri, turned his attention to the ruins of the old town, intending to transform it into Cretto di Burri, a vast piece of land art. In the 1980s funding for the project ran out, and the work lay unfinished until 2015, when, to commemorate Burri’s centenary, his vision for the place was finally completed. Burri’s idea was to encase the ruins of Gibellina’s buildings in blocks of hard, gray concrete, leaving its roads and alleyways clear, so that the whole place is, in effect, a maze. Seeing it from afar, as we approached on roads that snaked through fields and vineyards, it resembled a rhomboid handkerchief draped over the hillside. Walking inside, we quickly lost ourselves among its winding paths. Everything was silent but for the thwunk-thwunk of a nearby wind turbine. Tendrils of caper plants forced their way through the concrete, a reminder that one day nature will reclaim this modern ruin, a strangely solemn monument to a lost town. To explore Sicily’s far west, we stayed in the Baglio Sorìa, an 11-room hotel—or perhaps more accurately a restaurant with rooms—owned by a local winegrower. The building is converted from a 17th-century baglio: the typical walled, gated farmhouse where landowners once lived with their servants, its rooms laid out around a central courtyard. Surrounded by groves of mulberry and pistachio trees, Baglio Sorìa is a pleasant refuge, with simple furnishings, a peaceful pool, and a courtyard bar. We dined on the terrace, feasting on local dishes refined to perfection. The carpaccio of shrimp with candied melon and eggplant caviar, followed by linguine with sea urchins harvested that morning, was particularly memorable— especially with an accompaniment of a minerally, almost salty white wine from the hotel’s vineyards on the nearby island of Favignana. From the Baglio, we took many pleasant outings: to the town of Mazara del Vallo, for example, home to one of

Palermoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s central post office. clockwise from below: Touring Palermo in a threewheeled Piaggio Ape; fresh fish on the harborside in Trapani; staff at Osteria dei Vespri, in Palermo.

Italy’s biggest fishing fleets, which has dozens of fish restaurants lining its seaward edge. The town’s churches are built in a warm golden tufa, its parks are dotted with palm trees, and its Kasbah district is a warren of alleyways reflecting the footprint of the town established here by Arabs in the ninth century. Mazara del Vallo is one of several picturesque coastal towns here. And there is Trapani, a delightful, sleepy town built on a spit of land narrowing into a point, like a comma, as it stretches out into the sea. We wandered toward this waterbound tip along the centro storico’s main street, the elegant, arrow-straight Corso Vittorio Emanuele, passing Baroque and Art Nouveau façades on either side and glimpsing slices of twinkling blue sea through the side streets. We couldn’t resist the mountains of pastries and cakes piled in the window of a traditional pasticceria. We tried a paradiso—a rum-soaked sponge covered with a layer of latticed golden marzipan, which lived up to its name. On a small island nearby is the town of Mozia, successive home to Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Greeks. Its most recent full-time inhabitants were the Whitakers, an Anglo-Sicilian family who produced the Marsala wine the British liked so much in the 19th century. The little island is a 10-minute boat ride from the mainland, and as you look back to the shore, you can see old salt pans spread behind you and white pyramids that, from a distance, resemble giant gazebos but are in fact hillocks of sea salt. The whole island, which is partially covered in vines and scrub, is an archaeological park, and the Whitakers’ villa, charming and somewhat oldfashioned, is its museum. The standout object is the Motya Charioteer, a gorgeous fragment of fifth-century Greek sculpture found by workmen during an excavation in 1979: it’s an extraordinarily sensuous object, with stony fabric clinging to the figure’s hips and thighs. The soil and sea of Sicily seem endlessly to produce such treasures: another, even more impressive ancient Greek sculpture is the bronze Dancing Satyr, literally fished from the Strait of Sicily in 1998. After years of study and conservation—not to mention trips to exhibitions in Rome, Paris and Tokyo—it finally has its own excellent, brand-new museum, the Museo de Satiro, in a converted 16th-century church in Mazara del Vallo. Though it is missing its arms and one of its legs, it is still a compelling object, the figure seeming to whirl in a frenzy of ecstatic dance, his head thrown back and hair streaming behind, his body twisting, his eyes staring. The sculpture is beautifully displayed, while a film explains the fascinating process of its discovery and the painstaking work of conserving it. (A former mafia boss, now collaborating with the authorities, recently admitted that he was ordered by his superiors to steal it and sell it through Switzerland, according to the Sicilian press. Happily, the order was never carried out.) There in the cool of the gallery, it struck me that the sculpture is an apt metaphor of Sicily itself: ancient, battered, subject to the reversals, near misses and catastrophes of history—and also spellbinding in its power and beauty.

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Palermo Trapani

Mozia Marsala

Gibellina

sicily

Experiencing WESTERN Sicily

Divide a weeklong trip between Palermo and the west of the island, and you’ll have plenty of time to take in the following highlights.

Getting There Fly in to Palermo Airport by connecting through Rome or another major European hub. Central Palermo is walkable, but rent a car near the airport to tour western Sicily.

Palermo

STAY Grand Hotel Villa Igiea This 19th-century hotel is an icon of Italian Art Nouveau overlooking the Bay of Palermo. villa-igiea. com; doubles from €250. EAT & DRINK Antica Focacceria San Francesco This historic spot has been baking traditional flatbreads since 1834—making it older than the nation of Italy itself. anticafocacceria.it. Caffè Internazionale A courtyard bar, café and community space with frequent gallery shows and art events. caffeinternazionale.com. Ke Palle A favorite Sicilian arancini chain offering more than a dozen versions of the fried rice-ball snack. kepalle.it. Osteria dei Vespri This oldschool restaurant is a Palermo institution—as is the wine list, which features around 350 bottles. osteriadeivespri.it; prix fixe from €30. ART & CULTURE Palazzo Butera Museum This lavish residence, which houses a large contemporary art collection, is a venue for the Manifesta 12 art biennial, which is in Palermo through November. 8 Via Butera; 39-91/611-0162. Palermo NoMafia Profits from these “antimafia” city tours go to an organization working to end protection payments. addiopizzotravel.it. Salinas Archaeological Museum An expansive collection of ancient artifacts— including treasures salvaged

from Phoenician shipwrecks. regione.sicilia.it/bbccaa/salinas. Teatro Massimo Long dormant during the height of Palermo’s mafia troubles, the city’s grand opera house now hosts a variety of innovative productions in its famously Baroque (and acoustically perfect) space. teatromassimo.it. ZAC–Zisa Arte Contemporanee Art-world icons like Ai Weiwei have exhibited at this space in the colorful Zisa cultural quarter. fb.com/zac.zisa.

Trapani & the West

STAY Baglio Sorìa Make this boutique farmhouse hotel outside Trapani your base for exploring western Sicily. Owned by a local winegrower, with an excellent restaurant. firriato-baglio-soriatrapani.it; doubles from €145. EAT & DRINK Saragó This restaurant on the tip of Trapani’s harbor peninsula serves seafood-focused dishes like roasted sea bream and red peppers. sarago.thefork.rest; mains from €15. ART & CULTURE Cretto di Burri This striking land-art project in Gibellina, an hour south of Palermo, is well worth the detour. gibellina. siciliana.it. Museo de Satiro Sicily’s most famous Greek bronze has a new home: its own small museum inside the Church of Sant’Egidio, in the village of Mazara del Vallo, south of Marsala. Piazza Plebiscito; 39-923/933-917. Whitaker Museum Take a ferry from Marsala to this museum on the island of Mozia to view treasures from the Phoenician colony that lived here in the fifth century B.C. Isola di San Pantaleo; 39-923/712-598. — Hannah Walhout

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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS 2080 MINUTES OF BREATHTAKING PERFORMANCES OVER 1,000 ARTISTS 20 CONTAINERS OF SETS 17 WORLD CLASS SHOWS FROM 12 COUNTRIES THAILAND’S NUMBER ONE FESTIVAL

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Carmen, Opera

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Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra

Teatro di San Carlo of Naples, Italy Conductor: Zubin Mehta 12/9/2018 (7.30 pm)

People’s Republic of China 1/10/2018 (7.30 pm)

Firebird / Rite of Spring,

Beethoven Symphony No.9 & Leonore Overture

Classical Ballets, Moscow State Classical Ballet, Russia 5/10/2018 (7.30 pm)

Teatro Di San Carlo Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Conductor: Zubin Mehta 13/9/2018 (7.30 pm)

Nutcracker

Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4 & 6

Classical Ballet Moscow State Classical Ballet, Russia Conductor: Evgeny Volynsky 6/10/2018 (2.30 pm)

Teatro Di San Carlo Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Zubin Mehta 15/9/2018 (7.30 pm)

Stunning Virtuosity

The Legend of Swanlake and the Ugly Duckling

Ju Percussion Group, Taipei, Taiwan 16/9/2018 (7.30 pm)

Classical Ballet, Moscow State Classical Ballet, Russia Conductor: Evgeny Volynsky 7/10/2018 (2.30 pm)

The Magnificent Seven

The International Magicians Society’s Top Seven Magicians of The World 19-20/9/2018 (7.30 pm)

Michael Jackson Tribute Concert USA and Europe 8/10/2018 (7.30 pm)

Break the Tango / Hip Hop

Argentina and Switzerland 22/9/2018 (7.30 pm), 23/9/2018 (2.30 pm)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Korean Symphony Orchestra

Karlsruhe Ballet, Germany 14/10/2018 (7.30 pm)

Classical Weddings

Karlsruhe Ballet, Germany 15/10/2018 (7.30 pm)

Republic of Korea 24/9/2018 (7.30 pm)

Gala Performance

Singapore Dance Theatre, Singapore 26/9/2018 (7.30 pm)

Born to Dance

Photo: The Legend of Swanlake and the Ugly Duckling

Taj Express

Bollywood Musical, India 28/9/2018 (7.30 pm), 29/9/2018 (2.30 pm)

Los Vivancos, Spain 18/10/2018 (7.30 pm)

Details for all performances:

www.bangkokfestivals.com Hotline 02 262 3191 (24 hrs) www.thaiticketmajor.com

Venue: Thailand Cultural Centre, Bangkok

wish you were here

The highway north into Dong Van, Vietnam, is a winding passage through a forgotten moonscape—black rocks scattered across the mountains and cornfields, and craggy peaks rising out of the surrounding rice paddies. Find old footpaths and follow them to a small village or two... to peaceful hamlets with majestic views and dirt lanes, seemingly cut off from the modern world. There’s a reason it’s called the Frontier Land. It’s still wild and unexplored, a place to get lost and found. —A aron Joel Santos

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TASTE M O R E WITH THE AIRLINE THAT FLIES TO MORE COUNTRIES THAN ANY OTHER

GREECE