Order Up!

We’re at that point in our travel annual – and in the year – when we want to scribble down some plans for the next few months, whether it’s a new business to check out, restaurant to try or suite to savour. So we have put together itineraries to help you catch up on a few key openings that you might have missed and taken first looks at other places, products and projects that are worth being aware of in 2o24. Our rundown takes in kit – from a bag you’ll want to pick up to a camera to capture your travels – but there’s plenty more besides. On our travel wishlist, you’ll find sailboat rides to see the Nile in style, a Bavarian bolthole and a Bangkok corner booth to reserve today. Plus, we suggest places to sun yourself on the Athens Riviera or cool off in solitude in Iceland’s Kerlingarfjöll mountains. Shall we?

1.
Smarten up your nightlife in Manhattan
The Nines, New York

The setting includes low-lit rooms with scarlet walls, chandeliers and an animal-print carpet, and only a smart jacket will do for male guests. The mood and music shift throughout the night; a typical evening might start with a solo pianist, followed by another with vocals and, on weekends, finish with a DJ set that ramps up the energy. But no matter what time you arrive, you’ll find the perfect setting for any occasion, whether you’re after a pre-dinner aperitif, a post-dinner dance or a nightcap.

Neidich believes that this kind of space is what’s next for New York’s nightlife scene. “Creating places that give people the chance to experience things in different ways and have a wider range of opportunities appeals to me more than ever,” he says. Cheers to that.
ninesnyc.com

2.
Explore the Nile in style
Nour el Nil, Egypt

The journey from Luxor to Aswan takes about three hours by car. Aboard a traditional dahabiya boat, it takes six days – but that’s the perfect length of time to drift on the river. It’s a trip that has long captured the imagination: 19th-century visitors used the sailboats to explore Egypt’s ancient wonders. But with the advent of the railway, the vessels eventually fell out of use. 

“We have brought them back to the Nile,” says French interior designer Eléonore Kamir. With her Mexican husband, Enrique Cansino, and boat builder Memdouh Sayed Khalifa, she co-founded tour company Nour El Nil more than 20 years ago. The trio operate dahabiyas in seven sizes. “We modelled them on the ones used in the 19th century, though ours don’t have a designated area for a harem,” she says. The boats can hold 24 passengers; their compactness allows them to stop at tombs and temples along the Nile that larger vessels aren’t allowed to visit.

Gliding on the water, you’ll feel the stresses of urban life floating away. Unlike the steam giants, Nour El Nil’s dahabiyas have no nightclubs or swimming pools. Instead, they offer a sense of understated elegance. Meals are served on the deck, allowing guests to socialise. People passing by on the river bring fish and vegetables onboard, so the food served on these boats is among the freshest that you’ll find in Egypt. 
nourelnil.com

3.
Make time to explore
Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m

Whether you’re planning to explore the briny deep or just to sink into a beachside lounger, the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m can withstand almost anything. The Swiss-made dials, buckles and bezel are constructed from the watchmaker’s signature material, sand-blasted grade-5 titanium, which has been selected for its lightness and durability.

An industry leader since the First World War, when it supplied the UK’s Royal Flying Corps with watches, Omega has long been celebrated for its time-tested wares. The Seamaster collection is the brand’s longest-running line. Introduced in 1948, it was a mainstay of a certain James Bond since the 1990s. But the Planet Ocean 600m works well for everyday adventures too: with its the changeable strap, it can be adapted to suit situation.
omegawatches.com

4.
Book a weekend in this Bavarian bolthole
Rosewood Munich, Munich

Munich might be cosmopolitan and wealthy but it doesn’t change quickly. That’s why almost all eyes were on the opening of the Rosewood Munich, the first luxury hotel to launch in the Bavarian capital in 16 years. It’s also the first German outpost of Hong Kong-based Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.

Repurposing existing buildings is a hallmark of Rosewood. Munich-based Hilmer Sattler Architekten Ahlers Albrecht joined together the Bavarian State Bank’s former headquarters, built in 1894, with an adjacent 18th-century residence through a new structure in Munich’s Old Town. Timber panels, marble moulding and oversized fireplaces in Rosewood’s signature suites reinterpret the buildings’ baroque proportions with crisp lines.

“The people are so warm and chic in Munich,” says Tara Bernerd, whose design studio oversaw the interiors. “We wove that osmosis of style into this property.” All 132 rooms and suites have dedicated entrance halls and living areas, as well as white marble bathrooms. Bernerd drew inspiration from Munich’s surrounding countryside, filling the interiors with dark-wood furnishings, textured velvets and tweeds in sapphire blues and emerald greens (the latter hue was borrowed from Bavarian folk costumes).

Already popular with locals is Bar Montez, an atmospheric jazz lounge named after a mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria, Lola Montez, whose former home is also in Munich. Musicians play in front of a cubist-style stained-glass piece created by family-run workshop Mayer’sche Hofkunstanstalt that depicts the city’s 1920s jazz scene. The cocktails are as excellent as the music. Meanwhile, at Rosewood’s Brasserie Cuvilliés, the well-rounded menu nudges towards Alpine dishes: think hearty bratwursts, obatzda-dipped pretzels and spinach dumplings bedded in lemon emulsion and pecorino shavings.

The hotel is within walking distance of many of the city’s attractions, including Pinakothek der Moderne, the gallery that’s home to Paul Klee’s Bauhaus-era “Scaffolding of a New Building”. Bernerd describes Rosewood Munich as “seductive luxury but approachable”. The same can be said of this city.
rosewoodhotels.com

Weekend itinerary
Do
Marienplatz is the city’s central square where the Rathaus-Glockenspiel clock displays scenes from Munich’s history. Meanwhile, the famous Englischer Garten has a lively beer garden under the landmark Chinese Tower.

Eat
Viktualienmarkt, on the site of a 19th-century farmers’ market, is a pleasant maze of food stalls. Traditional Bavarian eatery Spatenhaus serves crispy schnitzel in a wood-panelled dining hall.

See
The 18th-century Amalienburg hunting lodge at the Nymphenburg Palace is a rococo vision conjured by François de Cuvilliés, the architect responsible for Rosewood Munich’s original façade.

5.
See the Athens Riviera in the off-season
One&Only Aesthesis, Athens

One&Only Aesthesis consists of 95 bungalows designed by UK studio Muza Lab. “We paid homage to mid-century architecture with high ceilings, woven-leather details and natural accents,” says Muza Lab’s co-founder Inge Moore. Every bungalow has an outside space with a private pool and garden.

Seafront restaurant Ora offers Mediterranean fine dining, while another onsite restaurant hosts residencies for chefs. At the time of writing, it’s headed by Paco Morales of Andalusia’s Noor. The resort has much to offer visitors outside the summer season. “We have partnered with Guerlain on its first spa in Greece,” says general manager Yann Gillet. “We also offer various experiences, including sailing tours and visits to ateliers that make leather sandals. And you get to enjoy the Athens Riviera without the peak-season crowds.”
oneandonlyresorts.com

6.
Order a generous serving of unabashed fun
Dear Jackie, London

When it comes to hospitality, London has been embracing a full-on, unashamedly fun design vernacular of late. That’s probably bad news for all the minimalists out there but it’s an exciting time for anyone who wants a little more joy in their life – especially the kind that comes with good food, excellent service and tasty drinks. Italian restaurant Dear Jackie has the lot, which is why it has earned a spot on our Wishlist.

It’s housed inside the new 57-room Broadwick Soho hotel, which was designed by Martin Brudnizki (who is also behind the very full-on private members’ club Annabel’s on Berkeley Square). It features a main dining area for lavish dinners, a colourful bar, a private dining room and The Nook, a cosy space for hotel residents and those given the wink. Think pink barstools, Murano lights, richly patterned carpets and walls festooned with specially commissioned plates. There’s plenty to take in.

The hotel is the first outpost of Coterie Hotels, backed by Noel Hayden, who made his fortune from online gaming (the betting kind). His long-time friend Jo Ringestad is its managing director. Indeed, there’s a large cast of friends and collaborators behind this project who clearly still like each other, even after all the stress that they must have gone through to build this opulent, glorious establishment. The restaurant is named after Hayden’s mother and serves Italian cuisine with a kick, alongside some great wines. It’s the kind of place where you’ll have a good time and inevitably stay a little later than you planned to. The future is plush.
broadwicksoho.com

7.
Make tracks for the mountains
Highland Base, Kerlingarfjöll

It’s not every day that your hotel warns you not to attempt to get there on your own. Highland Base is in the middle of Kerlingarfjöll, a mountain range bracketed by two glaciers deep in Iceland’s Central Highland. Though it’s just three hours by car from Reykjavík, in winter the drive is best left to a professional in a 4×4 “Super Jeep”.

“Kerlingarfjöll is important in the soul of the Icelandic nation, as many learned to ski on its glaciers,” says Magnús Orri Marínarson Schram, the hotel’s managing director. At the turn of the millennium, receding glaciers forced the ski school there to close. “With Highland Base, we wanted to introduce – or, in some cases, reintroduce – this beautiful destination to local and international travellers.”

Offering rooms, suites and luxury lodges, as well as summer-only cabins and a campsite, it’s run by the team behind Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s famous but often overcrowded turquoise geothermal pool. By contrast, Highland Base is a tranquil, village-like place that’s set in the largest pure wilderness in western Europe. The 46 minimalist rooms by Basalt Architects and Design Group Italia are clad in wood and large windows frame views of hills and craggy ridges. The hotel offers a chance to get off the grid and unplug, and venture into the wilderness – a journey that feels like going back in time (or even out into space) to a place that few people have ever seen.
highlandbase.is

8.
Invest in some trusty luggage
Brady, UK

Angling for a shoulder bag to accompany you on your travels? The Ariel Trout by UK leather specialist Brady is a catch. Its utilitarian silhouette is a mainstay of the company’s outdoorsy range. While the tides of fashion have shifted, the model from 1928 (with two capacious front pockets) has become a classic. Made from durable, waterproof Italian canvas and English bridle leather with brass fittings, it’s an appealing holdall, whether you’re wearing salopettes or wading through a new city.
bradybags.co.uk

9.
Book a table at a chef Jai’s
Charmrung, Bangkok

Curry restaurant Charmgang in Bangkok immediately hit the spot when it opened in late 2019 so the news that the team was cooking up a “Thai tapas bar” had us licking our lips in anticipation. Charmkrung, which opened in December 2023 on nearby Charoen Krung Road, is a 60-cover, sixth-floor hangout where chef Jai’s 22-dish menu is intended to be paired with wine. His snacks, canapés and other small plates hark back to the “cookshops” of 1960s and 1970s Bangkok, when Thai-Chinese chefs used their experience of making European food in hotel kitchens to create new fusion dishes for their own small restaurants.

Charmkrung doesn’t turn tables and there’s good reason to linger until last orders (we have our eye on the corner booth). At about 23.00 every evening, the kitchen starts making a second menu of dishes (for the staff meal but punters can ask to try), such as pork skewers with sticky rice, papaya salad or congee with pork rib: classic Thai street food in a convivial and comfortable setting. A new banker in Bangkok that you’d best book a table at before your next trip.
Charoen Krung Road, Bangkok

10.
Get some colour at this bold Paris opening
Le Grand Mazarin, Paris

“We wanted to do something that was out of this world,” says Leslie Kouhana, one of the family members behind Maisons Pariente. Sitting on a king-sized canopy bed in Le Grand Mazarin, the group’s first Parisian hotel, she gestures towards the renaissance-style tapestry above the bed and some pistachio-green bedside tables. Forget muted tones and pared-back aesthetics: here you’ll find patterns that nod to the French baroque and classicism. Leopard-print slipper chairs coexist in unexpected harmony with candy stripe side tables on primary-coloured rugs.

In Boubalé, the hotel’s ground-floor restaurant, it’s time for coffee and croissants. Conceived by Tomer Lanzman and the culinary dream team of Assaf Granit, Dan Yosha and Uri Navon of the jlm Group, the restaurant has a menu that’s not to be missed. Its walls, wooden ceilings and hand-woven doilies beneath glass tabletops evoke a combination of a wintery chalet and a grand café in eastern Europe. In the evening the candlelit dining room comes alive as we savour soft challah bread and platters of spicy condiments, pulled beef or goulash. For dessert, the white-chocolate cheesecake is a must. Get into Le Grand Mazarin’s joyful spirit and treat yourself.
legrandmazarin.com

11.
Head for the hills to see Tokyo from a new angle
Hotel Toranomon Hills, Tokyo

Part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, Hotel Toranomon Hills in Tokyo has just opened, with interiors designed by Denmark’s Space Copenhagen and 205 guest rooms. Sitting on top of the new Toranomon Hills Station Tower, it offers commanding views of the city. The hotel also marks the Asian debut of star chef Sergio Herman. In the tower are shops, food outlets and a cultural complex called Tokyo Node. Guests who arrive too early to check in or have a late flight out will appreciate the lounge area with showers, meeting rooms and refreshments. hyatt.com

12.
Take a slow roadtrip
Kokos Huis, Swartland

An hour’s drive north of Cape Town, the town of Riebeek Kasteel sits surrounded by hills in a valley in the Swartland. “It’s close to the city but you feel as though you were in another world here because it’s wild and authentic,” says Prisca Llagostera, the Andorra-born hotelier who opened Kokos Huis in a 200-year-old farm building in 2023. “But it also has a big community of interesting winemakers creating boutique wines.” 

On the road from Cape Town there are many worthwhile stops. Want a long, lazy lunch? Then try farm restaurant Vygie or Mila at Doolhoof. And there’s plenty to do in Riebeek Kasteel itself, most notably tasting chenin blancs at wineries such as AA Badenhorst or Sadie Family Wines. “The cellars are full of personality,” says Llagostera, who fell in love with the region when she first visited. (She also fell in love with a South African winemaker.)

As the hotelier behind L’Ovella Negra in Andorra, Llagostera is no stranger to the hospitality industry. In Riebeek Kasteel she felt that she could offer “something affordable with a bit of style”, a kind of offering that Llagostera felt the town sorely needed. At Kokos Huis, she made a point of keeping original details such as the thick walls, old shutters and terracotta floors, which she updated with locally carved wooden tables, raffia lamps and hand-spun towels. “It has a lot of soul,” she says.
kokoshuis.com

13.
Commission an airy Asian pied-à-terre
Studio Daminato, Bangkok

On bleak winter days when we find ourselves spinning the globe, dreaming of a warm-weather second home, our fingers keep landing on Bangkok. Fun, friendly and open to everyone, it has always been a regular fixture on monocle’s travel itinerary but 2024 could well be the year when we put down some firmer roots. If we do, Italian interior designer Albano Daminato will be one of the first people we call. 

The long-term Asia resident has gone from decking out Aman hotel rooms for Kerry Hill during the Adrian Zecha-era to creating his own take on tropical modernism from a small studio in Bangkok. Clients come to him for peaceful residences that fit the location rather than the latest fashion. “It’s important to me that spaces are calming and cocooning,” says Daminato, who opts for subtle colour palettes and is restrained in his use of materials. Unapologetically hands-on, right down to picking out the cups and cutlery, he prides himself on being a practical designer who agonises over even the back-of-house areas. “Unless we can control the whole space, it’s not a full package of design,” he says.

A typical project can take a few years so Studio Daminato takes on a limited number of commissions. Can’t wait? For a cool $6.5m (€5.2m), a Bangkok pied-à-terre that Daminato designed at the Windshell Naradhiwas building – a timber-panelled “cigar box” inside a brutalist, concrete tower – is ready and waiting. studiodaminato.com

14.
Take the waters in a belle époque town on the up
Bad Gastein, Austria

For decades the Alpine town of Bad Gastein was in a deep slumber. Once celebrated by emperors and empresses for its pristine, restorative waters, the Austrian town’s belle époque buildings began to crumble in the 1980s. About 10 years ago, however, a wave of entrepreneurs began to shake things up. First there were smaller hotels such as Haus Hirt, Hotel Regina and Miramonte, mainly catering to a creative crowd. Then Berlin-based architect Barbara Elwardt opened The Comodo, a former health resort turned alpine retreat, in 2023. “What is happening here feels like a new beginning,” she says.

Fittingly, the town’s historic centre, next to Bad Gastein’s waterfall, has just been restored. Among the buildings that have been reimagined is the Grandhotel Straubinger, built in 1840 and once Bad Gastein’s largest hotel. When its current owner, Munich-based Hirmer Group, commissioned Vienna’s bwm architects to revive it, they found tables still laid and beds still made. The building was renovated alongside the old Badeschloss opposite, adding 148 rooms to the town.

The buildings tell a story of revival. Historic features, such as antique parquet flooring and Lobmeyr chandeliers, have been juxtaposed with modern elements, including an extension with a rooftop infinity pool. With thermal baths, panoramic saunas and a three-storey spa, the new Alpine Swim Club sets the scene for a new beginning.
gastein.com

15.
Capture the moments that matter
Leica Sofort 2

Founded in Wetzlar in 1849, iconic German camera manufacturer Leica has not lost sight of what younger photographers want: that is, to have a little fun behind the lens and some instant gratification too. Its playful, lightweight Sofort 2 model, released in November 2023, might have a distinctively retro appearance – rounded corners, the option of a bright red, black or white finish – but it also packs a host of nifty digital features. Inside there’s a mini printer that allows it to create instant images; the camera also offers hassle-free connectivity for those who want to publish their images online. Hopefully it’ll inspire you to put down your phone and capture a moment worth remembering.
leica-camera.com

Rise To The Challenge

hair & make-up: Liz Daxauer
model: Takayuki Suzuki

Be Our Guest

Many a traveller, lounging poolside on a Greek island or sitting before a fire at a cosy English country inn has, in their unencumbered state of idleness, entertained the thought, “What if I owned this hotel?” New hoteliers are born every minute but over the past few years, as the coronavirus pandemic shifted both the way we work and what we desire from our careers, their numbers have swelled. We travel from Kerala to Costa Rica via Sicily, Portugal and Mexico to meet those who have recently shifted from other professions into hotel management with aplomb.

1.
Rasmi Poduval
Cranganor History Café & Riverside
Château, Kerala

A successful career in marketing is proving useful when promoting this riverfront retreat but there were still important lessons to learn.

“You reach a certain point in your career where you begin to think, ‘Is this it?’ You want a larger purpose in life,” Rasmi Poduval tells Monocle on the veranda of her seven-bedroom hotel on the banks of the Periyar River in Kerala. The peaceful scene feels a long way from Poduval’s former career in the Bangalore corporate world. She and her husband, Vineeth, each worked in marketing for the likes of Coca-Cola and the huge Indian conglomerate ITC for nearly 20 years before quitting their jobs and opening the Cranganor History Café & Riverside Château in 2017.

“I can’t exactly say when we decided we wanted to do this,” she says. “Ultimately it was a combination of wanting out of city life and travelling into Kerala’s hinterland and realising that there’s a wealth of history and culture there that isn’t being showcased.”

After a three-year search that began in 2014, they finally found the spot: a riverfront plot across the water from Chendamangalam, a historic Kerala town that was once a major weaving hub and sits in a region that is home to some of South Asia’s oldest mosques and synagogues. Once the land was secured, lunch breaks and evenings in Bangalore were spent figuring out what they would do with it. “At that point, only we could see it. No one else could understand what we were trying to do or

“This place has taught us so much more than what we learnt at any other job”

why,” she adds. Friends and family were even more confounded by their decision to pull their two daughters out of school and move to the building site. It wasn’t difficult to convince their girls though. “We offered them six months out of school to get their buy-in,” says Poduval with a laugh.

As soon as ground was broken, Poduval put on her marketeer’s hat and began drumming up attention on social media. “I blogged about our village life: implements used to dig, the woman who would steal our coconuts, everything,” she says. By the time they were ready to welcome guests, her social media accounts had gained quite a following. “We had no hospitality background. It didn’t even occur to us to go to tour operators. Our social media followers were our first guests.” This marketing push continues with posts on regional cooking and tours of local festivals. Poduval also posts about the folk performances that they host at the property. “I also talk to guests and collect insights on what content they liked and use that for future stories,” she says. “That’s where the marketing mind comes into play.”

Is there another corporate skill that Poduval has put to use? “It’s actually the reverse,” she says. “This place has taught us more than what we learnt at any other job.” In the corporate world, goals are set, instructions issued and expected to be carried out precisely. “That obviously won’t work here. I cannot control everything in a place where I don’t even understand all the parameters.” All of her employees are local villagers, including several former housewives working in their first paid jobs. “I’ve learned it’s better to set broad goals and let them work it out,” she adds with a smile. “You then get solutions that you would otherwise have not thought of.” 
cranganor.com

2.
Octavio Aguilar
Casa Polanco, Mexico City

For the real estate developer, a routine renovation project provided the perfect opportunity to share the beauty of his neighbourhood with visitors.

When Octavio Aguilar bought the white 1920s building that now houses Casa Polanco, he hadn’t intended on opening a hotel. “I was planning on doing what I’d done before: renovating small buildings for apartments or offices,” he says. But then he stumbled upon papers that permitted the mansion to be operated as a hotel. “I knew that I had to do this project.”

Despite never having worked in hospitality, he has always had a deep appreciation of hotels. “When I was young, my parents travelled with me a lot and they would let me choose where we would stay,” he says. “I fell in love with small boutique hotels.”

Casa Polanco’s location is spot on: close to Chapultepec Park and restaurants such as Pujol. But being across from peaceful Lincoln Park was the clincher, especially in a place as

“When I first discovered Polanco, I fell in love with it. I want people to feel like they are staying in a Mexican home”

busy as Mexico City. “If this mansion was 10 blocks or even three blocks away, I wouldn’t have done it,” he says. As someone who has lived in the Polanco neighbourhood for more than a decade, Aguilar was eager to show it to travellers. “When I first discovered Polanco, I fell in love with it,” he says. “I want people to feel like they are staying in a Mexican home.”

The hotel’s light-filled communal areas and homey rooms that tumble onto terraces do indeed make it feel like someone’s home. But it was Aguilar’s background in business administration and real estate – industries he still works in – that enabled him to follow through with the project. “My background helped a lot with doing the physical space,” he says.

He intended to take a step back but changed his mind. “It made sense for me to get involved because there are always things you can do better.” Aguilar now spends half his time working at the hotel. “It’s always evolving and always requires something,” he says. Given the opportunity, he would consider opening another hotel but it would all come down to where. “Location, location, location. I’m a true believer in that.”
casapolanco.com

3.
Pedro Oliveira & Alicia Valero
Hotel das Amoreiras, Lisbon

The soulful ambience of this grand city establishment was planned in meticulous detail by the hotel-loving Swiss banker and his wife.

Pedro Oliveira has had a lifelong love affair with hotels. As a boy he toured some of Europe’s grandest hotels with his parents, making a particularly memorable trip to London’s Claridge’s. “I have always been fascinated by hotels,” he says. “They are important meeting places for people from all walks of life: politicians, diplomats, aristocrats and artists. It’s a very glamorous world.” Even after becoming a private banker in Geneva, Oliveira remained tempted by the world of hospitality. When renovations were under way at the famous Hotel des Bergues, he bought up its old cutlery for his home. “I love having such pieces. It gives one a sense of ceremony in their daily life.”

Finally, in 2016, he decided to take the leap, buying a building in Lisbon’s leafy Praça das Amoreiras. Then he bought an adjacent townhouse and drew up plans for a 19-room property. To prepare himself for the shift into the profession, Oliveira signed up to a year-long hotel-management course at Swiss hospitality school Les Roches. “I was twice the age of my classmates but didn’t mind starting over,” he says. “I learned all the details of the job, from serving coffee to laying the table.” Oliveira studied at the school’s Marbella campus to be close to his wife, Madrid native Alicia Valero, whose background is in luxury marketing. Together, they planned every inch of their new establishment, Hotel das Amoreiras, right down to the placement of the electrical sockets.

The hotel has plenty of personal touches, from paintings in the bar that once hung in the family home to a drinks trolley in the foyer from which guests can take their own refreshments. Hallways have discreet lighting, rooms are in muted shades of green, sand and beige, and bathrooms are decorated in elegant Estremoz marble. But perhaps the most luxurious touch is that breakfast is served until noon. “I wanted something warm and soulful,” says Oliviera. “It’s a cosy inn with a touch of the grand hotel ambience.”
hoteldasamoreiras.com

4.
Stefanie Tannenbaum
Sendero, Costa Rica

Stranded in paradise during the coronavirus pandemic, this New York real estate manager decided to swap the urban jungle for a real one.

Back when she was working in commercial real estate in New York, one of Stefanie Tannenbaum’s roles was asset management at the Rockefeller Center. While much of that work revolved around office tenants, she says, “we also had to curate the experience and work around the hospitality demands of the property”. This part of the job, she adds, “was much more interesting to me”. Tannenbaum suddenly had the idea to open her own hotel. Realising how little she knew about the business, she decided to join Lark, then a small hotel start-up. “I joined as an assistant,” she says. “I said, ‘I’ll take any job.’”

A few years later, the 38-year-old was on holiday with her husband and baby in Nosara, a small beach town on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. With about two miles of strikingly consistent surf on its idyllic beach, Nosara has become a mecca for surfing yet has largely avoided overdevelopment. When pandemic restrictions hit in 2020, Tannenbaum took the leap. She had become friendly with Sarah Kosterlitz, a US expat living in Nosara, and something clicked. “We went to lunch and I said, ‘Do you want to do this with me?’ She replied, ‘I don’t know anything about this,’ and I said, ‘We’ll figure it out.’” They pooled their life savings and opened Sendero, a 25-room hotel with a restaurant, art gallery and surf school a short walk from the beach and overlooking a nature reserve.

While Tannenbaum had come from the hospitality world, she notes that she was more on the “strategy” side. Though Costa Rica is “definitely business-forward, there’s a lot of hoops to jump through”, she says. Take the property’s outdoor showers. “We didn’t have space for both an outdoor shower and a shower in the rooms,” says Tannenbaum. “And we didn’t know how guests would feel about not having an indoor shower.” While a traditional hotelier wouldn’t take the risk, “we felt that it was really just part of our brand – connecting you to nature right away”.

The day-to-day reality of running a hotel has been eye-opening. “It’s definitely 24/7, 365 days a year,” she says. It is not simply the emergencies in the middle of the night. There’s the “constant pressure” of wanting to improve the hotel (Sendero is already expanding, adding a number of larger, family-friendly rooms). Then there’s the challenge of maintaining a property in an environment that takes its toll. “We are in the jungle,” she says. Though the fact that she is grinning as she says this suggests that Tannenbaum is rather enjoying her new occupation. 
senderonosara.com

5.
Prune, Hanawa & Ronan Merlin
Lùme, Syracuse

The Parisian boutique owner’s interiors wizardry came in handy when renovating this homely hotel, which is run by her cousin and his partner.

As the owner of a homeware boutique, Parisian decorator Prune Merlin was used to travelling the world in search of treasures for her shop. But when she first arrived in Syracuse in Sicily, she quickly felt that it was going to be more than a place for passing through. With the plan to establish a second home for her family in Ortigia, the city’s historic centre, she bought a crumbling three-floor property and decided to convert it into a residence with guest rooms.

However, with three children and a business back home, it was difficult for her to dedicate herself entirely to the running of a hotel. So she called on her Italian cousin, Hanawa, and his partner, Ronan, to manage the property. “We complement each other perfectly,” says Ronan as he shows MONOCLE around the intimate six-room hotel, Lùme, which opened in 2022. The couple gave up their Parisian life: Ronan sold his café and Hanawa left his full-time job in fashion. “We were tired of the city, so the prospect of a new career and life in the sun was very appealing,” says Ronan.

Lùme is very much a group effort. From the moment you step through its arched doors, you can smell the banana bread and freshly toasted granola, which Ronan makes daily for breakfast. Then, there’s the mix of brightly coloured textiles and vintage furniture, which bear Merlin’s stamp. “Prune’s force is decoration,” says Ronan, pointing at a Mediterranean-inspired tapestry commissioned from artist Pascal Monteil. “People appreciate the warm, homely atmosphere. After all, this is a family project.” Hanawa, the only native Italian speaker, is in charge of welcoming guests, especially those from Italy. His side gig as a fashion retail consultant for the likes of Hermès has also taught him the importance of attention to detail: fresh flowers and fruit bowls are a common sight at Lùme.

Though ambitious in the level of service and amenities they offer (there’s a hammam, gym and spa treatment room), the trio approach hospitality with the humility of a French maison d’hôtes. On sunny evenings, the rooftop terrace resembles a family gathering. Merlin enjoys the contact with guests and travels to Syracuse monthly. A new project is keeping her busy too: she’s opening a 21-bedroom seafront hotel in Ortigia in 2025 – with Ronan and Hanawa in tow, of course.
lume-ortigia.com

The Monocle Guide to Scotland

Monocle has taken great pleasure in casting our net across hills and lochs, down city streets and on to sandy coves to find the delights that fill this guide. Remember, getting around will take you longer than you think because there’s so much to see. But here are the spots not to miss.

Lay of the land

Plan of action
3 marks the stop

Craft & Design

Finding form
Object lessons

A newly revived respect for indigenous art and craftwork is sweeping Scotland, as evidenced everywhere from city-centre studios to remote coastal workshops. These makers are tapping into the country’s proud heritage.

Bard
Edinburgh

Overlooking the Water of Leith, Bard celebrates a comprehensive array of Scottish craft and design – without a single piper-adorned shortbread tin in sight. Based in Scotland’s oldest former customs house, business (and life) partners Hugo Macdonald and James Stevens exhibit and sell their discoveries, including Orkney chairs, alongside traditional woven willow baskets for carrying broody hens – by the Isle of Eigg’s All About Willow makers – and a pepper mill made of peppercorns and resin from Loch Lomond-based Marc Sweeney.

“In rural economies, craft is a way of living born through necessity,” says Macdonald, who is originally from the Isle of Skye. “We work with people who have an extraordinary ability to manipulate materials out of need.” Bard is at once a shop, a gallery and a conversation starter. Whether it’s hosting talks or simply welcoming visitors and telling the stories behind the objects, all aspects are integral to Bard.

The Scottish diaspora in the US, Canada and Australia is a particularly important demographic for Macdonald and Stevens but those still resident in the country, and design enthusiasts of all ages, also seek out the brand. “There’s an understanding that it is worth investing in design that will last and has a cultural specificity, is made in a particular region and has a sense of heritage,” says Stevens.
bard-scotland.com

More craftiness

Wild Gorse Pottery
Glasgow
Ceramicist Jen Smith’s working studio and shop sells stoneware for the home and table. Specialising in traditional techniques, Smith’s style is influenced by walks along Scotland’s beaches foraging for seaweed and lichen. Feeling inspired? Wild Gorse also offers courses in ceramics.
wildgorsepottery.com

Dumfries House
Cumnock, Ayrshire
Dumfries House, dating to the 18th century, is set in a sprawling parcel of East Ayrshire countryside. An example of stately Scottish architecture of a bygone era, the estate today hosts educational programmes tutoring skills that range from traditional crafts to horticulture.
dumfries-house.org.uk

Woven in the Bone
Buckie, Moray Firth
An inheritor of her native land’s proud weaving tradition, designer Sam Goates has become a valued supplier of Scottish textiles worldwide. Using a semi-automated foot-treadle loom known as the Hattersley Domestic, Goates makes artisanal cloths in Scotland’s trademark mix of pattern and colour.
woveninthebone.com

Studio Vans
Outer Hebrides
Studio Vans transforms ordinary vehicles into campervans that are built by a beach in the Hebrides. The firm collaborates with creators to craft the perfect mobile home, complete with underfloor heating, linen, prints, ceramics, camping gear and more.
studiovans.com

Bothy Project
Isle of Eigg
Inspired by the huts (known as bothies) that dot the vast Scottish wilderness to shelter travellers and wanderers, the Bothy Project provides creative residencies in small-scale, off-grid spaces. Aimed at artists, writers, musicians, researchers and residents, the project first began with a hut by the River Spey and now operates from Eigg.
bothyproject.com

Cara Guthrie Ceramics
Perthshire

“There’s a lot of wonderful work in Scotland at the moment,” says Perthshire-based ceramicist Cara Guthrie of the country’s long-lived but blossoming craft scene. “That feeling of being connected and supportive gives people momentum.”

Having trained in Denmark – making minimalist, practical artefacts at Kasper Würtz – and then with artist William Plumptre in England’s Lake District, Guthrie successfully fuses the functional and sculptural in her own practice.
Under a moodboard featuring Karl Blossfeldt’s botanical photography, folk-horror film stills and the watchful gaze of childhood heroine Mary, Queen of Scots (“I used to write letters to her – pretty weird, right?”), Guthrie turns her wheel for a wide array of projects. “I call myself a potter and then everyone’s happy as it’s quite understated,” she says. “I mean, it’s like a job from a nursery rhyme, isn’t it?” But Guthrie’s pottery? It’s poetry.
caraguthrieceramics.com

Food & Hospitality

Lochs and keys
Welcome boos

There’s never been any doubting the lure of the jaw-dropping and diverse natural landscape of Scotland, but now the country has a range of accommodation options to match, not to mention a host of splendid spots to sate any weary explorer’s appetite.

Edinbane Lodge
Isle of Skye

On the north of Skye, a stroll inland from the bays that provide much of its seafood, and surrounded by the fields from which much of its meat, vegetables and wild produce originates, sits Edinbane Lodge. “I’m from Skye, the food is from Skye and as much as can possibly come from a minute down the road the better,” says chef-proprietor Calum Montgomery. “Our scallops with seaweed butter sauce is a classic and I can pretty much see from here where every bit of that dish comes from.”

Edinbane’s food is fine-dining “but grounded in the age-old ingredients of necessity: scallops, shrimps, monkfish, venison,” says Montgomery.
edinbanelodge.com

Northern bites

Loch Bay
Isle of Skye
Situated in a bay on the remote northwestern coast of Skye, Loch Bay serves a fuss-free menu by Michael Smith that has earned the restaurant a Michelin star.
lochbay-restaurant.co.uk

Timberyard
Edinburgh
The family team behind much-loved Michelin-starred Timberyard like to let the seasonal produce speak for itself. A second location, the Montrose wine bar, is now open.
timberyard.co

Gloriosa
Glasgow
Rosie Healey reinvents Mediterranean food in a smart, minimal setting where seasonal dishes balance zesty flavours with flair and a lack of pretension.
gloriosaglasgow.com

Fish Shop
Ballater, Aberdeenshire
Scotland-loving gallery Hauser & Wirth continues its foray into hospitality with the simple but delicious Fish Shop, a community fishmonger and restaurant.
fishshopballater.co.uk

Inver
Strachur, Argyll & Bute
On the shores of Loch Fyne, Inver is dishing up Scotland’s answer to New Nordic cuisine but in a heartier, perhaps less prim manner. Tempted to stay the night? Book yourself a bothy.
inverrestaurant.co.uk

The Gannet
Glasgow
The Gannet offers a modern take on fine Scottish dining, working closely with nearby artisan producers, foragers and farmers. Expect much more than run-of-the-mill haute cuisine.
thegannetgla.com

East Pier Smokehouse
St Monans, Fife
In a blue building in the fishing village of St Monans, James Robb serves exquisite wood- fired smoked langoustines, lobster and sea bass with chips. Summer only.
eastpier.co.uk

The Free Company
Balerno

The Free Company is snuck into the Pentland Hills, a short drive from central Edinburgh, and has gained a formidable reputation for its cosy premises, cordial welcome and hearty food.

Once you make your way through the winding country lanes leading to this popular farm-cum-restaurant, you’ll see a glimmer of light coming from the roaring fire in the yard, and a pair of friendly faces. Owners and brothers Charlie and Angus Buchanan-Smith, who started The Free Company in late 2016 with friends Stella Stewart and Jack Fletcher, make a point of personally greeting their dinner guests at the restaurant’s entrance before directing them to the ground-floor bar, which serves organic wines, regional beers and perfectly mixed cocktails.

The brothers are setting the tone for an evening where strangers quickly turn into friends, drinks are enjoyed around the fire, and excellent food – made using homegrown ingredients – is passed around the long, communal tables of the adjoining old milking byre. The six-course menu is ever-changing but some highlights from its recent winter series include house pickles, beef-fat beetroot and aged Shetland hogget. Trays of homemade sourdough bread and the restaurant’s much-loved whipped honey butter are always at the ready.

Amid all the merriment there’s also an opportunity to learn about the regenerative farming practised by the brothers. “It’s an entirely circular system – we don’t need to use anything from outside to feed the animals and we’re doing it all with zero chemicals,” says Charlie, who works on the farm during the day and has been passionately researching the topic for years. “It’s about a return to tradition.”
the-free-company.com

Northern nights

Boath House
Nairn
On the northern coast, near the bay of Findhorn, this majestic Georgian house has 10 rooms and a four-bedroom lodge, a walled garden café and an artistic residency programme that has turned it into a magnet for musicians, artists and designers.
boath-house.com

Blue Cabin By The Sea
Cove, Scottish Borders
An hour’s drive from Edinburgh and a walk through a secret rocky tunnel, Blue Cabin By The Sea offers picture-perfect views. Its cosy interiors were designed by the owners, architect Ben Tindall and sculptor Jill Watson.
bluecabinbythesea.co.uk

Glen Dye
Banchory, Aberdeenshire
This series of cabins and cottages sits on a private estate on the banks of River Dye. Book an overnight stay and enjoy a day in the wilderness, or just rest in the property’s wood-fired sauna.
glendyecabinsandcottages.com

Shore Cottage
Cairndow, Argyll
On the shores of Loch Fyne, this homely cottage offers views over the water to the ancient town and castle of Inveraray. Spot seals from the garden or read a book by the living-room fireplace.
shore-cottage.com

Guardswell Farm
Perthshire
This 60-hectare grassland farm between the villages of Abernyte and Kinnaird is a true family affair, with three generations of the Lamottes involved. You can enjoy the property’s wonders, including views of the River Tay, by booking into the country home or visiting the nearby café.
guardswell.co.uk

Aldourie Castle
Inverness
This 300-year-old castle on the banks of Loch Ness has been converted into an elegant home with 16 bedrooms, a boathouse and 200 hectares of gardens and woodlands. It’s an ideal base from which to explore the Highlands.
aldourie.scot

Kilmartin Castle
Argyll

In a charming corner of Argyll – a two-hour journey from Glasgow, along the idyllic Loch Lomond and surrounding Highland area – is one of Western Scotland’s hidden gems. This is far from a tourist hotspot but it has plenty to offer, including Kilmartin Museum – which displays archaeological finds from across Kilmartin Glen – artists’ studios and a cosy village pub. It was enough to lure former creative director Simon Hunt and radio presenter Stef Burgon to buy Kilmartin Castle and leave their corporate lives behind them.

After years spent renovating the castle and driving around Europe handpicking antiques for the venue’s lounge, dining rooms and five spacious bedrooms, the couple have transformed Kilmartin Castle into a uniquely memorable hospitality experience. Part of their successful formula lies in the ability to remix the history and grandeur associated with the castle – built during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots – with a contemporary sensibility.

You’d be right to assume that sleeping inside a 16th-century castle would be as eerie as it is majestic, but heated floors, fast wi-fi and a sprinkling of witty design objects create a warm space where groups of friends get together to enjoy whisky by the fire, eat like kings and queens in the baronial dining room, and take a dip in the natural pool in the grounds.

“We wanted everything to feel like an experience,” says Hunt, whose aim was to evoke a lived-in, cottage feel. “It’s like a great hip-hop track that mixes old funk with soul and disco – you can clearly hear the old sounds but you add some new electronic beats in the mix too. We made sure there are enough luxurious touchpoints to offset the rustic feel,” he adds, pointing to the old barn featuring the same type of Chadder & Co lavatories that service the bathrooms of Buckingham Palace.

Hunt and Burgon’s discerning approach to design means that there’s something to discover in every corner of the castle. You’ll end your stay feeling sufficiently inspired to rethink your own spaces – and also to spend more time in Western Scotland.
kilmartincastle.com

The Taybank
Dunkeld

Just as a Dutch painter might have magicked a windmill on a dyke for the sake of perspective, the town of Dunkeld, placed picturesquely on the fast and fecund River Tay, appears too good to be true. Eighteenth-century townhouses bow to the river as garden plots crowd its bank; there’s a yew-crowded cathedral that can be reached through small streets of cosy cottages; while butchers, bakers and wine merchants throng Bridge Street, named after the town’s Thomas Telford-designed seven-arch centrepiece. “And don’t forget Kettles, which sells everything from fuses to plungers to children’s birthday cake candles,” says Fraser Potter, proprietor of The Taybank hotel, conjuring up the town’s hardware store to reel us in from our reverie. “That’s where the magic happens that makes the magic happen.”

Potter is right. There is postcard Dunkeld and then there is making that picture possible. Potter himself, his partner Kimberly, a freelace creative director and writer, and Potter’s charming team seem like exemplars of much of the town’s most visible recent success. The Taybank, the hotel that Potter took over five years ago as a staff-training base for his former events company, has added layers of feasts, events nights, pop-ups and seasonal specials. It has also become a focal point for anyone driving over the bridge with an eye on a memorable evening, a stunning supper and a restorative bed for the night.

The Taybank’s open-air cinema is a summer blockbuster in itself, while the long trestle-table dinners under yawning canvas are a social whirl, the riverside pizza oven a hit and the sauna – which is open to everyone – a fully stacked-out winter warmer and riverside hub.

Inside, The Taybank’s rooms are at the cosy end of contemporary cool, while the dining spaces are elegantly simple showcases for head-chef Gemma Dallyn’s wonderful food – a sort of hyperlocal, hearty deluxe. Every Thursday, the bar becomes a sweet-stringed jam session venue for musicians’ guitars, fiddles, bodhrans and pipes, where the business and busy-ness of a successful local enterprise are consecrated by the stirring sounds of its tradition. “You never know who’s going to turn up,” says Potter of the musicians, who range from old hands to teenagers. “It’s a bit of magic, really.” He could be speaking for them, his guests or indeed any old visitor to Dunkeld.
thetaybank.co.uk

Landscape

Over the hills and far away
True north

The Escapist invites you to explore the wealth and warmth of Scotland, with enough top-class diversions to whet your appetite and set you on your merry way to further discover this unique place in which to wander and wonder.

Fashion

National fabric
Cutting it fine

This is a land that values the artisanal expertise of its traditional knitters and weavers as much as it does the trendsetting mindset of its most contemporary fashion designers. Our pick of stylish outfitters exemplifies that connection.

La Fetiche
Glasgow

After years spent working for French fashion house Sonia Rykiel in Paris, April Crichton and Orély Forestier joined forces seven years ago to create their own specialist knitwear brand, La Fetiche. Their operation, based between Glasgow – where Crichton now lives – and Paris, has an independent spirit, having established close-knit partnerships with some of the best weavers in Scotland. This ensured that La Fetiche quickly stood out from mainstream competitors.

The bold colours and graphic intarsias on the brand’s Shetland-wool jumpers are a contemporary take on traditional Fair Isle patterns. “The vision was to champion Scottish craft but at the same time create designs that feel relevant and exciting for today,” says Crichton. “I was always interested in working with a Scottish factory – the Rolls-Royce of knitting.”

After moving to Glasgow, Crichton began forging partnerships with anumber of Scottish artisans, including a small firm in Rothes that specialises in spinning lambswool, and a group of traditional Fair Isle weavers near Aberdeen that has been operating in the area since the 1920s.

“It all came from a heartfelt desire to celebrate these fantastic makers,” says Crichton. “There’s a historical connection and a sentimentality with knitwear and Scotland – it’s like whisky. The softness of the water here just gives the wool a special touch that really can’t be recreated anywhere else.”

Apart from its rich manufacturing heritage, Scotland has influenced La Fetiche’s irreverent spirit in other ways. Crichton is always looking at her hometown’s brutalist architecture for inspiration, as well as its vibrant vintage boutiques, art galleries and surrounding nature. “Being in Scotland you can control your relationship with fashion,” she says. “It’s always been the place I return to, to start a collection and think about new ideas.”
lafetiche.com

Halley Stevensons
Dundee

For the past 160 years, Halley Stevensons has been known for producing some of the world’s best waxed cotton fabrics from its Dundee factory. The business also boasts sustainable “performance” fabrics produced on machines built in-house – but this sharp focus has also helped set the company apart and attracted long-term collaborators.

“Our success is testament to our partnerships,” says Dorothy Arnott, the firm’s marketing and sales manager, explaining how the tight group of 50 skilled employees maintains an ongoing dialogue with its associates. Case in point: the company worked with outdoor brand Patagonia to develop a new type of wax that is 100 per cent plant-based and biodegradable. “We see a future in the sustainable development space,” says Arnott. “These are new finishes but they perform just as well.”

With a ban on fluorocarbons being implemented soon, manufacturers such as Halley Stevensons are well-positioned to lead the sector. Its client orders are increasing and the business has been growing its revenue by 20 per cent every year since 2015.

An increased appreciation for brand Scotland has given the business a further boost – and confidence for its future. “Our heritage underpins everything we do,” says Arnott. “But our real lifeblood is innovation. We want to be a hub where brands come to find new, creative solutions.”
halleystevensons.co.uk

Where to dress the part

Kestin
Edinburgh
Kestin Hare aims to create “the most solid offer” of everyday clothing for men. He has certainly succeeded with his sharp workwear and Scottish knits, all on display at his elegant shop.
kestin.co

Campbell’s of Beauly
Beauly, Inverness
Since 1858, Campbell’s has specialised in sporting tweeds and Highland dress. Its busy workshop offers handcrafted tailoring, knitwear and shirting.
campbellsofbeauly.com

Finnieston
Glasgow
At Ross Geddes’ two Finnieston shops, you can find menswear that draws inspiration from Glasgow’s industrial heritage with an emphasis on high quality.
finniestonclothing.com

Barrie
Hawick
As one of Scotland’s oldest cashmere manufacturers, Barrie offers some of the finest knitwear in the world, designed with a contemporary spin by creative director Augustin Dol-Maillot.
barrie.com

Shetland Woollen Co
Shetland
This employee-owned business is one of the last operating knitwear factories in the area. Its skilled team designs elegant knits made of natural Scottish wool and sold in its charming Hoswick boutique.
shetlandwoollen.co

Bute Fabrics
Isle of Bute
Bute Fabrics was founded after the Second World War to offer employment to service people returning home. Since then, it has provided durable wool fabrics to clients worldwide.
butefabricsltd.com

Ardalanish
Isle of Mull
At the Ardalanish farm, fleece from sheep is transferred to a nearby weaving mill and turned into cosy woollen jumpers, shawls and plaids. Buy them all at the farm.
ardalanish.com

Scottish Originals

World leaders
Customs made

We meet two independent, innovative businesses succeeding thanks to their characteristically Scottish penchant for doing things their own way, plus we look at a handful of concepts that are unique to the country, from unmissable events to etiquette.

Blackthorn Salt
Ayr

As you approach Ayr’s seafront, with its breathtaking views of the sea and the Arran mountains, you’ll catch sight of an imposing wedge-shaped tower covered in thorns. This is where Gregorie and Whirly Marshall manufacture Blackthorn Salt, the artisanal product they launched in 2020 after years of running their family’s salt-importing business and visiting producers around the world. “We wanted to make a salt we’re proud of, using methods that work for this climate,” says Whirly from the Blackthorn carriage, which rests on dormant tracks next to the tower to host salt tastings for visitors.

The use of these “graduation towers” to produce salt dates to the sixth century.

When Gregorie, an architect, saw the structures in Poland and Germany (now operating as spas), he saw an opportunity to revive the age-old method and designed his own 21st-century iteration. He found an Edinburgh-based engineer and a team of woodworkers who were up for the challenge.

During the process, water seeps along every thorn and is evaporated by West Coast winds. At the final production stage, some gentle heat is applied to form the salt crystals. The resulting product has become a favourite among everyone from chefs to bakers and high-end department stores such as Harrods.

The way that the Marshalls work reflects the values driving many Scottish businesses: close-knit supply chains (the blackthorn is grown nearby) and a focus on quality rather than rapid growth. “The real driver is longevity,” says Whirly. “This is a family business so we’re answering to ourselves, not to shareholders. We’re always asking ourselves if this is a product we’re proud of.”
blackthornsalt.co.uk

Jay Surfboards
Midlothian

In Midlothian, a short drive south of Edinburgh, Jason Burnett can be found hand-shaping and repairing surfboards in his workshop. After he first got hooked on surfing 30 years ago, Burnett started experimenting with repairing his own boards. His friends asked for help fixing theirs and Burnett soon began handcrafting custom designs before founding Jay Surfboards nine years ago. “No one ever starts out thinking they’ll make surfboards,” says Burnett. “It just happens out of curiosity.”

In his workshop, Burnett utilises wet resin. He designs, shapes and “glasses” (the process of applying and sealing fibreglass) foam boards. If he’s handcrafting for a bespoke order, his customers are invited in for a personal consultation to adapt the design to their bodies, preferences and surfing abilities.

Most of Burnett’s patrons are based in Scotland, admittedly not the first surfing haven that might spring to mind but, according to Burnett, the community is growing. “When you start surfing, it’s all you want to do,” he says. “I’m always checking the weather to see when is a good time to drive up to the north coast and spend the weekend catching waves.”
jaysurfboards.co.uk

More Scottish one-offs

The CalMac fry-up
Morning glory
If the Scottish ferry lines are the arteries between the mainland and the islands then the fry-up offered by principal operating firm David MacBrayne might just be the calorific keel-over. We joke. Although the ferries themselves can be a frustration, the galleys serve up a truly hearty Scottish rite of passage.
calmac.co.uk

The Western Isles under sail
Push the boat out
While we’re all at sea, a trip under sail around the west coast’s Small Isles – Eigg, Muck, Rum and Canna – is an unforgettable experience in forming an intimate acquaintance with the crags, inlets and area’s wildlife. The good ship Eda Frandsen is a one-yacht-stop for civilised cruising.
eda-frandsen.co.uk

North Coast 500
Slow rider
Scotland also lends itself to a roadtrip. The mother of them all is the 500: a 516-mile (830km) circuit that starts and ends at Inverness Castle. You won’t be the only one ticking off the sights, so go slow, turn back, explore. As a starting-point, however, it’s far from a chequered flag.
northcoast500.com

Passing places
Code of the road
The smaller the road and the narrower the lane the more the exquisite nature of Scottish driving etiquette is revealed. Two of you on a single track? They’ll reverse up and pull in, no bother. Next time, it’s your turn. The wave of thanks, full eye contact and smile of gratitude is as pleasing as a secret handshake.

Right to roam
This land is your land
Scotland’s unique relationship with its “outdoors” can’t be enshrined in any one doctrine. But 2003’s Land Reform Act, while sounding unsexy, codified anyone’s right of access across almost all of Scotland – with exceptions, of course. But, in the main, it is a noble thing. So get your boots on and don’t look back.

Power of Scotland
Further exploration

If Scotland had a pound for every superlative its landscape alone had earned over the years, those castles would be made from gold, the lochs heated pools with Tiki bars that lairds might lazily swim to. The world loves Scotland but can often unthinkingly dress it in a straitjacket of cliché and presumption that can steal more than it offers. So how to make a sensible survey of Scotland?

There was a point during some of the conversations we had about making this survey, and in the visits we paid in its reporting, that concerned the idea of “coming home”. It had been said that many Scots had gone away and were keen to return to start a business, to convert that barn into rooms and dream of welcoming guests. We happened upon a few such people within these pages – those who are new to the calling but good at it and keen to learn. We hope that their enthusiasm has caught your imagination.

Even a short, sharp survey of such a rich and varied place as Scotland should offer the germ of an adventurous idea, maybe starting the engine or helping you tie the walking boots with the notion of setting off in earnest soon. If we’ve made you hungry for those horizons, those roads winding through valleys, then we’ve succeeded. But as we hinted at the beginning, Scotland isn’t quite as huge as it looks from its landscape, yet it does feel grand, expansive and open in every sense. It is a wonderful place. We sincerely hope that you find your own version.

The Monocle Hong Kong 50

1.
For a room with a view
Jimi Chiu, photographer

As a new Hong Kong emerges, one thing hasn’t changed: seeing the situation on the ground is the surest way to get a read on the place.

With that in mind, we asked two regular Monocle photographers to document a typical Monday morning in Hong Kong from two very different perspectives, just a 15-minute drive apart.

Jimi Chiu captured the restorative ocean views on the south side of Hong Kong Island, which is separated from Central by a mountain range. As families finish breakfast at The Fullerton Ocean Park, a new resort-style hotel, yachts and outrigger canoes head out to sea from nearby Aberdeen harbour, while several cargo ships sail across the horizon. It is a calming setting that’s at odds with the idea of Hong Kong’s urban hustle, which demands to be experienced first-hand.

2.
For some urban energy
Lit Ma, Photographer

On the opposite side of the mountain range to Jimi Chiu, and a world away in terms of subject matter, Lit Ma was busy shooting the street life in Central. 
The return of hustle and bustle (and packed-out coffee shops) to the central business district, home of Hong Kong’s finance industry, offers an alternative measure of the city’s economic outlook to the daily swings on the stock exchange. Watch the commuters crowding Central’s streets and the message is clear: Hong Kong is back.

live like a local

For a primer on Hong Kong’s unique quality of life, tick off these local experiences: a mixture of singing, seafood, swimming and night hikes up craggy hilltops. Plus: a few exciting developments on the horizon.

3.
Get hooked on great seafood
Lamma Island

Laid-back Lamma Island is a seafood destination easily reached by ferry. The recent opening of Mediterranean restaurant Terracotta by the team behind the bars Shady Acres and Quality Goods Club in Central has elevated the dining options in Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island’s main village and ferry pier.

4.
Reach the peak
Tung Lung Chau

The cliffs on Tung Lung Chau, a largely uninhabited island, are a favourite weekend gathering spot for the city’s rock-climbing community. Mount Parker on Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island’s Temple Crag are two others. 

5.
Peer behind the velvet curtain
Members’ clubs

Private clubs are very Hong Kong and there is a members-only establishment to suit most tastes. The Ilse Crawford-designed Carlyle & Co is the gold standard for a new generation of venues. Accessed through Rosewood Hong Kong’s hotel lobby, evenings at jazz bar Café Carlyle hit all the right notes (and there’s a room next door for late-night karaoke).

6.
Rise above it all
Hong Kong Island hiking trails

Night hiking is a popular midweek exercise that packs in cool temperatures and even cooler views of the illuminated city below. A headlamp and some sturdy footwear will meet the demands of most of the trails on Hong Kong Island. Running into the odd wild boar is the only real hazard to watch out for. 

7.
Eat with family
Spring Moon

Hong Kong weekends usually involve at least one multi-generational family meal at a hotel restaurant. Spring Moon, a Cantonese dining room at The Peninsula, Hong Kong’s oldest luxury hotel, is perhaps the most in demand, so reserve early. 

8.
Put your best foot forward
Studio 9

Hong Kong’s real movers and shakers are found on the dance floor, not in the boardroom. Sheung Wan’s Studio 9 is a second home for an impressive roster of professional ballroom dancers, who teach Latin styles and American smooth moves to enthusiastic amateurs. 

9.
Ride together
Hire a Toyota Alphard

Public transport in Hong Kong is better in than most cities. However, nothing beats hiring a Toyota Alphard for comfort. The seven-seater people carrier is a familiar sight on the city’s streets and something of a status symbol.

10.
Pool your ideas
Kennedy Town

A harbourside neighbourhood on the western edge of Hong Kong Island, Kennedy Town rivals expat-favourite Mid-Levels as the preferred landing spot for new arrivals. Only four MTR stops from Central, it has an independent cinema and world-class swimming pool. 

11.
Slow your pace
Chai Wan

At the opposite end of Hong Kong Island to Kennedy Town, underground trains emerge at Chai Wan to palm trees, sunshine and a slower pace of life. Coffee roaster Zero to One has taken over the kiosk in Chai Wan Park. Cup in hand, stroll to clothing shop Undercover and explore Chai Wan’s industrial buildings, full of artists’ studios, craft breweries and gin distilleries. 

12.
Stop on the way
Sai Kung

The gateway to Hong Kong’s most beautiful beaches, Sai Kung is usually part of an extended journey as hikes, camping trips and beach days at Ham Tin or Long Ke Wan begin and end here. Be sure to visit Little Cove Espresso and fragrance brand BeCandle. 

13.
Start warming up 
Kai Tak Sports Park

A 50,000-seater stadium is set to open in 2024 at the heart of Kai Tak Sports Park. Already earmarked to host the annual rugby sevens tournament, Hong Kong’s largest outdoor arena will have the capacity to host global sporting events.

14.
Set the stage
Lyric Theatre Complex

Lyric Theatre Complex will be the next big arts venue to open in West Kowloon Cultural District, joining Hong Kong Palace Museum and M1. Designed by UNStudio, it will become the home of the Hong Kong Ballet and other troupes.

15.
See the future
‘Site 3’

Work has begun on “Site 3”, a long-vacant plot on the Central harbourfront. By the end of the decade, Henderson Land’s as yet unnamed “horizontal skyscraper”, Hong Kong’s most expensive commercial project, will have transformed the landscape. The city’s ambitions are rising unabated.

Hospitality

Hong Kong’s legendary hotels keep the city ticking over with new concepts and fresh talent for the overnight crowd. Here, exciting young chefs and bar folk come from all over the world to join a famous establishment – and others are striking out on their own too.

16.
Cheer a return 
Regent Hong Kong

If any proof were required about the popularity of the Kowloon waterfront, it arrived in 2023 with the return of the Regent Hong Kong following a multi-year, $1.2bn (€1.11bn) renovation. The five-star, 497-room hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui opened in 1980 and, for 20 years, it represented the east-meets-west glamour of Asia’s most international city. The Regent Hong Kong reopens in a glittery neighbourhood that boasts two global flagships: The Rosewood and The Peninsula. Chi Wing Lo led the Regent Hong Kong’s extensive redesign. The debut hotel project from the 68-year-old architect and designer, Lo has kept the spirit of the hotel’s storied past alive without being afraid to start anew. The grand lobby is more understated than before but the floor-to-ceiling windows still offer great views of Victoria Harbour. 

17.
Join the bustle on the promenade
Greg Liddell, general manager, Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

Australian hospitality veteran Greg Liddell joined Mandarin Oriental in May 2023. His second posting in Hong Kong came on the eve of the flagship hotel’s 60th anniversary. 

How has the city changed since you were last here?
The waterfront promenade has brought the harbourside to life. It’s in front of our hotel so if I don’t have the time to go on a hiking trail, I pop out for a run along the promenade. 

What trends have you been noticing?
More multi-generational travel. Guests are travelling with extended family and hotels are having to adapt.

A tip for first-time visitors?
Leave some time to explore the natural elements of Hong Kong. Get onto the harbour or go out on the hiking trails.

18.
Experience real Cantonese food 
The Chairman

Widely considered to be the best restaurant in Hong Kong, The Chairman has become a go-to thanks to chef-restaurateur Danny Yip’s knack for world-beating Cantonese cuisine. Tables at its new address inside The Wellington building are booked months in advance. It’s no surprise: this is the place to eat for anyone who wants to understand the inimitable charms of Cantonese cooking.

19.
Stay in an updated classic 
Island Shangri-La

When it comes to hospitality, Hong Kong, a city of only 7.5 million people that’s home to a handful of the world’s top hotel groups, has an embarrassment of riches. Though these luxury hotels largely catered to domestic guests at the height of coronavirus-related restrictions, most if not all of these brands spent that time sprucing up their flagship properties ahead of the return of international travel. 

French designer Tristan Auer spearheaded the latest renovation of Island Shangri-La, which originally opened in 1991 as part of the Pacific Place development in Admiralty. Auer’s suites provide a refreshed take on the hotel’s signature Asian-inspired opulence and come with a fully-stocked bar, including ready-made cocktails from the hotel’s much-loved Lobster Bar & Grill – a Monocle favourite. 
After a fun night of live music in this classic hotel bar, the newly opened Yun Wellness spa by Spanish designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán and revamped swimming pool provide somewhere to splash out. 

20.
Get a taste of Italy, with a twist 
Bar Leone

Sheung Wan’s Bar Leone pays homage to Rome, the hometown of founder Lorenzo Antinori, from its sandy pink exterior and red marble bar top to the vintage Campari ads and film posters that adorn the wood-panelled walls. “There is a sense of nostalgia,” says Antinori, a former beverage manager at Hong Kong’s Four Seasons hotel. His yuzu negronis and olive-oil sours are a twist on the classics.

21.
Find the right angle 
Cornerstone

Casual bistro Cornerstone is a 24-seat restaurant from award-winning Australian chef Shane Osborn’s Arcane Collective on one of Soho’s busiest intersections. Standout dishes on head chef Neal G Ledesma’s menu include char siu glazed octopus and braised wagyu cheek with pilaf rice and a soy citrus jus. Tomatoes, strawberries and leafy greens are among the ingredients sourced from farms in Hong Kong.

22.
Raise a glass from the past 
The Green Door

Taking its cues from 1920s New York, the menu at Green Door in Central offers Prohibition-era staples such as manhattans and gin martinis. Founders Arlene Wong and Dabi Chin want their new speakeasy- style bar to be a place where discerning people can walk through the hidden door and ask for a boulevardier with no trouble. “It’s hard to find a good classic bar in Hong Kong,” says Wong. 

23.
Leave the sweet tooth behind 
Savoury Project

Months of research go into every item on the Savoury Project’s small drinks menu. As the name suggests, savoury flavours take centre stage, from warm spice in a cumin and mezcal mix to nuttiness and tang in a teriyaki-inspired cocktail. Why the focus on such flavours? Founders Ajit Gurung and Jay Khan – the duo behind renowned bar Coa – prefer savoury to sweet. “When you open a bar, you want to open something you truly believe in,” says Gurung. 

24.
Bond over food 
Racines

The founders of Racines, an intimate 14-seat restaurant on Upper Station Street in Sheung Wan, met 15 years ago while working at the same restaurant in the French Riviera. Romain Dupeyre and Adrien Castillo kept crossing paths until they both ended up in Hong Kong, working in two of the city’s most established spots for French haute cuisine.

Determined to run their own kitchen, they opened Racines in 2022, serving a tasting menu for lunch and dinner. Basque river trout with cauliflower and almonds is among the dishes inspired by the chefs’ home regions: Dupeyre hails from Nice and Castillo from Toulouse. The Racan pigeon, flown from the Loire, with figs, celeriac and lavender, brings back childhood memories for the founders. An open kitchen lets the convivial duo chat with their patrons. “It’s our living room, basically,” says Dupeyre. “We’re just here talking with the diners at the counter, at the tables, everything is really close. If you sit there, we’ll talk to you.”

25.
Live the high life
Cardinal Point

Rooftop bar Cardinal Point is perched on the 45th floor of The Landmark, a mall and office tower in Central. The Sean Dix-designed interior and terrace opened in March 2023 as part of a drinking and dining destination Forty-Five, which includes teppanyaki Kaew, members’ bar Gloucester Arts Club, Shanghainese dining room Merchants, and Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic, a collaboration between the chef and fine crystal manufacturer Baccarat.

“With Forty-Five fully open, we are doubling our revenue,” says Gerald Li, co-founder of Hong Kong hospitality group Leading Nation. Li and business partner Kevin Poon are known for turning Hisato Hamada’s Wagyumafia into a global brand. Li oversees 30 outlets and more than 200 staff across Asia. “We have always focused on serving good food, at a good price point and good service,” he says.

26.
Begin the voyage 
Cathay Pacific ferry lounge

Southern China’s Greater Bay Area (gba) is home to about 86 million people and megacities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen. With Hong Kong International Airport (hkia) easily accessible by car, train or boat, travellers from the area represent a huge growth opportunity for Hong Kong’s largest airline, Cathay Pacific. “The GBA is our extended home market,” says Vivian Lo, Cathay Pacific’s general manager of customer service and design. And it can now better serve these passengers with its first ferry lounge at Shenzhen’s Shekou port, a 30-minute boat ride from HKIA. Cathay calls its new Shenzhen berth a prelude to its full airport lounge experience at HKIA.

The design language follows the same template but the menu serves smaller bites in anticipation of shorter stays. The view of the sea is another notable difference: on a clear day, you can see Hong Kong.

27.
Read the leaves 
Plantation Tea Bar

Tea dilettantes and devotees will feel equally at home at Plantation Tea Bar, a modern tea house in Sheung Wan. “I love the idea of tea being a centrepoint to get people together,” says founder Nana Chan, who travels to plantations to find new teas and forge relationships with farmers. 

An all-day menu offers tasting experiences alongside seriously fun tea cocktails created for Plantation by Hong Kong barman Antonio Lai. “I constantly have ideas about how tea could be served or presented,” says Chan.

28.
Spice up your life
Bengal Brothers

Bengal Brothers’ signature kathi rolls (a popular street food from Kolkata) are a lunchtime favourite. Tanvir Bhasin and Vidur Yadav, both originally from India, upgraded the colourful Wan Chai restaurant in 2023, adding dinner service, cocktails and new dishes inspired by the Parsi cafes of Mumbai and the toddy stalls of Kerala. “Every city in India has its own version of a cafe, and we want to represent what they stand for,” says Yadav.

Retail

Malls dominate the retail landscape in Hong Kong, which continues to be a shop window for international brands entering Asia from the West and vice versa. Fierce competition is bringing the best out of the big players and providing room for passionate independent retailers. 

29.
Rise to the top 
Airside

Airside is Hong Kong’s latest retail, dining and surfing destination (there’s a large indoor simulator inside). The mixed-use, Snøhetta-designed shopping mall and office tower – the first in the city by the Norwegian architecture firm – has the added distinction of being the first major development to open in Kai Tak, an area in east Kowloon famously home to the city’s original international airport. 
Kai Tak is undergoing a huge rejuvenation and Airside’s rooftop garden offers a good perspective on this ambitious project. “The building creates a meaningful, inviting and vibrant public realm for the thousands of people who will pass through it each day while bringing a new icon to the skyline and a focal point for the district,” says Robert Greenwood, director of Asia Pacific at Snøhetta.

30.
Revisit a temple of womenswear 
Joyce

When Blondie Tsang took over the helm of The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, a mainstay of Hong Kong retail, one of most pressing tasks in her in-tray was the position of Joyce – a pioneering temple of style and luxury for several generations of women that had lost its way in recent years.

As part of Tsang’s strategy for relaunching the luxury fashion boutique, she took the bold decision to close the street-facing flagship on Queen’s Road Central, which was famous for its lavish window displays, and relocate it to an open plan, 90 sq m shop inside Pacific Place.

Designed by Jaycee Chui and Justin Bridgland, the founders of mdo, the smaller, more intimate shop has refocused the edit on the exquisite and exclusive. “Joyce doesn’t need everything that a brand offers,” says Tsang. “We just need the best. That’s what our customers expect.” 

31.
Search for top brands 
Hide and Seek

When Hide and Seek opened in 2012, the menswear shop stocked Taiwanese and US brands, not the under-the-radar Japanese labels it carries today. “It was difficult to deal with the Japanese brands back then because they didn’t reply to emails,” says Hide and Seek’s Japanophile founder, Tiff Lam, who studied and worked in construction and graphic design before finding a home in fashion retail. Fussa-based accessories brand Northworks was one of the few to reply and remains a core brand to this day. Everything changed when Lam’s wife, Jenny, came back from her language studies in Tokyo and helped her partner translate his English emails into Japanese.

Hide and Seek went on to develop an international market for Still by Hand, which shares rack space with fellow Tokyo labels Meanswhile and Markaware. “Trust is most important when dealing with Japanese clients,” says Lam from his flagship in Causeway Bay; a second shop opened at the K11 Art Mall in Tsim Sha Tsui in 2023. Lam visits Japan every year to discover new labels but Hong Kong is the global shop window.

32.
Hit the books
Eslite

Eslite’s new bookshop inside Hong Kong Station – one of the city’s busiest public transport hubs – has a warm, alluring glow. The small, grab-and-go shop represents a new direction for the Taiwanese chain, which is best known for its three-storey flagship in Causeway Bay’s Hysan Place. The past three years have seen Eslite open a flurry of these convenient “community” bookshops throughout Hong Kong, from Tai Wai and Tuen Mun in the New Territories all the way to Tung Chung on Lantau Island. “Hong Kong’s books business is really thriving,” says Eslite’s ceo, Mercy Wu. 

33.
Prepare for subtropical heat 
Salvo

Salvo’s colourful boutique in Wan Chai’s Starstreet Precinct is an ideal destination for any man who has packed for a business trip to Hong Kong only to realise soon after landing that the subtropical city is flanked by beautiful beaches and invites plenty of boat trips. The staple brands stocked here range from Brava and Corridor to Alex Crane and Fields – Salvo is the first and only stockist of the latter outside the South African label’s Cape Town home.

A sunny selection of bold prints, tropical shirts and casual trousers began as the personal preferences of Salvo’s Scottish founder Hamish Peddie, who quit his career in management consulting and ventured into retail in 2021. Salvo’s edit has since evolved into anything that makes Peddie’s customers look good – provided it’s fun and not pretentious. The gregarious 33-year-old is a regular behind the counter and entered the retail trade with a taxi driver’s appreciation for talking to customers. “I wanted to do a traditional job and I’m a big consumer,” says Peddie, who admits to learning about fashion’s buying cycles on the job. “If I’m going to do my own business, I want to be interested in it.”

34.
Take a stroll through heritage
Pedder Arcade

Hong Kong’s well-dressed men have a new destination. Pedder Arcade opened in October 2023, taking over the fifth floor of the Pedder Building, a rare 1920s commercial building in Central, which is undergoing a makeover after an exodus of tenants in recent years. The anchor tenant is The Armoury, Hong Kong’s foremost menswear shop, whose founder, Mark Cho, was the driving force behind Pedder Arcade. “We have five units so I made a bunch of pop-ups,” says Cho. “Atelier Pedder is a cloth showroom; we have the watch auction house Phillips; Drumhor and Nigel Cabourn are here; and finally there’s a bar called JK and a cigar lounge concept called The Armoury Study.”

The idea for Pedder Arcade came during the coronavirus pandemic when the lease was up on The Armoury’s original third-floor shop. “Rather than leaving this building, we decided to set our sights higher and create something more interesting that we have more control of,” says Cho, who spent six months convincing the landlord to demolish the existing floor space, combine seven units into five, and pick up the tab.

Cho was born and raised in the UK and his fondness for British shopping arcades inspired him to bring the concept to Hong Kong. “I wanted to recreate that feeling of openness and airiness, somewhere with a little bit of a boulevard feel,” he says. “This is a place for people who are looking for a bit of tranquillity, a bit of a sanctuary, a slower pace. In intense cities like Hong Kong, true luxury is having somewhere that’s quiet and calm and engaging.”

Pedder Arcade has given the Pedder Building a new lease of life. And with The Fine Wine Experience (entry 36) set to open a new street-facing concept in 2024, one of Hong Kong’s most charming heritage buildings can look forward to a rosy future.

35.
Strap yourself in 
Topologie

Topologie first launched in 2018 with a range of backpacks and crossbody bags inspired by rock-climbing – a childhood passion of the Hong Kong-based brand’s French founder, Carlos Granon. These days, however, it is more accurate to say that Topologie sells rope. “We decided to celebrate the strap,” says Granon, who took the decision in 2021 to create bags and phone cases with detachable and interchangeable straps.

This strategic turning point, which transformed the company’s fortunes, came from observing a customer at Topologie’s first shop in Langham Place, a shopping mall in Hong Kong’s bustling Mong Kok district, who bought seven different phone cases with fixed cords: one for each day of the week. The philosophy of the company promptly switched to selling unfinished products. “Every customer should be very active,” says Granon, who always makes time to go climbing in Hong Kong.

Topologie currently sells 120 different strap designs, which account for half of the company’s us$22m (€20.4m) annual revenue. Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong have been the biggest markets to date but the ambitious Asian brand is heading to Europe. A Paris shop opened in October 2023; London is due to follow in early 2024, ahead of a huge year for new product launches under the guise of British art director, Lawrence Midwood, formerly of Y-3. Topologie’s debut pet collection is almost certain to sell out (think matching phone straps and leashes). Then in June, French ready-to-wear label APC. will launch a capsule collection with Topologie. Should it prove successful, an apparel line will follow with all manner of detachable elements and combinations. “Our ambition is to enter the fashion world,” says Granon. 

36.
Take notes
The Fine Wine Experience

When Linden Wilkie and Michael Wu relocated The Fine Wine Experience from London to Hong Kong in 2013, they were selling bottles out of a tiny office and scrambling to fill online orders. A decade later, staff at the company’s Sai Ying Pun wine shop offer masterclasses and tastings to guide customers through a globe-trotting catalogue of 4,000 different wines.

The shop also has its own restaurant, Bâtard, owned by restaurateur Randy See, with a small menu of French classics designed to highlight the wines they’re paired with. “Hong Kong is probably the freest market for wine in the world, so anyone can get started,” says Wilkie, referencing the city’s decision to abolish import taxes and duties on wine. A private members’ club is up next. The Fine Wine Experience plans to take over the first three floors of the historic Pedder Building in Central by the end of 2024 – a fine pairing for one of the city’s most storied shopfronts. 

37.
Don’t move
Still House

This ready-to-wear fashion brand designs and produces its range from a factory in Tsuen Wan, a former textile hub in the New Territories. “Making quality garments in Hong Kong is part of our philosophy,” says Still House founder Miu Chan, whose career began in hospitality. 

Chan favours relaxed cuts, understated detailing and muted palettes of lightweight cotton fabrics. The 41-year-old runs the label with his partner. The couple recently added a line of womenswear and collaborations include an umbrella with the century-old Leung So Kee factory and Henley-style shirts with Lee Kung Man, one of Bruce Lee’s favourite outfitters. Established in 2015, Still House relocated in 2023 to a quieter perch on Pak Sha Road, a popular shopping street that is buzzing again. 

38.
Find a space
Belowground

Designed by London’s Brinkworth, Belowground opened in 2020, taking over a corner of the menswear basement at Landmark, one of Central’s main luxury shopping malls. Now, when international fashion brands want to test the Hong Kong market without committing to a physical space, they drop a note to Belowground’s Ryan Kwok and hope for a favourable reply from the man in charge of operating this pop-up space for owner Hongkong Land. “Brands get access to prime Hong Kong real estate and the Landmark’s incredible customer database,” says Kwok, who fields enquiries from all over the world. Belowground’s success will see the concept, which Kwok describes as a retail brand, expand its existing footprint and spread to Hongkong Land’s shopping malls in Beijing and Shanghai.

39.
Join a block party
Years

On weekends, the pavement outside Years in Sham Shui Po becomes a gathering spot for music fans, as a guest DJ takes to the decks at the front of the shop to play everything from Afrobeat, hip-hop and reggae to 1980s Japanese city pop. The scene shows the convening power of physical retail and the programming efforts that go into building a genuine community.

Years is run by husband-and-wife team Kay Kwan and Kit Ho, who quit their teaching and government jobs a few years ago to go into business together. The couple’s first venture was a plant-based restaurant. After their diners kept asking about the branded staff uniforms, they opened a retail arm in 2021 in a former textile shop on the same street. Years stocks Hong Kong fashion brands Matter Matters, Isla Athletic and Go Off, alongside its own label and a selection of books, records and pantry essentials.

Industry Leaders

Hong Kong still attracts international talent. We assembled a group of ambitious, adventurous and unwaveringly optimistic individuals, each a leader in their respective field, to ask why Hong Kong still works.

40.
Embrace a diverse culture 
Angelle Siyang-Le, director, Art Basel Hong Kong

“When you come to Hong Kong, you don’t necessarily feel like a foreigner. You see different nationalities and hear different languages. One of the reasons why I choose to stay is that I want to raise children in such a cultural city.”

41.
Get a creative lift 
Jonathan Frolich, managing director, Carlyle & Co

“Hong Kong has always been a financial hub but there’s far more than finance here. Over the past five or six years, I’ve really noticed an incredible lift in the city’s arts and culture.”

42.
Live life more efficiently 
Aron Harilela, chairman and CEO, Harilela Group

“Hong Kong has had three big issues in the past four years: the social unrest, the coronavirus pandemic and the National Security Law. Those of us who live in Hong Kong understand that the city is coming back. It’s bouncing, it’s not dangerous; we’re not going to walk down the street and be captured by some Chinese agent. But we don’t translate that message well when we go abroad and that has always been our tendency. I remember going on a delegation to Washington, just before the British handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, when we said everything’s fine. But that was one of the biggest political shifts known in all of history: a big communist country, which had only adopted capitalism for a few decades, taking over one of the last colonies. Of course, there were going to be roadblocks and issues along the way. We cannot be that vague. Younger expats are already coming back to Hong Kong but not yet those with young families. We need to be much more open with the information and convince them that, should another pandemic happen, we’re not going to use the same blunt approach again and close our borders for three years. Ultimately, it’s the efficiency of Hong Kong that’s absolutely paramount to the ease of life and the quality of experience that people have here. In Europe, you’ll do one thing a day. If I were living in London and I wanted to play a game of tennis, go to the gym or meet a friend for a coffee, that’s the one thing I would do beside my work. In Hong Kong, I could do all of those things. That’s just an amazing thing about this city.”

43.
Stay connected to the world 
Tom Andrews, head of leasing and operations, Henderson Land Development

“I’ve never lived anywhere with the same vibrancy as Hong Kong. Geographically it’s the most incredible place; we are connected to the world and we still have all the fundamentals that everyone wants. It is a city that evolves and the next evolution is going to be extremely exciting.”

44.
Enjoy a better quality of life 
Kristina Snaith-Lense, general manager, The Upper House

“Hong Kong’s location in Asia is unbeatable. The city is safe, we have world-class public transportation, a very good education system and access to top-notch healthcare, both public and private, which ensures a high quality of life.”

Arts & Culture

Hong Kong’s arts and culture scene has been transformed in the 21st century – and not just by the arrival of huge museums and global art fairs. Edgy independent galleries proliferate while young filmmakers tackle social issues and inequalities on screen. 

45.
Watch the city on screen
Silke Schmickl, Chanel lead curator of moving image, M1 museum

Germany-born Silke Schmickl oversees various screens inside M1, from traditional cinemas to individual booths, as well as the building’s LED-laden façade – a 65-metre tall “television” for Hong Kong Island.

What brought you to Hong Kong?
M1. Before that I was a curator at the National Gallery Singapore.

What’s your mandate?
To develop content rooted in Hong Kong and the rest of Asia for a global audience. What’s special about M1 is that we’re not limited to one particular space or medium. 

Forthcoming highlights in 2024?
Great Chinese cinema that responds to the Madame Song fashion exhibition. Then in spring we will have our first avant garde film festival, featuring historical artist films from the 1960s to the 1990s. 

How would you describe the film archive?
Mediatheque is top drawer. We have more than 250 films on demand. Visitors get to curate what they want to look at, which is a very important role for modern museums. 

How far does censorship creep into what you do?
So far, so good. It’s very rare that we get rejected. I’ve worked a lot in the Middle East and Singapore and we always had to go through the same procedure. 

And finally, a favourite Hong Kong film?
Mabel Cheung’s An Autumn’s Tale. A young woman goes to New York. I can somehow identify with this movie.

46.
Explore the art world gateway
Phillips

Among the international auction houses investing in larger spaces in Hong Kong, Phillips enjoyed a first-mover advantage. A plum address in the West Kowloon Cultural District, directly opposite M1 museum, provides room to host exhibitions and sales throughout the year, rather than the usual practice of renting out hotel ballrooms twice a year. “We’re lucky enough to have the largest premises of any auction house in Asia with our newly opened headquarters here,” says Phillips’s Asia chairman, Jonathan Crockett, as he takes a seat on the new office floor for the first time. Crockett joined Phillips in 2016 when the auction house held its first sale in Hong Kong. Since that time, Phillips’s Asia business has grown exponentially and now accounts for a third of the auction house’s global activity. “Without question Hong Kong is the most important central hub in Asia for the trade in art and luxury goods,” he says. “That’s why all the big auction houses are here, that’s why all the big international galleries have set up their businesses here, and that’s why Art Basel is here. Hong Kong is the gateway to China and I don’t see that changing.” 

47.
Connect with art 
Kiang Malingue

Contemporary art gallery Kiang Malingue had already established itself as a key player in the Hong Kong art scene when it opened a second outpost in Wan Chai in 2022. For the new space on Sik On Street, Hong Kong-based Beau Architects transformed a six-storey building into a striking four-floor gallery. The aim of the design was to provide “a more domestic setting, inviting people to spend time with the art but also with the owners,” says Edouard Malingue, who co-founded the gallery with his wife, Lorraine Kiang.

48.
Hear from authentic voices
PHD Group

Ysabelle Cheung and Willem Molesworth launched the Property Holdings Development (PHD) Group art gallery in 2022 with a clear vision of what they wanted to bring to Hong Kong’s art world. “The scene was missing an authentic voice,” says Molesworth. “Hong Kong is a very multicultural city. People love Korean culture, Japanese culture,Taiwanese culture; obviously mainland China is a huge influence and we want to reflect that.” The name of the gallery, an early indication of the duo’s off-kilter approach, is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Hong Kong’s innumerable, generically named real-estate companies. Even the choice of location in Causeway Bay, a busy district known for shopping rather than culture, sets PHD Group apart. Viewings are by appointment only because Cheung and Molesworth like to be on hand. “We have the opportunity to really engage, whether it’s a collector, curator or general visitor who wants to know more about the exhibition,” says Cheung. “We find the engagement to be a lot more meaningful. It’s about really telling the story.”

49.
Raise the roof
WKM Gallery

William Kayne Mukai deliberated longer over naming his first gallery than he did his two children. The 37-year-old Japanese-French gallerist eventually landed on his initials and WKM Gallery staged its inaugural exhibition in November: a group show presenting 12 Japanese artists. Mukai moved to Hong Kong from Tokyo in 2015. After working at two international galleries, he has been planning his own venue since 2020. WKM Gallery occupies the 20th floor of an industrial building in Wong Chuk Hang on the south side of Hong Kong Island. “There are about 20 galleries here now and that does not include artists’ studios,” says Mukai. “There are also a lot of good furniture and design shops so it feels like a creative hub of Hong Kong.” Japanese architect Koichi Futatsumata worked closely with Mukai to select the right space. Futatsumata’s design makes good use of the building’s high ceilings and scenic views of mountains and the sea. “We wanted to keep the features of the industrial building while bringing in some of those minimalist Japanese design elements,” says Mukai. Japan will feature strongly in WKM Gallery’s initial exhibitions but other international artists will also feature, starting with Taiwan and the US. “It’s important to be part of the global art scene,” he adds.

50.
Keep the music playing
Melody

Though the closure of Potato Head’s Sai Ying Pun bar and restaurant was a bum note for Hong Kong, audiophiles will have cheered the continuation of its one-of-a-kind music room by the building’s new tenants. The sign above the front door now says Melody, a modern European restaurant by head chef Jamie Draper. However, Johnny Hiller is still in charge of the music at the back of the Third Street address, lending his encyclopaedic musical knowledge and extensive vinyl collection to visiting DJs and a tuned-in audience.

While in Hong Kong, don’t forget to stock up on print publications, brand collaborations and more at The Monocle Shop at 1-4 St Francis Yard in Wan Chai or airside at Hong Kong International Airport’s Terminal 1.
monocle.com

Costa Verde, Brazil

The br-101 highway runs more than 4,500km along the Brazilian coastline, beginning in the country’s northeast and crossing a dozen states. We pick up our journey in Rio de Janeiro to explore a scenic stretch tucked between the ocean and the Atlantic Forest, which winds past colonial towns, quilombos (settlements founded by slaves) and quaint fishing villages. Far from Brazil’s best-known beaches, the heart and soul of its coast are on full display.

Day 1
Rio de Janeiro to Angra dos Reis

Most trips along the br-101 begin with an hour of traffic through Rio de Janeiro’s sprawling and at times run-down outer suburbs. As monocle sets out, the car crawls past cinder-block homes among the rolling hills of the Atlantic Forest. It’s 06.30 but it’s already scorching hot.

Once we leave the city we pick up the pace. A sharp bend in the road reveals a sweeping view over the glittering ocean, while another sudden curve exposes misty mountains bearded by forest. It’s a surprisingly smooth ride, considering that the br-101 is locked in battle against the forces of nature. In the past, heavy rains regularly caused landslides that would block the way. But a recent makeover has left the asphalt smooth and falling debris is less common, thanks to the rockfall netting pinned to the mountainside.

We stop at Casa da Gula, a simple roadside shop selling homemade pastel (a stuffed, deep-fried savoury pastry) and jugs of sugar-cane juice. Travelling down this stretch of coast, visitors will find themselves moving from Rio’s feted Carioca culture to a more subtle caiçara one: a humble way of living from the land and the sea, forged from the indigenous, African and European traditions that shaped Brazil’s colonial past.

An hour later, we reach Angra dos Reis, the gateway to southwest Rio de Janeiro state’s many islands. We make for Ilha Grande (called “Big Island” but just 30km across) by motorboat. Its pristine nature is offset only by its dark past as the home of a notorious jail between 1903 and 1994. Many opponents of Brazil’s military dictatorship were held here. “Prisoners used to steal the fishermen’s canoes to escape,” says Flávio Luan Domingues, the boat’s captain and one of the 10,000 people who call the island home. His grin makes it hard to tell if he’s being serious.

Luckily, there’s more to the island than an abandoned jail. Like many places along this fertile shore, it’s an area of eco-tourism and fresh thinking. Once ashore we meet Bruno Zirotti, a co-founder of Vieiras da Ilha, a sustainable ocean farm that produces scallops, mussels and oysters, and offers tours and tastings to curious visitors. On a wooden deck flanked by submerged lantern nets, Zirotti says that the aim is to cultivate s eafood in the ocean. “This new generation of mariculture recognises that nature has limited resources,” he says, as he shucks a fat oyster and thrusts it in our direction.

After a lunch of fried hake at the homely Aroeiras restaurant, we head back to the mainland and hit the road again. In about 40 minutes we reach our stop for the night. Opened by Brazil’s Fasano Group in 2017, Hotel Fasano Angra dos Reis brims with the hospitality company’s good taste and decadent design. But it’s the Costa Verde’s natural beauty that takes centre stage here. Rooms offer spectacular views of the ocean and jungle, while the pool feel like it’s nestled at the foot of the emerald hills flanking the hotel.

Day 2
Angra dos Reis to Paraty

After a breakfast of black coffee, omelette and fresh mango, we drive south along the jagged coastline, zipping by signs that point the way to hidden coves, quiet beaches and waterfalls. After less than an hour, we turn into a rough dirt road that leads to the farm where Maria Izabel Costa has been making organic cachaça, a spirit derived from sugar cane, for three decades. She gives us a tour of the simple distillery as visitors begin to trickle in. On the wooden deck outside her shop, she pours drops of about six types of cachaça, ranging from sandy white to deep caramel in colour, into glasses, explaining to the small group how each was aged.

Costa’s production has shrunk to about a third of its peak as a result of the warming climate and the soil becoming less fertile. Still, she is happy making less, rather than clearing more forest or using chemicals. “It’s a life philosophy,” she says. “I’m a woman of the earth.” We head back onto the br-101, safe in the hands of our designated driver. About 20 minutes later, we’re in Paraty, a well- preserved colonial town of 45,000 that was once a key export route for sugar, gold and coffee to Europe. We park on the margins of the car-free historic centre and set off through cobblestoned streets lined with whitewashed houses and colourful doorways. The sky is bright blue and the afternoon heat still lingers. As we walk, we take a cue from the residents and linger a little in the shade under the dense flowering bushes that drape the façades, painting them in shades of green and magenta.

Tucked into a charmingly restored mansion is the 28-key Sandi Hotel, which opened in the late 1980s as the region’s first luxury retreat. Inside, it’s a mix of elegance and nostalgia, decorated with local art, tropical touches and movie memorabilia in a nod to film mogul Alexandre  Adamiu, who owns the hotel with his wife, Sandra Foz. In recent years, more modern and polished options have arrived on this stretch of coast, expanding a brand of tourism that the Sandi pioneered: luxury that highlights the region’s riches.

A few blocks away is Refúgio, a restaurant that serves fresh seafood. “The caiçara cuisine is all about using what you have to hand,” says chef Bel Costa. “It’s wild fruit and fresh fish.” Before we leave, she insists that monocle samples the local source of pride: Gabriela, a cachaça spiced with clove and cinnamon, named after a well-known Brazilian novel by the great Jorge Amado.

Later, after perusing Paraty and marvelling at a stand of colourful, handmade carnival masks made from papier- mâché, we head to Banana da Terra, a smart restaurant that serves caiçara cuisine with a contemporary twist. We enjoy a dinner of grilled octopus washed down with a cashew- apple caipirinha, before heading back to the hotel, passing a street band playing a chorinho tune as people swing their hips to the rhythm.

Day 3
Paraty to Picinguaba to Ubatuba

After a breakfast of pão de queijo (cheese bread) and poached egg, we make one final stop in town. Montañita café isn’t open yet but the smell of freshly ground coffee is already perfuming the street outside. Working with coffee in Paraty is “symbolic”, says Juan Rhon, the café’s Ecuadorian owner. During the coffee boom of the 1800s, beans cultivated through slave labour became the port’s main export. Today the coffee sold here is produced by farmers who are paid a fair price. Montañita plans to open up its roasting facility a few blocks from here to visitors who are curious about the history of the beverage.

Then we pick up our journey. As we head south, the air grows more humid and it starts to feel as though the forest is closing in around us. We pass shacks selling cassava cake and cocada, a confection made from shredded coconut. Born in the kitchens of slaves, the latter treat is ubiquitous here. Whenever traffic slows, vendors weave between cars, offering it to drivers for five Brazilian reais (about €1). Just off the br-101 is Quilombo Campinho da Independência, a settlement of descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped their captors between the 16th and 19th centuries. Many such communities exist across Rio de Janeiro state, which was a port of entry for as many as two million slaves brought to Brazil during colonial rule. Today quilombos such as Campinho have become symbols of Afro-Brazilian resistance and places where culture and tradition are celebrated. The quilombo runs tours and a simple restaurant, Restaurante do Quilombo, serves delicious plates of grilled fish, fresh heart of palm and toasted cassava flour with plantains.

Back on the road, it takes 10 minutes to reach the divide between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states. Soon, we turn into a winding side road that leads to a conservation area. After a few bumpy kilometres, we reach Picinguaba, a quiet fishing village on the edge of the Atlantic Forest. In the hills just above is Pousada Picinguaba, an eco- hotel in an elegant forest mansion. “We’re torn between showing off this place and hiding it,” says chef-manager Clarissa Amorim, as she lays out a banana for a family of marmoset monkeys that is expected to make its daily visit later. “It’s just peace and tranquillity here.”

After one last stroll around the village, we’re off again. Ubatuba, about an hour down the br-101 and just three hours from São Paulo, beckons. To sample the catch of the day, we head to Seu Motta, where local flavours are prepared with flair. “The culture here is so rich and colourful,” says Jean Carlo Francisco, one of the owners. “We hope more people learn about it.” 

Into the Unknown

Getting the jump on budget travel
Hop Inn, Thailand

Thailand’s Erawan Group might be best known as the operator of Bangkok’s Grand Hyatt and JW Marriott hotels but the hospitality giant has spent the past decade building up its own brand at the budget end of the scale. Hop Inn has 50 hotels across Thailand and its basic room-only offering has become a big hit with domestic business travellers: think salespeople who drive (or hop) around the country and just need a reliable place to crash with wi-fi and a hot shower. Average occupancy rates are about 80 per cent and there are plans to add eight more Thai properties in 2024. According to Erawan Group president Petch Krainukul, the idea for a budget business hotel arose in 2012 when most investors and operators were focused on the four and five-star segment. “We saw huge growth opportunities,” says Krainukul. “There was a growing demand from domestic travellers and no competition from any of the big brands.”

The 132-room Hop Inn in Bangkok’s eastern Bang Na district is a typical example. It’s based alongside an elevated highway, just down the road from one of the Thai capital’s largest conference centres. A standard room costs thb850 (€22) – half the price of an Ibis. There is no breakfast, no restaurant, only instant noodles, which can be bought from a self- service counter in the lobby, where machines supply free coffee in the morning. A petrol station and convenience store next door can provide extra fuel for man, woman and motor.

“We saw huge growth opportunities. There was a growing demand from domestic travellers and no competition from any of the big brands”

By 2030 the Erawan Group plans to have 150 Hop Inns across the region, taking on Thai rival Red Planet and Go Hotels of the Philippines. Japan is its next stop. Four existing hotels, with a total of 373 keys, have been acquired in Tokyo and Kyoto, with the quartet due to open in 2024. “Japan has huge potential with fast-growing numbers of tourists, many of them repeat travellers,” says Krainukul.
hopinnhotel.com

What’s next for amenity kits?
Global

The amenity kit has long been a point of differentiation in Business and First Class but now a few airlines are taking a renewed approach. This autumn, Hawaiian Airlines launched its first carbon-neutral amenity kit in partnership with Oahu homeware brand Noho Home, while Delta worked with Oaxaca brand Someone Somewhere to help artisans in Mexico. Japan Airlines recently introduced kits produced by Heralbony, a Tokyo fashion brand that employs artists with learning difficulties. Each of these was created by Hong Kong-based Formia, which specialises in amenity kits and works with more than 50 airlines around the globe. 

These small bags, which typically contain toothbrushes, moisturiser, toothpaste, socks and a set of ear plugs, are subject to the same forces that are buffeting consumer brands on the ground, from sustainability and social purpose to wellness. Certain products are now made from recycled plastic, bamboo and wheat straw, and Formia recently moved its factory from China to Mexico to be closer to customers in the Americas and reduce carbon emissions. Though traditional luxury continues to be a big selling point for the Gulf carriers (Emirates has a longstanding partnership with Bulgari, for example), small independent brands with a social purpose are driving the aviation industry forward. Let’s hope that more airlines take notice. 

Plane and simple
Boeing Business Jets, Global

For those with the means to fly private, a Boeing 737 is the ideal conveyance. It handles transcontinental flights with fuel to spare and can be configured to fit almost any buyer’s needs (think private offices, showers, sleeping quarters and cinema lounges). But if choosing the colour of your private jet’s carpet is likely to prove more daunting than the estimated $95m (€87m) price tag, fear not: the aerospace giant can now alleviate the anxiety of custom interior design too.

At a Las Vegas private aviation trade show in October, Boeing Business Jets debuted its new Select offer, a slate of pre-designed cabins that reduces the seemingly infinite choices of an interiors catalogue to a mere 144 layouts in three colour palettes: beige and off-white; blue hues and earth tones; tan and gold. “The trend at the top end of business aviation is more cabin space and greater cabin comfort,” says Joe Benson, president of Boeing Business Jets. “Select provides the flexibility to meet the full spectrum of vip travel.”

Prospective customers will get a quicker finished product and a fixed price, all without the need for pre-assembly engineering and design work. The first orders are scheduled for delivery in 2026, so crack open the catalogue and start shopping. 
businessjets.boeing.com

Carry on flying
Global

Done right, living out of a suitcase can almost be a pleasure. Compact enough to fit into an overhead locker without compromising on smart design or high-quality craftsmanship, these carry-ons will see you on your way in style.

1.
The practical case:
Carl Friedrik’s Carry-on Pro
Designed in London and manufactured in Guangzhou, China, Carl Friedrik cases make for achingly chic travel assistants. The functional Carry-on Pro features a slim front pocket to accommodate a laptop, allowing for easy access on the move, while the hard-shell protective exterior resists denting.
carlfriedrik.com

2.
The standout:
Louis Vuitton’s Horizon 55 case
The Horizon 55 is made from soft cowhide leather and emblazoned with Louis Vuitton’s signature monogram embossing. It pays homage to the brand’s colourful city guides, which are celebrating their 25th anniversary.
louisvuitton.com

3.
The dependable bag:
Away’s Carry-On relaunch
The New York brand’s classic suitcase first launched in 2016. Its comely shape, designed to fit snugly in overhead lockers, has now been updated with ergonomic handles underneath the wheels and a toned-down colour palette featuring khaki, navy and cream with matte or gloss options.
awaytravel.com

Marquee opening
Lafayette’s, Paris

Lafayette’s latest spot, from French-Senegalese chef Mory Sacko, occupies a historic 18th- century manor house close to the Élysée Palace and the Place de la Madeleine. Sacko, who made his mark in the French capital with his unique cuisine combining French produce, Japanese techniques and his West African heritage, has already earned a Michelin star and prestigious partnerships with companies such as Louis Vuitton. Opened in the former residence of the Marquis de Lafayette and in partnership with the ever-expanding Moma restaurant group, this bolthole channels the decadent dinner parties once thrown here by the flamboyant civil war general.

Originally constructed by King Louis XV’s architect, Mazin, the house was completely redecorated by Barcelona-based Lazaro Rosa-Violan and turned into a 100-seater neo-bourgeois brasserie with three cosy rooms strewn with silk drapes and featuring period woodwork. The French-inflected cooking draws inspiration from the American and African continents, with dishes such as Cajun-style salmon with salsa coleslaw, gambas with marinated mango and jerk spices, and amberjack carpaccio with jalapeños and spicy sauce. It seems as though Sacko may be onto another winner. 
8 Rue d’Anjou

Rub of the green
Ilis, Brooklyn

Tucked away in a former rubber factory in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighbourhood, Ilis was years in the making. The restaurant is the brainchild of Noma co-founder Mads Refslund and Will Douillet, the latter a former sommelier of Chicago’s three-Michelin- starred Alinea. The team transformed this huge warehouse into a fully kitted-out restaurant featuring a central kitchen complete with Demant live fire grills orchestrated by designer Tim Harrison. Ilis, which is a mash-up of the Danish words ild and is (“fire” and “ice”), offers a menu of seasonal ingredients, including plants, seafood and sustainable meat. On the plate, expect ingredient-forward dishes such as wild grilled duck from Pennsylvania, served with plum juice and seaweed-infused barbecue sauce and brown trout, cooked in its own roe butter and served with charred cabbage. There is no front or back of house – everything comes together in a concept that Ilis calls “one house”.
ilisnyc.com

The tasca at hand
Canalha, Lisbon

At the recently opened Canalha in the Portuguese capital, chef João Rodrigues has recreated the atmosphere of a classic neighbourhood restaurant, the sort of place the city has dearly missed in recent years. After working for Lisbon’s Michelin-starred Feitoria for more than a decade, Rodrigues has chosen an informal approach at this 44-seat locale, where he presents comfort food in surroundings that exude a classy 1960s vibe.

Patrons can share plates of popular staples such as codfish cakes, slices of acorn-fed cured Iberian ham. More substantial dishes include an open-faced omelette with prawns and onions, bluefin tuna tiradito and grilled lamb sweetbreads from Alentejo. Pair with draught beer or seek out wine with an Atlantic influence – perhaps a vibrant white from Azorean winery Adega do Vulcão or a tinta miúda red made by producer Las Vedras.
207 Rua da Junqueira

Garden variety
Los Jardínes de las Barquín, Buenos Aires

Elephant ear plants and towering palm trees frame this 40-seater in the Argentine capital. Opened in November 2023, it’s tucked away in the Andalusian gardens of the Museo Fernández Blanco. Most of the tables are outside with the rest in a greenhouse designed by architect Elizabeth da Coba.

Chefs Germán Sitz and Pedro Peña (the brains behind the city’s popular Niño Gordo restaurant) and Alejandro Féraud (Alo’s) cooked up the menu together. Spotlighting grains, the restaurant opens from breakfast to merienda (teatime): order a rye and buckwheat empanada filled with mushrooms or green barley risotto with fresh spinach, beans and peas. All dishes are served on hand-painted dishware by Lola Ibarguren. Earlybirds should flock for breakfast dishes such as shakshuka or egg-white tortilla, and a cortado before browsing the neo-colonial museum’s collection of viceregal silver and cusqueño art.
1541 125 394 950

Melting pot
Potager, Kuala Lumpur

Based in Kuala Lumpur’s leafy dining enclave, Bamboo Hills, Potager aims to showcase the best producers in the region. It’s helmed by Fukuoka native Masashi Horiuchi and South African-born De Wet Visser. The multi-course tasting menu combines contemporary French flair with Japanese precision while highlighting ingredients from different Malaysian states.
potagerkl.com

Menu with memory
Metita, Auckland

Michael Meredith is already one of New Zealand’s favourite chefs, well known for Mr Morris, his Britomart, Auckland restaurant that draws its ingredients from local sources but it’s inspirations from around the globe. For this new spot, though, he has returned to his roots with Pacific Island cuisine. Meredith’s slick new table in Auckland’s SkyCity complex was named after his Samoan mother, who once ran a pancake cart in support of her family. “I’m always remembering and adding the value of my mother’s cooking,” says the chef. The dining room was crafted by local design firm Ctrl Space and takes visual cues from traditional fishing tools. In reinterpreting delicious heirloom dishes and serving the likes of king salmon with betel leaf and pickled mango, and smoked-eel panikeke with spiced banana, Meredith pays homage to his family while invoking a personal nostalgia that not only heightens flavours but also creates mouthwatering new memories for guests. 
skycityauckland.co.nz

House proud
Casa Newton, Tuscany

The Swiss are well known to excel in all matters hospitality, even beyond their own borders. At Casa Newton, set amid the rolling hills of Tuscany’s Val d’Orcia region, the Bertherat family from Geneva display yet again the Helvetic gift for hosting. Opened this past autumn, the 11-room hotel occupies a renovated 19th-century villa once home to a family who were relatives of famed physicist Isaac Newton.

The welcoming Sienna-brick hue of the façade hints at a rustic farmhouse yet, inside, a rich assortment of fabrics, tiles and colours form a sophisticated 1970s-style setting. “I think it’s important to not forget about the history of the house,” says architect and owner Antonie Bertherat‑Kioes. “Our idea [for the design] was to do it like it would be our home. We wanted a cosy atmosphere without it being old-fashioned.”

Throughout the three-storey villa and two farmhouse suites (the latter highlighted with India Mahdavi chairs in the sitting room), Bertherat‑Kioes installed terracotta flooring from Fornace Brioni in a range of vibrant and inviting patterns. Guestrooms feature a mix of mid-century furniture and lighting matched with bespoke pieces, including fabric-lined sideboards made in Prato that conceal the minibar.

Poolside, guests are free to relax under 1950s-inspired pink umbrellas and enjoy a glass of pet nat sparkling wine made using organic sangiovese grapes from the family’s nearby winery, Fabbrica Pienza. 
casa-newton.com

Places to stay
New openings

Fresh paint and freshly made beds continue to shake up the world of hospitality, with global groups launching new ventures in must-visit places and old favourites getting welcome refurbs. All of which means that our bucket lists need an update too. 

1.
Raffles at The OWO
London
Based in perhaps London’s most storied building, the Old War Office, this elegant site has been restored and now features an impressive list of dining spots, including three restaurants by celebrated Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco. The former politicians’ offices have also been redesigned as suites.
raffles.com

2.
The Ritz-Carlton
Portland, Oregon 
Located right at the heart of the Rose City, The Ritz-Carlton’s inaugural opening in the Pacific Northwest pays homage to the region’s mountainous topography with a towering 35-storey property featuring 251 rooms. Visit the 20th-storey restaurant, Bellpine, for food cooked by local chef Lauro Romero, as well as views of the Cascade mountains.
ritzcarlton.com

3.
Six Senses Kanuhura
Maldives
The Six Senses hotel group is landing in one of the jewels of the Maldives with its new location on the island of Kanuhura. The resort is only accessible by seaplane or speedboat and boasts 91 spacious villas overlooking white-sand beaches and the turquoise reef.
sixsenses.com

Next generation
Athens

The past 20 years have seen Athens stuck in a cycle of boom and bust. The success of the 2004 Olympics was followed years later by the financial crash. And just as the city began to get back on track, the pandemic hit. But from the ashes has emerged one of Europe’s most exciting food scenes, buoyed by young restaurateurs unafraid to play with their culinary heritage.

One of the most hotly anticipated new arrivals is Gallina, which opened in the Koukaki neighbourhood in October. “Our menu is modern and old-fashioned at the same time,” says Vasileios Bakasis, restaurant critic, food journalist and ceo of Gallina’s parent group, Prime Rebel Snob. “It’s comfort food with a fine-dining spin.” Dishes like turbot in assyrtiko wine sauce and rotisserie chicken with miso beurre blanc are served to diners seated on custom chairs by New York studio Objects of Common Interest.

Further north, in up-and-coming Kypseli, some of the most coveted tables in the city are found at Allios Kafeneio, which opened in July. “I wanted to update the kafeneio and bring it into a new era,” says owner Kostas Kafetsis. A kafeneio is a traditional Greek café-cum-bar that serves light meze dishes in the evening. Kafetsis’s take involves small plates of slow-roasted lamb, chicken croquettes and fried saganaki cheese drizzled with lemon, all served alongside natural wines from the Peloponnese.

Celebrating small Greek producers is also the mission of Spyros Pediaditakis, who opened restaurant and bakery Akra with chef Giannis Loukakis last spring. The two met when Pediaditakis was working as a pastry chef at two-Michelin-starred restaurant Spondi. Three years later the duo set up Akra around the corner in Pagrati. “We find our fruit and vegetables at the local organic market,” says Pediaditakis. “And we update the menu daily according to what we pick up there.”

Marrakech, Morocco

The clock is ticking towards the hour when guests will arrive but dinner-party host Rosena Charmoy is having to correct her courses after a surprise visitor has upended her meticulous run of show. A ginger cat, which appears to have stowed away inside the delivery boxes of tableware, is now weaving between chair legs, distracting staff who are attempting to focus on finalising the table setting. Rosena gently nudges her team back to their tasks. Any production in Marrakech, she tells us, needs to balance some chaos with the occasional burst of levity. Today’s gate-crashing feline might be an easily surmountable blip in pre-party preparations but with some quick finessing to the table’s 20 placements, Rosena shows why she and her husband, Fred, are born entertainers.

Tonight, the couple have lots to celebrate. Their newly opened Farasha Farmhouse is welcoming back friends, colleagues and well-wishers, many of whom helped to bring the venue into existence. The exquisitely appointed hotel is also a canvas of sorts for this tightknit, talented community of artists and artisans currently colouring modern Morocco. While dozens of just-lit candles flicker, guests mass for an aperitif on the patio.

“My lifelong motto is: fail to plan, plan to fail,” says Irish-born Rosena. “I always prepare menus, playlists, seating plans and decor well in advance because it allows us to relax and be with our guests.” She has now switched from a combination of laser-focused and lightning-quick to effortlessly welcoming. Even that charming ginger cat could take some pointers.

For the past 18 years, Rosena and Fred have run Boutique Souk, dreaming up and executing elaborate high-end events, birthday parties and weddings for revellers in and around Marrakech. Their clients include major fashion houses such as Chanel and Dior, as well as a ledger of non-disclosure-agreement-protected personalities who might or might not include finance moguls and eminent entertainers. “Over the years, we have built a giant stage in the desert for a contemporary dance performance and hosted remote five-course dinners for 120 people,” says Rosena. But tonight’s event, she says, is more about gathering friends in gratitude. It’s a family picnic in comparison.

This easy-going air is exactly what the couple envisioned for their newest venture. When Morocco’s borders were closed at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, Fred and Rosena believed that people’s yearning for connection and sanctuary would return even more strongly after the long period of disconnection. The discovery of late French artist Patrice Arnaud’s run-down former residence in 2021 set a new, more grounded plan into motion.

On an open plain between the Atlas and Jbilet mountains, the property’s two front-facing buildings were converted into a four-key lodging. The refurbishment of the second building will add six more suites in late 2024. The opening’s staggered pace reflects the owners’ desire to enjoy the process. Set among a deep-rooted olive grove, the perennial, oasis-like garden was designed by landscape architect Marius Boulesteix, who moved to Marrakech after leaving his career in the Paris fashion industry.

The regenerative farm grows many of the vegetables and herbs used in the kitchen. A 50-metre lap pool is lined with sundecks shaded by crochet parasols. The drought- resistant plants, butterfly-attracting lantanas and winding pathways layered with argan-nut shells, which are soft underfoot, are gentle reminders of the thought and care that have gone into the project.

Back inside, plates bearing the first course of roasted, za’atar-seasoned carrots and feta cream are carried in as the crossfire of conversation continues apace. Tonight’s guests include art collector Fatima Zohra Bennani Bennis, who founded Marrakech’s pioneering mcc Gallery, Moroccan visual artist and architect Idries Karnachi, Maria Derhem, co-founder of sustainable clothing brand Le Cartel Créatif, and champion show jumper Diletta Gigli.

The guest list reflects the engaged creative community that gathers around the Charmoys. Collaborations on events have blossomed into friendships and a strong network that is reshaping Marrakech. “We are very grateful for their ability to throw a damn good party,” says Karnachi with a smile.

The staccato clinking of a spoon on a champagne glass brings the chattering room to silence, as Rosena stands to toast several guests who helped to shape the hotel. Artisan Soufiane Zaytoune, who created the farmhouse’s marble kitchen, stone bathroom basin and uniquely chiselled fireplace, is thanked effusively for his efforts.

As plates of beef tartare spiced with saffron and coriander are delivered to the table, chef consultant Aniss Meski of Marrakech restaurant Cantine Mouton Noir is rightly praised too. “I moved back to Morocco, my birth country, after a long stint in Canada because I felt there was room for our cuisine to break free from traditional tropes,” he tells us after dinner. As well as overseeing Farasha Farmhouse’s menu, he runs the restaurant at the city’s Musée Yves Saint Laurent.

Every inch of the farmhouse has been considered in astonishing detail. The zellige and bejmat tile work and tadelakt limewash walls are adorned with custom handwoven tapestries by Beni Rugs. A wrought-iron orange-juice cart was hand-painted by lrnce studios. The book collection was part of the family estate of US fashion editor Diana Vreeland until it was donated by her son Freck, who served as US ambassador to Morocco.

“We didn’t want to just create a place for temporary enjoyment,” says Fred. “Rather, this is somewhere that nurtures more profound connections. Farasha is our reading of where we see the hospitality industry heading: more meaningful experiences, the blurring of the lines between hospitality, art, music and wellbeing.”

The quietest guest of the night, conceptual artist Amine El Gotaibi, also receives the biggest ovation. This is partially down to well-orchestrated timing: with the pear mousse and miso milk dessert polished off, everyone stands up for a short walking tour of his works, which he has loaned from his studio to exhibit at the farmhouse for an extended period. El Gotaibi’s wife is British-born Amy Thomson, the founder of women’s health technology company Moody. Tonight she is talking guests through her husband’s work. The pair have just returned from London, where El Gotaibi’s ambitious installation “Illuminate the Light” transformed the Somerset House courtyard into a spectacle of smoke and mirrors. At Farasha, the artist’s oversized works of entangled wool and metal offer a backdrop to the exchange of ideas around the dining table.

“A lot of our clients are younger, searching for authenticity, nature and what I call ‘dusty luxury’,” says Rosena. She explains that this means “laidback, comfortable and close to nature” but still imbued with recognisable elements such as favourite cocktails, familiar chefs and preferably a good DJ too.

To stay abreast of their customers’ wish lists, the couple travels a lot, visiting the Balearics, London, Paris and the odd festival such as South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. “When I moved here in 2005, I found my own Irish culture very aligned with Morocco’s generosity and warmth,” says Rosena. “There’s an ease to hospitality here.”

As the flames lick the charred logs in the chimney, the night’s momentum finally begins to slow. The remaining guests have migrated to the sofa for a nightcap. It’s nearly midnight but in Morocco the concept of time is often dismissed almost as a Western abstraction. No one seems to mind that it’s a Monday either. “We created this place to give our careers a sense of purpose,” says Fred before he bids us adieu. “But creating the right place has a magical way of reviving a community’s purpose too.”

Fred & Rosena Charmoy’s three foundations to good entertaining

Mix it up
“Create a group or guestlist of people who will have fun together but who might also end up pursuing an artistic or entrepreneurial endeavour,” says Fred. “Connecting people is at the heart of what we do.”

Get toes tapping
“Good music is a must,” says Rosena. “The right rhythm can help people to relax – or get them dancing on the tables.”

Look after each other
“Guests should always feel well-attended, almost as though they were at a family or good friend’s house not a hotel,” says Rosena. “Food and drink should be abundant and no one should have to wait for the loo.”

How to get there
Farasha Farmhouse is a 40-minute drive from Marrakech Menara Airport on an open plain between the Atlas and Jbilet mountain ranges. It can organise transfers or guests can drive their own cars. Thankfully, most of the journey is a smooth, straight road.
farashafarmhouse.com

Nagasaki, Japan

As soon as the doors open at 17.00, the seats in Shikairo, one of Nagasaki’s best-known restaurants, quickly fill up. Most of the students, families and lone diners here have come for one thing: champon, a hearty dish of chewy noodles, pork, shiitake mushrooms and green onions in a light, salty soup. Invented in 1899 by Shikairo founder Chen Ping Shun, an immigrant from China’s Fujian province, champon is now served at hundreds of restaurants around Nagasaki. Everyone has their favourite version but none can compete with Shikairo’s history or its elevated outlook. From its multistorey, Chinese-style building (this is a restaurant with its own museum), diners are treated to a sunset view over one of Japan’s most beautiful cities.

Shikairo encapsulates Nagasaki’s layered history. Set in a natural harbour and surrounded by hills on the western side of Kyushu, the city is indelibly associated with the atomic bomb that the US dropped on it in August 1945, a cruel irony for a place that had been unusually open to Western innovation for centuries. Nagasaki’s story is unlike that of any other Japanese city. The Portuguese were the first to arrive in the 16th century. From then on, Nagasaki was shaped by the presence of foreigners. Even when the country shut itself off for more than 200 years during the Edo period, merchants from the Netherlands were still allowed to do business here, from the confines of the tiny artificial island of Dejima (literally “Exit Island”), a lone portal to the outside world. The legacy of that interchange touches everything in Nagasaki, from its food to its architecture.

Nagasaki was (and continues to be) marked by its enthusiasm for whatever the world had to offer. Christianity took root here with such speed in the 16th century that the shoguns clamped down on it, fearing that numbers would become uncontrollable; cameras came here first when merchant Shunnojo Ueno obtained a daguerreotype camera from a Dutch merchant; his son set up a studio in Nagasaki and became Japan’s first professional photo­grapher. Coffee arrived with the Dutch vessels. And this was the Japanese city to be exposed to bowling, badminton and European cuisines. Opened by Joikichi Kusao, a chef at the Dutch residence in Dejima, Jiyutei is credited as the oldest Western restaurant in the country. (It remains open for business.) Nagasaki has a historic Chinatown too, with many families of Chinese heritage who have been here for generations. Chinese New Year is still marked with a festival and 15,000 lanterns.

Kite-maker Akihiro Ogawa, 74, is part of the city’s textured story. “Kites have been a feature of Nagasaki culture ever since the Indonesian servants of the Dutch introduced them centuries ago,” he says in his hilltop workshop. “They’re a symbol of the city.” Nagasaki even has its own word for kites, hata (they’re called tako everywhere else in Japan). Ogawa’s grandfather started the business in 1907 and Akihiro took over from his father when he was 24 (photographs of his two forebears look down from the wall). There are others making kites in the city but only Ogawa assembles them in the traditional way with a bamboo frame and washi paper. He also uses the distinctive red, white and blue colours. Next to his workshop is Kazagashira Park, a sliver of greenery that hosts the city’s hata gassen (kite festival) every spring. In 2023 10,000 people came to enjoy the first full hata gassen since the pandemic began. Kite flying is a competitive sport in Nagasaki. “They’re tricky to handle but people here know what they’re doing,” says Ogawa.

The prefecture, which includes hundreds of small islands, is surrounded by sea on three sides and said to have the widest array of fish of anywhere in Japan: about 250 species. Depending on the season, menus here are filled with seafood from squid, mackerel and snapper to yellowtail, puffer fish and even whale. Yossou restaurant has been making chawanmushi (salty egg custard) since 1866. The city’s defining dishes are champon and sara-udon (thin, crispy fried noodles); Nagasaki restaurant chain Ringer Hut specialises in both. The city’s oldest coffee shop, Tsuruchan, has made a speciality of what it mysteriously calls Toruko raisu (literally “Turkish rice”, a dish consisting of pork cutlet, seasoned pilau rice and spaghetti on a single plate) and an icy milkshake topped by a glacé cherry, which it has been serving since the 1920s. At Kaniya, a boisterous spot that opened in 1965 on one of the maze of small streets in the night district of Dozamachi, people stream in for an after-dinner mackerel onigiri (rice ball) and a bowl of red-miso soup.

Castella cakes, sold in rectangular blocks, are another product of Nagasaki’s exchange with foreign cultures (in this case, Portuguese). Castella is sold all over Japan today but it was introduced to the country by Fukusaya in Nagasaki, which opened in 1624. Popular with the Tokugawa shoguns, it was served to US naval officer Matthew Perry during his negotiations to open up Japan in 1854. Fukusaya’s secret is in the way that it mixes carefully selected eggs, sugar, thick rice syrup and flour by hand. Sugar crystals give the soft sponge an added crunch. There are queues outside the main shop, a delightfully old-fashioned affair with a small window for the cashier and a display of historical artefacts.

Despite the steep hills, it’s well worth taking to the streets in Nagasaki to see its old clapboard buildings, double-arched Meganebashi (Spectacles Bridge), Chinese monuments and many Buddhist temples such as Kofukuji, a 17th-century Zen temple whose first nine abbots were Chinese. On a hill overlooking the port, you’ll find the Victorian home of pioneering Scottish trader Thomas Blake Glover. Now one of Nagasaki’s most popular attractions, its dining-room table is set for tea and scones. The city’s Scottish connection was cemented in 2016 with an official Nagasaki tartan, a dark green and heather check.

Nagasaki’s Christian history is another remarkable tale. Jesuit priest Francis Xavier arrived in 1550 and began missionising with such success that Nagasaki quickly became known among foreign traders as Little Rome. By 1587 the panicked shogun ordered the expulsion of Catholic priests from Japan and then banned Christianity outright in 1614, leaving many of the faithful with no choice but to worship in secret. One of the most famous literary works set in Nagasaki is Silence, a 1966 novel by celebrated Catholic writer Shusaku Endo. Set in the 17th century, it tells of the persecution of the secret Christians and a young Jesuit priest from Portugal. It was adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese in 2016.

Nagasaki’s open-armed acceptance of outside cultures didn’t save it from becoming the target of the second atomic bomb on 9 August 1945, three days after the US destroyed Hiroshima. Tens of thousands died instantly; others lived on, often with disfiguring injuries. Today, Japanese schoolchildren visit the harrowing museum that documents the city’s agony, pass the spot that marks the bomb’s hypocentre and walk through the Peace Park, posing for group photos in front of a sturdy 9.7-metre-high figure sculpted by local artist Seibo Kitamura.

Hideyuki Natsume knows the story well. His parents were both hibakusha (atomic-bomb survivors), a club that nobody wanted to be part of, whose members were often stigmatised as living reminders of a period that most people wanted to forget. “We were almost forbidden from talking about the war,” he says. “The US was in charge and the focus of education was [and continues to be] all about peace.” The mellowest of men, Natsume runs Milestone, a jazz bar in Tsukimachi that he opened in 1986. “I went to university in Tokyo,” he says. “I used to love folk music but once I was introduced to jazz, that was that. Jazz kissa [coffee shops] were huge back then. Inside, you had to sit in silence and listen to the music. Records were expensive to buy so we would put in our requests and maybe buy them after we had heard them.” From his perch at the bar, he chats to people from all over the world with the sound of Johnny Griffin or Miles Davis oozing through his giant jbl 4343b speakers (“the speaker of choice for the jazz kissa”, he tells monocle). 

Nagasaki’s unique culture is so dense and has so many influences that it would take a lifetime to unpick it. Today the city remains as open as ever. Cruise ships the size of tower blocks deposit Chinese tourists here. The island of Dejima has been recreated with film-set precision (it is interspersed with some genuinely old buildings) and is popular with schoolchildren, who buy souvenirs and rent traditional garb for the day. The nearby Dejima Wharf waterfront area has been given a makeover and is home to the striking Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, designed by architect Kengo Kuma.

In many cities, residents can often be defined by broad-brush character traits but things are not so simple in Nagasaki. “We are modest and don’t like to show off,” says Natsume, when pressed to describe his home city. “But we often got things first in Japan and we like to take care of people. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

Nagasaki address book

Stay
Garden Terrace Nagasaki Hotel & Resort
Kengo Kuma-designed urban resort with a swimming pool and great ocean views overlooking Nagasaki’s port and rolling hills.
2-3 Akizukimachi

Eat & Drink
Shikairo
Champon, Nagasaki’s celebrated noodle soup, was originally created as cheap fare for Chinese students. This multistorey restaurant is where it all began and features a gift shop and museum. 
4-5 Matsugaemachi

Tarafuku Asa 
The daily menu at this bustling izakaya (Japanese bistro) shows you which fish are in season. Winter favourites include yellowtail, puffer fish and flounder.
2-6 Aburayamachi

Higashi Yamate 13 House
Enjoy a coffee in this wooden house, which was once the French consulate and is one of several 19th-century Western buildings in the Higashi Yamate neighbourhood.
3-1 Higashiyamatemachi

Shop
Fukusaya 
This shop has been making castella, Nagasaki’s Portuguese-inspired sponge cake, since 1624.
3-1 Funadaikumachi

Ogawa Hata-ten
Third-generation kite-maker Akihiro Ogawa hosts workshops in his hilltop studio and sells his traditional bamboo-and-washi-paper hata (kites).
11-2 Kazagashiramachi

Visit
Kofukuji temple 
Nagasaki’s teramachi (temple town) has many historic Buddhist temples such as Kofukuji, which was founded circa 1620.
4-32 Teramachi

Nagasaki Prefectural Museum of Art
This museum, designed by Kengo Kuma, shows art from the region and hosts visiting exhibitions. Head to the roof for an excellent view of the city.
2-1 Dejimamachi

Marbella, Spain

Sheltered by the Sierra Blanca hills on the Costa del Sol, Marbella, a city of 150,000 inhabitants in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía, has long attracted wealthy holidaymakers, from aristocrats to celebrities. In some ways, little has changed since the mid-20th century, when the city began attracting princes, oil tycoons and A-list actors in search of privacy. Now it is welcoming a growing number of high-end travellers every year.

As you might expect of a place that is closely linked to wealth, Marbella once had a reputation as a hub of organised crime and corruption: the town council is still paying back a debt of more than €500m left by former mayor Jesús Gil, who led a building boom in the 1990s and was later convicted of fraud. But the city’s turbulent history hasn’t stopped it from being an attractive spot for those seeking to enjoy its year-round sunshine and luxurious amusements.

“Marbella has always been a destination for people with purchasing power but since 2020 the profile of its visitors has grown, both in spending capacity and length of stay,” says Laura de Arce, the city’s tourism director. “New brands are coming to open hotels here and most luxury establishments are undergoing renovations.” Take, for example, El Fuerte de Marbella. The imposing hotel opened in 1957 and has welcomed the likes of Walt Disney, Timothy Dalton and Penélope Cruz. It recently reopened after a renovation that boasted two swimming pools and a rooftop terrace with a restaurant by chef Paco Pérez.

Marbella’s transformation into a recreational hot spot started in the 1950s with the Marbella Club. The beachfront resort, originally known as the Finca Margarita, has morphed from a humble motel into an establishment whose physical footprint is the size of eight football pitches, complete with a beach club, spa and private villas. Its evolution was kick-started when Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg bought it in 1947. At the time, Marbella was a sleepy fishing village in a country that was still recovering from civil war but Alfonso, who arrived in Marbella in search of a new home for his family after fleeing the newly communist Czechoslovakia, invited his Hollywood friends, promising them a holiday away from the paparazzi of St Tropez and Monte Carlo.

Its beginnings were austere but, by the time Slim Aarons photographed the Marbella Club for Town & Country in the 1970s, it had expanded into a thriving club for the international jet set. Today, its walls are plastered with pictures of Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn and Lola Flores, most of which were taken by the hotel’s private photographer. “Privacy and discretion are very important things that remain from those initial years,” says Alejandra García, head of marketing and communications at Luxury Hotel Partners, owners of Marbella Club. “Nobody will come up and start taking pictures of you because the person sitting next to you is just as important.”

Today the Marbella Club (and the nearby Puente Romano Hotel complex) is run by the Shamoon family, which bought it in the 1990s and has maintained its homely atmosphere while adding a spa, as well as Chanel and Louis Vuitton boutiques. “Our biggest inspiration is nostalgia but wellness is an essential part of how we are developing,” says García. “We don’t aim to be a wellness destination but rather to transmit it in a natural way, through our year-round access to the sea and mountains.”

That’s not to say that the services on offer here aren’t a huge draw. Some guests are surprised by how much the resort has to offer. It’s the low season when monocle visits but, with temperatures of about 25c, the hotel is busy. Its lively atmosphere is partly the result of its popularity with locals. Alongside regulars who have been coming for decades, Marbellí also join in for dinners at The Grill restaurant or drop off their children at the kids’ club, which hosts cooking and perfume-making lessons for under-14s.

While Marbella’s hotels are thriving thanks to a tourist season that is increasingly extending into winter, many wealthy visitors end up wanting a little corner of the city for themselves. Up in the hills are grand villas with an average price of about €8m. Novak Djokovic, Antonio Banderas and Eva Longoria are among those who own holiday homes here. The neighbourhood of La Zagaleta has excellent bilingual schools and helipads to attract younger and more mobile buyers. With remote working making it easier to stay for months at a time, house prices have continued to climb. “Demand for luxury villas is extremely high right now,” says architect Mercedes González Ballesteros when monocle joins her on the sunny terrace at her home, a short drive from the Marbella Club. “I know a lot of Swedes, for example, who now spend a large part of their time in Marbella even though their primary residence is elsewhere.”

González Ballesteros also counts herself among these privileged temporary residents. After years in Madrid, where she founded Febrero Studio in 2016, she recently decided to make Marbella her primary home, though she still makes regular trips to the capital on the high-speed ave trains via Málaga. Her first project in town was her own Mediterranean-style house, which features white-washed walls, limestone floors and wooden furniture, and was built on an existing building. “There are a lot of old villas that don’t need to be knocked down completely and that’s where we see a gap in the market,” she says, pointing to the living room’s slanted ceiling. “The appearance is new but we actually reused the entire original structure.”

Another of the studio’s early Marbella projects was the interior design of Paisana, a restaurant near Puerto Banús, a port lined with yachts and boutiques. A short uphill walk from there in the Centro Plaza shopping centre, the restaurant’s founder, Antonio Padilla, wanted to create a place where members of Marbella’s international crowd, who stop by for increasingly long periods, could feel at home. On a terrace furnished with striped cushions and parasols overlooking the city and La Concha hill, Paisana serves a menu ranging from açaí bowls to kale salad, all made with organic produce grown on a local farm, where Padilla also hosts dinners and yoga retreats.

“Marbella is a long way from becoming like destinations such as Bali,” says Marbella-born Padilla. “But there’s something similar in that many digital nomads choose this place because they can find the services of a big city [in a relaxed environment].” He points out that none of his customers today, most of them regulars, is Spanish. Instead, he says, they all come here for several months at a time. “Temperatures in Marbella are always gentler than in the rest of Andalucía. It’s a place where you can seek refuge but also have easy access to the rest of the world. There aren’t many places that have that.” In this part of Marbella, where the highway is lined with new high-end developments and billboards advertising Swedish property companies, it’s easy to forget that you’re in Spain.

Much of the casco antiguo (old town) dates back to the 15th century, when Marbella was reconquered from the Moors. Here, cobblestone streets lead to peaceful plazas lined with orange trees and white Andalusian houses that are overgrown with bougainvillaea. A new wave of boutique hotels in restored palaces recently opened here as an alternative to the beachfront resorts. Hotel group La Ciudadela has launched three outposts in the centre, each with a restaurant and rooftop terrace, while the restoration of La Fonda, a hotel by the Relais & Châteaux group, turned a 16th-century chapel into the setting for its dining room.
“People are amazed by the historic centre with its white houses, colourful flowerpots and little shops on every corner,” says Javier González Gago, a tour guide and fourth-generation Marbellí who has long championed this overlooked part of his hometown. “They have this preconceived idea of Marbella as a place for the rich and famous, and don’t expect it to have so much charm and history.”

His walking tours take visitors to the 10th-century Moorish fortress and the Museum of Contemporary Spanish Engravings, which includes works by Picasso, Dalí and Miró. There’s almost always a stop at Bar Altamirano, a traditional outpost with the best seafood in the area. But González Gago doesn’t stay within the old city walls. Many of his clients see Marbella as a base from which to explore the rest of the region: Málaga and its booming cultural scene are just an hour’s drive away, while Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral, the Alhambra in Granada and the vineyards of Ronda are all within two hours.

González Gago thinks that the city’s strength lies in its ability to attract visitors year-round. With hot spots across Spain saturated with tourists during summer, enticing guests during the low season has become an urgent matter for the country’s hospitality industry, which makes Marbella’s warm winters and gentle summers its biggest asset. “In low season, in previous years, it was usually dead,” says González Gago. “But now we’re getting a lot of golf tourism.” González Ballesteros agrees. “There are more and more things on offer and, in the end, you have the most important thing that all visitors look for: the climate.”

Stay
La Fonda
This new boutique hotel by Relais & Châteaux is based in a renovated 16th-century townhouse in Marbella’s historic centre, opposite a tablao (a club hosting flamenco performances). The five- star property also features a roof terrace from which to watch the sunset.
9 & 10 Plaza Santo Cristo 
relaischateaux.com

Eat
Leña
Marbella’s range of high-end dining options continues to grow, with many establishments now serving food of equal quality to their design. Andalusian chef Dani García’s latest steakhouse is one of several in the Puente Romano Beach Resort. The interiors by Barcelona’s Astet Studio even earned it the “prettiest restaurant in the world” label at the 2021 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards.
Avenue Bulevar Príncipe Alfonso de Hohenlohe
grupodanigarcia.com

Drink
Bar Altamirano
Hidden on a square of the same name in the historic centre of Marbella, Bar Altamirano has been attracting locals and tourists for more than 40 years. The humble outpost serves a top selection of seafood, with patrons spilling out into the square on balmy summer nights – it’s a refreshing alternative to the glitz and glamour of the city’s rooftop bars.
3 Plaza Altamirano
baraltamirano.es

Shop
D’Oliva
This charming shop in the heart of Marbella’s old town offers a large range of extra virgin olive oils, as well as tapenades, salts and cosmetics. It also hosts oil and wine-tasting workshops for those wanting to sample different varieties of the region’s best produce.
9 Nueva
dolivaonline.com

See
Puerto Banús
Visiting the famous port is a must, even if it’s just to get a feel of the place that launched Marbella into a destination for the super-rich. The port and its Andalusian-inspired buildings were designed by architect Noldi Schreck, who also participated in the construction of Beverly Hills. From here you can catch a catamaran that connects to the centre of Marbella in an hour.
Puerto Banús