Home//Travel + Leisure/June 2021/In This Issue
Travel + Leisure|June 2021LETTER FROM THE EDITORCONTRIBUTORS1. Thomas Chatterton WilliamsABSOLUTELY ÎLE DE RÉ (P. 70)Although the Paris-based writer was familiar with the south of France and its Atlantic coast, the joys of the Île de Ré came as a surprise. “The island is very different from the other places I’ve been in the region,” he says. “I was expecting something colder, but the sunlight was brilliant. It felt like a quintessential summer.”2. Jordan KisnerSMALL TOWN, BIG HEART (P. 78)Kisner left N.Y.C. to visit the LGBTQ-friendly Provincetown, on Cape Cod, over the busy summer season. “I fell for the singular, small-town atmosphere,” says the writer. “The flowers in the front gardens! The dunes outside town! The wind! I grew up in a small surfing town, so returning to the rhythms of summertime by the seaside was a…5 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021ISLAND OF DREAMSIN THE 1960s, Hotel La Palma, Capri’s oldest hotel (opened in 1822) was the place to spend a sun-soaked summer holiday; its guests included Hollywood A-listers like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. Now the 199-year-old property is ready to welcome a new crowd: next April, it will reopen after a top-to-bottom refresh courtesy of the Oetker Collection (which owns other landmark beach retreats, like Eden Rock, in St. Bart’s). Designed by Rome-based Delogu Architects, each of the 50 rooms—including 18 suites—will come with its own private terrace or balcony. But the real action is at the glamorous beach club, where yachts can pull up for lunch, or the rooftop restaurant Bianca, which overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea. You’re here, after all, not for solitude, but for Capri’s sparkling social scene. oetkercollection.com;…1 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021WHERE THE WEST BEGINSJUST NORTH OF the glistening skyscrapers of downtown Fort Worth, Texas, you’ll find the Stockyards National Historic District, once one of the largest livestock-trading centers in the American West. In Cowtown, as it’s affectionately known, you can still find genuine cowboys: longhorns parade down the streets twice daily. Now, nearly 150 years after its founding, the Stockyards is getting a modern upgrade, bringing upscale lodging, dining, and entertainment to the aptly named Mule Alley. Here’s where to step out in style.1. PROVENDER HALLIndulge in chicken-fried steak (a Lone Star staple), skillet corn bread, or pimento cheese. provenderhall.com; entrées $14–$32.2. DOWNTOWN COWTOWN AT THE ISISAt this restored 1914 cinema, see a classic western or grab a drink at the family-friendly speakeasy before taking in a live performance. downtowncowtown.com.3. SIDESADDLE SALOONTry the…1 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURETHRILL SEEKERS hunting for their next towering wave or snowcapped peak can now book excursions at the press of a button. New online platform Heli (heli.life) offers a curated selection of a thousand adventurous itineraries—mountain biking in British Columbia’s Kootenay Rockies, diving in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, rock climbing in the French Alps—with accommodations, dining, and gear included. “The adventure-travel space is extremely fragmented,” says Colorado-based cofounder and CEO Andy Culp, who decided to launch the company after his own struggles booking a heli-skiing weekend with friends. “It was challenging to compare packages and make a decision.” Many trips available through Heli are run by established tour operators like Canadian Mountain Holidays and Lindblad Expeditions, and the company also offers a selection of itineraries led by pro athletes like skier…2 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021MURDER MOST NORDICSOME PEOPLE ARE DRAWN to visit new countries by the promise of beautiful scenery, the delicious local cuisine, or the rich cultural offerings. I went to Scandinavia for the murders. Not real murders, mind you, but those I had been reading about for more than three decades in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish crime fiction.I had started in the early 1980s with the Martin Beck series. Written by the Swedish couple Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, these were the first realistic police procedurals to surface in Scandinavia, and they are still among the best. A decade later I discovered the excellent Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell. Then, as the 21st century dawned, I came upon Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, followed soon after by Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole.…6 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021LIVING ON THE EDGEHOW MANY TIMES have you stood before the sea with a sense of awe—sun, waves, rocks, life!—only to come away feeling more landlocked than ever? It’s like there’s an invisible barrier between you and the scene. How can I get closer? you wonder. How can I be not just in the picture but of the picture? Like a seal, a cormorant…even a piece of kelp.The answer, it turns out, is to go coasteering, preferably off the coast of Pembrokeshire in southwestern Wales. It was in this wild Atlantic waterscape, back in 1986, that local surfer Andy Middleton coined the term for the practice of hurling oneself off rocks, swimming in the intertidal waters, and clambering into caves. The combination of the coastal setting and the mountaineering-style approach led him to…4 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD MACHINESA LUXURIOUS champagne-and-caviar ride through Europe on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is a celebratory splurge. But this year, it will be even more spectacular: Belmond (belmond.com; Grand suites from $15,800 per person, per night, all-inclusive), which operates the trains, has just added three over-the-top Grand suites that wouldn’t be out of place at one of the company’s grande-dame hotels, such as the Cadogan or the Cipriani.Designed by Wimberly Interiors, each of the three new, Art Deco–style compartments has a double bed, an en suite bathroom, and heated floors. Guests can call on round-the-clock butler service for in-room dining or a nightcap; they can also dine in the train’s spacious restaurant or pop in to the bar car. The iconic London–Venice–Istanbul route remains an option, but the trains will also hit other…2 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021JOIN THE CLUBANDRIA GUTIERREZ is a marketing executive in Lake Tahoe, California, who loves to travel—but doesn’t love the time suck of researching vacations. “When I was younger, I planned all my own trips,” she says. “But now that I own a business, I just don’t have the spare hours anymore.” That’s why she recently joined the Club (go.allcalltravel.com; from $24 per month) from Allcall, which offers personalized itineraries and exclusive deals to members. She’s already taken three Allcall trips, including a multi-state ski trip and a vacation in Baja California, Mexico. “The team is incredibly helpful and responsive,” Gutierrez says. “They make the planning process so efficient.”While some established outfits like Exclusive Resorts (exclusiveresorts.com; from $150,000 for a 10-year membership) and Wheels Up (wheelsup.com; from $17,500 per year) have catered to…4 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021THESE ARE THE DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDERTHE FORECAST couldn’t have been gloomier. December 12: rain. December 13: rain. December 14, the day of the solar eclipse I’d traveled 5,500 miles to see: more rain. I’d flown on the 11th, mid-pandemic, sitting masked up on a tense flight from New York to Santiago, then on to Temuco, in southern Chile. Of course I had registered the dour weather predictions before boarding, but after nine months of house bondage, I didn’t care. The idea of perfect conditions or a perfect experience had long since fallen off the menu.Throughout history, eclipses have been interpreted as cosmic, spiritual resets. Folklore from Scandinavia and Asia to the Americas depicts these events as a battle between light and dark, with the moon (or other malevolent actors like wolves, bears, frogs, or dragons)…13 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021DOWN TO EARTHA GLOBETROTTER’S GUIDE TO THE LATEST IN TRAVELWHEN THE PANDEMIC disrupted supply chains and restaurant models, the idea of being “rooted” at home took on a different meaning. Many in the U.S. began looking for more conscious ways to connect with the earth and the food it provides. Now travelers can see this philosophy come to life at food-focused properties around the country, where meaningful (and delicious) experiences are drawn, quite literally, from the soil.One notable debut is Sagra, a hospitality start-up that partners with sustainable farms to set up boutique agritourism stays on their properties. Cofounders David Rust, Kathryn Arffa, and Jason Grauer all have a background in farming. Their first getaway, Sagra at Stemple Creek Ranch (sagrafarms.com; doubles from $209), in Tomales, California, offers immersive experiences like natural…3 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021MAKING A SPLASHIt’s been half a century since automobile journalist Fred Prysquel donned a pair of provocative swim trunks in St.-Tropez while attempting to woo the woman of his dreams. Back in 1971, Prysquel’s knee-grazing shorts of his own design were unlike anything the Côte d’Azur had ever seen. They combined the easy movement of California board shorts with the bright patterns and traditional waxed fabrics he had spotted on a trip to Senegal.The boldness paid off. Prysquel got the girl, a local shop owner named Yvette, whom he later married. But he (and Yvette) also changed the course of bathing suit history by launching the swimwear brand Vilebrequin based on the success of that first pair of trunks. It’s a story the company’s current CEO, Roland Herlory, relishes telling. “Our origin…2 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021SHAKEN, NOT STIRREDSix years ago, when I moved to Budapest, I gravitated to Kollázs, the bar inside the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace. I enjoyed the flawless negroni, but it was the room’s enigmatic air I relished most. I’ve written about travel, drinks, and design for 19 years, and those frequent visits to Kollázs reinforced my love for hotels and their delightful drinking dens. It’s what inspired me to write Behind the Bar: 50 Cocktail Recipes from the World’s Most Iconic Hotels (Hardie Grant, $20). To capture the hotel bar’s evolution, I included golden-age venues like the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis New York and Bar Américain at Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, as well as modern arrivals like the Spare Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt. Some legendary properties, like the…1 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021PARADISE AND PROSETRAVELERS’ TALES, FROM NEAR AND FARONE REASON I travel is to envision lives other than my own, or to picture my own life in new, irresistible settings. Rarely has that thrill of trying out someone else’s existence felt as intense as it did during my stay at the Patrick & Joan Leigh Fermor House (ariahotels.gr; villas from $600, three-night minimum). This sun-kissed stone refuge sits above a turquoise cove near the Greek village of Kardamyli. It’s located in the Mani: one of the three “fingers” of the Peloponnese, the hand-shaped peninsula that hangs off the mainland.For decades, this idyllic place was the home of Patrick Leigh Fermor, one of Britain’s best-known travel writers, and his dynamic wife, Joan. “Paddy,” as the late author was called, is perhaps best remembered for…5 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021CHARMED, I’M SURELAST MARCH, AS New York City became the global epicenter of the pandemic, my husband, Brendan, and I decided to spend the weekend away, at a family retreat in southern Rhode Island. Our weekend away lasted seven months. By my birthday in August, most believers in science had figured out that masks helped to prevent outbreaks and hotels weren’t hot spots. Brendan and I had grown stir-crazy enough to risk playing tourist for a few days, so we decided to celebrate by experiencing a couple of well-known local resorts.Our first destination was the magnificent Ocean House (oceanhouseri.com; doubles from $860) in the village of Watch Hill, a place that had always seemed to us like a hotel that broke off from Newport and floated down the coast. Originally opened in…4 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021JEWELS IN THE SANDSPACE. MILES and miles of space. Locals seem to revel in the sheer emptiness of Namibia, and they’re quick to drop into conversation the fact that, on average, there are only eight people per square mile there. Which is exactly why I keep coming back, flying from my home in Johannesburg, where we have more than 7,000 people per square mile.I’ve been visiting Namibia for years, but lately—thanks in part to spending so much time in lockdown in South Africa—I’ve been drawn to the stark desert landscape of the Sossusvlei. Part of the Namib-Naukluft Park, this wide swath of dunes and salt flats is filled with a type of desert-adapted antelope called gemsbok as well as other wildlife. (The famously photogenic Deadvlei, with its denuded trees and ocher dunes, is…4 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021ABSOLUTELY ÎLE DE RÉA DECADE AGO, my French wife and I moved from our apartment in Brooklyn to the Right Bank of Paris. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a challenge to acclimate myself to the rain and low skies that ruthlessly blot out the winter sun in northern France. On the other hand, there’s nothing like a European summer. Vacations are prioritized, and you can travel between a dozen countries with the ease we Americans move up and down the Eastern seaboard.The summer of 2020 was, for obvious reasons, the first in 10 that we didn’t set foot outside France. We’d abandoned our home in Paris back in March, days before the nationwide lockdown, to hole up with friends in a village in the Loire-Atlantique, just below Brittany. In July,…15 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021BETWEEN THE PINES AND THE PACIFICTHE NESTUCCA RIVER was quiet except for a great blue heron that unfurled its massive wings and flapped away disgruntled every time our kayaks approached. On one side of me was Mike, my best friend and travel companion on my trip down the Oregon Coast. On the other side was Ryan Fox, our eminently personable guide, who, bearded and rugged, looked as you would expect an adventurer to look—except for his toenails, which were painted orange. “My wife did it once, like, three years ago as a joke,” he said. “But I liked how it looked. I guess it stuck.”As we paddled along in the cool air—despite being early August, it was a pleasant 65 degrees—we watched Fox chase down a renegade beer bottle someone had thrown in the water.…12 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021FACE FORWARDCULTIVATE APOTHECARY AWAKEN REJUVENATING DAY SERUM Organic calendula, comfrey leaf, chamomile, and lemon balm form the backbone of this powerful anti-inflammatory elixir from the beauty brand at Stonegate Farm, in New York’s Hudson Valley. cultivateapothecary.com; $135.TATA HARPER SUPERKIND RADIANCE MASK This face-brightening treatment is one of three products in the Vermont-based company’s new Superkind line, designed to fortify the skin’s natural barrier. Lactic acid gently exfoliates while lavender, alfalfa, borage, and other botanicals from Tata Harper’s 1,200-acre farm heal and protect. tataharperskincare.com; $65.RHUG WILD BEAUTY CLEANSING LOTION This antioxidant-rich cleanser contains dandelion extract and hawthorn flower from Rhug Estate, in Wales. Other powerhouse ingredients include papaya extract (to regulate sebum production and reduce inflammation) and organic olive oil. rhugwildbeauty.com; $35.…1 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021HOME SWEET HOMEWHEN IT COMES to hotel rooms, bigger has always been better—but among the effects of COVID-19 on the world of high-end travel is an increasing demand for the comfort and privacy of home. To answer this call, Rosewood Washington, D.C. (rosewoodhotels.com; town houses from $1,500) recently unveiled six brick town houses on a quiet, tree-lined street that backs the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, steps from the main 49-key property.Each offers 1,100 square feet of living space spread across four floors, with residential amenities like laundry rooms, private patios, and eat-in kitchens. D.C. designer Thomas Pheasant (who did the interiors of Blair House, the president’s official guesthouse, during the Obama administration) added Federal-style moldings to evoke the buildings’ 18th-century origins, plus elegant custom furnishings in dove grays and silvery whites. A…2 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021AT YOUR OWN PACETHE ERIE CANAL used to be all about speed, but today it’s about slowing down,” said Marye Lobb, a singer-songwriter I met one evening in Spencerport, New York. Lobb had been playing in the village’s canal-side gazebo while my wife, Jetty-Jane, and I watched from the top deck of our boat, a bottle of Finger Lakes Riesling between us.“There’s just something calming about being by the water,” Lobb said. In the 19th century, she explained, this storied waterway was an artery of commerce, but these days it’s a place for wildlife spotting and unplugging from whatever worries you left onshore—just what Jetty-Jane and I were looking for in the summer of 2020.Our vessel was the Seneca, a 42-foot liveaboard that we chartered—with the help of quirky travel website Atlas Obscura—from…6 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021NATURAL TENDENCIESFOR MOST PEOPLE, the ideal Vermont escape might conjure thoughts of fall leaf-peeping hikes or winter ski trips. But I am not an outdoorsy person, so I’ve always preferred spending time in Burlington—a small city by most standards, but the state’s largest, with a population just north of 40,000.During my college years in Plattsburgh, New York, just across Lake Champlain, I spent many a weekend hopping over the state line to go to concerts at Higher Ground (highergroundmusic.com) or wandering up and down Church Street, Burlington’s main drag lined with quaint shops, galleries, and restaurants. At the time, just over a decade ago, the area was developing a reputation for innovative breweries and cider mills. More recently, I’d heard about a nascent natural-wine and craft-cocktail culture, so I convinced my…6 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING VACATION RENTALTIPS AND TRICKS TO HELP YOU TRAVEL SMARTER“IN RETROSPECT,” says Melany Robinson, “the pricing was too good to be true.” Robinson, a hospitality publicist and seasoned traveler who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, was surfing Craigslist in the summer of 2020, looking for a ski-season rental in Park City, Utah. She came across a five-bedroom, five-bath chalet with panoramic views, a wood-burning fireplace, and an outdoor deck complete with a hot tub. It looked perfect for her family and was available for her dates in February and March of this year.Robinson e-mailed the contact listed and quickly heard back from someone calling himself Thomas. Using public records, she matched that name with the property’s deed holder and began discussing rental terms. Thomas promptly answered all her questions, and, in July, she…3 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021ALL UNDER ONE ROOFWHEN THE Hotel Xcaret Arte (hotelxcaretarte.com; doubles from $516) opens near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, later this summer, it won’t look like your typical all-inclusive resort. True, the all-suite property will have 900 suites and nine different restaurants, but the one thing it won’t have, Xcaret Hotels CEO Francisco Gutiérrez Reyes says, is a giant lobby—or even a huge pool where hundreds of people can gather every afternoon.“The challenge was, how are we going to adapt for the future?” Gutiérrez Reyes says. The key question, not just at his still-under-construction resort but for the entire world of all-inclusives: How do you bring hundreds or even thousands of people together and keep everyone safe?At Xcaret, the solution involves dividing the resort into five different “houses,” each with its own check-in area,…2 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021SMALL TOWN, BIG HEARTI HADN’T SPENT much time in Provincetown, Massachusetts, before last summer, but I had been given to understand that it’s a place not entirely like the rest of Cape Cod. If Cape Cod is beach-club conservatism and navy-blue-striped American prep, Provincetown is glitter and magic, poets and painters and queens—or so the hearsay went.My partner, Lora-Faye, and I arrived by car and were greeted not by glitter, but by a warren of narrow lanes lined with tidy houses and gardens bursting with spectacular beds of flowers. Through these lanes strolled men, usually young but sometimes middle-aged or older, walking hand in hand, evidently on their way to the beach or returning to their own hydrangea-thick front yards. Lora-Faye and I live in New York City, where there is no shortage…12 min
Travel + Leisure|June 2021YOUR BEST SHOT: READER PHOTO“AS I LISTENED TO this musician strum his guitar on the steps of Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral, in the Andalusia region of Spain, I felt I was exactly where I needed to be. Weeks earlier, my wife and I had made the monumental decision to sell our home of 20 years in the Bay Area and travel indefinitely around Europe. I knew we had made the right call the day I took this photo. Time slowed down watching this man play flamenco music, and our crazy, hectic life in California felt worlds away.”— READER DARRELL SANO ON HIS PHOTOGRAPH, SHOT WITH A FUJIFILM X-T20, AUGUST 2019…1 min
