Love the rustic adventures Cambodia has to offer but can’t go without your creature comforts? This exclusive two-day day, one-night glamping trip has you covered. Start your morning with a Jeep expedition through the stirring rural landscape and nearby villages, before arriving at the calming moss covered stone temple of Prei Monti and the tangled vine bound temple of Beng Mealea.
Unwind with a picnic lunch at Poeung Komnou, an ancient sight of intricate Hindu carvings set among green surrounds, then head to the campsite where you’ll be greeted and treated with a chilled cocktail to kick start your evening. After soaking in the comforts of your own private and lavish tent, experience a gastronomic delight with dinner cooked by the Heritage Restaurant team from the Heritage Suites Hotel. This outside dinning is the perfect mix of nature and glamour with hundreds of tea-light candles flickering over your skin that sets the scene for a relaxing evening. Next morning tuck into a huge breakfast spread before stepping back in time with a ride in a traditional ox cart pulled by cattle to explore some local villages.
Marvel at mounted whale weenies measuring more than a metre long, ogle the embalmed member of a 600-kilogram polar bear, and snicker at a lampshade fashioned from 10 sheep scrotums at the Icelandic Phallological Museum.
There are 215 penises in total – representing every mammal found in Iceland, as well as a few foreigners – in this celebration of male virility, alongside various phallus-themed artefacts.
Gents beware: a serious loss of confidence can often follow a visit. If this is your type of exhibition, then the William P Didusch Center for Urologic History in Washington DC is worth investigating too.
In 2002, Gabon’s superbly monikered president Omar Bongo Ondimba set aside 10 per cent of the country as natural reserves. One of them was Loango National Park – 1550 square kilometres of savanna, forest, lagoon, mangroves and pristine beach, and one of the true gems of Africa’s west coast. But what really makes this beach one of the most distinctive on earth is its four-legged residents.
Elephants and buffaloes stroll along the shoreline and hippos take to the surf like grommits on thrusters. It’s not the easiest place in the world to get to – most people organise accommodation and transfers through a specialty operator – but it’s certainly one for the bucket list.
Penetrate deep into the wilds of Antarctica. This expedition takes passengers further into Antarctica than most cruising itineraries. Travel south of the Antarctic Circle to the land of the midnight sun and stand where few have stood before. The 15-day expedition departs from Ushuaia, Argentina, and includes Zodiac cruises through silent iceberg ‘graveyards’ and optional camping and kayaking adventures.
First came the surroundings, then the hotel – although they make such a perfect match it’s hard to imagine one without the other. Set on Koggala Lake about 20 kilometres from Galle, Tri boasts 11 suites created to complement the natural world around them. Eco-friendly design elements go beyond solar power and local material – here, you’ll also find living walls, green roofs and edible gardens abundant with local fruit, herbs and spices, including cinnamon.
Settle down by the cantilevered pool or stretch out in the treetop yoga shala. For something more active, kayak on the lake, go temple hopping or visit the hotel’s private beach just a short drive away. At night tuck into locally sourced seafood and produce and enjoy a sense of living closer to nature.
Why navigate the traffic-choked streets of Siem Reap trying to find the city’s most delicious morsels yourself when you can have a Vespa adventure? Climb behind a guide from Vespa Adventures and zoom to local spots where authentic Khmer food and drink is plentiful. Sip cocktails at a chic bar and learn a little about Cambodia’s history, before visiting a shrine where locals wish for life’s essentials.
Now you’re ready to zigzag to the night markets to sample tasty local dishes and, for those with a strong stomach, delicacies like grasshopper, water beetle, frog, snake and buffalo. Enjoy a sit-down dinner at an open-air restaurant then finish the evening with a palate-cleansing rice-wine tasting, complete with a little keepsake bottle of the heady brew to take home.
Wander up a back alley in Seoul’s Garuso-gil district and enter Mikkeller, a minimalist craft-beer haven. Laden with bold colour, this stripped-back space is the spot to taste 30 craft beers from around the world. There’s an excellent selection of the company’s own beers, but there are also offerings from breweries like Evil Twin, To Øl and 8 Wired – all of them on tap. Slurp down glasses of tantalising drops with tongue-twisting names like Spontan Watermelon, Crooked Moon Tattoo Stockholm and Wit My Ex while admiring the modernist cartoons scattered around the walls.
Drawing on its Danish heritage (the venue’s one of several offshoots from a bar in Copenhagen that goes by the same name), the fit-out is simple and organic, with a dash of Korean cute – the perfect place to immerse yourself in Asia’s burgeoning craft beer scene.
Move over, Ibiza – there’s a new kid in town. A five-minute boat ride from the east coast of Spain’s most famous party destination, Tagomago Island is a twenty-first-century Eden for the rich and famous.
The exclusive abode has five double bedrooms, a state-of-the-art kitchen, a high-tech sound system, a swimming pool and sweeping terraces where you can sit with a cerveza and enjoy the coastline. Spend your days snorkelling in the turquoise waters, hiking winding trails to the lighthouse, visiting the beach bar or simply kicking back in a poolside cabana and catching some rays. Paradise this incredible doesn’t come cheap, but we can dream, right?
The simple life is waiting. Situated in the Sulu Sea in Palawan, this private tropical island – just two hectares but with an expansive white-sand beach – is a secluded paradise.
The main house at Brother Island sleeps up to 10 guest and is rustic but comfortable, and the staff members, including a cook who prepares traditional Filipino meals, ensure no guest wants for anything. Chill in hammocks, snorkel on a nearby shipwreck or take an island-hopping excursion.
One of the island’s greatest features, though, is its night sky. With no TV to offer distraction, you may find grabbing a beer and staring into the dark quickly becomes part of your nightly ritual.
Famed for its castles, palaces and wild gardens, the tiny town of Sintra is one of Portugal’s shining stars. Experience it just like a royal, with a stay at the luxurious Tivoli Palácio de Seteais. Built on a hillside in the 1780s, this five-star, 30-room estate has been lovingly restored to resemble a palace of centuries past. Days can be spent soaking up the Portuguese sun by the infinity pool with fresh lemonade, crushed from the fruit in the gardens, delivered to your day bed. This is a prime spot to see the sun set over the ocean too or, better yet, opt for a suite with your very own terrace, and watch as the Atlantic sends mist swirling over the famous Pena Palace on the mountain above you.
Wander the halls lined with priceless antiques and carpets worth as much as your university degree and kick back with a book – perhaps by Lord Byron, who wrote of Sintra as a “glorious Eden” – in one of the sitting rooms. At night, chandeliers illuminate the frescoes on the walls and music from a harpist or pianist dances in the air.
You’ve probably guessed it by now – Seteais is so beautiful you won’t want to leave, but exploring the UNESCO World Heritage town before the crowds arrive is one of the best parts of a stay. Then there are the hotel’s activities… Helicopter flights and horse riding adventures are all on the cards, but if you prefer to keep your feet on the ground head to the striking cliffs that form the westernmost point of Europe. Your guide, selected from Walk Hike Portugal, will share secrets of the area with you, including lunch at a local haunt where you’ll devour a feast of clams, prawns and fish chosen from the day’s catch, before rolling you back to the pool. Yep, a day trip to Sintra is far from enough.
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