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INSPIRED BY<br />
ISSUE 134 | JUNE <strong>2019</strong> | COMPLIMENTARY COPY<br />
A WEEKEND<br />
IN CAIRO<br />
PHUKET<br />
READER OFFERS<br />
COOL IDEAS<br />
FOR SUMMER<br />
NAMIBIA<br />
On the road<br />
to discovery<br />
Produced in Dubai Production City<br />
Classic Cuba<br />
How to pack incredible encounters and experiences into two weeks
JAresorts.com /Manafaru @JAManafaru_Maldives
Inspired by nature,<br />
ENHANCED BY LUXURY<br />
In the north of the Maldives lies an award-winning sanctuary, JA Manafaru. Nestled amid<br />
tropical backdrops are three ultra-luxurious Residences, designed for utmost comfort, and<br />
privacy without any compromises. Indulge in bespoke amenities to rejuvenate your mind,<br />
body, and soul.<br />
Awaken to the glaze of the tropical sun in the Grand Water Suite, with your own infinity pool<br />
a few steps outside the bedroom. Relish from expertly cooked dishes served in the coziness<br />
of the Royal Island Suite or leisurely watch as the day passes by from ‘The Royal Residence’,<br />
as the hues of the clear Maldivian sky shift from their beautiful blues to vivid violets.<br />
Your ultimate luxury getaway in the Maldives awaits off the shores of JA Manafaru.<br />
For bookings or more information, visit JAresorts.com<br />
or email reservations.manafaru@jaresorts.com
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DESTINATION:<br />
LOUVRE ABU DHABI<br />
© Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi / Photo by Hufton+Crow. Architect: Jean Nouvel.<br />
SEE HUMANITY IN A NEW LIGHT<br />
Louvre Abu Dhabi brings different cultures together<br />
to shine light on the shared stories of human creativity.<br />
Admission: AED 63, children under 13 free<br />
BOOK<br />
A DAY<br />
AWAY<br />
louvreabudhabi.ae
Welcome note<br />
With the Eid Al Fitr holidays here and schools breaking up for<br />
the summer next month, you’ve got a couple more reasons<br />
to take a trip. If you haven’t yet stuck a pin in the map, simply<br />
turn to page 26 for eight jam-packed pages of inspiration.<br />
Managing Director<br />
Victoria Thatcher<br />
Editorial Director<br />
John Thatcher<br />
General Manager<br />
David Wade<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Faye Bartle<br />
faye@hotmediapublishing.com<br />
Content Writers<br />
Habiba Azab<br />
Sophia Dyer<br />
Art Director<br />
Kerri Bennett<br />
Senior Designer<br />
Hiral Kapadia<br />
Senior Advertising Manager<br />
Mia Cachero<br />
mia@hotmediapublishing.com<br />
Production Manager<br />
Muthu Kumar<br />
From living the high life in a luxury treehouse,<br />
to taking over an entire island in the Maldives and<br />
climbing aboard Britain’s first new sleeper train in<br />
35 years, get set to have a remarkable summer.<br />
Before you get swept away with the season’s<br />
travel frenzy, however, we suggest you curl up<br />
with our long reads. This month, we take you to on<br />
a fantasy trip to Cuba (page 36), on a journey to<br />
uncover the authentic charms of Thailand (page<br />
44) and on an adventure off the beaten track in<br />
Namibia (page 50).<br />
If you prefer to pack in a handful of long<br />
weekends, we’ve taken a closer look at some of the<br />
options you can tick off your list. A great place to<br />
start is with Habiba Azab’s guide to Cairo (page<br />
60), which tells you exactly how to get under the<br />
skin of this fast-paced city.<br />
Happy travels,<br />
Faye Bartle<br />
Win!<br />
A stay at Qasr Al<br />
Sarab Desert Resort<br />
by Anantara in Abu<br />
Dhabi on p75<br />
FIVE THINGS<br />
WE LEARNED<br />
THIS ISSUE:<br />
1<br />
You'll find Havana's<br />
coolest creative types<br />
on the rooftop at El del<br />
Frente, p36<br />
2<br />
Disney’s Aladdin was<br />
partly shot in the<br />
Hashemite Kingdom of<br />
southern Jordan, p20<br />
3<br />
Simple things, like<br />
loading your holiday<br />
reads onto your tablet<br />
instead of carrying the<br />
books, can make a big<br />
difference to your ecotravel<br />
credentials, p22<br />
4<br />
Don't leave Cairo<br />
without tasting Koshari;<br />
a unique mixture of rice,<br />
macaroni and lentils,<br />
all covered with a spicy<br />
tomato sauce, p60<br />
5<br />
Khao Phing Kan,<br />
is better known as<br />
Christopher Lee's<br />
private island in the<br />
James Bond film The<br />
Man with the Golden<br />
Gun, p44<br />
The filming of Aladdin © Disney<br />
INSPIRED BY<br />
Photography credits:<br />
Getty Images and Phocal Media<br />
Reproduction in whole or in<br />
part without written permission<br />
from HOT Media Publishing is<br />
strictly prohibited. HOT Media<br />
Publishing does not accept<br />
liability for omissions or errors in<br />
<strong>World</strong> <strong>Traveller</strong>.<br />
Tel: 00971 4 364 2876<br />
Fax: 00971 4 369 7494<br />
COVER IMAGE<br />
Getty Images<br />
Find us at…<br />
ONLINE worldtravellermagazine.com<br />
FACEBOOK @<strong>World</strong><strong>Traveller</strong>ME<br />
INSTAGRAM @worldtravellerme<br />
TWITTER @W<strong>Traveller</strong>ME<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 5
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Credit: The Wild Hotel, Mykonos © Yiorgos Kordakis<br />
Contents<br />
<strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
16<br />
GLOBETROTTER<br />
regulars<br />
10 15 22 74 76<br />
TRENDING<br />
DESTINATIONS<br />
This month's go-to<br />
places include magical<br />
Madagascar, the Windy<br />
City of Chicago, and<br />
beautiful Langkawi.<br />
GLOBETROTTER<br />
From as-seen-onscreen<br />
destinations to<br />
foodie finds in Hong<br />
Kong and hot new<br />
hotels, there's plenty to<br />
sink your teeth into.<br />
THE KNOWLEDGE<br />
Give your ecocredentials<br />
a boost<br />
with these easy and<br />
practical tips for happy<br />
holidays that don't cost<br />
the earth.<br />
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD<br />
Head online for<br />
exclusive content and,<br />
better still, the chance<br />
to win a two-night stay<br />
at Qasr Al Sarab Desert<br />
Resort by Anantara.<br />
SUITE DREAMS<br />
Fall in love with the<br />
Eiffel Tower views<br />
from the Jean-Michel<br />
Wilmotte designed<br />
Suite Amour at Hotel<br />
Lutetia in Paris.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 7
CONTENTS<br />
features<br />
26 36<br />
COOL IDEAS FOR HOW TO DO CUBA<br />
SUMMER<br />
Our Cuba expert, Claire<br />
Summer's here and Boobbyer, takes us on<br />
if you're still making a journey through an<br />
plans, we have a whole island rich in culture<br />
host of cool ideas to help. and endless charm.<br />
44<br />
REALITY BITES<br />
Who said Phuket was<br />
all beaches and revelry?<br />
Nick Redman tries an<br />
authentic Thai on a trip<br />
full of flavour.<br />
50<br />
REMOTE CONTROL<br />
Chris Haslam veers<br />
off the tourist trail in<br />
Namibia to discover<br />
the land as it once was:<br />
empty and magical.<br />
6 0<br />
CAIRO<br />
weekends<br />
58 60<br />
CULTURE TRIP A LONG WEEKEND<br />
The first of our new IN CAIRO<br />
series highlights the Our Egypt insider goes<br />
cultural charms of beyond the pyramids to<br />
Tunisia's capital.<br />
reveal the heart of Cairo.<br />
66<br />
STAYCATIONS<br />
Feel in need of a break?<br />
We have a couple more<br />
reasons to book a<br />
weekend escape.<br />
70<br />
TRAVEL OFFERS<br />
It's time we sent you<br />
packing. Choose your<br />
next adventure from<br />
our exclusive offers.<br />
8 worldtravellermagazine.com
RARE, INDIGENOUS, CAPTIVATING.<br />
Experience the alluring, golden desert landscape, the captivating silence of nature, the free-roaming<br />
wildlife in the reserve, all enjoyed from your private suite and pool. Indulge in a luxurious desert adventure<br />
with camel treks, horseback riding, falconry, archery, dune drives and more.<br />
HOTELS THAT DEFINE THE DESTINATION<br />
FOR RESERVATIONS, PLEASE CALL 971 4 832 9900<br />
OR VISIT THELUXURYCOLLECTION.COM/ALMAHA
TRENDING DESTINATIONS<br />
Emily Williams, dnata Travel’s resident globetrotter,<br />
reveals the best places to hop on a plane to this month<br />
Chicago<br />
There's much to love about Chicago in <strong>June</strong>. Make the most of the moderate weather and enjoy the open-air music,<br />
food and art festivals, have a picnic in Grant Park, and browse the unique boutiques and outlet malls. A top spot for<br />
foodies, you'll never go hungry here, with a variety of outdoor food festivals taking place throughout the summer,<br />
offering dishes from around the world. And of course, you can try the famous deep-dish pizza at any time of year.<br />
Highlights 1 Take a helicopter flight at dusk for breathtaking views of the illuminated city skyline with narration by an experienced guide.<br />
2 Art buffs should head to the Art Institute of Chicago to see Manet’s works in the Modern Beauty exhibition running until 8 September.<br />
3 Lose yourself in the Lurie gardens, an oasis of beautiful shrubberies and flowers in the middle of the city.<br />
10 worldtravellermagazine.com
TRENDING DESTINATIONS<br />
Amalfi Coast<br />
Fly in to Rome and explore Italy’s ancient past before hopping on a domestic flight to Naples, or driving directly<br />
to the dream-like Amalfi Coast. Take in some of the world’s most incredible coastal landscapes, with rugged cliffs<br />
towering over boutique beaches, olive gardens and lemon groves. Highlights include Sorrento, which sits atop a cliff<br />
with views of Mount Vesuvius, the colourful houses of Positano, and taking a boat trip to the island of Capri.<br />
Highlights 1 Learn how to cook traditional Italian food just like mama, at Mamma Agata’s cooking school. 2 Walk the lemon path from Maiori<br />
to Minori to see the golden fruits aplenty – a scene iconic of the Amalfi coast. 3 Consider travelling 4km to the bay of Conca de’ Marini where<br />
you can discover the Emerald Grotto – a cave with an intense green hue.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 11
Langkawi<br />
In beautiful Langkawi, the oncoming wet season brings comfortable temperatures. Plus, it's less crowded. Best<br />
accessed from Kuala Lumpur via a domestic flight, this coastal gem is geographically closer to Thailand than<br />
mainland Malaysia. There’s much to explore across its 99 islets, with breathtaking beaches interspersed with<br />
tropical rainforests and vibrant towns. Base yourself at a luxury resort for the perfect island escape.<br />
Highlights 1 Climb aboard a boat and explore the mangrove forest where you'll see eagles flying above head. 2 Take an Instagram snap at new<br />
heights: the pedestrianized, 410ft-long Langkawi Sky Bridge offers spectacular views worthy of sharing. 3 Head to the Langkawi night market<br />
to pick up a bargain or two and soak up the bustling ambience.<br />
12 worldtravellermagazine.com
TRENDING DESTINATIONS<br />
Madagascar<br />
It’s not surprising that the remote Indian Ocean island of Madagascar tends to make the bucket list of nature and<br />
wildlife enthusiasts. Here, a high percentage of all plant and animal life, including the endangered lemur, exist<br />
nowhere else on Earth. Fly in via African gateways to access its vast stretches of white-sand beaches, rainforests,<br />
and even active volcanoes. In <strong>June</strong>, before the peak tourist season, rainfall is minimal and the flora is striking.<br />
Highlights 1 Take a cruise to see humpback whales as they arrive for the summer months. 2 Head South to visit the city of Ambositra,<br />
where you will find rich culture including Madagascar’s traditional wood-carving industry. 3 Go camping at Masoala Park, where you<br />
can enjoy hiking the trails before bedding down for a night under the stars.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 13
JUNE<br />
Globetrotter<br />
XXXXXXXXXXXXX<br />
Be informed, be inspired, be there<br />
MAMMA MIA!<br />
Escape to the charming Savelletri di<br />
Fasano, along Italy's Adriatic coast, and<br />
be surrounded by ancient olive groves<br />
at the newly renovated Masseria Torre<br />
Maizza. This stylish Rocco Forte resort<br />
in Puglia, set in an original farmhouse<br />
dating to the 16th century, has 40 suites<br />
with stunning views of the Apulian<br />
countryside. We say book the new twobedroom<br />
Torre Suite on the top floor of<br />
the masseria’s original tower, and live la<br />
dolce vita at the pool, 9-hole golf course<br />
and private beach club.<br />
Photo: Interni Restaurant © Margarita Nikitaki<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 15
GLOBETROTTER<br />
NEW HOTELS<br />
Hot new places<br />
to sleep, dine<br />
and unwind<br />
1 The Wild Hotel, Mykonos<br />
If you're a fan of the Paola<br />
Navone designed Interni<br />
Restaurant in Mykonos,<br />
then you'll love the island's<br />
new hotel from the very<br />
same owner: The Wild Hotel<br />
in Kalafati Beach. Set in a<br />
natural amphitheatre next<br />
to a tiny beachfront village<br />
that was once inhabited by<br />
brave fishermen known as<br />
‘the wild ones', the hotel has<br />
40 suites and villas inspired<br />
by traditional Grecian<br />
architecture. It would be a<br />
tragedy not to stay.<br />
The Wild Hotel<br />
Photo by Yiorgos Kordakis<br />
Bed down in a Deluxe Double<br />
The Wild Hotel<br />
Located on a<br />
picturesque cliffside,<br />
this design-led<br />
retreat has a dreamy<br />
infinity pool with<br />
views across the<br />
Aegean Sea, a<br />
private beach, and<br />
The Taverna serving<br />
classic dishes from<br />
the Cyclades Islands.<br />
The pool at The Wild Hotel<br />
Photo by Yiorgos Kordakis<br />
2 Hotel Hendricks, New<br />
York City<br />
Just one block from the<br />
Fashion District and<br />
Bryant Park in the heart of<br />
Manhattan, this chic Big<br />
Apple bolthole celebrates<br />
its official opening this<br />
month. With interiors<br />
by LA-based designer<br />
Marcello Pozzi, each of the<br />
176 guestrooms boast ace<br />
views of the Empire State<br />
Building and the cityscape.<br />
With two rooftop bars and<br />
the Latin-infused restaurant<br />
Carbonero, it's our new<br />
favourite Midtown hotspot.<br />
Hotel Hendricks<br />
A little touch of<br />
luxury amid the<br />
hustle and bustle of<br />
Midtown, you'll feel<br />
like an insider here.<br />
Be sure to head to<br />
The Zoo rooftop for<br />
panoramic views of<br />
vibrant Manhattan.<br />
A swimming pool with a view<br />
The Zoo rooftop<br />
3 The One Palácio da<br />
Anunciada, Lisbon<br />
This stunning retreat in<br />
exclusive La Baixa is housed<br />
within a restored 16th<br />
century palace that was<br />
once the home of one of<br />
Portugal’s most esteemed<br />
noble families, Condes de<br />
Ericeira. Stay in the Tower<br />
Suite for great views, dine<br />
on traditional Portuguese<br />
fare at Condes de Ericeira<br />
Restaurant and seek out the<br />
century-old dragon tree in<br />
the magnificent gardens.<br />
The One Palácio<br />
da Anunciada<br />
Staying here places<br />
you at the heart<br />
of the city's luxury<br />
shopping district,<br />
and close to the main<br />
tourist attractions,<br />
such as St George’s<br />
Castle and the Santa<br />
Justa Lift.<br />
Make a grand entrance<br />
16 worldtravellermagazine.com
TAKE THE PLUNGE<br />
SCTDA X WORLD TRAVELLER<br />
There are many ways to cool off this summer in the waters of Sharjah. With diving,<br />
kayaking, deep sea fishing and more to enjoy, it’s time to stretch your sea legs…<br />
Kayaking in Kalba<br />
Scuba diving in Khorfakkan<br />
A sunset yoga session in Khorfakkan<br />
Flanked by the Arabian Gulf to the<br />
west and the Indian Ocean to<br />
the east, Sharjah is surrounded<br />
by beautiful stretches of coastline that<br />
call adventure seekers to test their skills<br />
on the water. But you don’t have to be<br />
a seasoned watersports fan to take a<br />
deeper dive into the emirate’s aquatic<br />
allure. Just a short drive east of the city<br />
centre (45 minutes to be precise, thanks<br />
to the new tunnel along the Sharjah-<br />
Khorfakkan road), is the picturesque<br />
bay of Khorfakkan, which is home to<br />
several seafront hotels. With a backdrop<br />
of the Hajar Mountains, this cosy<br />
enclave, which translates to the ‘creek<br />
of two jaws’, enjoys cooler mountain<br />
temperatures, making it the ideal spot<br />
for a summer escape. Visitors can<br />
take part in a host of water activities,<br />
including scuba diving, and discover a<br />
vibrant underwater world.<br />
Further along the east coast is the<br />
historic fishing village of Kalba, which<br />
lays claim to Arabia’s oldest natural<br />
mangrove forest. Get back to nature<br />
by learning more about the area’s rich<br />
ecosystem, which boasts many species<br />
of rare, indigenous wildlife, such as the<br />
eagle owl, that live amid the protected<br />
Fishing in Khorfakkan<br />
natural beaches. Go kayaking through<br />
the mangroves and you can observe some<br />
of the rarest bird species in the world<br />
that thrive in the forest. Next, take an<br />
educational trip to the nearby Kalba Bird<br />
of Prey Centre to learn more about our<br />
feathered friends.<br />
Avid deep sea fishers will find a<br />
reason to cast a line on either side of the<br />
emirate. On the Arabian Gulf side to the<br />
west, you can catch barracuda, kingfish<br />
and trevally, while on the east coast you<br />
may be in the running for yellowfin tuna,<br />
dorado and sailfish.<br />
If you fancy a day of undisturbed<br />
relaxation or beach-side activities, the<br />
beaches of Sharjah are sure to deliver. Al<br />
Khan Beach, near the Al Khan historic<br />
area, is a popular spot for active types as<br />
well as those who prefer to slow down<br />
the pace. Teaming beautiful scenery<br />
with clean, safe waters and a range of<br />
activities to suit all abilities, step into<br />
the gentle surf and feel a wave of calm<br />
wash over you as you ponder your next<br />
big travel adventure.<br />
To find out more, visit sharjah.com<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 17
GLOBETROTTER<br />
Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong<br />
FOODIE FLINGS<br />
Indulge in these gourmet<br />
escapes in Asia's culinary<br />
powerhouse: Hong Kong<br />
STARRY BITES<br />
To celebrate the reopening<br />
of the two Michelin-starred<br />
Amber, and the launch of<br />
three new culinary concepts<br />
– SOMM, Sushi Shikon and<br />
Kappo Rin (the latter two are<br />
limited to just eight seats) –<br />
the Great Gourmet Escape<br />
by The Landmark Mandarin<br />
Oriental, Hong Kong is sure to<br />
tempt you. Stay in a luxurious<br />
suite, with a daily bubbly<br />
breakfast, seven-course<br />
dinner for two at Amber,<br />
late check-out and priority<br />
restaurant reservations.<br />
A TASTE OF THE ARTS<br />
Team a love of art and food<br />
with the zen-inspired private<br />
dining experience inside<br />
Zhi-gang Lu’s art piece,<br />
The Wonder Room, at The<br />
Peninsula Hong Kong. Crafted<br />
using meticulous woodworking<br />
techniques, the complex<br />
egg-shaped structure is a<br />
modern take on the traditional<br />
Chinese teahouse, and marks<br />
the launch of Peninsula's Art<br />
in Resonance programme.<br />
Available until 21 <strong>June</strong>.<br />
ON OUR RADAR<br />
The updated volume of<br />
this coffee table favourite<br />
for globetrotters features<br />
the best of the popular<br />
travel series, with 150<br />
bite-sized itineraries<br />
of the world’s most<br />
captivating cities. The<br />
New York Times 36<br />
Hours <strong>World</strong>, published<br />
by Taschen, taschen.com<br />
Starved of sleep? You<br />
need the Sleep Collection<br />
Journey at One&Only<br />
Reethi Rah in Maldives.<br />
The four-night escape<br />
offers pampering sleep<br />
goodies, soothing<br />
underwater activities,<br />
advice from a sleep trainer<br />
and a 90-minute, slumberinducing<br />
spa treatment.<br />
Not for the faint-hearted,<br />
Anantara Dhigu, Anantara<br />
Veli and Naladhu Private<br />
Island in Maldives now offer<br />
IV Therapy. With sessions<br />
for jet-lag, immunity<br />
anti-ageing and more,<br />
vitamins, minerals and<br />
amino acids are introduced<br />
to the bloodstream via an<br />
intravenous drip.<br />
Spotlighting places<br />
around the world that<br />
have inspired the famous<br />
fashion house, the Gucci<br />
Courrier collection<br />
features patches that<br />
reference Gucci's iconic<br />
store in Piccadilly,<br />
London. Selected pieces<br />
are now available at<br />
Maison Assouline Dubai.<br />
18 worldtravellermagazine.com
GLOBETROTTER<br />
The Langham Huntington, Pasadena<br />
ON LOCATION<br />
Follow in the footsteps of silver screen stars<br />
by visiting these popular filming spots<br />
What: Saving Mr. Banks, Murder She<br />
Wrote, and more<br />
Where: The Langham Huntington,<br />
Pasadena<br />
Filmmakers have long been drawn to the<br />
property’s Spanish Mission architecture,<br />
elegant gardens, and panoramic view<br />
that epitomises the cinematic expression<br />
of Southern California. Today, a new<br />
tour by filming locations explorer Jared<br />
Cowan will guide you on a cinematic<br />
excursion of the hotel, with still images,<br />
film clips and exclusive anecdotes from<br />
industry execs bringing the experience<br />
to life. The 90-minute tour ends with<br />
cream tea in Lonny Lounge.<br />
Get on the scene: Organised by<br />
My Valley Pass and The Langham<br />
Huntington, Pasadena. Available<br />
until 14 July.<br />
What: Aladdin<br />
Where: Wadi Rum and Wadi<br />
Disi in Jordan<br />
Disney’s Aladdin, directed by Guy<br />
Ritchie and featuring an all-star cast<br />
including Will Smith as the Genie,<br />
Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi<br />
Scott as Jasmine, was shot between<br />
Longcross Studios and Arborfield<br />
Studios in the UK and the Hashemite<br />
Kingdom of southern Jordan. On<br />
location filming took place in the<br />
stunning Wadi Rum and Wadi Disi<br />
desert, where Lawrence of Arabia was<br />
shot, with 150 locals joining the UK<br />
crew to help bring the mysterious city<br />
of Agrabah to life.<br />
Get on the scene: Discover the desert<br />
by glamping in a Bedouin style tent at<br />
Wadi Rum Night Luxury Camp.<br />
The filming of Aladdin © Disney<br />
Lights, camera, action!<br />
For the red-carpet treatment on your doorstep, make sure you're among the first to<br />
stay at Paramount Hotel Dubai, which is set to open in Q3 <strong>2019</strong> (it'll be the first ever<br />
property by Paramount Hotels and Resorts in the Middle East). Located in Business<br />
Bay, the design is inspired by Hollywood movie sets, with a screening room, Californiastyle<br />
pool deck and more – even the General Manager is known as ‘the Director’.<br />
Rooms and suites have cinema-inspired names, with exclusive behind-the-scenes<br />
photography from the Paramount Pictures archive on the walls.<br />
20 worldtravellermagazine.com
CREATE<br />
SPECIAL<br />
MOMENTS<br />
WITH US.<br />
Standing tall in the heart of<br />
Dubai Marina, featuring<br />
incomparable panoramic views<br />
of the city, combine the best<br />
of all worlds with luxurious<br />
accommodation, three<br />
contemporary dining<br />
destinations and a blissful<br />
caravanserai-inspired, Saray Spa.<br />
DUBAI MARRIOTT HARBOUR HOTEL & SUITES<br />
KING SALMAN BIN ABDULAZIZ AL SAUD STREET<br />
DUBAI MARINA, PO BOX 66662, DUBAI, UAE<br />
T. 971.4.319.4000 | DUBAIMARRIOTTHARBOURHOTEL.COM<br />
Dubai Marriott Harbour Hotel & Suites<br />
@marriottharbour
KNOW-HOW<br />
The Knowledge<br />
HOW TO...<br />
How to holiday the sustainable way<br />
Give your eco-credentials a boost with these tips for happy<br />
holidays that don’t cost the earth<br />
BEFORE YOU GO<br />
Choose your destination wisely.<br />
“Travelling affects the environment so<br />
explore your transportation options<br />
and, wherever possible, try to minimise<br />
your pollution,” says Randy Durband,<br />
CEO of The Global Sustainable Tourism<br />
Council (GSTC). Remember, you don’t<br />
always need to travel far and wide to<br />
have a brilliant break. There are many<br />
destinations in and around the Middle<br />
East, at which a variety of rich travel<br />
experiences await.<br />
Do you research. “Once you have<br />
decided on your destination, check<br />
for hotels and resorts that have an<br />
active sustainability programme or<br />
eco-friendly initiatives,” says Randy. If<br />
the hotel has been certified by a GSTC<br />
accredited body, it means it has passed<br />
impartial sustainability checks. You<br />
can also look into the eco experiences<br />
and activities on offer. JA Manafaru in<br />
Maldives, for instance, offers a House<br />
Reef Cleaning snorkelling experience<br />
that invites guests to help collect<br />
foreign objects from the reefs. Atlantis,<br />
The Palm in Dubai shines a light on<br />
cultivating marine wildlife, most recently<br />
releasing 15 baby sharks into the Gulf.<br />
Pack lightly. “One’s carbon footprint<br />
includes the amount of weight we<br />
carry,” says Randy. Make an effort to<br />
streamline your suitcase as much as<br />
possible by packing mindfully. Simple<br />
steps can make difference, such as<br />
loading your holiday reads onto your<br />
tablet instead of carrying the physical<br />
books. Even the little things will count,<br />
such as taking your new toothbrush<br />
out of its plastic wrapper ahead of<br />
your trip, so you’re saving space and<br />
avoiding throwing away rubbish at your<br />
destination, where you may not have<br />
access to recycling facilities.<br />
WHILE YOU’RE THERE<br />
Shop consciously. “Don’t haggle for<br />
the lowest price with a vendor who<br />
makes in a week what you spend on<br />
one coffee,” says Randy. Although it<br />
may be tempting to battle it out for a<br />
bargain, be mindful that what may seem<br />
like little money to you could mean a<br />
lot to them. You should also make sure<br />
that your souvenirs don’t contain coral,<br />
shells or wood products harvested from<br />
unsustainable forests.<br />
Swot up on animal rights. “As it comes<br />
down to a matter of opinion, it's not<br />
easy to state which animal attractions<br />
are ethical, but you should always<br />
do your research,” says Randy. “A<br />
good source to learn about the issues<br />
surrounding this topic is animondial.<br />
com.” Although it may be cool to take a<br />
picture riding an elephant, for example,<br />
consider how these animals are being<br />
treated before supporting it with your<br />
money. Look into volunteering at an<br />
animal sanctuary, where you’ll get to<br />
meet animals up close in a safe and<br />
ethical way.<br />
Be a responsible guest. “Be conscious<br />
of your destination’s environmental<br />
challenges,” says Randy. “For example,<br />
limit water usage when visiting desert<br />
destinations.” Opting for showers over<br />
baths, bringing your own reusable<br />
water bottle to refill and making an<br />
effort to reuse your towels are all easy<br />
ways to consume less. If everyone<br />
makes a small effort, it combines to<br />
make a big difference.<br />
WHEN YOU’RE HOME<br />
Share the good stuff. “Write<br />
favourable online reviews about<br />
hotels and attractions that operate<br />
sustainably,” says Randy. You can<br />
influence others to make mindful<br />
holiday choices through the photos<br />
you share and the stories you<br />
tell. Keep learning and spreading<br />
awareness about how good it feels to<br />
holiday with a conscience.<br />
22 worldtravellermagazine.com
WORLD TRAVELLER X LE MÉRIDIEN AL AQAH BEACH RESORT<br />
Rise and shine<br />
Get set for a summer full of adventure at this family-friendly resort in Fujairah<br />
*Terms and conditions apply.<br />
Tucked away between the Indian<br />
Ocean and the Al Hajar mountains,<br />
natural beauty is a given at Le<br />
Méridien Al Aqah Beach Resort, but<br />
there’s more to this Fujairah favourite<br />
than meets the eye. On top of sun, sea<br />
and sand, this popular holiday spot is a<br />
hub for thrill-seekers, with everything<br />
from scuba diving to fly fishing,<br />
abseiling and zip lining on offer.<br />
Drive here from Dubai and you’ll only<br />
need to endure a 90-minute chorus of<br />
“are we nearly there yet?” until you’re<br />
at the centre of all the action. Upon<br />
arrival, check into a spacious Superior<br />
Ocean View Room for a tranquil view of<br />
the swimming pool and beach. Or, for<br />
larger broods, The Penthouse Bedroom<br />
Suite has more than enough space for<br />
six people to bed down in style.<br />
Head to the breakfast buffet where<br />
the aroma of freshly roasted coffee<br />
will get you into active mode, pronto.<br />
Towel in hand, hot step it to Baywatch<br />
village, which hosts the largest freeform<br />
swimming pool on the emirate’s<br />
East Coast. After a morning splashing<br />
about, kids aged four to 16 can join the<br />
Le Meridien Family Club, which has<br />
a non-stop line-up of activities and<br />
entertainment. Meanwhile, mum and<br />
dad can check into Al Aqah Spa for a<br />
relaxing couples’ massage followed by a<br />
dip in the plunge pool.<br />
Next, for some adrenaline-pumping<br />
family fun, get warmed up for the<br />
resort’s own obstacle course, the Al<br />
Aqah Challenge. Featuring the firstof-its-kind<br />
rope course tower on the<br />
East Coast, you can take part in five<br />
activities under the watchful eye of<br />
the expert instructors. From zooming<br />
through the air on the zip lines to<br />
scaling the climbing wall, it’s sure to<br />
bring out your competitive side.<br />
After a jam-packed day, your appetite<br />
will surely be reaching a peak. As luck<br />
would have it, the resort is home to<br />
eight dining venues. Sink your teeth<br />
into delicious grills at the beachfront<br />
Gonu, or head to Views Restaurant for<br />
an east-meets-west fusion buffet and<br />
live music. Alternatively, check out hot<br />
new foodie spot Taste, which serves<br />
flavourful Indian and Thai food.<br />
What’s more, during the summer,<br />
you can enjoy the full Al Aqah<br />
experience for less, with Marriott<br />
Bonvoy members saving up to 25%<br />
and non-members receiving 15% off<br />
everything until 25 September*.<br />
To find out more, visit marriott.com<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 23
Wake up to dazzling sea views<br />
A taste for luxury<br />
Combine a love of food and travel at this Thai-inspired resort in Dubai, where<br />
bespoke dining experiences and summer savings make it a trip to remember<br />
In his Meditations on Gastronomy,<br />
philosopher Jean Brillat-Savarin boldly<br />
said, “The discovery of a new dish does<br />
more for the happiness of the human race<br />
than the discovery of a star.” With cutlery<br />
in place of a telescope, Anantara The Palm<br />
Dubai Resort promises to put a smile on<br />
your face with its delicious line-up of<br />
memorable dining experiences.<br />
Famous for its over-water villas, this<br />
luxurious resort occupies a premium spot<br />
on the East Crescent of Palm Jumeirah,<br />
delivering an idyllic beach experience that’s<br />
within easy reach of the bright lights of the<br />
big city. Currently, you can save up to 30%<br />
on a One Bedroom Over Water Villa or a<br />
One Bedroom Beach Pool Villa, complete<br />
with a daily buffet breakfast for two. Once<br />
you’ve found your feet, let the culinary<br />
team whisk you off on a gastronomic<br />
journey like no other. At the top of the<br />
wish list is the bespoke Dining by Design<br />
experience, which takes place on a secluded<br />
slice of sand, offering a curated collection<br />
of menus to pick from. Or, for a true taste of<br />
culinary extravagance, you can collaborate<br />
with a personal chef to tailor a fine feast<br />
that ticks all the boxes. Candles set the<br />
mood for this exclusive romantic meal for<br />
two while the sea laps the shore, providing<br />
the ultimate tranquil soundtrack. A butler<br />
is on hand during the meal to tend to any<br />
request you may have.<br />
After a day swimming in lagoon, or<br />
unwinding at your private pool, perhaps<br />
you’re in the mood for a lighter evening<br />
24 worldtravellermagazine.com
WORLD TRAVELLER X ANANTARA THE PALM DUBAI RESORT<br />
meal? Anantara’s Sunset Dining experience<br />
allows just that. Relish the handpicked<br />
selection of Mediterranean antipasti,<br />
including international cured meats and<br />
fine cheeses, as the amber and golden hues<br />
of the sunset provide a blissful ambience.<br />
It’s priced at Dhs600 per couple for<br />
antipasti, dessert and a bottle of grape.<br />
Those with exotic tastes can immerse<br />
themselves in Anantara’s Thai heritage by<br />
taking a cooking class at Spice Spoons. This<br />
richly interactive, step-by-step cooking<br />
experience will teach you how to make an<br />
array of authentic Thai dishes. Not only can<br />
you enjoy your creations for lunch, but you<br />
can take your new skill back home with you<br />
as a lasting memory of your holiday.<br />
Once your appetite is satisfied, you<br />
can round off your trip by trying some<br />
of the non-foodie experiences on offer.<br />
Watersports abound with waterskiing,<br />
kayaking and wakeboarding fit for<br />
thrillseekers. Those seeking a more<br />
serene experience out at sea can try paddle<br />
boarding or fishing. If you’re in the mood<br />
to be pampered, you can indulge with a<br />
traditional hammam or a tension-busting<br />
massage. However you prefer to spend<br />
your down time, this tropical paradise is a<br />
magnet for all those with good taste.<br />
To find out more, call +971 4 567 8888<br />
or visit anantara.com<br />
Join a Spice Spoons<br />
cooking class<br />
The Dining by Design experience takes<br />
place on a secluded stretch of sand<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 25
XXXXXXXXXXXXX<br />
IceHotel365<br />
Cool ideas for summer<br />
Still sweating over your plans for<br />
the summer? Fear not, we have the<br />
answers. Lots of them. Whether<br />
you fancy a drop in temperature,<br />
endless sunshine or simply staying<br />
put to take advantage of amazing<br />
hotel deals, we'll take you there<br />
26 worldtravellermagazine.com
SUMMER TRAVEL <strong>2019</strong><br />
HEAD SOMEWHERE CHILLED<br />
Iceland<br />
Things don't get much cooler than Iceland's<br />
soaring glaciers, and summer (when it's<br />
warmer and sunny) is the best time to<br />
explore their mighty magnificence. Do so<br />
while strapped into a snowmobile.<br />
New Zealand<br />
The seasons are flipped below the equator<br />
so while we're sweltering, New Zealanders<br />
are throwing on their thermals and hitting the<br />
slopes. Join them in the North Island and you<br />
can ski on an active volcano at Mt Ruapehu.<br />
Australia<br />
You don't have to go to extremes to enjoy<br />
cooler climes. Sydney is a brilliant city all year<br />
round, and its temperate winter is perfect for<br />
discovering it on foot and via ferry.<br />
St Petersberg<br />
Svalbard<br />
Sweden<br />
The country's original Ice Hotel is rebuilt<br />
every winter, yet its younger sibling, Ice<br />
Hotel365, is a 20-room permanent palace of<br />
ice – and a cooling -5°C inside.<br />
Sydney<br />
Iceland<br />
Enjoy endless<br />
sunshine<br />
(literally)<br />
1As the official hometown<br />
of Santa Claus, you'd<br />
expect the beautiful<br />
wilderness of Finland's<br />
Rovaniemi to be abuzz at<br />
Christmas, but its appeal in<br />
summer is equally magical:<br />
24hr daylight, thanks to its<br />
position on the Arctic Circle.<br />
Plenty of time to pack the<br />
likes of horseback riding and<br />
husky rides into your day –<br />
or even a trip to see Santa,<br />
who's always on duty here.<br />
2An archipelago that's<br />
halfway between<br />
Norway and the North<br />
Pole, Svalbard is actually<br />
home to more polar bears<br />
than humans – and the<br />
world's northernmost sushi<br />
restaurant. Its polar summer<br />
means it's in daylight until<br />
the end of September, a time<br />
when its fjords are flooded<br />
by the arrival of whales, a<br />
sight best observed by kayak.<br />
3You don't have to head<br />
somewhere remote<br />
to bask in the glow of<br />
endless daylight. During the<br />
so-named White Nights of<br />
summer (mid-<strong>June</strong> is the<br />
peak), the sun never truly<br />
sets on St Petersberg – cue<br />
a time for myriad festivals,<br />
concerts and alfreso parties.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 27
LIVE THE HIGH LIFE<br />
Take your childhood dreams to the next level by bedding<br />
down inside these luxury treehouses designed especially<br />
for grown-ups. Set amid lush rainforest, Keemala in<br />
Phuket (pictured), has seven treehouses, as well as the<br />
cleverly designed Bird's Nest Pool Villas, so you can take<br />
a dip amid the branches. For a touch of Maldives magic,<br />
the Skyhouse with Bubble villa at Amilla Fushi calls<br />
with its infinity pool extended over the treetops and the<br />
bubble itself housing a telescope, daybed, and removable<br />
roof for stargazing. If you're game for something a bit<br />
more rustic, La Cabane en L’Air in France is a collection<br />
of some 200 treehouses spread across the country. We<br />
rate the Cabane Spa Vintage treehouse in Aquitaine,<br />
which wows with its pink vintage car on the terrace and<br />
breathtaking views of the Garonne Valley.<br />
28 worldtravellermagazine.com
SUMMER TRAVEL <strong>2019</strong><br />
Beat the crowds to see one of these<br />
in-the-know places<br />
Opposite: A Bird's Nest Pool<br />
Villa, Keemala in Phuket<br />
This page, clockwise from top:<br />
Aso Rock, Abuja; Tashkent; Sochi<br />
ABUJA, NIGERIA<br />
With Emirates launching<br />
three additional flights each<br />
week from the beginning<br />
of <strong>June</strong>, it has never been<br />
easier to get from Dubai to<br />
Nigeria’s capital city and seat<br />
of political power. Abuja runs<br />
at a different pace to Lagos,<br />
with lots to do outdoors.<br />
Take time out to visit the<br />
imposing Aso Rock before<br />
exploring the many green<br />
spaces, such as Millennium<br />
Park, which was designed by<br />
world-renowned architect<br />
Manfredi Nicoletti.<br />
TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN<br />
The capital and largest city<br />
of Uzbekistan, Tashkent is<br />
a hotspot for culture buffs,<br />
with more than 2,200 years<br />
of history and almost 50<br />
museums to discover. Start<br />
by paying a trip to the<br />
State Museum of History of<br />
Uzbekistan, one of the oldest<br />
museums in Central Asia<br />
with more than 300,000<br />
exhibits. Next, embark on<br />
an architecture tour to take<br />
in the beautiful mosques,<br />
madrassahs and skyscrapers.<br />
There are five flights a week<br />
from Dubai, via Flydubai – a<br />
route that launched in March<br />
this year.<br />
SOCHI, RUSSIA<br />
This Black Sea city, which<br />
hosted the 2014 Winter<br />
Olympics and Paralympics,<br />
teams stunning scenery<br />
with culture thanks to its<br />
mountainous coastline and<br />
historical sites. Take a peek<br />
inside Stalin’s Dacha, the<br />
historic summer residence<br />
of Joseph Stalin, and shop<br />
the famous fruit markets,<br />
stopping to taste a local<br />
delicacy: Russian Lavash (a<br />
baked flatbread) with a warm<br />
cup of tea. Flydubai will<br />
whizz you here from Dubai<br />
from 7 <strong>June</strong>.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 29
GET A REAL<br />
TASTE FOR<br />
A CITY<br />
Its name may not roll of the tongue<br />
(O, da! Eda!, which translates to<br />
English as Oh, yes! That's food!) but<br />
this annual Moscow festival (<strong>June</strong><br />
2-28) promises to serve up the whole<br />
gastronomic panorama of Moscow,<br />
giving guests the opportunity to<br />
sample dishes from start-ups to<br />
established restaurants and chefs of<br />
the calibre of Vladimir Mukhin.<br />
Nordic cuisine still commands<br />
a seat at the top table of on trend<br />
gastronomic fare and Copenhagen<br />
Cooking is one of the biggest food<br />
festivals in Northern Europe. For ten<br />
days from 23 August you can gorge<br />
on a smörgåsbord of Nordic dishes<br />
cooked up by stellar name chefs.<br />
The northeasternmost US state<br />
of Maine is famous for its succulent<br />
lobsters, so much so that there's a<br />
dedicated festival - Maine Lobster<br />
Festival, 31 July to 4 August – at<br />
which 19,000 pounds of the coveted<br />
crustaceans are cooked up. If you're<br />
partial to a lobster roll, this is where<br />
you can chow down on the ultimate<br />
grilled sandwich.<br />
30 worldtravellermagazine.com
SUMMER TRAVEL <strong>2019</strong><br />
Try out a soon-to-be<br />
family favourite<br />
GET QUEUING... FOR STAR WARS: GALAXY'S EDGE<br />
Disney splashed a sum that was out of this galaxy to land the Star<br />
Wars franchise, and continues to invest heavily in it. Before the finale<br />
to the original series of movies drops in December, Star Wars fans<br />
have long anticipated the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, a<br />
14-acre Star Wars land added to both Disneyland in California (open<br />
now) and Disney <strong>World</strong> in Florida (opening in the fall), both of which<br />
reportedly cost a cool $1 billion to build. Rides include Millennium<br />
Falcon: Smugglers Run, which puts riders at the control of Han Solo's<br />
legendary ship, and the forthcoming Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance,<br />
an interactive battle against the First Order. May the force be with you.<br />
ALL ABOARD... BRITAIN'S FIRST NEW SLEEPER TRAIN IN 35 YEARS<br />
With the idea to offer a hotel on wheels, the new Caledonian Sleeper<br />
service, which hits the tracks from London to Edinburgh and Glasgow,<br />
is the first time you can spend the night in a double bed on a UK railway.<br />
Departing London a little before midnight, your pyjama-clad clan can<br />
bed down in an en-suite Caledonian Double and wake in Scotland to<br />
Highland porridge with honey for breakfast. Adventure awaits.<br />
GO WILD... WITH BEAR GRYLLS<br />
Before The Bear Grylls Survival Academy opens on Ras Al Khaimah's<br />
Jebel Jais next year, you'll have to travel to the UK or US to partake of<br />
his exhilarating adventure courses, designed for fathers and sons, and<br />
mothers and daughters alike. The Primal Survival Family Adventure<br />
teaches myriad survival skills as you cross testing terrain for 24hrs. This<br />
is what happens when you call a child Bear.<br />
Left: Mikkeller & Friends,<br />
Copenhagen<br />
Inset: Star Wars: Galaxy's<br />
Edge © Disney<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 31
RECONNECT WITH YOURSELF AND OTHERS<br />
Samujana<br />
Feeling overwhelmed with life? Push<br />
the reset button in the lush green jungle<br />
of Lipa in the Philippines, where The<br />
Farm at San Benito is offering a new<br />
mental health programme for those<br />
who are affected by depression, stress,<br />
and anxiety. A 90-minute drive south<br />
of Manila, this holistic medical wellness<br />
resort has a team of professionals<br />
on hand to help rid you of unwanted<br />
thoughts. Expect psychotherapy<br />
sessions, hydrotherapy and daily<br />
movement activities, including mandala<br />
flower arrangement, with nourishing<br />
homegrown vegan food aplenty.<br />
Yoga buffs can practise their sun<br />
salutations at Samujana in Koh Samui,<br />
which promises to refresh body and<br />
mind with its health and wellbeing<br />
holidays. Each of the villas have a<br />
private infinity pool for moments of<br />
reflection, and little touches make it<br />
easy to kick-start a healthier lifestyle,<br />
with yoga mats in the living room,<br />
nutritious snacks in the mini-bar,<br />
meditation apps on the in-room mobile,<br />
and a delicious detox menu to dine<br />
from. You can book a one-, two- or<br />
three-day programme that'll hook you<br />
up with healthy meals, yoga sessions,<br />
pampering spa treatments and more.<br />
If being a master in the kitchen feeds<br />
your soul, you can take time out to learn<br />
some culinary skills at Sauce by The<br />
Sauce by The Langham<br />
Langham, the new informal cookery<br />
school at the five-star hotel in London.<br />
There are classes to suit all confidence<br />
levels and abilities, including Building<br />
Blocks for enthusiastic home cooks,<br />
which will put you through you paces<br />
by honing your knife skills, teaching you<br />
how to make fresh pasta, and helping<br />
you learn the basics of preparing stocks<br />
and sauces. With up to 12 people per<br />
class, it's a great way to meet likeminded<br />
foodies, while focusing on you.<br />
Throw caution to<br />
the wind<br />
The white sands, swaying coconut palms, and glistening<br />
waters of the Indian Ocean can be all yours at Naladhu<br />
Private Island Maldives, which is now available for private<br />
takeovers. Here, you and your entourage (there are 20<br />
houses dotted across the island) can craft a tailor-made<br />
stay, with everything from snorkelling with sharks to<br />
picnics on the sandbanks just a finger click away.<br />
32 worldtravellermagazine.com
SUMMER TRAVEL <strong>2019</strong><br />
STAY HOME AND<br />
HOTEL HOP<br />
1To the desert. Channel<br />
your inner David<br />
Attenborough by getting<br />
an up-close view of indigenous<br />
wildlife, such as Arabian oryx<br />
and gazelles, albeit from the<br />
comfort of your temperaturecontrolled<br />
infinity pool, at Al<br />
Maha, a Luxury Collection<br />
Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai.<br />
An enduring favourite for a<br />
traditional Arabian experience,<br />
the resort is nestled amid the<br />
golden dunes of Dubai Desert<br />
Conservation Reserve.<br />
2To the city. If it's<br />
sweeping views of the<br />
skyline you're after, the<br />
new voco Dubai more than<br />
delivers. Situated in the heart of<br />
all the action on Sheikh Zayed<br />
Road, each of the rooms have<br />
floor-to-ceiling panoramic<br />
windows, so you can gaze at<br />
the city in all its glory.<br />
Clockwise from top:<br />
Al Maha, a Luxury<br />
Collection Desert<br />
Resort & Spa, Dubai;<br />
voco Dubai; JA Hatta<br />
Fort Hotel; Mandarin<br />
Oriental Jumeira,<br />
Dubai<br />
3To the sea. If you've<br />
already stayed your way<br />
around Palm Jumeirah,<br />
it may be time to nudge<br />
yourself along the coast a little<br />
to Mandarin Oriental Jumeira,<br />
Dubai – the emirate's closest<br />
beachfront resort to Downtown<br />
Dubai. Hit the sand for an early<br />
morning sunbathing session,<br />
dine overlooking the sea at The<br />
Bay and be pampered in the<br />
spa – just be sure to request a<br />
room with a sea view.<br />
4To the mountains. A<br />
firm family favourite,<br />
JA Hatta Fort Hotel is<br />
a happy hideaway set against<br />
the stunning backdrop of the<br />
Al Hajar Mountains. There are<br />
plenty of ways to get active<br />
here, from exploring the<br />
rugged bike trails, to hiking in<br />
the mountains, whizzing down<br />
the zip line and kayaking in the<br />
lakes. You'll feel a world away.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 33
worldtravellermagazine.com<br />
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worldtravellermagazine.com 35
CUBA<br />
This page: A dapper<br />
gent with outsized cigar<br />
poses in front of Havana's<br />
traditional architecture<br />
Opposite: Vintage pink<br />
American convertible<br />
36 worldtravellermagazine.com
LAOS<br />
How to do<br />
Cuba<br />
Colonial mansions with crumbling facades. Big,<br />
fat cigars, revolutionary billboards, salsa and<br />
sandy beaches — you’ve seen them all in your<br />
travel fantasies. Now let expert Claire Boobbyer<br />
show you how to make the dream a reality...<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 37
ith its cigar-smoking<br />
rebels, sparkling<br />
seas, vintage vehicles,<br />
potent music, and<br />
locals who survive<br />
on their wits and humour, Cuba will<br />
almost certainly steal your heart. But like<br />
so many seducers, this tropical island,<br />
shaded a Socialist red on the map, is<br />
complicated. It's at once gorgeous and<br />
falling apart; ridiculously rich in culture,<br />
but short on basic goods and common<br />
conveniences. (Cuba's not for you if you<br />
need Instagram connection 24/7; or if<br />
you don't handle train cancellations well;<br />
or if you come over shaky when you can't<br />
find a breakfast latte with soya milk.)<br />
The island's fairly large and packs in<br />
a lot of encounters and experiences, so<br />
you'll need two weeks to do it justice.<br />
For us, that means seeing the highlights<br />
and a bit more: the capital Havana; lush<br />
Viñales Valley; Trinidad and Santiago<br />
cities; and the distant east - jungly Oriente<br />
is Cuba's best-kept secret and you won't<br />
regret stretching your time. Anxious<br />
about bypassing urbane Santa Clara<br />
and coastal Cienfuegos towns? You'll<br />
get more colonial grandeur and better<br />
beaches on the route mapped out here.<br />
Delays and safety concerns make<br />
domestic flights a bad idea and car hire is<br />
expensive and convoluted. Instead, do as<br />
most travellers do and take cross-country<br />
coaches or hire a car and driver. Pack<br />
patience, flexibility, your sense of humour<br />
and your glad rags. Cuba's infectious<br />
magic will knock you sideways. From<br />
cutting-edge art and hip-swivelling music<br />
to wild beaches, colonial hotspots and<br />
brilliant B&Bs, here's how to pack it all in...<br />
DAYS 1-3<br />
HOT-RIGHT-NOW HAVANA<br />
Havana is utterly beautiful. Not quite<br />
the starlet she once was, perhaps, but<br />
her 500-year-old bone structure is still<br />
there, in primped-up plazas and swanky<br />
mansions. The city is Cuba's political and<br />
cultural capital and, more prosaically,<br />
has the biggest airport for arrivals. Most<br />
flights touch down in time for dinner<br />
and drinks, and you'd be nuts not to take<br />
advantage. From the airport, Havana is 40<br />
minutes by taxi via a flipbook of socialist<br />
billboards. Few places on Earth offer<br />
stays in such splendour for such great<br />
value - think Spanish colonial romance<br />
These pages, clockwise from<br />
above: Mural of revolutionary<br />
Che Guevara in Plaza de la<br />
Revolution, Havana; Cuban<br />
local in traditionally colourful<br />
dress with hand-rolled cigar;<br />
fishing off the Malecon at<br />
sunset; a dish of fried octopus<br />
38 worldtravellermagazine.com
CUBA<br />
meets Art Deco. Havana is a city on the up,<br />
and you'll find its coolest creative types<br />
on the rooftop at El del Frente (O'Reilly<br />
303). Come and dine alfresco, then slip<br />
into speakeasy-feel Cero Habana (Aguiar<br />
209). Prefer somewhere more established?<br />
Anyone with a guidebook will know about<br />
Ernest Hemingway's favourite haunts.<br />
By all means take a stool at his favoured<br />
spot, El Floridita (Obispo 557), and drink<br />
in the long, classy lounge and live music<br />
along with your drink. But avoid La<br />
Bodeguita del Medio (Empedrado 207),<br />
which does the city's worst Mojito.<br />
The plundered loot of Spain's Latin<br />
American empire was funnelled through<br />
Havana for more than 200 years, via the<br />
so-called treasure fleets. And the silver<br />
cascading through the Atlantic-facing<br />
city needed protection — with forts<br />
mostly built by African slaves — to defy<br />
those pirates of the Caribbean. Havana's<br />
wealth was later bolstered by sugar<br />
exports, and profits were invested in<br />
handsome bricks and mortar. Now those<br />
Old Havana streets are made for walking,<br />
between UNESCO-protected Baroque<br />
churches, bougainvillea-draped portals,<br />
lofty mansions, muscular fortresses and<br />
kerbside cafés. The four main plazas —<br />
Catedral, Armas, Vieja and San Francisco<br />
— are highlights. Devote time to the<br />
plush presidential-palaceturned-Museum<br />
of the Revolution, which charts Cuba's<br />
history of rebellion. In the Museum of<br />
Fine Arts, take a guided tour of the Cuban<br />
collection (make for the avant-garde and<br />
contemporary art floors). Artsy types<br />
can go further with a curator-guide<br />
(Sussette Martínez; sussem@gmail.com),<br />
visiting artists' home-studios: maybe see<br />
a Cadillac converted into a submarine,<br />
or a Che Guevara 'Turin' shroud.<br />
Wherever you're going, grab a rickshawstyle<br />
bicycle taxi for speed. Havana's<br />
almendrón taxi system — classic cars<br />
running fixed routes — has disintegrated<br />
somewhat. Now, you'll pay $6-$9 for<br />
taxis for journeys of up to 4km. The<br />
hop-on-hop-off circulating red tourist<br />
bus is for people with plenty of time.<br />
Shimmy along for matinee rumba at<br />
tight, sweaty and untouristy El Jelengue<br />
de Areito in Centro Habana, a dilapidated<br />
residential zone. After dinner, look<br />
out for the green light bulb on Calle 11<br />
marking under-the-radar La Casa de la<br />
Bombilla Verde, to hear live nueva trova<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 39
CUBA<br />
These pages: Viñales<br />
Valley in the Sierra de los<br />
Órganos mountains<br />
40 worldtravellermagazine.com
CUBA<br />
music. Your next address is the city's<br />
Fábrica de Arte Cubano for challenging<br />
photography, singer-songwriters,<br />
avant-garde dance and the chance to<br />
mingle with Cuban entrepreneurs. Do<br />
this lot and you'll have captured Cuba's<br />
political, social and cultural zeitgeist.<br />
You can sleep when you get home.<br />
Take the strain off your feet on your<br />
last day in Havana and make your way<br />
through Centro by bicycle taxi for a<br />
window onto street life — having first<br />
bought a cigar factory ticket, available<br />
from any hotel. The H Upmann<br />
Factory tour reveals one of the world's<br />
most aromatic and elaborate crafts.<br />
Buy cigars from official 'Habanos'<br />
stores only (on the street, you might<br />
get fakes made of dried banana).<br />
If cigars aren't your bag, try a farmto-table<br />
cooking class at organic<br />
paradise Finca Tungasuk (tungasuk.<br />
com) in buried-in-the-bushes Caimito,<br />
40 minutes from Havana. Or make like<br />
Rihanna in Havana and hire a Cadillac<br />
with driver (malecon663.com). Explore<br />
the two castles defending the Bay of<br />
Havana, then motor to the leafy, artsy<br />
El Vedado district, home to weddingcake<br />
mansions, top paladares (private<br />
restaurants), and music venues. After<br />
snapping the monumental Plaza de<br />
la Revolución, step into Christopher<br />
Columbus Cemetery for the largest<br />
communion of marble angels in Latin<br />
America (see a husband's devotion<br />
embodied in bronze, stone and Lalique<br />
glass at Catalina Lasa's tomb). In the<br />
golden hour before sunset, cruise up<br />
and down Havana's seaside boulevard,<br />
the Malecón, with its hymn to fabulous,<br />
colourful architectural eclecticism<br />
Toast your time in Havana with a drink<br />
on the roof of the Kempinski hotel; you'll<br />
have a great view of curlicued motifs on<br />
theatres and museums. Partygoers should<br />
end the night dancing salsa in front of<br />
a live band at alfresco Club 1830. In the<br />
Old Town, music-crawl the lounges of<br />
Calle Obispo: La Lluvia de Oro is a winner<br />
for its old-time looks and live bands.<br />
DAYS 4-5<br />
VERDANT VIÑALES<br />
Rise early for Víazul's 9am coach to<br />
Viñales, 180km west of Havana. You'll<br />
want as much time as transport allows<br />
‘<br />
CHRISTOPHER<br />
COLUMBUS SAID<br />
OF BARACOA: 'SO<br />
MUCH BEAUTY<br />
THAT I CAN FIND<br />
NO WORDS TO<br />
DESCRIBE IT'<br />
’<br />
in the town and its lush valley. UNESCOprotected<br />
Viñales Valley is a vision of<br />
velvet-green mountains rising from<br />
palms, tobacco plants and ruddy red soil<br />
tilled by oxen and plough. Besides the<br />
country air, its greatest draws are the<br />
organic food, horse-riding and rockclimbing.<br />
And you'll see much better<br />
valley sights than those tipped in the<br />
guidebooks on a walk with a guide from<br />
the Visitors' Centre (close to Hotel Los<br />
Jazmines; 8.30am-5pm). Otherwise,<br />
stroll around a private mogote with<br />
farmer Omar from Casa Omar y Mayra<br />
(casaomarymayra@gmail.com), or ask<br />
your B&B to help you hire horses for<br />
a guided ride to the unspoilt Valley of<br />
Silence. Swap valley sunsets the next<br />
day for tangerine-coloured starfish at<br />
Cayo Jutías, a sparkling white beach<br />
that's an easy day-trip with one of the<br />
travel agencies on the small main strip.<br />
Or hire a taxi to take you to the tobacco<br />
farm of Hector Luis Prieto (hectorfinca.<br />
com). He does a superb tour and creole<br />
lunch for a bargain price. The insatiable<br />
could squeeze in both by private taxi.<br />
DAYS 6-7<br />
TRINIDAD: COLONIAL<br />
SPLENDOUR<br />
There's no quick fix to reach Trinidad,<br />
but it's a must-visit for its pistachio-and<br />
cinnamon-coloured homes, dreamy<br />
palaces, and coppery horses ridden by<br />
mangón (very good-looking) cowboys<br />
trotting through town. Víazul's daily<br />
bus from Viñales takes nine-and-ahalf<br />
hours (or rent a car). But if you're<br />
prepared for a little organised chaos,<br />
you can keep it to six or seven hours by<br />
taking collective taxis. Vintage vehicles<br />
pick up passengers from Viñales B&Bs<br />
and drive them to a highway restaurant;<br />
you could then be shifted to another<br />
vehicle and redirected to Trinidad. It<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 41
CUBA<br />
sounds like a jumbled plan, but go with<br />
it you'll never be stranded in Cuba.<br />
Trinidad was central to Cuba's 19thcentury<br />
sugar boom, and its wealthy<br />
sugar barons enshrined egos in stone:<br />
palaces embellished with all the finest<br />
furniture, frescoes and chandeliers<br />
money could buy. You can sleep amid<br />
the grandeur at some of the small city's<br />
finest homes. The next day, gain full<br />
immersion by just wandering. A cluster<br />
of music venues, all within a stone’s<br />
throw of each other, makes flirting with<br />
each one a cinch. Top dazzler is Casa de<br />
la Trova, a traditional colonial home with<br />
live bands and a patio for dancing. If you<br />
know the moves, wait at the edge for a<br />
partner to approach. If you're a learner,<br />
standby, too. It's the only way to improve<br />
and Cubans are accommodating.<br />
Morning light spills over Trinidad<br />
in a golden sheen. Photographer Julio<br />
Muñoz has been capturing life there for<br />
years. His easy manner and contacts<br />
make his street-photography tour a<br />
nuanced introduction beyond the city's<br />
UNESCO-protected chocolate-box façade.<br />
Later, climb the observation tower at<br />
the Cantero Palace history museum,<br />
where a central fountain once sprinkled<br />
eau de cologne for the ladies and spirits<br />
for society gents. Look out for the faces<br />
of Trinidad's elderly folk exquisitely<br />
carved into abandoned door pieces at<br />
the gallery of Lázaro Niebla Castro.<br />
DAYS 8-10<br />
SIGHTS AND SALSA<br />
IN SANTIAGO<br />
Santiago is steeped in history, humidity<br />
and a rocking music scene. With<br />
African, Haitian and Jamaican roots, its<br />
vibe is more Caribbean than Havana's.<br />
To get there from Trinidad, don't spend<br />
a day on Víazul's direct route: (12hr<br />
50min); instead take a $50 taxi to Sancti<br />
Spíritus (about one hour north) and<br />
catch the 3.10pm bus or an overnighter<br />
(9.10pm and 1.50am; 10hr 20min).<br />
Don't pack all the sights into your<br />
first day — plan a siesta, breaks on the<br />
Casa Granda hotel terrace or coffee at<br />
museum café Casa Dranguet. Explore<br />
highlights of the 500-year-old historic<br />
core on foot: the first governor's<br />
mansion and the Moncada Museum,<br />
charting Fidel Castro's rise to power.<br />
Start the night at funky alfresco chess<br />
‘<br />
MAGUANA IS THE CUTEST BEACH<br />
CORNER IN CUBA. IF YOU SQUEEZED<br />
IN A DIP IN THE AREA'S GLASSY<br />
RIVER OF HONEY, LEGEND SAYS<br />
YOU'LL RETURN TO BARACOA<br />
’<br />
café, Café Ajedrez, with its live bands,<br />
followed by evening ensembles at Casa<br />
de la Trova, and a storming end-ofnight<br />
salsa shiver at Bar Claqueta. Next<br />
day, swap city for country and hire a<br />
car and driver through Out of the Box<br />
(outofthebox.zone). Plan to take in<br />
glorious Avenida Manduley mansions in<br />
the Vista Alegre district, Fidel Castro's<br />
tomb at magnificent marble Santa<br />
Ifigenia Cemetery, and impressive<br />
UNESCO-protected El Morro Castle<br />
at the mouth of Santiago Bay. Time<br />
your visit for the sunset cannon-firing<br />
ceremony. Fancy carnival? Come in July,<br />
prepared for stifling temperatures.<br />
DAYS 11-14<br />
BARACOA: BEAUTIFUL<br />
BEACHES<br />
Baracoa is spellbinding. Some of the<br />
world's smallest species of bird, frog<br />
and bat live here, as does the rainbowcoloured<br />
hyper-local natural beauty the<br />
polymita snail. These small wonders<br />
inhabit the coconut palms, cocoa trees,<br />
coffee bushes and pine forests of this<br />
Atlantic region. When Christopher<br />
Columbus first glimpsed the wild<br />
beaches and green slopes in 1492, he<br />
wrote there was 'so much beauty that<br />
I can find no words to describe it'.<br />
A Víazul bus from Santiago at 7.40am<br />
can get you to this tropical enclave in<br />
time for lunch. Climb the hill to Hotel<br />
El Castillo for lush views of anvil-flat<br />
mountain El Yunque, and map out the<br />
following days' plans. For wild beach<br />
exploration, head south, going off-piste<br />
on hired bikes (baracoabikerental.com)<br />
or in a cab ($30 return). At Manglito<br />
Beach, sink into an Adirondack chair<br />
with a drink, and order fresh seafood<br />
from Tato's food shack. Hike up through<br />
palms the next day to El Yunque's<br />
summit. The views of the nibbled<br />
Atlantic coastline — a jade-green<br />
forest hemline against a peacock-blue<br />
sea — are awesome. After that you'll<br />
want relaxation. You can find it at<br />
Maguana, the cutest beach corner in<br />
Cuba, a rugged 22km north of Baracoa.<br />
Then grit your teeth, book a cab<br />
to Baracoa's bus station, and catch<br />
the 1pm coach all the way back to<br />
Havana (17hr 30min). If you squeezed<br />
in a dip in the area's glassy River<br />
of Honey, legend says you'll return<br />
to Baracoa. You know you will.<br />
Inspired to travel? To book a trip, call<br />
+971 4 316 6666 or visit dnatatravel.com<br />
Credit: The Sunday Times Travel Magazine/ News Licensing<br />
42 worldtravellermagazine.com
These pages, from left:<br />
Maguana Beach, Baracoa;<br />
a Cuban bass player heads<br />
to a gig<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 43
INDONESIA<br />
This page: The pool<br />
at Amanpuri<br />
44 worldtravellermagazine.com
THAILAND<br />
Blazing curries, festivals sizzling with street life,<br />
buildings as pretty as patisserie — who said Phuket was all beaches<br />
and revelry? Nick Redman tries an authentic Thai<br />
omewhere I stopped in at a café<br />
laced with bougainvillea and<br />
open to a street that smelt of<br />
washing powder and incense.<br />
I was heading to fill my face at Naka<br />
night market, beyond Phuket Town, but<br />
the server wiping the laminated pink<br />
tablecloths pulled me in with her grin.<br />
Her doughnuts, just shaken from the<br />
pan and billowing steam, sealed the<br />
deal: puffs of hot, sweet, delicious air.<br />
With a tankard of sugar-laced iced tea,<br />
I must have consumed 2,000 calories<br />
— and I still hadn't had dinner.<br />
When I eventually located it, Naka<br />
market was a welcome sight. Sweetpotato<br />
balls skittered around deep pans<br />
of oil, trailing bubbles, while skewered<br />
squids the colour of tangerines spat<br />
in lines over orange coals. Roe-topped<br />
sushi glistened like fat pink brooches,<br />
drawing Thai families and backpackers<br />
alike into a mild scrum. And that,<br />
as they say, was just for starters.<br />
I'd come to Phuket, essentially, for<br />
a beach holiday, despite knowing that<br />
Thai purists often roll their eyes at the<br />
mention of the name: overdeveloped,<br />
overpriced, basically just over, as tinier<br />
idylls tempt more intrepid travellers.<br />
Sure, in places, it's all gone a bit Patong,<br />
the brazen resort of R-rated stage shows.<br />
And yet, in a week, I found an island of<br />
rare, delicious flavours: magnificent<br />
wildlife, surreal landscapes and blissful<br />
solitude. All that and great food.<br />
It was Aunt Yai and Uncle Nun who'd<br />
whetted my appetite, a Thai couple who<br />
welcomed me into their kitchen in the<br />
shadow of a massive banyan tree by the<br />
sea. It looked reassuringly traditional<br />
‘<br />
I FOUND AN<br />
ISLAND OF RARE,<br />
DELICIOUS<br />
FLAVOURS:<br />
MAGNIFICENT<br />
WILDLIFE,<br />
SURREAL<br />
LANDSCAPES<br />
AND BLISSFUL<br />
SOLITUDE<br />
’<br />
— even the roof was tin, the kind you<br />
see in so many fishing villages. But<br />
enjoying their authentic southern Thai<br />
cooking hadn't entailed a showerless,<br />
sleepless week in a hammock on some<br />
Alex-Garland-scary remote sands.<br />
Quite the opposite — they were inhouse<br />
at Rosewood Phuket, the recently<br />
opened resort I was staying in.<br />
Wanting to have a foot in the real world,<br />
not a perimeter fence between, the hotel<br />
had talent-scouted around and found<br />
their future chefs stirring up a storm in a<br />
casual joint loved by the neighbourhood.<br />
And now here they were, working their<br />
magic for a global guest list. It was so<br />
much more credible than importing<br />
some highly paid international type<br />
with an eye for culinary appropriation.<br />
I liked the setting, Emerald Bay, and<br />
I also liked the Rosewood: a jumble of<br />
Modernist-cubic pavilion residences<br />
knee-deep in jasmine and hibiscus,<br />
smartly furnished with standing mirrors<br />
in ebony-tone frames, drum lampshades<br />
and stained dark floorboards.<br />
This was, of course, a globally<br />
recognisable canvas, which only served<br />
to counterpoint the appeal of Uncle<br />
Nun and Aunt Yai's homegrown cuisine.<br />
Gesturing enthusiastically, they singled<br />
out ingredients for their dishes —<br />
currently lurking in the slate-green<br />
stillness of their pond. Here a grouper,<br />
there a sea bass and behind, in the corner,<br />
a few scuttling blue crabs. A least one of<br />
these would soon reappear in my gaeng<br />
poo: a blazing regional curry speciality<br />
with gossamer-fine noodles brought<br />
steaming to my table under a hazy moon.<br />
Their tour de force was moo hong, a<br />
southern Thai favourite you might call the<br />
signature dish of Phuket. After hours of<br />
simmering in a treacly mix of coriander<br />
root, star anise, soy sauce, palm sugar<br />
and peppercorn, it was cinnamon-sweet<br />
and sludgy-soft, a tinglingly delicious<br />
experience I don't recall from the menu<br />
at my nearest Thai back home. Some<br />
have linked its flavour, soy in particular,<br />
to Chinese influences — most likely<br />
imparted by settlers, who arrived in<br />
droves in the 19th-century, when the<br />
Phuket tin industry was growing to<br />
meet American canning demands.<br />
I'd tried the curry already, in Phuket<br />
Town, my first port of call after landing,<br />
checking in at 2 Rooms, a charming<br />
'30s-style side-alley lodge with a<br />
gramophone and teak-look bed. Woven<br />
with multicultural threads, the island's<br />
informal capital is surely its most<br />
underrated attraction. Despite exuding a<br />
modern, urban feel in places, at its historic<br />
heart it was good enough to eat, in every<br />
respect. Raya restaurant was the kind of<br />
place you wish would open up on your<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 45
THAILAND<br />
street, with its giant ceiling fans, cool green<br />
walls and epic menu. That said, its gaeng<br />
poo was the main event, milkily innocuous<br />
to behold at first, but flaring suddenly on the<br />
tongue and wonderfully bitter with turmeric.<br />
Another day I inhaled the heritage<br />
of ancient Muslim traders: the sight of<br />
Yameay Mosque with its emerald green<br />
domes; the aroma of a chicken roti at Abdul<br />
Murtabak's place, a simple institution lined<br />
with framed engravings of Mecca. Lock<br />
Tien, Phuket Town's local-food centre, did<br />
delicious Hokkien (as in, fried) noodles —<br />
another Sino-influence. And as my time<br />
in town coincided with Chinese New Year,<br />
I watched fireworks crackle in the night<br />
above teeming, steaming street markets<br />
dispensing dumplings and grilled seafood.<br />
For afters, the grid streets delivered a<br />
visual feast of dwellings, with work spaces<br />
at ground level known as shophouses.<br />
The result of Portuguese and Chinese<br />
colonial currents merging, they displayed<br />
stunning pastel-painted facades. But<br />
the centre was no museum piece. Local<br />
hipsters were on hand, drinking lattes<br />
in blond-wood places with names like<br />
Bookhemian and The Shelter Coffee — a<br />
welcome hit of real-life modern Phuket.<br />
After this, I was set for more immersion<br />
in recipes and rituals. The finale to my<br />
barbecued-prawn dinner at the Anantara<br />
Layan Phuket Resort wasn't any old ice<br />
cream, but a bowl of scoops gently flavoured<br />
with Thai basil. As Phuket moments<br />
go, it was lovely, although ultimately it<br />
lost out to the magnificent tallow glow<br />
on the horizon as the day drained away.<br />
Everything looked enchanted, down to the<br />
mysterious forested island in the bay, amid<br />
the coffee-cream swirls of low-tide sands.<br />
Time for a reality check: next day was<br />
market day in Patong, a 25-minute drive<br />
south for me, in the company of the resort<br />
chef, Hong. Like Rosewood, Anantara<br />
seemed adept at dissolving the barrier<br />
between tourists and Thais, inviting them<br />
to accompany Hong to busy Banzaan Fresh<br />
Market for produce to make into dishes with<br />
a Phuket-flavoured twist, back in her kitchen.<br />
At the entrance, ready-mix trios of fresh<br />
beansprouts, tofu and chives were piled in<br />
bundles, the ingredients of pad Thai. So far,<br />
so Spinny's. But as we moved deeper, things<br />
‘<br />
THE READY-MIX<br />
TRIOS OF FRESH<br />
BEANSPROUTS,<br />
TOFU AND CHIVES<br />
WERE PILED HIGH<br />
IN BUNDLES<br />
’<br />
grew more visceral, with the shattering<br />
crack of cleavers on chicken feet, the sight of<br />
muddy shrimp paste in bags and the smell<br />
of fish-gut marinade, months old, prepared<br />
to flavour southern curries. Hong advised<br />
against even touching some of the fish to<br />
which Western digestive systems might well<br />
be unaccustomed. 'We have bacteria. We<br />
grow up on this,' she said, while describing<br />
one lurid specimen. 'If you eat, maybe you<br />
poo poo.' I rubbed pungent betel leaves<br />
between my fingers, and in doing so got the<br />
ubiquitous smell of Thailand: a faintly bitter,<br />
chocolate aroma that had been tickling<br />
my nostrils for days, something almost<br />
sedative. The landscapes had the same effect<br />
that afternoon on a slow drive inland.<br />
Sunshine turned the telegraph wires silver<br />
as if spun by giant spiders, then it pooled<br />
green on expanses of forest floor. Sometimes<br />
we passed pineapples glinting among<br />
stretches of rubber trees, or glimpsed blackand-white<br />
cattle with egrets, by a lake, on<br />
our bucolic glide to Phuket's more feral side.<br />
If it sounded run-of-the-mill tourist, the<br />
Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, our destination,<br />
was the opposite: a dignified and thoughtprovoking<br />
encounter with another slice of<br />
real Phuket. The visit began with a video<br />
showing the hideous ways humans have<br />
treated Thailand's pachyderms over the<br />
centuries, forcing them, with nails, cuts<br />
and burns, to submit to a life carrying<br />
heavy loads of timber or holidaymakers.<br />
But the mood soon lifted when we came to<br />
walk with the residents in their managed<br />
wilderness: one of a pioneering few in<br />
Thailand committed to rescuing victims and<br />
releasing them into a contented retirement.<br />
The animals were mesmerising to<br />
watch, sometimes up close, sometimes<br />
from raised lookouts laden with bananas,<br />
to encourage curious trunks. I really fell<br />
46 worldtravellermagazine.com
This page, clockwise<br />
from above: Khao<br />
Phing Kan (James Bond<br />
Island); evening lantern<br />
lighting ceremony<br />
at Anantara Layan<br />
Phuket Resort; a fresh<br />
salad with rice and<br />
cooked shrimp)<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 47
This page: Sala Pool<br />
Villa at Anantara Layan<br />
Phuket Resort<br />
48 worldtravellermagazine.com
THAILAND<br />
Credit: The Sunday Times Travel Magazine / News Licensing<br />
‘<br />
THE JUNGLE<br />
STEAMED<br />
WITH RISING<br />
CLOUDS THAT<br />
MELTED INTO<br />
THE RAINBOW-<br />
CURVED AIR IN<br />
THE SUNLIGHT<br />
’<br />
for Jan Jao, encountered in the shade of<br />
a mangosteen tree, her slow-flapping<br />
ears speckled with sunlight, pink and<br />
grey like terrazzo flooring. She moved<br />
idly, huge hollowed temples above<br />
eyes as kindly as those of a favourite<br />
grandmother. Madee I was more wary<br />
of. Arriving late to meet us by a banquet<br />
of fruit, she thumped her trunk on the<br />
ground, producing a weird woodwind<br />
sound. She was in a bad mood, a ranger<br />
said — a co-resident of hers, Kannika,<br />
had come first and got stuck in without<br />
her. Madee popped a whole watermelon<br />
into her mouth as if it were a grape. After<br />
all, she had a bit of catching up to do.<br />
Phuket offered up plenty of even wilder<br />
moments, wilder shores, too: beyond<br />
the main island, it splinters into palmy<br />
specks, sprinkled across the surrounding<br />
seas. On a boat east into Phang Nga Bay, I<br />
spent a morning transfixed by sea eagles<br />
soaring overhead, circling the towering<br />
limestone karsts that have made the<br />
marine park famous. One, Khao Phing<br />
Kan, is better known as Christopher Lee's<br />
private island in the James Bond film The<br />
Man with the Golden Gun. Topped with<br />
rainforest vegetation it resembled the last<br />
decayed tooth left in some centenarian<br />
giant's gum, every bit as strange as it<br />
had looked on celluloid back in 1974.<br />
Attracting tourist longtail boats, it<br />
was better from a distance. Besides,<br />
the bay held so much more: chattering<br />
bats speckling the dim cave interiors<br />
of Hong Island, into which we kayaked;<br />
and the floating village of Ko Panyi,<br />
settled centuries ago by Indonesian<br />
Islamic emigrants. Here was a Phuket<br />
the crowds of Patong never see: a seagypsy<br />
stronghold with a golden-domed<br />
mosque visible for miles. Wandering the<br />
pier-like floors was creakily atmospheric<br />
in the hot lull of late afternoon.<br />
Something of Ko Panyi's sedate<br />
spirituality seemed to inhabit my last<br />
hotel, Amanpuri — perhaps because it<br />
resembled a place of worship rather than<br />
a resort, with its flaring pagoda roofs<br />
and decorative basins of moody water. I<br />
bedded down well before midnight, rising<br />
early to breakfast on kai yad sai: omelettes<br />
made lace-thin, filled with shrimp and<br />
vegetables. Staff glided around with the<br />
faint tick-tack of flip-flops, depositing<br />
little rectangular golden vases upon tables,<br />
each holding a single lotus flower. If I'd<br />
needed definitive proof that Phuket was<br />
not shabby, then serene Amanpuri was it.<br />
It was hard to believe this place opened<br />
three decades ago — its Asian minimalism<br />
looked as if it had been created last year.<br />
And yet, despite the airy, understated<br />
architecture, I felt I'd been drawn into<br />
a silent commune of platinum-card<br />
privilege and purity, set on its own private<br />
peninsula, peering out from coconut<br />
palms. Guests wandered about with yoga<br />
mats under their arms like enormous<br />
cheroots, reinforcing the apparent<br />
resort USP: determined relaxation. The<br />
food, from sushi to seasonal fruit, was<br />
supermodel-delicate. I swam out and<br />
climbed on to the pontoon in the bay for<br />
some perspective on the place — in vain.<br />
'My obstetrician said to get a Belly Bandit<br />
online,' I heard a women tell her friend,<br />
describing her recent pregnancy as they<br />
lazed. 'It literally reminds your organs<br />
where to return to after the distension.'<br />
Where was the real Phuket when I<br />
needed it? At 4pm, a Thai lady materialised<br />
atop the central stepped sala pavilion,<br />
pulled out a griddle and set about cooking<br />
pancakes called khanom krok, some<br />
of them filled with sweetcorn, others<br />
shimmery with coconut. It was a daily<br />
ritual, I learnt. OK, Naka night market<br />
it wasn't, yet the appearance of street<br />
food was like the breaking of a spell. A<br />
polite scuffle erupted among the slim<br />
and the wealthy, soon chatting and<br />
scoffing on the steps. Not wanting to<br />
be a calorie singleton I grabbed a plate<br />
and, vowing to buy my own Belly Bandit<br />
back in England, got stuck in to a last<br />
real-but-perfect piece of Phuket.<br />
Inspired to travel? To book a trip, call<br />
+971 4 316 6666 or visit dnatatravel.com<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 49
These pages:<br />
Elephants at sunset in<br />
Etosha National Park<br />
Remote control<br />
So famous is Namibia's tourist-trodden self-drive circuit, it's known simply as<br />
'Route One'. Chris Haslam veers off track to discover the destination as it once was<br />
50 worldtravellermagazine.com
NAMIBIA<br />
here are many things in<br />
Namibia that can kill you,'<br />
announces the welcome<br />
video cheerfully, as a lion, a<br />
Cape cobra and a scorpion<br />
flash across the screen.<br />
'But the biggest killer,' chirps<br />
the narrator, 'is speed.' Cue a montage of<br />
wrecked rental vehicles - identical, but for<br />
the broken glass and torn steel, to those<br />
in the car rental depot. The backpackers<br />
who've spent the safety briefing scrolling<br />
on their phones go pale. A German<br />
lady hisses at her husband: 'You told<br />
me Namibia was safe.' But despite this<br />
sobering introduction, Namibia really<br />
is Africa's safest, most effortlessly<br />
explorable nation. Self-driving in Namibia<br />
makes it easy to be intrepid. Part road<br />
trip, part safari, it's two bucket-list trips<br />
for the price of one. It's affordable, too,<br />
with flight-inclusive self-drives much<br />
cheaper than in South Africa. And, at<br />
the wheel of a 4WD, the driving is epic.<br />
It's for these reasons that so many<br />
excited visitors fly in to Windhoek, ready<br />
to depart on the famed tourist trail<br />
they call Route One. It heads southwest<br />
to the dunes of the Sossusvlei, then<br />
loops north for the adrenaline sports<br />
and Baltic-style seaside charms of<br />
Swakopmund. From here, it's a six-hour<br />
drive further north to reach the wildlife<br />
of Etosha National Park. But Namibia is<br />
fifth on the list of the world's emptiest<br />
countries (with just three people per<br />
square kilometre), so it doesn't require<br />
many tourists to feel crowded.<br />
Two decades ago, I wandered the<br />
Sossusvlei like a lonely ghost in a Dalí<br />
landscape. These days, such solace<br />
is impossible. There's a car park full<br />
of coaches, overland trucks, and that<br />
backpacking couple. Instagrammers<br />
queue at the Deadvlei for a photograph<br />
with the skeletal camel thorns. There'll<br />
be huge Chinese tour groups enjoying<br />
Kaffee und Kuchen on Swakopmund's<br />
prom and, as you watch lions drinking at<br />
Etosha's Okondeka waterhole, you might<br />
hear that German lady whisper 'Ist es<br />
sicher?!' ('Is it safe?!') To experience the<br />
cinematic desolation and spectacular<br />
wildlife that Namibia is famous for, you<br />
need to leave the herd. But it's not as<br />
daunting as it sounds. All you need is<br />
the ability to read a map, an awareness<br />
of your limitations in what can be a<br />
merciless land, and the desire to find<br />
places so wild, so lonely and so alien,<br />
they'll make you breathless. Scared,<br />
even. Just as Namibia is supposed to.<br />
So, back to the safety video. Which you<br />
definitely need to watch. After which<br />
you’re shown around a brutish Toyota<br />
4WD. There's the sat nav, the sand jack<br />
for digging yourself out of trouble, the<br />
tyre deflator, the spare jerry cans, the<br />
spade, the axe, the fire extinguisher,<br />
the worryingly comprehensive firstaid<br />
kit and a tracking device that<br />
can monitor your speed: 120kph on<br />
tarmac roads and 80kph on gravel,<br />
where most accidents occur. Exceed<br />
that and your insurance is void.<br />
Then there's the optional rooftop<br />
tent. I've never taken one because<br />
deep down I know there'll be a night<br />
when I'll forget I'm sleeping 2.5<br />
metres off the ground, leave the tent<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 51
NAMIBIA<br />
to mark my territory and break my<br />
neck. And then get eaten by hyenas.<br />
I start my journey with a 520km<br />
drive up the B1 from Windhoek to<br />
the Damaraland and Huab Lodge, a<br />
halfway house on the road to nowhere.<br />
For the first three hours, the road is<br />
smooth, shimmering tarmac. Then I<br />
reach Outjo and take the C35, the first<br />
of the bone-shaking gravel roads. Two<br />
hours later, at a lonely spot marked by<br />
a large, dead python, I turn onto the<br />
D2670. It's mostly dust, so I use the tyre<br />
deflator to get more grip. A lappet-faced<br />
vulture watches from a rock. I know<br />
what he's thinking. It's just 30km from<br />
here to the lodge, but it takes an hour.<br />
I thought that two nights at this<br />
eccentric little camp — eight thatched<br />
huts overlooking the dry bed of the<br />
Huab River — would be enough, but I<br />
was wrong. The birdlife is astonishing:<br />
I count 26 species from my terrace<br />
and, as we're drinking sundowners,<br />
nightjars are hunting around the bar.<br />
At dawn, the riverbed is a alive with<br />
wildlife: oryx, giraffes, zebra and kudus<br />
commuting along its sandy path. That<br />
afternoon I spend a thrilling four hours<br />
following the spoor of a huge leopard<br />
that ultimately does what leopards do<br />
best and vanishes like a Cheshire cat.<br />
A giant eagle owl watches wisely from<br />
a tree. I know what she's thinking, too.<br />
It's only as I'm leaving that I notice the<br />
swimming pool and nearby hot spring.<br />
I told you two nights wasn't enough.<br />
Four hours east, past the gold<br />
mines and cattle farms of central<br />
Namibia, a track off the B1 brings<br />
me to the Mundulea Nature Reserve:<br />
120sq km of former cattle country<br />
that's being returned to nature. Black<br />
rhinos, cheetahs and giraffes are<br />
among the species that have wandered<br />
back in, accompanied by zebra, roan<br />
antelopes and black-faced impala.<br />
It's dark by the time I arrive. Entering<br />
the camp is an experience somewhere<br />
between Edgar Rice Burroughs and<br />
Apocalypse Now. Bleached skulls,<br />
flickering hurricane lamps and twisting<br />
paths leading to big, simply furnished<br />
safari tents. By the campfire, owner,<br />
guide and conservationist Bruno Nebe<br />
is expounding on pangolins. On another<br />
fire, sorcerer's apprentice Patrick is<br />
cooking a three-course dinner — baking<br />
‘<br />
IF YOU GET LOST, BREAK DOWN,<br />
OR UPSET THE ELEPHANTS, IT CAN<br />
BE A ONE-WAY TRIP<br />
’<br />
bread in an oven made from an old fire<br />
extinguisher. Apart from some iffy solar,<br />
there's no electricity. No phone signal.<br />
No wi-fi. Owls, jackals and a distant<br />
leopard provide the background music to<br />
a safari camp so remote that Bruno only<br />
opens it when he has enough bookings<br />
to justify the expense. Lucky for me,<br />
then, that Tim and Pauline are here.<br />
Early retirees from the UK, they did<br />
Route One last year, but knew instantly<br />
there had to be more to the world's most<br />
beautiful nation. So this year, they rented<br />
a 4WD and went off the beaten track.<br />
Together, we spend three days walking<br />
with Bruno. It's like being shown Africa by<br />
Gandalf. He dodges jade-green boomslang<br />
snakes lurking on low branches, tracks<br />
his beloved pangolins with a radio<br />
antenna and, at one point, drops a rock<br />
into a dark shaft in the karst and blithely<br />
mentions that he doesn't know how deep<br />
it is because when he climbed down he<br />
ran out of rope before he hit the bottom.<br />
I part company with Tim and Pauline in<br />
the dusty, low-rise town of Otjiwarongo.<br />
They're off to explore the rock paintings<br />
of the Erongo Mountains. I'm heading<br />
northwest into the Kunene, an otherworld<br />
of unclimbed peaks, sparkling gravel<br />
plains and river canyons running into a<br />
fogbound dune belt, where they disappear<br />
before reaching the cold Skeleton Coast.<br />
With skill and the right kit, you can<br />
self-drive the Kunene. But if you get<br />
lost, break down, or upset the elephants,<br />
it can be a one-way trip, so it's best to<br />
park the car and call Caesar Zandberg,<br />
one of the three best desert guides in<br />
Namibia. If you thought your rental 4WD<br />
was well-equipped, wait until you see<br />
Caesar's chariot: a 4.5-litre turbo-diesel<br />
V8 Toyota J7 Land Cruiser with a snorkel,<br />
twin fuel tanks, solar panels on the roof<br />
and enough kit to turn any shady corner<br />
of the Kunene into a luxury tented resort.<br />
I join Caesar a week after unusually<br />
heavy rains have hit the Kunene. On<br />
past visits, the place has been as dry<br />
and bleached as a lost tourist's bones,<br />
but it only takes a centimetre of rainfall<br />
to unleash life. The hills and plains<br />
are covered in bushman-grass baize,<br />
and streaks of bright yellow devil's<br />
thorn flowers stretch for miles like an<br />
industrial custard spill. Most excitingly,<br />
the Hoarusib River is flowing, bringing<br />
waters of life from the Giraffe Mountains.<br />
Caesar drops T-bone steaks the size of<br />
telephone directories onto the woodfire<br />
grill, tosses a salad — a Caesar<br />
one, obviously — and refills my drink.<br />
52 worldtravellermagazine.com
These pages, clockwise<br />
from left: Little Himba<br />
boy wearing traditional<br />
jewellery; moon rising<br />
over a dry river valley;<br />
Vingerklip finger rock in<br />
the evening light, near<br />
the Vingerklip Lodge; a<br />
black-backed jackal<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 53
These pages,<br />
clockwise from below:<br />
Animals reflect in<br />
the sunset in Etosha<br />
National Park; an offroad<br />
vehicle with roof<br />
tent parked beneath a<br />
starry sky<br />
He gazes across the ephemeral river<br />
to where a couple of Himba kids are<br />
minding their goats. 'There's good grazing<br />
everywhere now,' he says. 'That means<br />
the oryx, zebra and giraffes will disperse<br />
into the far valleys, so we'll have to drive<br />
further and look harder to find them.'<br />
I'm delighted to hear that, because the<br />
further we go, the less company we'll<br />
encounter. A reliable way to estimate how<br />
far you've come from civilisation is to<br />
calculate your distance from the nearest<br />
Starbucks. Standing on a nameless hilltop<br />
in Kunene, I'm guessing the nearest<br />
skinny almond caramel macchiato is<br />
1,800km away in Jo'burg. I mention this<br />
to Caesar, but he doesn't know what<br />
Starbucks is, much less a macchiato.<br />
The view from here is of apparent<br />
lifelessness, but look closer: this hill<br />
and its neighbours are cut with the<br />
spiral scratches left by generations<br />
of oryx, antelopes and zebra who've<br />
come in search of the bonsai-sized<br />
commiphora shrubs that sprout on<br />
the summits, sucking moisture from<br />
the fog. It's an astonishing sight. We<br />
spot an oryx, and, far, far away, the<br />
dust plume of another vehicle.<br />
'Bloody tourists,' sniffs Caesar,<br />
watching the distant speck through binos.<br />
'They're overrunning the place.' That<br />
night, we camp in a side-valley of the<br />
Hoanib River. A campfire and a gemsbok<br />
‘<br />
A LAPPET-<br />
FACED VULTURE<br />
WATCHES FROM<br />
A ROCK. I KNOW<br />
WHAT HE'S<br />
THINKING<br />
’<br />
ragu turn this starkly beautiful spot into<br />
the suite of my dreams, with 50-metre<br />
sandstone walls and a ceiling made of<br />
stars. We're discussing how the scarcity<br />
of game makes the few sightings we've<br />
had — that oryx, three zebra and a pair<br />
of giraffes — even more memorable. At<br />
that very moment, a pair of black-backed<br />
jackals, led by their noses, turn up and<br />
stand just close enough to the fire that<br />
we can see itwws reflection in their eyes.<br />
Next morning, Caesar stops the<br />
Toyota in the exact middle of nowhere.<br />
'The elephants are coming,' he says.<br />
We scan the heat haze for 20 minutes,<br />
and then, one by one, emerge nine<br />
dusty pachyderms — mothers, aunts<br />
and kids — following an ancient path<br />
across the plain to the dune belt and<br />
then, well, no-one really knows.<br />
I only spend four days in the Kunene,<br />
but it feels much longer. Time slows<br />
down in the desert. Your senses grow<br />
sharper. Water tastes sweeter and your<br />
appetite becomes lion-like. Mysteries<br />
abound: the Hoarusib, flowing wide,<br />
deep and fast enough yesterday to<br />
wash away a two-tonne Toyota is<br />
dry as a bone today, and above Clay<br />
Castles — a surreal canyon of Petralike<br />
natural caves — a long-dead<br />
explorer has spelt '26 Jan 1919' in rocks<br />
scoured clean by the west wind. There<br />
are moments of wonder — the frog<br />
living in a shrinking puddle at least<br />
80km from the next water source; the<br />
slash-like trail of a Peringuey's adder<br />
left on a dune — and moments when<br />
you realise you're probably walking<br />
where no human has ever been before.<br />
This adventure has its downsides.<br />
Souvenir shopping is limited to<br />
rocks sold by Herero herders, or the<br />
Himba pillow — a wooden affair like<br />
the devices to prop corpses' heads in<br />
mortuaries. The joys of queueing and<br />
of socialising with other tourists are<br />
absent, and when you do emerge from<br />
the parched back of beyond, you may<br />
find humanity a bit irritating. But<br />
then, if you got off Route One in the<br />
first place, you probably always did.<br />
Inspired to travel? To book a trip, call<br />
+971 4 316 6666 or visit dnatatravel.com<br />
Credit: The Sunday Times Travel Magazine/News Licensing<br />
54 worldtravellermagazine.com
NAMIBIA<br />
This page: Soft,<br />
colourful corals around<br />
Lizard Island<br />
Credit: Andrew Eames/The Sunday Times Travel Magazine / News Licensing<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 55
HELLO<br />
SUMMERTIME<br />
BOOK NOW FOR<br />
GREAT OFFERS<br />
AND DEALS<br />
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Weekends<br />
Staycations and short-haul escapes<br />
AL FAYA LODGE HAS LANDED<br />
What may appear like a futuristic home<br />
on Mars is actually a luxury retreat in the<br />
heart of the Mleiha desert in Sharjah. The<br />
recently-opened Al Faya Lodge places<br />
you in the lap of nature, with wildlife<br />
and stargazing experiences among the<br />
highlights of this eco-friendly hotspot.<br />
Originally built in the 1960s, the lodge's<br />
three stone buildings have been lovingly<br />
converted to house rooms, a restaurant,<br />
library, a luxury spa and more.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 57
WEEKENDS<br />
Exploring Sidi Bou Said<br />
CULTURE TRIP<br />
Let us reacquaint you with this culture<br />
spot that's ideally placed for a mindnourishing<br />
mini break<br />
1<br />
TUNIS<br />
A<br />
magnetic combination of souks and<br />
aromatic spices, desert dunes and<br />
historic sites, Tunisia tells a gripping<br />
tale. This year marks a shift in<br />
perspective, with tourist numbers on the rise,<br />
and capital city Tunis being crowned the Arab<br />
Region’s Capital of Islamic Culture by the Islamic<br />
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.<br />
To gain a better understanding of the<br />
destination’s old-world charm, we must first<br />
rewind to the 12th-16th century when Tunis was<br />
one of the greatest and wealthiest cities in the<br />
Islamic world. Its special status gave rise to a<br />
wave of monuments that are a testament to the<br />
past. Within the Medina of Tunis, a UNESCO<br />
<strong>World</strong> Heritage site, there are around 700<br />
scattered across the old city, including palaces,<br />
mosques, mausoleums, madrasas and fountains.<br />
The modern district has a different appeal,<br />
with many of the old buildings transformed into<br />
museums and cultural centres, tea rooms and<br />
restaurants. In the fashionable Les Berges du<br />
Lac quarter, head to Patisserie Masmoudi (@<br />
patisseriemasmoudi) to taste a traditional pastry,<br />
DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT...<br />
... discovering Sidi Bou Said.<br />
Just 20km from Tunis, this<br />
clifftop town overlooks the<br />
sparkling Mediterranean and<br />
is thought to have inspired<br />
famous artists and writers.<br />
... making the 60-minute<br />
car journey to the Dahmani<br />
commune to view the 'cultural<br />
Exploring Sidi Bou Said<br />
cave' brimming with locally<br />
produced modern art.<br />
... embarking on a guided,<br />
film lovers tour of the<br />
such as the sticky-sweet makroudh, with a<br />
Tunisian desert, the birthplace cup of green mint tea. To view east meets<br />
of the original Star Wars saga.<br />
west contemporary art, pop into Musk<br />
and Amber Gallery (@musk_and_amber), which<br />
is a showcase for Tunisian-heritage-inspired<br />
pieces by local artisans.<br />
Adventure seekers will find plenty to keep<br />
them on their toes, with year-round activities<br />
including golf, quad biking in the desert and<br />
watersports (the beaches of Borj Cedria and<br />
Ezzahra are just 20km from the city centre).<br />
When planning a trip, bear in mind that April to<br />
October is best for sea and sun, while autumn<br />
and spring provide the ideal weather conditions<br />
for boat trips and more active excursions.<br />
In terms of where to stay, the beachside The<br />
Residence Tunis is home to chic yet comfortable<br />
rooms and suites, an 18-hole golf course, and<br />
a luxurious spa famous for its thalasso spa<br />
treatments. Villa Didon in Carthage places<br />
you smack bang in the historical district, while<br />
Concorde Les Berges Du Lac Hotel has a scenic<br />
Dining on the beach<br />
setting on the shore of Lake Tunis.<br />
Photos courtesy of The Residence Tunis<br />
58 worldtravellermagazine.com
long<br />
the<br />
weekend<br />
Cairo<br />
Rich in history, heritage and culture,<br />
the Egyptian capital is affectionately<br />
known as the “Mother of the <strong>World</strong>”.<br />
Habiba Azab tells us why<br />
This page: The Great<br />
Sphinx of Giza<br />
Opposite: A Nile cruise,<br />
photo by<br />
Hassan Mohamed<br />
60 worldtravellermagazine.com
LONG WEEKEND<br />
With its bottleneck traffic, beguiling crowds and ancient tales,<br />
Cairo is chaos at its most magnificent, fascinating and captivating<br />
form. The fast-paced city’s constant buzz is the result of its 20<br />
million strong inhabitants charming their way with their warm<br />
smiles and exceptional humour. As the locals say, if you love Cairo,<br />
it'll definitely love you back.<br />
The sprawling capital blends the best of old-world and newworld<br />
Egypt. Soaring minarets, historic mosques and some of the<br />
greatest architecture of medieval Islam can only be found in old<br />
Islamic Cairo. Meanwhile, a short cab ride away is the capital’s<br />
other centre of antiquity, Coptic Cairo. Home to some of the oldest<br />
churches and monasteries in the history of Christianity including<br />
the Hanging Church, which served as the seat of the Coptic<br />
Pope from the 7 th to the 13 th century. For a more modern outlook,<br />
Zamalek is a cosy neighbourhood with local art galleries and<br />
boutique gems hidden around every corner. Alternatively, Garden<br />
City is the place to go for felucca rides, whereas Downtown Cairo<br />
is the cultural hub of contemporary dance, music and art.<br />
Cairo welcomes you with its mighty past and vivacious present.<br />
And although it can be an assault on the senses, if done right you<br />
can’t help but keep coming back for more.<br />
STYLISH SLEEPS<br />
From luxury abodes to boutiques boltholes, bed down in style<br />
Once the hunting palace<br />
of Egyptian Khedive<br />
Isma'il Pasha, Marriott<br />
Mena House combines<br />
the charm of a bygone<br />
era with service fit for<br />
royalty. Rooms are<br />
lavishly furnished with<br />
exquisite rare antiques<br />
and handcrafted furniture,<br />
while The Sultan Lounge<br />
is a memorable place<br />
to start your evening –<br />
cocktails as the sun sets<br />
over the Great Pyramids<br />
is an Instagram-worthy<br />
moment to capture.<br />
Boasting panoramic<br />
views of the Nile river, The<br />
Nile Ritz-Carlton lies at<br />
the heart of the city. Take<br />
a stroll back in time and<br />
Le Riad Hotel<br />
De Charme<br />
stay in one of the 331 rooms<br />
overlooking the historical<br />
Egyptian museum, and then<br />
taste signature Arabian<br />
delicacies as the belly<br />
dancers sway.<br />
Just around the corner,<br />
Four Seasons Cairo at<br />
The First Residence draws<br />
discerning travellers with its<br />
stylish design, colonial décor<br />
and opulent interiors.<br />
Set amid lush ancient<br />
zoological gardens, soak<br />
up the scenery on the<br />
open-deck pool followed<br />
by a soothing body<br />
treatment at the luxury<br />
spa, which offers direct<br />
views of the Nile.<br />
Inspired by the grandeur<br />
of the Ottoman Empire,<br />
Le Riad Hotel De Charme<br />
is a quaint lodging tucked<br />
away in old town Cairo<br />
with only 17 suites to<br />
count. With its rich warm<br />
colours, Fatimid traditional<br />
prints and lovingly<br />
preserved paintings, each<br />
room evokes the romance<br />
of old times.<br />
Villa Belle Époque<br />
is another boutique<br />
gem hidden on the<br />
quiet streets of Maadi.<br />
Conjuring up French<br />
summer vibes, this<br />
charming white-washed<br />
villa boasts 31 rooms,<br />
13 of which are named<br />
after an Egyptian city<br />
combining contemporary<br />
and traditional designs to<br />
represent it.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 61
sizzling<br />
street food<br />
For a truly authentic<br />
taste of the city, grab a<br />
bite at these top stop-offs<br />
It’s no surprise that<br />
bustling Cairo is home to<br />
an extraordinary variety<br />
of rustic street fare; from<br />
buzzing street food stalls<br />
to eclectic local vendors,<br />
there’s something for<br />
every taste. You’ll know<br />
you’ve reached KEBDET<br />
EL PRINCE when you find<br />
dozens of locals huddling<br />
up and impatiently<br />
waiting for their tables.<br />
Start off by ordering the<br />
heavenly molokhia with<br />
rice and tender waraet<br />
lahma, both local goodies<br />
that’ll leave you wanting<br />
more. Another authentic<br />
dish that every visitor<br />
should try at least once is<br />
Koshari; a unique mixture<br />
of rice, macaroni and<br />
lentils, all covered with<br />
a spicy tomato sauce,<br />
and KOSHARI EL TAHRIR<br />
has been ruling the roost<br />
for years. While strolling<br />
along the Corniche at<br />
night you’ll find stands in<br />
every nook and corner<br />
serving HUMMUS SHAM.<br />
The warm and spicy drink<br />
is a very popular must-try<br />
made out of chickpeas,<br />
lemon, chili, along with<br />
spices of your choice.<br />
MEM0RABILIA<br />
Looking to take home a<br />
keepsake? Here are some<br />
must-haves<br />
Incense: Intrinsic to the<br />
worship of the gods and<br />
goddesses of Ancient<br />
Egypt, incense was<br />
used to ward off evil<br />
spirits. Choose between<br />
many shapes, types<br />
and fragrances to use<br />
in beautifully crafted<br />
burners.<br />
Where to find it?<br />
Khan El Khalili Market<br />
Papyrus scroll: Another<br />
item of ancient origin,<br />
Papyrus scrolls were<br />
man-made paper upon<br />
which Egyptians kept<br />
most of their important<br />
records. Of course,<br />
what you’ll find today<br />
are just replicas of the<br />
originals. However, with<br />
hieroglyphic alphabets<br />
and battle print scenes,<br />
they look just as real.<br />
Where to find it? Egypt<br />
Papyrus Museum, Giza<br />
Scarab beetle: Mostly<br />
made out of alabaster<br />
or granite, legend has<br />
it that Scarab beetles<br />
symbolize the Great Ra,<br />
the deity and leader<br />
of all Egyptian gods<br />
who created himself<br />
out of nothing. Ancient<br />
Egyptians believed that<br />
Ra was swallowed by<br />
the sky goddess Nut<br />
every evening as the sun<br />
dipped down only to be<br />
reborn every morning<br />
representing renewal<br />
and resurrection.<br />
Where to find it?<br />
Khan El Khalili Market<br />
Fez “Tarboush”: Worn<br />
by citizens and Pashas<br />
from 1805 until 1952,<br />
this cultural headgear<br />
became a symbol of<br />
modernity during the<br />
Ottoman Empire. For a<br />
true Bedouin look, wrap<br />
a white turban around<br />
your Fez.<br />
Where to find it?<br />
Moez street<br />
Old is gold<br />
With a history that dates back to 1382, Khan El Khalili<br />
is one of the oldest flea markets in Egypt and by<br />
far the most popular. Bask in the city’s rich history<br />
and lose yourself in the winding alleyways of Islamic<br />
historical buildings while haggling for gorgeous<br />
antiques, handmade accessories, ornate perfume<br />
bottles and traditional clothing. Book addicts,<br />
meanwhile, should make a beeline to El Azbakeya<br />
Wall, a book market that was first introduced in<br />
the 19th century and displays more than 130 stalls<br />
overflowing with old, unique and used books. If<br />
you’re up for a splash of colour, Fokhareen Market is<br />
brimming with pottery gems you simply wouldn’t find<br />
anywhere else.<br />
62 worldtravellermagazine.com
Opposite page, from top:<br />
The traditional Egyptian<br />
dish Koshari; Papyrus scroll;<br />
Khan El Khalili Market, photo<br />
by Zeyad Abouzeid<br />
This page from top:<br />
Muhammad Ali Mosque,<br />
photo by Hassan Mohamed;<br />
The Great Pyramids, photo<br />
by Zeyad Abouzeid<br />
LONG WEEKEND<br />
MOSQUE CULTURE<br />
Admire the splendour of Islamic<br />
architecture in the City of a<br />
Thousand Minarets<br />
insider tips<br />
Salma Ammar<br />
shares insider<br />
tips and tricks on<br />
exploring the city<br />
“Tipping, known as<br />
baksheesh, is a huge<br />
part of the Egyptian<br />
culture. From waiters<br />
to bathroom attendants, you pretty much<br />
tip for anything and everything so make<br />
sure you save those smaller bills. Of course,<br />
a trip to Cairo is not complete until you’ve<br />
seen a show featuring the famous Sufi<br />
dancers. The plethora of twirling colours<br />
flowing all around is magical and better<br />
yet, free. Just head to the Al-Ghuri Mosque<br />
on Wednesday and Saturday nights at<br />
around 8pm for the dazzling show followed<br />
by a quick detour to one of the most<br />
authentic Egyptian culinary destinations,<br />
Fashet Sumaya. Hidden down a quiet<br />
lane in downtown Bab El Louk, here you<br />
can enjoy traditional home cooked meals<br />
served by Sumaya herself, the friendly<br />
owner of the establishment. Her perfectly<br />
seasoned lamb dish is a must-try.”<br />
HISTORY<br />
BUFFS<br />
Home to one of the<br />
oldest civilizations in<br />
the world, Cairo is the<br />
land of myth, legend<br />
and deep-seated history,<br />
and no trip is complete<br />
without a stop at the<br />
Great Pyramids of Giza.<br />
The last of the ancient<br />
seven wonders of the<br />
world, the monumental<br />
tombs are relics of<br />
Egypt’s Old Kingdom<br />
built 4,500 years ago<br />
to withstand the test of<br />
time, deeming them one<br />
of the pure mysteries<br />
of the world. Beat the<br />
crowds by planning<br />
your trip in the early<br />
morning and don’t miss<br />
snapping the all-time<br />
classic photo of kissing<br />
the Sphinx. Make the<br />
Egyptian Museum your<br />
next stop and marvel<br />
MOSQUE OF MUHAMMAD ALI. Beautiful in<br />
its simplicity yet intricately designed, this<br />
masterpiece wows with its creative use of slim<br />
minarets, cascading domes, large chandeliers,<br />
Thuluth inscriptions and beautiful globe lamps.<br />
AL AZHAR MOSQUE. Considered a beacon of<br />
theological authority to the entire Islamic world,<br />
immerse yourself in a tale worth more than 1,000<br />
years. With three minarets from the 14th, 15th<br />
and 16th centuries, the mosque blends different<br />
architectural styles while playing host to the<br />
world’s second-oldest university for the Sunni<br />
theology, Al Azhar University.<br />
MOSQUE OF AHMAD IBN TULUN. Still in its<br />
original mud brick form, this historical landmark is<br />
the oldest mosque in city. Lying in the heart of old<br />
Islamic Cairo, climb up the staircase of its minaret<br />
(which was uniquely built on the outside) and soak<br />
up a bird’s eye view of the old town.<br />
at the beauty of more<br />
than 12,000 ancient<br />
antiques and artefacts<br />
on display, including<br />
royal mummies and the<br />
infamous gold mask of<br />
Tutankhamun. The City<br />
of the Dead is another<br />
must-see and a hidden<br />
gem that’s hauntingly<br />
beautiful. Known as<br />
Cairo’s Necropolis,<br />
the four-miles Islamic<br />
cemetery holds tombs<br />
of the world’s most<br />
notable Islamic figures<br />
and is largely inhabited<br />
by citizens living<br />
among the remains<br />
of their ancestors.<br />
With intricate shrines<br />
inscribed with phrases<br />
from the Qur’an,<br />
the city exudes a<br />
fascinating atmosphere<br />
of life and death,<br />
making it a truly unique<br />
experience.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 63
WORLD TRAVELLER X DCT ABU DHABI<br />
THREE WAYS TO EXPERIENCE ABU DHABI...<br />
Spa serenity<br />
Slip into a fluffy bathrobe and unwind on a pampering spa<br />
break in the UAE capital. After all, you deserve it…<br />
Photo: Desert Islands Resort & Spa by Anantara<br />
1<br />
Desert Islands Resort &<br />
Spa by Anantara. Bringing<br />
healing rituals al fresco,<br />
you can enjoy treatments<br />
along the seafront or inside a<br />
private beach cabana at this<br />
back-to-nature spa. Couples<br />
can try the 120-minute Desert<br />
Island Retreat package, which<br />
includes a floral foot ritual, sand<br />
scrub and full body massage.<br />
Or, for a self-care moment, the<br />
45-minute Makkakech Rhassoul<br />
Wrap, will envelop you in<br />
natural clay to detoxify the skin.<br />
2Remède Spa at The St.<br />
Regis Abu Dhabi. One<br />
of the emirate's largest<br />
spas, there’s ample space<br />
to chill between treatments<br />
here, including in the bubbling<br />
Jacuzzi. Request a sea view<br />
treatment room or plump for<br />
the VIP Suite, where you can<br />
unwind on the outdoor terrace<br />
with a nourishing juice. The<br />
exclusive St. Regis Splendour<br />
package will lavish you with a<br />
half-day of results-driven, topto-toe<br />
treatments.<br />
3The Spa at Emirates<br />
Palace Abu Dhabi.<br />
Indulge the senses at this<br />
Moroccan-inspired spa, which<br />
has a traditional hammam at<br />
its heart, complete with two<br />
Jacuzzis, two steam rooms,<br />
heated marble and an ice<br />
cave. Once you’re suitably<br />
scrubbed and buffed, the<br />
relaxation room calls. Soak up<br />
the tranquil ambiance before<br />
carrying on your spa journey,<br />
as the expert therapists tailor<br />
treatments to suit you.<br />
64 worldtravellermagazine.com
WORLD TRAVELLER X JW MARRIOTT MARQUIS DUBAI<br />
STAYCATION<br />
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai<br />
Take your staycation experience to the next level at the world’s tallest five-star hotel<br />
ROOMS & SUITES<br />
If you’re in need of a restful night’s<br />
sleep, you’re sure to experience it here.<br />
Bed down in one of 1,608 soundproofed<br />
rooms or suites that tower above<br />
the city, complete with views of the<br />
twinkling skyline or the sea. During the<br />
summer, you can save 15% off the usual<br />
rate. Marriott Bonvoy members are<br />
treated to more benefits still, enjoying<br />
25% off and complimentary breakfast.<br />
THE FOOD<br />
There are 15 award-winning restaurants<br />
and bars to discover, including Japanese<br />
restaurant Izakaya and glamorous<br />
nightspot Vault, which has stunning<br />
views of Downtown Dubai. The latest<br />
addition to the culinary scene is<br />
Masala Library by Jiggs Kalra, which<br />
has mastered the art of molecular<br />
gastronomy. We heartily recommend you<br />
indulge in the great value tasting menu.<br />
THE ACTIVITIES<br />
Occupying a premium spot along<br />
Dubai’s main thoroughfare, Sheikh<br />
Zayed Road, the hotel is within<br />
easy reach of a roster of top tourist<br />
attractions. Post sightseeing, there are<br />
plenty of ways to unwind back at the<br />
hotel. Take a dip in the outdoor pool or,<br />
for a spot of pampering, head to Saray<br />
Spa, where you can still the mind in the<br />
UAE’s only Dead Sea floatation pool.<br />
To find out more, call +971 4 414 3000 or visit jwmarriottmarquisdubailife.com<br />
66 worldtravellermagazine.com
Inspiration. Expertly crafted.<br />
Comprising two iconic towers, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is centrally located beside the<br />
Dubai Water Canal and offers a spectrum of facilities and services for a seamless experience.<br />
The hotel features: 1,608 Luxurious Guest Rooms and Suites, Over 15 Award-Winning Restaurants<br />
and Lounges, Saray Spa featuring Traditional Hammams, A Dead Sea Floatation Pool and<br />
17 Treatment Rooms, State-of-the-Art Health Club and Fitness facilities, 8,000 sqm of spectacular<br />
Meeting Spaces.<br />
JW Marriott® Marquis® Hotel Dubai<br />
jwmarriott.com/DXBJW<br />
Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay, PO Box 121000, Dubai, UAE | T +971.4.414.0000 | jwmarriottmarquisdubailife.com
WORLD TRAVELLER X THE ST. REGIS ABU DHABI<br />
STAYCATION<br />
The St. Regis Abu Dhabi<br />
Live the high life at this luxury hotel where views, fine fare and pampering define your stay<br />
ROOMS & SUITES<br />
The height of sophistication, all 283<br />
rooms and suites at this hotel on the<br />
Corniche boast stellar views. We rate the<br />
one-bedroom Al Hosen Suite (pictured),<br />
which offers a generous snapshot of the<br />
sea through floor-to-ceiling windows.<br />
There are some fantastic staycation offers<br />
for Eid al-Fitr, including complimentary<br />
upgrades, dining credits and savings for<br />
families booking two rooms.<br />
THE FOOD<br />
There are six restaurants and bars to<br />
discover, including Villa Toscana, which<br />
will take you on a culinary journey to<br />
Tuscany. For a taste of the season, sit<br />
down to the delicious new Summer<br />
Fruits Afternoon Tea at Crystal Lounge.<br />
When the weekend rolls around, head<br />
to the suits-all Family Friday Brunch at<br />
The Terrace on the Corniche to indulge in<br />
seafood, sushi and foie gras.<br />
THE ACTIVITIES<br />
Kick-start you summer pampering<br />
regime with a bespoke treatment at<br />
Remède Spa, which is offering selected<br />
treatments for less until the end of<br />
August. Next, head outdoors to unwind<br />
in a secluded cabana at Nation Rivera<br />
Beach Club before stretching your<br />
legs along the private beach. Kids can<br />
scamper to Treasure Island Children’s<br />
Club for some supervised fun.<br />
To find out more, call +971 2 694 4444 or visit marriott.com<br />
68 worldtravellermagazine.com
An Exquisite Eid Al-Fitr Staycation<br />
Celebrate Eid al-Fitr with a family staycation to create lasting memories. Live exquisite in one of our<br />
Superior Rooms or for the ultimate level of luxury upgrade to a Signature Suite. Located at the vibrant<br />
heart of Abu Dhabi with a 200 metre stretch of pristine beach, overlooking the turquoise waters of the<br />
Nation Riviera Beach Club at the finest address in the city.<br />
Superior Room from AED 650* includes:<br />
Complimentary upgrade to Sea View Room (subject to availability), AED 200 restaurant dining credit,<br />
breakfast and 4:00 pm late checkout.<br />
Signature Suites from AED 1200* includes:<br />
AED 400 restaurant dining credit, breakfast and 4:00 pm late checkout.<br />
Book one room and save 50% on the second room.<br />
Perfect for families, connecting rooms available (subject to availability)<br />
*All prices are in UAE Dirham and are exclusive of all applicable service charges, local fees and taxes. Offer valid from 1st – 15th <strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
The St. Regis Abu Dhabi<br />
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates t. +971 2 694 4444 stregisabudhabi.com<br />
©<strong>2019</strong> Marriott International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Preferred Guest, SPG, St. Regis and their logos are the trademarks of Marriott International, Inc., or its affiliates.<br />
Stay exquisite at more than 40 St. Regis hotels and resorts worldwide.<br />
@stregishotels
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3 nights starting from<br />
USD510 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 3 nights in a<br />
Superior Room Hill View with<br />
breakfast daily and return<br />
airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 20% savings on room rate.<br />
Valid from: Now until 30 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
THAILAND<br />
ANANTARA LAYAN<br />
PHUKET RESORT<br />
4 nights starting from<br />
USD760 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 4 nights in a Sala Pool<br />
Villa with breakfast daily and return<br />
airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 60-minute couples' massage;<br />
2 children under 12 stay and eat free.<br />
Valid from: Now until 15 July <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
Raffles Seychelles<br />
Hotel Metropole Geneva<br />
Anantara Layan Phuket Resort<br />
The Ritz-Carlton,<br />
Kuala Lumpur<br />
Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa<br />
Resort & Spa<br />
Anantara Vilamoura<br />
INDONESIA<br />
NUSA DUA BEACH HOTEL<br />
& SPA, BALI<br />
3 nights starting from<br />
USD240 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 3 nights in a<br />
Premier Room with breakfast daily<br />
and return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 25% savings on room rate<br />
as well as complimentary<br />
upgrade from Deluxe Room to<br />
Premier Room.<br />
Valid from: Now until 31 May <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
AZERBAIJAN<br />
HILTON BAKU<br />
4 nights starting from<br />
USD375 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 4 nights in a Guest<br />
Room with breakfast daily and<br />
return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: Stay 4 nights, pay for 3 nights.<br />
Valid from: Now until 25<br />
August <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
SWITZERLAND<br />
HOTEL METROPOLE GENEVA<br />
3 nights starting from<br />
USD590 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 3 nights in a Lifestyle<br />
Lake Side Room with breakfast daily<br />
and return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: Stay 3 nights, pay for 2 nights.<br />
Valid from: Now until 18 August <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
PORTUGAL<br />
ANANTARA VILAMOURA<br />
3 nights starting from<br />
USD460 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 3 nights in a Deluxe<br />
Room with breakfast daily and return<br />
airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 25% savings on room rate.<br />
Valid from: Now until 31 August <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 71
DNATA TRAVEL OFFERS<br />
Fairmont The Palm, Dubai<br />
WEEKEND ESCAPES<br />
UAE<br />
JW MARRIOTT MARQUIS DUBAI<br />
1 night starting from<br />
USD82 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 1 night in a Deluxe<br />
Room with breakfast daily and<br />
return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 15% savings on room rate,<br />
free- stay for 2 children up to 12<br />
years old and guaranteed early<br />
check-in from 7am.<br />
Valid from: until 30<br />
<strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
RAMADA BY WYNDHAM<br />
DOWNTOWN DUBAI<br />
1 night starting from<br />
USD114 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 1 night in a One<br />
Bedroom Suite City View with<br />
breakfast daily and return<br />
airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 15% savings on room rate.<br />
Valid from: Now until 30<br />
September <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
THE WESTIN DUBAI MINA<br />
SEYAHI BEACH RESORT &<br />
MARINA<br />
1 night starting from<br />
USD125 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 1 night in a Deluxe<br />
Room with breakfast daily and<br />
return airport transfers<br />
Offer: 45% savings on room rate, 2<br />
children up to 11 years old can eat<br />
and stay for free.<br />
Valid from: Now until<br />
1 September <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
JUMEIRAH AL WATHBA DESERT<br />
RESORT & SPA,<br />
ABU DHABI<br />
1 night starting from<br />
USD255 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 1 night in an Arabian<br />
Deluxe Room with breakfast daily<br />
and return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 55% savings on room rate, one<br />
child up to 11 years old can eat and<br />
stay for free.<br />
Valid from: Now until 15<br />
September <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
FAIRMONT THE PALM, DUBAI<br />
1 night starting from<br />
USD113 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 1 night in a Fairmont<br />
Room City View with breakfast<br />
daily and return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 45% savings on room rate.<br />
Valid from: Now until 30 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
MÖVENPICK IBN BATTUTA<br />
GATE HOTEL DUBAI<br />
1 night starting from<br />
USD100 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 1 night in a Classic<br />
Room with breakfast daily and<br />
return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: 45% savings on room rate.<br />
Valid from: Now until 30<br />
September <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
OMAN<br />
AL BALEED RESORT SALALAH<br />
BY ANANTARA<br />
3 nights starting from<br />
USD530 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 3 nights in a Deluxe<br />
Garden View Room with breakfast<br />
daily and return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: Stay 3 nights, pay for<br />
2 nights.<br />
Valid from: Now until 30 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
JORDAN<br />
GRAND MILLENNIUM AMMAN<br />
3 nights starting from<br />
USD270 per person<br />
Includes: Stay 3 nights in a<br />
Superior Room with breakfast daily<br />
and return airport transfers.<br />
Offer: Complimentary upgrade<br />
from Deluxe to Superior Room.<br />
Valid from: Now until 31<br />
December <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
Mövenpick Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel Dubai<br />
Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara<br />
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai<br />
How to book<br />
By calling dnata on<br />
+971 4 316 6666<br />
By stepping into a dnata outlet<br />
or by visiting dnatatravel.com<br />
On the website you can also sign up to the dnata<br />
newsletter and receive more offers direct to your<br />
inbox. T&Cs apply.<br />
72 worldtravellermagazine.com
INSIGHT<br />
EXPERIENCES<br />
DELICIOUSLY<br />
AUTHENTIC<br />
DINING<br />
TRAVEL AND<br />
STAY IN STYLE<br />
SMALLER<br />
GROUP<br />
CAMARADERIE<br />
SEAMLESS,<br />
STRESS-FREE<br />
TRAVEL<br />
THE MAGIC OF AN<br />
INSIGHT EXPERIENCE<br />
Dublin, Ireland: Explore Trinity<br />
College with a university insider,<br />
before getting priority access to the<br />
famous library and Book of Kells.<br />
Book at dnatatravel.com<br />
call 800 DNATA (36282) or<br />
speak to us in-store<br />
Download our app<br />
Follow us on<br />
• Holidays starting from US$1275.00<br />
• Year round savings available, check<br />
with us
THROUGH<br />
THE LENS<br />
The SOHO building in<br />
Tokyo, Japan<br />
"Although I've been to Tokyo<br />
several times, I only discovered<br />
this place on Instagram fairly<br />
recently. So when I visited<br />
last November, I knew I had to<br />
find it. After a lot of extensive<br />
research, I finally managed<br />
to locate it – no easy feat<br />
considering it's not a main<br />
attraction in the city. Being a<br />
hotel and private office space, it<br />
was impossible to just go in, but<br />
I was a man on a mission and<br />
snuck in anyway to take the shot.<br />
The guy in the photo is someone<br />
that I met randomly along the<br />
way and asked if he could kindly<br />
pose for the photo. Thankfully,<br />
he understood me and didn't<br />
think I was a crazy tourist."<br />
Th<br />
Travel photographer,<br />
Loïc Lagarde, loves to travel<br />
because "I can’t stay still. I<br />
always need to be on the<br />
move discovering something<br />
new and exciting every day."<br />
@loic.lagarde, loiclagarde.com<br />
EMAIL US YOUR BEST<br />
TRAVEL PHOTOS<br />
in high-res jpeg format, along<br />
with the stories behind them to<br />
habiba@hotmediapublishing.<br />
com and you may end up<br />
being featured<br />
on this page<br />
74 worldtravellermagazine.com
Now win!<br />
DIGITAL<br />
BE OUR TRAVEL<br />
COMPANION<br />
Stay up-to-date with all that’s<br />
happening on our social channels<br />
and join in the conversation by<br />
sharing your experiences. Here’s<br />
where you can find us…<br />
@worldtravellerme<br />
Double tap our dreamy<br />
destination shots and tag<br />
us in your images for a chance to<br />
feature on our wall.<br />
@<strong>World</strong><strong>Traveller</strong>ME<br />
Stay up to date with travel<br />
stories as we post them.<br />
@W<strong>Traveller</strong>ME<br />
Make the most of your<br />
280-character allowance<br />
by sharing your best travel<br />
moments with us.<br />
#<strong>World</strong><strong>Traveller</strong>ME<br />
A two-night stay at Qasr Al Sarab<br />
Desert Resort by Anantara<br />
Escape the city and sink into luxury at this traditionallystyled<br />
desert resort on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. You'll stay<br />
in a One Bedroom Anantara Pool Villa, with breakfast for two.<br />
Chill out with a dip in your private plunge pool and take part in<br />
thrilling sunrise and sunset desert activities. Or, you can simply<br />
unwind at Anantara Spa. To find out more and to enter, visit<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com/win (terms & conditions apply).<br />
TRAVEL INSPO AT YOUR FINGERTIPS<br />
Let our travel news and round-ups, available to read on our website,<br />
inspire your next trip…<br />
1The Knowledge.<br />
Read our handy<br />
how-tos, from<br />
getting to grips with<br />
travel insurance to<br />
helping kids beat jet<br />
lag, and more.<br />
2Staycations.<br />
Take a peek<br />
inside these top<br />
hotels and resorts on<br />
your doorstep and<br />
then book your next<br />
mini break.<br />
3Insider Guides.<br />
Check out our<br />
in-the-know<br />
travel edits of some<br />
of the most popular<br />
holiday destinations<br />
on our radar.<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 75
XXXXXXXXXXXXX<br />
Suite dreams<br />
Our monthly finish with a flourish, delving into a<br />
suite that has a character and style all of its own<br />
Suite Amour<br />
Hotel Lutetia<br />
It's easy to fall in love with this suite, which makes the<br />
most of its vantage point at the pinnacle of the hotel with<br />
a private terrace offering picture-perfect views across the<br />
rooftops of Paris and the Eiffel Tower. It's one of seven<br />
signature suites designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte at<br />
this palace hotel in the St. Germain-des-Pres area of the<br />
Left Bank. Back inside, ascend the staircase to the suite's<br />
other main attraction, the stylish sitting room complete<br />
with artworks and luxurious bespoke furniture.<br />
76 worldtravellermagazine.com
AT THE EDGE OF THE<br />
WORLD, WHERE THE SKY<br />
SWIMS IN SEA BLUE<br />
this island sanctuary<br />
welcomes you with breeze<br />
and birdsong, candlelit dinners<br />
and infinite views.<br />
Just daydreams away<br />
from the buzz of the capital,<br />
you can lose yourself<br />
in the peaceful luxury<br />
of your own perfect universe.<br />
YOUR EXTRAORDINARY STORY<br />
Zaya Nurai Island Resort<br />
#InAbuDhabi<br />
visitabudhabi.ae
Inspiration. Expertly crafted.<br />
Comprising two iconic towers, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is centrally located beside the<br />
Dubai Water Canal and offers a spectrum of facilities and services for a seamless experience.<br />
The hotel features: 1,608 Luxurious Guest Rooms and Suites, Over 15 Award-Winning Restaurants<br />
and Lounges, Saray Spa featuring Traditional Hammams, A Dead Sea Floatation Pool and<br />
17 Treatment Rooms, State-of-the-Art Health Club and Fitness facilities, 8,000 sqm of spectacular<br />
Meeting Spaces.<br />
JW Marriott® Marquis® Hotel Dubai<br />
jwmarriott.com/DXBJW<br />
Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay, PO Box 121000, Dubai, UAE | T +971.4.414.0000 | jwmarriottmarquisdubailife.com