Manchester is having a moment, with cool new hotels, art spaces, and restaurants popping up quicker than umbrellas in an English summer. But that’s news to most Brits, who, if asked to name three things about this city of some 2.8 million, would prob

Should you be on the lookout for a cool new hotel, you’re in luck. The 2024 edition of our annual Luxe List rounds up 17 of the best new openings across the Asia-Pacific region, with firsthand reviews by our roving contributors who have pinpointed th

OF ALL OUR PORTS OF CALL between Istanbul and Trieste, Santorini, the fabled Greek archipelago that’s said to have inspired Plato’s lost city of Atlantis, was the one I couldn’t wait to leave. It was a late-June afternoon and Thira, the main island,

THE MORNING SUN HAD YET TO TIP OVER THE HORIZON WHEN the phone rang. “They’re ready,” a voice on the other end of the line said. A buggy soon picked me up. With a cooling breeze rustling the palm leaves overhead, we drove to the beach, where marine b

Macau’s defining qualities are inseparable and yet poles apart, like night and day, or sweet and sour. The compact territory is home to both a UNESCO World Heritage site and the largest concentration of casinos in Asia. Its densely populated and ever

One meal was all it took for me to start planning a road trip into the Victorian countryside. It was a lunch at Farmer’s Daughters (farmersdaughters.com.au), a bustling restaurant in downtown Melbourne where Peruvian-born chef Alejandro Saravia showc

Vegans, look away. Dave Pynt, the brawny Perth-born, Singaporebased chef and owner of barbecue hot spot Burnt Ends, has published his first cookbook. “The timing was right,” says Pynt, whose Michelin-starred restaurant in the leafy Dempsey Hill neigh

WHEN THE FIRST bridge spanning the silty waters between the Macau Peninsula and Taipa Island took shape in the 1970s, few could have envisaged the project would kick off a decades-long construction spree. These days, three soaring viaducts carry traf

More pied-à-terre than traditional hotel, this designled bolt-hole in Melbourne’s stylish South Yarra has long been a byword for discreet luxury. Now, after a two-year closure and top-to-toe revamp, that refined polish has been lifted to another leve

WITH ITS scenic location, worldclass facilities, and heartfelt hospitality delivered with signature French zest, Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua Beach Resort makes for a deeply romantic place to tie the knot. Uninterrupted ocean views create the perfect backdr

THE GOLDEN-GRAY SWEEP of Hac Sa Beach looks fiendishly inviting on a hot weekday morning. But I sigh and turn away from the sand. I’ve come to Macau’s southern fringes to hike the Coloane Seac Min Pun Ancient Path, a nearly 1.4-kilometer-long trail t

Not long ago, Brunswick Street was struggling. A wave of rising rents followed by Melbourne’s long pandemic-induced lockdown saw a growing number of storefronts displaying FOR LEASE signs. But on my recent visit, the gra! tied main drag through inner

ENSCONCED AMID lush tropical gardens on the shores of Jimbaran Bay, InterContinental Bali Resort sets a natural stage for romance. Fittingly, the property’s 14 hectares of landscaped grounds provide a plethora of enchanting wedding venues designed to

Behind a small storefront on the vibrant Rua dos Mercadores, one of Macau’s oldest commercial streets, Wong Weng Sou meticulously sews traditional Chinese bridal garments known as qungua. His elaborate tailor-made creations feature auspicious motifs

Five centuries of Turkish history permeate the solid stone walls of Zeyrek Çinili Hamam (zeyrekcinilihamam.com), a public bathhouse originally commissioned in the 16th century by the Ottoman corsair turned admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. Set atop Byzan

MACAU MAY BE synonymous with its eclectic architecture, casinos, and egg tarts, but the city’s creative scene offers a much lesser-known facet to explore. Away from the crowds, culture-minded visitors can easily spend a day wandering through historic

Arriving at the hotel’s Grand Canal jetty via motoscafo (water taxi), you step through grate-like sliding doors into a dim chamber framed by ancient brickwork. Underfoot, slabs of Istrian stone rise from a shallow reflecting pool — an homage, I later

Held in Sai Van Lake Square opposite the Macau Tower, the city’s muchanticipated food fest (Nov. 15–Dec. 1) will feature street stalls, booths, and tents serving local specialties alongside dishes from mainland China and abroad. Accompanying events i

SURROUNDED BY the serene and verdant foothills of central Bali, The Kayon Jungle Resort in Ubud offers a wedding destination like no other. Every ceremony here is a masterpiece of bespoke design, curated with precision and passion by a dedicated team

Trained as an architect in his native California, Alán Ramiro Manning has spent the last few years traveling the world to create online sketching courses for his website SeeTheLines (seethelines.com). One recent trip brought him back to Barcelona, th

Atop a nondescript commercial building on the edge of the Wan Chai neighborhood, I am being shown what one might describe as a speakeasy art gallery. “The only thing that’s off the record is our address,” says co-founder Willem Molesworth. Together w

Dawn comes quickly to the Sumatran highlands. Standing at a bald campsite halfway up the grassy slopes of Bukit Holbung, less than three degrees above the equator, photographer Martin Westlake and I watch the rising sun paint the sky in fleeting purp

Writing of her first — and only — experience riding a rickshaw, Graciete Batalha, a Portuguese-born lecturer, linguist, and essayist who arrived in Macau as a young woman in 1949, recounted in her memoirs: “I called for one and the man set down the h

Walking up the path toward the distant beats of a DJ set, I was awe-struck by two colossal concrete statues standing sentinel on either side. Each was a behemoth human bust, towering at least 10 meters above those walking beneath their serene gaze. L

Once one of the most productive marine ecosystems in Cambodia, the tranquil waters of the Kep Archipelago saw vast swaths of seagrass and coral reef wiped away by years of industrial fishing and bottom trawling. Fortunately, the work of non-profit or

IT ALL STARTS WITH having fun, says Miguel de Senna Fernandes, director and playwright of the amateur theater group Doci Papiaçám di Macau. A lawyer by trade, Fernandes beams with joy when talking about the troupe that debuts a new play each year at