Well, we stole that tasty little header from the W Istanbul website but if they didn’t think that one up surely we would have, right? The hip new W – just opened last week – is a very welcome addition to the Istanbul hotel scene indeed. Stunningly set in splendid restored Ottoman Row Houses, constructed by Sultan Abdulaziz in the 1870s, to house the Aghas (high ranking officers) from nearby Dolmabahce Palace, the building is now beautifully – and radically – refurbished so that it’s fit for the...

Well, would you refuse an invitation to attend the VIP opening of a W Hotel? In Istanbul of all places! Along with the added bonus of the opening of Jean Georges’ new Spice Market restaurant? Well, that’s our excuse for interrupting our coverage of stylish Cyprus and being silent last week, so we hope you’ll forgive us. In between dining at Spice Market with the W’s gorgeous management team, Starwood’s lovely global public relations team and a select group of travel journalists from around the...

Limassol has a tiny old town centre with a low-key feel and a few lovely streets that are worth exploring. When we last visited a few years ago the old town was dilapidated and the shops in the main street drab. These days the city boasts a whole street of chic shops and the old town itself boasts a few engaging sites. While still a tad ramshackle in parts, the old town is full of character. Many of the old stone buildings feature pretty iron lace-work balconies and blue wooden shutters and...

Caprice at the Londa Hotel is one very cool-looking restaurant. Its sleek, light, minimalist style and enormous floor-to-ceiling windows give the room a bright airy feel by day and on a fine one there must be fewer places in the city that take advantage of the sun in this way. It’s an ideal spot for a long weekend lunch with friends. By night, it retains its pared-back look and spacious feel, even after the lights are turned down and the mood levels are raised a notch or two. Then, the room...

The Londa Hotel in Limassol, Cyprus, boasts the buzziest lobby lounge bar in the country. The place just hums and from 6pm onwards it’s the hippest place to be seen in the city. And it’s fascinating to watch how the clientele changes throughout the night. Early evening sees locals dropping in for a coffee after work and businessmen bonding over whiskeys after doing their shipping and real estate deals. Mid-evening sees romantic couples calling in for a glass of champagne, and expats and...

The sleek and very chic Londa Hotel was the first hotel we checked into in Cyprus and we were very pleased we had. Designed in a contemporary minimalist style in neutral shades, on first glance it could have been any boutique hotel anywhere were it not for the wonderful attention to detail, such as the striking use of organic materials, textured fabrics, and natural elements, including raw wood seats in the lounge and a tree branch ‘sculpture’ in the foyer. Add to that whimsical accents, such...

Once again we need to beg your forgiveness for not staying in touch. While Charles and Marie have been living it up in Milan, we’ve been doing the hard slog on the road in Cyprus searching out stylish hotels, sublime spas, divine restaurants and funky shops for you. Well, okay then, we admit it wasn’t that hard after all. Cyprus was in fact a pleasant surprise. It had been a few years since we’d been there and we were relieved to see that it’s shedding its image as a package tour destination...

We were alerted to the culinary offerings of Raffles Dubai’s Fire & Ice by the suave Etienne Haro, who is Pierre Gagnaire’s go-to man and manager of Gagnaire’s soon-to-open ‘Reflet’ restaurant at the chic new InterContinental Dubai Festival City. Etienne said that the chef at Fire & Ice had intestinal fortitude (or words to that effect…) and had us curious as to what was happening in the kitchen of what was being talked about and marketed as a steakhouse. Indeed, when we arrived the mood was...

If there’s one thing Dubai hasn’t done (and admittedly there’s not much), it’s been to take full advantage of its vibrant Dubai Creek, the lifeblood and lively heart of ‘Old Dubai’, by providing Creekside bars for after-work drinks, sundowners, or quiet nightcaps. There are oodles of stylish bars on the beach, from chic Sho Cho to laidback Barasti Bar, both of which overlook the Arabian sea and sand. But until now there were very few decent places on the Creek where you could sit back and enjoy...

The ADD, otherwise known as ‘all-day-dining’, concept is a hotel’s method of making their casual restaurant – the one that’s open from breakfast through midnight – a more attractive experience than the ubiquitous breakfast buffet room or drab 24-hour lobby coffee shop. In the case of the new InterContinental Dubai Festival City, it’s a waaaay sexier experience than we could ever have imagined, even in our wildest restaurant dreams. Anise, as their ADD eatery is alluringly called, was created by...