THE JOURNAL

Amanoi, Vietnam. Photograph courtesy of Aman
A cabin in Sweden, a tent in Tanzania and a spa in Vietnam – these are the places we are dying to revisit.
Now that spring has arrived, and our heavy coats and cashmere have been put away, we’re spending our time perusing MR PORTER for Orlebar Brown swim shorts or the latest camp-collar shirts from Valentino.
It isn’t just in matters sartorial that we are venturing into, we are also planning getaways – to inspire you (and each other), we reveal our favourite holiday destinations in the world. From a tiny Japanese island to the plains of the Serengeti, read on to see the places we’d love to revisit.
Naoshima, Japan
Mr Adam Welch, Editor, The Daily

Benesse Art Site, Naoshima. Photograph by Mr Addison Godel. Below: photograph by Mr Andrew Rowat/Redux/Eyevine
Naoshima is a tiny island, one of the 3,000 that dot Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. Unsurprisingly, it’s sparsely inhabited, with only a few thousand residents calling it home. But it’s also the site of one of the world’s most intriguing art experiences, the Benesse Art Site Naoshima. Architect Mr Tadao Ando’s building merges with the landscape and houses artworks from the likes of Mr James Turrell, Ms Yayoi Kusama and Mr Walter De Maria. You can stay in one of them – Benesse House – or, for a more traditional experience, lodge at a guest house in the island’s Honmura area and try some handmade sanuki udon, a speciality of Kagawa Prefecture.
Where to stay: Benesse House, Mr Tadao Ando’s hotel-cum-art gallery
**Book your stay **

What to wear...
Trancoso, Brazil
Mr Andrew Barker, Editorial Director

Trancoso, Brazil. Photograph by Mr Fernado Lombardi. Courtesy of Uxua Casa Hotel. Below: photograph courtesy of Uxua Casa Hotel
Brazil’s answer to the Hamptons, only your next-door neighbour is likely to be a fisherman whose family has lived in the Bahian town on a cliff since the Jesuits arrived in 1586. At dusk, the grassy square (there are no cars) comes alive as locals on horseback dodge high-kicking capoeira students and spear fisherman returning with their daily catch. Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa is the place to stay. The sushi shack on Praia do Espelho the place to eat.
Where to stay: Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa, a group of converted fisherman cottages gathered around the eminently Instagrammable village green

What to wear...
Amanoi Resort, Vietnam
Mr Jeremy Langmead, Content Director

Amanoi, Vietnam. Photographs courtesy of Aman
After what’s been pretty manic 12 months, I recently checked into a Spa House at the Amanoi resort in southern Vietnam. The treatment rooms, 15m pool, hammam, dining facilities, etc, are all within the villa, so you don’t have to brave an exhausting stroll anywhere at all. You don’t even have to decide what to do, or what to consume. A schedule is sorted for you in advance, a bespoke herbal remedy is delivered to your door each morning, and the rest of the day is a balance of yoga, massages, meridian therapy treatments and, if you wish, boat trips or hikes. You even have a 60-minute massage after dinner each evening. And all against the backdrop of the serene Vinh Hy Bay. Bliss.
**Where to stay: **an Amanoi spa house
**Book your stay **

What to wear...
Val d’Isère, France
Mr Olie Arnold, Style Director

Val d’Isère. Photographs courtesy of Le Blizzard Hôtel & Spa
Val d’Isère is the French Alps’ premier ski resort for off-piste skiing, especially when hunting out powder. The Grand Pré chair, the locals’ secret stash, offers terrain for novices and aficionados alike. Face du Charvet gives an array of routes. For experts, the narrow, 40-degree Pisteurs corridor is reached after a 30-minute hike. Afterwards, I’ll end up at Cocorico in time for après-ski. The spa and lodgings of the alpine-chic Hôtel Le Blizzard are the place to unwind and rest a weary head.
**Where to stay: **the Mountain View Suite at the sleek Hôtel Le Blizzard
**Book your stay **

What to wear...
Bequia, The Grenadines
Mr Toby Bateman, Managing Director

Bequia, The Grenadines. Photographs courtesy of The Old Fort, Ltd
I have just been to Bequia, an island in the Grenadines. I heard about it from a friend who sailed there. I googled it and could only find a couple of articles, which was a good sign in itself. What they both said, though, was that it was an undiscovered gem and “old Caribbean”, which appealed. I lay on beaches, read books and went snorkelling with my kids, who are addicted to Sir David Attenborough documentaries, so made lists of the types of fish and turtles they’d see before we even left the UK.
_**Where to stay: **_the mansion-style Old Fort hotel with its sweeping views down from Mount Pleasant onto the endless blue sea beyond
**Book your stay **
**bequiatourism.com **

What to wear...
Douro Valley, Portugal
Mr Samuel Muston, Deputy Editor

Douro Valley, Portugal. Photographs courtesy of Six Senses
Landscapes that look like émigrés from a chocolate box, lots of wine… What’s not to like about Portugal’s Douro Valley? After a day spent walking through the white-washed quintas and lush, terraced vineyards, I like to adjourn to the 57-room 19th-century Six Senses hotel, my happy place, and make headway with the wine library. I also make the most of its capacious spa and its grape-based treatments.
_**Where to stay: **_Six Senses Douro Valley, which happily combines a stellar wine cellar and restaurant with a vast spa and picture-postcard pool
**Book your stay **

What to wear...
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Mr Anish Patel, Commissioning Editor

Singita Sabora Tented Camp, Tanzania. Photographs courtesy of Mr Scott Dunn
The western reaches of Serengeti National Park, known as Grumeti, is one of the most extraordinary landscapes on the planet – endless blue skies, vast plains dotted with acacias, and the whole full-throated cacophony of the wildlife, make it an extraordinary place to visit. And if you happen to go there between April and June, it is even more spectacular as this is when the wildebeest migration takes place (though there is plenty of wildlife all year round). The best place to stay here – and possibly the best place to stay in the whole world – is the Singita Grumeti Reserve’s Sabora Tented Camp; a 1920s-style tented reserve that is long on Persian rugs, anitique furniture and old-style glamour. I can’t wait to go back.
Where to stay: in one of the vast air-conditioned tents at the Sabora Camp, which is located in the middle of the nature reserve
**Book your stay **

What to wear...
Stockholm, Sweden
Mr Ben Palmer, Creative Director

Smögen, Sweden. Photograph by Mr Daniel Schoenen/Getty Images. Below: photograph by Ms Anette Andersson. Courtesy of Swedish Tourist Association
Sweden. The land of big landscapes, good work-life balance and that famous blond-hair-blue-eye-giving DNA. I have become quite a swede-ophile over the past decade. I’ll fly to Stockholm with bikes, ditch the luggage and then head out with minimal kit to weave my way out among the lakes and through villages and forests. I’ll sleep either in STF (scandi hostels), Airbnb cabins, or, taking full advantage of allemansrätt (the everyman’s right or freedom to roam) – sometimes even string a hammock between pines for an evening under the stars (mosquitoes permitting). Far from extreme, but it’s a nice way to spend a week in reasonable isolation – and only two-and-a-half hours’ flight from London.
Where to stay: wherever takes your fancy
