There’s a moment when this seems like the most graceless activity imaginable. Spitting onto someone else’s property and clamping your teeth onto oversized rubber. Then there’s the waddle with the flippers (sorry fins) before a tumble over the edge of the boat into the water…

A golden sofa waits in the lobby of the Radisson on Mercer Street, its spine forming a glamorous backdrop that cannot be ignored. It’s nearly upstaged by the gilded birdcages and the gold leaf shaggy sheep – but not quite.

This glitzy…

There are hotels. And then there are hotels. Places so imaginative, so extraordinary and so unusual that they stand out as experiences in their own right. The Egerton Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, is one of those hotels…

Fika. So said the letters, so said my host. It was not yet four in the afternoon and I began to brace myself.

The word fika, I decided, had all the hallmarks of a potent local spirit, the sort that could stand in for paint stripper on an identity parade and would give you a headache as soon as look at you…

Like many a hotel in London, a Union Jack flag hangs over the doorway of The Rubens at the Palace, the fabric swaying with all the haste of an oak tree expanding its roots. Unlike many hotels in London…

Picture this: a beach of white sand that curves to clasp the Indian Ocean. Palm trees fluttering at the edges of your vision. The crash and sigh of the waves in the distance. I open my eyes and…

A clock plods through its strict rhythm as the clink of china echoes through the drawing room. A Union Jack plays hide-and-seek at the window when the teapot isn’t watching and a platter of cucumber sandwiches make themselves comfy for afternoon tea.

In the world’s largest delta, transport takes place on water. While a few motorised boats cruise along the main waterway, to travel through the reeds, you still need a traditional mokoro…

he Hospes Palacio de los Patos, a luxury hotel in Granada, has a story. Maybe even a story and a half.

Built in 1890 or so, as a grand expression of fine living in Granada, it quickly acquired the nickname of the “Palace of the Ducks” – a cheeky reference to…

Ferran Adria, head chef at the world’s best restaurant, talks about women, words and how bloggers are changing gastronomy.