CHECK IN, CHILL OUT
Looking for a destination less ordinary? Our travel pros share the trends, treats, places and head spaces you’ll want to know about in 2O19
TRAVEL Three experts share the trends, destinations and adventures to know about in 2O19
NEXT BIG THINGS
by by SUSAN WARD DAVIES, Travel & Lifestyle Director, ELLE
BELIZE Have fashion hideaways Tulum and Holbox had their day? If you think so, head down the coast to more-under-the-radar Belize. Recent openings include Ka’ana Resort (kaanabelize.
com) and Mahogany Bay Resort & Beach Cub (mahoganybayvillage.com), while the rustic It’zana Resort & Residences (itzanabelize.com) has just been completed in Placencia. The Four Seasons is also building the Caye Chapel resort
(fourseasons.com), due to open in 2O21, while Leonardo DiCaprio’s long-awaited Blackadore Caye will finally be taking bookings for 2O19.
RWANDA If you’re into gorillas, natural beauty and luxury adventure, this spectacular African nation is one for your hit list. The five-star One&Only Nyungwe House (oneandonlyresorts.
com) has finally opened for business in the Nyungwe National Park, and Singita Kwitonga Lodge (singita.com) launches in the Volcanoes National Park in late 2O19. Wilderness Safaris will finish its new Magashi Camp in Akager National Park in March, followed by One&Only Gorilla’s Nest at the end of 2O19. And with the government being proactive on conservation and sustainability, Rwanda is hitting the headlines for all the right reasons.
TURKEY After a few lean years, Turkey is back on the holiday radar. With the lira plummeting in the summer of 2O18 – making it far cheaper than Med favourites Greece and Croatia – and luxury resorts such as Bodrum’s Mandarin Oriental (mandarinoriental.com) and The Bodrum Edition (editionhotels.com) opening in recent months, we’ll soon all be following A-listers like Naomi Campbell and Nicole Kidman there. Top of our wish lists are Fairlight Jones’s Bond-esque, eco-luxe Houses of Gökçe Gemile
(fairlightjones.com), which are tucked away on the Gemile Peninsula. Built by local craftsmen using local stone, reclaimed wood and upcycled iron, expect sea views, lake-style pools and your own Jeep, housekeeper and kayaks. Houses sleep up to eight and cost from £3,5OO a week. British Airways, ba.com, has return flights from London to Dalaman from around £3OOpp
CUSTOMISED MINI BARS After bespoke, pre-made cocktails graced the mini bars of The Ned (thened.com) and the Henrietta Hotel
(henriettahotel.com) in London, French luxury food brand Fauchon has taken things one step further. Its new boutique Fauchon l’Hôtel
(hotel-fauchon-paris.fr) – the first of a planned 2O – is all about the gourmet experience. Instead of the regular mini bar, you’ll find a pink armoire (created by Roche Bobois, which you can actually buy) housing your own gourmet bar, packed with complimentary champagne and Fauchon foodie treats, which are replenished every day. Let them know your foodie obsessions when you book, then look forward to feasting from your tailor-made store cupboard. Doubles from around £476, B&B
THE TRENDS
by JENNY SOUTHAN, editor and founder of
GLOBETRENDER MAGAZINE
PET ADVENTURES Suki loves riding on the nose of kayaks and paddling in mountain streams. She’s also a cat – a leopard-like Bengal who lives in Canada and has a million Instagram followers (@sukiicat). These days, more humans are seeking to travel with their animal companions. Recognising this demand, the world’s first privately owned animal terminal, the Ark, became fully operational at New York’s JFK Airport in summer 2O18. Hotels are now considering our furry friends, too, with establishments such as London’s Dukes (dukeshotel. com) and the Rosewood London (rosewoodhotels. com) offering dedicated gourmet pet room service, special bedding and dog-sitting.
MICROCHIP IMPLANTS Tired of rifling through your bag for your Oyster when using the Tube? In Sweden, a niche sub-section of commuters has taken to having microchips implanted in their hands, which can be used like contactless cards to pay for train tickets. These biometric chips, the size of a grain of rice, can be embedded in our bodies and could contain everything from digital passports and driving licenses to boarding passes – tech firm BioTeq has already fitted 15O implants in the UK.
JET-LAG DRIPS There is nothing quite like jet lag to take the fun out of your holiday. To combat this, a growing number of clinics are popping up to supply weary travellers with a quick fix in the form of a vitamin-rich intravenous drip, administered at your hotel. The IV Doc
(theivdoc.com) – a Fashion Week saviour – now operates in the US, London and Ibiza, delivering Jet Lag Relief IV Hydration Therapy straight into your arm for £419 a pop, while US-based companies The Cure LA (thecurela.com), Boost Hydration (boosthydration.com) and IV for Life
(ivforlife.com) are offering similar panaceas.
HIPSTER CRUISES Cruises used to be considered the domain of the retired, but that’s all changing thanks to companies such as U by Uniworld (ubyuniworld.com), which targets its European river cruises at millennials. On board, guests can enjoy craft beer, street food, artisan coffee and speciality cocktails. There will be time to go ashore to check out the local nightlife, as well as trying dinner in a local’s home, thanks to a partnership with social dining app EatWith
(eatwith.com). And party people take note: festival cruise ship Anchored (anchoredcruise.com) is setting sail from Barcelona to Corsica, Palma and Ibiza from 2 to 7 June 2O19.
AIRPORT FITNESS In the future, airports won’t just be places to sit around eating junk food and reading trashy novels. Roam Fitness
(roamfitness.com) is working to install gyms in 2O airports in the US and beyond by 2O23 – it currently has one at Baltimore-Washington International Airport with cardio machines, weights and free Lululemon workout gear to borrow.
FLYING TAXIS Sick of being stuck in traffic? Flying taxis may sound outlandish, but companies such as Flight Global (flightglobal.
com) are developing micro-copters for mass use in congested cities. Uber Air (uber.com) is hoping to start testing pilot-less aerial taxis in 2O2O, while the Chinese drone manufacturer Ehang (ehang.com), French aircraft company Airbus (airbus.com) and even the British Rolls-Royce
(rolls-roycemotorcars.com) are developing them.
LAKESIDE RETREATS As we become ever more wired to technology, the need for complete decompression grows greater. Retreating to remote lakeside spots will become a powerful draw. Try Stedsans in the Woods (stedsans.org; doubles from around £24O, half
board), which has tents and glass-fronted waterside cabins around Lake Halla in Sweden; and La Lancha, which overlooks Lake Petén Itzá in Guatemala. Familycoppolahideaways.com; doubles from £13O, B&B
HOTEL-MEETS-SHOWROOM Have you ever stayed in a hotel and wished you could buy the furniture, bedlinen or artwork? Online interiors site Made.com opened its own hotel in Manhattan in 2O17 (madehotels.com) where everything is available to buy, and in 2O18, Muji debuted two hotels, in China’s Shenzhen and Beijing, where guests can experience the brand’s minimal aesthetic (hotel.muji.com). Now there is no excuse to steal the towels…
THE NEW ADVENTURES
by RADHA VYAS, co-founder of award-winning travel company THE FLASHPACK
ECO-TOURISM Low-impact tourism is continuing to boom, mirrored by an emerging trend for tree tents, as seen on The Flashpack’s Finland adventure. These innovative tents hang between the trees for minimal land impact, letting you feel closer to nature. Star-gaze and fall asleep to the soothing rustle of the woodland canopy, and wake up to the sound of birdsong. It’s the ultimate digital detox that channels all the happiness benefits of being outdoors, and our version is topped off with wilderness cooking in Nuuksio National Park. As a chef whips up a campfire feast, you can knock back Napue gin with lingonberry garnish long into the summer night. From £1,O49 for three nights, including food and accomodation; flashpack.com
MICRO-ESCAPES With 6O per cent of Brits struggling with the stress of work overload, we no longer have time for long holidays. Step forward the micro-escape – an adventure for cash-rich, time-poor professionals in desperate need of a change from the nine-to-five. From hiking Mount Toukbal in Morocco (five days) to a four-day snowmobile safari in Finland, we’ve seen a surge in demand for these compact escapes, which come short, sharp and brimming with new experiences. From £1,249, including food and accomodation; flashpack.com
THE HOTSPOT: OMAN Less showy than neighbouring Dubai, Oman is opening up as the go-to destination for bold adventurists. The untapped frontiers of the Sultanate allow limitless scope for experiential travel, making our escape to the Arabian Peninsula our mostbooked Middle East trip of 2O19 so far. Take a self-navigated GPS hike across Wahiba Sands desert, and tiptoe along the rim of Oman’s very own Grand Canyon at Jebel Shams. And let’s not forget the capital, Muscat: with a skyscraper ban in place and a harbour dotted with sleepy boats, this city provides a refreshing step-change from the high-octane hubs of the UAE. From £1,799 for seven days, including food and accomodation; flashhpack.com