Home · Category
We love good hotels, but we also love classic cars, and the Peninsula has found some clever ways of joining the two. As a result, they’ve become the quintessential choice for the world’s most important classic car lovers. This association with the world of vintage cars began when the Pe…
You’ve probably heard of slow food. Slow fashion too. But, while there’s no recognised subculture for slow travel, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express certainly fits the bill. Of course, the VSOE is not slow per se, but a ‘Slow Philosophy’ is not about doing everything at a snail’s …
Tucked away in a residential neighbourhood, Brach Paris is an eclectic and unpretentious new hotel by Philippe Starck that’s shaking up the city’s straitlaced 16th arrondissement. YOU’RE KNOWN TO DISLIKE TALKING ABOUT DESIGN, AS JUST DESIGN, SO WHAT WERE YOUR STARTING POINT…
Paris’ first digital art museum, the Atelier des Lumières, opened last year in a disused 19th century foundry in the city’s 11th arrondissement. And, following sold-out shows on Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and the history of the Vienna Secession, they’ve outdone themselves this yea…
Having retained his coveted Michelin star for a second consecutive year, the forty-four-year-old chef has joined the world's culinary elite, a remarkable feat for a Lebanese immigrant who arrived in Paris during the Civil War.
A weekend at the Raffles-run palace hotel off the Champs-Elysees, where Starck's whimsical mirrored interiors, an art concierge and Nobu's only Paris outpost combine to lift the spirits.
Arriving at Charles de Gaulle at five in the morning after twelve hours from Abu Dhabi, our writer was utterly shattered. Yet, as the saying goes, there would be no rest for the weary.
Most of us long ago gave up on airline meals, yet France's oldest carrier still serves food worth boarding for. A visit to its Paris catering kitchens reveals the secret.
Following three years of work on its new HQ, YSL has finally moved back to the Rive Gauche into majestic new headquarters on Rue de Bellechasse in the French capital’s 7th arrondissement. The building, which dates back to 1671 has served many purposes over the years, including as …
La Résidence de la Pinède, a discreet 1936 beachfront hideaway, has slipped into LVMH's hands and reopened with a Wilmotte redesign, a Guerlain spa and an eventual Cheval Blanc rebrand on the horizon.
What is love? It’s an age-old question that elicits many answers; from the overwhelming feeling of tenderness we have for a newborn to the impractical kind that keeps us up at night. But there’s also the kind of love that drives people, a passion so profound it fuels ambitious ventures …
Three years after first sampling the Peninsula Paris, our writer comes back as a guest of Air France. The most exclusive of the Asian powerhouses to reach the City of Light still dazzles.
Small, quaint and quietly French, Megève has happily escaped the nouveau-riche crowds of Courchevel and St Moritz. Originally a medieval town, it became France's first purpose-built ski resort, and remains gloriously understated.
There are so many good hotels in Paris these days it’s hard to decide where to stay but the Mandarin Oriental, with its discreet obsession for perfection, is a worthy contender. Once upon a time, Saint Honoré, and its elegant continuation, the Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, was just a lo…
Richard Mille’s Concours d’Elegance may be a newcomer but it has managed do the unthinkable and attain almost equal status with the legendary events of Villa d’Este and Pebble Beach. There it lay, casually on the table in front of me, a 139,000 USD RM 11-03 between a bottle of Evian and…
Set near Notre-Dame in central Paris, the Institut du Monde Arabe ranks among Mitterrand's celebrated Grands Projets. A museum, library and more, this urban scheme remains a work of striking architectural character.
A striking new landmark has appeared in the Bois de Boulogne. Completed in October to showcase the cultural ambitions of France's biggest maison, the Fondation Louis Vuitton cost almost 170 million dollars before land and art.
Born in Nice’s old town, La Petite Maison was once Riviera insiders’ best-kept secret. Now, with outposts from London to Dubai and Miami, we trace how this modest Provençal haunt became a global dining powerhouse.
George Gershwin may have written ‘An American in Paris’ while staying at the original incarnation of this hotel in 1928 but fast-forward to today and you’ll find the new Peninsula Paris sings a very different tune – one that will resonate greatly with the world’s most discerning travell…
Breguet and the Louvre may seem an odd pairing to the museum's ten million annual visitors, yet the Swiss watchmaker is plainly committed to championing European culture, from horology to the decorative arts.
For over half a century, Courchevel and its 600 kilometres of glistening pistes has been one of the world’s most spectacular ski resorts. Though the focus nowadays is on how it’s attracting the world’s most affluent winter vacationers, there’s a lot more to this story. Before Courchevel…
Crystal chandeliers and gold etchings make this no ordinary patisserie. The decor nods to the Incroyables and Merveilleuses of late eighteenth-century Paris, flag-bearers of an aristocratic subculture, as much as to its celebrated meringue creations.
A decade in the making and backed by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Azerbaijan, the Louvre's 125-million-dollar Islamic arts department brought the world's boldest architects together to honour a civilisation's enduring artistic treasures.
Perched above Theoule-sur-Mer on the Cote d'Azur, Antti Lovag's Palais Bulles is a stunning reminder of another time. Our visit reveals that the bubble palace remains as much today's tomorrow as it was yesterday's.
CEO Yves Carcelle prizes the emotion a single artwork can bring. At L'Espace Culturel, Olafur Eliasson's lift plunges visitors into forty-five seconds of darkness, cleansing them of the city before art begins.
Now part of the Raffles chain, Le Royal Monceau owes its rebirth to the legendary Philippe Starck. Sara White Wilson discovers how the designer has infused this Parisian icon with culture and dazzling artistic ingenuity.
For an experience of Paris fashion that is historically and culturally deeper than your average shopping spree, the Coco Chanel Suite at the Hôtel Ritz Paris is the destination de rigueur.
Regardless of the crowds, jams and heat, Saint-Tropez still exercises an inimitable magnetism on the world’s elite who flock to the southern French town for the season of raves and waves, dining and dancing - and most importantly - seeing and being seen.
Last summer seems like an age away. Times were certainly a lot different and during that period it was widely reported that the 71-year-old widow of slain Lebanese banker Edmond Safra had sold his legendary Belle Epoque estate, the Villa Leopolda, in the Cote d'Azure to 44-year-old Russian
As the daughter of the world’s most famous contemporary designer, Ara Starck has had to excel in order to be taken seriously as an artist in her own right.
Matali Crasset is known as an industrial designer but she covers a variety of other subjects such as furniture design, graphics and interior design. With a particular methodology of analysing everyday life to propose alternative ways she has firmly established herself as a unique talent.