10 magical places to |celebrate Christmas
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 magical places to celebrate Christmas

To make one December 25th stand out from another, we recommend changing the scene, breaking tradition for something new. How about a Christmas underwater or on the farm, in the wild or in the woods?

Water babies :|Indian Ocean islands for kids
Concierge Kid-friendly Tamlin Wightman

Water babies :
Indian Ocean islands for kids

While the northern hemisphere’s temperatures keep the kids indoors or on the slopes this time of year, the tropical islands of the Indian Ocean charm the sun chasers and water babies among us, with their toasty waters and tropical conditions.

10 best places for Father’s day
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best places for Father’s day

Your father is a hero. Here is a selection of some of the finest fatherly favourites from around the world, to take Dad not merely on Father’s Day, but whenever the call of the wild rings or the time to show your love for the first man in your life beckons.

In the land of lions and leopards
Travel Tamlin Wightman

In the land of lions and leopards

Kenya plains provide spectacular scenery and nature. Ol Donyo Lodge and Mara Plains Camp offer to discover local wildlife and predators that thrive in this majestic nature during traditional safaris.

Ski the world's most|legendary slopes
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

Ski the world's most
legendary slopes

The very mention of their names gets all skiers dreaming, and some of the most coveted slopes are within easy reach of Relais & Châteaux hotels. Discover them before you speed down them...

A sense of place |in the Spice Islands
Cuisine Tamlin Whightman

A sense of place
in the Spice Islands

“Odours have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odour cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.” ― Patrick Süskind, Perfume

10 best places for| a romantic weekend away
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best places for a romantic weekend away

The Art of Romance is concerned less with the minutiae of time and place and more with the stirrings of the heart, the sentiment of two souls coming together and finding a home in each other.

The Longest New Year’s Eve
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

The Longest New Year’s Eve

From New Zealand to Tahiti, it will take 24 hours for the sun to rise on 2018! Here are ten magical places, broken down by time zone, to celebrate the New Year in style.

Wonderful chocolate
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

Wonderful chocolate

With the easter week-end right around the corner, let us guide you through ten great places where you can discover chocolate under all its forms.

10 most Instagrammable places
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 most Instagrammable places

Instagram has opened up the beauty of the world to a wider range of excited travellers, photographers and everyday individuals. Here are ten undeniably photogenic places around the world to add to your own Instagram feed.

10 Best Places to Celebrate Mother’s Day
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 Best Places to Celebrate Mother’s Day

Moms teach us many lessons over the years… But it is the love that they show us that we cherish most. It is this love that we celebrate and try, as best we can, to return each Mother’s Day.

10 best places for a marriage proposal
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best places for a marriage proposal

Everyone deserves a good proposal story – so here are ten of our favourite settings around the world that are eager to help you tell yours.

10 Best Unexpected Rooms
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 Best Unexpected Rooms

This is our answer to the call of the unusual. To the mystery of the weird and wonderful. To the belief that life is unpredictable and that we should embrace the curious as often as we can to truly “suck out all the marrow of life,” as Henry David Thoreau put it.

L'école des chefs
Concierge Cooking courses Tamlin Wightman

L'école des chefs

For those who enjoy preparing fine cuisine as much as tasting it, our chefs open their kitchens to you for a truly memorable experience in more than 200 of our properties around the world. Learn some secrets and savor the experience! Please get in touch with each property for more details.

The best Christmas markets|to visit in Europe
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

The best Christmas markets
to visit in Europe

The spirit of Christmas celebrated in the diverse corners of Europe shows up in an exciting pastiche of tales and traditions. One of the finest ways to experience this is to cast yourself into the centre of the merriment: a Christmas Market.

10 best places to enjoy a wine harvest in Europe
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best places to enjoy a wine harvest in Europe

Because wine is always there for us, it’s only right that we be there for wine. And what better time to do so than during its ultimate honouring – the wine harvest?

10 unexpected jobs|around the world
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 unexpected jobs
around the world

You may or may not want to consider a career change after learning about these ten rather unusual jobs around the world. But it might at least open your eyes to the many wondrous ways that some people choose to make a living in the tourism industry.

10 best unusual weddings
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best unusual weddings

Below are ten offbeat locales around the world to consider for your big day, ones entailing cowboy boots in the wilderness, the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas and the big cats of the African wild. Whichever you fancy, this is sure to be the beginning of a beautiful adventure.

Chasing volcanoes|on Reunion Island
Travel Tamlin Wightman

Chasing volcanoes
on Reunion Island

Enigmatic, wondrous, a moonscape and marine paradise… Réunion Island is a land of great contrasts and sights that shine a light on the power of our planet, whether you're high up in a helicopter or standing with your feet in the Indian Ocean.

That private island feeling | in Seychelles
Travel Tamlin Wightman

That private island feeling
in Seychelles

It’s a strange yet precious feeling to be alone on a private island. Once my butler had shown me around, explained the intricacies and practicalities of having a never-ending villa home next to a white sand beach in the Seychelles archipelago, it was just me.

Snow kids
Concierge Kid-friendly Tamlin Wightman

Snow kids

Whatever its mysterious power, the snow-capped peaks of the world make for an exciting family holiday, an adventure to unite all members of your brood, young and old.

Forgotten vegetables :|the unsuspecting salsify
Cuisine Savour Tamlin Wightman

Forgotten vegetables :
the unsuspecting salsify

In our series featuring the forgotten vegetables, introducing some variety into the kitchen for the last chilly days, we move onto the neglected salsify plant and its cousin, scorzonera, two root vegetables with a long history.

The art of entertaining
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

The art of entertaining

To begin the year on a high note, Relais & Châteaux North America’s compilation entitled, The Art of Entertaining celebrates life, its little and grand wonders. This inspiring new coffee table book looks at the different guises revelry assumes in some of Relais & Châteaux’s hotels.

Water babies :|row, row, row your boat
Concierge Kid-friendly Tamlin Wightman

Water babies :
row, row, row your boat

The sea is a place of great myth and fantasy, one made for the young at heart and, under the right supervision, the young of age too.

Dream cocktail party
Cuisine Tamlin Wightman

Dream cocktail party

From Relais & Châteaux’s new book, The Art of Entertaining, we bring you a few recipes for your own celebrations, as enjoyed at a glamorous festivity held at Blantyre in the United States.

10 restaurants for a | romantic dinner for two
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 restaurants for a romantic dinner for two

There are many ways to show love to your lover – throwing a lasso around the moon and pulling it down for them or playing "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel under their bedroom window. But the date that never fails to swoon is a table at a romantic restaurant, somewhere special, with someone special.

How to Stay Healthy on Holiday: |10 Best Healthy Restaurants
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 Best Healthy Restaurants

The idea behind the well-known phrase, “You are what you eat,” and Michael Pollan’s, “You are what you eat eats,” is to remind us of the connection between the meals we consume and our personal health and well-being.

7 best places | for a nature escape
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

7 best places
for a nature escape

We can never have enough of nature. Henry David Thoreau, the writer, knew this, that the “tonic of wildness” is essential to our time on earth. Discover seven distinct places to answer this call of the wild, to relax and reconnect with the natural world.

10 best green spaces | for garden lovers
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best green spaces
for garden lovers

A garden is one place that calls us to rest, to spend time alone, getting back to ourselves as much as to the earth. But it is just as much a sanctuary to share with a fellow garden lover, or simply a lover in a garden.

10 loveliest places |to spend a honeymoon
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 loveliest places
to spend a honeymoon

Honeymoons are about celebrating: love, the future, the wedding being over… You may like the serenity of sea-gazing and sun-bathing, a little wilderness adventure or city exploring. Whatever your heart calls for, here are 10 of our favorite places to commemorate and relish your new life together.

Tealands spirit
Cuisine Ask the sommelier Tamlin Wightman

Tealands spirit

Making up the Tealands in the East are China, Sri Lanka and India, the ancient lands that gave birth to tea as we know it.

The secret life of tea
Cuisine Ask the sommelier Tamlin Wightman

The secret life of tea

As much as there are the oenologists, whiskey connoisseurs, gin enthusiasts and health juice fanatics, there too are the tea devotees. Discover more about this special plant on a trail through the tealands.

10 places to unwind with friends
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 places to unwind with friends

From France to Japan, South Africa to Spain, they are some of the top places in the world to delight in the art of wellness, with friends by your side.

10 best places for wine lovers
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best places for wine lovers

Once you begin your journey into the world of wine, your travels will never be the same. The search for new wines and far-flung destinations in which to enjoy them will take over. To get you started on your voyage of the vine, here are 10 places around the world that will speak to the wine lover in.

10 ways to drink coffee | around the World (part 1)
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 ways to drink coffee around the world (part 1)

Coffee unites us. Wherever in the world we travel to, we can find this most beloved of drinks, in all its diverse guises – whether as the Türk Kahvesi in Turkey, the Café au lait in France or the Pharisäer in Germany.

Farm life for city kids
Concierge Kid-friendly TAMLIN WIGHTMAN

Farm life for city kids

One of the greatest gifts you can give a child is to help them to see life as one great adventure after the next – a lesson our farms and ranches of the world make as clear as the countryside sky.

Beekeeper, a job|for those who think the future
Commitments Bee keepers Tamlin Wightman

Beekeeper, a job
for those who think the future

Yes, being Chef and beekeeper can be joined in a unique passion.Take a glimpse in our Q&A with Otto Nijenhuis, Château St. Gerlach in the Netherlands’ expert apiarist.

The moveable feast
Cuisine Savour Tamlin Wightman

The moveable feast

More and more, chefs are leaving the kitchen to seek out ingredients not only from local farms or their own gardens, but from the wilderness around them.

“Garçon! Hold the Hooch!”
Cuisine Ask the sommelier Tamlin Wightman

“Garçon! Hold the Hooch!”

The leisurely act of drinking should by no means be withheld from someone simply because they do not “drink”. In fact, the act is being wholly revolutionized precisely because of these individuals.

5 Rules for cooking with vegetables
Cuisine Savour Tamlin Wightman

5 Rules for cooking with vegetables

When it comes to vegetables, the rules for creating a more holistic and mindful gastronomic experience are simple. The chefs of Relais & Châteaux weigh in on a few vital guidelines.

10 ways to taste Morocco
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 ways to taste Morocco

From the budding café culture to the lesser-known Middle Eastern winelands, this is the real taste of Morocco and where you can find it for yourself.

The Butterfly Effect – A Q&A with Tina Aponte
Travel Point of view Tamlin Wightman

The Butterfly Effect – A Q&A with Tina Aponte

“Each smallest act of kindness reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo…” ― Dean Koontz

You keep me wild, I’ll keep you safe
Travel Point of view Tamlin Wightman

You keep me wild, I’ll keep you safe

There is an anonymous quote that reads, “You keep me wild, I’ll keep you safe.” It keeps finding me. Perhaps because it can hear the call for the wild in me...

Baths with a view: |10 best hotels for bath lovers
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

Baths with a view:
10 best hotels for bath lovers

What better moment to enjoy a good hot soak than during a luxurious escape far from home? Enjoy every moment in these 10 Relais & Châteaux establishments chosen with care, where taking a bath is an art, and even, perhaps, the purpose of your stay.

6 ways to discover New-York| through iconic dishes
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

6 ways to discover New-York
through iconic dishes

To get to know someone, we sit down with them, over a meal, a drink, and we dig in. Getting to know New York requires a similar introduction… a table, a dish and a story. There are certain foods that define the eclectic city best, that capture its heart and give a taste of its soul.

Young yogis
Concierge Kid-friendly Tamlin Wightman

Young yogis

Kids make for natural yogis. These special yoga classes for kids on holiday merely show them how to take their handstands and roly-poly’s to the next level – one that unites mind, body and soul, creating calm-makers out of your little troublemakers.

A sting operation
Commitments Bee keepers Tamlin Wightman

A sting operation

Teaching little chefs
Concierge Kid-friendly Tamlin Wightman

Teaching little chefs

On these culinary journeys, kids discover more than the simple art of cooking – they learn an appreciation for where our food comes from and an understanding of its diversity from culture to culture.

10 ways to drink coffee | around the world (part 2)
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 ways to drink coffee around the world (part 2)

Coffee unites us. Wherever in the world we travel to, we can find this most beloved of drinks, in all its diverse guises – whether as the Oilang in Thailand, the Cafézinho in Brazil or the Cà phê đá in Vietnam.

10 best places for|a nature escape
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best places for
a nature escape

The summer period is ideal to leave cities and get fresh ideas with the nature. Primary islands, forests, big lakes or mountain, discover the rest of our series and five places to connect with the big spaces.

Londolozi, the protector of|all living things
Commitments Seeds of change Tamlin Wightman

Londolozi, the protector of
all living things

At its essence, Londolozi is itself a seed of change; the reach of its impact crosses borders, from the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve where the lodge lies in South Africa, to the homes and hearts of those who visit – people in all corners of the globe.

10 best places to see wild animals
Concierge Our Top 10 Tamlin Wightman

10 best places to see wild animals

For many, it is the animals of the world that spur them to journey across lands and seas, the wild, unhabituated and miraculously varied Animal Kingdom that lures them from destination to destination.

The art of bee-ing
Commitments Bee keepers Tamlin Wightman

The art of bee-ing

Artists around the world collaborate with Mother Nature in a range of unique creations featuring one of the most vital creatures on Earth – the honeybee.

Forgotten vegetables : |the Jerusalem Artichoke
Cuisine Savour Tamlin Wightman

Forgotten vegetables :
the Jerusalem Artichoke

A series featuring forgotten vegetables to introduce a dash of variety into the kitchen for the last few chilly winter days. Let’s start with the Jerusalem artichoke, a root vegetable that is not what it seems. Its subtle flavour has seduced the chefs of the world.

Forgotten vegetables : the black radish
Cuisine Savour Tamlin Wightman

Forgotten vegetables : the black radish

In our series featuring forgotten vegetables, introducing a dash of variety into the kitchen for the last few chilly winter days, we move onto the black radish, the lesser-known radish with its unique charcoal exterior and crunchy, peppery taste.