WORDS��DEBBI�MARCO���PHOTOGRAPHY��CORBIS��GETTY
PONTA�DO�
SOL��MADEIRA
Laura Dixon
writes for
i-escape.com,
Condé Nast
Traveller and
BA HighLife
I went to Madeira in February
and was staggered by the
hip hotels, great design and
fantastic weather. Gin and
golf have gone out the window
and it’s now a trendy haven
for Lisbon’s young weekend
crowd. The south-east
corner is very popular with
international surfers and is
a great place to watch the
experts catch colossal waves.
The top spot is the Ponto
do Sol Hotel on the south
coast of the island, which
has a hot tub in the spa area
overlooking the cliffs. As the
sun sets, the views are to die
for. To stay, The Estalagem da
Ponta do Sol (pontadosol.com)
is an incredible clash of
ancient and modern design.
“Madeira is now
a trendy haven for
Lisbon’s young
weekend crowd”
DISCOVER HIDDEN GEMS LIKE
THE INFINITY POOL AT MADEIRA’S
ESTALAGEM DA PONTA DO SOL HOTEL
Plus it’s got an infinity pool.
For food, The Vine is the
newest five-star hotel on the
island and has the best
restaurant. Think scallops,
truffles and guinea fowl in its
rooftop restaurant overlooking
Funchal (hotelthevine.com).
Go in February as it’s warm
but not too crowded.
Book now Ponto do Sol Hotel
costs from £107 per room, per
night. November flights start
at £34.99 from Easyjet.com.
PANAMA�CITY��
PANAMA
Richard Arghiris
is the author of
the Footprint
Costa Rica,
Nicaragua
And Panama
Handbook and the
blog at interamericana.co.uk.
In winter, Panama can be
well above 20ºC without a
single cloud in the sky. And
it’s incredibly diverse,
boasting mountains,
RICHARD’S FAVOURITE
HOTEL IN PANAMA IS
THE CANOPY TOWER
rainforests, cloud forests,
Pacific and Caribbean
beaches, stunning coral
reefs, and hundreds of tiny
blissful islands.
I’ve seen lots of hotels
in Panama, but my all-
time favourite is the
Canopy Tower (above),
a rainforest eco-lodge.
It overlooks the forest,
so you’re awakened each
morning to the sounds of
chattering tropical birds
(canopytower.com).
My secret spot? The
Kuna Yala archipelago
comprises 400 gorgeous
white-sand islands,
many of them blissfully
uninhabited. This is the
historic homeland of
the Kuna people and a
true tropical paradise
which is untouched by
commercial tourism.
The word ‘Panama’
means ‘abundance of
fishes’, and the seafood
is indeed delicious.
Bocas del Toro in El
Pecado is one of the
better restaurants.
Book now Double
rooms at Canopy cost
£153 per night. Flights
via Miami with American
Airlines start at £500.
LUXOR��
EGYPT
Wendy
Gomersall
writes for The
Mail On Sunday
and The
Scotsman.
Egypt is actually better in
winter for the British, as
temperatures in the south can
top 40˚C in the summer. In
winter it’s still 25˚C most days.
I like to go for a couple of
weeks mid-January.
If I want an uncomplicated,
inexpensive week of chilling
out, I love the Mercure Hotel,
Luxor (mecure.com), which
has a pool area tucked away
in the gardens. But if I feel
like a treat, I adore the
newly refurbished Hilton
Luxor Resort & Spa
(hiltonworldresorts.com),
which is in a fabulous
location overlooking
the Nile.
While in Luxor, you
should wander around
the jasmine-scented
gardens at the back of
the grand Old Winter
Palace Hotel, then have
a nightcap in the bar
(sofitel.com). It’s always
worth sailing on the Nile
in a felucca, the
traditional sailing boat,
and a dawn balloon ride
over the Valley of the
Kings is unforgettable.
Food? The Steinberger
Nile Palace hotel in Luxor
(steinberger.com) has a
great Lebanese restaurant.
And if you want to sight-see
further afield, I’d recommend
a week’s Nile cruise to explore
southern Egypt’s wealth of
temples and tombs followed
by a week in a Red Sea Resort.
Book now Discover Egypt
(0844-880 0461, discoveregypt.
co.uk) offers seven nights at
the Mercure Hotel for £499
including flights and transfers.
THE HILTON LUXOR
HOTEL & SPA. “NO, NO,
DON’T GET UP…”
FLAMANDS�
BAY��ST�BARTS�
Jane Anderson
is author of
A Place To
Wed (Conran
Octopus
Limited, £16.99)
and travel writer for Sunday
Times Travel Magazine
St Barthelemy in the French
Caribbean is achingly hip in a
boho-chic kind of way that the
French do so well. As soon
as I land on its tiny runway,
I instantly feel the rigours of
real life slipping away.
As a treat I’ll stay at the
Hotel St Barth Isle De France
(isle-de-france.com), or a
private villa. Anse De Grand
Saline is a stretch of mostly
deserted beach where the
odd boogie boarder and
ST BARTS OFFERS
ACHINGLY HIP R&R – WE’LL
SEE YOU AT THE BAR…
nudist play. I’m a spa addict,
so I also love Hotel Guanahani
(leguanahani.com), which
is nestled amongst the
Creole architecture.
There are plenty of places
serving top-notch food. At
Eddy’s, in Gustavia (00-1 59
02 75 417), choose the
assiette cru: market-fresh
fish served in a multitude
of styles, from sashimi to
tempura. Alternatively
snuggle up in your villa with
gourmet takeaways from
Maya’s-To-Go near the
airport (st-barts.com/
mayas-to-go) or Kiki-é
Mo (st-barts.com/
kiki-e-mo) in St Jean.
December’s my favourite
month to go; a fortnight
will pass in the shake
of a cocktail.
Book now Caribtours
(caribtours.co.uk) offers
seven nights plus flights
for £2,487 per person,
based on two sharing.
SUN SEEKERS
LAMU��
KENYA
Jane Dunford
is deputy editor
of BA Highlife
magazine.
You can’t get
more of a
contrast to the British winter
than the colourful archipelago
island of Lamu in the Indian
Ocean, off the coast of Kenya.
It’s a UNESCO World Heritage
site that dates from the 14th
century, and is all winding
streets and Swahili architecture
with carved wooden doors
and beautiful mosques.
There are sugar-white
beaches with great diving and
snorkelling, and you’ll often
see dolphins. You can combine
a stay with a safari in Kenya,
but I’d recommend a week at
least. Shela village is a good
place to be based. I stay at the
Peponi Hotel (peponi-lamu.
com) on Shela beach which
has a relaxing atmosphere,
great food and there’s a fun
bar with good cocktails. It’s
not cheap, but worth it for
a couple of nights.
I also love Kiwayu, one
of the smaller islands to the
south. It takes a day to get
there by dhow, a traditional
“There are sugarwhite
beaches
with great diving,
and you’ll often
see dolphins”
THE SIMPLE BEAUTY
OF LAMU’S BEACHES
Arab sailing boat. Munira
Island Camp’s another
favourite, where you sleep
in bandas huts made of
palm fronds.
Book now Double rooms
at Peponi Hotel start at
£183 per night. Flights start
at £584 per person with
cheapflights.co.uk.
WWW�STYLIST�CO�UK����
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.