The Journal
Inspiration
Galleries reopen, kitchens change their menus and the light turns to gold — the case for September to November as the supreme season for the European city break.
6 min read
Inspiration
The railway and the grand hotel grew up together, and the partnership still works. These are the European rail journeys where the travelling is as memorable as the destination.
7 min read
Inspiration
Decommissioned lighthouses, fjord-head hotels and high-mountain stations are becoming the connoisseur's alternative to the resort. On the strange luxury of staying where the world runs out.
6 min read
Inspiration
Trees in the lobby, carols on the staircase and dinner without a single saucepan to wash — why December belongs to the grand hotels, and how to choose yours.
6 min read
Inspiration
Cloisters built for silence turn out to be perfectly engineered for rest. How centuries-old religious houses became some of the world's most affecting places to stay.
6 min read
Inspiration
The private island is luxury travel's ultimate promise: a world reduced to one shoreline. These are the islands consistently judged worth the long journey.
7 min read
Inspiration
After decades of shrinking check-in desks and 'residential' foyers, the great public room is back at the centre of hotel design. Inside the revival of hospitality's most democratic space.
6 min read
Inspiration
The weeks either side of high summer are when Europe's most celebrated destinations return to themselves — and when their grandest hotels are at their most rewarding to inhabit.
6 min read
Inspiration
From Venetian Gothic facades on the Grand Canal to Palermo's art nouveau seafront, Italy's palazzo hotels preserve the work of masters. A tour of the buildings — and the hands that made them.
7 min read
Inspiration
No transfer on earth rivals the water approach — Venice by lagoon, Como by launch, an island dock at dusk. On the oldest and grandest way to reach a hotel.
5 min read
Inspiration
A new wave of resorts is redefining what ultra-luxury means — trading gilded excess for privacy, place and barefoot polish. Here is what the shift looks like on the ground.
7 min read
Inspiration
Against the tyranny of the packed itinerary, a quiet counter-movement argues for choosing one great hotel and staying a week. The rewards are larger than they first appear.
6 min read