Slip between the sheets of homegrown beauty QT Sydney, an uber-cool hotel that stretches across two landmark buildings, the State Theatre and Gowings, in the heart of the CBD. Think speakeasy charm fused with geometric rugs, objets d’art – including a gown made entirely from undies – and a costume-clad host called the ‘director of chaos’. The lift serenades couples with love songs, groups with party beats and solo travellers with tunes about loneliness. Start the day with coffee at Parlour Roasters, rest your weary bones at the excellent spaQ (some of the treatment rooms feature gorgeous, original lead lighting), get a trim at the Barber Shop and, when you’ve returned from a day exploring the city, head downstairs to the cool Gowings Bar & Grill for a late-night tipple.
Fly through the Bokeo jungle on a zip line to your unique Gibbon Experience tree house, nestled in the forest canopy. Spend the day hiking around the forest, exploring Nam Kan National Park and zip lining from mountain to mountain. In the evening, once you’ve flown once more to your overnight home above the trees, enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the jungle and wake to the whistles of playful gibbons. It’s a night’s shut-eye you will never forget. The drop toilet however you might want to!
Located on Mai Khao Beach on Phuket’s quiet northwest shoreline, with privacy and comfort second to none, SALA Phuket is the perfect place to get lost.
For the privacy lover, SALA Phuket features 79 spacious villas and suites, 63 of which have private swimming pools. Equipped with their own open-air bathroom, a piece of lush garden and sun loungers, the resort’s pool villas offer an incredible amount of space and privacy, creating the impression of being personal resorts all on their own.
Perfect for gourmets, SALA Phuket Resort & Spa is known for its excellent cuisine, having featured in the Thailand Tatler Best Restaurant list for three consecutive years. The private beach dinner offers the ultimate in luxury dining.
Wellness gurus will love the resort’s award-winning SALA Spa, which features a contemporary design and one of Phuket’s best spa menus, available exclusively to guests in conjunction with the famous French beauty brand Clarins.
Shopaholics can also get their fix, with the resort sitting just a short walk from Turtle Village shopping area. Guests can easily explore Phuket by making use of the daily shuttle buses to both Phuket Town and Patong.
Play blushing bride in a century-old teak house built in Java as a gift for a lady betrothed to a Javanese nobleman. In the village of Baung, a 15-minute drive from Ubud, Bambu Indah offers eco luxury with 11 restored antique houses and elegant modern guest residences. Each detached room is unique and thoughtfully furnished – some are set on stilts, others include private water features or garden bathrooms, and one even has a glass floor so guests can watch shrimp swimming in the pond below.
There’s also a four-storey pagoda with floor-to-ceiling windows and a traditional Sumbanese house crafted from bamboo. During the day hike to nearby villages, go rafting on the Ayung River, practise yoga in the Minang House – a re-creation of a large clan home from the Padang highlands in Sumatra – or play the giant bamboo harp. For something truly hands-on join a house-building workshop and learn to contort bamboo into architecture.
Malaysia is a long way from Middle-earth, but the charming family-run lodgings, Time Capsule Retreat, will have your getting your hobbit on. Tucked away in lush forest in the peninsula state of Pahang, the delightful capsule rooms are made from pipe cylinders, with floor-to-ceiling glass at the opening letting light and green views right in. At two metres by three metres, the rooms are cosy and simple but large enough to accommodate a queen-size bed. They are air-conditioned but you’ll have to share a bathroom with your neighbour.
Let the tide lull your senses into a state of relaxation at The Floathouse River Kwai. Hidden in the tropical depths of western Thailand, this luxurious lodge floats on the gentle waves of the famous river. Artfully constructed from teak and bamboo, each room oozes opulence and opens onto a private terrace by the water.
Spend your days mountain-bike riding, kayaking or exploring nearby waterfalls, before enjoying a delectable spread of international and local cuisine at Pontoon, the floating restaurant. When darkness falls, plonk yourself down on your terrace with a glass of wine and listen to the gentle lapping of the water.
For an enlightening spiritual retreat join Buddhist scholars, and occasionally the Dalai Lama himself (there are tentative dates for the beginning of 2017), on tours to places of great significance and holiness in mainly India, but also Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. Trips range from three days to 18, and the group size is kept small to ensure the essence of mindful travel is never lost. These are unique journeys, designed to explore both the cultural and spiritual aspects of the destination, and offer the traveller new insights, personal discover and the chance to meet local people they perhaps wouldn’t on a normal tour.
Some of the trips include a sojourn to the painted caves at Ajanta in Maharashtra and an exploration of ancient Buddhist sites and palaces and forts in Andhra Pradesh. Accommodation ranges from five-star hotels to home stays in more remote areas.
Most people don’t think luxury when it comes to backpacker-style lodgings, but Adler Hostel proves that you can go a little bit posh without the hefty price tag. Located in the bustling heart of Singapore’s Chinatown district, the hostel’s dorms are furnished in a range of elegant themes. Each capsule-style bed is surprisingly spacious and houses all the right creature comforts – think plump pillows, universal power points, clothes hangers, a personal locker and a curtain for privacy.
The tea and juice bar offers an ever-changing breakfast menu and leads to a cosy lounge area perfect for relaxing or meeting fellow travellers. If you can bring yourself to leave your cocoon of comfort, there’s a plethora of restaurants and shops just outside the door. You’ll be hard pressed to find better bang for your buck.
Yes, the 4000 hectares of limestone karsts bursting from the ocean make it look like Krabi in Thailand, but you won’t find nearly the same number of gawkers in the Caramoans, about 500 kilometres south-east of Manila.
There are 10 principal islands with pristine white-sand beaches and lush peaks where you can snorkel, kayak, trek and rock climb far from the tourist hordes. There is one main spot, Gota Village Resort, where you can rent rustic cabanas and more upscale villas on a private cove, but there aren’t any discos to frequent when the sun goes down. If watching fireflies lights up your life, though, this could be your idea of heaven.
Get set for a kooky kip at the Crazy House in Dalat, the charming French-inspired mountain city popular with Vietnamese honeymooners. Described as a work Gaudi may have created if he’d dropped some acid, the Crazy House (its original name is Hang Nga Villa) stretches the boundaries of architectural creativity, then abandons them altogether.
Tunnels, walkways and ladders connect a labyrinth of rooms brought together using wire, wood and a generous coating of concrete to resemble a whimsical tree house. It all sounds a bit ramshackle, but has architectural credibility. Owner Dang Viet Nga, daughter of former Vietnamese president Truong Chinh, has a PhD from the University of Architecture in Moscow, and her guesthouse is a continually evolving labour of love.
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