Get Lost

Sleep inside an art installation

Paris has always been dramatic, but this autumn, it’s officially gone full sci-fi. Le Meurice, the impossibly elegant Dorchester Collection hotel that’s been seducing artists for centuries, has teamed up with the design wizards at Things From. to create Suite 1835 – an immersive pop-up that’s both luxury stay and sensory hallucination.

Available from the 8th of October to the 31st of December, this suite isn’t just somewhere to dump your bags; it’s an interactive art installation where the furniture glows as you move, the carpet is made of aluminium, and the walls seem to hum with the future. Basically, it’s Versailles meets Blade Runner.

Guests can even wander into a neighbouring meditation room – think mirrored cube, AI-generated visuals that react to your “energy,” and a quadraphonic sound system.

Naturally, this kind of transcendental weirdness doesn’t come cheap – rooms start at AU$6,883 per night – but hey, enlightenment has never been part of the breakfast buffet. The silver lining? Some of the profits go toward scholarships at Ensaama, so at least your trip to another dimension helps fund the next generation of French designers.

If you’ve ever wanted to experience Paris through light, sound, and slightly trippy introspection, Le Meurice’s Suite 1835 is your one-way ticket to the future. Who wants in?

Beyond the Black Stuff: Dublin’s Open Gate Brewery Lets Guinness Go Wild

Slip down the cobbled lanes behind the Guinness mothership and you’ll find a discreet little door that feels more speakeasy than brewery. No neon, no fanfare and no hordes of tourists. Step inside and you’re not in the Guinness Storehouse throng anymore, you’re in the Open Gate Brewery, the secret lair where Ireland’s most famous pint takes its tie off and gets experimental.

We got lucky, real lucky, stumbling upon a random Stout Festival. Suddenly Guinness isn’t just Guinness, it’s a technicolour freak show of flavours: chili chocolate stout that smacks you silly, peanut butter stout that makes you question life choices, and tiramisu stout that somehow belongs on both a dessert menu and a tap list.

Long tables brim with tasting paddles and strangers debating with new friends about “the one stout to rule them all,” (that’s the Konbad Imperial that crosses my eyes ata lazy 10.5%). DJs keep it loud, the kitchen keeps it stout-soaked, and the whole thing feels more underground rave than brewery tour.

Come back on a regular night and the secret door still delivers. The crowd is thinner, but the taps are no less daring, There’s a selection of saisons, sours, coffee stouts and more beers the Guinness faithful are too polite to mention at the pub down the road. The space is stripped-back and communal, the food ridiculously good (try the stout-braised beef or whiskey-cured salmon), and the vibe one of discovery, like you’ve stumbled into a Dublin secret the tourists missed.

In short: Open Gate Brewery is Guinness gone rogue. Whether you sneak in during the chaos of a Stout Festival or on a quiet Wednesday, the back-door entrance is your ticket to a side of Dublin’s most famous brewery that most never see.

Play Ariodante’s new immersive game

Imagine a treasure hunt so exclusive, so top-secret that even your GPS wouldn’t spill the beans; this is The Queen’s Lost Diamonds, Ariodante’s audacious new immersive “anti-game” debuting in Paris this fall.

But this game is less ‘puzzle with a timer’ and more like a three-day, adrenaline-fueled odyssey across the City of Light where every cobblestone may be hiding a clue, and every café could be your downfall.

Forget the rules because you make your own. With over 100 unique structural scenes, an impressive actor-to-player ratio, and literally dozens of secret venues (some never open to civilians), this isn’t your typical gameplay; it’s guerrilla history.

Here, decisions aren’t hints—they’re your lifeline. Turn left down a dimly lit alley, and you might stumble into a conspiratorial meeting with a ghostly historical figure, and by “historical figure,” we mean anyone from Napoleon I to Delacroix, or a fashion designer who may or may not be part of the script.

Yeah so it costs a decent chunk of cash, starting at around AU971k, but what price do you put on being the hero of your own clandestine saga? Participants must be picked, vetted, and silenced under NDAs; after all, illusions must remain… well, illusive.

And sure, you could spend your weekend queuing to get into the Louvre (it’d be sooo much cheaper), but this game might just be the craziest immersive experience we’ve ever stumbled upon and wading into a different reality on the hunt for pricey gems beats taking a pic of the Mona Lisa any day.

Selar expeditions set to launch in 2026

If your idea of a cruise involves endless buffets, bingo nights, and enough emissions to melt the poles, Selar would like a quiet word (and a strong gust of wind).

Launching in 2026, Selar is the world’s first fully sustainable polar expedition company, and it’s here to prove that you can chase adventure and save the planet at the same time.

Helmed by Arctic explorer, ice pilot, and all-around badass Sophie Galvagnon (alongside two entrepreneurial trailblazers, Julia Bijaoui and Quentin Vacher), Selar’s luxury voyages will take just 36 lucky adventurers on noise-free, zero-emission journeys into the most remote reaches of the Arctic. We’re talking sails with solar panels, cabins with horizon views, a rooftop sauna, and hot chocolate served in driftwood huts. Pinterest, eat your heart out.

But there’s more. Selar’s trips have no set itinerary, just pure, spontaneous adventure. Spot a polar bear? Go silent and observe. Fancy a kayak around a glacier? Done. Want to ski down an untouched fjord then sip glögg under the Northern Lights? Absolutely.

You’ll share the ship with scientists, artists, and maybe a seal or two, as well as take part in polar clean-ups and citizen science. Because why just see the world when you can help save it?

Selar’s whole motto is that they’re ‘not a cruise, but an expedition’. But make it carbon-negative, luxury-forward, and wildly unforgettable.

Laugarás Lagoon

Just when you thought Iceland couldn’t get any more extra with its volcanoes, geysers and Björk, along comes Laugarás Lagoon, a brand-new, two-level geothermal wonderland opening this August. Yes, August 15. Mark it. Tattoo it. Whatever works.

Nestled in the Golden Circle near the town of Laugarás, this steamy newcomer isn’t your average hot spring. For starters, it has a cascading waterfall inside the lagoon. That’s right. You can literally soak, slide, and swan dive your way through levels of geothermally-heated luxury (it’s doing the most).

And the vibe is Nordic chic meets “I may never leave.” Expect warm mineral pools reaching up to 40°C, forest views, and two bars because nothing says wellness quite like sipping bubbly in a 5,000-year-old lava field.

If that’s not enough, there are also saunas, a glacial plunge pool (for people who enjoy voluntary suffering), and a secret grotto where you can hide from your travel companions or contemplate your life choices in peace.

And if all that lounging makes you hungry, fear not. Ylja, the onsite restaurant, is headed up by Icelandic culinary wizard Gísli Matt. Think hyper-local ingredients served with mountain views and zero shame if you wanna wear a robe to dinner.
In short: Laugarás Lagoon is set to be the country’s next hot thing, literally.

UBS Digital Art Museum

Forget everything you think you know about museums; you know, the stiff silence, velvet ropes, and the security guard sitting down in the corner of every room. Hamburg’s UBS Digital Art Museum is smashing all that with a pixel-powered wrecking ball when it opens its neon-soaked doors later this year.

This isn’t a place where you look at art. It’s a place where art looks back at you and then follows you around. The museum’s crown jewel is a full-blown immersive takeover by Japan’s teamLab Borderless – those digital wizards who turn rooms into kaleidoscopic, interactive wonderlands where flowers bloom around your feet and waterfalls rearrange themselves as you walk through.

Set in HafenCity and billed as Europe’s largest digital art museum, this 6,500-square-metre dreamscape is what happens when tech, creativity, and just the right amount of ambition get together for a late-night brainstorm. And yes, your phone’s camera roll is about to suffer (in the best way).

But this isn’t just an art-fuelled fever dream, it’s also climate-neutral. Because why not save the planet and blow people’s minds at the same time? So, if you’ve ever wanted to stroll through a living canvas or just need somewhere better than your living room to take a dramatic selfie, this one’s for you.

Hangovers, Hazy IPAs and the High Alps

One man’s mission to survive Innsbruck’s beer, schnitzel and snow.

I’m dragging my hungover carcass through the medieval alleyways of Innsbruck. This is a city where baroque opulence collides with snow-covered adrenaline. Did I mention the hangover? The kind of hangover that only comes from partying with Austrians during the Downhill World Championships in Saalbach the night before. Austrians plus snow plus a world-class event equals real partying. We’re talking schnapps-fuelled, lederhosen-wearing, après-ski mayhem that makes Ibiza look like a book club.

Craving Europe but allergic to queues, sweaty crowds and paying €12 for a sad gelato? Eurail’s whispering sweet savings in your ear with 20% off all Global and One Country Passes – if you’re smart enough to travel after the summer madness.

From 1 September, you can gallivant across 33 countries, blissfully free of selfie-stick mobs and sunburnt tourists yelling in caps lock.

But why now? Because Eurail wants to curb overtourism and gently nudge Aussies into shoulder season travel. Turns out 37% of us descend on Europe during its busiest months – July especially – causing gridlock in Venice and major heartbreak for introverts everywhere.

So, let’s lay it out: book your pass before 3 July 2025, and travel from 1 September onwards. You’ll get perks like uncrowded piazzas, autumn wine harvests, cherry blossom-lined canals, and actual breathing room in museums (but they still can’t guarantee you’ll be able to get close enough to the Mona Lisa to get a half-decent pic).

A top-tier three-month 1st class pass drops from AU$2,149 to AU$1,719.20 – that’s enough savings for 17 Aperol Spritzes (just) and a guilt-free pistachio binge in Sicily.

Plus, seniors and youth score extra discounts, and you have 11 months to activate your pass – perfect for commitment-phobes or the ‘I’m just gonna wait ‘til the flights drop a bit’-ers.

In other words, ditch the summer scramble. Take the train. Save some coin. And remember that sunshine in Europe doesn’t magically vanish after August. You can thank us later.