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29-10-2008
Top 31 places to go in 2010
Sri Lanka
For a quarter century, Sri Lanka seems to have been plagued by misfortune,
including a brutal civil war between the Sinhalese-dominated government and a separatist
Tamil group. But the conflict finally ended last May, ushering in a more
peaceful era for this teardrop-shaped island off India’s
coast, rich in natural beauty and cultural splendors. The
island, with a population of just 20 million, feels like one big tropical zoo:
elephants roam freely, water buffaloes idle in paddy fields and monkeys swing
from trees. And then there’s the pristine coastline. The miles of sugary white
sand flanked by bamboo groves that were off-limits to most visitors until
recently are a happy, if unintended byproduct of the war. Among the most scenic, if difficult
stretches to reach, is Nilaveli Beach in the Tamil north. While a few military
checkpoints remain, vacationers can lounge on poolside hammocks under palm
trees or snorkel in its crystal-clear
waters. Or they can order cocktails at the Nilaveli Beach Hotel (www.tangerinehotels.com/nilavelibeach), a
collection of recently renovated bungalows with private terraces. An international airport in Matara,
on the island’s southern shore, is under construction, which will make the
gorgeous beaches near the seaside
village of Galle easier to get to. Decimated by the tsunami in 2004, the
surrounding coastline is now teeming with stylish guesthouses and boutique
hotels. Unawatuna, a crescent-shaped beach a
few miles south of Galle, may be furthest along. Higher-end hotels there
include Thambapanni Retreat (www.thambapanni.biz),
which features four-poster beds, yoga and an ayurvedic spa. The Sun House (www.thesunhouse.com), in Galle, looks like a
place where the Queen of England might stay, with its mango courtyard and
colonial décor. One stylish place tucked within Galle’s city walls is the Galle
Fort Hotel (www.galleforthotel.com),
a refurbished gem merchant’s house run by a couple of Aussies. — Lionel Beehner Patagonia Wine Country
Ten years ago, a group of adventurous winemakers set their sights on an
Argentine valley called San Patricio del Chañar, an unusually fertile and
eerily beautiful corner of Patagonia. They plowed, planted and waited. The
outcome? A blossoming wine country with delicious pinot noirs and malbecs and
smartly designed wineries. One of the area’s pioneers, the
2,000-acre Bodega del Fin del Mundo (www.bodegadelfindelmundo.com),
which works with the influential wine consultant Michel Rolland, is racking up
international medals for its complex merlot, cabernet and malbec blends. And NQN
(bodeganqn.com.ar), which is associated
with the Argentine oenologist Roberto de la Mota, has seen its 2006 Colección
NQN Malbec get 92 points from Wine Enthusiast. Nearby is the new Valle Perdido
winery (www.valleperdido.com.ar), which
includes an 18-room resort surrounded by vineyards. At the spa, ask for
antioxidant wine-infused treatments. — Paola Singer Seoul
Forget Tokyo. Design aficionados are now
heading to Seoul. They have been drawn by the Korean
capital’s glammed-up cafes and restaurants, immaculate art galleries and monumental fashion palaces like
the sprawling outpost of Milan’s 10 Corso Como and the widely noted Ann
Demeulemeester store — an avant-garde Chia Pet covered in vegetation. And now Seoul, under its
design-obsessed mayor, Oh Se-hoon, is the 2010 World Design Capital. The title,
bestowed by a prominent council of industrial designers, means a year’s worth
of design parties, exhibitions, conferences and other revelries. Most are still
being planned (go to wdc2010.seoul.go.kr for updates). A highlight will no
doubt be the third annual Seoul Design Fair (Sept. 17 to Oct. 7), the city’s
answer to the design weeks in Milan and
New York, which last year drew 2.5 million people and featured a cavalcade of
events under two enormous inflatable structures set up at the city’s Olympic
stadium. — Aric Chen Mysore
You’ve completed 200 hours of teacher training, mastered flying crow pose and
even spent a week at yoga surf camp. What’s next? Yogis seeking
transcontinental bliss head these days to Mysore, the City of Palaces, in
southern India. The yogi pilgrimage was sparked by
Ashtanga yoga, a rigorous sweat-producing, breath-synchronized regimen of poses
popularized by the beloved Krishna Pattabhi Jois, who died at 94 in 2009. Mr.
Jois’s grandson is now director of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute (www.kpjayi.org). First month’s tuition is 27,530
rupees, or $600 at 46 rupees to the dollar. Classes generally require a
one-month commitment. Too much time or money? Mysore’s
yoga boom now has shalas catering to every need. Off the mat, the yoga tribe
hobnobs at Anu’s Bamboo Hut or the Regaalis Hotel pool, studies Sanskrit, gets
an ayurveda treatment or tours the maharaja’s palace. — Mary Billard Copenhagen
As thousands of environmentalists heckled world leaders in Copenhagen last
month for the climate summit, a solitary unifying note could be heard amid the
cacophony of discord: the Danish capital has already emerged as one of the
world’s greenest — and maybe coolest — cities. Copenhageners don’t simply preach
the “progressive city” ethos, they live it. Long, flat urban thoroughfares are
hemmed with bicycle paths where locals glide around the city, tourists saddle
up on the free bikes that dot the city
center, and fashion bloggers take notes on the latest cycle chic (see copenhagencyclechic.com). Over in the harbor
district, a public bath at Osterbro, due to open in 2010, will complement the
two swimming areas set off on Copenhagen’s inner harbor, a formerly polluted
waterway recently transformed into the city’s summertime hub. Away from all the modernism and the
happy cyclists, cultural thrill-seekers are being coaxed to the once dangerous
district of Norrebro, which has arguably become Copenhagen’s edgiest hub. A
heady mix of hipsters, students and immigrants mingle in the cafes and
galleries around the district’s focal square, Sankt Hans Torv, and the city’s
young and excitable night owls can be found dancing in local clubs until the
early hours. — Benji Lanyado
6. Koh Kood
Is this the next Koh Samui? The Trat islands are emerging as Thailand’s new luxury outpost. Inaccessible for
many years because of tensions with neighboring Cambodia and a poor transportation infrastructure, islands like Koh Kood are starting to
draw venturesome paradise seekers, thanks in part to new direct flights to the
port city of Trat. The recent opening of Soneva Kiri, a 42-villa suite retreat
by the Six Senses brand (www.sixsenses.com/Soneva-Kiri),
definitely ratchets up the high-end quotient on this Robinson Crusoe-like island. Coming soon: X2 Koh Kood (www.x2resorts.com), a designer eco-resort with 14
pool villas. — Gisela Williams Damascus
The next Marrakesh? Perhaps mindful of
the way that renovations of historic riads have drawn upscale travelers to
Marrakesh, Damascus hoteliers are trying to mine tourism gold in the rundown
buildings of the Syrian capital’s Old City. These 18th-century homes — many
with inviting courtyards and rooftop terraces — are now boutique hotels, like
the nine-room Old Vine (www.oldvinehotel.com)
and the Hanania (www.hananiahotel.com),
which doubles as a hotel and a small museum. — Don Duncan Cesme
The next Bodrum? While revelers continue
to descend upon that seaside retreat, another corner of Turkey’s Aegean coastline has begun to emerge as
a stylish alternative: the once-sleepy villages of the Cesme Peninsula. The
main draw is Alacati, a sheltered beach town that last summer was the site of
the Professional Windsurfers Association Slalom World Cup. Scheduled to open in
the spring, the seven-room Hotel Nars Alacati (www.nars.com.tr),
set in a converted 19th-century mansion, promises to become the popular weekend
gathering spot for Istanbul’s smart set,
along with the adjoining garden restaurant,
Mesa Luna.
— Andrew Ferren Antarctica
This may be the last year that Antarctica is open to mass tourism — not because
the ice is melting too fast (though it is), but because of restrictions that
would severely curtail travel around the fragile continent. Until recently, most vessels passing
through Antarctica were limited to scientific expeditions, but an exploding
number of tourists now flock to what is arguably the world’s last great
wilderness. The tourism boom, scientists argue, poses a major environmental
threat. Indeed, several passenger ships have run aground in recent years. Countries that manage Antarctica are
calling for limits on the number of tourist ships, for fortified hulls that can
withstand sea ice and for a ban on the use of so-called heavy oils. A ban on
heavy oil, which is expected to be adopted by the International Maritime
Organization later this year, would effectively block big cruise ships. With the new rules taking effect
within two years, tour operators are promoting 2010 as the last year to visit
Antarctica, while, at the same time, procuring lighter vessels that would be
permitted. Abercrombie & Kent, for example, is introducing a new ship, Le
Boreal (www.abercrombiekent.com), which
its public relations firm argues “meets all the environmental regulations, so
access to Antarctica via A&K will not be affected.” Launching this year, the compact
luxury ship holds 199 passengers and features an outdoor heated pool, steam
rooms and private balconies that offer intimate views of some of the world’s
remaining glaciers. — Denny Lee Leipzig
In 2010, Leipzig, a small industrial city in the former East Germany with an
illustrious past, will be marking the 325th anniversary of the birth of its
former resident Johann Sebastian Bach and the 200th birthday of Robert Schumann with concerts, festivals and a reopened Bach Museum (www.bach-leipzig.de). But the city’s cultural high note is
likely to be the Neo Rauch retrospective opening in April at the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts (www.mdbk.de), a show devoted to the father of the New Leipzig
School of artists, a scene that for the past decade has been the toast of the
contemporary art world. The art cognoscenti will also make their way to the
Spinnerei (www.spinnerei.de), a former
cotton mill that is home to 11 galleries, a cafe and a quirky new pension
called the Meisterzimmer (www.meisterzimmer.de),
with rooms starting at 50 euros, or $70 at $1.40 to the euro. The city is also making a splash on
the musical front. Moon Harbour Recordings and Kann Records, two indie labels
producing innovative electronica from D.J.’s, are based here. Sevensol and
Matthias Tanzmann will undoubtedly be lugging their laptops to Leipzig Pop Up (www.leipzig-popup.de), a trade fair and music festival taking place in May. Otherwise,
gigs can be heard year-round in the city’s underbelly of abandoned factories
and squats that look a lot like Berlin —
maybe 10 years ago. — Gisela Williams Los Angeles
Visitors love to bemoan the lack of an old-fashioned cultural neighborhood in
Los Angeles. In truth, the city has as many thriving art spots as it does ZIP
codes. Last October, the pioneering Culver City gallery Blum & Poe (2727
South La Cienega Boulevard;
310-836-2062; www.blumandpoe.com)
inaugurated an airy 21,000-square-foot space; in July, the veteran local dealer
Thomas Solomon (427 Bernard Street; 323-427-1687; www.thomassolomongallery.com)
opened a space in Chinatown. And the powerhouse New York galleries L&M Arts
and Matthew Marks are scheduled to open prominent spaces in 2010. Local museums, many of which
struggled financially in recent years, are back afloat. The Museum of
Contemporary Art (www.moca.org) is
celebrating its 30th birthday with a huge exhibition of 500 highlights from its
outstanding collection of postwar art. In October, the vast Los Angeles County Museum of Art (www.lacma.org) will get even bigger
when it unveils a Renzo Piano-designed addition to
its multiacre mid-Wilshire campus. And the billionaire collector Eli Broad, who has been both savior and villain
to just about every major museum in town, is now looking to plant his own
museum in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica or
a third unnamed location. — Andrew Ferren Shanghai
To many, the idea of a World Expo might seem like a dated, superfluous
throwback from some preglobalized age. (Remember the one in Aichi, Japan? Enough said.) But tell that to
the 70 million who are expected to attend Expo 2010 in Shanghai. This is China,
after all. And following up on Beijing’s
spectacular Olympics, Shanghai is pulling out all the stops. From May 1 to Oct.
31, more than 200 national and other pavilions will straddle the city’s Huangpu
River, turning a two-square-mile site into an architectural playground: Switzerland will be represented by a building
shaped like a map of that country, complete with a rooftop chairlift, while
England is in the celebrated hands of the designer Thomas Heatherwick, who is
fashioning what looks like a big, hairy marshmallow. Other attention grabbers
include Macao, taking the form of a
walk-through bunny, and the United Arab Emirates,
which hired Foster + Partners to build a “sand dune.” (By contrast, the United States pavilion might be mistaken for a
suburban office park.) In the run-up to the Expo, Shanghai
seems to have taken this year’s theme, “Better City, Better Life,” to heart,
spending tens of billions of dollars to upgrade the city. The riverfront Bund
promenade is getting a makeover with parks and pedestrian-friendly sidewalks,
while the subway is being dramatically expanded — including several new
stations serving the World Expo site. — Aric Chen Mumbai
On the one-year anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, citizens painted a
one-kilometer stretch of wall in South Mumbai with murals to show their love
and hope for the city. The initiative, by a group of organizations that
included the Mumbai Arts Project (MAP), which is dedicated to creating public
art projects, is just one sign that Mumbai’s art scene is on the rebound. A walk through the newly dubbed
Colaba Art District yields no fewer than five contemporary art galleries. In
the second half of 2009, two contemporary galleries opened: Gallery BMB (www.gallerybmb.com), which brought in big-name
artists from around the globe for its first show (look for an exhibition
focusing on new Indian women artists, starting on Feb. 8), and Volte (www.volte.in), a gallery, cafe and bookstore.
Just down the street is Project 88 (www.project88.in),
an outpost of Gallery 88 in Calcutta,
focused on up-and-coming Indian and South Asian artists. The large, simple
one-room space will show the artist Hemali Bhuta with an installation on the
ceiling and archival prints on the walls, starting Jan. 18. Also nearby is
Gallery Maskara (www.gallerymaskara.com),
in a converted cotton storehouse; starting March 15, the space will host
paintings, sculpture and watercolors by T. Venkanna, a popular artist based in
nearby Vadodara. — Lindsay Clinton Minorca
While the beat of disco pounds in Ibiza and Majorca, their quiet sister Minorca
offers a tranquil contrast to the glitz next door. The entire island is a
Unesco Biosphere Reserve, so the Spanish megahotel development frenzy of the
last decade has largely skipped over this patch of the Mediterranean. That
means miles of beaches —some 120 of them, in fact, like the northern sweep of
crystal-clear swimming waters in the coves called Cala d’Algaiarens, with fine
sand and rolling dunes. And Minorca’s eco-diversity extends well beyond the
coasts: forests, deep gorges, wetlands, salt marshes and hillsides covered in
lush greenery that sometimes look more New England than Mediterranean. Even the
island’s sun-bleached towns — Mahón and Ciutadella, each combining elements of
their British colonial heritage, Moorish roots and modern Spanish identity —
are more peaceful than their Majorcan equivalents. The ideal visit to Minorca
celebrates islanders’ emphasis on agritourism — sleeping in rural
establishments like Ca Na Xini (www.canaxini.com),
a dairy farm that offers an eight-room temple to modernism inside the shell of
a century-old manor home. It’s like spring break for eco-conscious adults. —
Sarah Wildman Costa Rica
Costa Rica has been on any eco-minded traveler’s radar for years, but with a
new birding route in the northeast
region of the country, there’s a new reason to pay the country a visit. Opened
in early 2009, the Costa Rican Bird Route (www.costaricanbirdroute.com)
encompasses 13 far-flung nature reserves with phenomenal avian diversity — the
sites are home to more than 500 bird species. Travelers can explore the route
on their own with a map ($12.95 when ordered online) or hire a local guide to
lead the way. The most popular leg of the route centers on the Sarapiquí-San
Carlos region, one of the last remaining habitats of the endangered and prized
great green macaw. The landscape along the route runs from wetlands and river
explorations to high rain forest canopies and waterfalls; birders can visit renowned tropical biological
research stations, stay in newly built eco-lodges and hike or canoe through local family-run reserves in search of rare raptors, herons and
kingfishers. — Bonnie Tsui Marrakesh
The ancient walls of Marrakesh must have protected the city from the global
recession. Luxury boutique hotels, which began opening a few years ago, are now
popping like Champagne corks over this historic and atmospheric North African
city. La Mamounia, a famed playground for
celebrities like Mick Jagger and Charlie
Chaplin, reopened in November after a $176 million face-lift by the Parisian
designer Jacques Garcia (www.mamounia.com).
At its dazzling launch party, Jennifer Aniston,
Orlando Bloom and Gwyneth Paltrow walked
the red carpet, José Carreras sang, and Cirque du
Soleil acrobats wrapped in Christmas lights scaled the hotel walls. “There was caviar galore,” said
Sandra Zwollo, a Dutch expatriate who lived in La Mamounia for three years.
“And not only does the new La Mamounia reflect what is happening in Marrakesh
at the moment, it is greatly contributing to it.” Ms. Zwollo herself is adding to the
glamour of the city. Later this month, she plans to open Harem (www.harem-escape.com), a wellness retreat just
for women, set on a stunning 12-acre estate in the city’s outskirts surrounded
by olive and palm groves. But it all pales in comparison to
the palatial Royal Mansour, scheduled to open in 2010. Owned by King Mohammed VI of Morocco,
who is largely responsible for the country’s newfound glamour, the jaw-dropping
resort is built along the city’s ancient walls and has been designed almost
like a mini-medina with Andalusian-style courtyards. The 20,000-square-foot
royal suite will have a private swimming pool, home theater, gym and private
hammam. The resort will also feature three restaurants overseen by the
three-star Michelin chef Yannick Alléno. There’s more. By the end of 2010,
the Mandarin Oriental Jnan Rahma, which looks like something out of a
Merchant-Ivory movie, and a 140-room Four Seasons are both expected to open,
while a Rocco Forte resort and W Hotel are in the works for 2011. — Gisela
Williams Las Vegas
Despite a 4 percent drop in visitors in 2009, and the fact that several Las
Vegas hotels have drastically slashed their rates to attract bargain-seeking
travelers, a number of ambitious developers seem to think there is still money
to be made in Sin City. CityCenter, MGM’s $8.5 billion,
67-acre resort complex, is the Strip’s biggest headliner in 2010. Four of the
six planned properties opened in December, including three hotels and a
500,000-square-foot luxury shopping mall (www.citycenter.com).
The residential Veer Towers and the Harmon, a 400-room boutique hotel, are
scheduled to open this year. The complex also houses Haze, a 25,000-square-foot
nightclub, and Cirque du Soleil’s seventh show, “Viva Elvis,” a tribute to the
king of rock ’n’ roll. This summer, the Encore, a Steve Wynn property, is unveiling an
entertainment complex and “beach club” (complete with three pools and V.I.P.
cabanas)., and a new nightclub, Surrender. A five-pool addition to Garden of
the Gods Pool Oasis at Caesars Palace,
set to open in March, will feature swim-up gaming and an 18-foot waterfall. The
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, which unveiled its Paradise Tower in July, added
the all-suite HRH Tower in late December, as well as Vanity, a
14,000-square-foot nightclub. — Allison Busacca 18. Bahia
All eyes will turn to sultry Rio de Janeiro when it hosts the 2016 Olympic Games,
but right now Brazil’s white-hot
destination may be the northeastern state of Bahia. With its distinctive
African-influenced flavors, cultural diversity, palm-fringed beaches and a new
crop of chic hotels, the region is fast emerging as a jet-set playground. In the village of Trancoso, a
hideaway that gets more fashionable by the minute, the Dutch designer Wilbert
Das (longtime creative director of the Diesel label) opened Uxua Casa Hotel (www.uxua.com) using recycled materials including
old roof tiles and abandoned fishing boats. The hotel’s colorful casas and lush gardens were a canvas for the 2010
Pirelli calendar, shot by the bad-boy photographer Terry Richardson. Speaking
of the town’s rising cachet, a luxury Fasano resort — with 30 beachfront villas, a restaurant and a spa — is in the works. In Salvador,
known for its pulsing street carnival and the historic Pelourinho district,
head to one of the city’s boutique lodgings. Zank (www.zankhotel.com.br)
recently opened in the residential Rio Vermelho section and seamlessly blends
modern and classic styles, with exceptional views of the Atlantic Ocean just
steps away. Nearby is the Pestana Bahia Lodge (www.pestana.com), with a hilltop
infinity pool and sunny sea-view rooms. While there, don’t miss “The Kiss” and
“The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin, on
temporary view at the Palacete das Artes (palacetedasartesrodinbahia.blogspot.com),
which opened a gallery devoted to the French sculptor. — Paola Singer Istanbul
The reputation of Istanbul’s contemporary art scene has been steadily growing
in recent years, with the Web site ArtKnowledgeNews.com recently calling it “one of the most innovative in the world.” That reputation
is bound to be burnished even more this year, now that Istanbul has been named
the 2010 European Capital of Culture (a designation it shares with Essen, Germany, and Pecs,
Hungary). There will be a series of events,
gallery shows and stage performances throughout the city to mark the occasion.
(A complete list of events can be found at en.istanbul2010.org/index.htm.) But one of the best ways to get a
crash course in what Istanbul’s leading artists are up to right now is to spend
some time wandering around the Misir Apartments (311/4 Istiklal Cadessi), right
on the busy pedestrian thoroughfare that cuts through the trendy Beygolu
neighborhood. Inside this elegant, early-20th-century building are some of the
city’s most cutting-edge art venues, like Galerist (www.galerist.com.tr) and Gallerie Nev (www.galerinevistanbul.com) Afterward, head to the rooftop
terrace and have a drink at 360 Istanbul,
a stylish bar and restaurant that offers stunning views of the city’s skyline (360istanbul.com). — Stuart Emmrich Shenzhen
Chances are, the iPod in your pocket was made in Shenzhen, China. But this
industrial powerhouse of a city on the Pearl River Delta in the southern region of the country, is more than just a factory town
of sweatshops and bad smog — and it has the high-class hotels and high rollers
to prove it. Shenzhen is one of China’s
wealthiest cities, right up there with Shanghai and Beijing. Situated just a
45-minute train ride north of |
