Conde Nast Traveler

AT THE TAIL END OF WINTER, I had one of those magical hotel stays that are among the great blessings of this job. The place was the Fife Arms, the 19th-century coaching house in the Scottish Highlands transformed six years ago into a whimsical temple of art, food, whisky, and heritage by Manuela and Iwan Wirth of the powerhouse gallery Hauser & Wirth. The hotel, part of the couple’s fast-growing Artfarm collection of hospitality ventures (which includes the charming nearby restaurant Fish Shop), was on the Hot List, our annual compendium of the world’s best hotels, cruises, and restaurants, the year it opened (for this year’s Hot List, see page 36). It has also made the Gold List, our yearly roundup of editors’ favorites, twice, and been honored by you…

THE JAPANESE CONCEPT of the jazz kissa, a café-bar where you can hear records played on astonishingly fine sound systems in the company of other enthusiasts, dates back a century. But the phenomenon peaked in popularity after World War II, spurred by European films with jazz soundtracks and touring bands from the US. Back then, most Japanese couldn’t afford hi-fi gear or jazz records, so they got their fix in public. In recent years these spaces have begun popping up in cities like London, Paris, and New York, but Tokyo’s remain the most immersive and original. Here are three to know. ON A SLOW BOAT TO… Walking through Ochanomizu, a quiet neighborhood known for its musical instrument shops and one of the city’s oldest universities, you might happen upon a…

WHILE BALI’S ETERNAL POPULARITY has created problems with crowding and commercialization across the island, things are different in sleepy seaside Pererenan, just a half-hour walk from the party scene of Canggu. Here, amid frangipani trees and Balinese residential compounds, hotels and restaurants are inviting tourists to the neighborhood while working with the banjar, or village administration, to enforce strict rules intended to keep overdevelopment in check. “At first there wasn’t much in the neighborhood besides some cafés by the beach,” says Wayan Kresna Yasa. In 2021 he opened Home by Chef Wayan, which puts a modern spin on recipes from Bali and his native Nusa Penida with dishes that include a ceviche-like rujak ikan with pomelo and a traditional ledok nusa fish porridge redone as a risotto. Since then more businesses…

IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE a more archetypal New England town than Litchfield. Tucked into the northwestern corner of Connecticut, it’s the kind of place that could have inspired a George Henry Durrie landscape (and did inspire Gilmore Girls), with its village green and stately Colonial homes. But something unexpected lies beyond the pastoral charm: dozens of striking midcentury-modern buildings. Commissions in the 1950s by the legendary Marcel Breuer were the catalyst for work by other like-minded architects, including Eliot Noyes, Richard Neutra, and John M. Johansen. Not coincidentally, the city also became home to a wild, boundary-pushing party scene. Recently, Litchfield has seen a resurgence of that midcentury creative energy. The town has always attracted affluent urbanites, including distinguished tastemakers—Diane von Furstenberg, Bill Blass, Anderson Cooper—but the pandemic brought an…

“NEW ZEALAND is really the heart of my story,” says Emilia Wickstead. “There is such a strong relationship between nature and craftsmanship, and whenever I go back, it really grounds me.” The Kiwi designer (pictured below left) lives in London but returns with her husband and children each year to visit the places that she has loved since her childhood in Auckland. Wickstead’s classic silhouettes have global fans like Kate Middleton and Gwyneth Paltrow, but next year she’ll debut her most personal collection yet: clothing for the crew of Air New Zealand. “This is more than a creative project,” she says. “It is about celebrating the cultural tapestry, sacred landscapes, and people who embody the spirit of Aotearoa.” While her love of the country’s green forests and blue horizons informed…

ACCRA’S SPRAWLING Makola Market is a delightful labyrinth of stalls in which traders hawk vibrant goods, from mangoes and land snails to batik fabrics and handmade jewelry. It is a microcosm of the Ghanaian capital itself. “You can find everything there,” says artist Kwaku Yaro, who collects wares and waste from the market for his work. “I’m passionate about minimizing environmental damage”—a commitment evident in the large-scale mixed-media portraits he creates from upcycled wax prints, the blue-and-red-checkered polypropylene bags ubiquitous across the country, and other urban materials. As a member of Artemartis, an African art collective, Yaro has participated in shows at Accra’s Gallery 1957, the Septieme Gallery in Paris, the Untitled Art Fair in Miami, and most recently the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair at La Mamounia in Marrakech.…