Tucked away near the bottom of Miami’s fabled Ocean Drive, past the pastel-painted strip of Art Deco hotels and their raucous sidewalk eateries, sits SoFi, the soothing South Beach neighbourhood south of 5th Street. Here, a quaint and quiet combo of condos and small resorts delivers a peaceful beach vibe, one that’s happily echoed by the Marriott Stanton South Beach.

Vibe: A retro cottage feel greets you in the lobby: tons of blonde wood punctuated by colourful, quirky artwork, low-slung leather sofas, terrazzo flooring, mid-century-style wooden sideboards propping up cool lamps.

Rooms: The beach cottage character continues up in the rooms, with their creamy white walls, even more wood and herringbone-patterned ceramic floors. A leather headboard, curved work station, velvet arm chair and ample bathroom complete this comfort zone. Everything is modern and airy, right down to the little vermilion chairs on the balcony.

F&B: Tuck into the carnitas, then a platter of ribs with grilled spring onions and fresh avocado at Lolo’s Surf Cantina, the Stanton’s Baja-inspired parkside café, where the mezcal margaritas have me at “hola.” Sure I could live here, but I’d have to get bigger pants. This certainty is underlined later on at Azabu Miami Beach, the resort’s Zen, izakaya-style restaurant, complete with a wall of Japanese whisky.

Extras: Spend the extra dollars for a value-added package that nets you faster internet, welcome margaritas, free bottles of water, beach chairs, bike rentals and one fitness class per day—things like cardio kickboxing, high intensity interval training and mat Pilates.

Off-Site: The fact that SoFi is within walking distance of a lot of good food—dozens of restaurants and bars, including the iconic News Cafe, the legendary Joe’s Stone Crab, celebrity chef Justin Smillie’s Upmarket and more—gives the Stanton an even greater edge.

Rate: $$

BOOK NOW

The post Miami: The Stanton appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Vibe: There’s an international crowd at the Eden Roc, fairly well-heeled, and relatively young. Because of the two hotels in one layout, you see all kinds—the scenesters checking into the Nobu and the business creatives and laid-back leisure crowd signing up for the Eden Roc’s cool brand of sophisticated swing: Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Nat King Cole—the hotel is steeped in entertainment history.

Rooms: There are two towers here, one from 1956 and the other built in 2006, both offering high-style Miami luxury. The older suites are small but chic, with sky-blue patterned carpeting and tall, white headboards; dark, minimal furniture. The new tower sports the same simplicity with each room having an ocean view. Find neutral tones and lighter wood here, with big TVs, a desk, a garment steamer (so handy and it worked!), a Bluetooth speaker, rainfall shower heads, a lighted mirror, a gourmet coffee machine and boxer-style bathrobes.

ROAD TRIP: THE FLORIDA KEYS

F&B: In 2016, the Eden Roc passed the management of its food and beverage facilities to Nobu Hospitality. The circular lobby lounge is an Art Deco dream, busy day and night, with still a bit of a scene after dark, even after all these years. Off the lobby, Nobu Restaurant still defines dramatic Japanese style and cuisine, mouthwatering if more than a little pricey. Poolside, Splash by Malibu Farms serves healthy organic fare throughout the day, including an à la carte breakfast.

Extras: Wind up or down at either the massive gym or the destination day spa, replete with steam room, sauna and hot tub. Borrow one of the hotel bikes for free and go for a spin along the boardwalk, rent a cabana poolside, or stretch out for full service at the beach.

Off-Site: Perfect spot, really: A 10-minute drive to Lincoln Road and the “city centre,” Lummus Park and the historic Art Deco District, and a 20-minute drive to downtown Miami, the Wynwood art district. The luxury shops of Bal Harbour are 20 minutes north. Miami International is 30 minutes away.

Rate: $$$

Book Now

The post Miami: Eden Roc appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Curaçao and its capital city Willemstad form a complete vacation checklist: brilliant-blue waters, 35 white-sand beaches, a heritage comprising more than 55 different cultures (including Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese), beautiful European Colonial architecture with more than 700 listed buildings and a healthy perspective on the LGBTQ, including their own.

The benefits don’t stop there. This island of 160,000 is also outside the hurricane belt and blessed with trade winds that make it not seem quite so hot. Visitors find excellent and eclectic museums, some of the best scuba diving in the world and an actual café society due in part to the thousands of Dutch tourists who flock here year-round, including a large number of students.

• Mix up your accommodations and their locations. Spend a few days in the Pietermaai district at one of the boutique hotels, a day or two at Floris Suite Hotel (particularly for Friday night’s lobby party at 6 p.m.), maybe rent an Airbnb in the Jan Thiel area. There are all-inclusives, but you don’t really want that.

• Don’t be afraid to go out at night. Pietermaai is where the action is. Hit Mundo Bizarro for cocktails, Ginger for Asian Caribbean or Kome for a steak, then Miles Jazz Café for live music. Don’t shy away from the local food stalls and markets.

TRY THE TASTE: IGUANA STEW

• Spend at least one full day or two in Westpunt. Hike up to the top of Mount Christoffel (at dawn, before the heat begins), drop by Shete Boka National Park to see how the crashing waves have sculpted the coastal limestone, and try the iguana stew at Jaanchie’s for lunch (mind the bones).

• Beach-hopping is an actual thing. Each little bay has its own personality. Playa PortoMari has resident red pigs Woody and Willy (not kidding) to romp with, while Playa Piscado is busy with half a dozen wild turtles who clamber for treats from the local fishermen and delight the families swimming along just a few feet away. Lagun Beach is tiny and more peaceful, popular with divers and locals. Really, the whole island is a diver’s paradise with more than 60 sites.

• Rent a car right at the airport. Take note that gas is expensive.

CURACAO.COM
CURACAOPRIDE.COM

The post Curaçao appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Vibe: You know that bubbling-under house music soundtrack that sounds like nothing and never ends? That. The CHIC Punta Cana is rather a scene, but you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. A big casino with Blackjack, Roulette and slot machines is open from noon until 3 a.m. This is balanced out with a Detox Oxygen Bar that serves recreational oxygen shots and healthy drinks.

Rooms: The 320 rooms at the CHIC Punta Cana are super modern, mostly all white with black trim and purple light. That sounds like the ’90s, but it’s actually fun; you feel like you’re starring in a Disaronno TV commercial.

F&B: The à la carte restaurants are an interesting mix: Italian, Japanese, Middle Eastern and steak house, all lavishly decorated and trying really hard. There’s a giant round bar between the lobby and the casino and a sports bar cum nightclub combo that also has billiards. This is good if you want to escape the heat for a couple of hours and watch the game, whatever your game is.

Extras: The Diamond Club upgrade is worth the splurge, as they lay it on thick: butler service, better room-service menus, private check-in lounge, exclusive pool and beach areas, and a Club Lounge that you should not pooh-pooh, because this is where all the nicer booze is. But the Diamond Club kicker is access to the glass-walled, mosaic-tiled Mermaid Pool.

Off-Site: Try to make it over to the coast of Bavaro to soak up the surf vibe and hop on a catamaran for a few hours. You can snorkel in the Cortesito Reef and relax in the natural pools. These are party boats, so bring a fit liver.

Rate: $$$

Book Now

The post Dominican Republic: CHIC Punta Cana appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Vibe: Designed by French firm AW2 with the international jet-set circuit in mind, the minimalist 43-suite, nine-villa Silversands is a sea of tranquility, its blond wood, neutral tones and pale marble buoyed by exquisite furniture from Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola.

Rooms: The Silversands rooms are done in neutral-toned glam—oatmeal is the new oatmeal—and lots of vertical wooden slats shooting up walls and camouflaging the cupboards and closets. The seating areas are so inviting you may actually spend time sitting in them. I fell asleep on a giant chaise longue on the balcony (with earplugs to mute all the birds), which is something I never do.

THINGS TO DO: IN GRENADA
TASTE TO TRY: GRENADA GASTRONOMY

F&B: There’s a wine cellar with 1,000 bottles in it. Is this big? I don’t know, but it sounds like I want to drink all of it. Breakfast at Asiatique is stellar—do not skip this. In the evening, it pumps out Modern Thai underneath huge, curlicued wooden ceiling installations. At the beachside Grenadian Grill, we sipped rosé and lunched on salmon tartare and French fries—it was two hours of heaven. Having rum nightcaps under the canopies of the beachfront lounge, we miraculously blended in with the jet-set crowd grooving to the DJ, but really, anyone can fit in here and have a good time and not feel intimidated by the rather posh peeps.

Extras: The Silversands Spa offers locally inspired treatments, sauna, hammam and private pool, plus a tricked-out fitness centre. With a rum and cigar lounge (which seems kinda ’90s to me), the resort is destined for the society pages.

Off-Site: With few high rises and less development, Grenada still manages to possess the kind of charm that appears slightly manufactured elsewhere. Do the hikes up rainforest mountains and find time to book an afternoon on a wooden boat sailing. Make sure you eat the chocolate; it will be the freshest you will ever taste. Prime scuba diving at the Underwater Sculpture Park is well worth it, even if you’re snorkelling.

Word Googled While Writing This: Curlicue

Rate: $$$$

Book Now

The post Grenada: Silversands appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Besides the requisite water sports, including great snorkelling and diving, Cabo San Lucas has plenty of outdoor adventure, plus a marina full of boats waiting to cast off for a secluded beach. This is also where more than a few Hollywood celebrities venture down to when they need a break from the limelight, so celebrity-spotting is also a regular pastime.

Don’t be afraid to step outside the all-inclusive resort. Cabo is not only brimming with excellent restaurants and lounges, it’s also a really safe place to wander around, even at night. Cap it all off with some of the most amazing sunsets you can imagine, and you’ve got a date made in paradise.

Visit the Arch. The tourist brochures weren’t lying when they touted the famous arch, El Arco at Land’s End, as a sight to remember. This is on the very tip of the Baja Peninsula where the Pacific Ocean meets the Gulf of California (a.k.a. the Sea of Cortez). Hop on a glass-bottom boat or your preferred watercraft and breeze on over to the end of the world. A popular spot for sea lions, this sheltered neck of the bay is where can sink your toes into the sand of Lover’s Beach or hit the water for a snorkel. Take a quick walk to the Pacific side of the peninsula to watch the waves crash onto Divorce Beach—just don’t dwell on it for too long.

TASTE TO TRY: SANGRITA

Find calmer waters. While the ocean here is notorious for it’s riptides, there are many bays and secluded strips with calmer waters perfect for snorkelling. The thing to do is find a touring outfit that specializes in zodiac-type inflatable watercraft that can zip along the water at 50 mph, stopping at various spots for a snorkel. Some of these beach-hopping adventures wind up on a floating restaurant near the marina for lunch.

Go for the whales. If you can work in your visit around March, that’s the best time to marvel at the humpback whales that wander by Los Cabos in droves, often with calves in tow. You’ll also see sea lions and pods of dolphins that seem to like all the attention they get. Pontoon craft can put you as close to the action as possible, with some tour boats offering hydrophone listening technology that lets you listen in on the whale song.

ME Cabo is gorgeous. Relax in comfort with a cool beach club vibe and really the only swimmable beach in town.

MEBYMELIA.COM
VISITLOSCABOS.TRAVEL

The post Mexico: Cabo San Lucas appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

And just 40 minutes south from Cancun, the city of Playa del Carmen (population 150,000) sits near the middle of the Riviera, opposite the island of Cozumel. Calm, cool and collected, the vibe is assuredly unhurried. And whether you’re touring around, enjoying the water, hunting for souvenirs or just sitting in a chair, you’ll find great people, sublime scenery and amazing food.

Drag the main drag. Avenida Quinta (Fifth Avenue) is the main pedestrian strip, where you can get your shop on any time of the day or night. Hundreds of restaurants, bars and stores line this little main drag, catering to the daily influx of tourists popping off cruise ships for a poke around town. They dock near the south end of Fifth Avenue, making it more touristy; stick to the north end for some peace and quiet, plus a better quality of both shopping and dining.

Do a day trip. While sitting in a chair staring at the surf has it’s benefits, block off a day to rent a car for a drive to Tulum, and a visit to both the 13th-century ruins and the surrounding beaches. The only Mayan city built on a coastline, the Tulum pre-hispanic ruins are ringed by a limestone wall seven metres thick, with the prominent castle sitting at the top of the limestone bluffs. This is a very popular tourist site, so try to get there as close to opening time as possible (8 a.m.) to avoid the throngs and take advantage of the best sunlight of the day for your photos.

ALSO VISIT: COZUMEL

Check out the reef. Scuba diving put Playa del Carmen on the map. It was just a sleepy little fishing town until a ferry service began from there to the island of Cozumel, one of the best places to dive in the world. The Great Mesoamerican Reef, which stretches 725 kilometres from Cancun south to the Bay Islands of Honduras, is the world’s second largest reef. It marks the spot for surveying 150 varieties of reef fish and 100 species of coral.

Swim in a cave. Freshwater sinkholes, called cenotes, make for a fun afternoon of crystal-clear diving or snorkelling in and around caves where the visibility can reach up to 125 metres year-round.

Learn something. The Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, at 1.3 million acres, is the largest protected area in the Mexican Caribbean, and includes the 23 archeological sites of the Maya civilization. Promoting ecosystem conservation and the sustainability of natural resources, the Centro Ecológico champions low-impact tourist activities, while educating visitors about the region at the same time. Pasttimes include flyfishing, kayaking, “ponga” boat tours and more, and you can even stay at the centre in deluxe, eco-friendly cabins.

VISITMEXICO.COM

The post Mexico: Playa del Carmen appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Twisting around sand dunes and scrubland in a 4×4 with the tires deflated for better traction is a surreal experience, like you’re auditioning for The Amazing Race. Then, the town of Jericoacoara appears out of nowhere, popping out from of behind the dunes.

About 300 km northwest of Fortaleza in the Brazilian state of Ceará, Jericoacoara Beach, population 1,200, was once a simple fishing village without electricity, roads or telephones. Now, it’s a full-on beach retreat, complete with kite and wind surfing, dune buggies and drivers to hire, surfing lessons to take, sand boards to rent for $1 an hour, palapas to sit under and beer to drink.

The town’s tourism boom is fairly recent history: Visitors started arriving in 1985; surfers lured by the calm seas and high waves. Electricity followed in 1998, and the region became a national park in 2002. Because there are still no roads; all the supplies for each and every hotel and business is trucked in over the dunes. A medical helicopter is on hand for emergencies and plans for an airport are in the works.

MORE BRAZIL: CHAPADA DIAMANTINA

Visit the rocks. The stone arch at Pedra Furada is the photo-op-friendly rock formation but the real significance of the rock sites is their cave paintings dating to 12,000 BP. Archaeologists put the rock shelters at this place at more than 40,000 years old. (Fuck you, Clovis people.)

Hop in a dune buggy. Short hops by 4×4 are the order of the day. Check out the Lazy Tree and Dunas de Tatajuba.

Visit other beaches. At nearby Lagoa do Paraíso, a freshwater lagoon about 20 minutes away, a chilled-out vibe prevails, quiet and unfussy, rather bohemian. This is the best beach club in the area, the perfect spot to sip your caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail. Visit Lagoa do Amâncio and Buraco Azul (the Blue Hole) for more open space.

Do not miss sunset. Make sure you’re back in Jericoacoara before nightfall, when everybody congregates on the giant Sunset Dune at the water’s edge west of town to watch the sun sink behind the sea, the horseback riders and the determined sand boarders. This is also where you can watch the spins and kicks of kids performing the capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that dates back to the 16th century. 

On your way out of town, you can understand why the wild donkeys—once domestic pack animals for the fishermen—never left this place. You won’t want to either.

INTREPIDTRAVEL.COM
VISITBRASIL.COM

The post Brazil: Jericoacoara appeared first on TravelRight.Today.