The Quiet Rise

Most people fly to Athens, then straight to the islands. The Peloponnese is what they miss.

This is a different Greece—one of stone mansions converted into small hotels, family wineries that don't need to advertise, and restaurants where the chef grew up eating what they're now cooking for you. Ancient Messene remains one of Greece's least visited major archaeological sites, while the Mani Peninsula still feels as though it belongs to another century. Arcadia, in the mountains, barely registers on most itineraries.

The best way to see it is by car, with no fixed schedule and a willingness to stay somewhere longer than planned.

On our radar:

• Contemporary boutique hospitality
• Food and wine experiences
• Ancient Messene & Mani Peninsula
• Scenic road trips through villages, olive groves and coastline

Start in Kalamata and work your way south. Mani Tower Houses in Areopoli and Mystras in Laconia are good anchors. For a stay that earns its setting, Kinsterna Hotel near Monemvasia—a 13th-century Byzantine estate—is hard to argue with.

If Kyoto tells the story of Japan's past, the Setouchi Islands are doing something harder to define.

Over the past two decades, the Benesse Art Site has transformed a cluster of quiet islands in the Seto Inland Sea—Naoshima, Teshima and Inujima—into one of the most serious art destinations in the world. Tadao Ando designed museums that feel like they grew out of the ground. The art doesn't compete with the landscape; it becomes part of it.

But the reason people keep coming back has less to do with the galleries and more to do with everything else: fishing villages, local craft traditions, family-run ryokan, cycling routes that go nowhere in particular. It's the kind of place that makes you want to slow down before you've even arrived.

On our radar:

• Benesse Art Site
• Tadao Ando architecture
• Boutique ryokan
• Island hopping & cycling
• Contemporary art in extraordinary natural settings

Base yourself on Naoshima—Benesse House is the obvious choice, but it books out months in advance. From there, the ferry to Teshima takes just 30 minutes, and Teshima Art Museum alone is worth the journey.

While Madeira has long been the headline act, Porto Santo is quietly becoming one of the Atlantic's most compelling island escapes. It just happens to come with a nine-kilometre beach almost entirely to itself.

There's not much to do here, and that's entirely the point. No packed itineraries, no landmark fatigue, no sense that you're falling behind on your own holiday. Just Atlantic light, golden sand, and a growing collection of design hotels that understand the assignment: space, quiet, simplicity. Luxury, here, is measured in what's absent.

Sometimes the greatest indulgence is having nowhere else to be.

On our radar:

• Long Atlantic beaches
• Wellness retreats
• Boutique hotels
• Slow island living

The island is a 15-minute flight or a two-hour ferry from Madeira. Vila Baleira Resort sits right on the beach and does the job without overcomplicating things. Come in spring or early autumn—July and August are when everyone else catches on.

Skye has always been spectacular. That part isn't new.

What is new is what's happening around the landscape—a generation of independent hoteliers, architects and chefs who are redefining what contemporary Highland hospitality can look like. Beautifully designed cabins. Restaurants that take the local larder seriously. Stays that feel considered rather than just convenient.

Add the growing focus on rewilding and sustainable tourism, and you have a destination where nature remains the main event but everything surrounding it has quietly levelled up. Visitors are staying longer, following the roads, ending the day at a distillery and slowing down in the way the place seems to ask you to.

On our radar

• Design cabins
• Destination dining
• Whisky experiences
• Scenic road trips
• Contemporary Highland hospitality

Portree is the obvious base, but the more interesting stays are further out. Talisker Distillery on the west coast is a must. For accommodation, Cuillin Hills Hotel has the views; for something more design-forward, The Torridon on the mainland is well worth the detour.

Southeast Asia's islands have a reputation. Con Dao has spent years building a different one.

Protected marine parks, coral reefs, forest-covered hills—and a small collection of luxury resorts that have made conservation part of their identity rather than a marketing footnote. Days here revolve around diving, hiking, boat excursions and a particular quality of stillness that's becoming harder and harder to find.

No spectacle. No performance. Just the island.

On our radar:

• Marine conservation
• Diving
• Boutique luxury resorts
• Protected natural landscapes

Fly into Ho Chi Minh City, then catch the 45-minute connection to Con Dao Airport. Six Senses Con Dao is the anchor property—it sits directly on the beach and runs its own conservation programmes. Book well ahead; it's small and fills up quickly.

Few cities have built this kind of momentum this fast.

Tbilisi works because it doesn't try to resolve its contradictions. Belle Époque mansions, Soviet modernism and ancient churches sit alongside a genuinely exciting present: independent galleries, natural wine bars, restaurants doing something real with Georgian cuisine, and boutique hotels in buildings that shouldn't work but somehow do. Neighbourhoods like Vera and Fabrika have become hubs for designers and artists who chose Tbilisi not because it was convenient, but because it was interesting.

Georgia's winemaking tradition stretches back over 8,000 years, yet the city feels as though it's only just getting started.

On our radar:

• Fabrika & Vera district
• Natural wine culture
• Independent hospitality
• Contemporary Georgian gastronomy
• Emerging creative scene

Stay in the Old Town or Vera—anywhere near Rustaveli Avenue puts you within walking distance of most of what matters. Rooms Hotel Tbilisi remains the city's design benchmark, while Vino Underground is still one of the best introductions to Georgia's remarkable wine culture.

Most people see Morocco and think Marrakech. The Anti Atlas feels like a different country.

Stretching across the south through dramatic mountain landscapes, Amazigh villages and centuries-old trade routes, this is a region where craftsmanship is still part of daily life—weaving traditions, argan cooperatives and pottery workshops that aren't performing for tourists. Travel here is shaped less by sights than by encounters: the people you meet, the things they make, and landscapes that haven't changed much in a very long time.

It asks more of you. That's precisely what makes it worth the journey.

On our radar:

• Amazigh heritage
• Traditional craftsmanship
• Community-led experiences
• Mountain landscapes
• Slow cultural journeys

Fly into Agadir, then head inland toward Tafraoute—that's the heart of it. Dar Infiane makes a comfortable base without losing its sense of place. The roads are slow; that's exactly the point.