the World Made locAl - Amazon S3

Condé N

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21 · N

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exico · Wisconsin · Bangkok · Venice · The British Virgin Islands · Versailles · C

hicagocntraveler.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021

MexicoCreteBangkokVenice And an ode to New York City’s Chinatown

the World Made locAl100 people. 100 countries. 100 reasons to travel now

Like Valeriya Gogunskaya, a longboarder from Portugal

CoNtENTSRIGHT AROUND

THE CORNER

After a most challenging year, New York City’s Chinatown looks aheadPAGE 62

MEXICO NOW

All the reasons so many Americans can’t wait to head south of the border as travel resumesPAGE 72

AN ISLAND FOR

ALL TIMES

On Crete, discovering a land of wild contrasts and pure pleasuresPAGE 84

Glyka Nera, one of the many beaches along Crete’s 650-mile coastline

4 CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021

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THE WORLD

MADE LOCAL

The seven international editions of Condé Nast Traveler asked an array of global citizens— from an Egyptian choreographer to a Buenos Aires baker— to tell us why we should visit their countries as we return to travelPAGE 15

WORD OF MOUTH

The first hotel on the grounds of Versailles is royally impressive; a Bangkok neighborhood drawing a next-gen crowd; why multifamily rentals are pure magic; the latest and greatest in ChicagoPAGE 35

WHY WE TRAVEL

In search of good company and even better food on a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; a sailing adventure in the British Virgin Islands (or elsewhere) is more within reach than you think; how the pandemic is prompting Venice to chart a more sustainable futurePAGE 51

A TRAVELER’S TALE

While visiting Japan, actor Manny Jacinto finds unexpected beauty in a traditional fertility festivalPAGE 94

CoNtENTS

The restaurant Ducasse at Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle


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Here are some especially vivid memories I have of travel. I remember Robert, the

irrepressible Samburu bush guide who joked about all the ALTs—animal-like

things—as we looked for wildlife together in northern Kenya. I remember Jaime,

who gave me coca leaves for energy as we ascended the Inca Trail and said a prayer to

Pachamama when we reached the summit. I remember Ayob, who captained my felucca

boat on the Nile and brought me and my dad ashore to buy camel meat.

I remember the family in the Yucatán who scooped up me and my wife from a dusty

highway where we were waiting for a bus and drove us back to Valladolid, and the family in

Johannesburg who insisted on driving me and two friends from the airport to our hotel out

of concern for our safety. I remember the father and son in fatigues who helped me get my

car out of a ditch at a campground in the Adirondacks. I remember the kind woman who

served me and my wife snails and bitter Cretan mountain greens at her little restaurant on

a cobblestone alley in Chania. (For more on that lovely corner of Greece, see page 84.)

I am sure that if you look back over your most treasured travel memories, you will find

them intertwined with people like these. As travelers all over the globe resume their

journeys, the people who help us, feed us, teach us, and make us laugh matter more than

ever. These are precisely the people we celebrate in “The World Made Local” (page 15),

a collaboration by the seven global editions of Condé Nast Traveler in which individuals

from all walks of life tell you why you should visit their country next. As travel—and

Traveler—become more global, we mustn’t lose sight of the local. Because, as my col-

league Divia Thani, Condé Nast Traveler’s global editorial director, puts it so well in her

introduction to the project, it is “the people you meet along the way who can tell you

exactly where to go.”

On the CoverValeriya Gogunskaya, creator of the Longboard Camp, in Santa Cruz, Portugal. Photographed by Daniel Espírito Santo

SubscribeVisit cntraveler.com/subscribe, email [email protected], or call 800-777-0700

Golden hour among the rice fields surrounding Skai Joglo villa in Bali, Indonesia. Photographed by Lily Rose (@lilyrose)

Follow us on Instagram @cntraveler

jesseashlock

JESSE ASHLOCKU.S. EDITOR AND DEPUTY GLOBAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT © 2021 CONDÉ NAST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

VOLUME 56, NO. 6, CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER (ISSN 0893-9683) is published 8 times per year by Condé Nast, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: Condé Nast, One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer; Pamela Drucker Mann, Global Chief Revenue Officer & President, U.S. Revenue; Jackie Marks, Chief Financial Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, New York, and at additional mailing offices. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 123242885-RT0001.

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FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER, Box 37617, Boone, Iowa 37617-0617, call 800-777-0700, or email [email protected]. Amoco Torch Club members write to Amoco Torch Club, Box 9014, Des Moines, Iowa 50306. Please give both new and old address as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless

we receive a corrected address within one year. If, during your subscription term or up to one year after, the magazine becomes undeliverable, or you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER, One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. For reprints, please email [email protected] or call Wright’s Media 877-652-5295. For reuse permissions, please email [email protected] or call 800-897-8666. Visit us online at cntraveler.com. To subscribe to other Condé Nast magazines on the World Wide Web, visit condenast.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services which we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at Box 37617, Boone, Iowa 37617-0617, or call 800-777-0700.

CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ARTWORK (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ARTWORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.


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UNITED STATESThe Gullah Geechee community descended from West African slaves. We believe right whales accompanied the slave ships, so every December when they return, I go to the Georgia coast to pay homage to them. We want visitors to learn our folkways and foodways and to hear our language.

–“SISTAH PATT” GUNN, CEO, UNDERGROUND TOURS OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

the World Made locAl

The seven global editions of Condé Nast Traveler teamed up to ask residents of countries around the world why we should come visit them. Here’s what they told us

15CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021

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There’s No Place Like (Someone Else’s) Home

SENEGALWe have teranga, which means that when you visit, everyone will welcome you and share with you. For local art, check out Black Rock, the multidisciplinary artist- in-residence program founded in 2019 by Kehinde Wiley. For music, listen to Akon, Youssou N’Dour, Viviane Chidid, and mbalax—Senegalese dance music. There are lots of new mbalax tracks creating buzz right now.

–KHADJOU SAMBE, PROFESSIONAL SURFER

For “The World Made Local”—the first true global collaboration between the seven editions of Condé Nast Traveler worldwide—we asked 100 locals in 100 countries what they most love about where they come from. As the world opens up, we want you to find your own reason to travel, and we wanted the coolest people we know across the world to give it to you—people like 28-year-old Senegal-born French chef Mory Sacko and the Guatemalan actor María Mercedes Coroy. You’ll find a taste of it all on the following pages, with more on cntraveler.com. Consider this proof that the most compelling motivator for travel is not just the places you may end up but the people you meet along the way who can tell you exactly where to go. –DIVIA THANI GLOBAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER



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SWITZERLANDI live in Zurich, which has a small but growing music scene. My friend

runs jam sessions and open-mic nights at Plaza Klub, and it’s so exciting

to hear upcoming electro or urban artists. If you are interested in

catching local talent, come visit in March, when the music festival called

M4Music is on. But summer is always a good time. Bäckeranlage park

is a beautiful spot to hang out with a picnic. A few of my favorite spots

in town are La Stanza for the best coffee and a great playlist—which

is essential and rare. I’d take first-timers to District 1, for the Swiss

National Museum. But by night we’re going to Longstreet Bar on

Langstrasse in District 4 for gin and tonics and live DJ sets, then on to

Moods for a soca party. On Saturdays, we’d go to the flea market in

Helvetiaplatz—I found a Stevie Wonder Greatest Hits record there. Plus,

my new album will be out on vinyl soon. That’s going to be a big moment!

–PRIYA RAGU, MUSICAL ARTIST

FINLANDMost people don’t realize that, after Argentina, Finland is the tango capital of the world. It’s dying, but there are places in the countryside where you can still find it. At Tanhuhovi outside Helsinki, women still come to dance in flower-print dresses.

–JASPER PÄÄKKÖNEN, ACTOR AND ENVIRONMENTALIST

ITALYIf you have just one day in my hometown of

Bergamo, in the mountainous north of the

country, here’s what to do: Take a walk on the

Corsarola to reach San Vigilio, the highest point

in town. Coffee should be from Cavour 1880,

while your aperitivo needs to be at Bar Flora in

Piazza Vecchia. Dinner should be on the terrace

of Baretto di San Vigilio at sunset, when the

view of the whole city is incredible and the

lights of Bergamo blend with the first starlight.

–ROSALBA PICCINNI, FLORIST AND JAZZ SINGER



NICARAGUA» Nicaragua (Nicanahuac), the land of

lakes and volcanoes, is powerful, magical, and a mother. Nicaraguan pottery is extremely high-end. You must visit the village of San Juan de Oriente in Masaya, which is dedicated to pottery. Beautiful vessels, dishware, and statement pieces are in this village.

» One of my favorite spots is the Museum of Archaeology and History Cihua Coatl in Sébaco, Matagalpa—a collection of locally found pottery, stones, and statuary. The Pre-Columbian Museum in Ometepe is a must-see as well.

» You must visit the colorful colonial town of Granada, famous for vigorón, a dish made of chopped cabbage, yuca, and chicharron wrapped in a banana leaf. From there head to Masaya, known as the cradle of national folklore, to shop in the Mercado Viejo for Nicaraguan gems including hammocks, leather goods, paintings, ceramics, and clothing.

–JOEL GAITAN, ARTIST AND CERAMIST

FRENCH POLYNESIAPeople focus only on Tahiti. But visitors should go to the mountain islands like Huahine or Raiatea. They should also go to one of the super-flat atolls in the Tuamotu Islands, like Fakarava, and then to an island in the Marquesas.–TAHIARII PARIENTE, CULTURAL AMBASSADOR AND SAILOR


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AUSTRALIAMy favorite place to visit is Broome, Western Australia. The traditional owners are the Yawuru people. The beaches and landscapes have the most intense visuals, from turquoise oceans and white sands to red cliffs and earth. It’s like no other place. –NATHAN MCGUIRE, MODEL AND ADVOCATE FOR INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATION IN FASHION

INDIAWe have some of the greatest and most diverse flora and

fauna in the world. The forests of central India have

beautiful tiger-scapes that are immersed in history. East

India has indigenous animals like the rhinoceros and red

panda. Nagarahole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, South

India, is quickly becoming one of the most popular

wildlife destinations for its high density of Asiatic wildlife.

And the elusive snow leopard roams around snow-covered

valleys and rivers of ice in north India. This country has

so much to offer, and I still have so much to see.

–SHAAZ JUNG, WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER AND BIG CAT SPECIALIST

CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021


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SAUDI ARABIAThe kingdom is one of the last remaining natural

undiscovered gems on planet Earth. The people are so

hospitable, the topography is so vast, and there’s such

a unique, diverse culture. We have the Red Sea, and it

is just so spectacular. I love the wildness and the

freeing feeling. Then there is Jeddah, my hometown,

with beautiful mountains and amazing art and culture.

–RAHA MOHARRAK, ADVENTURER AND MOUNTAINEER

EGYPTYou have to give the local food—ful, koshary, ta’ameya—a try. There are a few places near the Pyramids that are really authentic, and in my opinion, Khan El-Khalili, Cairo’s sprawling bazaar, is a great start. It also sells a lot of traditional jewelry and accessories. You can then find an ahwa and pause to smoke shisha and people- watch. And both the Citadel of Saladin and Al-Azhar Mosque are nearby. I also recommend taking a felucca ride on the Nile to see Cairo by night—you won’t get any sleep, of course.

–YARA SALEH, DANCEHALL CHOREOGRAPHER

SINGAPOREFor street food, try bak chor mee (noodles with

minced meat) at Block 58 New Upper Changi Road,

fried kway teow at Hill Street Fried Kway Teow in

Chinatown Complex, appom at Madras New

Woodlands Restaurant on Upper Dickson Road,

and Indian mixed rice at Barakath Restaurant on

Dalhousie Lane. I like Zai Shun Curry Fish Head at

Jurong East Street 24, but it can be crowded.

I don’t really eat at fine-dining restaurants in

Singapore, but if I had to choose, I’d pick Naked

Finn, Le Bon Funk, and Nicolas Le Restaurant.

–DAMIAN D’SILVA CHEF AND ADVOCATE FOR HERITAGE CUISINE IN SINGAPORE


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BAHAMASThe National Art Gallery of the Bahamas opened

in 2003 and totally changed the cultural land-

scape, because it finally gave us a space dedicat-

ed to local art and to letting travelers appreciate

it. It is inside the former home of our chief

justice. Though if you are wanting something

more natural, the island of Eleuthera is fantastic

for cycling. It has rolling hills and the Queen’s

Highway, which runs north to south. You can

rent a bike for a day and explore. The Bahamas

isn’t sold as a bikers’ haven, but it should be!

–JOHN COX EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ARTS AND CULTURE, BAHA MAR

GUATEMALA» Mayan ceremonies in Guatemala are worth checking out.

For example, where I live, in Santa María de Jesús, we do a “rain request” from each of the four hills here. It is a way to ask Mother Nature to protect and sustain us.

» Our singer-songwriters are able to capture the beauty of Guatemala, like Sara Curruchich, an Indigenous Kaqchikel musician. I love her song “Junam” (a word that means “together”) for its reference to the unity of the people and the struggle in community.

» The essence of Guatemala will always be the smell of coffee and sweets like roscas. But also wet land—those dirt streets that are not paved, and when the rain falls, the rising steam, a musty smell, and a total feeling of relaxation.

–MARÍA MERCEDES COROY, ACTOR


FRANCEThere is so much more diversity in Paris’s food

scene now than before. A few years ago Asian

cuisine was mainly Chinese, but now you can get

Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai food very

easily. Parisians are much more informed about

what they are eating. My favorite area to eat in has

to be Canal Saint-Martin, in the 10th arrondisse-

ment. There is a small Asian-fusion canteen called

Siseng, where I’m a regular, and right next door to it

is Le Comptoir Général, which is a fun place to go

for drinks. They also sometimes serve street food

like bokit, a Guadeloupean fried sandwich, and

accras de morue, salt-cod fritters, which are a great

late-night snack. A bit farther up is Candide, where

chef Alessandro Candido serves the most delicious

roast chicken on Sundays, and on the other side of

the canal is Early June, which has a great wine cellar.

–MORY SACKO, CHEF, MOSUKE, PARIS



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SPAIN» I live in Madrid, but my bond to my hometown

of Granada, where you can find flamenco everywhere, is magical. When I go there and need to relax, I head straight to Arab Baths of Bañuelo in the Carrera del Darro, which have such amazing history.

» Definitely visit the neighborhood of Sacromonte, which is full of caves where people live and shows are performed. It has a very narrow road leading to a very beautiful church. Opposite, across the Darro River, is the Alhambra.

» Nowhere in Spain does tapas better than Granada—your beer will come with fried fish, a hamburger. Head to Albaicín, the oldest neighborhood in Granada, for the best of it all.

–MANUEL LIÑÁN, FLAMENCO DANCER (THIRD FROM RIGHT)


ARGENTINA» The best way to see Buenos Aires is to rent a free bike

and cycle the Calles Gorriti-Superí lane from south to north. Starting at Billinghurst, the route captures plenty of barrio eclecticism through Palermo, Colegiales, and Coghlan before ending at leafy Parque Saavedra.

» For unique finds, head to the flea market at Parque Centenario, where I pick up vintage teapots and metal milk jugs. Guacha Textiles is where to go for fair trade baby-alpaca sweaters (I wear mine on chilly mornings when I bake). Oh, and Buenos Aires has a fantastic craft beer scene; pioneering bar Strange Brewing makes a refreshing saison.

» When I need a break from B.A., I go home to Cañuelas, a rural Pampas district in Buenos Aires Province, for asado. It’s also home to La Dolfina Polo Club, led by 10-goal-handicap player Adolfo Cambiaso. A must is Pueblo Escondido’s outstanding charcuterie and cheese.

–FRANCISCO SEUBERT, OWNER, ATELIER FUERZA BAKERY, BUENOS AIRES

BERMUDAThere is a renaissance happening right now in

Bermuda: Bermudians have fallen in love with their

island and are coming up with creative ways to

showcase it to one another and to visitors. A talented

young artist, Gherdai Hassell, just had her first solo

show at the Bermuda National Gallery, where she

created collages inspired by the Bermuda Slave

Registers and historic photographs in the Bermuda

Archives. There are also so many emerging young

writers. I’m excited about this new generation of

artists because they are going to be what helps the

world to better understand Bermuda, not just as a

tourism destination but as a living, breathing, vibrant

place. The magic of Bermuda is found when you get

out of the resorts and get into places like Drew’s Bay,

the Dragon’s Lair Gallery, and, of course, Mama

Angie’s Coffee Shop for a fish cake sandwich!

–KRISTIN WHITE, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST AND OWNER, LONG STORY SHORT BOOKSTORE, ST. GEORGE’S P

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UNITED KINGDOM For some nature in the bustle of London, we do Beckenham Place Park and Oxleas woods for long walks and fresh air. The greenhouses at Kew Gardens are worth hours of your time too, and Peckham Rye has some beautiful planted gardens.–ROMY ST. CLAIR AND IONA MATHIESON, FLORISTS AND OWNERS, SAGE FLOWERS, LONDON P

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SOUTH AFRICA» Johannesburg has such a buzzing art scene. Visit Botho Project

Space for contemporary work and BKHZ, a Black-owned gallery that is home to young South African talent. If you’re into exploring local music, then give Zoë Modiga, Muneyi, Yanga YaYa, and Major League DJz a listen.

» For breakfast, hit up Arbour Cafe, a cute little restaurant with a courtyard tucked away in the Melrose area of Johannesburg. Have lunch at Kolonaki Greek Kouzina in Parkhurst, pre-dinner drinks at Saint Restaurant in Sandton, and dinner at Les Creatif by Wandile Mabaso.

» The neighborhoods, too, are something to explore: Maboneng, Parkhurst, and Melville for good vibes, and Kramerville for home and deco shopping. When I want to relax, I head to Nirox Sculpture Park, a historic area that is recognized as the cradle of humankind, a short drive from the city.

–TREVOR STUURMAN, PHOTOGRAPHER

QATARQatari women, like Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, are the driving force behind the art and cultural movement in the Arab world right now.

–FATMA HASSAN AL REMAIHI, CEO, DOHA FILM INSTITUTE

CANADAI strongly encourage people to attend our powwows. They’re places where you can get authentic literature, crafts, jewelry, clothing, and food. You really get a great taste of Indigenous culture.–SAGE PAUL, COFOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF INDIGENOUS FASHION WEEK TORONTO


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INDONESIA I call the region of Tabanan the real Bali. Its iconic rice terraces, called jatiluwih, are UNESCO protected, and there are some beautiful rivers and volcanic hot springs. It’s cooler and wetter up there, making everything green and emerald. There are little villages too. –TJOK GDE KERTHYASA HOMEOPATH AND NATURAL-MEDICINE PRACTITIONER

PORTUGALI live in a small village called Póvoa de

Penafirme in Praia de Santa Cruz, near

the famous surfing hubs of Ericeira and

Peniche. It’s called the Silver Coast and

is loaded with charming beaches and

traditional fishing towns. You’ll want a

car to explore them all. In Praia de Santa

Cruz itself, go on a hike on top of the

cliffs, check out Porto Novo in the valley

by the river, and book a surf lesson.

My favorite secret beaches, each with its

own personality, are all up and down

this coastline. For a unique view of the

area, go to the local aerodrome and book

a 20-minute flight on a vintage plane.

It’s just 60 euro for three people!

–VALERIYA GOGUNSKAYA CREATOR, THE LONGBOARD CAMP, SANTA CRUZ

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO» If there’s one thing we

Trinibagonians do love, it’s a good party. If you come around Christmastime or Carnival celebrations, there’s a party every weekend—that’s where you see our true identity. It’s our history!

» You have to go to Queen’s Park Savannah, a big expanse of land with coconut vendors and what we call the Magnificent Seven: great houses with old architec-ture. At certain times of year the poui trees blossom, leaving a carpet of flowers on the ground. There’s a lot of history there—the main stage for our Carnival festival originated out of the Savannah.

» The dish to eat is called a doubles, from the East Indian settlers in Trinidad. It’s a lightly fried pastry with chickpeas and fresh pepper, or sweetened with tamarind. My spot is Das Doubles Factory, on El Socorro Road.

–KEES DIEFFENTHALLER, SOCA MUSICIAN

THE PHILIPPINESCome here to learn from the beautiful culture, heritage, struggles, and resist-ance. Come to see the coastal communities like Sitio Kinse in Barangay Taliptip, Bulacan, where fisherfolk have made houses on stilts with solar panels and care for the mangroves as the mangroves care for them.–MITZI JONELLE TAN CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVIST



32

CHINAA few tips for traveling around Shanghai: Good luck

trying to hail a taxi when the weather is bad; always carry

an extra phone charger; watch out for scooter-delivery

people; and you don’t ever need to carry cash around in

the city center as long as mobile payment options are set

up on your phone! It is a truly captivating city with

endless amounts of ambition and opportunity.

–DEAILLE TAM, CHEF, OBSCURA, SHANGHAI

BRAZILIn Rio de Janeiro, stay at the Chez George Airbnb. It’s a beautiful house with a great view of Santa Teresa, and the breakfast is delicious. Then do Horto waterfalls, which give off so much natural energy. After that, go biking by the Lagoa and finish up at Ipanema.

–JOÃO INCERTI, PAINTER

Want recommenda-tions for can’t-miss Stockholm watering holes from the team behind Tjorget, the top bar in Sweden? How about the secret island in Phnom Penh where Cambodian street artist Fonki heads for inspiration? Or the go-to Bogotá restaurant for Colombian fashion designer Kika Vargas? For tips and insights from locals in 72 additional countries, plus more from the folks featured across these pages, go to cntraveler.com/ theworldmadelocal. Think of this as your insider’s guide to everywhere you want to go next.

Let Them Show You Around


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the people, places & ideas we're talking about right now

The Madame de Fouquet Room at Le Grand Contrôle

ROYAL THRILLA stay at the new Le Grand Contrôle hotel gives guests after-hours access to Versailles’s hidden corners →


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Word ºf mouth

T here is nothing new except what has been

forgotten.” The words of Marie Antoinette

still seem to echo within the gilded halls

of Le Grand Contrôle. Her point is proved by the

transformation of this historic building—set inside

the gates of the Palace of Versailles—into France’s

most anticipated new hotel. All traces of a pre–

French Revolution world have been preserved.

Classical music lilts throughout imposing salons

lined with portraits of well-coiffed luminaries, some

of them former guests. Each chair, mirror, and velvet

chaise, all dated to 1788—the last time the proper-

ty’s furniture was inventoried—and tracked down

at auction, looks like it belongs. And while many

corners of Paris, from the celebrated palace hotels

to the Louvre, read like a page from history, none so

eloquently sets a scene that can make you feel as if

you’re entering an 18th-century fairy tale.

Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, acclaimed for

completing the Palace of Versailles, designed Le

Grand Contrôle in 1681. Initially it was a private

home for Paul de Beauvilliers, a government official

under King Louis XIV. It went on to become the

home of France’s ministry of finance during the

reigns of both Louis XV and Louis XVI and briefly

served as a hospital before Napoleon stationed his

army there. Its last function before being left to

become a dusty empty space was as

a catering hall for Versailles officers.

From the dozens of hospitality

brands and venture-capital firms

that sought to reimagine Le Grand

Contrôle, LOV Group (the parent

company of the luxury hotel brand

Airelles) was selected. General

manager Julien Révah attributes this

success to LOV’s proposed approach

of classic styling and sympathetic

reconditioning rather than a complete

overhaul. While it’s not surprising

that a jaw-dropping figure—more than $48 million, excluding the decoration—

was spent on the almost five-year remodel, much of it was heavily invested in

specialists, including a team of art historians and restoration experts who advised

LOV Group.

Elegant but not ostentatious, the 14 regal rooms and apartments, each named

for a notable figure from the past, take their cues from the noble family houses of

the 1700s. The whimsical upholstery by Pierre Frey plays on the green spaces of

the estate, with flowers blooming along the fabric-lined walls, while the Necker

Suite, one of the largest at nearly 1,300 square feet, is a nod to 18th-century

finance minister and statesman Jacques Necker.

It’s fitting that Alain Ducasse, known for his Michelin-starred restaurants in

London and Paris, was brought on board, as he would have undoubtedly pleased

the royal court with his extravagant five-course dinners and theatrics. (All meals

here begin, as Louis XIV’s would, with a glass of warm vegetable broth.) To add

The Necker Suite, named for Louis XVI’s finance minister


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checking in

to the pomp, the subterranean spa not only has

hand-painted frescoes and a checkerboard

Carrara-marble floor but also a 50-foot swimming

pool. More than 100 staffers, all passionate about

Versailles, wear bespoke matching waistcoats and

breeches by Marie-France Croyeau of Terre et Ciel,

which also designed uniforms for La Mamounia

and Royal Mansour in Marrakech. Every employee

was plucked from the very best hotels in France—

the general manager from L’Hotel in Saint-Germain,

a butler from the Peninsula Paris. Several butlers

are part-time actors, ready to entertain at a

moment’s notice. Their enthusiasm for this role-

play is evident as they explain the most minute

details of palatial life.

But what takes the cake (preferably a gâteau au

chocolat by Ducasse) is the unprecedented access

the hotel offers to the palace. Every evening, after the

imperial doors are closed to visitors, guests can go

on guided tours and explore corners like the off-

limits dressing rooms connected to the king and

queen’s apartments. Even more thrilling is a moment

to reflect in an empty Hall of Mirrors, the impressive

gallery where some of the grandest royal fêtes

occurred and where the Treaty of Versailles was

signed in 1919. Entry to certain parts of the estate,

including the labyrinth of gardens by landscape

architect André Le Nôtreis, is also allowed before

Versailles opens for the day to the general public.

A stay here is like being given an after-hours

all-access pass. With the entire grounds of Versailles

at your disposal, you could disappear for a clandes-

tine picnic along the Grand Canal or lie back on an

antique daybed while feasting on Ladurée macarons

or ring a bell for a candlelit dinner in your private

chambers. However you choose to spend your time

reliving history, returning to reality will be an

adjustment. kasia dietz

Doubles from about $2,000; airelles.com

The 17th- century Orangerie of Versailles

Lunch on the terrace at the Alain Ducasse–helmed restaurant

The hotel’s elegant Salon d’Audience

A bust watches over the hotel library


> Where to grab breakfast— or a nightcapThough you’re better off staying close to the Chao Phraya for easy sightseeing, you should still hit up the Wes Anderson–esque Josh Hotel, if only for the carbs: Volks makes excellent bagels (try the activated charcoal and black sesame varieties) slathered with wasabi or wildraspberry cream cheese. If you visit after dark, ask for the key to room 72: It leads to a speakeasystyle cocktail den. joshhotel.com

> Not just any old cup of joeWhat sets Nana Coffee Roasters apart from the myriad other hip cafés nearby is its treelined garden. A hot spot for digital nomads, the second outpost of this local favorite has more than 30 singleorigin beans in its arsenal, which baristas prepare at the slow bar, the siphon brewer, or in sweet espressobased concoctions with coconut foam and yuzu soda. nana coffeeroasters.com

OUTSIDE INFLUENCEJust beyond central Bangkok, the laid-back enclave of Ari is pulling in a cool new crowd

> Art for allHaving also lived in Melbourne and London, creative director Rom Sangkavatana sees Ari as Bangkok’s analog to buzzy, communityminded neighborhoods like Fitzroy or South Kensington. At his yearold gallery and retail space Townhouse, he aims to channel the area’s creative energy with flowerarranging workshops and coffee cuppingcourses, plus exhibitions by Thai artists. townhousespace.com

> Restaurant mainstayWhile neighboring businesses have come and gone, the glassandconcrete exterior of Salt has been a constant in Ari’s social scene since 2010. Cluedin locals stop by for casual dinners that fuse Italian, Japanese, and French flavors and techniques—think duck confit and scallop noodles—and to sip organic wine in the cactusstudded courtyard. Dinner for two from $40; saltbangkok.com

> Thai styleThe city’s indie fashion scene is loaded with treasures, but it can be tricky to navigate without language skills and insider intel. The industry vets behind concept store HIDE. (who go by Tao and Fang) have made everything easy for you, stocking the shelves with Thaidesigned shirts, shorts, and dresses in natural hues and breezy silhouettes, plus a range of monochrome basics from their own collection, H. by HIDE. hide-selected.com

> Local spiritsWhen the sun sets, the neon lights flick on at quirky Oh! Vacoda Café, where avocado appears in all of the dishes (and some of the drinks); the change signals its transformation into Fruit Bar, a divey social club with mismatched furnishings and scribbly patterns on the walls. You’ll find more than 40 types of umeshu (plum wine) and home brews made with SangSom Rum and plums grown by hill tribes in Northern Thailand.

Fruit Bar’s homemade umeshu

Townhouse, a retail space, gallery, and community hangout

Chubby Dough, a purveyor of milkshakes and doughnuts

The midcentury villas and affordable apart-

ments in Ari, an area just south of Bangkok’s

riotously fun Chatuchak Weekend Market,

have long drawn artsy types who have moved there

to open art galleries and beer gardens along its leafy

roads. But in recent years, a younger generation has

arrived, adding photogenic matcha bars and burger

joints in pastel-hued next-gen concept spaces like

Gump’s. Now, mobile som tum vendors hawking

plates of crunchy green papaya salad share corners

with stamp-size espresso bars, and visitors can find

artisanal doughnuts (try the ones at Chubby Dough)

alongside syrupy khanom, or traditional Thai

sweets. Wander down the low-key streets Soi Ari 4

and 5 for a taste of what’s seduced so many locals

and expats. chris schalkx


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FAMILY STYLEFor scattered clans longing to reunite, nothing’s better than renting a great big compound with ample space to entertain

Clockwise from left: Summertime fun at Camp Wandawega in Elkhorn, Wisconsin; the camp’s tree house, in the middle of the grounds; a lunch spread at Wandawega

A bout a decade ago, my wife and I started

spending a week in the Hamptons each

June with a group of other families at a

charmingly run-down collection of converted farm

buildings. The place is like a little pocket of the

Catskills that got lost in chichi eastern Long Island:

It’s pleasingly rustic and disheveled, but the neighbors

own professional sports teams and keep Serra sculp-

tures on lawns large enough for their players to scrim-

mage. It’s one of those word-of-mouth rentals (I’ve

been asked not to name it), passed around through

the years among like-minded NYC creatives. Days

have a pleasing sameness, revolving around the divine

local beaches and cooking com-

munal alfresco meals utilizing

the compound’s multiple kitch-

ens and barbecues before sitting

by the fire with a glass of whatever’s being poured while the june bugs twinkle.

I dug this getaway when I was younger and childless, but as our group of friends

has aged and had babies and migrated out of New York City to the suburbs or

California, it has come to mean so much more—particularly now that my kids are

old enough to look forward to going each summer. The pandemic took it from us

last year, so it was especially sweet this summer to see my little ones reunited

with friends who’d grown a head since the last time we saw them and showed up

with new haircuts, new books, new lingo. And it was sweet for me, too, to have a

dear chef friend tutor me on my knife skills as we worked together prepping larb

and bun for the Southeast Asian–themed night or to sit up till midnight under the

stars talking about late-’70s Dylan and the Brooklyn Nets with a couple of dudes.

And it was sweet for all of us to come together and see that we’d all made it

through this dark time in the world and know that we could keep coming togeth-

er like this as our children grow taller and the lines around our eyes grow deeper.

So sweet, in fact, that a bunch of us plan to do it again soon, at a converted

boys camp on Lake Pemaquid in MidCoast Maine, where we’ll once again cook

and swim and sit by the fire. In my life so far, outside of the those weeks in the

Hamptons, I’ve really only taken part in these kinds of big group rentals for


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Group Travel

Camp WandawegaElkhorn, WisconsinFirst opened as a speakeasy two hours north of Chicago and later reopened as a resort in the ’50s, Camp Wandawega has three- bedroom lakefront cabins, rustic bunkhouses that sleep up to 24, or the modern two-bedroom Hillhouse. All include access to sum-mercamp go-tos like fishing, canoeing, hiking, archery, and more. Cabins from $650 per night; wandawega.com

Scarp Ridge LodgeCrested Butte, ColoradoFind relaxing mountain elegance behind a former saloon storefront in this six-bedroom getaway from Eleven Experience. They’ve thought of everything, from the seven-bunk dorm room for the kids to the oxygen- enriched air system to help you adjust to the nearly 9,000-foot altitude. Wind down after exploring

destination weddings. But our cohort

has pretty much aged out of weddings,

and our lives have taken us farther

and farther apart from one another, so

we need weeks like these to come

back together, to eat, to check up on

each other. There are email threads

going right now about Taos, Andros,

Mallorca. Who knows where we’ll meet

up next. jesse ashlock

Crested Butte’s summer hiking trails and winter slopes in the indoor salt-water pool, steam room, or rooftop hot tub. $19,900 per night based on 10 people (maximum occupancy is 14); elevenexperience.com

EleanthiPirgos, GreeceSet on one of the highest points in Pirgos, just a few minutes from the beach on the Mani Peninsula and just over three hours south-west of Athens, this former 19th-century monastery turned five-bedroom vaca-tion home split between two semidetached builldings has incredible views from its private rooftop balcony. There’s room for everyone to spread out, between the main kitchen, airy courtyard, olive garden, and multiple living areas with original stonework. From $450 per night for up to 13 guests; eleanthi.com

La Selva Giardino del Belvedere Montegonzi, ItalyThis luxe 17th-century estate with three villas, about an hour’s drive from Florence, has something for everyone: a private saltwater pool, 45 acres of olive trees, pizza ovens (yes, more than one!), views of the Tuscan countryside from every angle, and even a stone amphitheater. Be sure to coordinate a chef-prepared dinner (or at the very least a private pasta- making lesson) during your stay. From $980 per night for up to 10 guests; chianti-farm.com

Casa BlueTamarindo, Costa RicaWhether you’re in the infinity pool, standing on one of the balconies, or inside the light-filled living room, this five- bedroom cliffside Airbnb has prime views over Tamarindo Bay on the west coast and the surrounding rain forest. But the best perspectives come from the two wooden pagoda-style bungalows—each with its own bedroom, en suite bathroom, and outdoor shower—just a few steps from the main villa, all set on one and a half acres, which feel like a complete escape from reality. From $1,100 for up to 10 guests; airbnb.com meredith carey

5 AMAZING RENTALS FOR MULTIFAMILY RETREATS

Wandawega’s A-frame tent cabins have cots and lounge chairs

Outside the historic Old Bunkhouse at Wandawega

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It might be called the Windy City,

but Chicago never blows its own

horn. And yet America’s third-

largest metropolis has plenty to brag

about, from its cultural legacy and

historic architecture to its influential

food scene (whether you’re talking

about the Obamas’ date-night fave

Spiaggia or Polish-sausage subs the

length of your arm). As Chicago enters

its next chapter, its strength, beauty,

and get-her-done attitude are more

evident than ever. Throughout the city

center, a clutch of sophisticated hotels

is welcoming back travelers, while

top chefs are rolling out restaurants

that showcase globally minded but

neighborhood-driven fine dining. Of

course, if it’s a beer and a burger you’re

after, you’re in luck there too, thanks

to a slew of craft-beer bars elevating a

beloved local classic.

But it isn’t just hot openings that

make the Paris of the Prairie so excit-

ing right now—it’s also the spirit of

community. You’ll see it in the latest

edition of the Chicago Architecture

Biennial, opening in September,

which tasked star designers from

around the world with permanently

reimagining abandoned public spaces.

Construction is also set to begin on

the 19-acre Obama Presidential

Center, with a museum, a branch of

the public library, and gardens. When

it opens in 2025, it’ll usher in a new

era for the South Side—home to the

University of Chicago and the tradi-

tional nexus of Black life in the city.

“Chicago has a civically engaged

spirit that’s only been bolstered by the

pandemic,” says Louise Bernard,

director of the Museum of the Obama

Presidential Center, who shares her

area picks here. “People are eager to

reengage.” With so much going on,

there has never been a better time to

visit. andrew sessa

CHICAGO HOPEWith its many openings and new experiences, the Midwestern giant embodies the sense of optimism beginning to take hold again in America

The iconic Willis Tower, still called Sears Tower by many


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on the ground

Classic Chi-Town hotels like the Drake and Palmer House became icons by being great places to

stay and social hubs for perfectly poured cocktails and celebratory meals. The new crop extends

this legacy. After stepping into the four-month-old Pendry Chicago, in a gold-crowned Art Deco

landmark building in the Loop, you’ll want to go everywhere at once: the clubby lobby bar for a

cocktail, the French brasserie for oysters and steak tartare, and the reservations-only rooftop for

sushi and rosé. Wherever you start, the high-ceilinged, midcentury-style rooms are a nice place to

end up. At Adorn, up the Magnificent Mile, James Beard Award–winner Jonathon Sawyer’s

charred-tomato tartlet is a can’t-miss at the just-renovated Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, as are the Lake Michigan Terrace Suites, whose block-long water-view verandas were previously

open only to longer-stay guests. Set on the restaurant row called Fulton Market, super-chef Nobu

Matsuhisa’s Nobu Hotel is a hushed reprieve from the crowds outside: Rooms are a relaxing combo

of Japanese minimalism and the neighborhood’s industrial vibe. Of course you’ll want to eat at

the golden-hued Nobu restaurant, but don’t skip the rooftop bar. Set to open by the end of the year

is the Financial District’s LaSalle Chicago, Autograph Collection, an urban aerie occupying the top

five floors of one of Chicago’s first skyscrapers, a 22-story Classic Revival landmark.

Best Beds in TownLike the city itself, Chicago’s newest hotels are playful and sophisticated

The Art Deco exterior of Pendry Chicago in the Loop

NO SECOND CITYThis fall Chicago showcases the breadth and diversity of its culture-scape

For the fourth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, dubbed the Available City, organizers paired community groups with big-ticket international designers to permanently rethink abandoned urban spaces. A particular high-light is a new entry plaza, designed by Tokyo-based Atelier Bow-Wow in part-nership with local artists, architects, and community groups, for a 1.7-mile High Line–style elevated park being developed in the Englewood neigh-borhood, on the South Side. The multi-site Toward Common Cause, a presen-tation from the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art in conjunction with the Chicago-based MacArthur Fellows Program, which turns 40 this year, explores the idea of the commons through works by 29 artists who have received “genius grants” since the program’s inception. Finally, in November, the legendary Steppenwolf Theater unveils a $54 million expansion and renovation, including a theater in the round. Leading the blockbuster lineup on the main stage is King James, a Steppenwolf original about basketball icon LeBron James.


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on the ground

> “The 61st Street Farmers Market at the nonprofit community space Experimental Station is devoted to community and urban farms around the city, with a special focus on Black farmers. I’m partial to savory pies from Pleasant House Bakery and cheese from Stamper Cheese Company.”

> “Located by the University of Chicago campus, the Seminary Co-op Bookstore—and its satellite, 57th Street Books—is a favorite haunt. I often go in for something specific but then find something else too, because the curation is so wonderful.”

> “Chicago artist Theaster Gates and his Rebuild Foundation transformed an old bank into the Stony Island Arts Bank. It has exhibi-tions, music, yoga, outdoor programming, and a film series.”

> “I love Virtue, from local chef Erick Williams, who brought this corridor of 51st Street to life. The food has a Southern slant (the gumbo with a side of cornbread is maybe my favorite). He’s friends with many artists, so there’s great art on walls.”

> “In Burnham Park, Promontory Point has bike trails and wonderful lake views. I love to walk and run here. There’s also the restaurant and jazz spot The Promontory, which has the best chickpea fries.”

Food MattersAt the city’s buzziest new restaurants, the theme is Midwest meets the world

MY NEIGHBORHOODLouise Bernard, director of the Museum of the Obama Presidential Center, which breaks ground this fall on the South Side, shares her top spots in the area

Think of month-old New American–style Esmé in Lincoln Park as Chicago on a plate. Owners Jenner Tomaska, formerly of Michelin-starred Next, and Katrina Bravo source everything locally, from the Tarbais bean masa steamed in leeks to the crockery.

Expectations were understandably high for the Adriatic-inspired Rose Mary, the f irst solo spot from ex-Spiaggia executive chef and Top Chef champ Joe Flamm, in Fulton Market. The graceful tuna crudo and hearty lamb ragu show he has more than met them.

Chef Zubair Mohajir ’s Indian pop-up Wazwan Supper Club earned a cult following for its impeccable chicken ballotine, which is wrapped in its own skin and cooked sous vide for two hours. This summer, Mohajir opened the brick-and-mortar Amăn, in lively West Town.

Chicago-born Guillermo Reyes honors both his Mexican heritage and his hometown with plates like American Wagyu carne asada and seasonal caulif lower “chorizo” at new Chikatana in Fulton Market. But the mezcal, agave, and tequila-heavy cocktails feel decidedly south-of-the-border.

> Bitter PopsHood: Lakeview Don’t miss: the local Hop Butcher for the World Pro tip: Pull your own to-go brews at the adjacent craft-beer shop

> Ravinia Brewing Co.Hood: Logan Square Don’t miss: the Steep Ravine IPA Pro tip: Hit up the taco truck out back for asada

> Solemn Oath BreweryHood: Logan Square Don’t miss: Lü Kolsch Pro tip: Check out bathroom murals by the artist of the beers’ labels

> Life on Marz Community ClubHood: Bucktown Don’t miss: American Pale wheat Jungle Boogie Pro tip: Watch for killer pop-ups from local chefs

Inside the Seminary Co-op Bookstore

WHEN IT’S BEER O’ CLOCK

Stop in at these epic new

craft-brew hubs


Why wE trAVelthe experiences that change how we see the world

Into the Woods Surrounded by fellow foodies in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Ashlea Halpern rediscovers the joy of getting really, really far away from it all

For 452 days, I fantasized about

what it would be like to travel

again. I imagined diving into the

turquoise sea in Turks and Caicos or

stuffing myself silly at a Taiwanese night

market. What I didn’t picture was sitting

around a campfire in the backwoods of

Michigan on an early June night, trading

tips on pig butchery.

And yet here I am, having scored a

last-minute reservation at Milkweed

Inn, the latest venture of the lauded

Chicago chef Iliana Regan. In early

2019, fed up with the churn and burn of

the restaurant industry, Iliana and her

sommelier wife, Anna, bought a four-

bedroom hunting lodge, sight unseen,

on 150 acres in Hiawatha National

Forest, seven and a half hours north

Chef Iliana Regan prepares a meal in a Dutch oven at Milkweed Inn

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of Detroit. The yard is carpeted with wild strawberries and fiddlehead ferns, its

perimeter ringed with elderberry bushes. The place is so remote, and the old

logging road to reach it so rutted, the women often pick up their guests at a gas

station 28 miles away and bring them out in a four-wheel drive. Even those with

the gears to make the trek aren’t allowed to attempt it alone, instead trailing Anna

on the winding, cell-service-free road that leads to the compound.

The couple hosted their first guests that summer while simultaneously running

the Michelin-starred restaurant Elizabeth in Chicago. Thanks to early media

attention, a cap of 10 guests per weekend (six in the lodge; four more split

between a canvas-walled tent and a silver Airstream), and a season that spans

only May through October, Milkweed was quickly booked solid for the next two

years. Then the pandemic forced the pair to push all their reservations back a

year. On a whim last spring I joined the waiting list (like Sweden’s now-shuttered

Fäviken, Milkweed is the kind of forest-to-fork destination where you book

the table first and worry about getting there later), and by some miracle of the

calendar gods immediately landed a spot.

After 50 minutes bumping through corridors of sun-dappled pines, dust bil-

lowing in our tracks, we arrive. Immediately, four dogs bound out of a modest

pine log cabin, barking their fool heads off; there’s George, a fluffy Newfoundland

with a graybeard’s tired face; Bunny, an Old English sheepdog; and Shih Tzus

Clementine and Bear, the latter of whom cannot and will not be befriended.

Iliana is out back when we pull up, stoking the fire beneath an enormous lake

trout. She wears her pants tucked into her hiking socks and is so soft-spoken

I have to lean in to hear her. It’s not what I expect from someone whose viscerally

raw, hard-partying 2019 memoir, Burn the Place,

opens with a fantasy of torching her own restaurant.

Raised on a 10-acre farm in rural Indiana, the self-

taught cook battled countless demons—alcohol,

gender dysphoria, the death of a beloved sister—on

her rise to the top of Chicago’s restaurant scene. The

one thing that kept her grounded was cooking.

Watching her pinball between the kitchen and firepit,

unfurling sheets of fresh pasta, scoring sourdough in

a Dutch oven, and rhythmically cracking eggs on the

rims of metal bowls, you sense a steadiness beneath

all of the movement.

Despite her success (industry hotshots René

Redzepi and David Chang are fanboys), her decision

to slow down was a long time coming. The exhaus-

tion of running Elizabeth—as well as the critically

acclaimed Kitsune and the micro-bakery Bunny,

both of which shuttered in 2019—consumed her.

Milkweed was a ticket out. “My dream was to have

something small, where I was foraging and growing

my own food and using extremely local ingredients,”

says Iliana. “This was everything I ever wanted and

beyond my wildest dreams.”

Anna ushers us onto the porch, where we ex-

Carrots charred over an open fire


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change pleasantries with other guests over fruit

leather and cashew cheese. We lavish attention on

the dogs, because they’re the easiest thing to talk

about when everyone’s social skills have spent the

last year rusting on concrete blocks. Still, it’s a

good warm-up for what will effectively be a three-

day dinner party.

The night’s inaugural meal offers a taste of things to come: smoked trout with

pesto, pierogi stuffed with sauerkraut and mushrooms, a wild-strawberry sorbet

laced with tender young spruce shoots. After dinner, Anna cracks open a bottle of

Two James Spirits J. Riddle peated bourbon, and the ice begins to splinter. I look

around at my dining companions, including a gym teacher and an orthopedic

surgeon, and think of how a love of good food and the outdoors unites us. It feels

nice, almost natural even, to break bread with strangers and leave as friends, though

it helps that Milkweed is self-selecting. “Our guests know what they’re getting into

here,” says Iliana. “They’re ready for this experience.”

By that, she means a real-deal, off-the-grid lodge: solar panels, well water, no

Wi-Fi. The cabin is too secluded to wander off-property, so guests busy them-

selves with activities. With her tips, I scour the forest floor for ramps and yarrow,

and rumble down back roads in an ATV, pausing at a pond dotted with butter-

yellow lilies. Thunder ripples across the sky as I try my hand at archery, steadying

the bow exactly as Anna showed me and squealing when my arrow zips through

the air with a satisfying snap. Other guests curl up with a book on the lodge’s

covered deck or pick Iliana’s giant brain about foraging and fermentation. Over

the next two days, we feast on the

fruits of her labor: five extraordinary

meals, including an epic tasting menu

on Saturday night. In Iliana’s world, a

salad is never just a salad. It’s mustard

greens, violet leaves, spruce shoots

plucked from the forest, and koji-fermented black

beans tossed in a wild-blackberry vinaigrette. Ramp

pasta is just that—plus trout lily, stinging nettle,

marsh marigold, cattail shoots, egg-yolk amino

acids, and a “shit ton of butter.”

Four hours pass like this, with an exquisite parade

of creative dishes, but I’m too lost in merry banter to

notice the time. Like riding a bicycle, the old rhythms

of confabulation come roaring back, and all the

anxiety I’ve been hanging on to falls away. Belly

laughs echo through the rafters as the dogs run

maniacal circles through the house. Iliana wipes

down the counters, and Anna checks and rechecks

that our glasses are full. And indeed they are.

Milkweed Inn hosts guests weekends from May through

October. Rates from $1,750 for two for a two-night stay,

all meals and activities included; milkweedinn.com

From top: A guest room in the main cabin; a 16-foot Airstream, one of the accommodations; Bunny, the Regans’ Old English sheepdog


Chart Your Own CourseAboard a yacht in the British Virgin Islands, David LaHuta finds the next great (and affordable) family vacation

My family and I have just boarded our 50-foot chartered catamaran, and

the wind is whipping through our hair as we enter Sir Francis Drake

Channel, a deep blustery strait that connects much of the British Virgin

Islands. Our captain, a scruffy, bearded Texan named Tyrone LaRue, points out

Dead Chest Island, an uninhabited knob where the pirate Blackbeard marooned

his crew with nothing but a saber and a bottle of rum. The legend inspired Robert

Louis Stevenson’s song “Dead Man’s Chest,” which appeared in Treasure Island.

According to local lore, only a handful of the crew made it. We sing the sea

chantey, or at least the “yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum” part, and imagine what

these waters were like then.

Geographically speaking, not much has changed. Sailors know that the over 50

isles in this British Overseas Territory east of Puerto Rico still provide calm,

protected coves, and that the trade winds, which consistently move from east to

west, make this archipelago one of the finest boating destinations in the world.

One of charter company The Mooring’s yachts, near Sandy Cay in the British Virgin Islands


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What is less common knowledge is that chartering a yacht here, as well as in

many vacation spots around the globe, can cost less than a luxury resort.

This is a relatively new phenomenon. When The Moorings, the company my

family worked with, began operations in the British Virgin Islands in 1969, it had

six 35-foot Pearson yachts, tight-quartered, two-cabin monohulls that required

extensive sailing know-how and deep pockets. Back then, The Moorings was the

sole charter company in the region. These days, its diversified fleet is more than

400 strong in more than 20 destinations—a success story that has encouraged

tech-savvy newcomers like GetMyBoat and Yachtico to get in on the charter

game and try to appeal to Gen X and millennial travelers. Like The Moorings,

they offer crewed yachts where a captain and first mate do the work, as well as

“bareboat” charters, where guests with certified licenses can take the helm,

significantly lowering costs. With thousands of ultra-modern vessels available to

book, some of which sleep 12 comfortably, charter companies are courting

younger generations who crave not only the freedom granted by a sailing vaca-

tion but also the value it can provide.

Charter yachts are also great options for families with young kids, like mine.

The yacht we picked up in Road Town, Tortola, the largest and most populated

of the BVI, was more like a fully kitted-out floating home than a traditional

sailboat. In addition to the high-tech extras (solar-powered water makers and

push-button winches), it had modern bathrooms, air-conditioning, spacious

seating, and luxe amenities like a bow trampoline with plush beanbag chairs,

a teak swimming platform, and a 12-foot dinghy. And, of course, we could take it

wherever we wished. Unlike cruise ships, which have set itineraries and desig-

nated ports, charter boats let you choose your own adventure. This flexibility is

particularly apparent in the BVI, since unlike other popular sailing archipelagos

(such as French Polynesia), all of the islands are within sight, which means you

don’t have full days of sailing to

reach your next stop. You basically

wake up, decide where you want

to go next, and arrive within an

hour or so of active sailing.

Back on the water, Tyrone is

busy tacking and jibbing through

the whitecapped sea when my

young sons, Jackson and Tyler, ask

to sit at the helm. Once they’re

installed behind the wheel, Tyrone

resumes his geography lesson. We

learn that the Virgin Islands were

named by Christopher Columbus

in honor of Saint Ursula, a fourth-

century Catholic saint, and the

alleged 11,000 virgins who were

martyred alongside her. Tyrone

also tells us where we’re headed:

the tiny 1,779-acre Peter Island.

From Tortola it takes about 45

minutes to reach Peter Island,

where we anchor in a calm bay

where there’s not much more than

the setting sun and a handful of other boats. About

an hour later, savory smells waft through the galley

and out to the aft deck, where my wife, Joy, and I are

relaxing with cold glasses of Minuty rosé. Tyrone is

grilling pork tenderloin; Jess, his first mate and wife,

is busy whipping up asparagus tips with a brandy

cream sauce and a sweet potato mash.

The following morning, we awake to poached

eggs on avocado toast. It’s time for the captain’s

daily briefing. “The plan is to circumnavigate the

BVI,” says Tyrone, holding a colorful map for us all

to see. He quizzes the boys on where we’ve been and

tells us that our next stop will be Cooper Island.

After Jackson feeds a school of blue runners from

the swim platform and we’ve begun sipping our first

round of pineapple mimosas, we’re off. Forty minutes

later we drop anchor in a quiet cove called Man-

chioneel Bay and swim the 30 yards to shore. We

beachcomb for sea whips and intact urchin tests—

the creatures’ spiny exoskeletons—then hike up a

steep brush-lined slope to Cooper’s highest point.

From atop the breezy hill we have a bird’s-eye

view of Virgin Gorda—a voluptuous volcanic island

so named because Columbus thought its profile

looked like an overweight woman lying on her side.

The next morning we’re there, and our excitement

builds as we anchor near its most impressive

natural attraction, a national park

called the Baths where massive

granite boulders form grottoes you

can wade into. It’s a magical morning

that gets even better when Tyrone

arranges for a taxi driver to escort

us to Hog Heaven, a mountaintop

barbecue spot where the fall-off-

the-bone ribs are almost as epic as

the panoramic view.

The rest of the week follows a

similar cadence of exploration and

relaxation. We visit Anegada, a

pancake- flat atoll where feral

donkeys and goats roam free, flocks

of flamingos splash in muddy marsh-

lands, and visitors explore dusty

roads in Mokes, the classic British

open-air vehicle. Eventually, we end

up at Cow Wreck Beach Bar, on the

island’s northern tip, where we mix

our own rum cocktails and tally our

tab on a notepad. The joint, perched

on a white sand beach with license


plates and faded flags nailed to its wooden rafters, is as close to a Kenny

Chesney song as you can get. Other days we follow Tyrone on under-

and above-water adventures. One afternoon we snorkel through schools

of blue-striped grunt near Monkey Point, off the southern tip of Guana

Island; on another we explore Norman Island’s water-level caves, where

we swim past blooms of moon jellyfish. On the 163-acre isle of Little

Jost Van Dyke, we trail Tyrone down a narrow goat path to the Bubbly

Pool, where crashing waves fill a small rock pool with frothy seawater,

creating a sort of natural jacuzzi. And one afternoon we make the

near-mandatory swim to the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke, wet

cash in hand, and order painkillers (a cousin of the piña colada) while

the boys play ring toss in the sand.

Our last day is one for the family annals. We have some of the best

snorkeling of the trip near the unfortunately dubbed Indians, a group of

rocky outcroppings shaped like tipis, where we snorkel over kaleido-

scopic coral and through schools of reef fish so thick we have to part

them with our hands. Then Tyrone takes us to Pirates Bight, a peaceful

cove that’s home to a retrofitted tanker-cum-bar called the Willy T,

where locals and visitors jump into the water from its second-floor

deck, despite clearly posted signs advising to the contrary. Before we

know it, Tyler, our youngest, jumps, and the rest of us follow. That night

we have a fantastic last meal back on the boat. The thought of leaving is

hanging heavy in the air as Joy and I put the kids to sleep in their cabin

and then head to the top deck for one final nightcap under the stars.

The breeze is warm, the sky is black, and we watch as Orion’s Belt

slowly rises across the Milky Way.

In the BVI, a crewed four-cabin catamaran starts at $2,500 per person

per week, including meals and alcohol; without a crew, rates start at

$1,375 per person. Moorings.com

Long Bay Beach on Tortola, the largest of the BVI

5 charter yachts to check out

> Sailing Collective Travel Co. This NYC-based sailing specialist plans private charters (as well as group journeys bookable by the cabin) on 45-to-65-foot monohulls and catamarans that visit over 40 archi-pelagos and coastlines around the world, including Belize, Sicily, and French Polynesia. Depending on dates, a 57-foot monohull that sleeps eight for a week in Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast will run between $15,000 and $32,000. Sailingcollective.com

> EYOS Expeditions Since 2008, EYOS has been crafting trips to far-flung places like Antarctica and Papua New Guinea on kitted-out superyachts. Expect serious bells and whistles: helicopter hangars (for heli-ski excursions), ice-class hulls (to break polar ice beds), and Triton submarines, which safely bring guests more than 3,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. Taking over a 156-foot expedition yacht that sleeps 12 for approximately eight days in Antarctica comes in at $212,000. Eyos-expeditions.com

> Kontiki Expeditions In August, this newcomer to the charter scene launched two Ecuadorian itineraries on a pair of 128-foot luxury yachts; a third yacht is coming in early 2022. Each has nine staterooms and visits largely unexplored ports along five of the country’s coastal regions. For $152,800, you and 17 of your friends can have a yacht all to yourselves for seven nights. Kontikiexpeditions.com

> Yachtico With an inventory of more than 16,000 yachts in sought-after sailing regions (the Caribbean, Thailand, the Mediterranean), this digital platform connects vacationers with professionally maintained boats of all types and sizes. Prices start around $1,000 per week for a houseboat on a canal in Europe and top $280,000 per week for a 154-foot superyacht in the Caribbean. Yachtico.com

> GetMyBoat Like an Airbnb for watercraft, this San Francisco–based company offers some 140,000 boats in over 9,300 locations worldwide. For a seven- day charter around Mykonos, aboard a catamaran that sleeps 12, you can expect to pay around $11,130. Getmyboat.com. d.l.


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Casa Bortoli, a stately home on the Grand Canal

Piazza San Marco, on a morning during lockdown

Changing TideVenice has long been the poster child for the global overtourism crisis. Could a year without visitors prove to be a turning point? By Jackie Caradonio

In May, at the opening of the rescheduled Venice

Biennale of Architecture—pandemic edition—

banners hung from every doorway in the Arsenal

emblazoned with the question “How will we live

together?,” the theme of this year’s show. As I explored

photographer Marco Cappelletti’s hauntingly beauti-

ful City to Dust, a collection of images depicting an

empty Palazzo San Marco and a shuttered Rialto

Bridge, every step I took made an unsettling crunch.

The floor was constructed of terrazzo tiles in the


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shape of Venice, suggesting the damage crowds do to the city. “Because the tourists

trample her soul...” the narrator of an accompanying video stated grimly. “Every

single step is, for every single visitor, a physical confrontation with his or her poten-

tially harmful impact on the environment.”

Bemoaning the perils of Venice—the cruise ships and dwindling population;

the fact that it’s more a theme park than a place where people live and thrive; and,

don’t forget, it’s sinking!—is nothing new. Observers have lamented the city’s

overexposure since at least 1909, when Henry James wrote in Italian Hours, “The

Venice of today is a vast museum...and you march through the institution with a

herd of fellow-gazers. There is nothing left to discover or describe....” But this was

hardly the Venice I encountered when my architect-husband, John, and I arrived

a few weeks before the Biennale—when tourism was still banned in Italy—to

build an installation for the exhibition. What we found was a city grappling with

how to move forward with the world paused.

All those quiet days and empty streets gave Venetians precious time to ponder

real-life solutions to their overtourism problem. The government has attempted

for years to alleviate the issue, passing measures from installing turnstiles to keep

a head count to taxing day-trippers, but some of the biggest initiatives in decades

gained traction while the city was in lockdown. In March, the government decreed

that it would ban cruise ships weighing more than 40,000 tons from the Venetian

lagoon. That same month, the mayors

of Venice and Florence teamed up on

a manifesto demanding that the

Italian government impose tighter

restrictions on the thousands of

short-term rentals contributing to the

cities’ housing crisis. And following

pressure from local activist groups,

Venice mayor Luigi Brugnero recently

announced his administration is

working on a booking system that will

establish quotas on tourist access to

the city’s historical center.

“It feels a bit like the beginning

of a new era,” says Valeria Duflot,

cofounder of the Venice-based think

tank Overtourism Solution. “The crisis

catapulted tourism to the top of the

political agenda, providing a historic opportunity to transform the industry at

the root.” For Venice, that transformation will come when the old extractive

tourism model—in which travelers focus solely on what they can take away from

a destination—is replaced with a regenerative model that also helps sustain local

communities. Duflot is helping to nudge that shift through her website Venezia

Autentica, which provides a veritable how-to guide to conscientious tourism,

listing locally owned businesses and certified tour guides, and suggesting itiner-

aries that take travelers off the beaten track by showcasing places like the

neoclassical Museo Correr and artisan workshops making authentic Carnival

masks. “The return of tourism at the level it used to be is expected for 2024,”

Duflot says, “and we aim by then to have created a dynamic of transformation

that renders going back to the old normal obsolete.”

The great COVID-19 reset also underpinned the need not just for fewer

tourists but for more Venetians. “The pandemic

made absolutely clear the total dependence on

tourism to survive,” says Fabio Carrera, a professor

at Worcester Polytechnic Institute Massachusetts,

who teaches part-time in Venice and for 30 years has

studied solutions to improve local life through his

WPI Venice Project Center. “The real problem is not

tourism—it’s that there are no alternatives to

tourism.” At least half the working population is in

travel, giving the industry outsize power over every-

thing from the types of businesses that survive

(souvenir shops, not grocery stores) to the funding

of public transportation (which runs more regularly

to tourist locales). Carrera argues that developing

tech and other entrepreneurial industries indepen-

dent of tourism will create a more livable Venice—

and a more attractive home base for new residents.

To that end, this fall, his incubator on the island of

Giudecca, across from San Marco, will launch a new

partnership with MIT that aims to help Venetian

start-ups get off the ground.

Of course, Venice can’t be fixed overnight. Both

Carrera and Duflot say their missions are focused on

the long term. “It’s going to take 10, 20, maybe 30

years to get where we want to be,” Carrera says. This

became especially obvious on June 3, when the first

cruise ship in more than a year sailed past Piazza

San Marco. Soon after, in response to UNESCO

advisers’ recommendation that the organization list

Venice as an endangered site, the Italian government

said it would begin enforcing its ban on August 1,

also lowering the weight limit to 25,000 tons.

On our last night in Venice, the city was quiet,

save for a few Biennale-goers, as John and I sat at

our usual table at La Zucca, a neighborhood spot

that seemed to draw enough locals to remain busy

even without tourists. I watched an older couple to

my left order without looking at the menu. But it was

the table of four to my right that was interested in us.

When we told them we were American, their disap-

pointment was palpable. I knew they’d already

begun to miss their hushed little city.

I wanted to tell them that over the past three

weeks, John and I had slowly soaked in Venice rather

than gulping it all up in a day like most tourists. We’d

become regulars at restaurants owned by locals and

skipped many of the standard attractions for visits

to family-run squeri, or boatyards on the lagoon.

Instead, though, I just raised my glass.

“To Venice!” I said earnestly.

“To Venice,” they echoed back.

Without travelers, the vaporetti ran empty last May


right around the corner

after a year of hardship for

new york city’s chinatown,

a younger generation is

writing the neighborhood’s

next chapterBy Francis Lam Photographs by Andrew Bui

62

A tenement building on

East Broadway

Opposite: Sweet and

savory tofu puddings with

plenty of toppings

at Fong On

mother cried when I got a job in Chinatown. “Twenty

years we worked there so you wouldn’t have to,” she

said, sobbing. She shopped there, she worshipped

there, she ate there, but for her, the point was to get

out of there: To be somewhere else meant you’d

made it. Eventually she calmed down enough to say,

“Fine. But if you hear gunshots, don’t be a hero.”

It was 1999, and Chinatown had become plenty

safe. It had always been always delicious. And even

though I never told her this, it had always felt like

home. Not in a comforting way, in a place-of- loving-

obligation way. You see, I’m the son of immigrants

from Hong Kong, and I spent my entire youth

blowing off my parents’ every attempt to assimilate

me into their culture. Now I can never feel Chinese

enough.

For years I would take visitors to Chinatown and

play tour guide with expert, practiced lines. I’d tell

them that Mott Street General Store opened in the

1800s to sell groceries to Chinese men forced to

cook for themselves because America forbade them

to bring their wives. I’d take them to Fong Inn Too, a

fresh tofu shop, where, standing on the always-wet

floors and eating over a garbage can, we’d devour

warm bowls of silky soy pudding, barely set, quiver-

ing on our spoons under a veil of brown sugar

syrup. I’d see them stop and stare when they turned

the corner of Doyers Street to glimpse the picture-

perfect, movie- set Chinatown view, and I’d know it

was the right moment to drop the bit about how this

used to be called the Bloody Angle because of all the

triad killings on This. Very. Spot. (No, Mom, really,

that hasn’t happened in decades.) If I couldn’t grow

up in Hong Kong like my mother did, then at least

I could feel like I had a place in Chinatown.

Chinatown has always occupied an uneasy spot

in the life of New York City. Starting in the 1870s,

Chinese men who’d been harassed out of California

by that era’s anti-Chinese movement started set-

tling into a corner of the infamous Five Points slum

and turned to work that wouldn’t threaten white

men, like cooking and laundry. Soon after, the

my

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Clockwise from top left: The aftermath of a meal at Hop Kee; Sophia Ng Tsao (seated), who runs the specialty market Po Wing Hong with her father, Patrick Ng, and her mom, Nancy; a mural on Division Street

Opposite from top: The corner of Mott and Canal, the heart of Chinatown; dishware at K.K. Discount Store

65

restaurants they opened began attracting bohemi-

ans; today, of course, every Chinatown in America

is basically a playground for foodies. But because

it is situated next door to SoHo and Nolita, the inex-

orable creep of gentrification makes New York’s

Chinatown a precarious home to dumplings that go

five for a dollar. And the neighborhood faces other

crises, most recently the anti-Asian attacks brought

on by the pandemic. Even so, Chinatown today, just

as it was a century and a half ago when it got its

start as a refuge from racism, is no less driven by

its will to live.

A few months ago, I turned that corner on Doyers

Street and got a cup of steaming ginger-lemon tea at

Mee Sum Cafe with Grace Young, an unassuming

titan of Chinese food writing. “Hop Shing, 47 years

old, gone,” Grace said, beginning to list the old-line

businesses that didn’t make it through the pandem-

ic, each utterance a paying of respects. “69 Bayard

Restaurant, 61 years. Hoy Wong, 42 years. Lung

Moon Bakery, over 50 years.” We sat in the middle of

a street empty but for a row of dining tables set with

tablecloths, waiting for soup-dumpling eaters to

emerge. “I don’t want a Chinatown that’s all trendy

stuff, like bouncy cheesecakes and mochi dough-

nuts,” she said. “If you lose the classics, they will go

away forever.” (I agree, but for the record, bouncy

cheesecake and mochi doughnuts are phenomenal.)

That afternoon, I walked around the neighbor-

hood for hours, my first visit after a COVID-19 year

away. I saw the rolled-down security shutters that

break Grace’s heart: one for every three or four

doors, it seemed. But this, also, has been a fact of life

in this neighborhood, even before the pandemic and

the hate crimes bared their teeth. That tofu shop

> the greatest hits On the corner of Mott and Mosco, down a dark flight of stairs, unassuming neigh-borhood stalwart Hop Kee has been serving up no-frills Cantonese fare since 1968—but the lack of fuss is

see the sights, try the food

exactly why you go (and why Anthony Bourdain loved it). Slide into a booth and order the crabs Can-tonese style, served in a rich brown sauce, and the salted squid with spicy green pepper. Over on East Broadway, Hwa Yuan

Szechuan’s white tablecloths are great for a dressed-up family dinner or a Friday night on the town; for something more low-key, Noodle Village on Mott is the perfect casual spot to roll into around 4 p.m. on a Saturday for

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steaming bowls of pork wonton noodle soup. On Doyers, Nom Wah Tea Parlor has been open since 1920, making it the oldest continuously running restaurant in Chinatown—and it’s still buzzing today, with locals and visi-

tors who pack in each weekend for dim sum staples like shrimp shumai and Shang-hainese soup dump-lings. By contrast, Mee Sum Cafe on Pell Street feels like a place that time forgot, with hulking dun- colored cash registers

and metal barstools crowned with burnt- orange leather. Order one of the banana-leaf-encased sticky rice bundles, which sit by the dozens in trays on the counter, and a whole fish, marinated in soy sauce and scal-lions, if it’s available.

> new kids on the blockThough Koreatown is technically three miles north, some of the best KFC—Korean fried chicken, that is—is on Pell Street, where Boka Korean Fried Chicken opened in 2019.

Do a 10-piece order, along with a gut- busting helping of bulgogi French fries and a watermelon soju cocktail—served straight from a mini melon. Tonii’s Fresh Rice Noodle on Bayard opened in October of 2019,

Clockwise from top: Gary Lum at his family’s china shop, Wing On Wo & Co., run by his daughter, Mei Lum, the fifth-generation owner; chewy mochi doughnuts at Alimama Tea, a Chinatown newcomer; the menu at Fong On

Opposite: Nom Wah Tea Parlor, a Chinatown staple for dim sum for more than a century

→

67

I brought chefs to? Opened in 1933, it closed

four years ago. The Mott Street General Store shut

its doors in 2003. I don’t remember when the roast

duck at Big Wong started to taste different to me,

but that flavor, too, is gone. And I remembered

September 11, standing on these blocks, looking up

in the sky and seeing an attack on America whose

aftermath shut down lower Manhattan for months

and bled so many of Chinatown’s businesses dry.

I remember getting back here for the first time after

the smell of smoke started to finally go away and

seeing American flags in the windows of the busi-

nesses that made it.

As I ambled these once-again quiet streets, my

memory filled in the sights I used to see: vendors

grilling cumin-dusted kebabs like they do in western

China; a woman with skin like leather selling 100

spears of sugarcane. I didn’t have to rely on memory,

though, to see the familiar lady who could have been

though with its scuffed white floors, random stoner art, and half-empty boxes of supplies, it looks more like it’s moving out than in. But the young crew behind the counter makes you forget all that—as do the pillowy rice

noodles, with fresh shrimp and roasted duck. Tucked beneath the Manhattan Bridge, Hak Box is a sliver of a store at all of 200 square feet, but its namesake Hak Rolls, rice noodles stuffed with scallions and coated in bits of Spam

and dried shrimp, are worth the squeeze. Fong On, the next-gen incarnation of the shuttered neighbor-hood staple Fong Inn Too, sits on a quiet stretch of Division, with red floors and white tiles that feel unimposing but cool.

> indulge your sweet toothTraditionally, Chinese meals end with some-thing light, like a platter of seasonal fruit; full-fledged dessert items are typ-ically reserved for snack time, and in

Chinatown there is no shortage of snacks to be had. Start at Keki Modern Cakes on Mott Street, where the sweet scent of baked sugar hits you the second you step inside. The shop is known for its “bouncy cheesecake,” but the

my auntie coming down the block in a red tracksuit,

carrying a bag of leafy greens the size of her torso.

And then, in the shadow of the roaring overpass

of the Manhattan Bridge, I spotted a curious sign:

“Fong On, Family Tofu Shop, Established 1933.”

Could it be? The floors and walls were immaculate

white subway tile, the ceiling festooned with highly

Instagrammable red lanterns. I ordered a bowl of

the tofu pudding and asked for a spoon; there is

nothing quite like eating it fresh and warm—tasting

the bean as it slides down the back of your tongue.

As I left, a group of 20-somethings came in and

said, I swear, “Look at this aesthetic,” the word

sounding like an award.

Paul Eng, the owner, laughed when I told him that.

“When I was living in Russia, people told me that if

my photography didn’t work out, I should just come

home to the family business and sell tofu to hipsters.”

When Paul was a child, his father would tell him he

would carry the shop on one day, so he did what any

American kid raised on rock and roll would do—he

got as far away as he could. He studied architecture,

played in bands, became an artist, and moved to

Moscow. Only after his father passed and the shop

closed did he think about trying to run it, on his

terms: making it younger, cooler, carrying on the

recipes but presenting them to people who didn’t

grow up with them. “I’m grateful for those custom-

ers because that says there’s a future,” he said.

A future. Maybe this is it? The answer to Grace

Young’s lament about losing the classics. What

about all the classics that are being reborn? I started

to ask around: Where else is there a new generation

of old-school Chinatown businesses?

At 125 years old or so, the china shop Wing On

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fluffy cream puffs, loaded with fillings like bright purple ube and delicate matcha, are every bit as mem-orable. Continue down Mott to Pinkla-dy Cheese Tart, a tiny four-stool joint that sells exquisite tartlets (be sure to sample

the nutty black sesame), delicately packaged in individu-al boxes, before back-tracking to Alimama Tea, a hip café on Bayard with polished concrete floors, exposed brick walls, and a jumble of fairy lights hanging in the

window that will delight Instagram influencers. Both the cartoonishly pink lychee rose tea and Onyx mochi doughnut, dredged in a shiny chocolate lacquer with flecks of gold and silver, taste as good as they’ll look in

your feed. But on a hot summer’s day, there’s nothing better than heading a block west on Bayard for red-bean scoops (ideally in an M&M- studded sugar cone) from the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

> DO Try this at homeTo re-create the flavors of Chinatown in your own kitchen, hit Po Wing Hong, whose ruby-red awning—and the shopping attendant who diligently parks customers’ rolling

“I grew up in Westchester County, but my parents had ties to the Taiwanese commu-nity, so we spent a lot of time below Canal Street. I was crashing in a studio on Baxter on 9/11. The Chinese community is private, but 9/11 exposed them because Chinatown is an artery for everything else. The commu-nity delivered, and then, when enough time passed, the city forgot about it. Not unlike the beginning of COVID-19, the shops weren’t doing any business, they were just helping people—but rents were due. Many were doomed immediately, but they held on for a few months. When COVID hit, it felt like Chinatown had a better idea what to do because of 9/11 and SARS. Still, the neigh-borhood is so reliant on people coming down and having something nice to eat, to have that lifeline cut off was terrifying. But the community rallied. It’s standing. In quarantine the vibe was bleak; now, though, people are eating food and waiting for tables. I no longer have any connection to Westchester, so if anything happens to me, scatter my ashes on Mott Street.” Andrew Kuo is represented by Broadway Gallery. The Joy of Basketball, his new book with Ben Detrick, is out October 19.

20 years laterArtist Andrew Kuo on Chinatown Since 9/11

Clockwise from left: Fresh produce on Grand Street; Alimama Tea owner Janie Wang inside her café; K.K. Discount Store

Opposite: Steamed Shanghai pork soup dumplings from Noodle Village

→

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carts outside—makes visits feel like a trip to the theater. Inside, the space opens up to reveal long aisles stocked with every-thing from bottled sauces and bagged noodles to purplish dried sausages and slick jellyfish slices.

(You can also pick up dried goods like plums and sea cucumbers, sold by weight.) Aqua Best, on Grand, sells glis-tening fluke, branzino, and sea bass, all propped up on ice. If your day starts early, swing by the fruit

stands flanking both sides of Mulberry Street near the inter-section of Grand: Vendors hawk fresh oranges and just- ripe cherries, prickly dragon fruit, and unwieldy durian beneath multicolored beach umbrellas.

> shop till you dropCT Seafood Mart, on the corner of Grand and Chrystie, is a clearinghouse for everything from fresh produce and seafood to pastel-colored bedspreads and bamboo- tile car-seat

covers. On Mott, K.K. Discount Store is packed with silver-ware, rolling pins, and mocha pots of every size; there’s also plenty to covet at the tiny Ting Yu Hong Co., including wooden sandals, delicately wrapped soap bars,

Wo & Co. has never been younger, thanks to its

30-year-old fifth-generation owner, Mei Lum, who

makes memes of her grandmother and educates

customers on the craftwork of Chinese porcelain.

In the ’80s, the legendary chef Shorty Tang was

credited with introducing New York to cold sesame

noodles, the dish that launched a thousand takeout

ships. His son, chef Chen Lien Tang, and grandson,

James Tierney Tang, resurrected the long-gone Hwa

Yuan in 2017. It’s probably the finest fine-dining

restaurant in Chinatown. Even while customers ate

on the street in an ersatz sidewalk dining room,

a server presented the cold sesame noodles—

the sauce more delicate than you’d expect, splitting

the difference between rich and tart—by expertly

coiling them out of a tureen and placing them, like a

bird’s nest, on my plate. The gesture was dignified,

a symbol of pride.

And when strolling the aisles of Po Wing Hong,

a 41-year-old grocery store, I felt a peculiar pang, a

visitation from the ghost of bean curds past. There,

past the jars of $1,400-per-pound dried abalone, the

wall of ginseng, and the trillion flavors of instant

ramen, I stared at jars of chili-fermented bean curd.

It’s something my mother always kept in our fridge,

a condiment that my cousin once called Chinese

cheese. Growing up I used to scoff at the glorious,

yellow slices of salt-flavored soy cream. But there, in

the store, I could taste in my mind their pungent,

saline, familiar funk.

Sophia Ng Tsao grew up in this store, the little kid

behind the counter who would get your cigarettes for

you. She never thought she’d be at the helm alongside

her parents one day. “Even though I was working at

the shop, I didn’t feel a connection to the products,”

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and (in a nod to its 1950s origins) the occasional cigarette holder. Now five gen-erations in, Wing on Wo & Co. is China-town’s oldest store; make an appointment to browse its exqui-site porcelain goods, suitable for everyday

use (a turquoise soy bottle) and special occasions (a jade- handle mirror). Beauty haven oo35mm stocks slather-worthy tinctures like Beauty of Joseon Radiance Cleansing Balm. Other noteworthies include Chen’s Watch Inc.,

a spot that deals in shiny vintage pocket watches and grandfa-ther clocks from the likes of Le Coultre, and Bok Lei Po Trading Inc., a martial- arts supply store with a trove of Feiyue shoes and Jing Wu three-button shirts.

> walk it offHead to Columbus Park’s Dr. Sun Yat-sen Plaza to watch elders play card games for a crowd, or stop at the Chinatown Fair Family Fun Center, a pitch-dark arcade on Mott, for a few rounds of ice ball. Don’t miss the

Maya Lin–designed Museum of Chinese in America on Centre, which traces the history of the diaspora. Recently reopened after a devastating fire in January 2020, it’s free for all through September 19. betsy blumenthal

she told me. But after she went to business school,

the customers of her parents’ generation finally got

to her. “They kept saying, ‘Please take the store over,

or I won’t have anywhere to buy my ginseng!’ ”

So she stayed, and learned about the products,

and is now finding customers her age coming in to

ask about them. “I think the younger generation is

going through a major identity crisis, and missing

out on Chinatown hits so close to home,” she said.

“And they’re compelled to do something about it.”

The thought made me smile, as did the fact that I

had time for one last bite before going home. When

I was a kid spending summers in Hong Kong, wonton

mein—a bowl of wontons, noodles, and soup—was

my ur-snack. I learned how to use the subway there

so I could get to my favorite wonton noodle stall. For

years, my brother had told me that the Chinatown

restaurant Noodle Village has a good one. It’s not

self-referential enough to be either new school or old

school. But you can taste what they care about.

I took my bowl across the street to an empty set of

dining tents. You have to eat it right away, while the

noodles still snap back, so springy they almost

crunch. While the broth is still scalding hot, the

steam carrying the aroma of the flecks of garlic chive

on its surface. The smooth wontons earned their

translation of “swallowed clouds,” with skins so

smooth and soft, enveloping a filling that tasted of

pork fat, sesame oil, and toasted shrimp roe.

I used to spend the longest time looking for

wonton mein that would remind me of my time

spent in Hong Kong. But eating this, in the strange,

hopeful, liminal moment of a neighborhood reawak-

ening after a pandemic, I found a bowl that will

always remind me of Chinatown.

Clockwise from top left: Inside Hwa Yuan Szechuan, which serves spicy upscale dishes; the hard-to-miss entrance to the porcelain shop Wing On Wo & Co.

Opposite: K.K. Discount owners Ken and Vicki Li with their daughter, Norina T

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Concrete and local parota wood create a sleek, minimalist retreat at Casa Tiny, a mini vacation rental 18 miles northwest of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca

Opposite: Structure VIII at Becán, an impressive Mayan ruin outside the village of Xpujil in Campeche

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Both fresh and familiar, away from home but not too far, our neighbor to the south has perennial appeal. As we begin traveling internationally again, this country’s pristine Baja beaches, out-of-the-way Mayan ruins, modernist hotels, and rich culinary scene are calling our name

My first impression as I glide on a Hobie

Cat is how much Bacalar looks like the

Caribbean. This 31-mile lagoon near the

border of Belize is known for its many shades of

aquamarine. Travelers like me come expressly for

these glowing waters, which have none of the

crowds of Tulum and Cancún.

But more visitors (200,000 in 2019) are venturing

into this region of tangled mangroves and dense

jungle, and a clutch of considerate, design-focused

hotels have opened to serve them—most recently,

the sustainably minded Habitas, which opened 35

A-frame-style tented rooms last month. Yet those

building Bacalar as a destination have seen the con-

sequences of overtourism in Mexico, including in

Tulum, about two hours to the north, and are deter-

mined to prevent the same from happening here.

“There has been profound damage done to the eco-

system in the Tulum area, and it’s a vivid example of

what to avoid and reverse if economic interests

manage to take precedence over ecologic needs once

again,” says Sofia Lynch, co-owner of the boutique

hotel Casa Hormiga, another new arrival.

blue horizonThe next hot spot on the east coast could set an example for ecotourism going forward

Clockwise from bottom: The many shades of blue on display at the tranquil Laguna de Bacalar; a quiet balcony at hotel Casa Hormiga; the hotel’s entrance

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Capital Eats

LaMari

Chef David Castro Hussong’s neighborhood spot in Lomas de Chapultepec is all about Mediterraneanstyle dishes with a twist. The squash blossom with hummus and octopus tostadas with matcha and avocado are two of the more inventive combinations. Dinner for two, about $150; lamari.mx

Mi Compa

“Chava”

Inspired by Sinaloa’s seafood carts, chef Salvador Orozco (Chava is his nickname) highlights straightfromthePacific ingredients. Order the Señora Torres, a tower of raw and cooked shrimp, tuna, octopus, and scallops, topped with a bright salsa. Lunch for two, about $80

Makan

After working in kitchens across Asia (including Bangkok’s esteemed Gaggan), chefs Maryann Yong and Mario Malvaez opened this tuckedaway space in Roma last year, where they sling casual Singaporean dishes like chicken rice and noodles with duck breast. Dinner for two, about $60; makan-restaurante-singapore-food.negocio.site

Casa Prunes

From acclaimed bartenders Mafer Tejada and Mica Rousseau, this boîte’s creative cocktails and fruit wines (try the banana one, seriously) are as impressive as the Art Nouveau building it calls home. Dinner and drinks for two, about $100 pedro reyes

Stromatolites, spongy microorganisms that are millions of years old, lurk

below the lagoon’s shallow waters, giving them their color and stabilizing

this ecosystem. But these fragile reeflike formations are easily destroyed

and will take millennia to grow back. The area follows a low-impact devel-

opment policy that limits the number of hotel rooms allowed per square

foot, and prohibits large builds on the shoreline. Signs warn visitors not to

touch the stromatolites, and boat usage is heavily restricted.

Even more pressing than capping the number of visitors, Lynch suggests,

is ensuring that business owners properly inform their guests how to inter-

act with the environment. She and her husband settled in Bacalar in 2009,

when there were only a few businesses and foreigners in town, and opened

a small café which expanded into a beach club before becoming Casa

Hormiga last year. By working with tour operators, such as Bacalar Sailing,

who share ecological best practices, as well as encouraging guests to be

conscious about how they use air- conditioning and water, the couple hopes

to create a more responsible environment. The same goes for Habitas.

“Educating guests on the importance and fragility of the stromatolites is

crucial for their preservation,” says cofounder and CEO Oliver Ripley.

As part of its conservation strategy, the hotel has collaborated with local

NGO Agua Claro to support lagoon monitoring, as well as Ejido Noh-Bec

community and One Tree Planted to make a local reforestation program. At

Macario Bacalar, a restaurant set in an open courtyard, chef Ricardo

Méndez (formerly of Mexico City’s Pujol) serves zesty nopal tostadas.

Méndez is working to launch a sustainable food festival to raise awareness

and support the town.

On the Hobie Cat, we cruise along the blue, milky water for three hours,

passing gnarled mangroves, sucking on lychee, marveling at the stromato-

lites, and stopping for a dip where we press our toes into the squelchy white

limestone soil, with no other tourists in sight. It’s magnificent, but back at

the shore, the water is temporarily brown from sediment swept in by recent

floods. It’s a reminder of the lagoon’s fragility. But also that, we, as travelers,

have the chance to protect it. mary holland

Habitas Bacalar, doubles from $400, ourhabitas.com; Casa Hormiga, doubles

from $166, casahormiga.com

Despite the past year’s challenges, Mexico City’s culinary scene has never tasted better, with exciting concepts from names old and new

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A meander through the less-explored central peninsula shows a different side of the region

For decades, Cabo San Lucas has been the magnet of the Mexican

state of Baja California Sur, luring sybarites and adventurers to the

peninsula’s southernmost tip with its high-end resorts and world-

class sportfishing and surf breaks. But those who seek a smaller, sleepier

Baja town have begun heading north to Loreto. With increased direct

flights from Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Dallas, the little colonial city is a

great jumping-off point for a drive exploring the state’s untrodden beaches,

wildlife-rich marine parks, and artsy desert towns.

the new baja road trip

Days 1 and 2With the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range to the northwest, Loreto has a Sedona-meets-the-sea vibe. You’re not there for the hotels, but Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa is a good home base and has an excellent wellness center. Devote two days to exploring the Pueblo Mágico–designated town (a title granted by the Mexican government to small cities that stand out for their beauty or history) and the islands of Loreto Bay National Marine Park. Dubbed the Galápagos of Mexico, the bay is home to some 800 species, including dolphins, manta rays, and, in the winter months, six species of whales. A kayak trip among the islands is the best way to access the park’s pristine coastline. Back in town, don’t miss homemade tamales at Canipole, a charming open- air restaurant tucked away near the 17th-century Mission Loreto, the first Jesuit mission in Baja.

Day 3You can’t visit Loreto without trying the local delicacy, almejas chocolatas—large, meaty clams with chocolate-hued shells. On your way out of town, stop at Vista al Mar, a no-frills beach hut just off of Highway 1, then drive four hours south to La Paz. There, check in at Baja Club, the newest property from the homegrown brand Grupo Habita. It overlooks the Malecón, the town’s iconic promenade, and is a convenient starting point for a day trip to the empty beaches of Espíritu Santo Island. Book an excursion to snorkel with the resident sea lions off craggy Los Islotes or, between October and February, to swim with gentle whale sharks. For classic Baja cooking, Tacos de Pescado y Camaron El Estadio is the best. For avant-garde riffs like bone-marrow tacos, try Tatanka Baja Fish and Steakhouse. P

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Day 4Wake up with a potent cold brew from Doce Cuarenta café, then hit the road early to enjoy the calm, Caribbean-esque waters of Playa Balandra, 40 minutes outside of La Paz. When the sun heats up, get on Highway 1 and drive two hours south to Los Barriles, a fishing village and kitesurfing mecca on windswept Las Palmas Bay. Hire ATVs and bump along dusty roads past the mango and guava groves surrounding the village of San Bartolo—be sure to stop at the roadside stands to sample the town’s famed sweets, like dulce de pitaya. The Four Seasons Resort Los Cabos at Costa Palmas—the only luxury stay on the East Cape—is 45 minutes southeast. Given that cardon cacti still outnumber people, the staff don’t frown upon dust-covered arrivals.

Day 5To truly appreciate Baja’s diverse landscape, drive about 40 minutes inland to Rancho Ecológico Sol de Mayo, in the town of Santiago. The ranch owners will prepare a breakfast of eggs and machaca (spicy shredded beef), then point you to a trail that leads to a lush, palm-shaded oasis. Wear a swimsuit—the falls here double as natural waterslides. With the car windows down, your hair will be dry long before you reach El Pescadero, two hours away. This farming hamlet has replaced neighboring Todos Santos as Baja’s new boho hot spot. Stay in one of the desert-sleek villas at newcomer El Perdido. In the evening, catch a show at Teatro Pescadero (a pandemic project from a Broadway veteran) or have a cocktail and hear a DJ set at Pura Playa beach club. If you’re feeling remiss about skipping Cabo, stop for breakfast at Flora Farms before heading to the Los Cabos airport for your flight home. jen murphy

Clockwise from top left: A cardon cactus on the uninhabited island of Espíritu Santo; poolside at the new Baja Club hotel in La Paz; the tiny Isla San Francisco in the Sea of Cortez

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come togetherPast and present, traditional and cutting edge, all have a place in Guadalajara’s vibrant design community

Clockwise from bottom: José Noé Suro of Cerámica Suro; the store Chamula Hecho a Mano; graphic artist Luis César Cantú Della Rocca (a.k.a. Rocca); a pile of woven rugs at Estudio Pomelo

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In 2006, the industrial designer Laura Noriega left her hometown of

Guadalajara to study in Milan, intending never to come back. The art

scene in Mexico’s second-largest metropolitan area had been growing for

a decade, but Noriega found the design community stagnant, disconnected

from the rich artisanal traditions still practiced throughout the region. Two

years later, though, she changed her mind. “I started visiting markets and

workshops and realized I didn’t know Mexico,” she says. Noriega ended up

forging a new professional path by approaching her culture with a curiosity

and desire for knowledge she didn’t have when she left.

Noriega is one of many artists and architects, designers and illustrators,

who returned home around that time after leaving to pursue their trades else-

where, tapping into the wealth of craft they had, for years, overlooked. Today,

she and her brand Tributo, which produces housewares with craftspeople

scattered throughout central Mexico, is part of an expanding community of

makers transforming Guadalajara into a hub for design.

Throughout the 20th century, Guadalajara produced some of the leading

lights of Mexican art, from the muralist José Clemente Orozco, whose fiery

work makes Rivera look mannered, to Luís Barragán, whose architectural

style became shorthand for the country’s modernist aesthetic. But most left

Guadalajara to advance their careers. In the early 2000s, many of the city’s

young creatives did the same, though there were exceptions: The sisters Julia

and Renata Franco started their fashion line, Julia y Renata, out of their

parents’ garage in 1993, around the same time that José Noe Suro started to

produce work for contemporary artists at his family’s ceramic studio, Cerámica

Suro. Still, says the designer and artist Aldo Álvarez Tostado, who moved to

Guadalajara in 2005, “the boom you see now, that didn’t exist 15 years ago.”

In 2013, Álvarez Tostado created a cooperative called Occidente to bring

together the homegrown talent. That year, the cooperative’s 12 design firms

mounted a stall at the first Abierto Mexicano de Diseño design fair in

Mexico City, challenging perceptions of Guadalajara as a provincial place.

Yet it’s precisely that small-town atmosphere—despite a metro-area

population pushing six million—that’s made Guadalajara so attractive to

creatives who have returned. Within a few hours of the city, Álvarez Tostado

works with stonemasons to carve bold, graphic skull pots for his brand

Piedrafuego, products he sells from a workshop in the city’s historic center.

Noriega, who keeps an elegant showroom in the leafy Colonia Lafayette,

works with the ceramist Ángel Santos in the village of Tonalá to produce

burnished-clay mezcaleros, while Luis Cárdenas and Melissa Aldrete create

experimental ceramics for their brand Popdots using techniques they’ve

learned in traditional workshops.

“What interested us about being here was doing instead of just designing,”

says Cárdenas. Guadalajara, he says, “lets you live at the pace the materials

demand.” Access to traditions and the time to understand them, says the

graphic artist Rocca Luis César, “opens a space for experimentation.”

Ultimately, it’s collaboration that sets Guadalajara’s design scene apart.

Many creatives open their workspaces to visitors who contact them via

Instagram. Frequent pop-ups bring together curated collections from the city’s

best designers. And shops like Viento México and Chamu Hecho a Mano blur

the lines between craft, design, and art, disciplines that have been artificially

siloed for too long. “At the end of the day, these boundaries are porous,” says

Álvarez Tostado. “We’re the same community.” michael snyder

San Cristóbal

de Las Casas

Head to this city in the central highlands, flanked by mountains, for the colonial architecture and the food. Even with the cobblestones, this is a walking town, and you’ll pass the neoclassical Templo de Santo Domingo and Catedral de San Cristóbal before picking up handwoven rugs and ponchos at the fairtrade emporium Táabal. For dinner, get Vok ich ta alak’, an Indigenous masaandepazote stew, from Kokonó, helmed by Tzotzil chef Claudia Ruíz Sántiz, before settling in for the night at the contemporary Hotel Bo, in the heart of the city.

Tuxtla

Gutiérrez

The capital of Chiapas is an ideal base for exploring the state’s diverse nature. Tour

the Sumidero Canyon, located on a river full of crocodiles and flanked by sandy shores. Don’t miss the Templo Sumergido de Quechula, a church engulfed by the Grijalva River. Be sure to stop, too, at carver Jorge Alberto González Moreno’s workshop to browse wooden and amber masks.

Tapachula

Closer to the coast, check in to the ecofriendly Hotel Argovia Finca Resort, on a working coffee farm. From there, take a day trip to the lagoons at the UNESCOprotected La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve. You’ll want to make a detour to the nearby town of Tuxtla Chico for the legendary tamales chiapanecos from Tamales Doña Petra—thought by many to be the best tamales in Mexico. bill esparza

where to go in chiapasThe under-the-radar state—and Mayan capital—has crafts, food, and nature unlike anywhere else in the country

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coast linesOne of the world’s great architectural playgrounds is emerging along the shores of Oaxaca

Clockwise from bottom: Casa Tiny, a petite vacation rental with an outsize visual impact; the pool deck at the Tadao Ando–designed artist retreat Casa Wabi; an installation by Bosco Sodi at Casa Wabi

Guests at the creative complex Casa Wabi

find its thatched-roof, open-air lounge

down a long, rectangular slab of cement

with a sparkling infinity pool at its center. They

arrive to a burst of brightness caused by the sun’s

reflection off the silvery surface. This effect is one

reason Casa Wabi’s founder, the Mexican con-

temporary artist Bosco Sodi, commissioned the

Japanese architect Tadao Ando to design this foun-

dation and artists’ residency by the sea: for the way

Ando uses concrete to capture light.

“My entire philosophy is to not compete with the

landscape,” says Sodi. “I believe we must adapt to it

and use materials that get even better with time, like

wood, concrete, and bricks.”

Five years ago, the site of Casa Wabi, along

Oaxaca’s Pacific Coast, 45 minutes west of the leg-

endary Playa Zicatela surf break, was a wilderness—

a spread of succulents spilling into a palm oasis

ahead of the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range.

But Sodi had a vision: a laboratory for the world’s

most influential architects, similar to the Benesse

Art Site in Naoshima, Japan. After Casa Wabi’s

opening in 2014, he acquired an adjacent, mile-long

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strip of earth where a natural rock barrier spills into the sea, and secured the

area’s official designation as Punta Pájaros, an ecological and regenerative devel-

opment that blends hospitality and art. Sodi views Punta Pájaros as a blank

canvas for creativity to flourish, a place where artists and architects are encour-

aged to let their ideas run as wild as the landscape.

This part of Oaxaca has fast become a destination for those seeking a different

type of vacation on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. When Sodi built Casa Wabi, he had

the good sense to commission the 16-room Hotel Escondido from designer

Mexican hoteliers Grupo Habita. Not far away is the stylish Casitas by the Sea,

eight independent villas for travelers from legendary architect Alberto Kalach—

who also led the area’s reforestation efforts, including the recovery of the native

forest and the addition of 20,000 endemic plants. In the past few years, a number

of high-design, bookable villas have followed, including the aptly named one-

room Casa Tiny, by architect Aranza de Ariño and Casa Volta, and a collection of

three vaulted terracotta brick villas symmetrically separated by a central water-

way and hugged by the dense tropical vegetation, for larger groups. Though these

dwellings differ in style and aesthetic, all use local materials and glass-free,

open-concept layouts. “We want people to feel connected with nature, to feel the

air coming off the ocean,” says Sodi. “What is the point of windows if you can’t

hear the sound of the waves?”

The aesthetic extends beyond hotels. Down a dusty dirt path from Hotel Escon-

dido is the de Ariño–designed mezcal bar Cobarde. Farther on still is Kakurega

Omakase, a 12-seat, open-air eatery created by Kalach and Sodi and his cousin

Luis Urrutia. Inspired by traditional Japanese architecture, with a Oaxacan twist,

the restaurant’s thatched-roof palapa is made from

brick, concrete, and burnt pinewood that was charred

according to the principles of shou sugi ban, an

18th-century Japanese weatherproofing technique.

Though Punta Pájaros’s international flavor is

hard to miss, one of its goals is to support Mexico’s

architects. The area’s latest project is the work of

Carlos Matos and Lucas Cantú of Tezontle, a young

creative studio that blends Mexico’s pre-Hispanic

heritage with the abstract work of the country’s

modernists. Inspired by the ancient cultures of

Mexico and the temascal, a traditional Mexican

sweat lodge, the project, called Papelillo, is a sauna

and bathhouse built with prefabricated, sand-cast

concrete panels oxidized with water from the Punta

Pájaros aquifer. The heavy iron content of the water

gives the panels a deep red hue similar in color to the

bark of the local papelillo tree, which continuously

sheds its skin in a process of regeneration, like the

experience intended by a temascal. In addition to

Papelillo, there are two new properties this year:

Casona Sforza, a Kalach-designed boutique hotel

with 11 arched-and-vaulted guest suites set in the

serene La Barra de Colotepec river delta, and, at

press time, a yet-unnamed wellness-focused design

hotel by Grupo Habita and Kalach.

Sodi hopes the success of this architectural com-

munity in Oaxaca can be a model for other parts of

Mexico, especially with the demand for sustainable

architecture increasing in coastal areas like Cabo San

Lucas. “Architecture can revolutionize an area and

create a regenerative movement that adds to the envi-

ronment and melds with what exists,” says Sodi.

“With this type of impact, we can change the future of

Mexican development forever.” michaela trimble

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Of the three states that make up the Yucatán Peninsula,

Campeche is both the largest and the least visited. It is

home to one of Mexico’s most beautiful colonial cities,

exceptional food, and endless swaths of inland tropical forest

studded with Mayan ruins. Good roads and a well-earned reputa-

tion for safety make it one of the best states in the country for a

road trip, with ample opportunities for detours and pit stops at

ancient temples half-consumed by the jungle.

Day 1Any visit to Campeche should begin with a stay at Hacienda Puerta Campeche, a Luxury Collection Hotel, in the 481-year-old capital city that gives the state its name. Set within centuries-old fortifications, the tidy streets of the old town are lined with pastel-hued houses whose windows are thrown open to draw in breezes off the electric-blue sea. Inside the city walls, the barrios of Santa Ana and San Francisco are home to some of Campeche’s best food. Have lunch by Parque de Santa Ana: tacos of cochinita pibil at Taquería Hecelchakán, or tortas de lechon (roasted-pork sandwiches) at Taquería del Parque. For dinner, La Pigua, in Barrio de Guadalupe, specializes in seafood, while the simple fondas under the arches at the Portales de San Martín are ideal for late-night tamales and icy coconut horchata.

Day 2 Start early, driving southeast from the capital to the archaeological site of Edzna, where iguanas skitter across grassy plazas framed by meticulously restored pyramids. From there, continue south for about three hours to the community of Conhuas, and check in to the Hotel Puerta Calakmul ecolodge, a cluster of cabins at the edge of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. After lunch at the hotel’s restaurant, visit Balamku, a small archaeological site just northwest of Conhuas, to see one of the best-preserved Mayan friezes. Time and energy permitting, use the remainder of the day to explore the ruins of Becán, where covered passageways and a tight urban layout give the rare sense of what Mayan daily life was like, and nearby Chicanná, famous for its ornate façades.

campeche by carA drive is the best way to see the range of natural and cultural riches in this Gulf of Mexico state

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Day 3Wake before dawn to the sound of howler monkeys and drive 90 minutes south through virgin forest to Calakmul, once a rival to Tikal in Guatemala and among the mightiest cities of the classical Mayan world. At the archaeological site, a vast network of pathways winds through the jungle between plazas and soaring pyramids, whose peaks rise like mountains above the canopy. Spend a few hours here before returning, invigorated and exhausted, to your room at Hotel Puerta Calakmul for a siesta. Then, as the sun dips low, drive four and a half miles east to a cave hidden just off the road and watch millions of bats spiral into the evening sky.

Day 4 There are several routes back toward the capital, the most interesting of which passes a half-dozen Mayan sites where you’ll encounter few other visitors. Stop at Xpujil, with its magnificent three-towered temple, before turning north off the main road and cutting through nearly 90 miles of virtually uninterrupted greenery. (If you have a couple of extra days, look into staying at Indigenous villages that are a part of the peninsula’s community-tourism network). The road eventually turns west through the town of Dzibalchen, passing the marvelous ruins at Hochob, whose elaborate geometric carvings are among the finest examples of the Rio Bec architectural style, sometimes dubbed Mayan Baroque. By evening, you’ll arrive at one of the Yucatán’s best hotels, the Hacienda Uayamón, located a short distance outside the capital. Set in a former plantation for henequén, the agave fiber that powered the peninsula’s formidable economic engine until the 20th century, it makes for a refined and peaceful last stop. m.s.

This page: The historic plantation turned hotel Hacienda Uayamón

Opposite, clockwise from top left: An ancient ceiba tree at Hacienda Uayamón; a vibrant scarlet macaw, a common sight in the Yucatán; chile peppers for sale at a market in the capital city Campeche

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an island for all times

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In Crete’s honeyed west, urban creativity coexists with a raw wilderness of rocky ravines and empty coves

By Rachel Howard Photographs by Tom Parker

The white sands of Balos Beach are

accessible only by boat or by foot

for all times

when Marianna Leivadi taki

offered to cook me fish

soup, I knew it would be

good. Marianna is head chef at Morito, the Greco-

Moorish mezze bar in London that is one of my

favorite restaurants. But I didn’t expect to be eating

her silky, briny broth for breakfast in northwestern

Crete on a green bay wedged between granite cliffs.

We had never met before she picked me up earlier

that morning in her brother Antonis’s motorboat.

I squeezed on board beside Antonis’s young son,

Orpheus, whose blond curls floated in the breeze.

We glided past the craggy shoreline, pocked with

caves and coves, until we found the perfect spot.

Antonis tipped a mighty fish he’d caught a few

hours earlier onto a cracked white stone. Marianna

roughly chopped potatoes and tomatoes into a

saucepan and tucked the fish on top. She scraped

some salt from the rocks, tossed it in, and covered

the contents with water and glugs of peppery olive

oil, then lit a gas canister and left the soup to bubble

vigorously under the sun.

“Cretan food is so simple,” she told me. “There

are no recipes or rules, apart from family traditions.

What’s important is to know exactly where your

ingredients come from.” Marianna grew up gutting

fish and waiting tables at her family’s taverna outside

Chania, the surprisingly metropolitan capital of

western Crete. Her father, a fisherman, taught her

how to make kakavia, a fortifying soup eaten after a

long night at work. While we waited for it to cook,

Antonis and Orpheus pried sea urchins and limpets

from the rocks. Knee-deep in the water, we slurped

them from their shells to whet our appetite. “What

I love most about Crete is that you might be here, in

an empty bay, feasting on urchins,” Marianna said.

“Then, half an hour later, you’re up in the mountains

in a different world, with guys in black shirts and big

mustaches talking about hunting and eating game.”

Crete is a vast island of contrasts and contradic-

tions, with a 650-mile coastline that rears up to

misty summits more than 8,000 feet high. The kind-

ness of strangers is what unifies and defines the

island for me. I’ve been coming here since the early

1990s, but I’ll be honest: At first it didn’t rock my boat. The soulless resorts

concentrated on the northeast coast, slapdash cities, and boring motorways were

nothing like the Greek islands of my imagination. The corkscrew roads twisting

through the highlands made me queasy; driving two hours to find an empty bay

felt like too much effort. But that effort brought rich rewards: hospitable locals,

incredible food, powerful landscapes, magnificent beaches for every mood.

Slowly, stealthily, Crete got under my skin. Our relationship deepens every time

I return, and yet the island still feels unknowable, infinite, mysterious.

Crete was only united with mainland Greece in 1913—after a bitter and bloody

independence struggle—and Cretans often refer to their homeland as a continent.

Divided by the snow-flecked White Mountains, the Chania prefecture, which

covers the western quarter, is a different destination at every turn. The legacy of

Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman rule ripples through the fortified city

of Chania, but there’s a contemporary edge to this spirited town of merchants and

students. Over the past decade, a new generation of ambitious islanders have

returned to their roots after studying and working abroad to refresh tired family

businesses, renovate historic properties, and set up sustainably minded ventures.

Ceramic artist Alexandra Manousakis left a marketing career in Manhattan to

take over Manousakis Winery with her Swedish-Iranian sommelier husband,

Afshin Molavi, who co-owns the phenomenally popular Salis restaurant on the

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Clockwise from left: A guest room at Metohi Kindelis; Chania’s old Venetian harbor; gathering sea urchins; Danai Kindeli, owner of the organic farm and hotel Metohi Kindelis

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In this lonely wilderness you feel the visceral pulse of nature—rasping cicadas, circling eagles, chanting bees

The Lefka Ori, or White Mountains, of western Crete, named for the color of the limestone that forms them

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harbor front. Stylish environmentalist Danai Kindeli returned from Madrid to

help her uncle Manolis run Metohi Kindelis, a 400-year-old organic farm and

guesthouse. And curator Sofia Mavroudis and artist Antonis Houladakis have

built two raw-concrete cabins in the middle of his family’s ancestral olive groves

that offer a refreshingly modern immersion into the wilderness.

eyond the urban chatter of Chania, hillside villages, pink sands,

and stands of silver olive trees give way to sudden ravines

and soaring peaks. In his novel Zorba the Greek, Cretan

literary giant Nikos Kazantzakis compared the country-

side to “good prose, carefully ordered. It said what it

had to say with a manly austerity. But between the

severe lines one could discern an unexpected sensitive-

ness and tenderness; in the sheltered hollows the lemon

and orange trees perfumed the air, and from the vastness

of the sea emanated an inexhaustible poetry.”

This chafing of rugged machismo and soulful sensibility is

embodied in Kazantzakis’s antihero—an archetypal Cretan, with a defiant,

devil-may-care attitude and an insatiable appetite for life. In many ways, the land-

scapes and people of western Crete are just as Kazantzakis described them:

immense, intense, exhilarating. But you need on-the-ground intel to cut through

the noise. My go-to is Nikos Tsepetis, the owner of Ammos, a feel-good hotel on

Chania’s sandy fringes filled with contemporary art and design. An irreverent

perfectionist, he embodies a generosity of spirit that is as essential to the local

identity as olive oil and tsikoudia, a fiery eau-de-vie-like brandy locals down at

every opportunity. You don’t say no to a Cretan, and you definitely don’t say no to

Nikos. When he tells you a place is worth visiting, you don’t ask any questions.

You just hop in the car and go.

On this trip, Nikos dispatched me to Polirinia, an ancient citadel, surrounded

by silent valleys and ridges, that has collapsed into the earth. His friend Manousos

Chalkiadakis, a ceramic artist with wise hands and gentle eyes, cooked me the

most delicious take on eggs and potatoes at his 17th-century home (the secret:

Fry both in olive oil). We hiked from Meskla to Zourva, through a miniature

canyon and forests vibrating with birdsong—far less strenuous than the famous

Samaria gorge, with not a soul in sight. At Kedrodasos—less crowded than the

shallow lagoons of Balos and Elafonisi—I floated in the fluorescent sea and

snoozed in the shade of a twisted juniper tree. “If California were an island, it

would be Crete,” Nikos declared as we shared battered and fried zucchini,

blush-pink tarama, and a little too much rosé on the seaside terrace at Ammos.

“Both have sprawling, imperfect cities, a beautiful coastline, amazing food, and

great hikes. And you need a car to explore the mountains, which is where you’ll

find the soul.”

In these highlands, road signs are pockmarked with bullets, and heavily armed

statues of revolutionary heroes dominate village squares where whiskery men in

black monitor passing vehicles with a flick of their cigarette or a flip of their worry

beads. The toughest natives are from Sfakia, a hardscrabble mass of peaks cracked

by deep gorges that lead to electric-blue bays. Until the islanders laid the hairpin

roads, stone by stubborn stone, this isolated region was a perfect refuge for bandits,

b

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rustlers, and resistance fighters. All of the independence struggles began here.

“The locals always had an enemy, whether they were Venetians, Turks, Germans,

or Greek royalty. If there was nobody else to fight, they turned on each other,”

confided Maria Mylonaki, the supremely competent founder of Crete travel

specialist Diktynna, as we drove deeper into the White Mountains. Vendettas are

still rampant in this unforgiving terrain. An argument over a goat bell was enough

to spark a bloody feud in Aradena in the 1950s. After seven people were killed, the

remaining residents fled. The village is a beautiful, melancholy relic teetering

above the forbidding gorge. Disembodied saints stare from the faded frescoes of

the 14th-century church.

In this lonely wilderness you feel the visceral pulse of nature—rasping cicadas,

circling eagles, chanting bees. But the only human presence was a pair of tiny

figures walking along the rocky bed of the gorge below. Several hours later, I feasted

on slow-roasted lamb, freshly churned goat cheese, and puffy little doughnuts

drenched in thyme honey at Chrisostomos, a heavenly taverna on a headland

jutting into the Libyan Sea. Gazing at the horizon, I recalled the narrator’s words in

Zorba the Greek: “I’m all right here. May this minute last for years.”

Above: Renata Leitão and Alexis Aplada, owners of the Chania bistro Ginger Concept

Right: A lush corner in Chania T

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TRIP PLANNER> where to STAYAmmos Like jazz improv, the elements of this seaside hotel come together in wonder-fully clashing harmony: uplifting interiors, great food, punchy cocktails—and good-natured staffers who don’t flinch when a toddler smears tomato sauce on one of the designer chairs—all delivered with a dash of humor and genuine Cretan hospitality. Rooms from about $150; ammos hotel.com

Metohi Kindelis Stories of Venetian dukes and Ottoman pashas rustle in the avocado and mango trees of this magnificent 17th-century estate on the out-skirts of Chania. Behind the rose-pink

walls there’s an organic farm, a family home, and three self-contained guest-houses. Each has a private pool, a garden, and a dining terrace for sampling home-grown produce and delicacies that are replenished daily—figs, persimmons, lychees, and straw-berries; nutty graviera cheese; and smoky heather honey. Guesthouses from about $235 for up to four; metohi-kindelis.gr

Cabanon Concrete Retreat Two tiny cabins with glass façades peep out of a silver haze of olive groves. Midcentury furniture, raw-concrete walls, and a modular, minimal living space with maximum comfort pay homage to Le Corbusier’s ideal of Mediterranean balance. It’s a proper immersion in nature for those with a sharp eye for modern design. Cabins from about $110 for two; cabanonconcrete retreat.com →

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> the best tables in chaniaEvgonia Nektarios Chalaka-tevakis and his wife, Sofia, run the best taverna in town. Order fish and chips, Cretan-style: whole grilled cod, french fries crisped up in olive oil, and the colorful house salad. Set in a resi-dential neighborhood, the restaurant is where the locals eat—for a fraction of what you’d pay on the waterfront. Dinner for two, about $50

Salis This harborside restaurant pulls off a tricky balancing act, combining a distinct sense of place with an of-the-moment vibe. Sommelier turned chef Afshin Molavi’s seasonal menu offers reimag-ined Greek standards (taramosalata blended with avocado and topped with bottarga crumbs) and avant-garde flourishes (tuna belly with burnt-grape molasses and pickled watermelon rind). An exceptional wine list invites slow drinking alongside the parade of sharing plates. Dinner for two, about $55; salischania.com

Ginger Concept For brunch, an early-evening spritz, or a relaxed dinner date, this Bali-inspired bistro on a pedestrian alley in the Splantzia quarter hits the mark. There’s nothing tradi-tional about the pick-and-mix menu (tuna tartare, chicken and mozzarella coxinha croquettes, burrata with toasted almonds and asparagus) or the interior (rattan armchairs, retro tiles, Amazonian head-dresses). Be careful with your cocktail consumption or you’ll leave with a Ghanaian basket full of caftans from the on-site store. Renata Leitão, the glamorous Brazilian owner, is also behind Just Brazil, the best bou-tique in town. Dinner for two, about $60; gingerconcept.gr

Periplous Fresh seafood and pasta are prepared with finesse at this smart new restaurant, which is helping lead the revival of Tabakaria, a district of crumbling leather tanneries on the out-skirts of town. Dinner for two, about $70; periplousrestaurant.gr

Clockwise from above: The seaside restaurant Thalassino Ageri, in Chania’s Tabakaria district; hanging herbs and produce; mezze at the harbor-front restaurant Salis

TRIP PLANNER

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> off-the-grid KITCHENSEmilia’s A winding drive up to the high-altitude hamlet of Zourva, in the foothills of the White Mountains, leads to this lovely lunch spot with panoramic views. It serves hearty hunter’s fare: braised goat, fried eggs in a puddle of staka (clarified sheep’s-milk butter), and maratho-pita, a wild-fennel pie that’s more like an anise-flavored pancake—a perfect foil for ice-cold shots of tsikoudia. Lunch for two, about $25

Acropolis At this flower-filled shack wedged into the walls of ancient Polirinia, up in the olive-green hills of Kissamos, Vasiliki Sfakianaki and her daughter turn out humble classics while the sheep-rearing patriarch, Yannis, delivers a running commentary on Greek politics. Try dakos (grated tomato, capers, olives, and a fluffy cloud of goat cheese piled onto brittle barley rusk), boureki (a baked stack of minty zucchini, potatoes, and cheese), and stamnagathi, bitter greens dressed in bright olive oil. Simple but sublime. Dinner for two, about $30

Milia Crete’s first eco-lodge has been around since 1994, long before “farm to fork” became a popular expression. Everything served at this mountain retreat (once seasonal lodging for chestnut farmers) is organic, with familiar ingredi-ents providing surprisingly sophisti-cated flavors: There’s beef brisket in a Greek- coffee crust, squash blossoms filled with bulgur and cheese, and snails with vinegar, rose-mary, and bee pollen.

For dessert, order the satisfyingly sticky goat’s-milk ice cream. Dinner for two, about $45; milia.gr

O Dris Kostas Boundourakis’s kafenion in the scrappy village of Maza, in the White Mountains, is one of those insider secrets you can hardly bear to share. There’s no menu, just a few dishes of the day to be savored beneath the sprawling bougainvil-lea. In the evening, Kostas grills pork chops on a barbecue in the square, fragrant smoke wafting over the 13th-century chapel of Saint Nicholas. Always, always get the Greek salad. Prices vary

Chrisostomos Accessible only by boat or by foot, this taverna (also known by the name Dialiskari) sits on a thatched terrace above a tur-quoise cove. Waiters bring dish after deli-cious dish: lamb that falls off the bone, roast potatoes, and eggplant with a feta crust, all slow-cooked in a wood-fired oven. Finish with sfakiani pita, bubbly dough stuffed with cheese and drizzled with honey. Dinner for two, about $35 r.h.

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I went to Japan for the first time, in 2017, to visit my sister and her husband, who

were trying to have their first child. My sister had heard about the Hōnen Matsuri,

a fertility festival that happens every year on March 15 in the town of Komaki,

northeast of Kyoto, from a friend of hers, and she jokingly mentioned that maybe this would help

them have a kid. She had the day off, and it sounded interesting, so we took the train north from

Nagoya to attend. It’s a really nice ride: You go past these beautiful green plains, and every once

in a while, you would see women in kimonos getting on and off. Then you finally find yourself in

this little town, which is very simple. As you walk toward the festival area, there are stalls of food

and shops selling souvenirs—but when you look closely, you see that everything, from key chains

to desserts, is penis shaped. It’s like a little Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: a dozen men in

traditional uniforms carry this large, elaborately decorated wooden phallus, which is probably six

feet long and weighs 600 pounds, around on their shoulders while a huge crowd of people

watches. Luckily, I was perched on top of a rock and had a panoramic view of everything. Before

the men took a left toward the shrine, they turned this massive thing around all together and

started yelling and chanting, and the crowd just went crazy. Afterward, they carried the wooden

penis toward the shrine, where people lined up to say a prayer or make a wish. The great thing

about the festival is that it’s for everyone; kids and grandparents were there, too, because it’s also

to celebrate prosperity within the family. It was definitely surprising, but something about

it being in Japan, and the spirit of it all, made it so beautiful. About a week after I got back to

Los Angeles, I found out that my sister was pregnant. Maybe it’s purely coincidence, but I’d like

to think that the festival had something to do with it.” as told to betsy blumenthal

manny jacinto stars in the limited series nine perfect strangers, now streaming on hulu and amazon prime video.

japan

Actor MANNY JACINTO on


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