THE DRIVE SOUTH THROUGH NORMANDY was familiar. Or at least it would have been if not for the thunderclaps and warm sideways rain. While we waited at a rest stop for the weather to ease up, my husband, Andrew, and I showed our sons, ages two and five, pictures from the last trip we took abroad together before they were born, when we traveled on the same road through western France. We'd had a bag of cherries on the center console and the heater going full blast in a rented Morgan convertible. Last year we decided to re-create that journey, punctuated with overnights at some of the grandest chateaus in all the land, this time with our two small chaps.
The author's sons, Kit, two, and Henry, five, in SaintÉmilion; the circular pool at Hotel Château du Grand-Lucé
There's a hidden "Beauty and the Beast" quality to the setting of Hotel Château du Grand-Lucé, our first stop of the trip, in the Loire Valley, about an hour north of Tours. The approach to the 80-acre estate is through a brief, sleepy village, Le GrandLucé, and a locked gate that obscures the sight of the 18th-century limestone mansion inside. As we spilled out, punch-drunk after nine hours in the car, swallows were climbing and diving around the slate roof. The four of us stood there, chins tipped, ensorcelled by the place.
Modern pops in a guest room at Domaine des Etangs Auberge; the grounds of Hotel Château du Grand-Lucé
Denne historien er fra January - February 2025-utgaven av Condé Nast Traveler US.
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Denne historien er fra January - February 2025-utgaven av Condé Nast Traveler US.
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The Brando
THE STORY GOES that actor Marlon Brando first arrived on the 18-isle atoll of Tetiaroa by water-as in, he swam ashore.
Jumeirah Burj AI Arab
IF EVER THERE WAS a hotel that could achieve landmark status, it is Dubai's Jumeirah Burj AI Arab, which stands alone on its own purpose-built island just off Jumeirah Beach.
Blackberry Farm
BLACKBERRY FARM LOOMS in the consciousness of many travelers as an almost mythical Southern sanctuary in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, a place whose storybook perfection has to be experienced to be believed.
Fogo Island Inn
THIS 29-ROOM MODERN CLASSIC in Newfoundland is a model for place-specific hospitality, dreamed up by founder Zita Cobb and built by Shorefast, a nonprofit that supports economic and cultural resilience on the hotel's namesake island and runs artist residencies in four isolated, incredibly photogenic studios.
ALAN CUMMING on CROSSING THE ATLANTIC
I went on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 for the first time in 2011.
high life
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the possibility of an island
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in full bloom
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ALLIN
Fun has never been hard to come by in Las Vegas, but the arrival of pro sports, the Sphere, and lavish new hotels has upped the ante.
Forward March
Across Kenya, community initiatives are protecting the country's wildlife and environment. By Mary Holland
