Katie Treharne

Paris to Berlin isn’t fashionable anymore. Instead, Manila to Bicol is trending for luxury travellers. On the Philippines’ largest island, Luzon, steamed crab, coconut and taro leaves are the new bouillabaisse. Catwalks come in the form of white-sand runways overseen by white-coated waiters. Traditional bangka boats and catamarans sweep eagle-eyed visitors from island resorts to empty palm-fringed islands with bright-eyed coral reefs. Just like the notorious halo-halo dessert medley of the Ph...

Paris to Berlin isn’t fashionable anymore. Instead, Manila to Bicol is trending for luxury travellers. On the Philippines’ largest island, Luzon, steamed crab, coconut and taro leaves are the new bouillabaisse. Catwalks come in the form of white-sand runways overseen by white-coated waiters. Traditional bangka boats and catamarans sweep eagle-eyed visitors from island resorts to empty palm-fringed islands with bright-eyed coral reefs. Just like the notorious halo-halo dessert medley of the Ph...

The Ungasan is an ivory tower in the art of lofty living. Cut out of the southern Balinese jungle, pointed bamboo-coconut thatched roofs and crisp infinity pools linger on the outermost contours of Uluwatu’s limestone cliffs. They bid a final goodbye kiss before the deep plunge down to the speckled Indian Ocean, which grazes the southernmost shore of Bali’s bushy-green Bukit Peninsula. None of the five senses are forsaken at The Ungasan, one of the Uluwatu’s most exclusive turfs, where the vi...

Romania is no stranger to a bewitching potion. For centuries, uncles, cousins, and fathers-in-law have laboured over pots of boiling țuică in rural homemade plum sheds, contesting whose traditional Romanian spirit delivers the most fire. North of Bucharest, within cobbled Transylvanian towns like Brașov and Sinaia and at ski resorts cradled by the forested slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, Hutsul specialties like cast-iron-cooked banush and cornflour loaf are washed down by pints of apple-t...

Stepping into the Ametis Villa compound feels like descending into a hot lotus soak or returning to the arms of a long-missed lover. Palatial pakarangan-style villas with open-air courtyards and private pools reside in a discreet compound in the knotted concrete streets of Canggu. Along a balmy boardwalk shouldered by ferns, vines, and palm seedlings, a string of tall wooden gates conceal the compound’s 14 exclusive private luxury lifestyle villas, where pagoda-like living spaces and satin sw...

Playful Berlin knows how to toy with its out-of-towners. Zesty bars and underground clubs have gained Germany’s capital a reputation as Europe’s spunky younger child. A pacesetter for fashion, film, and culture in general, the city doesn’t just talk the talk, but walks the walk, with luxe cinemas, catwalks, art galleries, museums, and live music venues being as staple an ingredient in Berlin’s makeup as its currywurst and champagne.
Simultaneously, the city has endured through revolution, Naz...

Hakuna matata, move aside as, for centuries, ‘bahala na’ has been the prevailing jingle in the Philippines. Meaning ‘come what may,’ the Tagalog phrase is ever-present in the archipelago’s many island resorts, where idle hours are of primary concern and tended to by beachfront bars, infinity pools, and private villas enclosed by bamboo palms, anahaw leaves, and giant taro. It peeks through the grin of a debonair Manila waiter as he nimbly delivers tilmok and crab bound...

This is cornucopian-style luxury: lofty tea plantations, fertile backwaters and lavish jungle. When it comes to luxury Kerala holidays, the hill stations sown with tea plantations and canals and the lagoons strewn with water hyacinths are merely the hors d’oeuvre. Luxury in Kerala isn’t limited to its natural canapé, although it is certainly an ambrosial ingredient in a typical Kerala soiree. India’s southernmost state has a sharp sense of what’s haute and what’s not. The entrée might just be...

Goodbye houseboats, and hello luxury. Kerala is loaded with small luxuries, such as karimeen fish roasted in banana leaf and then smeared with turmeric and other Keralite spices; backwaters balancing bushy water hyacinths alongside coir-woven houseboats; and mountain slopes coloured-in green with tea plantations and slender silver oaks.

When it comes to luxury journeys through Kerala’s backwaters and the misty Western Ghats, however, it’s time to tell the state’s teak and bamboo kettuvallam f...

What springs to mind when you think of a traditional bistro in Paris? Perhaps it’s a quick espresso and a copy of Le Parisien, or a simple baguette and French onion soup. If you’re feeling lucky, a steak tartare. It certainly wouldn’t be the velvet folds of a parmesan risotto with crisp crepes, or perky cubed beetroot and streaks of aubergine on gold-rimmed ceramics. Neither, would you find casseroles that steam the eyes, crossed with plump pork Milanese or scampi risotto. Spooned between a v...

If you’re not checking in your baggage, a lot weighs on choosing the best carry-on luggage. Unlike check-in bags, carry-on luggage directly accompanies you across the airport, onto the plane, and into your new destination.
As a result, check-in luggage must be robust enough to withstand any blows, knocks and rattling it may encounter from the airport to the overhead compartment. At the same time, it needs to be light, easy to maneuver and spacious enough to fit all your non-negotiable holiday...

Arming yourself with the best hard shell luggage should be your first priority if you want to properly protect your belongings on getaways. Compared to soft shell luggage, hard shell suitcases are far superior at deflecting knocks and blows. They also last longer, as the solid shell can handle more wear and tear.
Investing in high-quality hard shell luggage is one of the best ways of guaranteeing that your luggage will make it through any trip unscathed. However, not all hard shell suitcases ...

Correctly selecting the best luggage sets the foundation for your trip, whether you’re traveling for work, jetting off on an annual getaway or taking a longer sabbatical. Not only does high-quality luggage help you to pack and unpack efficiently, but it also helps you to get from A to B without any unnecessary bumps in the road, like damage or difficulty maneuvering.
Mattis Oppermann, a Swedish designer and the co-founder of the Carl Friedrik luggage brand, notes that the key to choosing the ...

These are chambers turned into nests of nature. Scarred driftwood, shaven pebbles and corkscrew pinecones have been lifted from the groves and dunes of the central Portuguese shore and planted into rooms galvanised by the seacoast. A mingling between nature and luxury, the concrete and glass-bound front of this hotel gives way to a futuristic design that might have been plucked from a 21st-century dystopian novel; plump tree trunks flank the route to the citadel-tall glass doorway.

I stood at the epicenter of India’s only Latin Quarter, Fontainhas in Goa, surrounded by a palette of purple, orange, red and blue painted houses topped with ornamental roosters and terracotta tiles.
Latin Quarter, Fontainhas in Goa
Boarded windows painted with Christian art were garnished with petals and pots of tulips, a shrine to the quarter’s Catholic roots.
Past the traditional Portuguese taverns and the sweet scent of coconut and cinnamon-infused deserts from the confeitarias, I recogni...