Since the early 1960s the Italian island of Sardinia has been a popular destination for the international jet set. The beautiful landscape, the clear blue sea, the amazing archeaology (such as the 3,000-year-old megalithic edifices that are the Nuraghi) and the friendly locals are all part of the attraction. The island’s ultra-excluvie hotels are also a major reason for Sardinia’s luxury appeal.
So what are Sardinia’s most posh hotel rooms like? Here’s our peek into the three most expensive. (Rates given are for the high season).
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Japan’s capital city can be a tough place for a cat lovers to live. Small apartments, long work hours and restrictive housing codes make it difficult for Tokyoians (Tokyoites? Tokyoids?) to keep cats at home. No wonder then that the city is seeing an increasing number of cat cafes—lounges where the felineless can drink coffee and find some catisfaction. Tokyo has seven different cat cafes that we know of (and there are probably many more than that). Here’s a look at our three favorite:
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The Villa Pisani maze is the world’s most difficult to solve. Napoleon himself is among those who have been flummoxed by it.
The world “mazerific” is thrown around a lot these days. But we’ve found eight mazes that really are superlative, either for their size, history or quirky features.
Check out our review below . . . and try not to get lost along the way.
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In Paris, a pedicure entails something entirely different than your typical scrub and polish.
Monsieur Ho is to feet as Yves Saint Laurent was to fashion—worshipped by his fans and envied by his rivals as a master of his medium. For the last three decades his name has been passed from one glamorous Parisienne to another as the best pedicurist in town. His most fervent supporter? None other than La Deneuve, France’s most famous and demanding diva.
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The Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino has, arguably, been the most underachieving property in Las Vegas. The hotel has a near-perfect location in the middle of The Strip, a superb theater space and one of Spot Cool Stuff’s favorite Vegas sports books and poker rooms. And yet the hotel has never generated much of a buzz or loyal following. Somehow the property falls into that lost space between being too expensive to be considered for budget accommodations and too bland to be considered luxurious.
The Hotel32 could change that . . sort of . . . maybe.
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So how do you create a three-story bookstore in a cathedral when you can’t drill any holes into the building or attach anything load-bearing to its walls?
Usually a store is just a store. But a few stores are attractions in and of themselves. So it is with these six incredibly cool-looking bookstores. Next you are in Maastricht, Beijing, Porto, Buenos Aires, Paris or Mexico City, add these stores to your list of must-see attractions—even if you don’t plan on buying a book.
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Here’s a potentially money saving tip for your next Southeast Asia trip: Get the cheapest airplane ticket you can to the region (ie Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur) and then separately purchase an onwards ticket to your other regional destination(s) on a low cost carrier.
Southeast Asia is rife with budget airlines operating frequent schedules with decently-reliable service. One-way tickets within the region go for as little as $100, $50 or even less. We once flew from Luang Prabang (Laos) to Hanoi for $28 and have seen domestic flights within Indonesia for $5!
Here’s our rundown of some of Southeast Asia’s budget airlines, subjectively arranged from the most to least useful:
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