The Hotel Britomart’s convenient CBD location means that nowhere is more than a stroll away, so we spend the rest of our Saturday exploring, taking the lift up to the 60th floor of the Sky Tower for standout views over Auckland, and later taking in an Angus and Julia Stone concert at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre.
As somebody who travels regularly for work, possibly the hardest element of it is finding good care for my three sausage dogs, Mum Cinnamon and her two daughters, Chilli and Nutmeg.
Sprawling across a hillside, high above Dulikhel, on the eastern fringes of the Kathmandu Valley, the resort extends over 10 hectares and is instilled with exactly the sort of tranquility you’d hope for in a wellness retreat.
Built around huge sunlit courtyards to emulate a palace from the 15th-17th centuries, the hotel is so full of intricately carved doorways, window frames and red brick/terracotta facades that, as I have an al fresco breakfast from Torun restaurant (named after a medieval door at the core of the property), it makes me feel as if I am enveloped in heritage.
The Radisson Collection Bilbao’s elegant interior design is full of marble, natural stone and wood, and its palette of colours leans on earth tones complemented with gold and blue hues, intended to reflect the glow of the city’s the river estuary.
It is more than 11 years since we last set foot in the Majestic Hotel, on the outskirts of Santorini’s capital Fira, but I mean it in a good way when I say that little has changed. My daughters may have grown from toddlers to teenagers (seemingly overnight) but the same high standards and bright, luxurious complex that I remember from 2012 remain front and centre at the Majestic.
A stay at the Nefeles Luxury Suites is what Santorini dreams are made of. With its nine cave suites, ingeniously hewn out of the cliffside, directly opposite the caldera that makes this Greek island so distinctive, in the capital Fira, just staying in and feasting on the view is enough to make guests feel very special.
Our three night stay at the Katharos Villas, at the edge of Oia, on beautiful Santorini, begins perfectly.
