Sixteen places
Destinations
The coasts, islands and cities where the office works most, with the honest month to go, what a week costs and what we arrange there.
Bars show the honest months, from off season to best. The season compass ranks all sixteen for any month.
Côte d’Azur
Monaco & Cap Ferrat
Two square kilometres that run on precision. The best base on the coast for a yacht, a race weekend or a season of dinners, with Cap Ferrat next door for the quiet.
Var
Saint-Tropez
A fishing village with a harbour full of the wrong boats and the best beach in France ten minutes south. Loud in August, perfect in June and September.
Côte d’Azur
Cannes & Cap d’Antibes
Cannes for the Croisette, the festivals and the Îles de Lérins; Antibes for the cape, the old town and the biggest yacht harbour in Europe. Ten minutes apart, entirely different.
Liguria
Portofino & the Ligurian coast
A harbour the size of a courtyard, houses in six shades of ochre, and a national park of pine and cliff behind it. Best by boat, best before July.
Campania
Amalfi Coast & Capri
Positano stacked on its cliff, Ravello in its gardens, Capri two miles offshore. The most dramatic coast in Europe, and one where a boat is not a luxury but the only sensible way to move.
Sardinia
Costa Smeralda, Sardinia
Fifty kilometres of pink granite, white sand and the clearest water in the Mediterranean, built for boats and for the two months a year when the whole of Milan arrives.
Lombardy
Lake Como
Villas with boathouses, gardens that go down to the water, mountains on both sides and Milan an hour away. The lake is for spring and autumn, when the light is soft and the ferries half empty.
Balearic Islands
Ibiza & Formentera
Ibiza for the north coast fincas, the sunsets and the clubs when you want them; Formentera for the water, which is the Caribbean forty minutes from the Balearics.
Balearic Islands
Mallorca
The Tramuntana mountains, the south-west coves, Palma’s old town and the best road cycling in Europe, on an island large enough to avoid the parts you do not like.
Costa del Sol
Marbella & Sotogrande
Golf, polo, a Moorish old town, the Sierra Blanca behind and Africa on the horizon. The winter coast of Europe, and one of the few places a villa makes sense in February.
Cyclades
Mykonos & the Cyclades
Mykonos for the beaches and the night, Paros and Antiparos for the calm, Santorini for the view once. The islands are a sailing ground first, and July and August belong to the wind.
Southern Adriatic
Dubrovnik & Montenegro
Dubrovnik’s walls, the islands of the Elaphiti, and across the border the Bay of Kotor, the only fjord in the Mediterranean, with a marina built for the largest yachts in the world.
United Arab Emirates
Dubai & Abu Dhabi
From November to March the best weather in the world, the best hotels in the world and a desert an hour away. A city that does exactly what you ask, at any hour.
Indian Ocean
The Maldives
Twelve hundred islands and a hundred and seventy resorts, of which perhaps fifteen matter. The best water on earth, a seaplane to get there, and a week that costs what it costs.
Indian Ocean
Seychelles & Mauritius
The Seychelles for the beaches, which are the most beautiful anywhere, and for private islands; Mauritius for the hotels, the golf and a real country behind the beach.
French West Indies
St Barths
Twenty-five square kilometres of hills, coves and villas, a harbour full of the largest yachts in the world at New Year, and the best restaurants in the Caribbean by a distance.
A fortnight free?
Say when. We say where.
A first answer within the hour, a full proposal within 48 hours.
The Sunday note
One short letter a week, on a Sunday
What has just come onto the market, which coast is in season, one tool worth trying. No offers, no forwarding, unsubscribe in one click.