As an alternative of Mykonos… Bodrum

Flight time: 4hrs 5min

Again within the ’70s, Bodrum had a repute for louche, jet-set glamour to rival that of St Tropez (famous bon vivant Princess Margaret was an everyday, ditto Mick Jagger), however the resort’s profile light considerably over the many years as its Mediterranean counterparts hogged the limelight. Now that it’s firmly again on the high of journey wishlists, anybody visiting for the primary time this summer season ought to put together to seek out themselves questioning why Bodrum – with its dreamy mixture of tranquil coves, chic börek and vibey seashore golf equipment – ever fell off the radar within the first place.

Skip the often gaudy properties that line the lushly forested hillside, and head on to the mercifully minimalist haven that’s Amanruya. The title means “peaceable dream”, and it may no more aptly describe this heavenly spot, residence to only 36 suites, every one with its personal pool. Moderately than rooms, the suites are free-standing pavilions, laid out to resemble a standard village. The intelligent design creates the sense that you just’re not in a lodge in any respect, slightly your individual impossibly zen Turkish escape – full with pine-scented non-public backyard and views of the Aegean.

You would simply whereas away a complete week right here in your private hideaway, doing all your finest impression of an Ottoman sultan whereas lolling on the decadent-feeling day mattress; or lingering over an al fresco breakfast of eggs Menemen with a candy chaser of contemporary honeycomb and clotted cream; or strolling down the trail to Amanruya’s impossibly fairly seashore membership, nestled between the forest and the pebble shore (the property is surrounded by nice climbing trails), for a day of mezze and margaritas. There, a picturesque jetty stretches out into water each bit as pellucid as that lapping the Cyclades. Dotted with plush loungers by day, it morphs into essentially the most romantic dinner spot because the solar goes down.

For those who do summon the desire to depart the resort, Yalikavak Marina is the place you’ll discover the designer boutiques and ritzy eating places, together with outposts of the steakhouse Nusr-Et (brainchild of the notorious Saltbae) and Novikov. We want the extra lo-fi however full of life Bodrum Marina, the place rowdy conventional seafood and mezze spots line the water (Vogue photographer Mert Alas has been noticed eating right here with buddies Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell – native detox retreat The LifeCo is one thing of a supermodel favorite). Elsewhere, the charmingly quirky Limon in Gümüşlük is the place to go for a cocktail with a wonderful sundown view.

Don’t go residence with out

Choosing up a kilim rug. Etrim village is legendary for producing conventional, hand-knotted Turkish rugs – Amanruya can organise a personal journey to Etrim (a 45-minute drive from the resort), the place you may witness the centuries-old method up shut, and meet the ladies passing the abilities on to a brand new technology.

As an alternative of Marrakech… Tangier

Flight time: 3hrs

A day spent taking within the intense blues of the Jardin Majorelle – such a wealthy supply of inspiration for Yves Saint Laurent – has lengthy been an important a part of any journey to Marrakech, and a museum devoted to the couturier opened to the general public on the finish of 2017. Now, some six hours north of town in Tangier, it’s doable not solely to expertise an equally magical nook of the world he and Pierre Bergé occupied whereas in Morocco, however to really keep in it. Designer Jasper Conran has lovingly reworked the style legends’ former retreat within the port metropolis into Villa Mabrouka, an intimate and secluded 12-room lodge surrounded by enchanting non-public gardens.

Conran, who invited associates together with Kristin Scott Thomas and Ellie Bamber to the opening social gathering final month, has introduced in components of his personal modern style whereas staying devoted to the imaginative and prescient of Saint Laurent and Bergé, who labored with inside designer Jacques Grange on the property many years in the past. Inside, Conran has blended rattan wall panels and zellige tiles with the present Murano chandeliers and black and white marble flooring. Outdoors – along with a roof terrace and a second swimming pool – greater than 6,500 new crops, shrubs and timber have been launched in gardens already heady with the perfume of citrus timber, roses and bougainvillea.

Past the lodge, what Tangier may lack within the form of conventional vacationer sights present in Marrakech, it makes up for in environment. This, in any case, is town that performed host to a few of Twentieth-century literature literature’s most legendary caners – Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac and William S Burroughs amongst them. Spend a day dropping your self within the medina, then make your manner up the steep streets to the kasbah, the very oldest and most cinematic half. First: a pit-stop on the 80-year-old Café Baba for a mint tea (or one thing… stronger), which has served the King of Spain but in addition Keith Richards. (Anthony Bourdain acolytes can even recognise its pale blue partitions, fug of smoke and strip lighting from the Tangier episode of his Elements Unknown collection.) Observe it up with a cocktail at El Morocco’s piano bar – it’s what any self-respecting Tangerine (as its expats had been recognized) would have achieved within the metropolis’s Nineteen Fifties heyday.

Don’t go residence with out

Wandering round Fondouk Chejra. You would choose up a woven scarf or conventional pair of Moroccan slippers in any other case destined for a Paris boutique at this market.

As an alternative of Sicily… Pantelleria

Flight time: 3hrs (to Sicily, then a ferry to Pantelleria)

Who didn’t Google flights to Sicily after bingeing The White Lotus, visions of recreating Harper and Daphne’s Noto jaunt, or Tanya’s Monica Vitti-inspired Vespa experience (if not her ill-fated boat journey from Palermo) floating by way of their thoughts? However an HBO monster hit – even one which options murderous “high-end gays” – means crowds, so contemplate extending your journey slightly additional, to Pantelleria. This tiny speck of a volcanic island off Sicily’s western tip has rugged, wild magnificence in spades, and little hint of the tourism that’s booming in Taormina.

Moderately than palatial resorts, luxurious on Pantelleria seems to be like its conventional dammusi (the dammuso is to Pantelleria what the trullo is to Puglia), the squat, stone buildings that pre-date the Arab conquest of the island and are being restored in spectacular style. (Giorgio Armani, who has been summering on Pantelleria because the early ’80s, reworked a patch of land that was residence to 2 deserted dammusi right into a retreat match for a style king.)

On the Tenuta Borgia property, you may expertise Italy at its most Luca Guadagnino-level attractive. The proof? It was the setting for the auteur’s 2015 movie A Greater Splash, which finds Tilda Swinton’s off-duty rock star Marianne floating round Pantelleria in seems to be masterminded by Raf Simons (then artistic director at Dior), and impressed by Ingrid Bergman in A Journey to Italy. There’s a dearth of sandy seashores on this rocky, rugged isle, so do your finest Dakota Johnson impression lounging by that immediately recognisable Majolica-tiled swimming pool, then head to Scauri, the traditional port, for contemporary pizza from Panificio Marrone Francesco. Elsewhere Themà, the restaurant on the island’s luxe Sikelia retreat, has notably spectacular sundown views.

Don’t go residence with out

A DIY thermal mud therapy at Specchio di Venere. The water on this volcanic lake – the title of which interprets to Mirror of Venus – is sort of a heat tub, to not point out wealthy in sulphur, minerals and vitamins.