The fabulous travel writer Gisela Williams came for the New York Times to Antwerp and checked-out the fashion scene in this compact and low-key Belgian city. Classe Touriste joined her on her exploration and shot the best and most interesting places, shops and people for the NYT Travel pages. Read and see the result here, where Gisela takes you along her favorite stops and sights.
Classe Touriste is a contributor to the Travel Top 100 from the excellent Gourmet Traveller magazine in Australia. We selected Lyngen Lodge in Norway for skiing down pristine fjord mountains and with the Northern Lights as après-ski entertainment. Another winner at number 60 is the sparkly Diamond First Class from Etihad Airways, one of our ultimate favourites in the air. Flying First with Etihad Airways makes long haul flying fun and not only because of the excellent food and 10-year-old Bollinger champagne. If you go cruising to Antarctica, why not skip the feared Drake Passage and fly from Chile to Antarctica to expedition along the highlights, minus the rough seas. At number 11, find Antarctica XXI that makes this all possible. We also voted for First Luggage, the UK based luggage service, which makes light travel possible by delivering your suitcases to the hotel. You can read all about the best in travel for 2011 in Gourmet Traveller. Bonne voyage!
Barely eighty years ago Spitsbergen was the Arctic end of Europe where only the polar bear reigned supreme. A century later, he shares his icy empire with a town of seasoned Norwegians and the rare tourist who ventures this far north. The Svalbard archipelago, of which the largest island is Spitsbergen, lies midway between Norway and the North Pole. Any traveller looking for Arctic sensations will easily find them here (just one comfortable SAS flight away from Oslo or Tromsø). Everyone reaches 74° north, but you have to be a bit more intrepid to reach 81° latitude. (more…)
Why stay in a small hotel room when you can have a spacious, serviced apartment or loft for the same price? Stay is a brand new hotel concept located on the Island Brygge, a fast developing residential area, just a five minutes drive from the centre of Copenhagen. And one a stone’s throw from the buzzy meat packing district. Stay offers a total of 193 apartments with 15 different layouts, ranging from a one bedroom 90 m2 to an Atelier XL of almost 150 m2. The design is Scandinavian minimalism with furniture from quality Danish brands. (more…)
So you are bored of skiing in the Alps? Tired of pistes that are black of thousands kamikaze skiers populating them? You long for virgin snow and wild sceneries? Look no further than 70° North, where you can ski from summit to sea. All it takes is to book a room in the extremely cosy Lyngen Lodge owned by the Englishman Graham Austick and his Norwegian partner. Graham invites his guests to climb 1500-meter high mountains so they can ski down in extremely fluffy and pure snow. (more…)
Voted as the happiest place in the world, Vanuatu might be the Pacific’s best-kept secret. Here, the ocean is blue, the beaches are white and empty and the smiles of the Ni-Van are big and plentiful. The greatest plus of these 83 islands that make up Vanuatu is that it offers a mix of comfortable to even luxury lodging and an authentic and fascinating culture. After climbing active volcanoes or visiting custom villages it’s time for extreme relaxation in one of the luxury resorts. (more…)
Life can be sweet, especially if you live in Antwerp and you swing by restaurant Het Gebaar owned by top-patissier Roger Van Damme. To set the mood, the restaurant looks like a gingerbread house found in the small botanical garden in the city centre of Antwerp. Van Damme takes deserts and sweet dishes to a new level and got rewarded for this with a first Michelin star in November 2010. This young chef has also a soft spot for Japan. It all began when he first visited Tokyo for a culinary get-together with ex-El Bulli chefs from around the world. Tokyoites can savour Van Damme’s creations in the Four Seasons Marunouchi in Ginza or buy his cakes at the Takase Bussan department stores in Japan. When in Antwerp, try his sweet version of tempura of orange while sipping from a glass of excellent wine. In the end, it’s all about living the sweet life, isn’t it.
Pack your bags (not more than 20 kg please and no Manolo or Gucci needed anyway), hop on a plane for half a day and embark on a trip of a lifetime. Final destination is Botswana where the mighty lions roar louder, the safari camps are more comfy and the views are more va va voom. If you need a helping hand to select one or two camps out of the numerous luxury options, then follow our advice and be a happy camper. (more…)
What is the result when an Asian country tries to manage the tourism industry by charging a fair amount of entry tax to the adventurous traveller? Plus when it wants to keep far away from the madding backpacking crowds? Take 20.000 visitors a year and mix it with a 100% Buddhist population in a landlocked country with dreamy landscapes that will tantalize every serious travelista. Ok, you have to have a certain budget to get in. But who wouldn’t pay a bit more for a destination where the happiest people in the world live, where chilli peppers are eaten as a vegetable rather than a spice and where the beer, called Red Panda, is devilish tasty? (more…)
Ask Classe Touriste what the best trip in 2009 was? Easy. It’s DPRK, aka North Korea, aka the most secret and closed country in the world. Not really politically correct, we hear you saying? Well, for once we didn’t think about politics and just booked our flights to Pyong Yang. Yes, it’s true; you can travel as a real tourist to this rather unknown country thanks to the professional assistance of Koryo Tours. This English tour operator imports already more than 14 years curious travellers into North Korea. (more…)
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