classe touriste

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…)

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.

Does the real Italian deal still exist? Si, si! You just need to pack your bags and head to the direction of unknown and Mafia reputated West-Sicily to board an aliscafo that will whisk you away from one charming island to another. Welcome to the Isole Egadi, three minuscule freckles in the sun-tanned face of the South of Italy. So far, only local Italians who fill up the island in July and August have discovered these three Mediterranean pearls. (more…)

During one of our recent visits to Copenhagen, we had the pleasure to dine at Paustian, one of the toprestaurants in the city. Chef Bo Bech has his ways and, more importantly, has also a clear vision of how food should taste. We were happy to read that he got nominated by Food & Wine as one of the twenty rising stars for 2009. Restaurant Paustian is really a must-try if yo visit Copenhagen and as F&W puts is cleverly “an excellent example of the New Nordic Cuisine.” If you want to know how it is like to eat at Paustian, check out this wonderful movie.

Board now the most stylish, ultraslik boat in the world. Maybe you don’t have the cash you buy one of these handcrafted and tailor-made beauties, but for a modest 5000 euro a week, you can rent a Wally in the Med. It’s a hard choice between the Wally B, the Wally Dark Shadow or the Wally Tango. Recently the fashion house Hermès has recently acquired 10% of the Wally Group. This will only contribute to the pure and stylish look of those floating, minimalistic silhouettes.

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“I am a sheep in wolf’s clothes”, says Vesa Junttila, artist, car lover and quaint habitue who hangs around in Panimo Bar in Saariselkä, a small, snow-covered village in Finish Lapland. Besides skiing or sledging trough empty ice-landscapes, people travel here to dig gold and trade them in Panimo bar for beer, food and even lodging. Even the guys at Morgan Stanley think it’s great. Now, do I still hear someone complaining about not travelling because of recession? Just find some gold in the rivers of Finish Lapland and enjoy the Sami hospitality until you run out of gold. When you do, just dig some more. Dig it?

Classe Touriste goes globelicious. Ever dreamed of travelling around the world? Almost no limits, no frontiers. Just one ticket. It’s easy as 1,2,3. Book a round the world ticket with oneworld and fly, just like me, to anywhere you want. Our RTW trip will take us to Finish Lapland, Helsinki, Miami, Cayman Islands, Mexico City, Riviera Maya, Vancouver, Whistler, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Taipei, Manila en some lost island in the Philippines. (more…)

Although The Faroe Islands (belonging to Denmark but located between Norway and Iceland) are trying hard to be the new Reykjavik, it seems like time passed this archipelo, floating in the Atlantic, by. Eighteen green islands with only 50.000 inhabitants and the double amount of sheep. (more…)