Our latest cover story slips into the intoxicating cacophony of Bangkok, between scenic canals, speeding tuk-tuks, and bursting markets, into exceptional hotels and through a prismatic mosaic that defies definition and embraces evolution, upward, inward — at all hours.

Capella Bangkok. Capella Bangkok offers a quiet, contemporary take on riverside luxury. Opened in 2020 with 101 rooms, suites, and villas, the low-slung property steps gently toward the Chao Phraya River with a series of ivory stone terraces and glass-fronted facades framed by lush palms and gardens. Meanwhile, its serene interiors layer pale woods, linen, and bronze accents in a palette of soft taupe and eggshell. Many accommodations open onto private plunge pools or daybeds overlooking the flowing water, its hues undulating with the setting sun. The property’s spirit is one of tranquility and, above all, discretion.

Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok. Set on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok has been a defining presence in the city’s hospitality scene since its 1876 opening. Today, the landmark property (the namesake of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group) comprises more than 300 rooms and suites across several wings, including the historic Authors’ Wing, where white colonnades, teak floors, and rattan furnishings evoke the hotel’s colonial-era roots. Interiors balance polished marble, silk textiles, and soft creams and golds with contemporary Thai accents, while river-facing terraces, lush gardens, and passing longtail boats reinforce its enduring Old World sense of place.

Discover the full feature and more close takes on a wide world in our Spring/Summer 2026 print issue. Order now.

Until traveling to India to visit Ananda in the Himalayas, a globally recognized, holistic wellness retreat set in the foothills of the famous mountain range, I had almost no knowledge whatsoever about Ayurveda or its philosophy toward food. This was one of my primary reasons for going — not only to experience one of the world's most celebrated wellness destinations but also to expand my thinking around how to best take care of myself in middle age. My experience at Ananda would prove paradigm shifting, but my most valuable takeaway, quite literally, was a copy of The Healing Plate, a new cookbook published by the minds behind Ananda.
        For the unfamiliar, Ayurveda is an ancient, holistic Indian system of medicine dating back over 3,000 years. It centers on balancing three fundamental bodily energies, called doshas (vata, pitta, and kapha), through diet, herbal remedies, yoga, massage, and lifestyle practices. Guests at Ananda are paired with a doctor, who helps them identify their primary dosha and creates a bespoke itinerary — including an individually tailored diet — to follow for the entirety of their stay.
        Any fears I might have had about feeling restricted or hungry were quickly allayed by the resort’s cuisine: mostly vegan, incredibly fresh, and always surprising. The Healing Plate brings the entire experience home through recipes (and background information that invites readers to assess their own dosha and adapt their diets accordingly). Predicated on the idea that preparing food is a practice of self-understanding, the book’s more than 100 recipes come with advice on seasonality and daily rhythms, rooted in a zero-waste approach to cooking that can inform every aspect of our lives.
        As chef Diwaker Balodi, Ananda’s director of culinary and food and beverage, explains: "The Ananda kitchen [is] not defined by cuisine alone but by intention. Food here is designed to restore balance, support individual needs, and create lasting change … It is rooted in ancient wisdom, shaped by modern understanding, and delivered with care and precision."
        Care and precision are not words that describe what usually happens when I enter a kitchen, but The Healing Plate’s recipes are both accessible and forgiving. I have been able to recreate some of my favorite dishes from my stay: congee variations, cardamom roasted broccoli, a beautifully tangy tomato-based soup called shorba, and a Golden Detox Elixir made with turmeric, apple cider vinegar, and multiflora honey. The required ingredients are generally easy to find, and nothing feels overly fussy. Even though I have not yet attempted making my own roti or cheela, I now feel emboldened to try.
        The hardest thing about visiting a place like Ananda is, inevitably, leaving it — not only because it's a respite from the stresses of your daily life but also because you're left asking: How do I take this experience with me? My Brooklyn neighborhood can't facilitate hiking through the Himalayas or watching the sun set from what feels like the top of the world, but with The Healing Plate I can recreate the rhythms of rest and movement that made my time at Ananda so restorative.

Swiss resorts are universally fêted in the winter, with their summertime slopes historically playing second fiddle, despite their sensorial glory. Here, as snow melts into green valleys, alpine trails emerge and the clink of cowbells reverberates, creating a storybook pastiche further elevated by the reliable excellence of Swiss hospitality.

“I never thought I would sleep in Sir Richard’s bed,” one of only two other guests at The Lodge in Verbier, Switzerland, said to me during our stay. The property is part of Virgin Limited Edition, a collection of nine properties spread around the world that function as fully staffed hotels, buyout properties, and also Sir Richard Branson’s personal homes.
        With just nine bedrooms, The Lodge is well suited for a single group, but when I visited with my family, we occupied just two rooms. Still, the communal vibe of the property didn’t change: It was shoes off, slippers on, with just a single dinner seating, during which we chatted with the aforementioned couple from Yorkshire who had registered disbelief at their lucky sleeping arrangements.
        Perched 5,000 feet above sea level, Verbier is well known for its skiing. But we visited in the summertime, when the Alpine town is also a serious destination for paragliding. It’s one of the many activities offered by The Lodge, and it was the highlight of our trip. I watched my kids jump off the side of a mountain, strapped, thankfully, to Stuart and Mike Belbas, the identical twin brothers who own Verbier Summits, one of the area’s many paragliding schools (though maybe the only one with a website featuring a recommendation from Bear Grylls).

The best view … From The Lodge’s top-floor suites. There are two suites, almost mirror images of each other, that can be connected by a secret door hidden behind a bookcase.

A relaxing moment … After paragliding off the mountain, my kids landed in town, far below, taking three ski lifts up to meet us back at the top. Afterward, we all walked back toward Verbier. About halfway down the mountain, the kids called for a ride from the property. My husband and I continued on foot through the beautiful pine forest crisscrossed with vertiginous mountain biking trails and jumps.

Something unexpected … The drive from Geneva to Verbier was easy and beautiful, circling Lake Geneva before climbing up into the mountains. I have driven in the Alps enough to know how many switchbacks can be involved. Still, seeing a route like this pop up on Google Maps always provides a thrill.

The best amenity … The Lodge’s general manager’s dog, Ada — who came to work every day and took playing ball very seriously — was a welcome greeter each time we stepped into the property’s living room.

It’s a wonder I found my way out of The Chedi Andermatt in Switzerland. Not that I would have minded living out my days in its warm, refined, wooden embrace.
        I arrived very late, which is probably why my first night felt like a movie. The walk to my room through the hotel’s moody, vaulted lobby tracked like a winding Steadicam shot. Along the way, I craned to glimpse a labyrinth of cozy dining rooms, intimate reading nooks, and daybeds nestled around freestanding fireplaces, all clad in gorgeous wood and hushed by the afterhours calm of a slumbering mountain chalet.
        A wave of excitement crashed with exhaustion as I stood frozen for a beat, taking in my Grand Deluxe room. The lighting washed over the bookcases and fell onto a pair of leather club chairs positioned by the fireplace. I remember it in montage: the banquette spanning the entire length of one wall, the six-person dining table, the room service that seemed to magically appear. I hadn’t yet seen the bedroom or the soaking tub framed by raw stone. It was expansive, substantial, and, yes, all wrapped in wood. I don’t recall much after collapsing onto the Hastens mattress. That’s where the scene cuts to black.

The best thing about your room …​ Because I was bleary from a long flight, the sheer scale of my room made me think, for a split-second, that I was in a lobby.​ The wood-wrapped seating area, with its enormous sofa and leather club chairs, brought an instant sense of peace, warmth, and coziness.

The best amenity … Knowing I’d arrive late, the staff arranged for a grilled prawn salad to magically appear as soon as I settled into my room. Accompanied by a substantial bourbon cocktail, it warmed my heart in multiple ways.

Something not to miss … The cheese room — a glass temple stacked to the ceiling with wheels, wedges, and blocks of Odermatter Geissrolle, Göscheneralp Käse, Schweizer brie, and dozens more varieties wrapped in paper, behind glass cases, just waiting to be discovered. They are all thoughtfully labeled with their various consistencies, origins, and umlauts.

Something unexpected … In the morning, I bounded into the restaurant to discover the most adorable, endearing children’s mini-market stocked with cereal, juice pouches, baskets of fresh fruit, and colorful, kid-sized flatware.

A local tip … If you can, find time for a drive. The roads that twist through the area, from Susten Pass to Gotthard Pass, are glorious. Just watch out for small cow herds meandering along the road.

Perfume has been quite the busy bee since its inception at least 4,000 years ago. Over the past four millennia, it’s been deployed to embalm pharaohs, honor various deities, ward off the Black Death and its associated stench (unsuccessfully), signify social status, hide putrid body odors, and entice and intoxicate lovers. However, one thing has long united most perfumes: They’re meant to be universally appealing. That’s among the reasons fashion brands so often launch their own — fragrance is a nearly foolproof moneymaker. But for Comme des Garçons, the enigmatic fashion powerhouse created by designer Rei Kawakubo in 1969, popularity is emphatically not the point. “The first criterion is that not everybody likes it,” says Adrian Joffe, the brand’s president and founding father of its fragrance division. “Rei’s always worried when something sells too much.” Of course, he adds, “We want some people to love it. But we don’t want everybody to love it.”
        However counterintuitive, the strategy has served the brand well, and its latest launch, a collaboration with artist Meg Webster and the Dia Art Foundation, follows suit. CDG has been producing atypical fragrances — or, as Joffe prefers to call them, “anti-fragrances” — for more than 32 years, during which the brand has launched 127 scents with such unorthodox names as ERL Sunscreen, Dry Clean, and Snowing, and equally unorthodox notes, including fresh pencil shavings, gunpowder, and volcanic rock. CDG’s 30th-anniversary perfume, Odeur 10, launched in 2024, is inspired by hydrogen peroxide, an effectively odorless chemical associated with cleaning products. As is the case with so many CDG perfumes, the first whiff is a jarring punch to the nose, but as it lingers, it transforms into an alluring, post-apocalyptic musk.

        Hailing from South Africa, Joffe began working for CDG, which is headquartered in both Paris and Tokyo, in 1987. He temporarily left in 1991 (“For reasons I don’t think we need to get into,” he says) and returned a year and a half later under the condition that he could launch the fragrance range. “Rei said, ‘Why would we do a perfume? I don’t know anything about smells, and it’s not a Japanese thing.’ And I said, ‘It’s just one more way of expressing your values,’” he explains.
        It’s worth noting that, around this same time, Kawakubo and Joffe wed in a ceremony at Paris’ city hall. The bride donned a black skirt and white shirt — an enduring uniform of sorts — which should tell you a little something about the essence of the empire she and Joffe have built. They turned what started as a disruptive fashion brand into an international phenomenon that encompasses multiple Dover Street Market department stores, countless high-profile collaborations, myriad affiliated lines designed by Kawakubo or her protégés, and, obviously, fragrances.
        What each of the brand’s fragrances aims to express, says Joffe, “are the inherent values of CDG: to do something that didn’t exist before, to create new ways of doing things, and to ignore established industry norms.”

Read the full feature and more close takes on a wide world in our Spring/Summer 2026 print issue. Order now.​

For much of the 21st century, the outside world’s perception of Northwestern Italy was colored by the country’s Industrial Revolution. Its famed auto and steel manufactures and textile mills portrayed a portrait of Milan as a grey, dirty, all-work, no-play city, with factory-packed, culturally devoid surroundings, places to quickly pass through.
        Spanning the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the revolution centered in the country’s north, partially because Alpine hydroelectricity powered its growth. At the time, the natural fuel was considered inferior to the more convenient coal that hastened the development of other Western nations. Hindsight provides a different analysis of the energy sources — and of the Lombardy region.
        Trampolining off its glow-up for Expo 2015, Milan has become a magnet for Italians and visitors, a must-stop on any Italy itinerary. The city and its population have grown increasingly international, all the more so in recent years as expats, particularly from the U.S. and Middle East, settle in the city in greater numbers, drawn to not only Milan’s continued role as the country’s business and fashion capitals but also to its effervescent, culturally rich lifestyle — and its proximity to the indefatigable treasure trove that is the rest of Italy.
        Fly into the Milan Linate Airport (far more convenient than Milan Malpensa), spend a few days exploring the city, then hop north to the nearby lake region (just over an hour away by car or train), made famous by celebrities and social media, which (it should be said) still fails to capture the territory’s wild, refined, prismatic splendor.
        With its clear air, colorful villages, and dramatic landscape, Lake Como has long drawn Milanese in search of tranquility — hence its notable population of historic villas, aristocratic escapes (some turned iconic hotels, such as Passalacqua), and custom properties, such as Grand Hotel Tremezzo. Each pairs characterful, distinctly Italian interiors and views of tranquil waters sliced through by Riva speedboats with vivid dishes showcasing the area’s bounty. Two hours east, Lake Garda is less trafficked by global tourists and has the gracefully unbuttoned, deeply restorative ambiance to prove it, as the wellness sanctuary Lefay Resort & Spa Lago di Garda and historic, terraced lemon houses (limonaie) of Gargnano demonstrate.
        Traveling between these locales, rhythms, and properties, all members of Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ exclusive Legend Collection, reveals a distinct dialogue. Milan’s elegant buzzing energy is exemplified by its dignified flower stands, sartorial yet idiosyncratic street style, and Armani Hotel Milano, designed, naturally, by its namesake, Milan-based house. Alternatively, the lake region eases visitors into an unhurried pace. All exude the quiet confidence of destinations that have spent centuries perfecting the art of living well.