Journal

Three words that listings use loosely and guests read literally: what each one means on the ground in Bali and Thailand, which properties ar…

Grandparents, parents and children under one roof is the best kind of family holiday and the easiest to get wrong: the layout test that deci…

Snow on a chalet roof, a calm Andaman sea or a garden in the tropical rain: very different Christmases a flight or two apart, and why every …

Two islands, two dry seasons and two ideas of a big house: how to choose between Bali and Phuket when there are twelve or fourteen of you, a…

The whole process, without the sales gloss — what happens after you message, who builds your shortlist, how the money moves, and the honest …

The villa sleeps twenty; the wedding is a hundred and twenty. How to place the wedding party, the guest list and the shuttles along Phuket's…

The villa, the planner, the catering — the three blocks a Phuket villa wedding is really built from, with the house prices we can actually s…

The powder-season calendar, what a serviced chalet really includes, Hirafu against the quieter villages, and how the desk actually gets you …

The difference between Berawa, Batu Bolong, Pererenan and Seseh is twenty minutes of traffic and a very different nightly rate — here is how…

Lower, Middle, Upper — the Hirafu villages where Niseko's best chalets sit above the lifts, with Mount Yotei in the glass and the powder at …

A clifftop estate of architect villas above New Zealand's most beautiful harbour — a private chef, a heated infinity pool over the sea, and …

Full staff, a private chef and a powder run from the door — how to choose and book a luxury private ski chalet in Niseko, by village, by pis…

Marry on the Andaman with the sea at the end of the aisle — how to plan a luxury villa wedding in Phuket, from the ceremony on the sand to t…

Marry above the Gulf of Thailand, where the sea is calm and the palms come down to the sand — how to plan a private-villa wedding on Koh Sam…

Full staff, a private chef and an infinity pool over the Andaman — how to choose and book a luxury private villa in Phuket, by beach, by set…

Full staff, a private chef and an infinity pool over the Gulf — how to choose and book a luxury private villa on Koh Samui, by coast, by set…

The most polished stretch of Bali's south-west coast — the beach clubs that started it all, the dinners worth dressing for, and the villas t…

Limestone cliffs, the island's best left-hand surf, a temple over a 70-metre drop, and the sunset clubs strung along the edge — and why you …

Rice terraces and river gorges, the island's best farm-to-table cooking, ridge walks and water temples — and the slow mornings the valley is…

Empty white-sand bays, an architect-designed hillside above the surf, and an island that has been designed rather than just discovered — an …

Andaman sunsets, the calm sands of Kamala and Surin, a marble Buddha over the whole island, and the limestone bay beyond — with the hillside…

Black-sand breaks, the best coffee on the island, sunset clubs built from old boats, and the rice-field villas that keep the traffic on the …

Grilled fish on the sand at sunset, a calm swimming bay, a giant Garuda on the hill — the gentle, family-shaped corner where the airport, Se…

Dinosaur cliffs and manta channels, a tidal infinity pool carved into the rock, and an island the speedboats only half-discover — thirty min…

Empty surf coastlines, a saltwater lagoon behind a coral wall, high-thatched clan villages and a ritual calendar older than memory — the wil…

Coconut-palm coastline and a golden Buddha on its own islet, a restored fishing village turned dining strip, and the hillside villas above t…

A house reef off your deck, manta aggregations in a UNESCO bay, spinner dolphins at golden hour — the simplest, purest luxury on earth, one …

A phinisi, the anchorages mapped with the captain, and the slow way across.

On the east coast of Phuket, an old colonial house keeps the best long lunch on the island.