Let's Take a Trip
From hotels and ’hoods to members’ clubs and cruises, The Rake’s Travel Editor gives you the lowdown on 2024’s unmissable luxury scenes.
TOKYO
The locavore’s locale
Gastronomy is already a central tenet of the Japanese psyche, and now a pair of new cultish draws mean there are more reasons to visit the capital.
With no fewer than 504 Michelin-recommended restaurants, Tokyo has mastered the art of haute cuisine. Yet since the last guide was published, in December 2023, a handful of new contenders have debuted, hoping to join the ranks of elite eateries. Among them is an omakase-only duo that is causing a stir locally for their dedication to craft, their remarkable sourcing, and their expert execution. The brainchild of 30-year-old wunderkind chef Hiroki Fujioka, his spotless namesake eatery, Sushi Fujioka, is an eight- seater offering in Ginza that is poised to become a future stalwart, thanks to excellent rations that are served with unpretentiousness in an intimate subterranean setting. In a residential alley in Minato- ku, Sushi Sano is an equally diminutive bolthole garnering praise. Helmed by Tadashi Sano and his wife, this Edomae-style gem serves stunning rations including to-die-for nigiri in a space fashioned from stone and cedarwood. Go early and stay late for an unforgettable experience, and when you do so, be sure to keep your voice down: it is Zen-inspired, after all.
Don’t miss
More than 30 years and roughly $4bn in the making, a city within a city has emerged in a hitherto overlooked area between Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills in central Tokyo. Dubbed Azabudai Hills, this cluster of high-rise and low-rise residential buildings, retail and restaurant spaces, as well as offices and thousands of square metres of public green space, is a must-visit. It is anchored by Janu, the much-anticipated sibling to the renowned Aman group, which opened in March with 122-rooms and suites, eight dining venues, two retail boutiques and a 4,000sqm wellness centre. Elsewhere in the development, there is a commodious food hall and market, bringing together 34 speciality stores, a school, two temples and art galleries, including Pace’s latest, a Sou Fujimoto-designed space whose inaugural exhibition will spotlight new paintings by the Los Angeles-based artist Maysha Mohamedi in her first solo show in Asia.
In the country
Should you escape the clutches of the capital — no easy task — a trio of new hospitality options complements your visit to cities far and wide. In the ancient capital, Kyoto, Six Senses have debuted amid Higashiyama district’s postcard-worthy alleyways, tea shops and temples, with 81 rooms and suites spread across six storeys. In the country’s fourth-largest city, the Royal Park Hotel Iconic Nagoya takes residence in the upper floors of the Chunichi building, with commanding cityscape views from its floor-to-ceiling windows. Meanwhile, Hoshino Resorts have taken the wraps off OMO5 Hakodate in the northernmost island of Hokkaido, serving as a perfect base for those looking to explore the local area and experience everything the so-named municipality has to offer — from its unique seafood to the night view from Mount Hakodate and the charming, historic streets and local attractions.
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THE HOTELIER Where have you just come back from? What are you working on? What’s the travel zeitgeist? What are you excited about? What does the rest of the year look like? |
DUBAI
Haute hospitality
New star-studded options add even more lustre to Dubai’s glittering hospitality crown.
With a burgeoning population of more than 68,000 high-net- worth individuals, up from 55,000 living in the emirate in 2022, this regional business hub is where the global elite likes to decamp — whether to live, work or play. To support their requirements, among many others, a pair of outstanding hotels have debuted this year, the latest being The Lana from the Dorchester Collection (dorchestercollection.com). With architecture from Foster and Partners, the property features 225 rooms and suites and eight dining concepts, including four by famed Michelin-starred chefs — Jean Imbert, Martín Berasategui and pastry chef Angelo Musa — as well as another four concepts dreamed up internally. The entire offering, which will house the first Dior Spa in the U.A.E., has been designed by the famed Parisian duo Gilles & Boissier and incorporates a carefully curated section of more than 50 art pieces, commissioned by local and global artists. Another newbie from another noted group, this time One&Only, is the active urban sanctuary Siro One Za’abeel (sirohotels.com), which includes a nearly 2,000sqm gym. It is also home to The Link, the world’s longest cantilever, filled with stellar restaurants (including the theatrical StreetXO by Dabiz Muñoz, currently the world’s top chef, according to the Best Chef awards) and topped by a spectacular infinity pool with some of the city’s best views from its perch in Dubai’s faux-old neighbourhood of Al Seef. Finally, when it touches down in its 27-storey mixed-used home in Business Bay, Mama Shelter Dubai (mamashelter.com) will inject a jolt of energy and verve, for which they are lauded.
Don’t miss
Described as “the most celebrity-studded restaurant on Earth” by Vanity Fair, the decade-old Carbone (carbonenewyork.com) will bring its New York-style Italian cuisine to the emirate and introduce dishes such as spicy rigatoni, linguini vongole, chicken scarpariello and veal parmesan to a populace that will surely go gaga for both the rations and the scene.
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THE CHEF Where have you just come back from? What are you working on? What’s the travel zeitgeist? What are you excited about? What does the rest of the year look like? |
NEW YORK
Members only
Private clubs, once the preserve of the Ivy League set, are proliferating across the Big Apple.
For a city that famously never sleeps, much of the fun and frivolity was in being out and about. See and be seen, was the tried-and-tested moniker, or else you’d be forsaken as a shut-in. Oh, how times have changed. Today’s beau monde is perfectly contented to hit the city but repair behind closed doors (or curtains, as the case may be) at a host of recently opened members’ clubs, including Casa Cipriani, Zero Bond and the Ned Nomad, among others. Now a raft of new entrants is vying for attention. The latest is paradoxically one of the originals in this new class: Core Club (thecoreclub.com). Having debuted in 2005, it recently took up residence in a 60,000-square-feet Midtown aerie, situated on the upper floors of a mid-rise on Fifth Avenue (at 56th Street). With a reported joining fee of up to $100,000, it features suites, libraries and art, courtesy of an in-house curator; screening rooms and a theatre; bars and restaurants; a sprawling beauty bar and wellness studio; and one of the largest terraces in the city. Restaurateur Juan de la Cruz’s eponymous Casa Cruz (casacruz.nyc) is spread across six storeys and continues to serve up curated cocktails and superb rations designed by the Michelin-starred chef John Fraser. But few celebrity hangouts have the pulling power of those operated by Major Food Group, whose many rollicking eateries in cities including Miami, Paris, Hong Kong and Doha are lauded and feted. So much so they decided to open ZZ’s Club (zzsclub.com), an extravagant dining destination in Hudson Yards with a multitude of moody and lavish interiors by Ken Fulk where top-tier tableside theatrics are par for the course and the joining fee and annual subscription set you back $30,000.
These days, it seems, to celebrate hospitality and the highest calibre of cuisine and service, you need to shell out.
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THE INTERIOR DESIGNER Where have you just come back from? What are you working on? What’s the travel zeitgeist? What are you excited about? What does the rest of the year look like? |
THE HIGH SEAS
Setting sail
Hotel groups of distinction are rolling out luxe products for aquatic adventures.
If you thought that luxury on the high seas was limited to offerings by Cunard, Silversea, Seabourn and, most recently, Explora Journeys’ stunning Explora I vessel, you’d be mistaken. That’s because some of the original exponents of hospitality, prestige hoteliers who have been curating it with peerlessness on terra firma, are now branching out and going all-aquatic with offerings that are causing a stir. With its sleek lines, the 149-suite, 623-foot Evrima from Ritz-Carlton (ritzcarltonyachtcollection.com) was first past the post in late 2022, welcoming 298 guests aboard a liner with five restaurants, six lounges and an aft marina for kayaking and paddleboarding. The Evrima will be joined by a pair of larger sister ships, the 228-suite Ilma and Luminara, this and next year respectively. Other brands are clamouring to catch up. It won’t be until 2026 when the curvaceous silhouette of the 679-foot Four Seasons Yacht (fourseasonsyachts.com) sets sail with 95 suites, a quintet of concept restaurants with white-gloved service, and a beach club for watersports. Even more bijou will be the 600-foot Project Sama — which means ‘tranquillity’ in Sanskrit — from Aman (aman.com), with just 50 suites and a focus on health and wellbeing, complete with a Japanese Zen garden at sea, a nod to the company’s eastern heritage and minimalist aesthetic, conceived by superyacht designers Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design. Not to be outdone, Orient Express (orient-express.com) will celebrate the 140th anniversary of their first transcontinental rail journey with the launch of the world’s largest sailing ship, the Silenseas, set to sail in 2026. The elegant 720-foot-long craft will house 53 suites, two swimming pools, including a lap pool, two restaurants and a speakeasy bar. All aboard...
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THE MASTERMIND Where have you just come back from? What are you working on? What’s the travel zeitgeist? What are you excited about? What does the rest of the year look like? |
