The Journal
Trends, packing lists and what it really costs.
The iLuxuryTravels Journal: luxury travel trends, destinations, culture and style for villa and hotel stays, with live partner hotel booking. Explore luxury hotels →
Travel trends
Luxury solo travel, planned with AI — and checked by a person
Where AI planning saves hours on a solo trip, the three things to check by hand, and the destinations and stays that suit one traveller.
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Budget tips
Villas With a Private Pool: What to Check Before You Book
A private pool is the reason most people book a villa. Seven things to check before you book: heating, size, shade, privacy, fencing, cleaning and the rules.
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Destinations
Where to Stay on Lake Como: Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio or Cernobbio
Lake Como is three arms and a dozen villages, and where you stay decides how your week works. How to choose, how to get there from Milan, and whether you can swim.
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Destinations
The Best Time to Visit Japan, Month by Month
Blossom, maples, powder or quiet: the best time to visit Japan depends on what you want from it. A month-by-month read, with the weeks to plan around.
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Culture
Ryokan Etiquette: The Six Things That Actually Matter
A night in a Japanese inn has a rhythm of its own. Shoes, bathing, dinner timing and the yukata — what is expected, and what nobody minds.
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Culture · marrakech
Marrakech Without the Awkwardness
The medina rewards travellers who understand a few local conventions: bargaining, photographs, the call to prayer, and when to say no without offence.
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Culture
What Service Is Worth: Tipping in Europe's Grand Hotels
Service is usually included on the bill in Europe. Where a tip still lands well, roughly what to give, and why the concierge is the one to remember.
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Packing lists
Packing for a Villa Week: The Case Against the Big Suitcase
A private house is not a hotel with a shop downstairs. What earns its place in the bag for a week in the Mediterranean, and what never leaves it.
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Style
What "Smart Casual" Means on the Riviera
The coast has a dress code and almost never writes it down. What the good rooms in Cap Ferrat, Antibes and St Tropez actually expect after eight.
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Travel trends
The Solo Luxury Traveller Is No Longer the Exception
Solo bookings at the top end of the market are growing faster than any other party size. What changes when one person takes the whole house — and where they are going.
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Packing lists
The Alpine Wardrobe: What You Actually Wear Off the Mountain
Ski kit takes care of the daylight hours. The other eight hours of an alpine day are where most chalet wardrobes go wrong.
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Travel trends
What AI Trip Planning Gets Right — and Where It Hands You Back
The machines are genuinely useful for the first half of planning a trip. The second half — the house, the week, the terms — is still a human business.
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Destinations · nantucket
Nantucket in the Shoulder: The Island After the Ferries Thin
From mid-September the island exhales. The beaches empty, the tables free up, and the Atlantic is at its warmest. The case for Nantucket's quietest six weeks.
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Travel trends
Luxury Travel Trends 2027: Ten Shifts Changing How the Wealthiest Travel
Staffed estates replacing suites, booking windows splitting in two, wellness as the destination. Ten trends shaping 2027, and what each one means for your next booking. Every figure is sourced.
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Budget tips
Shoulder-Season Maths: The Weeks That Cost a Third Less
Moving a trip by ten days often changes the rate more than changing the house does. Which weeks are worth targeting, region by region.
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Budget tips
The Three-Week Window: When Luxury Villa Rates Drop
In almost every destination there is a three-week window where the weather holds and the rate falls by a third. How to find it, and the dates to circle for 2027.
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Destinations
Jackson Hole in Summer: The Season the Skiers Miss
The Tetons without lift lines: fly-fishing, empty trails, and a grand-valley summer that many who know it now prefer to the skiing.
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Budget tips
Where the Money Actually Goes on a Villa Week
The nightly rate is rarely the whole number. A plain breakdown of what sits on top, what is negotiable, and what quietly saves money.
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Budget tips · courchevel 1850
How Far Ahead to Book a Peak-Week Chalet
Christmas, New Year and February half-term work on a different clock to the rest of the season. The honest lead times for the big Alpine weeks.
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Packing lists
Packing for a Month in the Tropics
Bali, Phuket, the Maldives — a long tropical stay needs less than a short one. The case for a light bag, and the few things worth bringing from home.
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Budget tips
What a Villa Weekly Rate Actually Includes
The rate on the page is rarely the whole number. What is normally inside it, what is extra, and the questions worth asking before you commit.
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Packing lists
The Ski Chalet Packing List
A chalet week needs two wardrobes, and most people over-pack one and under-pack the other. What actually goes in the bag for a week in the Alps.
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Destinations
Shoulder Season: the Mediterranean Weeks Worth Knowing
Late May, June and September deliver most of what August promises at two-thirds of the rate. The specific weeks, island by island.
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Travel trends
The Shift Toward Fewer, Longer Stays
The clearest change we see in booking patterns: one house for ten nights instead of three hotels in seven. What that does to cost, staffing and the shape of a trip.
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Destinations
Which Airport for Which Alps Resort
Geneva is not always the answer. The honest airport guide for the French resorts, and when the train beats the plane.
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Destinations · marrakech
Marrakech: Riad, Palmeraie or Desert
Three houses within forty minutes of each other, and three quite different weeks. What each one actually feels like.
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Destinations · meribel
Meribel: taking a chalet at the centre of the Three Valleys
Why Meribel's position beats its neighbours for mixed-ability groups, and which of its hamlets to take a chalet in.
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Destinations · dubai
Dubai in February: The Case for the Second Half of the Season
The weather in February is indistinguishable from Christmas. The rate is not.
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Destinations · megeve
Megeve: the village-first alternative to the high Alpine resorts
Low altitude, real village, best restaurants in the Alps. Who Megeve suits, and when the snow actually works.
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Destinations · aspen
Aspen in January: The Week Nobody Books
The second and third weeks of January are the best skiing and the lowest rates of the winter. Here is how to use them.
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Destinations · corsica
Corsica: the south, the Cap, and the mountains in between
Porto-Vecchio's sands, Bonifacio's cliffs and a mountainous interior most guests never see. Placing a Corsican villa week.
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Destinations · ibiza
Ibiza: The North Is a Different Island
Es Cubells, San Jose, Santa Gertrudis and the north each attract a completely different guest. A short guide to picking your side.
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Destinations · folegandros
Folegandros: the Cyclades without the crossing everyone else makes
A small island with one road, one Chora and no airport. Why Folegandros suits a villa week better than its famous neighbours.
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Destinations · bali
Bali: Choosing Between the Cliff, the Rice Fields and the Sea
Uluwatu, Ubud and the north coast are three unrelated holidays. Most disappointing Bali weeks come from picking the wrong one.
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Destinations · douro valley
Douro Valley: harvest weeks and what a river quinta week involves
Terraced vineyards, a slow river and September harvest. Where to base in the Douro and how to plan the tastings.
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Destinations · val d isere
Courchevel, Val d'Isere, Chamonix or Megeve: choosing the right week
Four French resorts, four very different weeks. How ski access, altitude, evenings and the drive from Geneva should shape the resort you book.
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Destinations · barbados
Barbados: The Difference Between the Two Coasts
The west coast and the south coast are two different holidays on one small island. Choose the wrong one and the week never quite settles.
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Destinations · puglia
Puglia: masseria weeks, and the difference between the two seas
Adriatic or Ionian, Valle d'Itria or Salento. How to place a masseria week in Puglia so the drives stay short.
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Destinations · punta mita
Punta Mita: What the Gates Actually Buy You
A resort peninsula that works as a private estate destination, provided you understand what sits inside the gate and what does not.
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Destinations · amalfi coast
Amalfi Coast: Positano, Ravello, or the Sorrento side?
The three bases on the Amalfi Coast behave completely differently. Steps, boats, drivers and where a villa week is easiest.
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Destinations · st barths
A Week in St Barths, Off the Festive Calendar
Everyone books the fortnight between Christmas and New Year. The island is better in the three weeks either side of it, and costs a fraction of the price.
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Destinations · menorca
Menorca: the quiet Balearic, and why the south coast books first
No high-rises, no superclubs, and calas you walk to. What a Menorca villa week looks like, and which coast to take.
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Destinations · mallorca
Mallorca: the southwest, the north, and the drive between them
Son Vida and Port d'Andratx are a different holiday to Pollenca and Deia. Where to take a villa on Mallorca, and how the island actually splits.
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Destinations · courchevel 1850
What 'catered' really means in a French chalet
Chef, host, driver, housekeeping — the staffing behind a catered chalet week, what is usually included, and the questions worth asking before you sign.
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Destinations · chamonix
Getting to your French chalet: airports, transfers and the last hour
Geneva, Lyon, Chambery or Grenoble — how the arrival airport quietly decides the shape of your first day in the Alps, and how to plan the final road hour.
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