The Hub
Luxury travel guides
Everything we publish, in one place: twelve month-by-month guides on where to travel and what it costs, 47 honest destination safety briefings, and 65 town listings with real houses, published rates and live partner prices for hotels and rentals in the same place.
Destination guides by continent
One guide per continent: how to travel it, the best months, what the culture expects of a visitor and the places worth building a trip around — each with its own question-by-question FAQ.
The travel calendar — all twelve months
Pick the month you can travel and the destination follows. Each guide gives the places at their best that month, indicative nightly rates, crowd levels and how far ahead the good houses book.
Calendar — January
Best places to travel in January
From 4 January onward the travel world empties and the rates follow. January is the connoisseur's month: peak-season weather at the Caribbean, snow at its deepest in the Alps, and a fraction of the festive crowds.
Read the month
Calendar — February
Best places to travel in February
February is high season's high point: the Caribbean at its driest, the Alps in their winter season, the Maldives in clear water. It is also school half-term month in much of Europe, so compare live partner rates for the weeks you are considering.
Read the month
Calendar — March
Places to travel in March
Where should you travel in March? Compare beach stays in Barbados, St Barts, the Maldives and Los Cabos; a Courchevel ski trip; or a Marrakech riad with garden visits. Start with your itinerary, then check exact dates, accommodation terms and transport before booking.
Read the month
Calendar — April
Best places to travel in April
April is the year's first true shoulder month: the Caribbean quietly excellent, the Mediterranean waking up, Alpine winter lifts closing on resort-set dates — and Easter timing to plan around.
Read the month
Calendar — May
Best places to travel in May
Ask anyone who works in the Mediterranean when they take their own holiday and they will say May: warm seas by the month's end, everything open, nothing crowded, and rates that are usually easier than July.
Read the month
Calendar — June
Best places to travel in June
June is a popular Mediterranean month: long light, warm seas, everything open — and for its first three weeks, still priced below the school-holiday peak that July brings.
Read the month
Calendar — July
Best places to travel in July
July is the month everyone travels. The trick is not avoiding the crowds — it is knowing where the crowds are worth it, where they are avoidable, and what peak season actually buys you.
Read the month
Calendar — August
Best places to travel in August
August is the Mediterranean's great shutdown: everyone is on holiday, which is both the charm and the problem. Where the crowds are the point, where to escape them, and the case for going north.
Read the month
Calendar — September
Best places to travel in September
September is the answer to almost every Mediterranean question: the sea at its warmest, the crowds gone home, the harvest starting — and rates that often ease while the water holds its heat.
Read the month
Calendar — October
Best places to travel in October
October is the year's most underrated month: the Mediterranean's warm tail, Marrakech back in season, the Caribbean quiet before its reopening — and shoulder rates almost everywhere.
Read the month
Calendar — November
Best places to travel in November
November is the hinge of the travel year: the Caribbean and Dubai come back on stream, Alpine resorts begin opening, and live partner rates vary by week.
Read the month
Calendar — December
Best places to travel in December
December splits in two: the quiet, excellent first fortnight and the festive fortnight, which is the most contested inventory in travel. Where to go in each half, and what the difference costs.
Read the month
The safety series
A plain verdict for every destination we sell, reviewed on a cycle — what the real risks are, what they are not, and what to do about them. Start with the safest destinations shortlist or read the full series.
Austria
Barbados
French Polynesia
Greece
Indonesia
Japan
Morocco
Philippines
Saint Barthélemy (France)
Spain
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Thailand
The Bahamas
United Arab Emirates
Town listings — where to stay
One page per town: the houses we hold there with photos and nightly rates, plus live partner prices for hotels and other rentals in the same place for your dates.
Austria
Bahamas
Barbados
France
French Polynesia
Indonesia
Maldives
Morocco
Philippines
Portugal
Saint Barthélemy
Seychelles
Switzerland
Thailand
Türkiye
United Arab Emirates
Planning questions
Where do I start when planning a luxury trip?
- Start with the month you can travel. Each of the twelve calendar guides sets out where the weather, rates and crowds line up in that month, with indicative nightly rates and how far ahead the best houses book. From there, read the safety briefing for the destination and open its town listings page for real houses and live partner prices.
How current are the rates on the listings pages?
- Our own houses show their published nightly rate and availability. Hotels and other rentals in the same town are priced live by the partner holding those dates — Booking.com, Expedia or Hotels.com — for the dates and party size you enter.
Is the safety series independent?
- The safety briefings are editorial summaries, not government advice. Each briefing links UK travel advice; also check your own government's current advice before booking and departure.