Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2018 i Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, Hong Kong & Macau

Udaipur, Java, the Four Seasons Bali at Sayan, Singapore Airlines, the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok and The Peninsula Hong Kong. Oh, and Changi International Airport and Como Shambhala, too. What all of these have in common is a prominent place on our 2018 World’s Best Awards (page 45) as voted on by Travel+Leisure readers around the world. Asia is hot, in case you hadn’t heard, and I’m not just speaking of the August readings on thermometers along Queen’s Road Central or Raffles Boulevard. The region is home not simply to great hotels, resorts and airlines, but to companies that continually adapt and improve to stay that all-important step ahead. Consider that six of the top 10 cities in this year’s awards are in Asia. Take a bow Udaipur, Ubud, Kyoto, Luang…

RESTAURANT IBID The abbreviated Latin term ibid means “from the same source” and that’s a philosophical way to look at Nanyang food, which refers to plates created by a population that emigrated from China and settled in Southeast Asia with a new cultural identity synthesizing influences of East and West. The 54-seat culinary lab is set in a former riverside trading district, where chef-owner Woo Wai Leong, the inaugural MasterChef Asia winner, explores his roots and heritage with contemporary flair. Twists on familiar items—such as a common baked flatbread from China that’s stuffed with spring onions and mozzarella and eaten with a dollop of yeasted butter, crispy laksa leaves and a dash of laksa oil; and a soybean ice cream with textures of Sarawak pepper meringue and toasted sesame seeds—are…

TOP 5 CITIES 1 Sydney 85.25✪ 2 Melbourne 83.47✪ 3 Queenstown New Zealand 82.85 4 Auckland New Zealand 80.17 5 Wellington New Zealand 79.21 TOP 5 ISLANDS 1 Waiheke Island New Zealand 90.21 2 Tasmania Australia 88.70 3 Cook Islands 88.52 4 Moorea French Polynesia 87.56✪ 5 Bora-Bora French Polynesia 86.42 TOP 5 CITY HOTELS 1 The Langham Melbourne 92.00 2 Park Hyatt Sydney 90.37✪ 3 Park Hyatt Melbourne 89.76 4 Shangri-La Hotel Sydney 87.82 5 The Langham Sydney 87.37 TOP 3 RESORT HOTELS THE SOUTH PACIFIC 1 St. Regis Bora Bora Resort French Polynesia 95.64 2 InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa French Polynesia 94.75 3 Four Seasons Resort Bora-Bora, French Polynesia 93.86 TOP 4 RESORT HOTELS AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 1 Huka Lodge Taupo, New Zealand 96.20…

There’s more to the No. 1 Hawaiian island than the beaches. Maui’s food scene continues to be another big draw for visitors, thanks to a crop of talented chefs and a growing appreciation for native produce. Don’t miss chef Sheldon Simeon’s Tin Roof (tinroofmaui.com; mains US$7–$15), a buzzy, unassuming spot for noodles in Kahului. Leoda’s Kitchen & Pie Shop (leodas.com; mains US$10–$16), a popular stop on the drive from Lahaina to Wailea, is all about pies: try coconut cream, macnut choc, or savory Hamakua mushroom. At the atmospheric Mill House (millhousemaui.com; mains US$16–$55), in rural Waikapu, chef Jeff Scheer sources many ingredients (avocados, carrots, papaya) from the restaurant’s own 600-hectare plantation, and the locally caught fish (mahi-amahi, snapper, ahi) is a standout.…

Early evening: the perfect time for a stroll through Palermo’s centro storico. Eighteenth-century palazzi lined the streets, their windows framed by the ruffs and frills of Baroque stonework. Some were in a state of utter dilapidation, others alive with the sound of laborers bringing their stately façades back to life. From the dust-covered sidewalks, churches reared up in a profusion of carved decoration. My partner, Matthew, and I stepped inside the Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita and were greeted by a riot of Rococo stuccowork created by Giacomo Serpotta—a Palermitani artist who turned this interior into a theater of religious storytelling, rendering statues of the virtues and scenes from the Passion in plaster as crisp and white as royal icing. The whole of Palermo, in fact, seemed to us…

UNCOVERING BHUTAN’S MYSTICAL SECRETS This ancient, mountainous kingdom remains a place of tall tales. One intrepid writer journeys into the clouds to find out if the legends are true. SHINTA MANI ANGKOR RAISES THE BAR IN SIEM REAP All-star designer Bill Bensley imbued the plush villas at this Cambodian oasis with serious style and a touch of whimsy. THE FOOD SCENE BLOOMS IN FUKUOKA Good luck finding a bad meal in this city, where innovative young chefs are upping the ante with contemporary spins on Japanese classics. LOOKOUT An indulgent new wellness retreat in Nusa Dua, Bali; an off-the-beaten-path adventure in Okinawa; a new exhibit offers insights into Singapore’s National Gallery; the latest travel deals and much more. travelandleisureasia.com DOWNLOAD US T+L TABLET EDITIONS Available on iOS, Android, Win 8…

DO The tiny island’s most frequented attraction is Emerald Cave, a tropical lagoon concealed inside a towering limestone amphitheater that’s almost too beautiful to be true. High season sees it crammed with day-trippers who longtail it in from Koh Lanta and beyond, but to get beyond the crowds, hire a kayak from Mong’s Bar (Farang Beach; 66-8/0717- 1517; kayaks from Bt100 per hour) and paddle north along the rocky coastline for 20 minutes to the mouth of a sea cave, where a 50-meter-long subterranean river empties into the lagoon. Kayaking around the entire island takes about three hours and is a brilliant way to tour the untouched beaches and coves and rugged beauty of Koh Mook’s mountainous northwest. Farang Beach is the best strip of sand on the island—a limestone massif…

MORINGA? Call it the new kale. The tropical tree moringa produces leaves that are rich in antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins A, B and C. Popular in health-food stores as a supplement in pill and powder form, the superfood is now cropping up at hotels in healthy drinks and salads. Holisitic health retreat Como Shambala Estate (comohotels.com; doubles from US$550) in Ubud uses the fresh leaf grown throughout Bali in nourishing stews and salads, and Rockhouse (rockhousehotel.com; doubles from US$145), a cliff-side resort in Negril, Jamaica, adds moringa from their on-site organic gardens to refreshing smoothies. Sri Lankan Ayurvedic center Spa Ceylon (spaceylon.com) blends the traditional herb into many of its soothing products, including a clarifying clay mask and detoxing body oil, and has treatment outposts across Asia.…

TOP 10 CITIES OVERALL 1 San Miguel de Allende Mexico 91.94 2 Oaxaca Mexico 90.52 3 Udaipur India 89.31 4 Ubud Indonesia 88.74 5 Kyoto Japan 88.42 6 Florence Italy 88.29 7 Luang Prabang Laos 88.20 8 Hoi An Vietnam 88.09 9 Chiang Mai Thailand 87.93 10 Charleston South Carolina, U.S. 87.79 TOP 10 ISLANDS OVERALL 1 Java Indonesia 95.28 2 Bali Indonesia 94.06 3 Lombok Indonesia 93.88 4 Maldives 90.48 5 Waiheke Island New Zealand 90.21 6 Palawan Philippines 90.04 7 Mauritius 90.00 8 Cebu Philippines 89.10 9 Páros Greece 88.76 10 Tasmania Australia 88.70…

TOP 10 CITIES 1 Florence 88.29✪ 2 Rome 87.16✪ 3 Istanbul 87.09✪ 4 Porto Portugal 86.42 5 Seville Spain 86.36 6 Barcelona 86.31✪ 7 Kraków Poland 86.30 8 Lisbon 86.13 9 Siena Italy 85.81 10 San Sebastián Spain 85.75 TOP 10 ISLANDS 1 Páros Greece 88.76 2 Orkney Islands Scotland 88.50 3 Azores Portugal 88.37 4 Santorini Greece 87.94✪ 5 Crete Greece 87.57 6 Mílos Greece 87.43 7 Skye and the Hebrides Scotland 87.37 8 Sicily Italy 86.44 9 Mykonos Greece 86.31 10 Corfu and the Ionian Islands Greece 86.11 TOP 10 CITY HOTELS 1 La Réserve—Hôtel & Spa Paris 96.44 2 The Peninsula Paris 96.00 3 Le Meurice Paris 95.29 4 Aman Venice 94.64 5 The Lanesborough London 94.40 6 Hotel Maria Cristina, a Luxury Collection Hotel San Sebastián,…

TOP 5 ISLANDS 1 Maui 88.42 ✪ 2 Kauai 88.07 ✪ 3 Big Island 86.17 ✪ 4 Oahu 84.12 5 Lanai 79.49 TOP 15 RESORT HOTELS 1 Montage Kapalua Bay Maui 95.72 2 Hotel Wailea Maui 95.64 3 Ko’a Kea Hotel & Resort Kauai 94.11 4 Four Seasons Resort Lanai 92.94 ✪ 5 Fairmont Kea Lani Maui 92.94 ✪ 6 Four Seasons Resort Hualalai Big Island 92.70 ✪ 7 Trump International Hotel Waikiki Oahu 92.38 8 Travaasa Hana Maui 92.00 9 Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina 90.84 10 Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea 90.65 ✪ 11 Halekulani Oahu 90.47 ✪ 12 Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii Big Island 90.00 13 Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua Maui 89.69 14 Westin Hapuna Beach Resort Big Island 89.56 15 Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows…

GETTING THERE Fly in to Palermo Airport by connecting through Rome or another major European hub. Central Palermo is walkable, but rent a car near the airport to tour western Sicily. Palermo STAY Grand Hotel Villa Igiea This 19th-century hotel is an icon of Italian Art Nouveau overlooking the Bay of Palermo. villa-igiea.com; doubles from €250. EAT & DRINK Antica Focacceria San Francesco This historic spot has been baking traditional flatbreads since 1834—making it older than the nation of Italy itself. anticafocacceria.it. Caffè Internazionale A courtyard bar, café and community space with frequent gallery shows and art events. caffeinternazionale.com. Ke Palle A favorite Sicilian arancini chain offering more than a dozen versions of the fried rice-ball snack. kepalle.it. Osteria dei Vespri This old-school restaurant is a Palermo institution—as is the…

Even if robots don’t inherit the Earth, they certainly seem headed for service-industry supremacy: Alibaba-backed Chinese food-delivery firm Ele.me has a new fleet of drones carrying orders to clients on specific routes in Shanghai, while Beijing company ForwardX plans to create a vision-powered suitcase to follow you around the airport autonomously. Here, more robotic helpers you might see on your next trip. BIONIC BARTENDERS Cruising Southeast Asia from November 2019, Royal Carribean’s Quantum of the Seas will offer cocktails at its Bionic Bar, where two mechanical bartenders can shake, stir and strain drinks after guests make their order on an app. ROBOT ROOM SERVICE Japan’s Henn-na Hotel was the world’s first to be staffed by robots—life-like androids that are multilingual, have face recognition technology, can check you in and carry…

IN THE PREDAWN, groggy and grumpy immediately after a 10- hour red eye, turns out that the Six Senses Duxton is the exact place you want to check in to. Pull up in front of this pretty façade on a lane off Tanjong Pagar under the inky sky and enter under the stained glass awning through the wrought iron glass doors. No need to adjust your eyes to too-bright lobby lighting—inside’s dark, moody vibe befitting this early morn is a function of the all-black canvas with pops of yellow. Yep, black and yellow. That you’re not awash in a tropical sorbet palate is the first sign of departure from their barefoot luxury resorts. As this Singapore boutique is the first ever Six Senses in a city, a few more aesthetic…

AUSTRALIA’S OLDEST wine region also happens to be its easiest to visit. A two-hour drive north of Sydney, Hunter Valley is home to some 150 wineries, many of which trace their roots to the 19th century. Vineyards stream down from the foothills of the Brokenback Range, sharing space with grazing land for cattle. While the winemakers produce Shiraz, as they do in the rest of Australia, Semillon is the benchmark variety here. These featherweight white wines are thrillingly vibrant and citrusy when young, but as they age, they take on richness and depth—think of toast topped with tart marmalade, but without any sweetness. A standout food scene and activities such as hot-air ballooning give travelers even more reason to make the drive. The weather is mild and the cellar doors…

THE RITZ-CARLTON, KOH SAMUI Opened last year, The Ritz-Carlton’s Spa Village integrates traditional Thai spa practices with the island’s surrounding nature. The Songkran Shower ritual begins all therapies, and the Thai Aquatic Freedom experience, which marries gentle stretching with weightless aqua therapy, is the spa’s signature. ritzcarlton.com; doubles from Bt13,875. RETREAT AT THE BLUE LAGOON ICELAND The country’s most visited attraction, this geothermal spa complex near Reykjavík now has a 62-room luxury hotel. Guests can book Lava Cove, an exclusive wing of the Retreat’s spa, for a six-hour period of in-water massages and silica salt scrubs—in their very own private lagoon. bluelagoon.com; doubles from US$1,810. LEFAY RESORT & SPA Set above Lake Garda, in Italy, this retreat emphasizes traditional Chinese medicine—even in its water therapies. In the Florida Whirlpool Tub,…

TOP 5 INTERNATIONAL SPAS 1 Schloss Elmau Luxury Spa & Cultural Hideaway Elmau, Germany 96.83 2 COMO Shambhala Estate Bali, Indonesia 96.35 3 Rancho La Puerta Tecate, Mexico 95.83✪ 4 Body Holiday St. Lucia 93.84 5 Maya Tulum Resort Tulum, Mexico 86.62 ✪ On the list for the past 10 years.…

The Mandarin Oriental Bangkok (mandarinoriental.com; doubles from US$500), voted the best hotel in the city this year, has a history as illustrious as its guest list, which has included W. Somerset Maugham, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mick Jagger. Built in 1876 as “the Oriental,” the first luxury hotel in the Kingdom of Siam, the riverside property has evolved into a sprawling oasis; its romantic Bamboo Bar remains the place for gin and tonics. Throughout the Thai capital, you can find similarly atmospheric venues. Don’t miss the Jim Thompson House (jimthompsonhouse.com), a collection of six teak bungalows built in 1959 by the architect turned silk magnate. A museum showing Thompson’s furniture and Southeast Asian antiques, the houses beautifully encapsulate Thai craftsmanship. At the Art Deco–inspired Scala Theatre (apexsiamsquare.com), arched ceilings and a…

TOP 5 CITIES 1 Quebec City 84.18 ✪ 2 Vancouver 81.85 3 Victoria British Columbia 81.78 4 Montreal 81.10 5 Toronto 78.68 TOP 3 ISLANDS 1 Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia 87.88 2 Vancouver Island British Columbia 84.59 ✪ 3 Prince Edward Island 82.61 TOP 5 CITY HOTELS 1 Rosewood Hotel Georgia Vancouver 92.41 2 Ritz-Carlton Montreal 92.21 3 Wedgewood Hotel & Spa Vancouver 91.11 4 L’Hermitage Hotel Vancouver 90.13 5 Auberge Saint- Antoine Quebec City 89.58 TOP 5 RESORT HOTELS 1 Fogo Island Inn Newfoundland 95.61 2 Wickaninnish Inn Tofino, British Columbia 94.74 ✪ 3 Clayoquot Wilderness Resort Tofino, British Columbia 91.47 4 Rimrock Resort Hotel Banff, Alberta 91.40 5 Post Hotel & Spa Lake Louise, Alberta 91.33…

A SURVEY DEVELOPED by the editors of Travel + Leisure, in association with research firm M&RR , was made available at tlworldsbest.com in the United States and at tlworldsbest.com/intl for readers of the magazine’s international editions from November 6, 2017 to March 5, 2018. Readers were invited to participate through Travel + Leisure magazine and its international editions, T+L tablet editions, newsletters, social media and travelandleisure.com. M&RR maintained, monitored and kept the survey website secure, and also collected and tabulated the responses. To protect the integrity of the data, after the survey closed, Travel + Leisure and M&RR screened the responses to identify fraudulent votes, which were eliminated from the final tallies. Respondents were asked to rate airlines, airports, car-rental agencies, cities, cruise ships, destination spas, hotels, hotel brands, islands,…

Humu humu nuku nuku apu a’a is the name of Hawaii’s state fish. It’s an elegant little reef triggerfish, with yellow chevron pinstripes and a blue lip, but I really think the Hawaiians selected it because its name is fun to say. I pointed and tried to shout it into my snorkel. If the word is tough to pronounce under normal conditions, it’s even more difficult underwater. My wife, Kim, and I followed the fish in and out of cauliflower coral heads, through a cloud of striped surgeonfish and swaying schools of bright-yellow tangs. We passed a parrotfish, which crunched its coral breakfast so loudly we could hear it. The humu kept a dignified pace. We kicked along a coral cliff, which dropped into deeper blue, and out to a…