JOIN the AFICIONADOS
To receive our world of travel and style delivered straight to your inbox.
Maybe, like us, you had no clue that Sweden has a thriving surf culture, but I’ll bet you that, considering the Swedes’ reputation for relaxed perfection, it’s totally awesome!
In kind of a backwards version of the story told in Stacy Peralta’s legendary 2001 documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, sometime in the late 70s Per Torstensson, Stisse Bengtsson, Micki Carlsson and Ake Gylling decided to take their skateboarding skills and hit the waves. The resulting, mythic Porridge Bay Surf Club was at the forefront of the sport in Sweden’s West Coast where famously tight-lipped local surfers still safeguard the hottest stretches for the areas best surf.
After a day in the water, or a day just watching, head back to the city to chill out (and maybe warm up!) at The Aficionados’ insider tip in Gothenburg, Hotel Flora.
The ancient Caledonian forest and its temperate pines are still in evidence and here red deer, osprey, golden eagle and the native wolf can be seen. Sea cliffs, mirror-like lochs and peaty bogs reveal more diversity from guillemots, otters and seals.
read more
A restoration den of raw genius – a weathered Tuscan house close to Montefollonico that has been allowed to expose her weathered elements and complemented with chic salvaged interiors. An imaginative retreat of utter, rustic romance.
Escape to Tinos – the Greek island of over 60 Cycladic villages, art, culture, great natural food, pristine beaches and enough churches (1500+) to feel totally blessed – and slip into a new way of living, the Tinos way.
read more
Adventure cycling through the Alps is in itself a wondrous experience – pedalling the heights through the UNESCO Dolomites is the peak (no pun intended) and is surely on every cycle-adrenalin-junkies’ bucket list.
read more
Cool design, contemporary styling and a hug to local island culture make our pick of five easy-to-get-to Cycladic island escapes of Santorini, Tinos, Syros, Sérifos and Koufonisia, all the more irresistible.
read more
Looking 200 years into the future. Wildland is one of Scotland's largest conservation projects, returning the Highlands back to nature and re-growing the pine forests.
read more
Monocle, the global affairs and lifestyle magazine founded by Tyler Brûlé, highlights South Tyrol in the Italian Alps for it's Travel Top 50 Awards - see where.
read more
Hike with the cows in this Alpine adventure of outdoor Austrian idylls, a famed foodie hotspot, the ladies have it good up here in Vorarlberg's Bregenzerwald.
read more
Peruse your ultimate ski holiday edit for a truly design-led breakdown of top winter destinations in the Alps (and what to wear while there, too).
read more
The "Südtirol/Alto Adige" is all about a marriage of culture, language, tradition and nature, for this small pocket of Northern Italy shares more than just a border with Austria, this is an Alpinista lifestyle that flirts with Dolce Vita, where extreme sports junkies fuse with foodie aficionados and mother nature cradles the spectacular of the Dolomites.
read more
In a toned-down material palette of stone, timber, metal and glass, the brutal stone exteriors are hushed by Danish functionality: each piece of furniture carefully considered so as to embellish nothing but the raw landscapes, framed in oak.
Set against the forested Beskydy (Beskids) range in the Carpathian Mountains, this 200-year-old designer hideaway fosters modern Czech country living whilst giving heritage a hug, decked in whites, linens and twisted rafters.
read more
To receive our world of travel and style delivered straight to your inbox.