A Sky Full of Wishes

The Passenger is a weekly dispatch on travel — places, hotels, restaurants, the strange logistics of being elsewhere. It is written by Bergotte. Chiang Mai in November, the ancient city of the Lanna kingdom, and the night the sky catches fire Last week this column made the case for Bangkok — overwhelming, oceanic, inexhaustible. ThisContinue reading “A Sky Full of Wishes”

The City People Keep Missing

The Passenger is a weekly dispatch on travel — places, hotels, restaurants, the strange logistics of being elsewhere. It is written by Bergotte. Athens in September, and the case for treating it as a destination rather than a gateway The standard relationship between the serious traveller and Athens is one of transit. You fly in,Continue reading “The City People Keep Missing”

The Place That Refuses to Try

The Passenger is a weekly dispatch on travel — places, hotels, restaurants, the strange logistics of being elsewhere. It is written by Bergotte. Comporta, Portugal, and the particular luxury of somewhere that has decided not to become anything other than itself There is a type of place that becomes fashionable precisely because it has notContinue reading “The Place That Refuses to Try”

The Season Opens

The Passenger is a weekly dispatch on travel — places, hotels, restaurants, the strange logistics of being elsewhere. It is written by Bergotte. Vienna in September, and what happens when a city built for culture remembers what it is for Vienna in July and August belongs, with varying degrees of reluctance, to the tourists. TheyContinue reading “The Season Opens”

The Light Does Something Different Here

The Passenger is a weekly dispatch on travel — places, hotels, restaurants, the strange logistics of being elsewhere. It is written by Bergotte. Puglia in September, and why the heel of Italy is best when everyone else has left The thing about Puglia that no amount of photographs has ever managed to convey is theContinue reading “The Light Does Something Different Here”

The Sweetest Month

The Passenger is a weekly dispatch on travel — places, hotels, restaurants, the strange logistics of being elsewhere. It is written by Bergotte. Why serious travellers go to Sicily in September August in Sicily is a fact of nature rather than a choice. The island sits in the middle of the Mediterranean like a stoneContinue reading “The Sweetest Month”

Exit Through the Gift Shop

The Passenger is a weekly dispatch on travel — places, hotels, restaurants, the strange logistics of being elsewhere. It is written by Bergotte. The Guilty Pleasure A confession about museum gift shops, and the twenty best ones in the world Let us be honest about this. The museum gift shop is not supposed to beContinue reading “Exit Through the Gift Shop”

The City That Comes Back to Itself

The Passenger is a weekly dispatch on travel — places, hotels, restaurants, the strange logistics of being elsewhere. It is written by Bergotte. Paris, and why September is the only month that matters There is a particular quality of light in Paris in late August that travel writing has never quite managed to capture, perhapsContinue reading “The City That Comes Back to Itself”

Villa San Michele

Above Florence Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, has just reopened above Fiesole after eighteen months of renovation — and the view from the terrace is, as it has always been, the finest available in Tuscany There is a concept the Romans called otium — a form of leisure quite distinct from idleness, devoted toContinue reading “Villa San Michele”

In Minor Keys

The Venice Biennale opens on the 9th of May. How to go, how long to stay, and why the city is as much the point as the art The Venice Biennale is the largest and oldest contemporary art exhibition in the world — 131 years old, held every two years in the city least suitedContinue reading “In Minor Keys”