STAY > QUALIA, Hamilton Island, Queensland (19/20)

Qualia on Hamilton Island remains the benchmark for barefoot Australian luxury, adults-only, 60-pavilion resort on the Great Barrier Reef where privacy, understated design and genuine sense of place outweigh any single showpiece amenity. AMBIENCE > Qualia occupies the secluded northern tip of Hamilton Island, set within roughly 30 acres of tropical gardens above the Coral…

ByCrispinJuly 12, 2026

STAY > San Francisco STAY > USA WHERE TO STAY >

STAY > The Clift Royal Sonesta, San Francisco (17/20)

The Clift Royal Sonesta San Francisco is a century-old grande dame that has reinvented itself as a polished, design‑forward base camp a block from Union Square – equal parts historic theater district icon and contemporary city crash pad. For ALMANAK’s readers, it hits that sweet spot between character and comfort: a lobby that still nods…

ByCrispinJune 14, 2026

EAT > AUSTRALIA EAT > MELBOURNE EAT > VICTORIA WHERE TO EAT >

EAT > Marmelo, Melbourne (18/20)

Marmelo is a suave, wood‑fired love letter to Portugal that feels purpose‑built for Melbourne: ambitious but relaxed, visually dramatic yet quietly comforting, and already one of the CBD’s most compelling hotel dining rooms. In our opinion Marmelo is the best Portuguese restaurant (in Australia) There is something about Portugal that I find incredibly appealing,…

ByCrispinJune 14, 2026

STAY > NYC STAY > USA WHERE TO STAY >

STAY > HOTEL PUBLIC, New York (17/20)

New York is a city of infinite choice but when one of the choices is a place that a lower east side base to work and party, then Ian Schrager has made the perfect hotel for you. Hotel PUBLIC is more than a hotel it is a party base on the Lower East Side AMBIENCE…

ByCrispinJune 7, 2026

VISIT > AUSTRALIA Visit > Barossa Valley VISIT > SA

VISIT > Charles Melton Winery, Barossa Valley

Charles Melton is one of the Barossa’s most essential cellar doors: intimate, quietly confident and focused on serious, long-lived reds that reward attention as much as they reward time in the cellar. This is a visit for people who care about old vines, thoughtful blends and wines that have shaped the region’s modern identity. VISIT…

ByCrispinMay 30, 2026

STAY > JAPAN STAY > TOKYO WHERE TO STAY >

STAY > Fairmont Hotel, Tokyo (18/20)

Fairmont Tokyo is a polished new arrival on Tokyo Bay: a vertical, glass‑wrapped refuge that delivers classic Fairmont theatre with a distinctly Japanese sense of restraint and ritual. It is also the brand’s long‑anticipated debut in Japan, perched high above Shibaura with big‑screen views of Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge and the working harbour below. Tokyo…

ByCrispinMay 25, 2026

SKI > ITALY

SKI > Cortina d’Ampezzo, Dolomites Italy

The Dolomites is one of the very best places in the world to ski (well it does depend on what you want from a ski holiday). Stunning scenery, wonderful long runs, exceptional food options and of course it was host to the recent winter Olympics. Cortina d’Ampezzo is the Dolomites’ grande dame: a stylish,…

ByCrispinMay 11, 2026

STAY > JAPAN STAY > KYOTO WHERE TO STAY >

STAY > Luxury Hotel Sowaka, Kyoto (18/20)

Luxury Hotel Sowaka is Kyoto distilled: a quietly opulent machiya hideaway that feels more like a cultivated private residence than a hotel, yet sits steps from Yasaka Shrine and the lantern-lit lanes of Gion Luxury Hotel Sowaka in Gion is just the place to relax in Kyoto AMBIENCE > Slip through the noren at Sowaka…

ByCrispinMay 3, 2026

DRINK > WINE DRINK > WINE > Pinot Noir

WINE > Wilimee Pinot Noir, 2024 (17/20)

There are Pinot Noirs that announce themselves loudly, and then there are wines that arrive with the quiet authority of deep soil and older vines. The Wilimee Pinot Noir 2024 is unequivocally the latter — a wine that carries the ancient weight of rare Cambrian and granite geology, shaped by cool altitude and a pair…

ByCrispinApril 26, 2026

EAT > AUSTRALIA EAT > GC EAT > NOOSA EAT > SA EAT > SOUTHERN VALES WHERE TO EAT >

EAT > Victory Hotel, Sellicks Hill (16/20)

There are pubs that age badly, and there are pubs that age magnificently. The Victory Hotel, perched on the brow of Sellicks Hill with a panorama stretching across Aldinga Bay and the Fleurieu coast, belongs emphatically to the latter camp. This is one of Australia's great gastropubs — weathered, warm and quietly formidable, with a…

ByCrispinApril 26, 2026