My Travel
A test itinerary to verify catalog intel (duration, inclusions, Virtuoso benefits, meeting points, images, maps) renders correctly in the client preview.
Immerse in Japanese craft and tranquil gardens anchored by the newly unveiled Capella Kyoto in the Miyagawa-cho geisha district. Connect intimately with traditional living masters, private zen temples, and elite kaiseki dining.
Japan's northern frontier — powder skiing, red-crowned cranes, and ryokan onsen retreats without the Kyoto crowds.
Classic cars, crumbling Baroque architecture, extraordinary live music — Havana frozen in 1959 and unlike any other city in the Americas.
Hike to active lava flows at night — molten rock meeting the ocean, visible from 50 meters.
Stay in a private trulli conversion and tour olive oil estates in Italy's undiscovered heel.
Brittany (northwest France, Celtic heritage, almost its own country in attitude and culture) is the most different region of France from what Americans expect — wild granite coastline, tidal islands, menhirs and dolmens from 3,000 BC, a distinct Celtic language (Breton), extraordinary seafood (Cancale oysters, Breton lobster, crab), and butter-based cuisine that is completely unlike the rest of France. GR34 COASTAL PATH: The entire Brittany coastline is traced by the GR34 (2,000km, full route) — the most scenic section is the Finistère Coast (Crozon Peninsula and Cap Sizun) and the Pink Granite Coast (Côte de Granit Rose) near Perros-Guirec. Self-guided hiking with luggage forwarding (services like Chemins Bretons handle this) is the correct FIT format. FINISTÈRE: The westernmost point of continental France — the cliffs at Pointe du Raz (73m above the sea, the "Land's End" of France) are extraordinary. The Crozon Peninsula (30 minutes west of Brest) has the most dramatic section of coast. CANCELE OYSTERS: The oyster beds at Cancale (Mont Saint-Michel Bay) have been cultivating oysters since Roman times. At the market on the quay, you buy oysters directly from the grower, open them on the spot, and eat them with lemon and Muscadet. $8 for a dozen. This is the best single food experience in France. SELLING: "Brittany looks more like the Aran Islands than France — granite cliffs, stone villages, and the wind always in. The oysters at Cancale cost $8 for a dozen and you eat them on the dock. This is the France that doesn't appear on postcards."
Extremadura (western Spain, on the Portuguese border) is the most overlooked region of mainland Spain — a vast empty plateau of dehesa (cork oak and holm oak woodland) where Iberian pigs roam free producing the world's finest jamón ibérico, storks nest on every church tower, and two of Spain's most extraordinary historical sites exist in complete peace. MÉRIDA: The Roman capital of Hispania (1st century BC) — better preserved Roman infrastructure than almost anywhere outside Italy. The Roman Theatre (25 BC, still staging summer performances — Classical Theatre Festival of Mérida, July–August) and the amphitheatre (capacity 15,000) are UNESCO World Heritage. The National Museum of Roman Art (designed by Rafael Moneo, 1986 — the best modern building in Extremadura) holds extraordinary Roman artifacts. Almost no foreign tourists. TRUJILLO: The medieval hometown of Francisco Pizarro (the conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire). The Plaza Mayor is one of the finest Renaissance squares in Spain — still lined with the palaces built by returning conquistadors with Peruvian gold. The hilltop castle (Moorish, 10th century) and Pizarro's equestrian statue (bronze, 1927) are the anchors. IBERIAN PIG CIRCUIT: The jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn-fed black-footed pig) produced in Extremadura is the finest cured meat in the world — $200/kg at Huelva shops. Private visits to a dehesa farm ($80/person) where you walk the oak woodland with the pigs in autumn. SELLING: "The Roman Theatre in Mérida was built in 25 BC. They're still doing classical theatre performances in it. You're the only foreign tourists in a town where the Roman Empire is more present than anywhere outside Rome."