There are precious few spots that are both
off the grid and out of this world. We asked a dozen professional
globe-trotters to take us to their most secret hideaways.
By Melinda Page
Saint-Sauvant, France
Recommended by Zane Lamprey, host of Spike TV's
Three Sheets.
Lamprey's favorite destination is quiet Saint-Sauvant (population:
517), in the heart of cognac country: "It's my fantasy version of
France." Saint-Sauvant is a quintessential 14th-century village, with a
fortified tower, four winding streets, and only one place to stay, the
Design Hôtel des Francs Garçons. Outside, the hotel looks like any
medieval building: thick walls, wood shutters, and a tiled roof. But
inside, a team of seven French, American, and British architects has
transformed everything. The reception is a modernist forest with
black-and-white wallpaper hand-printed with leafless trees. Out back, a
swimming pool abuts the village's 12th-century Romanesque church, a
French cultural monument. There's not much else to Saint-Sauvant, which
is fine with Lamprey. "They have a pace of life I could get accustomed
to," he says. "Lunch lasts for at least two hours, and it may just be
two pieces of bread and some ham and cheese. But for some reason, it
takes the French a long time to eat a sandwich." francsgarcons.com,
doubles from $127.
An aerial view of Australia's Lord Howe Island, a two-hour flight from Sydney.
Photo: R. Ian Lloyd
Recommended by Charles Veley, founder of most
traveledpeople.com. Trekked more than 2 million miles (so far) on his
quest to see each country, territory, dependency, and island in the
world.
Veley likes Lord Howe Island so much that he's been there twice. That
means something for a man on a mission to collect every passport stamp
in the world. The crescent-shaped island, a two-hour flight northeast of
Sydney,
is just seven miles from tip to tip, with a long white stretch of
lagoon beach at its center and emerald green mountains at either end.
Don't miss the starfish in the tide pools near the lagoon and the
hand-fed fish at the lovely and secluded Neds Beach. Wherever you go,
you're not going to get lost; there's just one main street and only 18
small-scale hotels such as the 19-room bungalow-style Leanda Lei
Apartments. "It's just you and fabulous white sand with the most
beautiful palm trees all around."
The lunar landscape of Keahiakawelo, Lanai, where thousands of years of wind erosion have created spires and towers.
Photo: Maryellen McGrath/ Landov
Recommended by Valerie Yong Ock Kim, film-location scout and professional photographer. Has scouted exotic spots for scenes in
Pirates of the Caribbean,
The Tempest, and
Batman Forever, among other films.
You need a four-wheel-drive vehicle to get to Keahiakawelo, which
could easily stand in for the surface of Mars in a Hollywood
blockbuster. On the northwest side of Lanai-the least populated of the
Hawaiian Islands-the
sweep of red rock gardens and giant boulders pops against a backdrop of
blue skies and ocean. "I don't know of any place else like it," says
Yong Ock Kim. "The wind actually rolls the rocks around." Being in
Hawaii, you can certainly decamp to the beach, but it's far more
interesting to visit with Kepa Maly, the executive director of the Lanai
Culture & Heritage Center. "He makes the trip worth it," Kim says.
"He knows all the stories."
A vegetable stall at the central market in Sucre, Bolivia.
Photo: Jerome Lorieau
Recommended by Laura Aviva, owner of L'Aviva Home. Tracks down
indigenous, handcrafted housewares for hotels and interior designers,
and for her online boutique, lavivahome.com.
Sucre has year-round high temperatures in the mid-70s and a
collection of whitewashed buildings that have earned it the name La
Ciudad Blanca. But it's the culture that Aviva found most alluring on a
recent trip. "Even functional items like potato sacks were woven with
lovely striped patterns," Aviva says. After checking into the Parador
Santa Maria La Real, "a little hidden gem of a place" with vaulted brick
ceilings and interior courtyards, Aviva headed to nearby Potosi and
Tarabuco: "The women emerged from their houses and started asking if I
wanted to see their
tejidos (weavings). It's a great cultural exchange-and an opportunity to pick up some amazing textiles."
The ancient village of Dartio in Georgia's Tusheti region.
Photo: Courtesy Wild Frontiers
Recommended by Jonny Bealby, founder of Wild Frontiers
adventure travel company. Explores Niger, Laos, Pakistan, and beyond for
trips to the world's most remote locations.
You won't want to go to Tusheti if you're afraid of heights. Hidden
deep in the Caucasus Mountains, the region's villages cling to
dizzyingly steep slopes that are as picturesque as they are precarious.
That's all part of the allure to Bealby. Of Georgia's Tusheti region,
the inveterate adventurer describes a land "with centuries-old defensive
towers, mountaintop castles, and stone shrines," some of which, like
Guest House Lamata, are being transformed into basic lodgings with
simple wooden furniture. Newly open to visitors after the dissolution of
the USSR and Georgia's Rose Revolution of 2003, Tusheti can now be
explored on foot or from the saddle of a sure-footed horse. There are
sheep grazing in almost every nook and cranny, from the rolling
grasslands up near the ridged peaks down to the glacial lakes below them
and all around the gorges coursing with white-water streams. You'll
also pass through hamlets like Shenako, with a rough-hewn stone church
and houses adorned with lacy wood balconies. At night, you'll be well
entertained by the locals, whom Bealby describes as "the most hospitable
and fun people in the world."
The dining room in Castello di Verduno, in Italy's Piedmont Region, where guests can sample Barolo from the castle's cellars.
Photo: Andrea Wyner
Recommended by Rob Kaufelt, owner of Murray's Cheese, a New
York fixture for 70 years. Explores cheese-making regions - Ireland,
France, England, Spain, Italy - for artisanal products.
One of the best dinners of Kaufelt's life-and as a guy who
essentially eats for a living, there have been plenty of great ones-was
in the Piedmontese village of Verduno. "I was staying at the Castello di
Verduno, and the restaurant there was just incredible," Kaufelt says.
He describes plates full of white-truffled pasta dishes. Dinner was
served in a red-walled dining room with soaring ceilings in a crumbling
18th-century castle. In good weather, you can decamp to the palm-dotted
garden to sip Barolo made from local grapes and cellared in barrels
beneath the hotel. The Castello makes an ideal base for a foodie
pilgrimage through Piedmont. "The whole region is teeming with good
food-I almost smashed up my car when a family of wild boars went running
across the road in front of me once," Kaufelt says.
Doe Bay, on Washington State's Orcas Island, which has an unassuming resort of the same name.
Photo: Cameron Zegers Photography
Recommended by Alex Calderwood, founder of Ace Hotels.
Converts distressed properties (a bus station, a Salvation Army depot)
into boutique hotels in
New York and along the West Coast.
Before he opened his first Ace Hotel in
Seattle
in 1993, Calderwood threw a popular series of warehouse parties. His
ability to define and create "cool" has organically grown into not just
the Ace franchise, but also Rudy's, an old-school barbershop with 14
locations across the West Coast; and a marketing agency called
Neverstop. To fuel all of his endeavors, Calderwood travels constantly.
Over time, a theme has emerged: He's drawn to laid-back spots that blend
high- and low-culture influences. Doe Bay, on Washington State's Orcas
Island, is just his kind of place. "It's got a great blend of hippie
kids mixed in with older hikers and naturalists," Calderwood says. The
small inlet on the Pacific Ocean is home to an unassuming resort of the
same name. "Doe Bay isn't a design spot. You're not going there to get
pampered. There's nothing pretentious about it-and that's exactly what
makes it great," Calderwood says. Doe Bay's reception building looks
like an old general store-albeit one festooned with colorful flags-and
beyond that there's a small clutch of yurts, campsites, and
old-fashioned cabins sprinkled through the woods and along the shore.
For Calderwood, it's the sauna and hot- and cold-water soaking pools
that bring him back. "The pools sit on a platform that overlooks the
most incredible view of the bay, with other islands off in the distance.
When you're done with the pool, you can run down a little path and jump
straight into the sound."
South Africa's wild Cederberg Mountains, which surround the picturesque town of Wuppertal, four hours north of Cape Town.
Photo: Awie Badenhorst/ Alamy
Recommended by Sarah Scarborough, buyer for the Republic of
Tea company. Works with the Rainforest Alliance and the Ethical Tea
Partnership to find new products worldwide.
Scarborough has lived from
Alaska to
New Zealand,
and she's touched down on all continents. But the one place that
thrills her every time is the South African town of Wuppertal, four
hours northeast of
Cape Town.
"It's a pure, wild scene," says Scarborough, who is often greeted by
farmers lugging their produce to market on donkey carts. "The air has a
very minerally quality, and you can see forever." Despite the arid
landscape, there's water everywhere. "My favorite swimming hole on the
entire planet is outside of town. It's a bit of a treacherous climb down
the side of a cliff to reach the water, but once you descend you can
sunbathe on a water-worn rock in the shallows, play under the waterfall,
then rest in the shade of cedar trees with the big blue sky above you,"
Scarborough says. For the evening, she recommends staying in one of the
town's several cottages or pitching a tent at the Algeria Campground on
the Rondegat River. "I've never been to a more perfect place to gaze at
the stars."
The remote Himalayan village of Namje in Nepal, accessible only by footpath.
Photo: Courtesy Stephanie Odegard
Recommended by Stephanie Odegard, founder and president of
Odegard Inc. Works with craftsmen to create a line of hand-knotted
carpets that preserve native handicraft traditions.
There are no roads to Namje. The only way to get to the Nepalese
village is along a series of footpaths with views of Mount Makalu, the
world's fifth-tallest peak. Not that getting to those footpaths is easy;
you'll have to wrangle a flight from
Kathmandu
to the town of Biratnagar, which is itself an hour's drive from the
trailhead. Buddha Air offers daily flights from Kathmandu to Biratnagar,
the closest access point to Namje. It's no surprise that the place only
sees a handful of outsiders a year. Odegard came upon it while she was
searching for local women to harvest fiber for her rug company. "After
my trip to Namje," she says, "I felt like I'd never been farther away
from home." Namje's isolation has been its saving grace. "The native
Magar people live very close to nature, and there's an incredible amount
of spiritual activity," Odegard says. You can climb to the top of
Thumki Hill and visit the sacred burial ground where the villagers, who
still practice animism, worship their ancestors. Odegard suggests
staying at the Hotel Himalaya and trekking the footpaths between
villages to catch the stunning sunrises and sunsets.
Devils Leap in Wyoming's Bighorn Basin, sitting in the backyard of outdoor-friendly town of Buffalo.
Photo: Iconotec/ Alamy
Recommended by Andy Holak, cofounder of the Adventure Running
Company. Searches for backcountry tour routes that feature grazing
bison, mountain lakes, and stunning peaks.
An accomplished ultramarathoner, Holak thinks nothing of running 50 miles in a day. On a recent long-haul race to
Dayton, Wyo.,
he discovered Buffalo and immediately decided it was one of his
favorite outdoorsy gems: "Buffalo has that nice mix of cowboys and
kayakers." The town's undiscovered status means you'll have the trails
to yourself, and its superb location at the foot of the Bighorns offers
immediate access to some of the best recreation areas in the country.
"It's one of the closest jumping-off points for climbing Cloud Peak,"
Holak says; at 13,167 feet, Cloud Peak is the highest point in the
Bighorn range. But even mellow day hikes are rewarded with dramatic
endings here, such as the one found at Bucking Mule Falls, which plunges
600 feet down a steep rock face into Devil Canyon. Drives, too, are
almost distractingly scenic. It's hard to top a cruise in the car out to
Crazy Woman Canyon, where a narrow dirt road hugs a creek and steep
rock walls cast a golden glow. Then there's the excellent rock climbing
at Ten Sleep Canyon and the plentiful cross-country skiing trails in
winter. It doesn't hurt that Main Street is movie-set picturesque, with
rows of well-preserved mercantile shops and saloons from the late 1800s
now transformed into art galleries and outdoor outfitters.
Source : us.yahoo.com
