Designed with playful elegance by the American-born Parisian, Bambi Sloan, the Jura Lodge is part of the island’s famous distillery, and we recently had the privilege of being invited to spend time there; to experience the island, get under the skin of their unique range of malts, and to hopefully avoid the lodge’s other famous spirit; its supposed resident ghost.

The lodge is truly delightful and truly exclusive, there’s 5 grandly furnished bedrooms, an opulent music room, a wonderfully retro kitchen and a lounge with eye-blistering views; all for a mere £2,500 a night. With a feeling of luxury, decadence and eccentricity – yet ultimately befitting of its surroundings – Bambi Sloan’s remodelled lodge is not just a stylish country retreat, it’s also the sort of place your childhood dreams were made of; you expect there to be a secret room behind the bookcase, you expect the suit of armour to walk around after midnight… And if you’ve had enough of the local spirit, it sometimes does.

The picture windows look out over the idyllic village of Craighouse with its handful of white buildings, picturesque stoney waterfront and yesteryear way of life. We’re taken on a short tour up the island’s one road; we visit a tiny parish with an even tinier, un-manned library where locals pop in to swap books, a graveyard where a number of Knights Templar rest, and drop in on ‘Tea on the Beach’; a lonely table on the beach on which a walkie talkie peculiarly sits, a local lady waiting in a house nearby to bring tea to passers by who get in touch. It’s a remarkably beautiful island, curiously there’s native palm trees, the elegant three peaks of the Paps of Jura are omnipresent and the famous red deer (they outnumber humans on the island by some 40-1) are around every turn.

On our way to the perilous Corryvreckan Whirlpool

In fairness, the island can be just as hostile as it is beautiful, we’re taken to witness the fierce waters of the Corryvreckan Whirlpool, passing the remote lodge where Orwell wrote his iconic 1984 on the way; the writer himself having to be rescued from the whirlpool’s clutches in 1947 following an ill-fated boat trip with his son, niece and nephew. We experience the feeling of isolation the locals endure, when weather halts the island’s only ferry. We’re, of course, bombarded by wind and rain too, but once back inside the lodge, all is calm. It’s like an oasis of serenity amongst the island’s rugged charms; there’s no television, no mobile reception and a supply of high-grade single malt that even we can’t begin to decimate.

Jura Single Malt Whisky’s global ambassador Willie Tait talks us through their malts

And what about that single malt? There may be just one road, one hotel, one pub and one shop, but around the world the island’s name is synonymous with its famous whisky; just a few minutes spent with locals in the solitary watering hole and you realise its the life and soul of the island. And having spent time with the distillery’s manager, Willie Cochrane, and global ambassador Willie Tait – with all their passion and knowledge – it’s clear why it’s not just the Diurachs (the locals) who are in love with this fine liquid.

As you kick back in the lodge’s majestic antler arm chair with a ‘wee dram’, take in the resplendent views, and eye-up the classic typewriter, you begin to imagine yourself as a classic writer of Orwell’s calibre. You’re so disconnected from the real world that time begins to stand still; it’s just you, the uncompromising beauty of the island, and this truly exquisite lodge. You begin to feel that this might be the greatest place on earth…

The Zetter Townhouse, London

“Taxidermy, eclectic antiques and opulence battle for space with street art, mid-20th century retro classics and an abundance of lavish fabrics – all perfectly balanced, all perfectly outlandish.”

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The Nolitan Hotel, New York

“There’s sumptuous luxury, there’s du jour style, there’s indulgence and sophistication, and there’s the location.”

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Hotel La Maison, Champs Elysées

“Operating with a strictly monochrome simplicity, Maison Martin Margiela have bucked the trend of overly-opulent fashion hotels – think Missioni or Armani – and followed their ethos of understated and offbeat, employing style and humor over lavish statements.”

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Public Chicago

“This is Schrager for the third millennium; “anti-flash”, “anti-design” and “sick of slick”.”

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Hotel Básico, Playa del Carmen, Mexico

“Appealing to a young, style-savvy crowd, Hotel Básico is afforded the right to play with traditional hotel conventions, and in doing so, has redefined the boundaries of design hotels.”

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Photograph by Åke E:son Lindman

Nobis Hotel, Stockholm

“Each space, from the lobby to lounges, corridors to rooms has its own unique identity which ranges from the quirky to extravagant, all while being fun and relaxed in a gentle colour scheme influenced by the capital city and surroundings.”

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Photograph by Benjamin Hofer

The Proposal, Zürich

“The Proposal is not just a gallery, but possibly the most astonishingly unique b&b we can recall.”

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The House Hotel Nişantaşı

“Decadent is once more a word that springs to mind, Autoban’s trait of using rich, dark wood, elegantly-muted, earthy hues and their own custom pieces of furniture lend this chic property a wonderfully retro, yet decidedly luxurious appeal.”

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Hotel Acta Mimic Barcelona

“Barcelona’s Hotel Acta Mimic shares an unpolished vibrancy with its local surroundings, the infamously seedy, yet decidedly creative, El Raval district.”

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Lucia Nova, Valletta

“With a ‘No Hotel’ philosophy, that’s aimed at stamping out hotel clichés, Lucia Nova is property with its own very special identity.”

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Treehotel, Sweden

“Situated approximately 60 km south of the Arctic Circle, the Treehotel is a series of breathtaking tree houses, perched high in the Boreal forest.”

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W Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island

“Patricia Urquiola’s vision of paradise is of bold, beautiful colours and unique materials alongside her own sensational furniture.”

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The Merlion Hotel by Tatzu Nishi, Singapore

“With its head of a lion and body of a fish, the imaginary Merlion statue has been an icon of Singapore since 1972 and the iconic figure is now ready to take centre stage in what has to be one of the most sensational hotel rooms of all time.”

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Indulgence Divine, Malta

“A home away from home for two, Indulgence Divine is a perfectly chic residence from which to explore this decidedly up-and-coming island that, whisper it, is somewhat of a secret party destination.”

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nhow Berlin, by NH Hoteles

“It says something about the unique musical proposition offered by nhow Berlin that we haven’t waxed lyrical over Rashid’s characteristically surreal dream-world, but then pictures speak a thousand words, so here you go.”

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The trip starts in style. I’m met directly off the plane, on the jet bridge, by a smartly attired young chap who whisks me through passport checks and baggage collection at Charles de Gaulle and into a private chauffeur-driven car that rushes through the French countryside, into the glorious Champagne-Ardenne region and to the elegant cathedral city of Reims. Hotel du Marc is pretty imposing, it feels a little bit like you’re coming to visit royalty and the “quick snack” I’m presented with upon arrival is certainly fit for a king…

The regal property – part of the Clicquot family’s estate since 1840 and a former residence of Madame Clicquot herself – bears only a few scars from the WWI fighting that decimated the surrounding city, extensive work to the façade retaining them as if to add that ‘prize-fighter’ character. But, resplendent as the exteriors may be, it’s inside where the magic happens. The former colleague of Andrée Putman and creative force behind Cartier’s international boutiques, Bruno Moinard, was the man chosen by the champagne house’s Directrice Générale, Sabina Belli, to revolutionise the interiors of this historic mansion, and what a job he’s done…

It’s as if you’re spending the night inside the bastard lovechild of the Louvre and Tate Modern, and every bit as brilliant as that sounds too.

Fusing the house’s unquestionable heritage with blistering, contemporary works from world-renowned designers and artists, Moinard has masterminded a very special restoration that’s firmly in keeping with the brand’s reputation for mixing it at the forefront of international design. One-off commissions, such as Pablo Reinoso‘s mind-boggling reworking of his famous Spaghetti Bench [pictured above], are around every corner and rest alongside original artworks and features from the 1800s… It’s as if you’re spending the night inside the bastard lovechild of the Louvre and Tate Modern, and every bit as brilliant as that sounds too.

We intriguingly experience two sides to the Hotel du Marc’s decidedly lavish bar; by day we’re invited to muck in on the cooking of our own seafood lunch (complete with signature yellow pinnies) and by night, rather inexplicably, the lights go down, out roll two projector screens and the space transforms into a kind of hip Parisian bar, complete with Lady Gaga live videos. Honestly… It’s a bit of a shock but offers a valuable insight into the brand; yes it’s steeped in history and old world heritage, but is equally playful and extravagant. It also compounds the fact that Hotel du Marc is a place for any occasion, for any guest. Friends of the house, from pop stars to dignitaries, will all find their very own little slice of special here.

Upon “checking-out” we’re treated to a tour of the brand’s breathtaking 24 kilometres of chalk cellars, housed underneath the Saint-Nicaise hills. Amongst some of the world’s oldest champagnes, we had the pleasure of witnessing, first hand, one of the bottles of Veuve Clicquot discovered in a Baltic Sea shipwreck off the Åland Islands of Finland. Thought to date from the early 1840s, a bottle has recently sold for €30,000, the world record for a bottle of champagne. Whirlwind tour over and we’re heading back to Paris; this adventure, it seems, has only just begun…

To be continued…

The Association of British Travel Agents recently revealed that New York, Dubai, Toronto and Boston – all about a six to seven-hour flight from the UK – are now among the most popular short-break, long-haul destinations. With many airlines and travel companies offering competitively priced flights and packages to these cities, they have become a more realistic option for many taking short breaks. So what is it about these far-flung places that justifies all those hours in the air?

New York

The Big Apple has long been one of the most popular US destinations for British travellers, boasting a relatively short flight time compared to many other stateside cities. Discount shopping opportunities attract many people taking short breaks, with Manhattan stores, including Century 21, TJ Maxx, Filene’s Basement and Loehmann’s , and out-of-town discount centres such as Woodbury Common, offering high-fashion at lower prices. New York’s legendary Broadway shows, iconic Central Park and a plethora of fine dining establishments also attract those looking to enjoy the hustle and bustle of one of the world’s most famous cities.

Frank Gehry’s Stata Center, Boston; by See-ming Lee

Boston

Now considered by many to be on a par with New York as a top US shopping destination, Boston has enjoyed increased popularity with huge numbers of British tourists taking short breaks there over recent years. Flight time is similar to that of New York trips, and the city offers similar discount shopping opportunities to that of Manhattan, with its own Filene’s Basement, as well as designer-packed consignment stores and out-of-town outlets such as Wrentham Village and Kittery. One of the oldest cities in the US, Boston also has a wealth of museums and cultural attractions, from the John F Kennedy Museum to the Museum of Fine Arts, and many parks and sports grounds for those who enjoy an active break.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai; by Guido Merkelbach

Dubai

Dubai’s climate, as well as its ultra-modern infrastructure and facilities, make it a popular short-break destination all year round. Many of the emirate’s hotels and tourist hubs have been built, or at least significantly upgraded, over the past ten years, and man-made pleasure islands, luxury spas and sports arenas are among the high-spec attractions. Tax-free shopping, dune buggy rides and horse racing are also enjoyed by those taking short breaks, and state-of-the-art business facilities make it a popular destination for work as well as pleasure.

Alsop Architects’ Sharp Centre for Design at Ontario College of Art and Design; by Dominic Bugatto

Toronto

The US isn’t the only country in the Americas to attract impressive numbers of long-haul tourists from the UK. Close to the US border, Toronto is Canada’s financial and cultural capital, and a realistic short-break proposition. As well as discount shopping in out-of-town centres such as Canada One Factory Outlets and Dixie Outlet Mall, Toronto boasts a thriving retail and cultural centre. The 550m CN Tower offers spectacular views, a glass-bottomed viewing pod and fine dining in the revolving restaurant. And those looking to get out and about can take day trips to Niagara Falls, or take the ferry to one of the city’s eight islands – offering up 568 acres of parkland which can be explored by bike or by foot. Kayaking and canoeing are also popular pastimes for tourists.

However short your trip, taking out travel insurance is an essential part of any holiday planning, particularly when entering countries with different health care arrangements. Search for travel insurance online to get a quote that meets your specific requirements. If you take several short breaks a year, it may work out cheaper to invest in multi-trip travel insurance. Researching your foreign currency online and purchasing in advance can also get you the best travel money deals available.

So it’s a little cloudy inside my head, and the super-jeep bouncing over ravines may well be churning last night’s dinner, Brennivín and Eskimojitos into some kind of potent Icelandic soup but, as the landscape outside comes into focus, all ill-feeling quickly subsides. This is the Iceland you see on TV. Raw, unrelenting terrain. We’ve just freshened up at Seljalandsfoss, a 60m high waterfall that you can walk behind, and now rough volcanic rock is where the road should have been for the last 30 minutes or so. Finally, we stop and are instructed to exit – with the help of a small step ladder – the jeep. We’re standing in the Gígjökull glacier lagoon [first photo], or at least what once was the lagoon. Last year’s Eyjafjallajokull eruption filled the former lagoon with ash and volcanic debris, creating a thoroughly eerie space, a lunar landscape that quite literally transports you far from the earth you’re familar with, to something that is extraordinarily unique. We take off and are soon bouncing around a volcanic beach. Reynisfjara beach to be precise. Iceland’s southern most tip, and quite possibly the most remote beach we’ve ever been to. We happen upon a U.S. Air Force plane that crash landed at the end of the second world war, it hasn’t been touched since, but then why would it? We really, really are in the middle of nowhere, and I like it…

After crossing streams, just missing crashing waves and scaling enormous, black sand dunes in our seemingly indestructible super-jeep, we finally pick up a road. With tarmac and everything. We pull up at some traditional farmhouses, it is in fact Þórður Tómasson’s Skógar Museum; a thoroughly eccentric collection of artifacts from Icelandic farms that Tómasson himself has been gathering for some 70 years. The man himself welcomes us, highlights his prized pieces – that include cow bone ice skates and furniture made from whale bones – and then plays us a song on his harmonium. Icelanders, it would seem, easily outdo us Brits in the eccentricity stakes…

It’s time to start making our way back to the Hotel Ranga and to that whisky tasting, needless to say my tastebuds are beginning to get somewhat excited, but we’ve another couple of stops before we taste almost a half a century of matured single malt. The first being one of the country’s biggest waterfalls, Skogafoss, is a breathtaking vision. Standing at the base of its furious fall is certainly one way to blast away any of the remaining cobwebs from last night’s shenanigans. The spray from the thunderous cascading water is quite possibly the most refreshing thing I’ve ever experienced and the hiking trail by its side is a welcome opportunity for both a much needed stretch of the legs and to build up an appetite for our next stop; dinner at the Riverside Restaurant at Hotel Selfoss. There’s local mountain lamb in abundance on my plate, and it tastes good, but the distraction of a £3,000 bottle of whisky sat half an hour away is a little too much…

The Dalmore Aurora was put into a cask the same year that The Jackson 5 formed. The Beatles hadn’t gone psychedelic, and Bob Dylan hadn’t gone electric. Aged for 45 years and only 200 bottles released, this is a serious drink. We estimate that a dram alone of this would set you back around £500 in a London hotel bar. There’s something special in the air, and hotel owner Fridrik Palsson knows it; like an excited schoolkid he joins our party, with his sommelier – and one of Iceland’s top whisky experts – Stefan Olafsson. The pressure’s on now as I ‘nose’ the ‘liquid’; I’m a whisky fan, but some of these guys really know their stuff. Like, really. But then, in a flash, as soon as I taste it the pressure is off. It feels as devilishly rich and luxurious as it should. The opulence achieved by maturing for so long is immediately evident. The fruity, orangey warmth delivered by spending its final 18 months in a 30 year old Spanish sherry cask hits you before you’ve even noticed. The table is buzzing. The experts are throwing out superlatives like they’re going out of fashion, and words like “cinnamon”, “blood oranges”, “dark chocolate”, “banana” and “caramel” are all being quickly attributed to this discerning bottle of booze. Everybody is very excited, and that’s probably the best way I could sum up this most special liquid. It’s rich. It’s luxurious, and it’s very, very exciting…

The excitement surrounding the whisky means we almost forget its namesake, the staggering natural wonder that is the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis. It’s pretty easy to forget right now though, it’s damn inhospitable out there and, well, it’s warm and cosy inside, and we’re drinking a £3,000 bottle of single malt. But in the interests of good journalism we take a short walk outside to gauge whether or not we’ll be lucky tonight. It doesn’t take long for the realisation to set in that the Aurora Borealis will evade us once more this evening, but, as we venture back into the warmth and to our very own Aurora, the disappointment doesn’t last long…

We touchdown in Keflavik’s predictably quiet airport and are picked up by our driver, who whisks us away to, well, the middle of nowhere really. The sun’s setting as we arrive in Hella, South Iceland, and the lovely, yet decidedly strange Hotel Ranga, billed as one of the world’s premier spots for seeing the elusive Aurora Borealis. It’s bleak out here, really bleak, and the Twin Peaks-esque lodge has suites with bearskins, suites with penguins and space age whirlpools, suites with North African artifacts and a bloody great stuffed polar bear in the lobby. We’re informed that Jake Gyllenhaal and Bear Grylls have just checked out, and that’s rather fitting of this place, it has an air of Grylls’ rugged wilderness, it certainly has an air of Brokeback Mountain but, as the locals begin to recount stories of elves, there’s more than a heavy dose of Donnie Darko’s reality bending madness about the place…

There’s 8 of us on the trip; travel writers, luxury writers, food and drink writers and some whisky chappies who really know their stuff. We need to bond so hit the bar, once again I don’t need much encouragement and am pleasantly surprised by the local beers – you really can taste the purity of the water, even their 9-percent-plus Belgian-style numbers are refreshingly crisp. The bottle of Dalmore Aurora is joining us for drinks, it’s like a toy dog being passed around its cooing admirers, we all position it for photographs and discuss the potential delights within but, as the hotel’s owner introduces us to the ‘black death’ – the famed local spirit, Brennivín – it’s fairly unanimously decided that we’ll leave the tasting until tomorrow when our palettes are considerably less cluttered…

The owner proudly imparts the black death’s checkered history and references in poplar culture – Dave Grohl and Quentin Tarantino are fans – and makes for the freezers where it’s being kept on ice. Half in jest, half in foolish curiosity, I shout behind him; “how about some rotten shark” – we’d earlier been discussing Iceland’s infamous ‘Hákarl’, the poisonous shark which becomes safe to eat after being ‘fermented’ for a number of months, the result being a ‘delicacy’ that evokes gagging even before tasting thanks to its ammonia-rich smell. It’s safe to say at this point that I’m not entirely popular with my new friends, especially when he promptly returns with a devilish cackle. We inspect, we smell, we gag, we chew, we swallow and we knock back a shot of Brennivín. Truth be told the dish that Gordon Ramsay couldn’t hold down and that Anthony Bourdain described as “the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing” he has ever eaten, isn’t really all that bad…

Just as some of the more bizarre of the Ranga’s suites starkly juxtapose their rugged surroundings, the restaurant’s food is strangely at odds with the rustic, sauna-like pine lodge it resides within. At odds in a good way however – you see, it’s just another of the hotel’s intriguing dichotomies – as traditional Icelandic ingredients are served up in a particularly modern fashion. The mountain lamb and lobster surf’n'turf was divine whilst the raw arctic char (trout) starter simply melts in my mouth, the wine was flowing but so was the hail, sleet and rain. Our chances of seeing the Northern Lights tonight were sinking as quickly as the bar supplies….

The locals confirm that our chances of seeing the lights tonight are as slim as waking up with a clear head so we decamp to the bar and are introduced to another local specialty – the Eskimojito – a variation on the Cuban classic where rum is substituted with our new friend, the black death. In the name of research the dwindling group challenge the impressively knowledgeable bar staff with increasingly curious concoctions, until a group of Icelandic architects present us with something truly vulgar – it, of course, featured Brennivín, may or may not have contained other spirits and most definitely featured a foul tasting local malt extract. It does the job and in the early hours of the morning, at sub-zero temperatures, we finally sample the hotel’s hot tubs. In the morning we’ll blame the architects…

We’ve got absolutely loads of stuff in the pipeline so, for the latest news, you can now follow _theBrief on Twitter and on Facebook – and, if you’ve got visually arresting, original travel content you want to submit, you can right now…