Conde Nast Traveler March 2020

There’s a tree outside my bedroom window. I don’t know what kind of tree it is. To be honest, in spring and summer, when I assume it is verdantly clothed, I’ve not noticed it. But now that winter is here, and it is entirely bare, undressed, with its leaves about its ankles, it has become peculiarly transfixing. Look at it on slight, grubby February days and it’s a normal, perfectly average kind of tree, with a trunk the hue of old chewing gum and hands and fingers that slowly taper out to a gentle kind of nothing. But, sometimes, the sunrise will catch it—sometimes the sunset—and something rather extraordinary happens. It’s as if the tree reveals its true nature. The colors of its various parts are so resplendent, so rich,…

RAISE THE ROOF SEEKING OUT MORE MEANINGFUL TRAVEL EXPERIENCES LEADS TO THE DISCOVERY OF UNEXPECTED PLACES. TUNIS WENT THROUGH A REVOLUTION—NOW THE CITY IS HAVING A CULTURAL RENAISSANCE AN UNMARKED BLACK DOOR ON THE FRINGES of Tunis’s medina marks the entrance to photographer Sabri Ben Mlouka’s lair. If you’ve been lucky enough to score an invite to one of his private evening gatherings, you’ll follow flickering candles through a restored arabesque archway into a cavernous loft furnished with tables, an unmade bed, and oversize photographs. Is this a gallery? A supper club? An eccentric’s private atelier? The answer is all of the above. Ben Mlouka rescued the abandoned building, turning it into an exhibition space for his work—black-and-white portraits of women—and a setting for the events he hosts with chef and TV personality…

ART AND SHOPPING SELMA FERIANI GALLERY Look for young local artists like Lina Ben Rejeb and Malek Gnaoui in this former 1960s convent, now home to Tunisia’s leading gallery—set to open a location in London’s Mayfair this summer. selmaferiani.com LYOUM Pick up a spin on the denim dengri, the ubiquitous traditional workman’s coat, at this homegrown boutique’s outposts in the suburbs of La Marsa and El Menzah 1, which celebrate a pan-Mediterranean lifestyle with floaty fabrics. lyoum.fr SUPERSOUK Highlights at Tunisia’s top multibrand designer shop include Samaka, a menswear line by DJ-designer Aziz Kalel; minimalist wooden lamps from JK Lighting; and ceramics by the house label, Marlo & Isaure. supersoukshop.com FLAYOU A hard-to-categorize design studio from owners Hella El Khiari and Thomas Egoumenides—the duo offers everything from hammocks made with kitschy fabrics sourced from the medina to miniature…

When the team at the high-end ecolodge Nayara Springs in Costa Rica began reforesting an area on the edge of Arenal National Park, they had a secondary mission: to provide some companionship for their resident sloth, Tony. Now, the leaves of the cecropia trees they planted provide sustenance for more than 15 native two- and three-toed sloths, which are the central draw of the just-opened Nayara Tented Camp (doubles from $1,200; nayaratentedcamp.com). An on-hand naturalist monitors the community, rescuing any babies that fall out of trees and pointing out the slow-moving creatures to guests. More and more hotels around the world are, like Nayara, creating experiences—often connected to conservancies—built around a single unique animal species. This all gained momentum with Giraffe Manor, the iconic hotel in Nairobi, says Teresa Sullivan,…

IN THE PAST DECADE urban hotels worked overtime to make themselves places people wanted to go even if they weren’t staying over, with sharp design, pulsing lobby bars, and the hottest restaurant tables in town. Now the names behind those hotels are launching a wave of more affordably priced, youth-oriented spin-offs to entice a new crowd to check in. This winter, the nature-inspired sustainability pioneer 1 Hotel launched Treehouse in central London with the goal of establishing a “fun, less expensive cousin to 1,” says founder Barry Sternlicht. The whimsical offshoot has further plans to bring its blond-wood aesthetic to the rest of Europe and North America. Treehouse followed in the footsteps of hipster pioneer Ace, which opened the minimalist-chic Sister City on Manhattan’s Lower East Side last May. Giants…

The two biggest worries of would-be Antarctica cruisers are the rough waters of the Drake Passage (some call the experience the Drake Shake) and passengers’ own effect on one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems. Now companies like Scenic, Aurora Expeditions, and Lindblad Expeditions are introducing new ships that address both concerns with a variety of green innovations, including X-Bow technology, an inverted bow never before used on passenger ships that cuts down on ocean chop while reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Increasingly, when it comes to cruising in Antarctica, travelers won’t accept luxury alone—sustainability has to be part of the package. “We’re in an age of ships coming on the market where companies have the opportunity to build a new type of polar-ice-class vessel,” says Ashton Palmer, president of…