Conde Nast Traveler September/October 2021

Here are some especially vivid memories I have of travel. I remember Robert, the irrepressible Samburu bush guide who joked about all the ALTs—animal-like things—as we looked for wildlife together in northern Kenya. I remember Jaime, who gave me coca leaves for energy as we ascended the Inca Trail and said a prayer to Pachamama when we reached the summit. I remember Ayob, who captained my felucca boat on the Nile and brought me and my dad ashore to buy camel meat. I remember the family in the Yucatán who scooped up me and my wife from a dusty highway where we were waiting for a bus and drove us back to Valladolid, and the family in Johannesburg who insisted on driving me and two friends from the airport to our…

UNITED STATES The Gullah Geechee community descended from West African slaves. We believe right whales accompanied the slave ships, so every December when they return, I go to the Georgia coast to pay homage to them. We want visitors to learn our folkways and foodways and to hear our language. –“SISTAH PATT” GUNN, CEO, UNDERGROUND TOURS OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA SENEGAL We have teranga, which means that when you visit, everyone will welcome you and share with you. For local art, check out Black Rock, the multidisciplinary artist-inresidence program founded in 2019 by Kehinde Wiley. For music, listen to Akon, Youssou N’Dour, Viviane Chidid, and mbalax—Senegalese dance music. There are lots of new mbalax tracks creating buzz right now. –KHADJOU SAMBE, PROFESSIONAL SURFER SWITZERLAND I live in Zurich, which has a small but growing music scene. My friend…

For “The World Made Local”—the first true global collaboration between the seven editions of Condé Nast Traveler worldwide—we asked 100 locals in 100 countries what they most love about where they come from. As the world opens up, we want you to find your own reason to travel, and we wanted the coolest people we know across the world to give it to you—people like 28-year-old Senegal-born French chef Mory Sacko and the Guatemalan actor María Mercedes Coroy. You’ll find a taste of it all on the following pages, with more on cntraveler.com. Consider this proof that the most compelling motivator for travel is not just the places you may end up but the people you meet along the way who can tell you exactly where to go. –DIVIA THANI GLOBAL…

THE PEOPLE, PLACES & IDEAS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.” The words of Marie Antoinette still seem to echo within the gilded halls of Le Grand Contrôle. Her point is proved by the transformation of this historic building—set inside the gates of the Palace of Versailles—into France’s most anticipated new hotel. All traces of a pre–French Revolution world have been preserved. Classical music lilts throughout imposing salons lined with portraits of well-coiffed luminaries, some of them former guests. Each chair, mirror, and velvet chaise, all dated to 1788—the last time the property’s furniture was inventoried—and tracked down at auction, looks like it belongs. And while many corners of Paris, from the celebrated palace hotels to the Louvre, read like a page from…

The midcentury villas and affordable apartments in Ari, an area just south of Bangkok’s riotously fun Chatuchak Weekend Market, have long drawn artsy types who have moved there to open art galleries and beer gardens along its leafy roads. But in recent years, a younger generation has arrived, adding photogenic matcha bars and burger joints in pastel-hued next-gen concept spaces like Gump’s. Now, mobile som tum vendors hawking plates of crunchy green papaya salad share corners with stamp-size espresso bars, and visitors can find artisanal doughnuts (try the ones at Chubby Dough) alongside syrupy khanom, or traditional Thai sweets. Wander down the low-key streets Soi Ari 4 and 5 for a taste of what’s seduced so many locals and expats. WHERE TO GRAB BREAKFAST—OR A NIGHTCAP Though you’re better off staying close…

About a decade ago, my wife and I started spending a week in the Hamptons each June with a group of other families at a charmingly run-down collection of converted farm buildings. The place is like a little pocket of the Catskills that got lost in chichi eastern Long Island: It’s pleasingly rustic and disheveled, but the neighbors own professional sports teams and keep Serra sculptures on lawns large enough for their players to scrimmage. It’s one of those word-of-mouth rentals (I’ve been asked not to name it), passed around through the years among like-minded NYC creatives. Days have a pleasing sameness, revolving around the divine local beaches and cooking communal alfresco meals utilizing the compound’s multiple kitchens and barbecues before sitting by the fire with a glass of whatever’s…