Table of contents for March – May 2026 in International Traveller

What is on your travel wish list this year? There are a few destinations I have in mind, all determined by distinct motivations. As I approach a milestone birthday at the end of 2026, I dream of heading back to Europe to revisit favourite haunts and revel in nostalgia. But I also have the urge to go somewhere completely new to me – to get that wonderful expansive feeling that comes from immersing yourself in an unfamiliar culture. And I'm drawn to a new-generation health retreat for a reset before that birthday arrives and old habits feel harder to shift. Many of us have a similar shopping list of places we want to go and personal reasons why. Our World Edit issue reflects how we are travelling now. For wellness:…

Fashion Mulberry Boston Vintage Oak suede bag, $3045, mulberry.com; Scanlan Theodore Silk Souvenir scarf, $400, scanlantheodore.com; Levi's Women's Easy Dad jeans, $159.95 + Authentic shirt in waylon stripe blue, $99.95, levis.com.au; Helen Kaminski Freya Raffia leather slides, $395 + Komala Palm silk scarf, $195, helenkaminski.com.au; Le Specs Air Heart sunglasses, $90, au.lespecs.com; Adidas Gazelle Lo Pro shoes, $180, adidas.com.au Beauty Creed Silver Mountain water, $499, creedperfume.com.au; Noosa Basics Shea Butter skin cream, $32, noosabasics.com; Unlocked Satin Crème lipstick in rosy beige, $66, hourglasscosmetics.com.au Lifestyle July carry on with CaseSafe in dark brown, $395, july.com; Lonely Planet travel journal, $32.99, shop.lonelyplanet.com; Motorola Razr 60 Swarovski, $1499 + Moto Buds Loop Swarovski, $399, harveynorman.com.au; Seed & Sprout Insulated drink bottle 350ml in praline, $35, seedsprout.com.au Jewellery Chopard LU.C Quattro Mark IV watch, $70,700, chopard.com; Agmes…

29 MARCH - 28 JUNE RAPHAEL: SUBLIME POETRY Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA In a first for the USA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will host a global exhibition showcasing more than 200 of Raffaello di Giovanni Santi's drawings, paintings, tapestries and decorative art. On loan via both public and private collections, Raphael: Sublime Poetry provides visitors with unprecedented access to the artist's career, from his Urbino origins and emergence in Florence, where he appeared alongside da Vinci and Michelangelo, to his final years in Rome. metmuseum.org UNTIL 5 APRIL MICKALENE THOMAS: ALL ABOUT LOVE Grand Palais, Paris, France Liberation, self-affirmation and joy are just some of the emotions embedded within Mickalene Thomas: All About Love at the French capital's Grand Palais. Inspired by bell hooks’ All About…

When your mind wanders, where does it go? Perhaps you find yourself in rolling green hills etched with row upon row of grapevines. Or hiking shaded forest paths. Maybe it's a day that ends with a visit to a wine bar with a handwritten menu. It could even be luxuriating in the thermal spring-fed waters of an architecturally designed masterpiece. If your daydreams find form in a place like this, it's time you become acquainted with Austria's South Styria. Venture a little off Austria's tourist path and you'll be rewarded. Unlike the visitor hubs of Vienna, Salzburg and Hallstatt, South Styria (and its Wine Road) has yet to crack the mainstream. DISCOVER THE SOUTH STYRIAN WINE ROAD South Styria's hills are carved with lines of sloping vineyards and winding mountain…

lunch at the museum cafe. Located on the ground floor, Cafe Alma cleverly balances Kazakh and Western flavours. We contrast the museum experience with a visit to the Green Bazaar, Almaty's vibrant food market. Rows of stalls sit within a Stalinist-era building where dairy, meat and vegetables remain unrefrigerated on marble benches thanks to ingeniously designed ventilation. As sunlight beams through the skylights, it illuminates different sections of the market like a stage, telling the story of Almaty as a crossroads city. Women of Korean heritage proudly stack their kimchi; Uzbek men beckon customers to sample dried fruits; Russian vendors offer cheeses and baked goods. Hover over the ambience by taking lunch upstairs at one of the few restaurants. Of particular interest are the Kazakh stalls where benchtops are laden…

Chasing the northern lights beneath an inky sky, spotting wildlife in snow-dusted forests, sailing through towering fjords: from nature and culture to cuisine and cosy hygge, Scandinavia delivers it all. And three new Signature Limited Collection voyages from Hurtigruten offer new ways to explore it. Sailing in spring, autumn and winter 2027–2028, the voyages provide a deeper, more personal way to experience the region. Each all-inclusive adventure offers longer itineraries in port, world-class dining and unlimited selected drinks. The key attractions? Let's start with the following. MARVEL AT THE NORTHERN LIGHTS Cosy up and settle in for the world's greatest light show, where ribbons of green and purple dance across the sky. On Hurtigruten's 12-day The Arctic Line itinerary between Copenhagen and Tromsø, you'll cruise through icy fjords and glittering…

It's strange to have a connection to a place you've never been before. I'm flying over the volcanic mountains of Madeira, the small Portuguese island off the coast of North Africa that I grew up hearing stories about. My aunt leans over as our plane comes to land at Funchal Airport. “This used to be one of the smallest runways in the world,” she recalls. “As a teenager, there were many times our plane had to circle around 12 or so times, just to get the moment and positioning right for landing.” RETRACING ROOTS My aunt and father grew up here but moved to Australia with their parents in the 1960s. We've come here with my family, including my two-year-old son, to retrace memories, real and inherited. Our adventure begins…

AN ART-FILLED NEW ENGLAND ROAD TRIP If you're looking for a road trip that combines good food, art and nature, look no further than the USA's north-east coast. Travelling from Upstate New York to the Massachusetts Berkshires, this easy arc reveals the creative communities, cultural offerings and captivating landscapes of New England. LA SAGRADA FAMÍLIA EXTERIOR COMPLETE After 144 years of ongoing construction, Antoni Gaudí’s La Sagrada Família in Barcelona has hit a major milestone. The last of its 18 towers has now been mounted, signalling the completion of the church's exterior – a symbolic moment arriving one century after the architect's untimely death. RESTORATION IN REGIONAL JAPAN Abandoned buildings across rural Japan are being reinvented as immersive stays and creative centres. From the old sake distillery in Kagawa that…

CAPE TOWN OCEAN OPULENCE Lauded Spanish chef Ángel León has opened his first restaurant outside of Spain at Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town. Amura brings the ocean-first philosophy León and his brother Carlos honed at Aponiente – awarded three Michelin stars and the first Michelin Green Star in Andalucía – to South Africa. Expect dishes like neon-green plankton risotto, yellowtail tartare with escabeche and pickled West Coast mussels with seaweed-dusted chips. Interiors by Tristan du Plessis channel old-world ocean liners with kelp-green hues, warm timber tones and sleek curves that call to mind waves slapping against a hull. mountnelson.co.za AMSTERDAM THE OTTOLENGHI EFFECT Chef, restaurateur and author Yotam Ottolenghi has returned to the city where he studied in the mid-’90s to open his first restaurant at the newly…

WHY WE LOVE IT Kerala-based studio Humming Tree has spun mid-century style together with local pulse, capturing the international spirit of contemporary India while championing some of the nation's most exciting creative voices. The lobby stuns with a custom-made tapestry by Jaipur Rugs that anchors guests in their locale through depictions of life at the estate, while toffee, forest green and terracotta tones play against geometric tiling. Mismatched photo frames, a photogravure by leading contemporary artist Anish Kapoor and flea market finds from Paris's Le Puces create a lived-in character. WHERE IT IS Wrapped within the vineyards of a working winery around five hours inland from Mumbai, Hotel Irada is India's first and only member of Design Hotels. The former 2000s country estate of famed ex-billionaire Vijay Mallya, storied for…

Hotels at sea We're living in a post-modern travel moment where cruise lines are designing ships that look like hotels – and hotel brands are designing hotels that float. It's all in pursuit of experiential luxury, and an ultra-luxe fleet of yachts is spearheading the movement. THE RITZ-CARLTON YACHT COLLECTION kicked off the trend four years ago, and has since introduced its legion of fans to the world of cruising with a trio of vessels: Evrima, Ilma and Luminara. ‘Aman junkies’ feeling cruise-curious need not switch allegiance with the launch of AMAN AT SEA. Reservations are now open for the debut of 47-suite yacht Amangati for her Mediterranean season in the European spring 2027, including select voyages that drop anchor at key cultural fixtures such as the Cannes Film Festival…

Atsushi Monbetsu wears a low-slung obi speared with not one, but two daggers in intricately carved sheaths. His hands are decorated, too: embroidered cotton loops around each middle finger and knots at the wrists. A knee-length kimono slashed in red, black and white meets ornate shin coverings tied with a bow. The traditional Ainu outfit resembles soft armour and, like so much of this ancient culture, its patterns are inspired by nature, such as fish tails, thorns and insect lines on a tree. Atsushi is an Ainu hunter whose face beams warmth. “Irankarapte,” he says in dialect under the thick tree canopy. A local guide translates it as “hello”, but its true translation is “let me gently touch your heart”. What a touching welcome, as I gather to forest bathe…

They struck me as a friendly bunch. Enjoying the dual pleasures of sundowners and música tropical, the group of orange-clad Texans were the last such gathering on my route towards the turnstiles of UFCU Disch–Falk Field in Austin, Texas. Ticket in hand, I was about to experience American college baseball by way of the University of Texas Longhorns. A baseball tragic I may be, but I am also partial to a detour if there's a cultural experience to be enjoyed. No sooner had I approached a trio of revellers to confirm whether they were, indeed, ‘tailgating’, I was offered a beer. No sooner had I finished said beer, I was partaking – somewhat nervously – in a round of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky shots. It's compulsory, I am told, at the…

Overwater villas are the only ones of their kind in the Cambodian hospitality scene. ’m alone on an island, suspended in a treehouse above the jungle canopy. Up here, hornbills cackle in an echoing duet, and I drift in and out of cognisance. Somewhere below, the ocean licks the shore. I briefly open my eyes. Trickles of honey-coloured sunlight drip through a tangle of trees. Wafts of lemongrass, tamarind and basil cling to the damp island air. When I hear footsteps approaching, my senses shift, and I feel gentle hands rest on the crown of my head. “Time to rinse,” my therapist Khan Muyly whispers, lifting the wooden steam chamber where I lie on a bed of banana leaves, embalmed with a sticky, botanical concoction of honey and wild herbs.…

ORIENT EXPRESS VENEZIA, ITALY The grand new Orient Express hotel in Venice, set to open in the Italian spring, has been eight years in the making. Then the rest. The latest incarnation of the 15th-century Palazzo Donà Giovannelli is led by Aline Asmar d'Amman, an architect and interior designer known for eloquently bridging the space between heritage and modernity. Here, she preserves the palace's accumulated history – including the octagonal staircase introduced in the 19th century by Giovanni Battista Meduna – as well as adding her own timestamp. orient-express.com SIX SENSES LONDON, UK This hotly anticipated luxury wellness hotel is housed in The Whiteley, a former department store and London landmark. HOSHINOYA NARA PRISON, JAPAN The first luxury hotel in Japan adapting a former prison – designated a National Important…

Fluid, imperfect forms. Close collaboration. Textures that feel in step with the contrasts and chaos of a city living on the edge of the desert. Such tenets make up the heart and soul of Marrakech-based textiles, ceramics and lifestyle brand LRNCE. Drawing from her background in fashion design, artist Laurence Leenaert founded the label in 2013, initially specialising in leather bags. But her move to Marrakech in 2015 marked a turning point: proximity to local artisans and ateliers allowed her to work more intimately with traditional Moroccan crafting techniques, which she feeds into a distinctly contemporary design language. “[Moving there] felt like freedom, ” Leenaert says. “Being able to play with new materials – being in the centre of creativity – was, and still is, a paradise for me.” From…

THE OKURA TOKYO It had never occurred to me most wasabi I've eaten was likely dyed horseradish. The real deal is a precious knobbly root, which chef Akihiro Omori grates with a violinist's precision at The Okura Tokyo's Yamazato Kappo Counter. “I don't need eyes to cook after this long,” he jokes, having worked here for more than 35 years. Omakase means ‘I leave the details to the chef’ and that's exactly what we're doing at this intimate, fine dining culinary theatre. Five of the hotel's 40 chefs expertly slice, sear and steam seasonal ingredients – each introduced by prefecture. The 13-course procession spotlights sea urchin-topped eggplant, silky sukiyaki-style tuna, and delicate grunt fish and matsutake mushroom steamed in a traditional clay pot. Fresh Yamanashi peach and perfumed Miyazaki mango…

THE CULTURE STOP Don't miss the absorbing Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts inside Jardin Majorelle. THE RESEARCH Hideous Kinky, Esther Freud's evocative account of a childhood spent in Marrakech, is essential pre-reading. THE STAY Recently awarded a Michelin Key, IZZA is a love letter to Marrakech's counter-cultural past. But with its innovative contemporary art collection, this boutique riad in the heart of the medina channels the city's new energy too. THE MUSE Everyone from Grace Jones to Yves Saint Laurent and Jack Kerouac has lent their name to the 14 gorgeous guestrooms at IZZA, but it is the spirit of Bill Willis that threads the whole art hotel together. Raise a glass in the bar named for the American interior designer and socialite credited with the reinvention of Moroccan…

From a viewing platform inside the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the Great Pyramid of Giza rises from the desert, and for a moment, it feels like modern Egypt and ancient Egypt are shaking hands. I'm a little taken aback by the view, but my Egyptologist, Essam Abdelaziz Aboulatta, is unfazed. “I live across the road from the pyramids,” he tells me. “I see them from my balcony every day.” Imagine. I'm on day one of Uniworld's 12-day Splendors of Egypt & the Nile cruise, and this is our first stop. The museum has been decades in the making, first proposed in the early 1990s, and now that it's open, it changes the way Giza works. Instead of arriving at the Giza plateau first and figuring things out later, visitors start…

Arriving on the Island of Hawai‘i, the terrain looks molten and raw, streaked with hardened lava flows that run towards a restless ocean. Nicknamed the ‘Big Island’, the youngest and largest of the Hawaiian islands is still being shaped by fire. At its heart is Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes and fire – a powerful presence, spoken of with reverence by locals who understand the land as a living force. Volcano chasing may be the drawcard, but to reduce this island to lava alone is to miss its deeper story. This is a place of farmers, fishermen and storytellers who honour place through food, music and ritual. The Hawaiian concept of kuleana (responsibility) guides daily life, shaping how visitors are welcomed and how the land is cared for. “I…

Late-afternoon light spills in through the window, glinting off the screen of my laptop as I type. The brief interruption allows for another sip of my spicy marg, the sharp citrus and slow-building heat lingering just long enough. It's an unlikely pairing for me – I'd usually reach for a coffee over a cocktail when I work. But that's the thing about TRIBE Auckland Fort Street and its ground-level, So-Cal-inspired restaurant Sienna – it coaxes you out of your usual rhythm. Around me, freelancers type between flat whites, office workers ease into after-work wines and couples settle in for dinner, the room shifting seamlessly from co-working space to neighbourhood bar and back again. It's a deliberate blurring of lines, a confident departure from convention that underscores the philosophy behind the…

Michelle Bautista Xelhuantzi moves back and forth in a gentle rhythm, opening the narrow mouth of the telar de cintura (backstrap loom) just enough to glide the wooden bobbin through. With each pass, she lays down more lines of thread, building the bold colours and intricate patterns for the cobijas (blankets) her family have been weaving for generations. Michelle's family believes the antique loom was the first of its kind in Baja California Sur when her great-grandparents moved from the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala 85 years ago to open La Fábrica de Cobijas (The Blanket Factory) in Los Cabos. “I learnt to weave on this loom when I was about 11, feeding spools on the spinning wheel. My grandmother still works here, dyeing the wool,” explains Michelle. “Making the…

I've been trekking for hours, ascending through mist that curls around the mountain like tendrils of incense smoke. Breathless, I arrive at one of Bhutan's holiest sites: Paro Taktsang, or Tiger's Nest – a 17th-century monastery hewn directly into the Himalayan mountainside. The sacred cave it's built around has been a pilgrimage site since the 8th century, believed to be the birthplace of Vajrayana Buddhism in Bhutan. But when I step inside the monastery's stone walls, awe gives way to fear. Inside, a prayer chamber hums with the low hypnotic drone of crimson-robed pilgrims chanting. Brilliant, psychedelic-coloured textiles hang from the ceiling, framing a statue of a wrathful deity at the centre of the room. The figure, Dorje Drolo, is depicted with a ferocious snarl and three bulging eyes. It…

LOOK AROUND Miró aspired to make his art accessible. Find his most iconic public works around the city. Terminal 2, Barcelona-El Prat Airport: View the 50-metre-long mural outside, or from the bridge to the parking area, to appreciate its scale. Miró Park: The Woman and Bird sculpture, behind the old bullfighting ring-turned-shopping centre, is a towering pop of colour. La Rambla: The Pla de l'Os mosaic created with ceramicist Joan Gardy Artigas is ingrained in the famous walkway and patterned by thousands of pedestrians’ feet. WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? This year, Barcelona holds the title of UNESCO World Capital of Architecture. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Antoni Gaudí’s death and special events at his masterpiece Sagrada Família, the Catalan capital is also celebrating more contemporary local architects and artists…