Hotel Istanbul

Here you can experience a glimpse of paradise: the unique scents of precious oils, relaxing music and the art of massage to immerse you in an exceptional moment. For you, we offer an array of intoxicating body treatments unique to the world: the famous Barrel Bath and the Crushed Cabernet Scrub, the unmatched cult favorite exfoliating treatment based on grape-seeds... The Pulp Friction Sculpting Massage made with fresh grapes, moisturizing and remineralizing. Additionally, you may enjoy traditional massages and body treatments from all corners of the globe including European, Far Eastern and Turkish Hammam therapies.

PUERTO RICO

  

The Girard-Perregaux World Time Tour:  On each and every GP WW.TC dial there are twenty-four cities listed, at least two from each continent, and these cities, will be our focus. We know that while traveling on business, many people leave themselves just one day to play tourist. 

So rather than another over-packed city guide, we offer you “One Perfect Day,” in each and every city we visit. We’ll highlight the best each has to offer and the experiences that make it unique, beyond the standard “where to go and what to see,” although we’ll occasionally include that too. —The Editors

THE SUN PEEKS IN THE SLATS OF THE WOODEN SHADES that cover the windows of the Hotel El Convento (pictured below.) Memories from the night before resurface slowly—wine and cheese on the ivy-bedecked roof as the sun starts to go down, the white bean soup at Marmalade, bodies grooving through the night at the bar at La Concha. But as your eyes blink open to take in the day, suddenly you remember—as tropical as San Juan feels to visitors from colder climes, you’re truly off to the beach today.

Hotel El Convento in Old San Juan

Walk out into the cobblestone-paved square in the heart of San Juan’s Old Town and thank your lucky stars you had the good sense to rent a Jeep. Windows down, roof off, it’s the accessory of choice for the two-hour trip traversing the northern coast of the island, through the hills of Puerto Rico washed fresh and green by the rising sun, while the waves crash below. You’re headed to Rincon, and the dozens of small beaches that crowd the northwest corner of the island. Home to a friendly mix of locals, sun-blackened surfers, and at least one slightly shaggy and passably affectionate mutt from the small hours of the day to the final rays of an appropriately stunning pink sunset, you’ll want to ease into the day.

Fort El Morro in Old San Juan

Choose somewhere manageable to start, like Maria’s, with a view of the lighthouse, and rendezvous with your surf instructor from Surf Lessons Puerto Rico & Adventures sitting god-like on his board in the shallows, fresh from the dawn surf. It’s okay to giggle when he tells you his name is Ramses, born as he appears to be of the sun and surf.

Once your sun baked shoulders and quivering quads are screaming for mercy, carry your boards back to the beach, collapsing for a moment in the kind of total, honest exhaustion that feels, compared to the pinching stress of every day life, like a kind of joy. Seek food—something from a stand, a cart, fresh and fruity, or head to Calypso, the kind of brightly painted beach shack that thrives exclusively in hot climates and at slow paces.

There are things you can do from here—forests you can zipline through, shops with shells and shirts, even small art galleries—but this is the islands, and your cultural obligations are mercifully few.

The Horned Dorset Resport Rincon, Puerto Rico

Eventually you retreat to the Horned Dorset Primavera, through the jungle of ferns and trees that hide your villa from the world, and lie on the beach. Nap, read, relax, lunch if you like on the flower-bedecked beachfront terrace on vegetable-packed club sandwiches or fresh local fish, or stretch out on the padded loungers and simply refuse to move. One of just a handful of Relais & Chateaux properties in the Caribbean and the only one on Puerto Rico, the stunning duplex suites recall an age of neo-colonial luxury, from your four-post pillow of a bed to the heavily carved dark-wood cabinets and chairs scattered around your living room. End your aquatic excursion with a soak in the private pool on your terrace, or in the giant, freestanding bathtub with the doors open to the sea.

The Horned Dorset Beach

The Horned Dorset Pool

Then, outfit yourself in your best white linen and light silks, and pick up arum punch in the library bar, to be enjoyed in the plush couches on the terrace of the main building before dinner. The restaurant at the Hornet Dorset is certainly the best on the west coast of the island, and one of the best in Puerto Rico; it’s not uncommon for couples to drive from San Juan for a special-occasion dinner. The ever-changing prix-fixe menu is a symphony of fresh fish and lobster set off by classic French sauces; velvety soups and tender duck breasts are also regular players. Order your courses and bask in the old-school camaraderie of waiters who’ve been serving here for decades, since they were young surf bums themselves. Relax. Listen to the invisible waves crash in the blackness beyond the balcony. Relax. Spare a scratch for the house cat, meowing into the wind as he winds around your sandals. Relax. Relax. KW

MoS Archives

HONG KONG

The Girard-Perregaux World Time Tour: Every GP WW.TC dial lists 24 cities, at least two from each continent — and these cities will be our focus. We know that while traveling on business, many people leave themselves just one day to play tourist. 

So rather than another overstuffed city guide, we offer you “One Perfect Day” in the cities we visit. We’ll highlight the best each has to offer and the experiences that make it unique, beyond the standard “where to go and what to see” —  although occasionally we’ll include that too. — The Editors

THE GREAT CITIES of the world vibrate, buzzing on different frequencies of frenetic energy: the pulsating thrum of New York, the staccato backbeat of London, the melodic chorale of Paris. But it’s the bright, electric crackle of Hong Kong to which the world’s eyes have lately turned — this tiny archipelago in the South China Sea, with China behind it and the spread of modern Asia before it, a frenzied blend of colonialism and innovation, commerce and romance.

A perfect day in Hong Kong samples a little of all of these, crossing Victoria Harbor between Kowloon and Hong Kong islands. It’s the day after a long week of meetings and work, before the trek to the airport to make your next stop. Based at theInterContinental Hong Kong for business, entertaining clients at Yan Toh Heen for lunches and Spoon by Alain Ducasse for dinners, you’ve kept the fast pace Hong Kong demands and now earned some relaxation.

Spoon by Alain Ducasse

InterContinental HK Presidential Suite

Begin the day by strolling down Salisbury Road for dim sum brunch at Serenade, a Chinese restaurant just behind the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, with harbor views and beautifully crafted dumplings and desserts. It’s a leisurely but exciting morning, watching the sun burn the fog off the mountains as basket after steaming basket of culinary delights arrives at your table.

When you’re well-fortified, exit into Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong’s legendary shopping district. Retail is a contact sport here, from the high-flying flagship luxury boutiques (most of the watch stores are along Nathan Road) to the high-rise tower malls. Chungking Mansion and its ilk are worth walking through as a cultural experience alone, watching teenagers cavort and discovering hidden treasures among the stalls.

Brother and Sister

Stop in at Brother and Sister for lunch, where siblings Gilbert and Cindy Yeung mix stylish watches and jewelry, limited-edition sneakers, luxury design collaborations and various other tasteful favorites with a light lunch menu and a coffee/cocktail bar.

Then spend the afternoon exploring Kowloon’s contemporary art scene. Osage Kwun Tong, Hong Kong’s largest contemporary art space, is here on Hung To Road, and the Cattle Depot Artists Village and the Jockey Club Creative Arts Theater are worth visiting for their creatively reimagined industrial locales as well as their assortment of creative spaces. There are also more-traditional gallery-style options nearby, including an outpost of America’s Savannah College of Art and Design called Moot Gallery, featuring up-and-coming student work.

A Suite @ UpperHouse

Grab your luggage and head across the harbor (byStar Ferry or car) to Admiralty to check in at theUpper House. Designed by architect Andre Fu, the ultra-luxe boutique hotel sparked a rash of stylized imitators when it opened in 2009, but none of them come close to the original’s location or spacious, minimalist rooms with epic views. If you want to spend an hour (or a lifetime) soaking in the corner tub of your suite, watching the sun set over Victoria Harbor, we don’t blame you a bit. But do get dressed (and dressed well), because Hong Kong isn’t ready for bed yet. You’ll be diving into Central, where billionaires in sports cars and college students teetering in stilettos share the streets until the wee hours.

The Quinary

Go for drinks at The Quinary, a high-tech cocktail bar serving a martini full of spherified Earl Grey pearls to the beautiful people at the long black bar. Mixologist Antonio Lai will whet your appetite for dinner atCelebrity Cuisine, in the Lan Kwai Fong Hotel. It’s a two-star Michelin restaurant with a secret — among the cuisine favored by tycoons around the world are hidden home-style local favorites like minced bean-curd fritters and fish-head clay pot. 

Within the same neighborhood, there are Cantonese spots with more glitz (like Fook Lam Moon and its legendary suckling pig) and equally elegant European-style cuisine (Gold, with its wild boar ragout tagliatelle with melting organic egg and shaved pecorino cheese), but there’s something about the intimate 40-seat treasure that keeps us coming back.

Afterward, the night is yours. Personally, we’d head to the new Armani/Prive nightclub and happily float back and forth between the sexy, posh lounge and the rooftop terrace bar — but where the night takes you after that, only the electric city knows. - KW

GIRARD-PERREGAUX WTT NO. 3: LONDON

The Girard-Perregaux World Time Tour:  On each and every GP WW.TC dial there are twenty-four cities listed, at least two from each continent, and these cities, will be our focus. We know that while traveling on business, many people leave themselves just one day to play tourist. 

So rather than another over-packed city guide, we offer you “One Perfect Day,” in each and every city we visit. We’ll highlight the best each has to offer and the experiences that make it unique, beyond the standard “where to go and what to see,” although we’ll occasionally include that too. —The Editors

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
Samuel Johnson

The drive from Gatwick to Central London brings almost as big a smile to my face as the taxi ride from JFK across the Brooklyn Bridge back home into Manhattan. London is familiar, and despite the overcast morning and bumpy red-eye flight, I’m happy to be back in what is, indisputably, one of the greatest cities in which to be a man. London seems livelier than ever this year, thanks to the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and the upcoming Summer Olympics.

The Lanesborough

The Lanesborough check-in is seamless. The smiling young woman at the front desk says “Welcome home” as she hands me my “personalized residence calling card” — admirably, without giving the slightest hint that my own business cards are somehow inadequate. While I have enjoyed accommodations at the nearbyIntercontinental London Park Lane,45 Park Lane, Four Seasons London and The Athenaeum over the past 30 years, the Lanesborough’s standards are simply beyond compare. My cozy, well-appointed room confirms as much; the Michelin-starred Apsleys restaurant on the ground floor (from celebrated chef Heinz Beck) and my favorite cigar patio, The Garden Room, one level below, are glorious bonuses.

Bibendum Restaurant in Michelin House

Vintage Luggage @ Bentley's Antiques

The first order of business is breakfast — easy enough at this hotel. Like most grand cities, London is best experienced on foot (although if you’re tuckered but still in the mood to explore, no one will hold it against you if you take a taxi to Notting Hill.) Rain or shine, take a stroll around The Serpentine in Hyde Park to shake your jet lag, then head leisurely towardBibendum Restaurant in Michelin House for a memorable lunch. Along the way, you’ll pass some extraordinary shops, including Bentley London
, which specializes in vintage luggage, campaign furniture and classic men’s accessories. Or

Pankhurst

JJ Fox of St. James's

head the opposite direction for some serious shopping and a quick bite at Dover Street Market’s Rose Bakery (check out the Paul Smith Furniture Store, too) orGreens Oyster Bar & Restaurant. If you had more than a day, you could do a great deal more, but for now it’s Greens and serious shopping: Turnbull & Asser for shirts, Favourbrook for a new tuxedo vest (waistcoat), Davidoff of London or Fox of St. James’s for cigars. Also check out The Vintage Watch Company in the Burlington Arcade (there’s an outstanding vintage-pen store a few doors down) or head to Pankhurst for a deluxe shave and face massage.

After a brief respite — some tea and an afternoon cigar at The Lanesborough is certainly in order before going out again — head to dinner at Kai for dazzling, sumptuous Chinese food. Later, if you’re up for it (and feeling lucky), swing by the Aspinalls Club
, a civilized private casino. Most of London’s nightlife centers on private members’ clubs — some you can join with relative ease, some for which you’ll need a little help from your hotel and some for which you mustknow a member. Below are some top choices to explore.

In the end, all roads lead back to your hotel. By this point you’ll be spent — literally and figuratively — but the experience will have been well worth it. At this hour, what’s the only thing that could keep you from climbing into your downy bed? A Cognac from the Library Bar downstairs, of course. SIG

GP RECOMMENDATIONS

BEIJING NO.6: GOLF HEAVEN – BAYHOOD NO. 9

 

As early as the mid-nineteenth century, Girard-Perregaux maintained offices in New York, Buenos Aires, Yokohama and, of course, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. In that globetrotting spirit, MoS will publish regular dispatches from its offices and boutiques abroad — covering lifestyle and culture, regional events and exhibitions, and offering insider insight about what’s trending now from the four corners of the world. — The Editors

TO MANY WHO PLAY IT, golf is a religion. It therefore stands to reason that, as with most religions, there’s a golf heaven. (You reach nirvana when your handicap hits five.) And while St. Andrews and Pebble Beach are typically thought of as golf’s paradise, on the other side of the world the locals have a different belief system — and for them, Bayhood No. 9, located on Anwai Beihu, is the true source of eternal bliss. (In Chinese numerology, 9 symbolizes sovereignty and infinity — a nuanced nod to the prevailing local culture and to simplicity in nature.)

Philosophical musings aside, Bayhood No. 9 is a luxury golf lifestyle destination that integrates distinctive Chinese elements with a challenging golf course, an exclusive driving range, a PGA Golf Academy and themed restaurants.

Comprising 1,180 mu (Chinese acres), Bayhood No. 9’s fairways stretch a total of 7,260 yards; man-made lakes are a particular highlight of this hilly city course, and the spacious bunkers will challenge even the best golfer.

Designed by Nelson & Haworth, the two-story driving range at Bayhood No. 9 (pictured left)  has 46 driving bays on the ground floor and 22 private VIP suites on the second. There’s also one Grand Deluxe suite with two individual driving bays.

The PGA Academy, meanwhile, is the first school of its kind in Asia. It offers four fully equipped indoor training bays, and its outdoor facilities include a putting green, a chipping and bunker area, a pitching area with multiple target greens and a two-hole academy course.

The world’s leading golf association, the PGA helps develop professional players all over the world. Its training programs have been adopted by the academy; licensed golf instructors from the PGA’s head office supervise its implementation.

Finally, Bayhood No. 9 offers two-caddy service — because using just one is so passé, naturally. Regarded as a “first service” concept in China’s burgeoning golf industry, two caddies ensure prompt, individualized treatment and perpetually pampered golfers. It’s a little of that old-time religion — and it’s heavenly. 

LONDON NO. 2: 1A ST JAMES’S

As early as the mid-nineteenth century, Girard-Perregaux maintained offices in New York, Buenos Aires, Yokohama and, of course, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. In that globetrotting spirit, MoS will publish regular dispatches from its offices and boutiques abroad — covering lifestyle and culture, regional events and exhibitions, and offering insider insight about what’s trending now from the four corners of the world. — The Editors

FOR SOME TIME NOW, we’ve extolled the virtues of London’s cigar scene — the most vibrant and tradition-steeped of any on earth, Hong Kong’s possibly excepted. So without further ado, let us introduce foliumphiles (cigar enthusiasts, literally “lovers of the leaf”) to 1A St. James’s.

Marcela Patiño Gets Closer to Kult Models

A Private Look–Barcelona-based photographer Marcela Patiño heads to the German city of Hamburg to lense a series of portraits with Kult models Felix Reimers, Jakob Everding, Felix Raehmer, Robert S, Lukas Bachert, Johannes Ibelherr and Jonas T. Joining forces with stylist Charlotte Dubois, Patiño focuses her lens to the young and charming lot, creating laid-back images that capture the attention for the relaxed attitude of the models, who provide a series of portraits with an intimate twist.

MAC Fall

O Canada!–Inspired by the expansive landscape and urban lifestyle of our neighbors to the North, Canada, German-label MAC enjoys a season in the great big North for a rustic and relaxed fall 2011 collection. Taking in the country at large and dissecting it into three beautiful region, the labels looks to their new collection as different parts of the country, reflected in Vancouver College, the Yukon and the Canadian Air Force at the Goose Bay. Offering a selection of jeans and chinos with a variety of flattering fits, the label distresses their range for a well-received worn-in look. From earthy brown and rich purple to classic denim blue, MAC offers up a solid stable of menswear fundamentals. On the jackets front, the classic parka is the highlight of a lineup that also includes the military jacket, joined by a number of blazers, suited for both the casual and more formal occasion. Filling in the wardrobe gaps, knits, both solid and printed are layered with easy, comfortable t-shirts for the ultimate laid-back ready to wear range. Altogether sharp when it needs to be and at other times laxed, with loose baggy trousers, MAC delivers a fall collection, for the man who needs to balance leisure and business for an effortless feat.

Vince Camuto Collection

Camuto Debut–Vince Camuto launches his men’s collection with a debut of sportswear that finds its strength in smooth leather wears and wool outerwear. Filling in the gaps with shirting, pants and other menswear fundamentals, Camuto crafts a range that’s easy to wear, taking his man from morning to evening with an effortless style. Expanding the range next year, Camuto’s man will gain a range of sunglasses with more pieces coming next fall.

Versace’s Watches

It’s Time for Versace–Clad in a silk shirt, or wearing a bold leather jacket, Danish model Tobias Sørensen fronts the watches campaign of Italian fashion houseVersace. Photographer Alex Franco captures the model in intense and seductive closeups, that perfectly fit with the concept of the modern Versace man.