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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
A Franco-Egyptian gem on the Red Sea
El Gouna, north of Hurghada, is one of Egypt’s less-familiar holiday enclaves. But Cairenes (and in-the-know travellers) flock to second homes here – it’s one of the region’s best kitesurfing spots, as well as the place to graze on tiradito and Lebanese mezze at budding nightspots. Its hotels run the gamut: but the standout for 2025 is La Maison Bleue, an El Gouna stalwart that’s undergone a total refresh.
It first opened in 2011, a 13-suite villa designed by Franco-Egyptian architect Olivier Sednaoui, with interiors by the late, great interior designer Amr Khalil and gardens by French landscape designer Louis Benech. La Maison Bleue feels, truly, like a holiday home, albeit a really lavish one. “Folly” isn’t too far off the mark as descriptors go, given the colourfully tiled columns, oculus windows and façade painted a pale grey-blue that’s more Provençal than Pharaonic. There’s a wild mix of decorative-arts epochs, ranging from Byzantine to Ottoman to art deco. The suites have balconies overlooking the hotel’s small lagoon and private beach and, beyond, the sea; their enormous dimensions are softened with suzanis, portraits and framed prints, and ornate Egyptian-glass chandeliers and sconces. The equally spacious spa has a hammam and just two treatment suites.
Chef Vincent Guillou, who has put in produce gardens and a greenhouse (the latter houses a chef’s table, for light vegetarian lunches), majors in the kind of francophile refinement you’d expect, but he also turns out a koshary if something local and low-fi is more your thing. There’s nothing stuffy here; the prevailing mood, possibly thanks to the sheer generosity of space, is one of intimate ease. But, if that’s still too crowded for you, the hotel’s vintage motorboat and four-room yacht are at the ready to take you off to Shadwan or Tawila, semi-deserted offshore islands, to live the castaway dream for a day.
Labuan Bajo’s luxe new stay
Fifteen years ago Laubuan Bajo was a small and fairly ramshackle village, known primarily as the gateway to the Komodo archipelago. Cut to 2024, and its streets, now largely free of potholes, are home to boutiques and eco-lodges, taquerías and craft coffee houses. New to town is Ta’aktana, whose suites and villas tumble photogenically across 40 acres of jungly hillside to a private beach.
The suites come in at a minimum of 69sq m and the seven overwater villas – Ta’aktana is the only central Indonesian resort to offer them – measure 185sq m with equally generous wraparound terraces. A full spa, Olympic-sized pool and five restaurants round out the picture; but the ace in the resort’s pocket might be its access to the communities of remote Manggarai villages in the island’s centre, where textile production and ritual dancing go on much as they have have for centuries.
Beach, blanket, bingo
Laguna Beach is the Southern California beach town ideal, famous for its attractions both urbane and natural. Do the pristine coastal paths and designated marine parks outnumber the art galleries, or vice versa? Hard to say; but one thing that Laguna Beach hasn’t had many of on its storied boardwalk is cool hotels. Casa Loma, fresh off a multimillion-dollar renovation, sings with style thanks to the efforts of Venice Beach-based design firm Electric Bowery.
For inspiration the designers looked to Laguna Beach’s history as an arts haven and a bastion of surf culture. Handmade tables and headboards owe their sinuous forms to surfboard-shaping traditions; bedlinens come from Italy, and the organic cotton robes from Guatemala, with an overall effect that reads strongly beach boho. They seem to have thought of everything, from Casa Loma Radio, the dedicated radio station (flip on that Tivoli Model One in your room and have a listen), to the tapestries, murals and direction signage commissioned from Texas-based muralist and text artist Joe Swec. Plus balconies overlooking the Pacific and beach club-style service throughout.
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