Last year, I stayed in some incredible hotels Sri Lanka: The Fortress Resort & Spa near Galle was particularly dreamy. As I start planning my travels for 2025, I've been reminiscing about some of the other beautiful places I've stayed in over the years. I've put together this selection of my most unique and memorable stays around the world. I hope it helps inspire your own holiday plans!
As COVID restrictions slowly began to ease around the world, I was grateful to be able to travel more often in 2022 than I had in the previous two years, although I'm still not back at beforetimes levels. This year, I visited six countries across four continents, including four new-to-me countries — Kenya, Uganda, Indonesia and Greece — as well as a long-awaited return to my beloved New York City. Closer to home, I enjoyed a great city break in Bristol and spent far too much time watching Wolves fail to score, consoling myself with speciality coffee stops in Wolverhampton and Brum.
Keep on reading to find out the five stories I've picked out to sum up my travel highlights of the year (you can also check out my 2021 and 2020 editions).
As 2022 draws to a close, it's time for the 12th edition of my annual speciality coffee and food awards, where I share my favourite coffee shops and eateries from among all of those that I visited for the first time this year. Over the past few years, I've tweaked the geographical boundaries of some awards to reflect my travel schedule, which has changed somewhat as a result of COVID.
This is the last of my posts about my recent trip to Bali, where I summarise my overall experience: my itinerary and how it panned out, what I did, how I travelled around and some practical tips.
Welcome to the second part of my Bali specialty coffee guide, covering the coffee shops and roasteries I visited in Canggu and Seminyak (as well as one in Jimbaran) and their sub-districts, such as Berawa and Petitenget. Five minutes into my first coffee shop visit and I was already regretting not having more space in my suitcase to bring back some more coffee souvenirs, so I devoted myself to enjoying the coffee while I was there instead. And enjoy it I most certainly did!
After I left Munduk, my next stop was Ubud, a town in south-central Bali that is thought to date back to the eighth century, its name deriving from the Balinese word ubad, 'medicine'. Ubud has long been popular with the backpacker circuit and expats and there are as many yoga studios, co-working spaces and brunch spots as temples these days. Its central location also makes it a good base for visiting much of the rest of Bali: I took a day trip to East Bali, but the north is just as accessible on a one-day tour.
During my recent trip to Bali, I spent almost four days in and around Ubud. After the peaceful surroundings of Munduk Moding Plantation, the hustle and bustle of Ubud was a bit of a shock to the system, but I dived straight into exploring some of the town's numerous specialty coffee shops and roasteries. The places listed are all within about 15 to 20 mins' walk of the centre, depending on where you start. There will be a separate post about all the other things I got up to in Ubud, but read on to find out about my coffee experiences.
A few months ago, I received the invite of dreams — to attend a meeting in Bali. I was also able to fly out 10 days early to take some much-needed holiday before the work part. Cue several weeks of intensive research into where I should go and how I should spend my time. And one place soon emerged as a top priority: Munduk Moding Plantation, a beautiful resort and coffee farm in the mountains of north Bali.
