Insider intel: Traveller’s writers share their 22 top discoveries

Our roaming reporters check their notepads, sharing secret addresses and perennial favourites from their past year of travel.

Toast masters

Credit: Trudi Jenkins

Despite the ubiquity of the club sandwich on room-service menus around the world, it’s often a flaccid disappointment. Not so at the Ritz-Carlton Melbourne where layers of golden toast, chicken, bacon, ripe tomatoes and herbed egg mayo create a deeply satisfying union of crunch and flavour. It’s emblematic of the hotel’s detailed approach to quiet luxury: exemplary service, considered comfort, a fab spa and those sweeping, sky-high views. See ritzcarlton.com

Rules rules

Rules Beach hides midway between Bundaberg and Gladstone on that rare thing, an unsung stretch of Queensland’s Discovery Coast. Its new, beachfront, six-hectare Holiday Park has big powered sites, a kids’ zone and more but the knock-out is the sea-view glamping tents. These three-room, high-tech structures with timber deck, barbecue, kitchen and bathroom are your base for swimming, fishing and other excursions, including the extraordinary Baffle Creek. See big4.com.au

Manu up

Taumeasina Island Resort in Apia, one of Samoa’s best, loves a good time and its poolside Manu Bar is where locals hang out with guests. The weekly karaoke nights are lively proof that Samoans can really sing and the hotel management get involved, too. It’s the kind of old-school fun that island communities do so well.
See taumeasinaislandresortsamoa.com

Orient impress

Regent Seven Seas’ restaurants are among the best at sea, and Pacific Rim, the Asian restaurant featured on three ships (Grandeur, Explorer and Splendor) does far better than any other generic pan-Asian cruise restaurant to wow the palate and eye with a contemporary, Japan-leaning fusion menu packed with flavour. See rssc.com

Bot coffee

There’s no need to make small talk with barista Bruno at the new Como Metropolitan Singapore. As the robot in residence on the airy sixth floor lobby lounge, Bruno’s only interested in your order, received via iPad. Whether it’s a flat white or local pandan latte, all you need to do is watch his white arms of steel tamp and froth in precise and mesmerising fashion in sweet silence. See comohotels.com

Excel spread

The gorgeous Hotel Excelsior in Dubrovnik, Croatia, exists at a tasteful remove from the crush of the city’s historic old town. Partly housed in a 1913 building, it’s perched on a cliff overlooking the historic centre and the Adriatic Sea, with a private area for swimming and sunbathing. Everything from the elegantly decorated rooms to the in-house restaurants exudes pure understated class. See adriaticluxuryhotels.com

Golden gatekeepers

The 300-plus guides volunteering with this San Francisco Library-affiliated program are united by a singular vision: passion for their home city and a desire to retell the stories that animate it. They’re also intensively trained before guiding visitors around the city’s historic, arty, edgy, multicultural neighbourhoods. Tours are free, though you can make a donation when booking a spot with this 46-year-old public service. See sfcityguides.org

Parmi, but not as you know it

Credit: Edwina Pickles

A 2019 refresh of Pier One Sydney Harbour ushered in a wash of maritime tones and curves across its rooms. But its latest move – to leave the tablecloths and starch behind for a new chapter of relaxed, seafood-focused dining – is not only an inspired choice for these times, but a sure win for the local Walsh Bay theatre-going set. With clever dishes such as charred oysters doused in smoky wagyu fat and coconut vinegar, and King George whiting “parmi”, the pre-show meal may even upstage the performance. Bravo. See pieronesydneyharbour.com.au

Central karsting

Once known for its raucous river tubing parties and rambunctious backpackers, Vang Vieng in central Laos is now a burgeoning destination for adventure sports, including cycling, climbing, paragliding and hot air ballooning. Only by getting airborne can you truly appreciate the region’s spectacular landscape – its snaking valleys and jagged limestone karsts. See tourismlaos.org

Tray chic

Of all the luxuries you can enjoy on holiday, “bed tea” has to be the best. At &Beyond’s Punakha River Lodge in Bhutan, a pot of English breakfast (or coffee if you prefer), milk and homemade biscuits are discreetly delivered on a brass-lined rattan tray through a two-way hatch in the wall. So no need to worry about answering the door in a hungover state of dishevelment as caffeine redemption arrives. See andbeyond.com

Truly immersive

Papatura, a dive/fishing and surf retreat at the edge of wildness in the Solomon Islands, offers a real escape – and yet it’s only a quick international flight, 50-minute domestic flight and seven-minute boat trip away. When you arrive it feels like you really have detached yourself from Earth. And it has the best ocean bar – at high tide, you’ll sit in the water as you sip. See papatura.com

Meeting place

Situated at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone Rivers in Lyon, France, the very modern Musee des Confluences takes an unconventional approach. The museum’s building is a striking angular construction of glass and steel, and its permanent exhibition is organised under broad themes such as Society and Eternity; a flexibility which allows the fascinating juxtaposition of everything from sarcophagi to vintage motor cars. See museedesconfluences.fr

Belgique chic

The new Bar Magritte at the Hotel Amigo, a favourite with celebrities and high-positioned politicians in Brussels, is designed around the Belgian surrealist, Rene Magritte, with the walls covered in a hand-painted mural, a homage to his work. The cocktails, too, are each designed for a Magritte artwork. It’s stylish and atmospheric and, essential to a successful hotel bar, you rub shoulders with locals. See roccofortehotels.com/hotels-and-resorts/hotel-amigo

Zen and how

Recreational use of Victoria’s thermal waters had long been the sole domain of Peninsula Hot Springs until Alba Thermal Springs and Spa entered the business and upped the ante with its architectural Zen elegance across 15 hectares of regenerated dunes, a luxury spa, 31 pools of varying sizes and a restaurant, Thyme, with menu designed by Karen Martini. See albathermalsprings.com.au

Rink insider

The Cote d’Azur’s iconic Carlton Cannes has emerged from a lengthy makeover glittering with sunny, sumptuous style. The beautiful Belle Epoque building on the Croisette, long a favourite of movie stars and paparazzi, has added luxury residences, three gastronomic restaurants, an infinity pool in the garden and a shimmering ice-skating rink for winter. See carltoncannes.com

Mundi on my mind

Credit: Matt Williams

The Birdsville Big Red Bash’s sister music festival near Silverton, NSW, didn’t get off to the best start when COVID delayed its 2021 launch. However, after two successful 2022 events, 12,000 music-lovers flocking to the 2023 iteration and 14,000 fans rocking the cinematic Mundi Mundi Plains earlier this month, the family- and dog-friendly Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash is now outback NSW’s biggest event. See mundimundibash.com.au

River queen

When it opened in 2012, The Siam hotel set a new benchmark for boutique luxury in Bangkok. The family-owned 38-room property features a lavish spa (which uniquely offers the sacred sak yant tattoo), a Muay Thai boxing ring, a retro cinema, three restaurants and some of the largest suites in the city. Twenty-two years is an aeon in the hospitality industry, but thanks to a renovation in 2019 and Bill Bensley’s design expertise, its art deco and beaux arts-inspired interiors still look every bit as elegant today. See thesiamhotel.com

Clean sweep

Credit: Taryn Yeates Photography

Since it opened in 1988, Cable Beach Club Resort and Spa has been emblematic of the mystique of Broome. It’s still the best place to stay in the unofficial capital of the Kimberley, though admittedly, in a fairly shallow pool of choice. But the resort’s got character, charm, romance, even. Breakfast is outstanding with great gluten-free choices, the Cable Beach location is unbeatable, and ah, those Broome sunsets. See cablebeachclub.com

Reign in Spain

Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences, a multi-purpose space designed by Santiago Calatrava and Felix Candela, has to be seen to be believed. Exhibits include the Oceanografico (the largest aquarium in Europe), the Science Museum, the Hemisferic, the Umbracle and the Agora. It is an architectural wonder and visitors will be blown away. See cac.es/en

Mixing it with the best

During her 26 years in the male-dominated New York bar business, mixologist Julie Reiner has launched several venues, including the award-winning Clover Club in Brooklyn. She’s also written a cocktail recipe book, developed a range of canned cocktails and been a judge on Netflix’s Drink Masters. Above all, she’s been an inspiring mentor to women, people of colour and the LGBTQ+ community. See cloverclubny.com

Way to go

Credit: Getty Images

There aren’t many travel experiences that are as popular today as they were 1200 years ago. But thanks to countless books, movies and celebrity endorsements, the Camino de Santiago, an ancient Christian pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, is still all the rage. While the French Way is the best-known of the five UNESCO World Heritage-listed routes, the Portuguese Way is quieter and arguably more scenic. See intrepidtravel.com.au

Instrumental as anything

Claiming to be the world’s only global musical instrument museum, this impressive institution on the outskirts of Phoenix has more than 12,000 instruments from more than 200 countries and territories. However, what really sets Arizona’s Musical Instrument Museum apart is that visitors can see and hear the instruments being played via wireless headsets that connect to monitors as you explore the complex. See mim.org

Traveller Awards contributors: Kate Armstrong, John Borthwick, Jim Darby, Anthony Dennis, Ben Groundwater, Julietta Jameson, Trudi Jenkins, Brian Johnston, Ute Junker, Katrina Lobley, Catherine Marshall, Rob McFarland, Justin Meneguzzi, Craig Platt, Jane Reddy, Jane Richards, Tim Richards, Craig Tansley, Lee Tulloch, Kerry van der Jagt, Penny Watson, Sue Williams