Wash your cares away: taking a salt bath in Biarritz

February 19, 2005June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

The French have put faith in the curative powers of salt water for generations, believing it can heal everything from back pain to cellulite. Sarah Barrell takes the plunge in Biarritz

Therapy, by its very definition, is meant to be therapeutic: the restoration of mind and body administered by gentle healing hands. Whisper the word at a meditative pitch to conjure images of essential oils, massage and gentle soul-probing on soft cushions. But as I signed in for a thalassotherapy session on a chilly morning in the French coastal resort of Biarritz, it became apparent that somewhere along the line the “feel better” factor had got lost in translation.

Woman about world: hospitality? We don’t know the meaning of the word

January 23, 2005June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

There are a few places in the world where even the most souvenir-shy of travellers would do well to pack an extra suitcase. Excess baggage-guaranteed destinations include New York (look at that exchange rate!), Bangkok (try to resist those markets!), and Morocco (the lure of the medina will be your undoing!). But what of holidays that result in a different kind of excess baggage – I’m talking the emotional kind? After a recent trip to Morocco I found myself weighed down not with hand-painted tajine dishes or pointy slippers but a hefty sense of guilt. You see there is nothing like a holiday to the Near East to leave you feeling like a graceless host.

Just deserts: a stay at the Explora, in Chile’s Atacama Desert

November 14, 2004June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

Great pool. Which is nice when …
… you’re in one of the driest places on earth. With no fear of rainfall, Sarah Barrell heads to Chile’s Atacama Desert, and a deeply fashionable Explora lodge.

Llamas. Not the kind of creature one expects to see by the pool of a luxury hotel. There it was, grinning slightly salaciously, I thought, as I headed for a twilight swim. But then Explora, a luxury lodge in Chile’s Atacama Desert, is not your average hotel. And voyeuristic llamas aside, there is nothing like doing al fresco backstroke to get rid of hours of planes, pains and bumpy automobiles.

48 Hours in Washington: The American capital pre-elections

October 30, 2004June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

The American capital is abuzz with election fever. Sarah Barrell votes the city a winner at any time of year

WHY GO NOW?
Because there is never a better time to visit the American capital than during the frenzy of a presidential election. At any time of year this city is the hub of the political world but right now everywhere from Washington’s restaurants and museums to hotels and concert halls are alive with election fever. You can eat lunch next to bright young things as they compose drafts of speeches on café counter-tops, and watch lobbyists make frantic political predictions over happy-hour cocktails. Just watch out for those motorcades whizzing up and down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Woman about world: trans-Siberian road trip

October 10, 2004June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

The long road to nowhere ended with a revelation

The likes of Flaubert and Freya Stark may have eulogised about it but for most, travel is merely a means to an end. In the jet age, the “getting there” bit of a holiday is simply a bland necessity between home and where you want to be.

But what if, without the act of getting there, your destination would make no sense at all? Imagine plucking one of those itinerant writers out of, say, the London docks, plonking them down, an in-flight movie and a packet of peanuts later, in the middle of as-yet uncharted Africa?

New York: city break feature for the Sunday Independent

September 19, 2004May 20, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

No sleep till dawn? Maybe. But you’ll still want a decent hotel

Great places to stay in NYC now offer much more than just a bed for the night, reports Sarah Barrell

The current batch of new New York hotels are not so much new as reinvented. The formula seems to be: out with the old (name, staff and décor), in with the new (high-concept branding and hot design team). The most exciting makeover has been the Dream Hotel. Set to bring a sense of fun to the homogenised Midtown hotel scene, the 228-room Dream Hotel will be…

Toulouse Weekending: one of the regular city break features for the Telegraph

September 18, 2004June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

This is the place for gourmands, romantics and even aviation fans, says Sarah Barrell

Why go? Since Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s pioneering mail flights in the 1920s, Toulouse has been at the heart of France’s aviation industry. Today it is also home to a large student population and a vibrant art scene. The city has a medieval old town and an attractive setting along the banks of the Canal du Midi and Garonne river.

Vintage Hamptons: a tour of Long Island’s vineyards

August 22, 2004June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

A cheeky little number – with just a hint of spud

A short drive from Manhattan, old potato farms are being turned into prizewinning vineyards. Sarah Barrell raises a glass.

Two hours after leaving New York I am sitting on a white sandy beach sipping a fine local chardonnay. Have I travelled by resurrected Concorde to California’s wine country? No. I haven’t even left New York. Or at least I haven’t left New York State. The north-eastern tip of Long Island, known as the North Fork, may be two hours’ drive from Manhattan but it is a world away. California still hogs America’s viticultural spotlight but thanks to Long Island’s vineyards and award-winning vintages, New York is now established on the oenophile’s map.

Making tracks: learning to drive a 4X4 in the Malverns

August 21, 2004June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

Reluctant motorist Sarah Barrell gears up for the Land Rover Experience in the Malvern hills

Sunday drivers. Nothing worse right? Wrong. Consider the annual rent-a-car driver. The unpractised arrogance of these only-on-special-occasions motorists strikes fear into the hearts of hire car firms. There ought to be laws against them. And I should know – I am one. You see, I hate driving. I hate it with a passion that only applies to things I truly suck at. Driving is something to be done only when it can’t be avoided. The idea of spending an afternoon doing it for fun? I’d rather go to the dentist.

Icelandic adventure: whales, waterfalls and boiling mud

December 28, 2003June 3, 2013 ~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

As adventure activities go, baking bread probably doesn’t rank very highly in most countries. But then Iceland isn’t most countries. We’re at the Bjarnarflag bakery in the northernmost reaches of the island, a handful of miles from the Arctic Circle. It’s midsummer and horizontal sleet steams as it hits the mud around our feet, underneath which sits the “bakery” – half a dozen pits dug into boiling soil, covered with dustbin lids, containing hverabraud – steam bread made with rye and molasses. Bending to peek inside, we’re blasted with a vapour so sulphuric that you have to wonder if perhaps “Bjarnarflag” is Icelandic for “Beelzebub” and we have, in fact, interrupted a satanic scone-baking session.