While some might head straight to New York City, there’s nothing quite like fall in Upstate New York …
Adirondack Mountains, Upstate New York
The United States has lifted Covid-19 travel bans on air passengers flying from Europe from November 8 onwards if they are fully vaccinated and undergo testing and contact tracing. Celebrating a negative test at the rooftop runway pool with a Manhattan before shooting into town for a few nights in the Casa Cipriani would be enough mega-city action for 2021 – and enough time to take in the opposite vibe, a road trip out to the Catskills. First Chatwal Lodge then up through the Hudson Valley, pit-stopping at Mohonk Mountain House before heading through all those fall colours to the Point Resort in the Adirondacks for a deep breath of that fresh autumn air ahead of whatever winter is going to throw at us.
The Dewberry, Charleston, South Carolina, US
Summer towns are all very well unless summer means supercharged humidity hair and holiday hordes. I love Charleston in November. You can breathe during the mild winter and get a clear-eyed look past the horse and carriages at real life and the complex history of this town. Before you dive into days of chocolate box antebellum houses and garden tours and boat drinks, spend some time getting your moral coordinates in the Old Slave Mart Museum. Then you’ll only need your feet for Charleston’s slower pace, and your appetite. Charleston’s exteriors might be perfectly preserved but the city has been transformed by a restaurant revolution kicked off by chefs like Sean Brock. His focus on Southern foodways and heritage ingredients mean that new takes by young chefs sit beside soul food kitchen institutions like Bertha’s or Hannibal’s. In America’s newest food town, in with the old and the new should be the city slogan, and drinks in the Tattooed Moose or at the white-jacketed southern belle of the ball, The Dewberry, will give you a feel for today’s Charleston.
The Dewberry, 334 Meeting St, Charleston, SC 29403; www.thedewberrycharleston.com.
Hotel Figueroa, Los Angeles
LA is vast. Not so much sprawling as densely populated and distinct districts with deep-rooted cultures quilted tightly together, but getting to know your neighbourhoods and the endless boulevards and avenues that mesh them doesn’t take long. First-timers should just pick one or two areas to explore, but base yourself in Downtown regardless. Until recently LA always had a centre but no heart. Downtown was a ghost town, but that has changed. Downtown, or DTLA, is becoming the heart of city life for the first time in a very long time. DTLA has some refurbed beauties as hotels but I’ve given up on the Nomad LA. Even the hotel’s famous restaurant has been dumbed down and under that glorious turquoise ceiling the food and service recently was a pale version of the NYC hotel. The Figueroa is my new LA home. Built for ladies in the 1930s, the biggest project of its kind to be financed, owned and operated by women, it’s a Spanish Colonial stunner and one classy dame. You don’t need a hire car in LA. Rent a car for the day – never from LAX – if you are going to make a run out to El Matador, Surfrider or Zuma in Malibu. Go early via the Getty and swim after. Or don’t bother driving at all and get the train then bike along Venice Beach, stitching in and out of the shops on Abbot Kinney. Ride sharing companies have opened LA up more than anything. Download Lyft and Uber – they’ll be your two constant guardians in the City of Angels, so hand the keys back and travel by app.
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