Emily Brontë called May ‘the month of wishes, the month of hope’, and the Smith team has an extremely long wish list. These include drinking director Ridley Scott’s rosé on his French wine estate, simmering away in Spanish thermal springs, and hitting the Middle East and America’s southern states while the weather is still just right. Here’s where we’re wishin’ and hopin’ to stay in May.
Hotel Wailea
Maui, Hawai’i
I’m lucky enough to live beside the British seaside, but sometimes I want someone to hand me a lei and glass of Krug Champagne rather than a carton of cod and chips. I want to see neon flutters of lovebirds rather than dive-bombing seagulls; I want the air to be scented with fresh mango and papaya, rather than, well, fish. To Maui, then, post-haste: where Hotel Wailea conjures up all the tropical romance I’m craving. It’s blissfully child-free, and so spacious that seclusion comes as standard. Tasting menus of salads plucked from volcanic slopes and buttery lobsters are served in a just-for-two treehouse (on request), and activities include ‘soul connectors’ (say, mai-tai-making classes using orchard fruit or free aerial yoga sessions). Bye-bye, brisk promenades; hello, Polynesian paradise.
Don’t miss No clamouring children, few close encounters with other guests… we love. To enhance the have-it-to-yourself-ness of the hotel, visit in May when there are fewer tourists seeking refuge in Maui. You may want to stick to the hotel’s rum-drenched, bird-themed cocktails, but on 17 May raise a glass to Maui’s best craft-beer makers at the island’s annual Brewers Festival.
Kate Weir, Deputy Editor
Hatago Wakatsu
Omihachiman, Japan
In my humble opinion, the design of Japanese ryokans (a minimalist style known as washitsu) is — as the kids say — elite. Soft light flooding through washi screens, slivers of garden glancing through wooden walls, meditative tatami matting: it all conspires to help you reach a state of mental grace. Soon to launch stay Hatago Wakatsu — built in the 19th century as a tatami-mat shop — is my cup of daintily poured matcha tea, folding in all the elements of Zen-provoking design with the elegance of a carefully origami’d swan. It has its own teahouse, plus trays of whimsical confections; rooms are vessels you can empty your mind into; and there’s a sauna for steamier contemplations. Plus, you can purchase some of the furnishings and accessories, should you wish to foster this kind of peace back home.
Don’t miss In May, Kyoto becomes so verdant that urban forest bathing is nearly a thing. While the city itself is an intensive lesson in Japanese culture through the centuries, May is even more enlightening thanks to the Aoi Matsuri (Hollyhock Festival), which kicks off the month with thrilling displays of archery on horseback.
KW
Edgewood Tahoe Resort
Nevada, US
Lake Tahoe has long been on my holiday hitlist: alongside its extensive list of superlatives (the best this, the longest that), its 22-mile stretch also spans across California and Nevada, making it a two-for-one deal, of sorts. For spring sojourns here, Edgewood Tahoe Resort makes for an all-frills base and has serious sustainability cred too. It impresses year-round for its striking scenery, but I’m particularly enamoured with it once the snow-seeking coteries have cleared out for the season. Its private beach puts freshwater pursuits within wandering distance, and Sierra Nevada’s scenic hiking trails are your bucolic backyard. Inside, the set-up is equally compelling, courtesy of seasonal, New American dining, cocktail-crafting bars and a spa where saunas, gemstone rituals and CBD-infused scrubs are antidotes for the adventure-weary.
Don’t miss The Made in Tahoe Spring Festival — held in the Village at Palisades Tahoe — rings in the season by celebrating local artisans, musicians and chefs across the 25 and 26 May. The Lake’s famed full-moon kayak tours also start from 22 May.
Ellie Nelson, Content Writer and Editor
Castilla Termal Brihuega
Guadalajara, Spain
The paradox of city life is the desire to often leave it behind, and I’m in luck while currently living in Madrid, as bucolic hideaway Castilla Termal Brihuega is just an hour’s drive away. Serenity washes over this former textile factory — it’s hard to believe it once roared with the thrum of looms — and its heritage is evident throughout: some hyper-local dishes are served on traditional tiles; signature fabric-based massages restore guests between spells in the thermal pool; and original stonework and wooden beams adorn lofty suites. Its view-gazing garden and lavender-growing locale could make me rethink my urban existence entirely…
Don’t miss Brihuega is famed for its lavender fields — fashion house Loewe sources its florals here — which open in May when the buds start to bloom. In close-enough Madrid, on 15 May, the tempo picks up for its San Isidro festivities, a whirl of concerts, parades and dancing.
Millie Field, Content Writer and Editor
Stamna Sifnos
Cyclades, Greece
I’m rather biased when it comes to Greek islands — I am yet to visit a corner of the Hellenic Republic (especially in the Cyclades) I didn’t fall head over heels for. But, in a sea of lovable landmasses, Sifnos was a particular favourite. I first visited it in the summer of Barbie, and stayed in the same room as Margot Robbie (after she’d checked out, alas). I won’t disclose where that was — though I can reveal it is on Smith… — but I’m sure the A-list Aussie would be just as taken with Stamna Sifnos, with its sea views from every room, kitchen garden supplying the chefs and proximity to whitewashed-village heaven.
Don’t miss You’ll have to wait until September for Sifnos’s annual gastronomy festival, launched to honour its most famous son, the cherished Greek chef Nikolaos Tselementes. Make do with Ascension Day on 29 May instead, when the islanders gather to celebrate the feast of Panagia Chrissopigi, with an icon procession around the villages and a vigil through the night.
Caroline Lewis, Senior Associate Editor
The Dunlin
South Carolina, US
You don’t need the help of Jamaican-American musician Shaggy to serenade the Carolinas, two of the US’s shiniest Southern Belles. The Dunlin hotel makes it easy, with its all-American charms: a veranda overlooking the marsh flats, clapboard walls, a healthy obsession with a palette of pastel greens and a bar you just know makes a mean mint julep. The hotel — located in the South Carolina coast’s Lowcountry — is part of the ever-expanding Auberge Resorts Collection, which also includes Francophile fantasy Domaine des Etangs in rural France and the superlative Grace Hotel in Santorini.
Don’t miss When the big city calls, Charleston is a 45-minute drive north. It welcomes the darling buds of May with its annual arts festival (30 April to 4 May), as it has done since 1982.
CL
Mas des Infirmières
Provence, France
Provençal sun sweeps across a vineyard. The camera pans slowly, as in a dream. Sprays of flowers dance in the wind; cypress trees throw shadows on pale earth. There is a gate. It swings open… This is how I imagine Ridley Scott would introduce his winery stay, Mas des Infirmières, were he to put it on screen. It’s easy to see why the director fell for this pocket of Provence, where there’s a cinematic drama to the lavender fields, cedar-covered mountains and hushed villages of golden stone. That peace is perfectly preserved here, where there are just three limewashed villas, each with a private garden and a pool. There’s no restaurant, meaning you’ll need to do some cheffing of your own, but not even a gladiatorial appetite could exhaust the estate’s stock of wine, olive oil and honey, all of which are made on-site.
Don’t miss Rates include a tour of the impressive estate winery. Vintages aside, the experience also puts you face to face with cinematic treasures from Scott’s most famous flicks, including original posters and costumes displayed in vitrines.
Hamish Roy, Senior Associate Editor
Our Habitas Ras Abrouq
Qatar
When visiting a place for the first time, my eternal question is always this: ‘where will I get the truest, richest sense of this place?’. Well, here’s a hotel that seems to have been built as an answer: Our Habitas Ras Abrouq, which skirts the Arabian Gulf in Qatar’s Unesco-protected Al Reem Biosphere Reserve. It’s an hour from Doha but far enough into the desert to infuse the site with that sense of vastness and far-from-it-all romance. It has the looks to match: each luxurious villa is shaded by tent-like peaks of khaki canvas, with a private pool beneath like your own little mishrab (water hole). You can dine on tables set on thick-pile rugs beside candles placed on the sand, try wellness rituals inspired by the Bedouin, or watch skilled artists create works emblematic of the Gulf. In essence, this is Qatar in miniature.
Don’t miss Candlelight Concerts brings world-famous artists and musicians to incredible locations around the world, including Doha. On 29 and 30 May, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons will be performed under the light of flickering flames at the Museum of Islamic Art.
HR
Keep some space in your calendar for more new arrivals