Near+Far

Near+Far The Middle East’s newest luxury travel magazine for the independent, modern traveller

The crowds start to go home in September but the weather certainly doesn’t. Europe keeps its heat without the scorch we’...
01/09/2026

The crowds start to go home in September but the weather certainly doesn’t. Europe keeps its heat without the scorch we’ve seen this summer, the harvests begin, and with the school run back on, everywhere gets quieter, easier, more adult.

Go West.
𝗔𝗶𝘅-𝗲𝗻-𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 – vineyard harvests, market season and 𝗩𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗟𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲’𝘀 art-filled estate without the August heat. Three hours from Paris by TGV, or fly into Nice and drive.

𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗮 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗼, 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗲 – warm Messinian seas, four golf courses and Mouratoglou tennis, three hours’ drive from Athens. September is when sport becomes pleasurable again.

𝗣𝗶𝗲𝗱𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁, 𝗜𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘆 – vendemmia in Barolo country, hazelnut harvest and the Langhe beginning to turn gold. Fly into Turin; Alba is an hour south.

𝗛𝘂𝗱𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆, 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸 – apple harvest, farm stands, outdoor art at Storm King and the first signs of fall, all of it lush and green. Ninety minutes north of New York City.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝘀, 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 – Southern Right whale season at its peak. Fly into Cape Town, take the scenic drive around False Bay and check into 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 above the surf.

Go East.
𝗥𝗮𝗷𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻, 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮 – the Aravalli Hills green after the monsoon and ancient forts on every ridgeline. 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗯𝗮𝗴𝗵’𝘀 pink Mughal-inspired retreat is a two-hour drive from Jaipur.

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗵 + 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮 – spring wildflower season, with orchids, everlastings and thousands of native species. Hire a car and follow the blooms north along the coast.

𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗼𝗻𝗴 – Mid-Autumn Festival: mooncakes, lanterns in Victoria Park and Tai Hang’s incense-lit Fire Dragon dancing through the streets.

𝗦𝗿𝗶 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗮’𝘀 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 – the great elephant Gathering at Minneriya, then two hours east to Trincomalee for the final weeks of dry-season beaches and calm seas.

𝗠𝘂 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶, 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘁𝗻𝗮𝗺 – rice terraces turning gold for harvest, a day’s drive northwest of Hanoi and worth every hairpin.

Sea perhaps its warmest, tables easier to book, harvest ahead. More at nearfarmag.com, link in bio.

The arrival of Assouline’s Beirut Habibi – written by Beirut-born novelist Charif Majdalani – feels like a good excuse t...
22/08/2026

The arrival of Assouline’s Beirut Habibi – written by Beirut-born novelist Charif Majdalani – feels like a good excuse to return to a city we never need much convincing to revisit.

Few cities wear their contradictions so beautifully. Beirut has been Phoenician port, Ottoman jewel and French mandate, and somehow remains entirely itself: lemon trees in narrow streets, couture ateliers, cafés that have outlasted empires. A city addressed as “my darling” for good reason – despite everything, and because of it.

So, with Beirut Habibi newly joining the coffee-table stack, we’re revisiting six of the city’s most beautiful places to check in.

𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗘𝗥𝗚𝗢
Beirut’s grand eccentric. A butter-yellow 1930s mansion in Achrafieh layered with antiques, arabesque detail and suites that share nothing but conviction, topped by a leafy rooftop pool.

𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗨𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗜𝗥𝗨𝗧
The art-filled hideaway. Nabil and Zoé Debs turned their historic Gemmayzeh family home into 25 rooms of Ottoman architecture, original tiles, contemporary art and secret gardens.

𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗗𝗔𝗗𝗔
The new design address. Brothers Marc and Mario El Dada restored their family’s 1935 Saifi residence into three art-filled apartments – original tiles and stained glass meeting contemporary Lebanese design.

𝗕𝗘𝗜𝗧 𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗙
The neighbourhood stay. A cluster of old Gemmayzeh houses reimagined as a contemporary baladi home – Lebanese craft, Lebanese food, and the conviviality of village life, mid-city.

𝗟𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗬
The comeback. Downtown’s design landmark returned in 2026 after five years away – interiors reworked by Galal Mahmoud, 600-plus artworks, and that rooftop over the city.

Save for your next escape

Finally, some rules for the people we travel with. ✈️Lufthansa has turned the unwritten etiquette of flying into somethi...
20/08/2026

Finally, some rules for the people we travel with. ✈️

Lufthansa has turned the unwritten etiquette of flying into something rather more wearable, launching a limited-edition collection dedicated to the small behaviours that can make or break a journey.

Created with Serviceplan, the Travel Etiquette Collection tackles the great debates of modern air travel, from armrest ownership and reclining seats to the inexplicable urge to stand the second a plane touches down. The seven-piece collection spans T-shirts, hoodies, caps and accessories, but there’s a catch: none of it is for sale. Instead, pieces are being given away through Lufthansa’s social channels and selected creators.

We approve. Though we’d like to submit a few additions for consideration: headphones, always; 12-step skincare routines belong at home; your hair stays on your side of the seat; and bare feet are never the answer.

What unwritten rule of flying would you put on a T-shirt?

Lufthansa

Peak summer protocol: find a very well-designed room, order a very good coffee, and stay there until October. Happily, t...
20/08/2026

Peak summer protocol: find a very well-designed room, order a very good coffee, and stay there until October. Happily, the UAE’s café scene is making this easier than ever – a new wave of spaces where the interiors are taken as seriously as the beans, furnished by homegrown names like Dubai’s Klekktic and dressed by local studios rather than catalogues. Three we’re hiding in this season, from Al Quoz to the east coast.

𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗢, 𝗔𝗹 𝗞𝗵𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗷
The neighbourhood café with a very good furniture collection. Concrete floors and white walls play blank canvas to a run of chrome and brushed stainless steel from Klekktic, styled by the brand’s in-house designer Razan Baha. Neighbourhood warmth, showroom restraint.

𝗞𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗢𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗟𝗬, 𝗔𝗹 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘇
Come for the room. Stay for coffee roasted metres from your table. Home to the UAE’s first Bellwether roaster – electric, ventless, in full view – and a two-metre communal table carved from a single block of stone by Surat atelier SHED Studio. The V60 is treated as ceremony, not menu item; August’s walls host a hand-pressed ceramic mural via Emirati women-run studio House of Clay.

𝗕𝗔𝗕, 𝗔𝗹 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗹
Fujairah’s very good-looking new coffee stop. Yara Interiors dressed the room in customised Klekktic pieces – leather against linen, printed green upholstery on steel frames – making it a proper case study in homegrown collaboration, and reason enough to cross an emirate.

Pools built into a 200,000-year-old landscape – this is where to swim in AlUla 🏜Where: AlUla, northwest Saudi Arabia – s...
14/08/2026

Pools built into a 200,000-year-old landscape – this is where to swim in AlUla 🏜

Where: AlUla, northwest Saudi Arabia – sandstone canyons, a million-palm oasis and Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Why: The desert’s best architecture treats water as the main event. An infinity edge aimed at canyon walls, a rooftop pool above the palm canopy, private pools inside Hegra itself, and a pool set into a crevice of the rock with the desert stretching out beyond it.

How to get there: Direct with flydubai from Dubai four times a week – under three hours – or twice weekly from Doha with Qatar Airways.

Our favourites: Our Habitas for the view, Dar Tantora for the atmosphere, The Chedi Hegra for the address, Banyan Tree for the rock pool.

The crowd: Design-literate weekenders from the Gulf, returning visitors doing AlUla properly the second time – and almost nobody in summer, which is rather the point.

Save this for your next long weekend – full AlUla guide at the link in bio.

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