grcreativebox

[ad_1]

(CNN) — Wander amidst the faded colonial splendor of Sao Tome, the capital of Sao Tome and Principe, and it’s easy to be charmed by the African city’s laid back, tropical simplicity.Traders jostle to sell their wares at the bustling central market while fishermen laugh and joke by the large bay that swoops around the city. Follow the promenade along the coast towards the edge of town, meanwhile, and a rural paradise of palm-lined beaches and stunning biodiversity awaits.Uninhabited until being discovered by the Portuguese in the late 15th century, Sao Tome and Principe is a tiny archipelago situated in the Gulf of Guinea. It became a outpost of the slave trade under Portuguese rule, with sugar cane, cocoa and coffee all prominent exports.Labor practices thankfully improved over the centuries and independence eventually arrived when the Portuguese left in the mid-1970s.Yet Sao Tome and Principe is once again attracting the attention of international explorers, this time in the shape of tourists.Hugo Menezes, director general of tourism for Sao Tome and Principe, tells CNN Travel that just 7,900 people visited in 2010. The country’s aim is to increase visitor numbers by 10% each year, he adds, and ensure tourism becomes a prominent economic pillar.Despite its enviable natural beauty, Sao Tome and Principe remains a developing nation. The World Bank estimates that around a third of its 200,000 citizens survive on less than $1.90 per day.But Menezes believes tourism can help bring investment and a range of benefits that will aid its development, hence the push to attract new visitors.’Heaven on Earth’For those who do come, the allure of Sao Tome and Principe is clear from the moment of arrival.The islands’ remoteness — situated roughly 160 miles (260 kilometers) off the coast of Gabon — has helped maintain a remarkably varied ecosystem. Lush rainforests rich with endemic plants and species cover large swathes of both islands, while white sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters are plentiful.Sao Tome tour guide Luis Miguel tells CNN Travel that most tourists feel like they’ve visited “heaven on Earth.” Hiking, diving, snorkeling, trekking, exploring the unique flora and fauna as well as landmarks like the Pico Cao Grande (a stunning 1,213-foot-tall peak that rises sharply above the rainforest) are among the most popular attractions. Yet Miguel also points to the island’s history, culture and unique gastronomy as other key aspects to be explored.At Roca Sao Joao dos Angolares — an old plantation in the southwest of Sao Tome island that has been transformed into a restaurant, hotel, and art space by TV chef Joao Carlos Silva — visitors can experience lavish Sao Tomean cuisine full of extravagant tropical flavors. Towards the mountainous interior of the island, meanwhile, the Casa Museu Almada Negreiros serves up similarly delightful fare with stunning views over a verdant hillside canopy. Other attractions include the sprawling Monte Cafe plantation where visitors can learn about the coffee-making process as well as the brutal history of those who were brought to the island as slaves and bonded laborers.A unique expression of the islands’ culture and history can also be found in its public theater tradition, known as Tchiloli, while the Auto de Floripes festival is held every August and sees much of the island’s population participate in reenactments of historic battles between Christians and Moors. ‘African Galapagos’Significant challenges remain in modernizing the infrastructure of Sao Tome and Principe. There are currently no ATMs on the islands while deep potholes scar many roads in the capital. Dilson Carvalho of the Sao Tome and Principe tourist board told CNN Travel by email that plans were afoot to introduce ATMs by the middle of 2020, while new roads and improvements to existing potholed streets are also in the pipeline.Carvalho adds that by boosting tourism, Sao Tome and Principe also hopes to raise awareness of the need to protect the country’s unique but delicate ecosystem while also providing economic opportunity for its citizens.A focus on sustainability is already something many resorts across the islands have sought to develop on their own accord.On Principe, around 112 miles northeast of Sao Tome, a handful of high-end resorts have made preservation of the island’s distinct ecological makeup central to their operations. Principe is a Unesco Biosphere Reserve due to the diverse range of endemic plants, birds, insects and marine species found there.South African billionaire entrepreneur and one-time space tourist Mark Shuttleworth owns three high-end resorts on Principe, including the five-star Sundy Praia Lodge, that aim to put sustainability at the heart of their offering.A short distance away, the Roca Belo Monte Hotel allows guests to mingle with researchers who have been invited to use the property as a base for their work and studies.Resort owner Rombout Swanborn tells CNN Travel about how the islands are known as the “African Galapagos” because of the sheer number of unique plants and species that have evolved there, cutoff from the outside world, over many millions of years. Some of the profits generated at Roca Belo Monte are reinvested into conservation projects on Principe, Swanborn continues, while he also points out that tourism has become a major employer on the island.”What we are trying to demonstrate is that high-end tourism can conserve nature and create employment and local welfare,” Swanborn says. “Hopefully, people make the link between employment and the attraction of the nature and that creates a productive cycle,” he adds.Those in charge of tourism in Sao Tome and Principe will hope the same.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — Kenley Britton was devastated when her special “Daddy Doll” went missing on a Delta flight from Connecticut to Atlanta last week, her mother Arielle told CNN.The doll has a picture of her father and plays a recording of his voice when the 18-month-old pushes a button. Kenley’s father is deployed in the military and Kenley pushes the button a lot, especially when she is trying to sleep.When Britton realized the doll was missing, she posted a plea for help on social media. Thousands of people shared it and Delta employees set out to find the doll.One day later, the airline announced the search and rescue mission was a success. “We found your doll, Kenley! He’s missed you, but don’t worry. We’re bringing him home,” Delta tweeted Friday. “Last night was the first night since we’ve been home that I didn’t have to go in and put her back to sleep in the middle of the night,” Britton told CNN on Sunday, adding that “Delta went above and beyond what was necessary.”Kenley’s Daddy Doll returned with some Delta swag and a handwritten note about his adventures.Britton told CNN that Delta even had a plan in place to ship a recorder to her husband overseas and remake the doll if it could not be found. One woman actually did replace the doll. Holly Wheelden, who does not know the family, messaged Britton on Facebook asking whether she could mail the family a replacement. It’s expected to arrive at their house in a few days. “This woman didn’t just share, she took action to make sure my daughter was being taken care of,” Britton said.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

Viñales, Cuba (CNN) — In the foothills of the Sierra de los Órganos Mountains, more than two hours west of Havana, a trickle of riders on horseback descends a reddish-brown mountain in a serpentine line. They smile as they pass a group of hikers and continue on their ride. Known as the garden of Cuba, the Viñales Valley was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 both for its natural beauty and use of traditional agricultural methods, says Gabriel Vasquez, a regional specialist with Patrimonio Mundial, which oversees the Caribbean’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the nine in Cuba.Vasquez points out mogotes (tall, rounded hills that rise dramatically to almost 1,000 feet) and various tree species such as the Cuban mountain palm and roble caimán — with its ridged bark resembling a crocodile’s skin — as he shepherds his crew of tourists into a drying barn, where bunches of tobacco leaves hang in rows from overhead beams.What’s unusual about this particular group of 18 tourists, at least these days, is that they’re American. US travel to Cuba has dropped dramaticallySince US President Donald Trump signed the latest round of restrictions on US travel to Cuba, which eliminated “people to people” educational tours for Americans and cruise ship operations from the US to Cuba in June, tourist arrivals to the Caribbean island have plunged nearly 21%, Cuban government data shows. In 2019, nearly 500,000 people traveled from the US to Cuba, compared to more than 638,000 in 2018. The current decline reverses a boom in arrivals following the US-Cuba agreement under former US President Barack Obama. “It became very evident in June when Trump made these changes that it was not going to be business as usual,” says Peggy Goldman, president and co-owner of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania-based Friendly Planet Travel. Goldman said Friendly Planet’s US-to-Cuba numbers, echoing industry-wide trends, are down by 20%. “The impression that people had — even travel agents who understand the industry — is that travel to Cuba from the US is no longer legal. We had to explain and educate people on travel to Cuba all over again.” “But all is not lost,” adds Goldman. “We still get reservations every day.”Some US-Cuba trips are still possibleThe Viñales Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelThe itinerary, arranged by Friendly Planet, falls under the category “Support for the Cuban People,” one of 12 legal categories of travel to Cuba by US citizens. The other legal categories include family visits from Cuban Americans, professional research, journalism, religious activities and athletic competitions.In addition, US travelers must stay in private homes with tourist accommodations and eat at paladars, restaurants run by Cubans in their homes, rather than state-owned establishments. And, they must keep a written record of their activities and expenses on the island (an itinerary and receipts, for example) and retain those records for at least five years.According to OFAC, the tour must also be in conjunction with “recognized human rights organizations; independent organizations designed to promote a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy; or individual and nongovernmental organizations that promote independent activity intended to strengthen civil society in Cuba.” So, as long as you travel with a tour operator that uses private suppliers – since these suppliers are part of “civil society” – and meet the other OFAC requirements outlined here, you can legally travel to Cuba. This is how reputable tour operators such as Friendly Planet, Insight Cuba, Intrepid Travel and a handful of others have routinely sent (and continue to send) tourists to Cuba.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a January 10 statement that Washington’s latest round of restrictions “further impedes the Cuban regime from gaining access to hard currency from U.S. travelers.” The new restrictions, Pompeo said, are meant to prevent charter service from expanding to fill the gaps left by the Trump administration’s October ban on commercial flights to Cuban airports outside Havana.A country frozen in timeVisitors can tour tobacco farms in the province of Pinar del Rio. Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelA post-hike lunch consists of a green salad, fried Malanga and yucca, grilled pork, chicken, tuna and arroz congri (Cuban rice and black beans), all served family style at Finca Agroecológica El Paraiso, a farmhouse with sweeping views of the valley that stretches across the lush Pinar del Río province. In addition to our table of 18 Americans, the farmhouse hosts Dutch and British diners traveling independently, and another small table of Americans enjoying café con leche with flan. Under the new regulations, a legal tour can operate with as few as one participant.Claudia Miranda, a 39-year old graphic designer from Washington D.C. and one of the participants on the tour, was mistakenly told by friends last summer that she wouldn’t be allowed to legally travel to Cuba. Miranda says she’s glad she did her research and booked the tour. “It’s a beautiful country,” says Miranda. “I appreciate that it has stayed the way it is … without being influenced by other countries. People need to see it.” After lunch, a boat ride in the Indio Cave feels like a scene from the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” movie, minus the sound of schoolboys squealing. This gigantic cave on the road to San Vicente is named for the aboriginal Guanahatabey, hunter-gatherers who lived in Western Cuba until the 16th century. It’s part of the same cave system as Cueva de los Portales, just 25 miles east, where revolutionary Che Guevara hid out during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. A Cuban “gondolier” steers passengers through a dimly lit underground river, with limestone stalactites dripping from the grotto overhead. The next morning, at the Hector Luis Prieto Tobacco Farm about an hour north in San Juan y Martínez, stray dogs scamper about the tour group as guide Osvaldo Diaz blows rings with his cigar smoke. This 15-acre tobacco plantation gives multilingual tours to visitors in addition to housing up to four guests in an Airbnb cabin on the property. (Yes, it’s a real Airbnb.)Tobacco farming is one of the few industries in Cuba that is considered private. Farmers own the land, but they must sell 90% of the leaf they grow to the government — at a price set by the government — for the Cuban cigar industry. The rest they can sell or use as they wish.Trump sanctions hit Cuban businesses hardFaced with US sanctions, farmers have switched from using diesel to oxen and plows to tend their crops.Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelDiaz says Trump’s regulations have affected business, a concern which resonates with guides across the country.”We had a partnership with a local dive operator that brought cruise ship passengers here,” he says. “We used to get at least 100 visitors a week from the US. Now we might get two small groups in a month.” The owner of the farm, Prieto himself, arrives and joins the conversation. Prieto says that the farm originally belonged to his grandfather who immigrated to Cuba from the Canary Islands over 100 years ago. “It’s a shame that it’s so much harder to come to Cuba now,” Prieto says. Of Trump’s sanctions, he says, “On the production side, it hurts. A lot.” In addition to the travel regulations imposed in June 2019, the Trump administration sanctioned ships bringing oil from socialist ally Venezuela to Cuba in an attempt to pressure Cuba and force Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out. This move has prompted farms like Hector Luis Prieto, which once used diesel to tend their crops, to use oxen and plows and other methods.The pace is quickDance instructors at La Casa Del Son make their salsa, cha-cha and mambo moves look easy.Kristan SchillerDuring the tour’s couple days in Havana, the pace of life moves much quicker — and the tour group can only try to keep up. At La Casa Del Son dance studio, dance instructors wearing brightly colored skirts make their salsa, cha-cha and mambo moves look easy before a rapt audience. After their performance, they offer their hands to this mostly senior group of Americans who laugh as they go. One woman continues dancing with the handsome male teacher long after everyone tires. The teacher counts aloud so his student can follow.When the dance lesson is over, the group weaves its way through the city past cafes and private casas to Clandestina in Old Havana, an independent Cuban fashion brand founded by two women in 2015 after then-Cuban President Raul Castro loosened regulations on the private sector.The t-shirts, bags and caps line the shelves while posters cover the white walls of their trendy studio, where they make clothes from recycled materials.Clandestina has become synonymous with the word “cool” both in Cuba and — now with their online shop and pop-up stores throughout the US — abroad.”[Foot] traffic from the US has been less compared with when Obama was president,” says store manager Johnny Rivera. “But our local customer base has grown.” Rivera says that as the brand has grown internationally, young Cubans as well as foreigners regard Clandestina clothing as collectors’ items and keep business steady, especially in summer.A hipster in a fedora enters the shop and buys a few shirts with an entourage trailing him, his vintage car parked smack in front of the store, still running while the Friendly Planet tourists peruse the shelves. A handful of Americans buy gifts for their kids back home before the tour group moves on. Giving back is part of the tourThis Havana park is popular for its views of the castle and lighthouse of El Morro.Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelOn the third day of the tour, the Friendly Planet bus heads to Lawton, one of Havana’s poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, stationing itself conspicuously alongside Muraleando, an after-school art program for children created inside an old water tank. The space, built in 2010 and covered in vibrant murals and tiles, now houses an art gallery, workshops and a stage space, funded entirely by community members, where volunteer artists give instruction to local kids as well as perform. “Our roof is made from parts of an old ’53 Buick and ’49 Ford,” says Muraleando guide Victor Rodriguez Sanchez, pointing overhead to metal car scrap that has been welded together on the ceiling and resembles a sculpture one might see at MoMA in Manhattan. Sanchez ushers the group into an open-air theater where five musicians perform a series of rumba songs, one after the other. A 20-something crooner cradles a microphone and moves to the beat of the rousing percussion while the American spectators give her a standing ovation.As the group departs, Marilyn Draxl and Hugo Keesing from Columbia, Maryland leave a large bag of art supplies, transported to Cuba in their luggage, for the children at Muraleando. “Our friends think no one can come to Cuba,” says Draxl, who has traveled the world with her husband. Draxl says most of their friends in the US find the Trump administration’s new Cuba travel regulations so confusing that they simply decide not to go. Legal tours have packed itinerariesThe Cathedral of Havana dominates the plaza that bears its name. Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelThe US rules for American travel to Cuba require a “full-time schedule,” stating somewhat nebulously that such a schedule should “not include free time or recreation in excess of that consistent with a full-time schedule.” That makes the Friendly Planet tour, by necessity, a busy one. In addition to an assortment of people-to-people cultural experiences, the tour hits a few literary highlights such as a stop in Cojimar, the fishing village that inspired Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea” and a visit to the Ambos Mundos La Habana Hotel (Havana is spelled with a “b” in Spanish), where “Papa” Hemingway took up residence in room 511 to write. The tour also calls upon the Spanish-style Hotel Nacional de Cuba, once financed by American mobster Meyer Lansky, where the Americans sip mojitos from giant wicker chairs on the hotel’s sea-facing veranda. The last night of the tour, a collection of perfectly polished vintage cars line the narrow street in front of Hostal El Encanto de Perseverancia, Friendly Planet’s approved casa of choice in Central Havana. Gentlemen dressed in khaki pants and pressed white shirts hold their car doors open and help the ladies inside, leaving the men to fend for themselves. Classic American cars are everywhere in Havana.Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelClaudia Miranda asks her driver to turn up the music and Tony Bennett’s “The Best is Yet to Come” roars from the speakers. Tops down, the cars head west on the Malecón as the sun sets over Havana harbor. A farewell repast of garlic shrimp, mandarin chicken and cheesecake accompanied by craft cocktails at Habanera, a 1930-built art deco paladar in Havana’s posh Miramar district, feels like an intimate dinner party for 18.”I wanted to come to Cuba because of the travel restrictions,” says Sara Contreras, a 40-year old real estate agent from Washington, D.C. who speaks fluent Spanish and immigrated to the US from El Salvador with her parents when she was a child. “The fact that it’s forbidden made me want to know more about how Cubans live … And now I do!” “We are so happy to have Americans visit,” adds Monica Munoz, a tour guide with Friendly Planet based in Havana. “It’s a beautiful thing when you can connect with people and keep politics aside.” Kristan Schiller is an award-winning freelance journalist, photographer and guidebook author whose work explores travel, adventure and conservation. A former New Yorker, Schiller now travels the world from her home base in Ohio. Next up: Jordan. Twitter: @KristanSchiller Instagram: KristanSchiller

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

London (CNN) — A British Airways (BA) flight has broken the record for the fastest-ever subsonic flight between New York and London, reaching a top speed of more than 800mph (1,287km/h). The Boeing 747 aircraft flew overnight from Saturday to Sunday and reached its destination in four hours and 56 minutes, as Storm Ciara sped towards the United Kingdom. “The flight was riding a much stronger than usual jet stream, with winds over 200 mph propelling the aircraft,” says senior CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. “The supercharged jet stream is also responsible for powering Storm Ciara, which has brought damaging wind gusts and massive waves to the UK, Ireland and other parts of Northern Europe this weekend. “The jet stream is a fast moving ‘river of air’ high in the atmosphere, around the height that commercial airliners fly. The jet stream is responsible for carrying weather systems around the planet.” The plane landed at Heathrow airport at 4:43 a.m., almost two hours earlier than scheduled. Its top speed during the flight was 825mph (1,327km/h), according to Flightradar24, an online flight-tracking service. The flight-tracking platform estimates that the average time it takes a plane to fly between London and New York is six hours and 13 minutes. Flightradar24 announced the news of the record-breaking flight on its Twitter account, writing: “If we’re not mistaken, BA now retakes the fastest subsonic NY-London crossing from Norwegian.”A British Airways Boeing 747 approaches New York on January 23, 2020. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesThe service added that the British Airways flight was one minute faster than a Virgin Airbus A350 flight, which touched down at Heathrow moments later. It beat another Virgin plane which landed half an hour later by three minutes. All three flights comfortably beat the previous record of five hours and 13 minutes, held by Norwegian since January 2018. Although the BA plane was clocked apparently going faster than the speed of sound — 767 mph — it would not have breached the sonic barrier because it was being pushed by the air around it. Even when traveling at more than 800mph, the 747 was traveling much slower than the speed of sound relative to the air around it.A spokesperson for BA said: “We always prioritise safety over speed records, but our highly trained pilots made the most of the conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time.”Storm Ciara made landfall in the United Kingdom over the weekend and caused severe travel disruptions elsewhere. Two of Europe’s busiest airports — one in Frankfurt, Germany, the other in Amsterdam, Netherlands — each grounded more than 100 flights due to the storm.A company spokesperson told CNN that BA, like all other airlines operating flights into and out of the UK, was being affected by Storm Ciara — and had canceled some of its flights and merged others. CNN’s Barry Neild contributed to this report

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — The United States has begun implementing new rules around travel from China as the coronavirus death toll creeps higher — rules that include re-routing Americans flying into the country to specific airports for screening. So far, more than 420 people have died in China and more than 19,000 have been infected across more than 25 countries. In the US, government officials urged residents not to travel to China, issuing a level 4 travel advisory. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on January 30. For Americans who traveled there in the past 14 days, the US Department of Homeland Security said there are a total of 11 designated airports — including John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — where travelers can enter the United States. Those airports, the government said, have more resources to conduct enhanced screening procedures.If passengers are screened and show no symptoms they will be re-booked to their final destination and asked to “self-quarantine” inside their home, DHS says. “Even American media and experts doubted the government’s decision, saying that the US government’s restrictions on China are precisely what the WHO rejects, that the US is turning from overconfidence to fear and overreaction, and that banning the entry of foreigners who traveled to China in the past 14 days is suspected to be violating civil rights instead of reducing risks of virus spreading,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.What travelers can expectBased on the new restrictions that went into effect Sunday evening, Americans flying into the United States who have been in China’s Hubei Province in the past 14 days may be subject to up to two weeks of mandatory quarantine, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a news conference.US citizens who have been in other parts of mainland China in the past 14 days will undergo screening at the designated airports and up to two weeks of monitored self-quarantine, Azar said. To help expedite that process, DHS acting Secretary Chad Wolf said, Customs and Border Patrol and air carriers will identify passengers who fall under the restrictions before their scheduled flights. “Once back in the U.S., it’s imperative that individuals honor self-quarantine directives to help protect the American public,” Wolf said in a statement. The new rules also mean foreign nationals who were recently in China will be temporarily denied entry into the United States, Azar said. Monday, acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said a Canadian citizen was turned back at the northern border under the new coronavirus travel restrictions. It’s not clear whether anyone else has been turned back as part of the proclamation. “We’re just beginning, today, to see results of implementation,” Cuccinelli said.TSA issued new directivesChinese nationals coming from China and connecting through another foreign airport will be denied travel, according to a person briefed on the new restrictions. Those with pre-clearance are exempt.Frontline employees will also be allowed to wear surgical masks if they choose to do so, TSA administrator David Pekoske said in an email directive sent to employees Saturday.Airlines are suspending travel to ChinaAirlines including Delta Air Lines, British Airways, United Airlines, American Airlines, Air Asia, Cathay Pacific, Air India, IndiGo, Lufthansa and Finnair have announced plans to slash the number of flights they are operating to China or stop flying to the country entirely. Many airlines are offering customers refunds or credits.Delta Air Lines suspended flights Sunday between the United States and China until at least April 30, the airline said in a news release. The suspension went into effect four days earlier than initially planned. American Airlines also suspended flights between the United States and China, effective January 31 through March 28. Travelers with upcoming plans should check with their airlines and look for advisories posted on carriers’ websites.Guidance for American flight crews in ChinaOver the weekend, the CDC and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued guidance for American-based flight and cabin crews who are traveling or have traveled to China recently. That guidance includes minimizing their contact with other airport personnel and limiting their time in public while in China, as well as not using public transportation when getting to hotels and monitoring their temperature.It also directs crews to avoid going into the general population and maintaining a distance of about 6 feet from anyone during their time there. “Avoid crowds, stores, sporting or mass entertainment events, and other situations likely to attract large numbers of people,” the guidance says.CNN’s Dakin Andone, Sherisse Pham, Hanna Ziady and Geneva Sands contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — Framed by abundant woodland, surrounded by icy water and bathed in the glowing winter sun, this new hotel in Swedish Lapland already sounds pretty special.And that’s before you realize its centerpiece is a circular structure adrift on the Lule River, reachable only via wooden walkway and designed to resemble a cluster of logs caught adrift on a Swedish waterway.Welcome to Arctic Bath, a “floating hotel” in the Scandinavian north. In the middle of this floating edifice is a giant ice bath, open to the elements and offering a pretty spectacular spa experience for guests who brave the cold. The rest of the building is comprised of various saunas and bathing experiences.The hotel’s 12 rooms are dotted around the river banks and on the water’s edge, Scandi-chic cabins offering eye catching views of the ever-changing skies and cozy, minimalistic interiors.This new accommodation spot, designed by architects Bertil Harström and Johan Kauppi, suggests a constant dialogue between nature and the man made structure.Unusual designThe centerpiece of Arctic Bath is this circular floating structure.Courtesy Anders BlomqvistDesigns for Arctic Bath premiered back in early 2018, with its striking architecture and watery theme capturing the imagination of travelers across the world.Now the hotel — located about an hour and 15 minutes from Luleå Airport — is open for business, and also offers first-rate culinary offerings at the hotel restaurant.The theme of wellness is pretty high on the list of priorities for Arctic Bath, the food’s got a healthy bent, with locally sourced ingredients, while the emphasis on cold bathing is to aid muscle pain. Guests brave enough to plunge into the pools will be able to enjoy an incredible spa experience.Courtesy Daniel HolmgrenActivities on offer include — unsurprisingly, perhaps — yoga, mindfulness and meditation.There’s also the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors — think bear watching, horseback riding and courses in wildlife photography.Arctic Bath is located in pretty stunning spot in Swedish Lapland.Courtesy Anders BlomqvistDuring the winter months, the Northern Lights illuminate the skies above.The Arctic Bath team is also keen to bridge the gap between tourists and locals living in the neaby village of Harads, and guests will have the opportunity to learn more about the local Sámi culture by visiting a local resident at her home.The team behind the new hotel also helped bring the nearby, successful Treehotel to life. “I think TreeHotel prepared the world for Arctic Bath as the next project,” said co-architect Bertil Harström of Arctic Bath back in 2018.

[ad_2]

Source link