Condé Nast Traveller India

cntraveller.in CHERRY BLOSSOM IN JAPAN Themed festivals, picnic spots, and special eats and drinks to celebrate sakura season in 2025 THREE NEW WILDLIFE CAMPS TO EXPLORE WHERE CHEFS EAT PLAN THE PERFECT SUMMER WITH KIDS FOLLOW US FOR MORE cntravellerindia cntravellerindia CNTIndia…

CHANDRAHAS CHOUDHURY Writer; Ran Baas The Palace, Patiala; p28 Dinner at Peter Cuong Franklin’s Anan Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City’s Michelinstarred restaurant. Franklin’s recent pop-up dinner in Mumbai was a crackling new take on Vietnamese cooking, and he’s a great conversationalist. chandrahaschoudhury PRASAD RAMAMURTHY Writer; Kara, Fort Kochi; p34 Three years ago, I stopped at Mylliem, a village between Shillong and Cherrapunji in Meghalaya, and was treated to over a dozen small plates of the most delicious beef, pork, and mutton with greens and rice. I have been wanting to go back and eat my way through the Khasi and Garo Hills since. travellerprasad VIDYA BALACHANDER Writer; Chowtime In Chennai; p72 It has been my dream for years: I would love to visit South Korea during the kimchi season. The…

With every passing dining experience I have, I realise just how little I know about our country and its food. At Farmlore, near Bengaluru, I learnt that fire ants can be delicious (and crunchy!), and taste different based on the trees they live on. That the tribes of Karnataka know this well, which is the secret to their assortment of chutneys. On a cold night at Hornbill in Delhi’s Humayunpur, I realised that you may or may not take to the axone instantly, but for those living away from home, often alienated in their own country, it provides a comfort that is beyond words. As a Bombay boy, I thought I knew everything about the city, till I went to Bandra Born, and I realised that there are still stories…

INDO SURF SOLITUDE While Bali and the East Nusa Tenggara islands draw more and more coverage, in-the-know surfers are keeping schtum about Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands, west of Sumatra, with their pristine beaches and indigenous tribes of tattooed hunter-gatherers. Stays tend towards thatch-roofed, barefoot simplicity—including the Aloita resort, which has 10 bungalows and villas right on a private white-sand beach with an overwater yoga shala. The eco-focused Hollow Tree’s Resort is a long-time surfers’ favourite that overlooks the legendary “HT’s” wave, and each of the cute blue-and-white villas has a private plunge pool. aloitaresort.com; htsresort.com WELL-DIRECTED STAYS Film directors shifting into hospitality isn’t new—for example, Francis Ford Coppola’s mini empire, from Belize’s Turtle Inn and Coral Caye to Palazzo Margherita in Italy’s Matera; or Château Margüi in Provence, part of George…

Southern Peru With the Machu Picchu-Sacred Valley-Cusco loop well trodden, Peru travel specialist Andean has created a route round the country’s less-explored south, with its pre-Incan cultures and colossal landscapes. The trip tends to start in Quechuan-colonial Arequipa with a stay at Cirqa, a 1540-built monastery that still has the old volcanic stone walls but is now a gorgeous 11-room bolthole, and a base for architecture tours with helpings of local queso helado (cheese ice cream). Then the journey goes up to about 16,100 feet above sea level, across the Altiplano, with a pause on the eye-defying Patahuasi plateau to see the gurgling Misti, one of Peru’s highest volcanoes, over a cup of coca-leaf tea. Andean has added a pit stop in the Colca Valley, home to godlike condors and…

Arising staple on Asia’s 50 Best list, Jordy Navarra’s Toyo Eatery has sustained its hype since 2016 through its ever-evolving, planet-first approach (taking beef off his menus in 2022; processing all of Toyo’s food waste with partner farms in 2024) and fresh Filipino perspectives for everyone from vegans to meat-eaters. Generous kamayan “eating with hands” menus pay respect to local communal customs—banana leaves laden with pork hock, sun-dried shrimp, and seasonal veggies. Informed by Filipino folklore, fermentation traditions, and street eats (like his take on tortang talong, an eggplant omelette with banana ketchup), Navarra nudges us closer to his city’s soul, spotlighting sizzling grills and funky ferments. VEG STREET FOOD New Po Heng Lumpia House in Binondo, Manila’s Chinatown, serves freshly deep-fried lumpia (spring rolls) filled with vegetables, seaweed, crispy…