New Zealand
Russell
New Zealand's first capital — once dubbed the hell-hole of the Pacific by scandalised missionaries.
The ferry from Paihia takes seven minutes and deposits you in a town that has aged from infamy to grace. Russell was once called the Hell-hole of the Pacific — a whaling port where sailors, deserters, and traders drank and brawled in wooden taverns. The waterfront now holds the quiet charm of a place that has outlived its reputation.
Christ Church, built in 1835, is New Zealand's oldest surviving church. Musket ball holes from Hōne Heke's 1845 siege are still visible in its walls. The Duke of Marlborough Hotel holds the country's oldest liquor licence, and its veranda serves drinks overlooking the same harbour where whalers once anchored. Russell was briefly New Zealand's first capital before Auckland took the role. Pompallier Mission, a French Catholic printery built in 1842, still stands with its original rammed-earth walls intact.
Solo
Flagstaff Hill is a short walk with a view that explains why Hōne Heke cut down the British flagpole four times. The history here rewards curiosity.
Couple
Dinner at The Duke, watching the sun set over the bay from the veranda, followed by a walk along the waterfront in near-silence. The pace here is deliberately slow.
- Bullet holes from an 1845 siege still pock the walls of Christ Church — New Zealand's oldest surviving church.
- Once called the Hell-hole of the Pacific for its whaling-era debauchery, the waterfront is now absurdly serene.
- A hand-pulled passenger ferry crosses from Paihia in seven minutes, arriving at a wharf older than most countries.
- The Duke of Marlborough hotel holds New Zealand's oldest liquor licence — drinks on the veranda overlook the bay.
The Duke of Marlborough's waterfront restaurant serves blue cod and sauvignon blanc overlooking the bay.
Fresh crayfish from the boat sheds, eaten with lemon on the wharf.
Mikindani
Tanzania
Dhow builders still shape keels on the beach of a 10th-century port between crumbling coral mansions.
Giverny
France
Water lilies floating on the exact pond Monet painted until his eyes failed him.
Shiger
Pakistan
A 400-year-old Balti fort with Tibetan woodwork, rebuilt as a hotel where you sleep inside history.
Sur
Oman
Dhow builders still hand-stitching hulls in boatyards where the Indian Ocean trade began.
Kaikōura
New Zealand
Sperm whales surface beneath snow-capped mountains in waters teeming with crayfish.
Lake Tekapo
New Zealand
Purple lupins frame a stone church beneath the southern hemisphere's clearest dark skies.
Stewart Island / Rakiura
New Zealand
Kiwi birds outnumber humans on an island where the aurora australis ripples overhead at night.
Farewell Spit
New Zealand
A twenty-six-kilometre blade of sand curving into the Tasman, closed to all but guided safaris.