Shine like a star at W Hollywood Hotel, where you take center stage. Indulge in fabulous Los Angeles dining at Delphine, then take the lift upstairs and splash around in our rooftop pool, WET. Soak up the celebrity scene at Drai’s Hollywood and then wind down in the comfort of our wow-worthy rooms featuring the Wonderful Room or Cool Corner Suite. This chic boutique is under the shadow of the icon Hollywood sign. Sip, mix and mingle at W Hollywood – the newest destination sensation. The place brings glamour and excitement back to the neighborhood that invented celebrity.

Whether you’re stretching out in the modern lounge chair or perched on the ottoman, relax in your room with the state-of-the-art entertainment system, featuring an LG 42″ flat screen TV, LG CD/DVD player, Sonoro iPod docking station and Oscar-worthy media library available. Like surprise endings? Begin with delectable delights from the fabulous Munchie Box and pair it with something refreshing from the white tufted mini bar under a glowing globe pendant. If you feel the need to network, the glossy white lacquered desk has all the trimmings-High Speed Internet Access and cordless phone with voicemail. For gourmet lovers Delphine Eatery & Bar is located at W Hollywood and open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including weekend brunch. Delphine serves classic and modern interpretations of California Bistro Fare- everything from bistro-inspired entrees, sandwiches and an extensive raw bar, to Steak Frites and Hollywood’s Best Burger.

Most of you know, that, Hollywood is located in downtown Los Angeles, and is coined as the entertainment capital of the world. W Hollywood sits center stage at the historic intersection of Hollywood and Vine, directly on the star studded Hollywood Walk of Fame. W Hollywood hotel shares a street with the legendary Pantages Theater and the classic Kodak Theater, home to the Oscars. Nearby, you’ll enjoy the spectacular landmarks, including the fully restored El Capitan, known as “The Greek”, and the world-famous Grauman’s Chinese and Egyptian Theatres. W Hollywood is located at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood, California 90028….

Newport is the quintessential playground of American aristocracy with its summer cottages the size of palaces and its century-old status as a yachting capital. Still, this harbor town is more than model ships and mansions. The waterfront has spectacular views of wide, tentacled Narragansett Bay and is still Newport’s soul, and the estates along Bellevue Avenue haven’t lost their Gilded Age glamour. But in a town that seems, on the surface, so untouched by time, there’s an undercurrent of youthful rebelliousness. Ambitious upstart restaurants, a boisterous night life and a beachy surf culture belie Newport’s staid reputation.

To escape the summertime crush, head to Broadway Avenue (often called “local Newport”) for dancing at the Fifth Element. Recently reopened in a new location after a long hiatus, this nondescript lounge and restaurant is a hangout for locals, who come for quality pub food, including a mean poutine  and pizzas fresh from a flaming oven. But on Friday nights, after the kitchen closes, the tables are cleared and a D.J. oversees an overflowing dance floor, playing everything from Lady Gaga to ’70s dance tunes.

Have lunch in classic Newport style — overlooking the marina and surrounded by maritime artifacts — at the Mooring, the former Station 6 clubhouse of the New York Yacht Club. Socialites slurp oysters  and throw calorie caution to the wind with a brown paper bag of deep fried lobster, crab and shrimp doughnuts ($12). Afterward, if you’re eager to get on the water, Classic Cruises of Newport offers tours of the bay in a former rum-smuggling yacht (from $18) and a 72-foot schooner (from $27). Before leaving town, stretch your legs and get one last taste of salt air at the Norman Bird Sanctuary, a 325-acre wildlife refuge.

One-year-old Forty 1° North, on the water, has 28 rooms with stylish, modern touches, like iPads loaded with your morning newspaper, a wet bar and Malin + Goetz toiletries. Many rooms have bay views. Rooms from $500. For more affordable accommodations, head to neighboring Middletown (about four miles away), where there are plenty of chain hotels with rates from around $130.

ON a wonderful Saturday evening last summer in the Dhoby Ghaut neighborhood of Singapore,  a few hundred people — residents and in-the-know tourists — stood or sat in rows of plastic chairs taking swigs of Tiger Beer retrieved from an ice-filled inflatable kid’s pool. The crowd had assembled to see 10 local artists — photographers, a painter, a fashion designer, a filmmaker — present their work, with a white wall standing in for a projector screen. The biannual gathering, named Rojak for the inventive Singaporean-Malaysian salad, is one aspect of a recent effort to raise Singapore’s cultural profile.

Whereas the government is luring international artists and architects to Singapore, local gallery owners, artists and entrepreneurs are finding innovative ways to nourish homegrown art and fashion and, at the same time, challenge the image of a buttoned-up Singapore, better known for its sparkling high-rises and mall culture than an independent arts scene.

Called a “cultural desert” too many times to count, the Lion City has never been associated with the thriving art and design scenes of places like Jakarta or Bangkok. Rather, it’s seen as a bastion of sanitized, chewing-gum-free efficiency, admired for its modernity and order in otherwise chaotic Southeast Asia. It’s a place where creative expression hasn’t been cultivated. Years ago, visitors interested in art and design were, for the most part, limited to contemporary-art-shy commercial galleries and exhibitions at foreign cultural centers like the Goethe-Institut or Alliance Française. There were — and still are — institutional options like the National Museum of Singapore, the Singapore Philatelic Museum and the Singapore Art Museum, which became the city-state’s first visual arts center when it opened in 1996. Local fashion designers are also trying to create a following, no small feat given Singapore’s more than 200 shopping malls, most of which focus on international labels like Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

However, the best thing to know about Singapore is that people are now buying local and realizing that what makes Singapore special is what Singaporeans make and create….

Apulia is the heel of the boot, where you will bike by groves of ancient, gnarled olive trees, stare out at dramatic sea views from the walled medieval center of Polignano a Mare, peek into old cone-topped stone houses and dine on fresh seafood and ear-shaped pasta, all at prices unimaginable in Tuscany. This region is a place that Italians go on vacation. For such an extraordinary beauty, travallers will bump into relatively low prices, the olive oil is famed and the wine is delicious and inexpensive. But it seemed ignored. And it was also on the way from Naples to Dubrovnik, Croatia, to which it’s connected by ferry.

If you somehow decide to go there, I strongly recommened Polignano a Mare, a town with yellow limestone buildings dramatically perched on an outcropping looking over the Adriatic and a very favorable old-lady-on-stoop-to-foreign-tourist ratio. (It is also the birthplace of Domenico Modugno, of “Volare” fame.) Santo Stefano Bed & Breakfast, hidden in a tiny alley off a small alley off a medium-size alley in a bafflingly mazelike old town.

If you hire a bike, stop to a shop in Monopoli (six minutes away by train) called Puglia in Bici. The shop is run by Southern Visions, which will brought you face to face with Michael’s itinerary. But renting a bike, saddlebags for clothes and equipment, and a map for three days costs just 95 euros. Another best attraction is the caves at Castellana Grotte. It is a nice stop, but the luggage transfers is little difficult with a bike. You might be charmed as well, if you ventured onto windy, narrow roads in search of long-cuts to the next town and, after miles and miles of out-of-season olive trees, you will come across a cherry orchard bursting with startlingly red fruit.

Apulia is a place where you could spend a lot more time, and not just for the random strangers who book you tables at restaurants. You could also spend hours wandering around Locorotondo, whose mind-blowing medieval town center was smaller and calmer than Ostuni’s and more charming than Polignano’s, and relatively undiscovered even compared with the rest of the region. And you could spend days getting lost in the countryside.

If You Go: Apulia is just three and half hours by bus from Naples, although you can fly right into Bari and hop an easy train to Polignano a Mare, too. Bed-and-breakfasts are easy to find online. Not much English in any of those spots, though. Doing the region by bike through (the very-English-speaking) Southern Visions is a great option, whether you just rent a bike or take their full-on tours. . Trains won’t let you wander the countryside, and rental cars are hard to get over stone walls.

Today the French champagne company Krug has found one of the best ways to fly in style with the “Krug Is In The Air” champagne balloon tour program. It currently stands as the world’s most expensive hot air balloon ride, with a cost of roughly $77,790 for one flight. Owned by parent company, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy, the Krug hot air balloon premium quality design includes a wicker basket, canopy, burners by Camerons of Bristol, and white leather lining by French upholsters Bruno Domeau & Philippe Peres. With past expeditions through the U.S. (Los Angeles, Arizona and Miami), England, Italy, Japan and Hong Kong, the balloon will fly virtually to any location in the world.

Each balloon fight is set up to accommodate intimate groups of up to eight people and comes with exceptional personal butler service, gourmet meals and champagne. Krug partnered with famous food designer, Marc Bretillot, to create a menu that compliments the Krug Grande Cuvee and the Krug balloon experience. Travelers can enjoy dishes such as foie gras creme brulee with sea salt and tomato jam, pickled vegetable rolls with devil fried oysters, bluefin tuna with light sesame creme fraiche, and baked Brie feulliete with cracked black pepper, caramel, and toasted walnuts. Flying with such great style comes at a luxurious cost, but we’re sure that nothing quite compares to floating over panoramic landscapes while sipping some bubbly.

Kungliga Djurgarden (Royal Djurgarden) is an island consisting mainly of parkland and forest, with enough to see to keep visitors busy for several days. A wonderful walk along Djurgardskanalen during the summer will get you to Skansen, for instance, an open-air museum presenting historical Sweden, and Vasamuseet(the Vasa Museum), featuring the warship Vasa, which sank in Stockholm on her maiden voyage in 1628. Younger visitors will love Junibacken with its storybook worlds of iconic Swedish children’s author, Astrid Lindgren. Thielska Galleriet (the Thielska Gallery) and Prince Eugen’s Prince Eugen’s Waldermarsudde are two outstanding art museums, housed in former private palaces and famous for their collections of Scandinavian paintings and sculptures from the period around 1900.

The Jewish Theatre is a true gem in the small, exclusive scale. The imposing Nordiska museet(the Nordic Museum), mistaken by some visitors for the Royal Palace, is a leading international museum for Scandinavian culture and history. The island of Djurgarden is home to many other museums and historical buildings, making it a particularly diverse destination for both body and soul.

Simply Bermudian in style and character, with an uncompromising emphasis on privacy and luxury, Tucker’s Point Club rivals the finest resort communities in the world. Set on 200 acres of rolling hillsides in Tucker’s Town that overlook a glorious turquoise sea, the Club offers a unique brand of comfort and sophistication for those who appreciate the special charm and lifestyle of Bermuda. The Beach Club features Bermuda’s largest private beach and boasts two freshwater swimming pools. The Horizon Pool is reserved for guests ages 13 and older, while the Fountain Pool is perfect for families with young children. The Beach Club has an open-air restaurant and dining terrace, along with a bar pavilion, overlooking the surf of the picturesque South Shore and the Atlantic Ocean. The private Tucker’s Point Golf, Beach & Tennis Club captivates members and guests by offering premier amenities within Bermuda’s most prized waterfront property. There is an exclusive access to world-class golf on th breathtaking championship course. Delight in the outstanding Tennis and Beach Clubs, including beautiful swimming pools and the island’s largest private beach. Dine al fresco or experience the ultimate in fine dining at The Point, located in an elegant and intimate ambience. Bermuda has an idyllic temperate climate ranging between 60 – 85 degrees. May through mid-October high temperature ranges between 75 – 85 degrees. November through April, the temperature averages 70 degrees.

A two-hour flight west of Santiago, this rugged isle earned its fame from the 18th-century sailor Alexander Selkirk, whose wild spell as a castaway there inspired the novel Robinson Crusoe. The aura of adventure still endures. Travelers arrive on a seven-seater plane, then take a 30-minute speedboat ride to the town of San Juan Bautista. At the new Crusoe Island Lodge, all 15 bungalows are made with recycled materials and wood from the nearby forest. Get a good rest and the attention you deserve by choosing one of the 15 lodges and suites with terrace overlooking the Bay Pangal for accommodation. You will be amazed with the comfort to be on the remote island Robinson Crusoe, settling in the hotel as the ideal base of operations for exploration and knowledge of the island. Lobster and crab browned on all plans stay with half board and full board. Enjoy the exquisite lobster state, taken every day, like the golden crab or kingfish, which are typical of the island and preparations of the most creative ways by the Chef and of course accompanied by excellent Chilean wine reserve. Robinson Crusoe Island is part, along with the islands of Santa Clara and Alexander Selkirk, the small islands Juan Fernandez, located 667 kilometers off the coast of Chile, halfway between the city of Valparaiso and Easter Island. The San Juan Bautista village is a real natural paradise, where everything is endemic. In 1935, the Juan Fernández Islands National Park was declared by the Government of Chile and in 1977, Unesco declared it a World Biosphere Reserve. Today it remains a real adventure to get here, although every effort is always rewarded. This extraordinary animal, happy and carefree life has become a major attraction for tourism. Not only do the divers are able to cross the world to have one of the most rewarding experiences gained under the water, but many visitors flock to the sea lions swimming Robinson surface thousands of these individuals, many of whom even be touched and stroked. However, the fur seal fur was not always such a happy life, as it began to be exploited after the discovery of the islands, in 1574, continuing his pursuit, even after 1880, which declared sort extinction.

You’ll get a dose of cognitive dissonance arriving at Jicaro Island. There are palm trees and thatched roofs, even a shadowy volcano in the distance, but the air has none of the tropical tang you’d expect, and there are no waves or powdery shores. That’s because Jicaro is located on Lake Nicaragua, a freshwater lake 10 minutes by boat from the colonial town of Granada.The island’s single acre is occupied by Jicaro Island Ecolodge, a hotel as sensitive to the environment as it is easy on the eyes.

Jicaro Island Ecolodge offers nine casitas on the island, all have lake views and are within a short walk from the pool, restaurant, and wellness center. The casitas are two stories, with a private bedroom and a king size bed on the second floor; and on the first floor, a spacious living area that connects to an outside deck overlooking the lake. The casitas and the furniture are made locally from Rainforest Alliance certified wood. Each casita is equipped with mosquito netting and ceiling fans, and the large doors and windows can all be opened for cross ventilation. Most notably, the oversized hammock and comfy furniture of the deck will invite you to relax and feel the peace of this magical lake. Early morning coffee and late afternoon ¨sundowner¨ delivery service is available upon request.

Jicaro is a place where you can find the perfect combination of relaxation and exploration. After a day of lounging in your private hammock or indulging in a rejuvenating massage in the wellness center, you might want to adventure out on one of our signature tours. Explore some of the tours offering varied activities ranging from easy to challenging, and are all accompanied by a private guide who will teach you about local flora and fauna, as well as Nicaraguan history, culture and day-to-day living.

All of your meals and non-alcoholic beverages are included in the room rate. Breakfast and lunch are served a la carte and dinner is a choice of fresh daily specials created by our chef. Jicaro has an open kitchen right next to the restaurant, so it is a real treat to watch the chef prepare your dinner. The menu has plenty of options and prides itself on the selection of fresh fish from the lake and nearby ocean, local vegetables and fruit, and locally farmed chicken and beef. We believe that when you have fresh, tasty ingredients you can cook very simply and the food will be extraordinary.

Jicaro is the ideal location for people who want to reconnect with themselves and leave their hectic lives behind for a few days. Besides Yoga sessions and a variety of massage and wellness treatments, a visitor to the island will be enticed by the fresh and healthy local cuisine, the warmth of the local staff and the authenticity of the overall experience. The Yoga deck looks out over the lake and towards the Mombacho volcano; it is a spot that inspires serenity and tranquility.

Guests often remark that there is something truly special about Ta’ Cenc. After all, it is an island within an island, built on Gozo’s highest point and offering stunning views over the 1.5m sqm estate, the majestic cliffs and the picturesque islands of Malta and Comino. It is the only hotel in the region to be built on a 150 hectare Natura 2000 site, with undisturbed skylines that stretch as far as the eye can see. Situated on the outskirts of a sleepy village, Hotel Ta’ Cenc & Spa with 85 stone bungalows overlooking the sea. The hotel offers an array of services, amenities and facilities which guarantee this remains one of the island’s top hotels – as it has been for decades.

At Hotel Ta’ Cenc provides all the amenities to make your holiday as active, or relaxing, as you desire. The hotel enjoys a number of facilities that will be relished by those guests hoping to keep active during their vacation: two large outdoor swimming pools; one exclusively for adults and one for families with children,  a wellness spa with a fully equipped gym and a lagoon style indoor/outdoor heated pool, two tennis courts, yoga and keep-fit classes available on demand, aqua-aerobics available on demand, an associated diving school, guided walking, cycling and horse riding, tours of Gozo and Malta. The beauty of Ta’ Cenc is that it is yours to explore – right down to the hotel’s private beach.  Plunge into Kantra, the stunning fjord-like rocky beach which is located in the crystal clear waters of a secluded inlet. Here a majestic and savage looking landscape forms the backdrop to a delightful spot to while away the hours in pure tranquillity. It is recommended for experienced swimmers and is not suitable for children and the elderly.

However, when you get exhausted from all those activities, a three restaurants will waiting for you and always look forward to your next dining experience. Breakfast can be served ‘A la Carte’ in your room or buffet style in the restaurant. Dine al fresco under a 400-year-old carob tree at Il Carubo and be charmed by courteous staff who are so typical of this welcoming region. This popular restaurant offers Italian-inspired cuisine and Gozitan specialities for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in an intimate and romantic setting. From diving holidays to historical tours, relaxation vacations to cultural sojourns, Gozo really is an island that offers something for everyone.

Hotel Flatey is situated in the centre of the old village on Flatey, in the very heart of Breidafjordur. The houses in the old centre are timber structures dating from the island’s former times of prosperity, and most of them have been restored in their original style. Nowhere else in Iceland can you find an urban setting where the atmosphere of the past has been so faithfully preserved. The hotel’s dining room and guest rooms are in converted warehouses flanking the old market square. Guests can savour the unique ambience of the island in cosy and welcoming accommodation and enjoy choice food with a view over the village, the coastline and the nesting grounds of the Arctic terns in Skansmyri.

According to folk belief, it is impossible to count the islands and islets of Breidafjordur, the fjord that was carved out by glaciers in the Ice Age. Flatey is the largest of nearly 40 that form the Vestureyjar group. They are of volcanic origin, as can be seen from the common basalt columns and hot springs. Don’t expect to see much night sky there: in summer, daylight shines for up to 21 hours on this rocky one-mile hideaway in Breiaafjordur Bay. Lush meadows and multicolored timber houses dot the scenery, and the mainland’s Snæfellsjokull volcano is always within eyeshot. The Hotel Flatley stays true to simple Scandinavian design (blond-wood furniture; whitewashed walls), and the downstairs restaurant turns into a live-concert venue for local talent at night. Hotel Flatey now offers 7 double/twin rooms, 1 family room (3 persons), suites and 2 single rooms. In total 13 rooms with 27 beds.

Seaside Cabanas Hotel is perched on the beach on the beautiful Island of Caye Caulker, just 22 miles from Belize city. The hotel architecture blends Belizean and Mexican styles with the use of thatch, local woods and bright colours. The interiors are cool and modern with artwork from Belize and other parts of the Caribbean. Overall the atmosphere is fun, tropical and uniquely Caye Caulker. The hotel is proud to offer one of the few freshwater swimming pools on the island, as well as 16 air-conditioned rooms, a two-story bar with beautiful thatched palapa roof, a tour and travel service and a gift shop.  All of this is just a shells throw away from the world’s second largest barrier reef.

Caye Caulker has a very quaint old-style Caribbean feel to it. Wooden piers run all along its beaches and many buildings are still constructed from brightly painted clapboard. The Caye was originally covered in coconut plantations and Lobster fishing is one of the main sources of income. Today, fishermen can still be seen bringing in their catch of the day. Deliciously prepared lobster is served in many of the island’s restaurants at a very reasonable price – don’t miss it. There are numerous ways to spend your lazy days on Caye Caulker. A popular hang-out is the ‘Split’ – a natural break in the island caused by wave action and enlarged by Hurricane Hattie in 1961. The swimming and sunbathing is great there and is a lively beach bar should you need some refreshment.

The beautiful barrier reef is only a 5 minute boat ride away from shore and there are numerous ways to enjoy the amazing underwater scenery. You can take a snorkel trip with a licensed tour guide who will point out all the amazing wildlife, including friendly stingrays and nurse sharks and many species of corals and tropical fish. If you are very lucky you may even spot a turtle or dolphin. Another popular trip takes you to watch rare and protected manatees in their natural habitat. Water sports are also popular there and you can have a go at sea kayaking, sailing and windsurfing. There are also excellent fishing locations around the Caye. Half or full day trips can be arranged where you could expect to land snapper, kingfish, barracuda and tarpon.

Phu Quoc might be hailed as the next Phuket, but those looking to get far off the grid head to this undiscovered archipelago just 110 miles off Vietnam’s southeastern coast. A 45-minute flight from Ho Chi Minh City brings you to Con Son, the largest (and only inhabited) member of the 16-island chain. There, sheer granite cliffs border deserted beaches and crystal-blue water—imagine a tropical Amalfi Coast without the crowds. Up until now, you’d have been hard-pressed to find a decent place to stay, but the arrival of the Six Senses Con Dao villas from $685 has brought a welcome dose of luxury to the island. Standing along a stretch of golden sand are 50 airy villas (some with private pools) that look out onto the South China Sea. Food is a highlight there. In classic Six Senses style, the hotel’s Vietnamese restaurant is set up to resemble a market. There are separate stalls “hawking” noodles and rolls, while made-to-order dishes are cooked outside in charcoal-fueled woks. You may be tempted to never leave the resort, but the 20-square-mile island is well worth exploring. Hire a private guide from the hotel, who will bring you via motorbike to the area’s most remote spots, including a 19th-century hilltop lighthouse and the spectacular Dam Tre Bay lagoon. Take a boat trip to Bay Canh Island to view endangered hawksbill turtles during nesting season (May through September), arranged by the hotel.

The couple, a German and a Swede, respectively, got degrees in biology (Krynitz) and forestry (Strotz), traveled, studied some more, taught, designed, and then, in 1993, bought a farm. And only naturally, very organically, did that farm develop into Urnatur Skogseremitage, an eco-reserve in green parlance, a summer camp for grown-ups in realspeak. Three hours southwest of Stockholm on small Lake Visjo, Urnatur is like a demonstration model for the live-smart movement and a destination for those who wish to not so much turn back the clock as to slow it way down.

In a place named for a Swedish phrase that means both “ancient nature” and “made from nature,” everything that’s in the woods is of the woods. From storm-felled trees, Strotz hand-built one main cabin, six guest cabins, two tree houses, and a bathhouse—the only structure with both electricity (solar-powered) and plumbing. (Strotz read the bibles of the American back-to-the-land movement, the Foxfire books from the 1970’s, which inspired much of his craft and woodsmanship.)

Three of the cabins have roofs of peat and moss that spawn wild strawberries in late summer, and meld into a forest carpeted in plush, intense green. At Urnatur, nature and design dovetail seamlessly. Pulling from Swedish, Amish, Shaker, Russian, and Japanese traditions, each cabin is unique but uniformly enticing. You will want to stay in them all.  Just a 10-minute walk from the cabins, along a path bordered by pastures for Swedish heritage breeds of cows and sheep, brought me to the lake. There, inside the “tin castle,” a metal-roof building that’s the largest at Urnatur, or on its deck, guests gather for conversation, a glass of wine, and Krynitz’s fine meals, their ingredients pulled mostly from the farm.

Urnatur is all fresh smells and new experiences and no rules. If you want crayfish for dinner, you can row out on the lake and check the traps with Strotz. Herbal tea? Forage on the grounds with Krynitz. When the sky finally darkens, you light your way with lanterns, your cabin with candles and kerosene lamps. After all, Strotz says, “What is more beautiful: a lightbulb or a burning candle?”When you want to bake in the sauna or stargaze from the hot tub, both part of the immaculate bathhouse, you advise Strotz, who stokes the fires that heat them.

Krynitz and Strotz’s knowledge of carpentry and blacksmithing is astonishing. Plant material and food and cooking, of animal husbandry, of Swedish history and lore, of current events and contemporary design, and simply of people. Not just the creators and caretakers of Urnatur, they are its soul, making it a paradigm impossible not to want to emulate, impossible to replicate.

Fabriken Furillen, is a small eco hotel that opened in 2000 and expanded for the better part of the next decade. The brief flight from Stockholm descended into fog at little Visby Airport. Then the 45-minute drive to Furillen a wiper-whipping swim along narrow roads until it slowly lightened to a mist. Furillen is itself an islet in the Baltic Sea off the northeastern coast of Gotland. Unlike Faro, the island just to the north that Ingmar Bergman long called home, a ferry ride isn’t required to get there. Craggy limestone formations loomed to the side of the road like tipsy sentries. Just before dipping to sea level and reaching the causeway to Furillen, the road traversed odd, empty, unnatural pools—as if a giant had taken an ice cream scoop to the earth, the flavor of the day being cement.

Everyting about Furillen is little wierd! What kind of person would look at an old cement factory (fabriken) operating out of a limestone quarry, dormant for some 30 years, and see the bones of a hotel? It would have to be someone as visionary as a photographer used to conceptualizing and improvising while on assignment in exotic locations. Tired of being on the road much of the year, away from family, Johan Hellstrom moved permanently to Furillen in 1999, first renovating the factory with his wife, Anna-Karin, as a studio before expanding it into a hotel. The idea was to promote the factory as much as a location for photo shoots as an unusual escape.

At Fabriken, the visual trumps all else. Heavy chains still hang from the ceiling of the former workers’ canteen; they’re no longer used, except as a super-scale necklace-like adornment. Large single-pane windows in the dining room frame a Charles Sheeleresque image of a hulking concrete tower next to a gargantuan heap of slag. There is a rugged, surreal, even romantic allure to the setting that the overcast sky only abetted, allowing all the subtle shades of gray to emerge. Like sound carrying across water, a woman in a bright orange jacket could be seen in the fog, sharp as a spark, way down the beach. One can only imagine the scenes Bergman, were he still filming, could have produced here.

Locally sourced sheepskin rugs and handcrafted Midcentury furniture give the seemingly spare six cabins an alluring warmth, while Bang & Olufsen stereos and flat-screen TV’s lend the 15 rooms in the main house a modern edge. Fabriken Furillen is so unusual a place, one of such brutal beauty, that despite its faults, it will stay with you far longer than you will stay with it.