the times Saturday December 18 2021
Travel 41
Need to
know
SIX SENSES5 more hot
new hotels
in Israel
Soho House, Tel Aviv
This turreted 1880s building in the
historic Jaffa neighbourhood was built
as a convent and Catholic girls’ high
school, but is now a super-cool private
members’ club with exquisite tiled
floors, huge windows and a shady
courtyard. The 24 bedrooms have
chandeliers, abstract art and mid-
century furniture, and access to
a dinky pool. The Mediterranean is
a five-minute walk away.
Details Room-only doubles from
£260 (sohohouse.com)The David Kempinksi, Tel Aviv
Opening in February, right on the
promenade minutes from a surfers’
beach, this is the renowned hotel
chain’s first foray into Israel. The 250
rooms, most of which will overlook
the Mediterranean, have a cheery
marine theme. It’s debatable whether
they will have better sea views than
its rooftop bar, Cloud 51, or infinity
pool. There will also be a whisky and
cigar lounge and a ten-room spa.
Details B&B doubles from £420
(kempinski.com)INK Hotel, Tel Aviv
INK has been built to resemble a
stack of books, in honour of the IL
Peretz Library and bookstore that
used to occupy the site. It stays pretty
bookish inside too, with a collection
of vintage inkwells in the lobby, a
huge English typewriter keyboard in
its Sun Young Asian fusion restaurant,
and newspaper-font wallpapers for
some of the 52 bedrooms. It is in
White City district, between Tel Aviv’s
photogenic Bauhaus-style buildings.
Details B&B doubles from £225
(inkhotel.com)Hotel BoBo, Tel Aviv
This hotel’s look is loosely based on
the 1970s film Hair, so expect quirky
colours and an eclectic design.
There’s a good buzz on its vivid pink
14th-floor rooftop, which has a
cocktail bar, tanning deck, hot tub and
pool. Colours for the 200 rooms are
considerably tamer, with a mainly
cream mood board, contrasting with
ochre and peach statement walls and
atmospheric black-and-white
photographs. The city’s best designer
stores are just around the corner.
Details B&B doubles from £100
(brownhotels.com)Galei Kinneret Hotel, Sea of Galilee
This was one of Israel’s first luxury
hotels when it opened on the shores
of the Sea of Galilee in the 1940s.
Reimagined and reopened last month,
its 123 rooms overlook either the
water or the mountains, and have a
smart contemporary vibe and neutral
colour scheme. There are indoor and
outdoor bars, a pool, an alfresco yoga
deck, and a private beach and boat for
guests’ use. Its restaurant, Lotte, is
overseen by Assaf Granit, who owns
Shabour, the first Israeli restaurant in
Paris to win a Michelin star.
Details B&B doubles from £215
(galei-kinneret.com)Susan d’Arcy was a guest
of Scott Dunn, which has
three nights’ B&B at Six
Senses Shaharut from
£2,075pp, including
flights and transfers
(scottdunn.com). For
travel info, check gov.ukThere was plenty to explore on the
doorstep too. I set out with Liraz, the sus-
tainability manager and a former environ-
mental officer for the European Union, to
visit Kibbutz Lotan. There I met Mike
from Essex who came for a six-month
internship 34 years ago. One wife and
three children later, I think we can safely
say he’s staying. “I found the garden of
Eden,” he told me with a shrug.
The kibbutz is a pioneer of sustainability
and Mike was instrumental in establishing
its Center for Creative Ecology, which
welcomes thousands of international
students each year to courses on eco-
friendly construction. I loved the ginger-
bread houses of its eco-village made
from straw bales and mud, and the quaint
communal facilities, including a washing
machine powered by a rickety old bicycle
(a wash takes about 40 minutes, unless
you’re Mark Cavendish).
Another day I hiked through the Tzukei
Shayarot Nature Reserve to a ledge over-
looking the wide, pancake-flat valley floor,
a dusty chessboard of barren squares and
deep-green jojoba fields. In the far dis-
tance the sun chased the clouds over the
Edom mountains, turning its granite
peaks from pink to rust to brown and grey,
and even jet black. My guide told me that,
although the Negev records less than 30ml
of rainfall annually, more people die from
being swept away in flash floods than get-
ting lost while trekking. A light shower is
quite something, though — a chance to see
this harsh landscape consumed by a carpet
of colourful wildflowers.
Back at the resort, I was easily lulled into
a rhythm of slow, slow, nearly-stop, slow. I
had an excellent holistic massage with
hydrating local jojoba oil that was fabu-
lously relaxing, as was my terribly trendy
singing bowl session. A group of us lay on
mats while our therapist struck a row of
metal bowls at our feet. Don’t knock it until
you’ve tried it. The calm that descends as
the sound vibrates through your toes to
your entire body is all-consuming.
I also carved out some quality time
poolside, where I enjoyed a delicious
“desert tapas” lunch, with a tray including
creamy aubergine and hummus dips,
olives and wonderfully fresh taboon bread.
Full marks to Thomas Fehlbier, the
general manager, and Alicia Denning,
the resort manager, for bringing on their
young staff, most of whom are fresh from
mandatory stints in the military — the
army is hardly the ideal training ground
for working in a luxury hotel.
Denning recalls how, when the resort
opened in August, she spotted one waiter
chomping on an apple as he walked
through reception — when gently chided
he protested that nobody had told him he
couldn’t. (Imagine the size of the rule book
if every eventuality had to be specifically
addressed. Rule 4,450: Do not break wind
while speaking to a guest.) By the time of
my visit last month, however, the team
were displaying plenty of polish while
retaining their personalities, and seemed
very much on top of things despite the
resort being 94 per cent full.
My fellow guests were mainly well-heeled Israelis, with some French and
American couples. I spotted one red-faced
porter struggling with two huge suitcases
as he escorted a statuesque supermodel
type to her room. Despite her J-Lo-sized
wardrobe, I never saw her wear anything
other than her bathrobe after that. I imag-
ine that means she felt relaxed.
Some were perhaps a little too relaxed
for this buttoned-up Brit. Six Senses
always goes big on complimentary activi-
ties, and there are at least five a day here.
I skipped palm-leaf weaving but was bang
on time for the stargazing. With no light
pollution and a powerful telescope, what
could possibly go wrong? Mainly the
queueing: taking turns at the lens with
15 other observers is painful. Cue a col-
lective shoulder sag when one woman
took forever to spot the moon. The couple
behind me soon got bored and started
kissing — noisily.
Other quibbles: Midian’s menu is limited
and a little safe. Chef shortages mean that
the second restaurant, Edom View, is yet
to open, and I was amazed that rooms 29 to
33 have no views and precious little privacy
— avoid them. It was also disconcerting
to discover that a military air base, ring-
fenced by barbed wire, is the resort’s near-
est neighbour, although I didn’t hear any
activity from it.
Yet after three nights the desert had
worked its magic on me. I felt rested and
reinvigorated by the purity of this biblical
setting, and so clear-minded that I even
managed to complete the tourist depar-
ture form without any help from Jess.The bedroom of a pool
villa, top, and a couple’s
treatment room, above
right, at the hotel. Above
left: a local character