EXCITING CITIES
WELCOME TO
THE HOTEL
CALIFORNIAN
This summer
sees the opening
of the Hotel
Californian in
Santa Barbara, a
reimagining of
iconic Spanish
Colonial
architecture
from the 1920s,
spread across
four buildings
just moments
from the Pacific
Ocean
(thehotelcalifornian.com).AARHUS, Denmark
WHY NOW? Where is Aarhus? In the middle of
Aarstreet? In truth, this handsome university town
has largely stayed under the radar for foreign
visitors, living in the shadow of its big brother,
Copenhagen, to the east. Recently that’s been
changing: Denmark’s second city has been
awarded European Capital of Culture 2017.
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT? A programme of art
installations and performances will take place
everywhere from the city’s dockside galleries to its
meandering cobbled streets. In the gastronomic
stakes too, Aarhus has been upping its game, with no
shortage of restaurants riding the wave of on-trend
neo-Nordic gastronomy.
WHAT SHOULDN’T I MISS? Go for cryptically named
dishes (‘dishwash’, ‘snow crab,’ or ‘sea fog’) at
Michelin-starred establishments such as Restaurant
Substans (menus from £60; restaurantsubstans.dk;
dishes pictured right) or Restaurant Frederikshøj
(menus from £90; frederikshoj.com), where
interiors follow the mandatory Danish formula of
bare-brick walls and tasteful mid-century
furniture. For a less high-concept approach to
eating, park up at Aarhus Street Food, a new
market housed in a former bus depot
(aarhusstreetfood.com). Inside, stalls represent a
veritable United Nations of cuisines from the
Caribbean to the Far East. The city’s food festival in
September also sees a motley array of stalls, this time
by the city’s marina, with oysters slurped beside the
waters from which they were picked, plus The
People’s Feast, billed as Denmark’s biggest dinner
party (foodfestival.dk).
HOW DO I GET THERE? Fly on KLM from Singapore or
Kuala Lumpur to Copenhagen first (from £623; klm.
com), then take a bus or train to Aarhus (from £20 for
bus; goeuro.com).Renowned chefs cook up
a storm at Aarhus’s The
People’s Feast, Denmark’s
biggest dinner partyFOOD
CAPITAL
All eyes on Huelva- Spanish Capital of
Gastronomy 2017.
Go for Iberian ham,
the freshest white
prawns and cuttlefish
plucked straight out
of the Gulf of Cádiz,
Spanish strawberries,
and Zalema wine from
some of the 40 bodegas
surrounding the city
(huelvacapital
gastronomica.com).