French Living, Wherever You Are
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our feature Paris in August: A Local’s Guide to the City That Slows Down. There is a moment every summer when Paris changes. The familiar rhythm of the city softens. The morning rush becomes gentler, the streets feel quieter, and a certain calm descends over the capital. As …
If you’ve ever wondered Why France Slows Down in August and so many shops, businesses and even entire villages seem quieter, the answer lies in one of France’s oldest and most cherished traditions: les grandes vacances. When I first moved to France over thirty years ago, one of the biggest surprises wasn’t the food, the …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and this feature about How to Pack for a Spontaneous Trip: The Art of Last-Minute Travel. Updated July 2026: This guide has been completely refreshed with new packing advice, practical tips and a more intentional approach to travelling light. Some of the best journeys begin with very little planning. A …
There are hotel addresses that announce themselves loudly, and those that reveal themselves quietly, like a secret worth keeping. Hôtel de Silhouette Biarritz, tucked into one of the town’s oldest streets just steps from Les Halles, belongs firmly to the second kind. Tucked quietly within the historic heart of Biarritz, just moments from Les Halles …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our guide to A Long Weekend in Biarritz: Where the Atlantic Meets the Basque Country. There are cities that seduce you with grandeur, and cities that seduce you with something harder to name — a particular quality of light, a feeling that life is being lived here with genuine pleasure and …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our guide to Where the French Go on Holiday: France’s Quieter Summer Escapes. When people think of summer in France, what comes to mind is usually the quiet streets of Paris in August or the glamour of the Côte d’Azur in July. But beyond these well-known destinations lies another side of …
Discreetly tucked away down a quiet street just steps from the historic Piazza della Repubblica, in the heart of Renaissance Florence, lies one of the most romantic hotels in Italy, La Gemma Hotel Florence. Florence is a city where beauty is so densely layered, so insistently present at every turn, that the act of simply …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our guide to A Slow Drive Along the French Riviera: 10 of the Most Beautiful Coastal Stops. There are faster ways to see the French Riviera, of course. The train traces the coastline in flashes of blue and gold, and helicopters still shuttle guests between glamorous hotels during the summer season. …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our guide to A Long Weekend in Aix-en-Provence: A Provençal Itinerary for the Slow Traveller. There are cities you visit, and cities that visit you. Aix-en-Provence belongs firmly to the second kind. From the moment you step beneath its canopy of ancient plane trees and hear the murmur of fountains drifting …
There are places in France that feel suspended between land and sea, reality and memory. Villa Colette in Cap Ferret is one of them. At the very tip of the oyster-farming peninsula, where pine forests meet shifting tides and the Atlantic softens into the calm waters of Arcachon Bay, life slows almost instinctively. Days revolve …
Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and our guide to A Long Weekend in Amsterdam: An Itinerary for the Slow Traveller. There is a particular kind of city that reveals itself only to those willing to slow down. Amsterdam is one of them. Beneath the surface of its famous landmarks and well-trodden tourist trails lies a city of …