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 …
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 …
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 …
For travellers seeking a more intimate and slower way to experience Amsterdam, The Dylan Amsterdam offers something elegantly, beautifully unscripted. Unscripted Summer reframes time in the city, not as a checklist to complete but as something to settle into. At The Dylan Amsterdam, the city unfolds gradually, shaped by movement, pause, and the freedom to …
There is a kind of Sunday in Paris that most visitors never quite find — the effortless Sunday, where wandering takes precedence over itineraries and unexpected moments matter more than carefully planned activities. Like many people, I always thought the secret to making the most of Paris was to experience as much of it as …