Travel + Leisure has released the results from its 2014 Readers' Survey, naming the World's Best in travel and hotels.
And the winners are…
World's Best City
Kyoto, Japan
"If you had to pick one place to visit in Japan, make Kyoto your choice," says Ignacio Maza of Signature Travel Network. "The city is the heart and soul of Japanese culture, art, traditions and civilization. Kyoto has well over one quarter of all the national treasures of Japan, over 2,000 temples and shrines, world-class museums, exceptional architecture (ancient and contemporary), and vibrant quarters offering great shopping, dining, and entertainment. Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years, and in many ways the rest of Japan still thinks as Kyoto as the center of the Japanese world -- not Tokyo."
World's Best Hotel
Triple Creek Ranch, Darby, Montana
World's Best Hotel Brand
Amanresorts
World's Best Island
Santorini, Greece
For those who are porting in Santorini and want to sample local tour operator Travelive on the ground, there is a “A Day in the Fields” program, where guests can spend a day on a local organic farm with a farmer, experiencing live-stock activities, collecting fresh eggs and vegetables, making fresh cheeses, tasting homemade wines, and even enjoying a cooking class incorporating the fresh ingredients. After that, it’s a bike ride through the countryside.
World's Best Mega-Ship Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line
World's Best Large-Ship Cruise Line
Crystal Cruises
There’s a lot that’s new at Crystal Cruises. The luxury cruise line has just moved its offices a few miles down the road to West Los Angeles where two floors have been crafted especially for its 200 employees. The luxury cruise line’s two ships have been redesigned—$120 million has been invested in them over the past few years; the most recent initiative was a $17 million drydock for Crystal Serenity. A new Wi-Fi policy provides repeat customers with a healthy dose of free Internet minutes throughout their cruise and an enhanced no-smoking policy means the Connoisseur Club smoking lounge on either ship is the only indoor venue in which one can light up.
World's Best Small-Ship Cruise Line
Paul Gauguin Cruises
Paul Gauguin Cruises sails a new seven-night French Riviera roundtrip voyage from Nice on the 88-passenger Tere Moana.
World's Best River Cruise Line
Tauck
The ms Savor and ms Inspire make up Tauck’s new Inspiration Class ships, and they join Tauck’s four existing Jewel Class ships, the ms Treasures, ms Swiss Jewel, ms Swiss Sapphire and ms Swiss Emerald. Like the Jewel Class ships, the Inspiration Class vessels carry fewer passengers and have more service staff than ships of the same size operated by other river cruise lines. (We hear that the 443-foot-long Inspiration Class ships carry 130 guests, while other lines’ ships of the same length carry 190. Each ship has a Tauck Cruise Director and three professional Tauck Directors to care for those 130 guests.
World's Best International Airline
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines is to invest US$325 million to upgrade 19 Boeing 777-300ERs with the latest generation of cabin products, featuring new seats in all classes of travel. The new cabin products are currently available on selected daily services to London Heathrow and Tokyo Narita. They were introduced after more than two years of development with world-renowned design firms, including BMW Group DesignworksUSA and James Park Associates.
World's Best Domestic Airline
Virgin America
World's Best International Airport
Singapore Changi Airport
World's Best Domestic Airport
Portland International Airport, Oregon
World's Best Safari Outfitter
Rothschild Safaris
World's Best Tour Operator
Classic Journeys
World's Best Car-Rental Agency
National Car Rental
World's Best Destination Spa
Rancho La Puerta, Tecate, Mexico
World's Best Hotel Spa
St. Regis Aspen Resort, Colorado
We flipped over was the brand new Farm-to-Spa-Table Experience at the Remede Spa. The two-hour treatment was designed to essentially incorporate everything you could want at a spa into one treatment. The therapy begins with guests selecting their own fragrances for the "appetizer" and "dessert" courses of the spa treatment. The appetizer will be a salt scrub while the dessert is a luxurious body butter. There are three of each to choose from, and each scent is paired with a compatible tasting treat, which guests can sample after their treatments. The spa experience then includes a complete scrub of the body with your selected fragrance, followed by a 60-minute massage (or facial), a body butter treatment and is finished with a Moroccan hair treatment and scalp massage. Guests then have the option to visit the oxygen lounge where they can relax and unwind with a glass of chilled, reserve label Champagne.