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2 JUNE 2017 LIFE 47

TRAVEL EXPLORE EDITED BY CATHY WINSTONcwinston@thejc.com

PHOTOS: PIXABAY/COURTESSY HOUMAS HOUSE

From the famed French Quarter to Houmas House plantation (right), a visit is easier than ever

Sipping cafe au lait from exquisite china in the brick-paved courtyard of a secluded 18th cen-tury carriage house, I reflected with only slight regret that I’d soon be sharing these

rarefied pleasures of old New Orleans with more Britons than ever.

British Airways’ new non-stop flights from London to this uniquely tempt-ing city, mean that paddling down the Mississippi on a steamboat, sipping a Sazerac cocktail to the strains of live jazz, or surveying elegant Greek revival mansions from a streetcar very like the one named Desire are now just that bit closer to home.

Despite — or perhaps because of — the tropical weather conditions which have threatened the city over the cen-turies, most recently Hurricane Kat-

rina, New Orleans is a city built for pleasure. Cocktails, music, art and simply superb food are the stuff of life for locals; visitors get to ride the band-wagon as long as they skip the tourist traps and follow the insiders.

Seek out the less well-known corners of the French Quarter, still an essential on every first-timer’s list for its historic landmarks and vibrant buzz, but also the city’s other neighbourhoods; from Magazine Street’s great shops and res-taurants or family-friendly Mid City with its lovely 1,300 acre park housing the New Orleans Museum of Art, to the Warehouse and CBD (central business district), less picturesque but where virtually all the best restaurants are to be found,

It’s hard to find a more enticing base though than the Quarter or FQ, as locals refer to those few square blocks of colonnaded old buildings, their lacy

The Big Easy gets easier

is home to the city’s most eclectic boutiques and favourite hangouts, including Shaya, the modern Israeli restaurant which has been permanent-ly sold out since winning a Best New Restaurant in the USA award last year. Book well ahead, especially for lunch, between a spot of retail therapy.

The lovely Garden District is nearby, home to the main New Orleans syna-gogue, while the St Charles streetcar still rides the streets after 180 years,

With new direct flights to New Orleans, Anthea Gerrie lets the good times roll in this tantalising US city

wrought-iron balconies dating back to Spanish 18th century rule.

While Bourbon Street’s tackier bars are to be avoided, one block away lies Royal Street’s gracious courtyards and antique shops, or long-standing favourite for French cuisine, Arnaud’s, whose award-winning French 75 bar is a popular meeting place.

On quieter Chartres Street, Soniat House B&B’s palm-shaded courtyard is the perfect retreat from the crowds while still enjoying all the pleasures of this historic neighbourhood.

Although the breakfast of freshly baked biscuits (scones by a Southern name) is delicious, the best start to the day is a walk through the streets of the Quarter while it’s deserted to hit the Café du Monde in the French Market.

Although on every tourist map, this charming cafe at the foot of Jackson Square has — somehow — remained authentic, offering its chicory-laced coffee and pile of freshly-fried beignets snowy with icing sugar throughout the day, impromptu jazz bands busk-ing a soundtrack outside later on.

For more jazz, it’s just five minutes to the Toulouse Street wharf where the Natchez, the last working paddle-wheel steamboat on the Mississippi, leaves three times a day. Steam buffs can visit the engine room, everyone will enjoy lounging on the top deck with something from the two cocktail bars listening to the band playing tra-ditional jazz favourites.

With so many attractions of newer neighbourhoods, it pays to explore further than the FQ. Magazine Street

passing one of the famous Cities of the Dead, the Lafayette cemetery with its mausoleum tombs high above New Orleans’ swampy ground.

Stretching six miles from Audu-bon Park into the Warehouse District at its other end, stop at the excellent World War II Museum along the way, although the eclectic Southern Food and Beverage Museum has relocated from its former riverside home here to a new site less than 10 minutes away.

Down towards the waterfront, main dining street Tchoupitoulas has its own attractions for gourmets. The new Ace Hotel nearby makes a convenient base, if arguably a little too pleased with its own hip-ness; the lobby bar is packed with millennials for happy hour while its Josephine Estelle restau-rant is becoming a dining destination.

The Compere Lapin restaurant of another hip hotel, Old No 77, is a hard act to follow though, thanks to the Car-ibbean-influences on the menu from its female chef, herself from St Lucia.

And while Emeril’s, the flagship res-taurant of New Orleans’s own celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, pleases tourists as well as locals, those looking for a more casual atmosphere should check out the small plates at his first new restau-rant in the city in 20 years, Meril.

The music doesn’t stop when you leave the city, heading out into Cajun Country. Dance the two-step to live bands at the Zydeco Breakfast at Buck & Johnny’s in Breaux Bridge or dinner at Randol’s in Lafayette, that unique blend of blues, rhythm & blues and Louisiana Creole music that you’ll only find in this part of the world.

Take a swamp tour on the bayou to discover alligators from a safe dis-tance, and the magnificent plantations houses along the River Road. Better still, check in. At Houmas House Plan-tation, an hour from New Orleans, dis-cover the 38 acres of stunning gardens before relaxing by the Mississippi with a mint julep and fabulous dinner.

Letting the good times roll has never been easier.

GETTING THEREV FLIGHTS to New Orleans from Heathrow cost from £694 return with British Airways. www.ba.com

Doubles at Soniat House start from

about £213. www.soniathouse.com

Doubles at the Ace Hotel start from about £95. www.acehotel.com/neworleans

Doubles at Houmas House start from

about £300, including breakfast. www.houmashouse.com

For more information, visit www.neworleansinfo.com and www.louisianatravel.com

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RATES: Double rooms cost from £161 per night B&B based on two sharing. skodsborg.dk/en

ANGELINA VILLA-CLARKE

V WHEN DR Carl Ottosen opened his sanatorium back in 1898, he prob-ably didn’t envisage that nearly 120 years later, a legion of wellbeing lovers would still be arriving at the same spot.

But check into the light and airy lobby of Kurhotel Skodsborg — com-plete with its library of art books and oversized pendant lamps — and it’s practically buzzing with hip travellers seeking a respite from modern-day life.

Innovative for his preventative approach to health, Ottosen believed that a combination of light, air, water, nutrition, exercise and rest were the basic cornerstones of wellbeing. Fol-lowing a recent revamp to return the hotel to its former glory, it occurred to CEO Mai Kappenberger just how close these principles are to contemporary healthy living.

So as well as restoring the original period features, this thinking is still at the heart of the hotel’s spa offer-ing. Located on the borders of Dyre-haven, one of the most picturesque nature reserves in Denmark, the hotel is a 20-minute drive from Copenhagen. It’s a remote and beautiful spot with ocean views over the Øresund, perfect for those seeking some me-time.

The immense spa may look minimal-ist but has an impressive array of facili-ties, the space flooded with light from a glass atrium reflecting the huge skies.

Featuring 16 different cooling and warming facilities — such as a hydrospa, salt grotto, Spa Rain and infrared beds, plus a huge state-of-the-art gym and beauty suite — this is a place where you can lose yourself for hours. The extensive programme of activities has something for every-

KURHOTEL SKODSBORG COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

one, from CrossFit to kundalini yoga, mindful power training to Nordic Spa Adventures ending in an ocean swim.

If do nothing else, book the sig-nature SaunaGus, which combines aromatherapy with extreme heat. Be warned — it can reach 100-120°C and it’s all about testing your endurance levels. You enter with a ‘Gus Master’, such as resident expert Tina Andersen. While talking you through breathing techniques in a low, meditative voice, she ‘works’ the sauna by adding special blends of aromatic oils and swinging the steam around the cabin with a tow-el. Sounds far out? It is. But also unbe-lievably invigorating especially given that your ‘cool down’ is in the Baltic Sea after a breezy jaunt along a jetty.

There’s more than the spa and its wellness retreats: nature is incorpo-rated everywhere from the pared-back décor that frames the outdoors to the seasonal, Nordic food on offer.

Whether you dine at Michelin-starred Erik Kroun’s The Restaurant by Kroun, with inventive takes on tra-ditional dishes, or the more relaxed third-floor brasserie, food is healthy, modern and fresh. Breakfast’s home-made granola, beetroot juice and paleo bread piled with avocado combine to be just the right side of healthy.

Meanwhile, soft grey carpet adds a touch of cosiness to the rooms’ white palette, crisp linens juxtaposed against dove velvet drapes with indulgent, stand-alone tubs. Best of all is the atten-tion to detail: hot-water bottles tucked into your bed so you doze off on toasty sheets and Kerstin Florian products.

Forget hygge, this is lagom — not too little, not too much, just right.

Science by designV AS THE world capital of design, it should come as no surprise that in Copenhagen, even a science museum aimed at children is built to thrill adults, too — not least for the sheer exuberance of its architecture.

The reopening of the Experimentari-um science and technology museum is just one in a string of reasons to book a trip to the Danish capital. In Tivoli Gar-dens, the Nimb Hotel is expanding to more than double its coveted 17 rooms this year, while Noma, four times voted the World’s Best Restaurant, is due to reopen in a new location within the hippy enclave of Christiania.

On the site of an old Tuborg brew-ery has risen Experimentarium’s new building, with perhaps the world’s most exciting staircase at its centre.

Inspired by the double helix of DNA structure and clad in 10 tons of gleam-ing copper, the wow factor is worth the visit alone. Just be sure to get on the right staircase to access the two huge floors of exhibits — the other ascends from the foyer to the roof, destined to become an additional outdoor exhibi-tion space — or try the glass elevators.

And the state-of-the-art museum is about far more than the sea of metal-lic, textured surfaces which form its glamorous shell. At its heart is a series

TRAVEL NEWS AWAY

of highly entertaining show and tells, explaining everything from the inner workings of the human body to the wonders of 21st century technology.

It may look like child’s play — espe-cially on weekdays when school chil-dren invade — but those travelling without kids won’t be left cold. Try, as I did, standing inside a magic cir-cle playing a laser harp, fingers not tweaking strings but breaking parallel beams of light to create tinkling musi-cal notes and scales — an utter delight.

It’s just one of the many innovative exhibits, from the world’s first inter-active cinema, equipped with motion sensors, to a bubble-blowing centre which all ages will find irresistible.

Copenhagen’s high-tech new science museum is starting an exciting year for the city, as Anthea Gerrie discovers

V TICKETS cost from around £21.50 for adults, £12 for children. www.experimentarium.dk/en

It’s free to enter if you buy a Copenhagen card, covering public transport within the city, to the airport and Experimentarium, plus 70 other museums and attractions. 24-hour cards cost around £45, with two children under nine entering free with every adult card.

GETTING THERE

PHOTO: ANTHEA GERRIE