Ann Abel

Ann Arbor, Baltimore, Lisbon, Strasbourg

Travel Writer at Freelance

Articles

Lisbon’s New Fine Dining: 6 Restaurants That Are Better Than Ever

1 week ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

There’s never been a better time to eat snazzily in Lisbon. A new generation of Portuguese chefs is taking over storied establishments and putting their own internationally inflected stamps on them, others are embracing their deeply regional roots and writing culinary love letters to their hometowns, and a few savvy transplants are doing their own thing with more and more confidence.
This Wildly Creative Restaurant Turns Campfire Cooking Into Fine Dining

1 week ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

“We are Boy Scouts who are full of themselves,” says chef Nicolai Tram. He has a hint of Scandinavian self-deprecation, but he also makes a valid point. He means that he and his international team at Knystaforsen, in the dense forests of Halland, Sweden, aren’t just part of today’s global fire-dining trend. With all respect to the flame wizards of Asador Etxebarri, Francis Mallmann and Niklaus Ekstedt, what they’re doing is different. Let’s call it campfire dining.
Dolder Grand Hotel Sushi Restaurant Review – Travel Curator

3 weeks ago | travelcurator.com | Ann Abel

When I went to Zurich a few months ago, I expected to eat well: creamy milk chocolate, unctuous Emmenthal cheese, rösti potatoes, maybe a pot of gently bubbling fondue. Going to Switzerland always has a way of making me feel grateful about being lactose tolerant. I even expected to eat fancy. I’d been invited by the Dolder Grand Hotel to dine at its Michelin two-star establishment.
The New Quinta Do Pinheiro Brings Quiet Luxury To Southern Portugal

3 weeks ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

Simple. Serene. Perfect. These are the three words Monique Snoeijen always has in mind when she thinks or talks about her new hospitality project in southern Portugal, Quinta do Pinheiro. They’re good words to describe it. Opened last year, Quinta do Pinheiro is a collection of five houses inside a family estate in front of the Ria Formosa natural park near Luz da Tavira, one of the last corners of the Algarve that’s still wild and unspoiled.
These Two New Hotels Are Bringing Low-Key Luxury To The Slovenian Alps

3 weeks ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

Some entrepreneurs can never figure out quite how to retire. Svetozar Raspopović—“Pop” to his clients and friends—is one of them. The Slovenian restaurateur ran Gostilna AS in Ljubljana for three decades, turning it into one of the most fashionable spots in town and a standard-bearer for the national hospitality scene. Along with hundreds of devoted regulars, local and international politicians and celebrities came to partake of his Italian-accented fare and private-label wines.
Why Nova Gorica, Slovenia, Is The Next Culture Destination To Know

3 weeks ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

There’s a recurring joke among Slovenian travel pros: “Twenty years ago, our country’s tourism marketing strategy was saying, ‘Slovenia exists!’” They laugh about this. “Ten years ago, it was, ‘Come hike in Slovenia.’” To be sure, hiking, nature and mountain sports continue to be big draws. But now the tourism leaders are working to show off their culture. The clearest manifestation of that is the investment in putting forward Nova Gorica as a cultural capital.
Tegernsee Is The Next Alpine Lake To Know-Especially This Luxury Hotel

1 month ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

“Lake Tegernsee is wealthy but laid-back, and it has a strong sense of place,” says Simone Habekost, who has spent the past 16 years in the German resort district as the director of sales and marketing for the most lavish accommodation on the lake, Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt. “There are festivals all summer with Bavarian music and dancing,” women in drindls and plenty of beer from the lake’s local brewery.
Portugal’s Silver Coast: Where To Eat And Sleep By The Low-Key Atlantic

1 month ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

The breezy Silver Coast of Portugal—stretching roughly from Lisbon to Porto—has recently become a darling of the “retire to Portugal” consultant set. And for good reason. The central Atlantic region (Costa de Pratain Portuguese) gets fewer long-haul visitors than many parts of the country, and its villages and towns generally tend not to revolve around international tourism.
This Luxury Hotel Is A Modern Match For Bavaria’s Fairytale Castles

1 month ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

A storybook mountain lake in the Alps of southern Germany has long inspired grand gestures from great men. In the 19th century, King Maximillian II of Bavaria built the soaring Hohenschwangau Castle here for his wife, Marie. Some decades later, his son, King Ludwig II, who had spent his childhood in dad’s castle, decided to go one better. Ludwig’s masterpiece, Neuschwanstein Castle, is one of the dreamiest fairytale castles in the world.
This Hotel Put The Azores On The Map. Its New Villa Amps Up The Appeal

1 month ago | forbes.com | Ann Abel

In the past few years, Portugal’s Azores islands have become a darling of the luxe-adventure travel set. They’re the “Hawaii of the Atlantic,” the “last paradise of Europe,” the “new Iceland,” a verdant playground close to North America, home to primordial nature and tinged with Continental sophistication. But what all that forgets is that tourism on the islands, particularly the largest, São Miguel, has a long history.