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In travel news this week, the most elite penthouse stays in London’s legendary Mayfair, phenomenal natural landscapes from Turkey to Utah, plus the brothers who want to help find you a one-euro home in Sicily.
The Penthouse at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Struggling to find a four-bed suite in London’s most upscale and centrally located neighborhood, but with panoramic 180-degree vistas over half the district?
The five-star Mandarin Oriental Mayfair hotel, which opened one year ago in storied Hanover Square, has just the ticket.
Its newly launched penthouse, on the 11th floor of Mayfair’s first new-build hotel in a decade, luxuriates over 5,000 square feet of lofty prime real estate.
If the handpainted wallpaper, marble bathtub, array of post-Impressionist art and serenely chic design by Studio Indigo don’t entice, perhaps the two levels of view-blessed wraparound terrace might.
The cost? Ah well, there’s the rub. The starting rate is £40,000 a night (or $54,210), which could get you nearly 15 months at the budget Travelodge hotel in nearby Marylebone, for example.
The new offering is at the very top tier of London’s accommodation options for super-rich jetsetters with expansive wallets, with the seven-bed Royal Suite at the Lanesborough and the six-room Manor House Wing at the Rosewood being among the ritziest of the glitziest.
The crown, however, has to go to the £60,000-a-night Penthouse at Claridge’s ($81,490), which opened on the rooftop of the 169-year-old Mayfair hotel in November 2023.
The 11,840-square-foot suite has four bedrooms, a private garden and swimming pool, 360-degree views over the London skyline, a Steinway piano and the world’s largest private collection of works by artist Damien Hirst.
Frankly, with all that on offer, I don’t know how the global 1% find time on their trip to pick up Tower Bridge fridge magnets or make it down to M&M’s World in Leicester Square.
Spectacular landscapes
Bill Weir has been everywhere, but nowhere as quiet as this
To coincide with CNN Original series “My Happy Place,” CNN’s anchors and reporters have been taking us to visit their favorite destinations.
Bill Weir’s “happy place” is Utah’s Buckskin Gulch, home to one of the longest slot canyons anywhere in the world.
The beautiful undulating canyons have been sculpted by water and time and offer a peacefulness rarely found elsewhere – but watch out for the rattlesnakes and scorpions.
In southwest Turkey, Lake Salda boasts white-sand beaches and vivid turquoise waters. There’s a little more to this body of water than meets the eye, however. Scientists say it’s the only place on Earth that’s analogous to the Jezero Crater on Mars.
How’d this happen? To answer that, we need to go right to the bottom of the ocean and through to the interior of the Earth.
There are 24 more of the world’s most unusual landscapes to explore in our roundup of must-see phenomena, from colorful sinkholes to waterfalls of molten lava to towering snow “monsters.”
For the best record of your travels, you’ll want a good camera. Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have this guide to the best travel cameras for 2025.
Healing and connection
Nearly 10 years after his father died, travel writer Will McGough wanted to honor his memory by scattering his ashes in the pristine wilderness of Antarctica.
He made the journey to the White Continent, his father’s remains in a bag in his pocket, but the wished-for ceremony did not go ahead as planned.
The Mount Kinabalu earthquake of 2015 claimed 18 lives, including Singaporean students and teachers who had traveled to Borneo on a school expedition.
A decade later, survivors returned to the mountain to climb again. One told CNN, “We honored what our friends never got the chance to finish.”
Aircraft mechanic Max Comer has built a huge social media following with his fun, quirky and informative “Airplane Facts with Max” videos.
His life as an online star only began in 2022, however, after the unexpected death of his wife turned his world upside down.
“During that time, I had a hard time wanting to just keep going day to day. It gave me something to look forward to — a creative outlet I really needed,” he tells CNN.
A family of raccoons recently broke into an Airbus factory in Canada.
The momma and five babies reportedly left a trail of urine and chewed wires.
There are plenty of one-euro homes hidden all over Sicily.
These brothers want to find them for you.
American skies may soon open up to supersonic travel.
But there’s still a big problem.
He moved to Thailand with minimal savings.
Now he plans incredible vacations for the rich and famous.
