There are occasions when we all need to take time out - to stop, to breathe, to unwind, to heal - and we need a place to inspire us, where solitude is a thing of beauty. It may be the view, the space, the peace and quiet, but whatever its spell, it leaves us restored and ready to press restart.
These are some of the places that inspire us. For hygge-enthusiasts, little beats a one-bedroom log cabin in Swedish Lapland, or a remote farmhouse on Iceland’s southern coast. Namibia’s Skeleton Coast is starkly beautiful; you can stay here in a quirky hut designed to reflect the hulls of the ill-fated ships from which the coast takes its name. In Australia’s Blue Mountains, stay in a lodge where there is nothing to interrupt the silence other than the chirrup of a Willie Wagtail overhead and the gentle thump of a wallaby’s tail. Nepal's aptly-named Happy House, high in the Himalayas, provides spiritual inspiration while a peaceful Maldivian retreat soothes furrowed brows. Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is about as far from civilisation as you could be; roam the flats by 4X4 before spending the night in an Airstream Camper as the stars fall out of the sky. Closer to home, a boutique hotel in Mallorca’s Tramuntana Mountains promises fine food and divine views.
Whatever your style and with whomever you travel, pressing pause is one of life’s richest rewards. After all, ‘what is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare'.
