The February Hideaway Report follows Andrew Harper's travels to the Canadian Rockies and to Brittany, France, where he evaluates new luxury hotels and resorts.
I first fell in love with Brittany many years ago, back in the days when it took nearly seven hours to travel by train from Paris to Quimper.
The benefits of thalassotherapy have been known for centuries. In 414 B.C., Euripides wrote that "the sea cures all human ailments."
The Breton villages we most enjoyed on our trip were Commana, Moncontour and Ploumanac'h.
Originally a village of fishermen known as Saint-Enogat, Dinard was transformed in the middle of the 19th century by English aristocrats.
Brittany has emerged in the past 20 years as a gastronomic region on par with long-established culinary destinations such as Burgundy and Provence.
Brittany was once poor and isolated, and qualified only for a bit part in French haute cuisine by supplying the rest of France with seafood.
The accurately named Belle-Ile ("Beautiful Island") is one of the most scenic places in France. This is why it has often attracted artists, including Claude Monet, who loved to paint its wild, wave-lashed western coastline.
I know London so well that sometimes it feels like a second home. But on my recent trip, I was left incredulous by the rapidity of change.
After listening to Parisian friends extol the pleasures and physical benefits of their annual weeklong thalassotherapy cure in Quiberon, on the coast of Brittany, we finally decided to take the plunge ourselves.
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