BEST OF VICTORIA MATHER

THE BEST Martini

Find it at the clubby little bar in Dukes Hotel, London, where Ian Fleming first gave Bond’s definitive “shaken, not stirred” instruction. Alessandro Palazzi makes his martinis quite a performance: an immaculate tray laden with icy Crown Jewel gin, Potocki vodka, Angostura bitters, and Lillet; much shaking; and, presto, a Vesper martini.

(Don’t have two.) A Miss Moneypenny, on the other hand, consists of Belvedere vodka, Cointreau, fresh lime, and, of course, passion fruit, (dukeshotel.com)

THE BEST Suite

First class on Jet Airways is a room of your own. Louvered doors, and the top is open, so no claustrophobia. The best sleeper suits, in light beige and—so stylish—no logo. The staff are charming: “Dorn Perignon or Krug?” The ceiling is studded with tiny, twinkly, starry lights, (jetairways.com)

THE BEST Sky Bar

There’s nothing more divine than having a Tokyo Joe or a gin fizz at Peter, atop Tokyo’s Peninsula hotel. The sky bar is a maze of floor-to-ceiling plate glass overlooking a city sparkling with wanton wickedness, (tokyo .peninsula.com)

THE BEST Pool with a View

Do laps back in time on top of the King George Palace hotel, Athens. The Royal Penthouse Suite has the most glamorous terrace in town, and the illusion line of the private pool seemingly laps against the Acropolis, (lux-hotels.com/kinggeorge)

THE BEST Floating Hotel

King Pacific Lodge, in Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest, is luxury on a barge. Towed out to Princess Royal Island, on the edge of the forest, in the spring it’s a raft as eco-resort. Heli-hike to a deserted beach to see porpoises, fly-fish for salmon and trout, and try to spot the white Kermode bear, indigenous to British Columbia. Then collapse by a fireplace made of rocks, (kingpacificlodge.com)

THE BEST Room Key

The Cloud Nine suite of the Nine Zero Hotel, in Boston, has no key—only iris identification. PostMumbai, this may become the norm.

(ninezero.com)

THE BEST Date

It’s dusk in Venice. The noise of the city is hushed. The light from the lampposts illuminates the mosaics. The two of you are holding hands in front of the Doge’s Palace in St. Mark's Basilica. How could you not propose? (basilicasanmarco.it)

THE BEST Dim Sum 'i

Executive chef Chan Yan Tak, round as a dumpling, whose restaurant, Lung King Heen, in the Four Seasons Hotel,

Hong Kong, has been awarded three Michelin stars, makes the best dim sum in the world. Savor steamed lobster and scallop, Shanghainese pork

with crabmeat, barbecued-pork buns, or abalone puffs with diced chicken while looking out across Victoria Harbor.

(fourseasons.com/hongkong)