Sun & Snow

Dynamite Dolomite Skiing

Altitude slickness, chiselled peaks, chilled Prosecco and white-knuckle black runs - the italian dolomites are the James Bond of ski resorts

This was what pioneering moutaineer (and father of novelist Virginia Woolf) Sir Leslie Stephen wrote on his first sight of il Dolomiti. "Shapes more like dreams than sober realities...They remind one of Gothic cathedrals...The Dolomites are strange adventurous experiments that one can scarcely believe to be formed of ordinary rock. They would have been a fit background for the garden of Kubla Khan."

What Sir Leslie was saying, essentially, is that the Italian Dolomites are more considerately formed, more architecturally impressive than the French Aiguilles or Swiss Alps. As with its car, clothes, food and lovemaking, it appears that Italy's mountains are somehow more stylish.

Yes, it is wrong to make aesthetic comparisons between various God-created stuff like trees, flora and rock formations but the fact is, the Dolomites are different from other Alps.

Their fantastical towers and pinnacles, "like masts of sunken ships standing out of a sea of cloud", are hewn from a particular form of limestone more susceptible to erosion than elsewhere in the Alpine range, which furnishes the pearks with the topological equivalent of a sort of bella figura.

The Italians, never one to shy away from sexualising anything, have even gone so far as to pronounce the Marmolada, the highest mountain in the region, as female. Lady Marmolada, if you will.

I am acutely aware of this preposterous but very evident notion of chiselled bellezza as I sit on the sun terrace at Utia de Bioch enjoying mouthfuls of fine, valley-reared brisket prepare by chef Goffredo Valentini, washed down with a chilled glass of apenrosa (Prosecco, Aperol, fizzy water and orange - it's hue is as lurid as alcopops, but don't let that put you off), rendered speechless by the soaring simplicity of the catering and the spectacle of the vast, mountainous amphitheatre, set against the flawlessly azzurri sky beyond.

We are in Alta Badia, part of the famous Sella Ronda in the Val Gardena area of the Dolomites and, if you want the opinion of someone who has done Verbier, St Moritz, Val D'Isere, Aspen, Chamonix, Megeve et all, this is skiing at its most modish, tree-lined, immaculate and quietly sophisticated.

After a long day of a thrillingly Bond-ish helicopter ride, where we landed 3,265 metres up to Punta Rocca on the Marmolada colossus, scenery Cinzano-ad spectacular, high as we landed on top. Then with clear, blue skies we begin the exhilerating 7.5 mile long, off-piste clatter down on the Via Lida snowfields.

Next, we grabbed an inter-piste beer at Piz Seteur and watched the alfresco go-go dancers do their stuff on the bar (only in Italy!) before heading for some passes of the super-fast, super-steep Gran Risa World Cup slope, with its astonishing 53 per cent gradient followed by lunch at the Rifugio Emilio Comici, a mountainside fish restaurant where Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso like to come for the frutti di mare during F1's close season.

In the evening , we relaxed at the Rosa Alpina spa hotel that is a canny mix of trad, cuckoo-clock chalet and Scandinavian modernity; think Alvar Aalto does Heidi and you'll get the idea.

"Prost!" as we apenrose drinkers say.

Mauritian Weekender

Fairest isle, opulent yet authentic, Mauritius' Le Saint Geran's silver sands are the ultimate romantic hideaway.

The island of Mauritius sports some of the sandiest beaches ever lapped by the Indian Ocean, but was once most famous for being the home of the dodo. That all changed when luxury hideaway experts One&Only remodelled the island's Le Saint Geran resort a decade ago. Nestled in the silver-white sands of its own private peninsula, Le Saint Geran was named after the shipwrecked vessel in the legend of the doomed lovers in Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's novel Paul Et Virginie.

The legacy, coupled with secluded beach dining and its year-round tropcal climate, means that, while Mauritius Le Saint Geran may have become a favourite honeymoon destination, it's even worth the 12-hour flight time for a rejuvinating long weekend.

With four members of (unobtrusive) staff for every guest, personal butler service and an ESPA spa surrounded by lush tropical landscape, you'll soon forget that city life even exists. But the star attraction for GQ was the complimentary watersports - waterskiing, windsurfing, scuba diving, game fishing, kite surfing, sailing and kayaking - available all day and (most importantly for the relaxed traveller) at short notice.

Cycling and tennis are also recommended thanks to the lush surroundings, and there's an award-winning Gary Player nine-hole golf course with its own clubhouse and golf academy.

With excursions as glamorous as this filling your day, you may well choose to relax in the opulent yet authentically wood-panelled Mauritian suites come the evening, especially given the lengthy room service menus that include pan-roasted rock lobster and slow-cooked wagyu beef short ribs. You would, however, then be missing out on the resort's three world-class restaurants, including Rasoi helmed by chef Vineet Bhatia, whose Michelin-starred London restaurant was named Indian Restaurant Of The Year just a year after opening in 2004. Be sure to arrive early to watch the sunset from the restaurant's terrace tht hovers precariously over the Indian Ocean: then be sure to order from the Tak-a-Tak grill, Bhatia's take on Indian teppan-yaki. Let him pick your wine - he has rare delights that he keeps off the menu.

With all of this on offer, the dodo must be wishing he'd stuck around a little longer.