Grabbing some catch-up bubbles with friends or planning your New Year’s Eve? From our favourite Champagne Bars to winter walks with warming hot chocolates, here are some favourite ways to close the year.
Or perhaps you’re thinking ahead to 2025? I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions as such, but there is something that can be said about a ‘fresh start’, so to speak. A timeline in mind to press restart and highlight some goals you’d like to achieve. A trip to plan from now, manifesting a positive mindset, taking care of your body and mind. Set these on your agenda for the coming year ahead.
BOOK THIS The Ultimate Sri Lanka Wellness Itinerary With Scott Dunn
Setting good intentions for the new year isn’t a new concept, whether that is writing our goals for the year ahead or introducing a new fitness routine into our lives, or perhaps its booking the best wellness retreat to go on. As well-minded as these intentions are, they do mean that a new year often comes with a lot of pressure. Thankfully, Scott Dunn is removing that pressure, one tailor-made and incredible itinerary at a time. At Citizen Femme, we especially have our eyes on the brand new Sri Lanka Wellness Itinerary, that foregrounds wellbeing via a blend of relaxation and immersive experiences. Set to run for 12 nights, the trip includes a stay at Santani Wellness Resort on a full-board basis (and you can expect this to be one of the best around thanks to Scott Dunn’s expert knowledge) where you can unwind in the eco-designed contemporary villas, each surrounded by the lush green wilderness of the country’s Kandy region, before strolling to the resort’s Haritha Villa and Spa for rejuvenating treatments. The itinerary also offers a hike through tea plantations to the scenic Pekoe Trail – that can be adapted to accommodate different trekking intensities – as well as dining in restaurants with thoughtful menus of local cuisine. This trip offers the harmonious blend between finding wellness via treatments and experiences as well as through leisure, which is just what the start to a new year calls for.
TOAST THE NEW YEAR HERE Akira Back, Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
If you feel New Year’s is a little overrated like I do, but a memorable dinner with a loved one or a small group of friends is your chosen way to bring in 2025, then book yourself in at Akira Back, a secret that everyone should know about. Chef Akira Back invites guests to his Mandarin Oriental Mayfair outlet for a modern-Japanese culinary journey, each dish telling a story and igniting the senses. The night offers two curated experiences. Kick off the night with a welcome cocktail at ABar Rooftop, where panoramic views of London provide the ideal backdrop for the night ahead (an intimate 50-seat bar and outdoor terrace), followed by a delectable menu in Akira Back that includes dishes such as the AB Tuna Pizza, Pink Prawn Carpaccio, and Lamb Chop with anticucho miso and crispy potato. After dinner, move to ABar Lounge to enjoy some Dom Pérignon just in time to toast the dawn of a new year with London’s hottest DJs (£345 per person). For something more elevated, enjoy all of the above followed by the grand finale of fireworks lighting up the London skyline back at the rooftop bar. It’s a classy way to close the year and kick off the next.
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VISIT THIS Solice Health
Perhaps your health is something you want to prioritise in 2025? Is it a niggling backache, a worrying lump, or perhaps the general stresses of day-to-day life. Whatever your symptom, let Solice Health become your go to doctor with first-class, responsive care. Helmed by surgeon Dr Liza Osagie-Clouard, it’s essentially a GP practice, but the prescription for wellness goes far beyond quick-fix pills. The diagnostics are much more well rounded and holistic ranging from specific massage to breathwork to psychiatric specialists who perform longevity-led therapies tailored to you. Their treatment menu is available on call wherever you are: at home, your hotel for visitors into the city, or even abroad with their international concierge service, who can arrange for those specialist therapists to fly to you, have prescriptions delivered on your holiday, or book the best local care should you need it while abroad. A medispa without borders, it’s the destination to know for all-encompassing healthcare in 2025.
SEE THIS Kew Gardens Christmas Light Trail
Haven’t indulged in enough of twinkling lights this festive season? Take it all in at Kew Gardens who put on quite a show and this week is perhaps the best time to head there to take in the spectacle. Kew Gardens has a magnificent light installation across a 3km trail where you get see the space lit up with over 20 larger-than-life illuminations, with both the venue’s glass houses and the trees that cover its grounds drenched in different hues. The whole thing is stunning, but don’t miss the lake, where you’ll catch reflections of the vibrant bulbs dancing on the water, taking the magical feeling to another level. Children can dive into buckets of moreish churros and hot chocolates while parents enjoy a glass of mulled wine or two. Running until 5th January, let the magic take you over on somewhat grey days.
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