Sure, some people are content to sit by the pool all summer. But if you're looking for someplace a bit more exciting to spend your days, we've got some ideas. Let's meet up…
…At Addendum, Yountville, California
When summer comes to Napa Valley, you’ll find everyone you know at these picnic tables. By Norman Vanamee
It’s open for lunch just two days a week, and only between Memorial and Labor days. A collection of picnic tables set up behind Ad Hoc, the temporary-turned-permanent restaurant opened by Thomas Keller in 2006, Addendum serves three mains: buttermilk fried chicken, fried chicken sandwiches, and pulled pork sandwiches, along with wine and beer. But it’s one of Napa Valley’s favorite spots for a Friday or Saturday meal. Wine world luminaries settle in next to contractors cooling down after a morning's work next to line chefs from nearby restaurants. “It was just kind of leftover space,” Keller said about its inception. “We had an old garden shack out back and turned it into a place where you could order food and get your beverages.” People wander around, some with dogs and kids in tow. “When the food comes out, you pick one of the picnic tables to set up.” Even Keller, whose restaurants have a combined seven Michelin stars, can’t resist. “I grew up eating American comfort food. I always order two pieces of fried chicken and a pulled pork sandwich.”
…The Box, Zanzibar
A café in a historic crossroads welcomes a new generation of global traveler. By Tanisha C. Ford
I have traveled to more than 40 countries in the past 17 years, both for pleasure and for book research. I’ve visited some of Europe’s, Asia’s, and Africa’s liveliest cafés, but I have never encountered a place quite like the Box by Ashley Maybe. I walked into the Stone Town, Zanzibar, restaurant last summer expecting to have a quiet brunch and ended up staying through the afternoon, then for dinner, and then late into the evening. READ MORE
…At Charlie Fox, Southampton, NY
Manhattan’s stylish dispensary goes east. By Adam Rathe
Of all the city dwellers making their way to the Hamptons this summer, few are as highly anticipated as Charlie Fox. The sybarite stoner’s dispensary—its Midtown headquarters offers private appointments with cannabis sommeliers—is expanding to Southampton, with delivery launching after Memorial Day and a shop designed by Home Studios opening next. The Montauk Highway outpost will offer exclusive products, work by local artisans, a bar, and retail in a space inspired by old-school rowing clubs. Pop by for a hostess gift—we’re fond of giving the gummies—or before a trip to the newly reopened Southampton Playhouse, home to the only IMAX screen on the East End, and see what’s sure to become one of the Hamptons’ headiest new hotspots.
…On Line at the Delacorte, Central Park, NYC
After a brief respite, midsummer madness returns to Manhattan’s greenest stage. By Stellene Volandes
I dare you not to love New York when the moon rises above Belvedere Castle and you see it from a seat at the Delacorte watching Lupita Nyong’o and Jesse Tyler Ferguson in Twelfth Night. And it will happen, for the first time in two years, when this treasure in the middle of Central Park returns after a major restoration. The Delacorte, constructed in 1962 through the sheer force of Joseph Papp, needed love. It hadn’t received any updates to its original construction since 1999. There were issues of accessibility, of weatherproofing, of lighting. And, of course, there were the raccoons.
You may still spot one when Twelfth Night restarts the Public Theater’s tradition of free Shakespeare in the Park in August, but the critters won’t be able to wander backstage anymore. The modernization of the façade of the theater (with repurposed New York redwood), new walkways, and upgrades to the box office, concessions, and work areas were all part of the project for Ennead Architects. But equally important was the wall keeping the wildlife out of the dressing rooms.
…At the Groucho Club, London
Inside the raucous canteen for London’s creative class. By Patrick Vaill
The Groucho Club (named for Groucho Marx’s famous declaration that he wouldn’t “want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members”) has been at it since 1985, and it serves as a cozy, classy, chummy, boozy spot for the creative set—like the cast of this summer’s West End hit My Master Builder—to gather in the midst of Soho.
Nestled in Dean Street, it was conceived as a rebuke to the starchy gentlemen’s clubs of the day, as a place where Soho’s artists, publishers, filmmakers, actors, writers, and other cultural titans could gather. Today it still stands in opposition, now to this era’s proliferation of style-over-substance members clubs.
In the afternoon it provides a sanguine refuge, and in the evening it roars to life as members pile in, guzzling martinis and scarfing down snacks. It’s the drinks, the company, and the chic that make it feel like an occasion. It’s the pulsing creativity, the high-octane intelligence, and the perfectly managed chaos that make it feel like home. Want to sneak in? Make friends with an actor on the West End; they’re rarely turned away.
…At Ned’s Club, Washington, DC
Looking for discretion? Influence? Branzino? Use this guide to figure out exactly where you want to be inside the capital’s hot new members-only club. By Andrew Zucker
While sitting by the entrance of Ned’s Club, just steps from the White House, is never preferred, here it can mean dinner and a show. Earlier this year Kari Lake, a Trump appointee to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, shared harsh words with Senator Ruben Gallego near the elevator. It’s unclear if the two were reprimanded by the club’s manager.
Not many people visit the Founders Dining Room (it’s reserved for members who shell out $100,000 to join; membership starts at $5,000), but if a member brings you, make sure to order the steak. It comes from Four Sixes Ranch, which is reportedly co-owned by the Ned’s billionaire owner Ron Burkle.
After dinner head upstairs to the rooftop terrace, which has incredible views of the White House. If you luck out, Marine One will whizz by and land on the South Lawn.
The term lobbyist reportedly comes from favor-seekers hunting down President Grant in the lobby of the Willard Hotel. It may be time for a new term. Go to the Ned’s dining room on a weeknight, and chances are you’ll be seated near a cabinet member. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been spotted, as has Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. It’s also a favorite of Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell.
DC isn’t lacking for smoke-filled rooms, but there aren’t any at Ned’s Club. If you want to smoke, part of the rooftop terrace is reserved as a cigar lounge—just don’t tell Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Everyone’s raving about the $54 branzino at the Gallery restaurant. But if you’re looking for something a bit less cooked, head upstairs to Kaia, an Asian-inspired restaurant with sushi rolls on the menu.
…At Bagno Piero Beach Club, Forte dei Marmi, Italy
Traveling to Italy’s most exclusive beach town is only half the journey. Next, you’ve got to slide into the right lounge chair. By Adam Rathe
Talk to people who spend their summers in Forte dei Marmi, the seaside Tuscan town popular with the Italian aristo crowd and (so far) free of the tourist hordes crowding the Amalfi Coast, and you’ll hear sooner than later about the beach clubs—and what yours says about you. Regulars agree that Bagno Piero, which is said to have been the Agnelli family’s preferred spot, is among the best in town, though getting in without a membership (or a well-connected host) is next to impossible. The recently renovated but still retro Bagno Santa Maria is similarly stylish, and perhaps easier to crack: Your concierge at the Augustus or Hotel Byron can get you in. And Alpemare, owned by Andrea Bocelli’s family, offers summerlong memberships. The five-star Grand Hotel Imperiale has its own private beach club with a pool, restaurant, and bar, and so does the recently opened 18-suite, adults-only Pensione America, which is owned by the family behind local institutions Villa Roma Imperiale and Bagno Assunta. No matter where they spend their days by the water, however, nearly everyone in town ends up at the Prada Group–owned Caffè Principe sooner or later for gelato.
…At the Six Bells Inn, Rosendale, NY
What’s the latest in the Hudson Valley? A hotel that channels the past. By William Li
After Audrey Gelman left the Wing, the women’s social club and co-working space she co-founded in 2016, she turned to more homey pursuits, opening a kind of cool-girl country store called the Six Bells in Brooklyn, which sells housewares, jams, antiques, and much more. Now she has expanded the concept with a hotel, named the Six Bells Inn, in upstate New York.
Gelman restored a historic three-story inn in the Hudson Valley town of Rosendale, creating 11 uniquely styled rooms, a riverside restaurant, and a tavern that she likens to “a luxury train car in an Agatha Christie mystery.” As with the namesake store, everything on the property—from dinner plates to bed sheets—is for sale. “Rosendale has a kind of offbeat, timeworn beauty that I fell in love with,” Gelman says. “It has a lot of history—a former cement town, artist enclave, hiker haven—and yet it’s still a bit of a secret.”
For the full experience, book the Lamplight Room, which features an 18th-century carved box bed and magical creek views. For dinner, situate yourself in one of the hand-carved dining nooks across from the tavern bar and make sure your order includes Sally Lunn bread rolls—rich brioche-like treasures with a history that traces back to the 1600s in Bath, England. Cap your day with a walk to the Rosendale Trestle, built in the late 1800s, from which you can see mist rising off the river and hear the sound of owls in the trees.
…At Maison François, London
For oatmeal with oligarchs, breakfasting Brits are flocking to a new address. By Fiona McCarthy
For years the Wolseley, Jeremy King’s Piccadilly eatery, was London’s power broker canteen. Politicians, media bigwigs, and all manner of lords and ladies would swarm what was said to be Britain’s most profitable dining room for breakfast. Nowadays, however, even King—whose 2022 split from his empire “triggered a small earthquake in London’s social circles,” according to the New York Times—starts his day at Maison François.
Opened in 2020 by François O’Neill (whose father brought Paris-style dining to London in the 1980s with Brasserie St. Quentin), chef Matthew Ryle, and chief operating partner Ed Wyand, this discreet brasserie on Duke Street in St. James’s has usurped the Wolseley as the place to breakfast and be seen breakfasting.
Maison François ticks all the boxes: There’s excellent coffee, perfectly poached eggs, fluffy omelets, Uji matcha lattes, and quick, attentive service. The aim, says Wyand, is “to constantly exceed people’s expectations, no matter how high.”
The flattering shade of terra-cotta washing the double-height walls makes everyone look their best, even at 7 a.m., when slickly suited financiers based nearby make up the first sitting. A little later—the sweet spot is from 8 to 8:30—the crowd comes from the worlds of art, style, hospitality, and media. Above all, it’s the clever layout of the modernist banquettes that really draws the right group. “They allow people to see and be seen, yet still conduct discreet conversations,” Wyand says. “People want to look around the room and see their peers and interesting people, but they certainly don’t want them knowing their business.”
…At Sagaponack General Store, Sagaponack, NY
Who says Hamptonites can’t be sentimental about the past? By Leena Kim
Forget the latest designer takeover of Gurney’s, or that invite-only Pilates studio pop-up. The place to be seen in the Hamptons this summer will be the Sagaponack General Store. Five years ago the mercantile–cum–post office, an institution since 1878, went on the market. Longtime Sagg resident Mindy Gray scooped it up and has restored it to its charming old self, with plenty of bygone quirks (the penny candy corner, original antiques) plus modern musts (excellent breakfast sandwiches).
…At the Hills, East Quogue, NY
Here is a universal truth: We all crave community. The superrich are no exception. By Leena Kim
If we were ever to find ourselves in a post-apocalyptic scenario like the one in Paradise, the hit Hulu show that takes place in a sprawling and seemingly idyllic bunker community populated by billionaires and their chosen few, Mike Meldman would be a good guy to know. The founder of Discovery Land Company (and also the co-founder, with George Clooney and Rande Gerber, of Casamigos) is the mastermind behind such exclusive enclaves as Big Sky’s Yellowstone Club and the Hudson Valley’s Silo Ridge, which counted Tom Brady and his then-wife Gisele Bundchen as its first residents.
This summer Meldman is bringing the model to East Quogue with the Hills, which will be the Hamptons’ first gated residential development. A purchase of one of the 110 properties or lots (prices are not disclosed, but they’re in the multimillions) is the ticket in and the only way to gain membership to the Tom Fazio–designed golf course—not a bad deal considering every worthwhile club in the Hamptons has a years-long wait-list. And then there are the other perks: a farm-to-table restaurant, a spa, medical services, 24-hour security. But best of all: a community so tight you won’t even have to lock your doors.
…On the Watch Trail in Switzerland
A high-precision guide to the heart of watch country. By Ana Colón
Even though I have covered the fashion industry for more than a decade, I only recently became watch-curious, and then enthralled. It’s a slippery slope, as any watch aficionado will tell you—which means I’ve become obsessed with planning a trip to the cradle of timekeeping. Read More
…At the Hollywood Bowl, L.A.
Sure, private clubs are fine, but have you tried spending an evening with 17,500 strangers? By Adam Rathe
Los Angeles has had a tough year. After watching their city being ravaged by fires in January, Angelenos deserve to enjoy themselves, and while some might do that with dinner (or a private poker game) at the Bird Streets Club or a McCarthy salad at the Polo Lounge, one place where you’re practically guaranteed to see everyone who’s anyone enjoying themselves this summer is the Hollywood Bowl. “Going to the Bowl is a summer rite of passage,” one L.A. native tells us. “It doesn’t even matter what you see. The experience of being in that iconic venue is classic Los Angeles.” This season you can pick from a lineup including Hugh Jackman, Grace Jones, Jaws in concert, Diana Ross, Cynthia Erivo in Jesus Christ Superstar, and more. In-the-know locals will book box seats, where dinners made by local star chef Suzanne Goin are delivered and paired with wines by Caroline Styne. It might not fix all your problems, but it’s surely a start.
…At Le Toiny, St. Bart's
Surf-and-turf takes on a new meaning on the quiet side of the island. By Norman Vanamee
Old hands love to complain that their favorite vacation spot is being ruined by newcomers. And, yes, there is reason to gripe about St. Bart’s, the French Caribbean island that was long the epitome of the sophisticated beach getaway. Nowadays its high season crush includes a traveling circus of celebrities dodging paparazzi, megayacht traffic jams in the tiny harbor of Gustavia, and long wait-lists to get into restaurants and nightclubs.
And yet…there’s still nothing quite like it. READ MORE
These stories appear in the Summer 2025 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
![Étretat: the beach and the falaise damont, 1885. oil on canvas, 69.3 x 66.1 cm (27 1/4 x 26 in.). gift of mrs. john h. (anne r.) winterbotham in memory of john h. winterbotham; joseph winterbotham collection, 1964.204.](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/tcx060125travelaciman-001-682cb66215588.jpg?crop=1xw:0.964xh;center,top&resize=360:* "Claude Monet's Etretat: The Beach and the Falaise d'Amont, 1885.\")
