HTSI’s 12 top picks from a year in travelBecause your next holiday booking should begin here© Elise HasseyLake Como’s latest hotel is an 18th-century gemAn exclusive look at Villa PassalacquaOutback and beyond in AustraliaThe continent has reopened – and its once incompatible dual identities are being understood in revelatory waysThe mother of all motorcycle ralliesA trans-Alpine trip from Austria to Monaco tests riders to their limitsEternal Egypt – a journey out of timeThe country’s ancient wonders still hold us spellbound, but its pulsing, intense present is just as intoxicatingMy Accra, by hairstylist Charlotte MensahThe British-Ghanaian philanthropist and founder of the Manketti Oil range shares her favourite hangouts in her childhood hometownGalápagos now: when a superyacht meets world heritage siteAn exclusive first voyage on the Aqua MareMore from this SeriesColm Tóibín’s Wexford: ‘This is not an Ireland of tourist posters’The author on the soft light and lonely soul of his home countySusanne Kapoor’s Sicilian retreatThe villa on the island of Lipari is a refuge from the sun – and the spotlightThe mystery and magnetism of Geoffrey BawaArchitect William Smalley journeys to Sri Lanka to further understand the father of tropical modernismOyuna Tserendorj on the wide-open magic of Mongolia The cashmere label founder offers a essential guide to her childhood homeMy Jamaican connectionEnuma Okoro makes a long-imagined pilgrimage to the Caribbean and discovers a place where hospitality and community come together in dynamic, fruitful waysIn search of hidden HawaiiEven in this mass-tourist mecca in the tropics it’s still possible to find exquisite – and unpopulated – escapes