Weekend in Sao Paulo

   

 IN PICTURES - Visiting the Brazilian city of excesses in the Métis style with a selection of our best places, to the 31th edition of the São Paulo Biennale, whose theme will be the trip to the art.

TRAVEL - São Paulo appointment with the excessiveness 

 On 12 June, the economic capital of Brazil applaud the opening game (Brazil-Croatia) of the World Cup football. Five other meetings will follow. Visit a megacity pioneering in some spots copies.

Qype ​​São Paulo 

Between bars, restaurants, nightclubs and samba clubs, the Brazilian city displays during the night, a vibrant and mixed activity.

ART - The São Paulo Biennial, ode to travel 

A must visit art will open in September and will bring together artists, architects, theater companies, choreographers and sociologists.

LITERATURE - INTERVIEW - Edney Silvestre, "We also have our Hemingway, Faulkner and Fitzgerald" 
The reporter compares monsters Brazilian authors in American literature of the early twentieth century.

DANCE - São Paulo, Brazil ballet star 
The nearby Rio displays his love for choreography today supported by the state.

Read More

Pearls of Andalusia

 

 n spain, the Marbella area is one that has the most golf courses. Here are three more essential than others.


Right out of the airport in Malaga, on the road along the coast, you can not miss the golf courses that are linked together. A first on the right, which spreads green fairways and white sand bunkers in the middle of barren mountains, a second on the left, closer to the sea ... And so on the 100 kilometers of coastline ranging from Malaga in Gibraltar. Thus the Costa del Sol has become, in just thirty years, a paradise of swing. I must say that this part of Spain, ultratouristique, has all the ingredients of a successful golfing holiday: a great climate - 321 days of sunshine a year - and most beautiful route density (70) from all over Europe Mainland.Better still, all these plots are signed big names - Robert Trent Jones, Dave Thomas, Gary Player, Cabell Robinson ... and Severiano Ballesteros, the hero of the nation, whose picture adorns the walls of many clubhouses, such as those in Valderrama Sotogrande Finca Cortesin ... Three clubs to discover all costs.

The myth Valderrama
The name alone is a dream ... It is to date the only continental European golf to receive the Ryder Cup - until the 2018 national Golf. It was in 1996 that day, and a legend was born, almost 25 years later, she is still deserved. For a visit here is an unforgettable moment.
To enter this sanctuary, he must show their credentials to the grid and justify booking a departure (between 12 and 14 hours only for the exterior). Within the walls of this private golf course, and even if part of the clubhouse housed in an old Andalusian farmhouse is for members only, we keep reliving the beautiful story of this place, which was also the scene of the Volvo Masters - the "final" European Tour - from 1988 to 2008. autographed photos of the greatest champions line the walls: Tiger Woods (who disputed his first Ryder Cup in 1997), Seve Ballesteros (honorary member of the club), Bernard Langer ( holder of the course record, 62) ...

I must say that Valderrama was destined to play in the big leagues. Opened in 1974 and originally called Las Aves, this golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones was taken in 1985 by Don Jaime Ortiz Patiño and completely remodeled by the architect at the request of the new owner. Visionary, Ortiz Patiño promises to make the Augusta National of the European continent. Mission accomplished. On the course, the feeling of perfection is omnipresent, the 5000 cork oaks that line the fairways are plush, cut to the millimeter, and although the club - now owned by its 400 members - no longer receives pros tournaments maintenance is incredible with pre-clipped greens as well as a green ... And the greens necessarily hyperroulants. Far from being an unplayable course, like some "monsters", this track also has the advantage of being accessible to all. It is not too long, varied, playful but hides his game: the ball can easily slip into one of 92 bunkers if the green on the wrong side is attacked, the 3-putts are easy when the slopes are misinterpreted and cork oaks cleverly placed require rigor and precision. But the game here is still a pure delight. On some holes, seen and reviewed on TV, it's like being in a dream. As at 17 when we remember the crowd invading the area around the green after Tiger Woods has put his ball in the water, at the same time offering the 1997 Ryder Cup to the European team.
From 300 € green fee, www.valderrama.com

The Sotogrande mind
Within easy drive from Marbella, this golf course has the little extra something "private" traditional clubs: a felted licked a trail, a four-star service, gourmet table ... This is probably what attracts cocktail golf-trotting, Monday to Friday only ... The course is reserved for its 2,800 members - 27 different nationalities - the weekend. Opened in 1964, its layout also has a rather attractive feature: it is the directorial debut of Robert Trent Jones in Europe. According to the architect - in his book The Magnificent Challenge - it would even be one of the best tracks of his career (over 500 lots in the world). Mesmerizing, this course is also the extraordinary garden in which it spreads among cork oaks, pines and palm trees, wide fairways, good greens, where no twig sticking out. Technically, slightly elevated greens and gentle breeze blowing almost constantly (the sea is less than 150 meters) may be some surprises, like the holes 12, 13 and 14, along with many water hazards. Some critics miss the presence of numerous villas bordering fairways but they do not in any way interfere with the play. Rather. Some of them are so lavish that they are also part of the show. Before celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014, the Real Golf Club in Sotogrande will offer a facelift: modernization of drainage, recasting several greens and bunkers, planting "bermuda grass" on its fairways and bent grass on the greens - "ultimate" turf ... To return to the standards that have made the reputation of the club. To be continued ...
1 60 € green fee, www.golfsotogrande.com

Succession Finca Cortesin
Alongside these two essential Finca Cortesin has become the new flagship of the Costa del Sol.Just opened, he received the World Championships match play in 2009, 2011 and 2012 The challenge of the architect Cabell Robinson involved planting 18 holes on a plot of 70 hectares very steep. To achieve this, thousands of cubic meters of earth were moved and the result is spectacular. On the hills, a mile from the coast, the views are spectacular with panoramas of the Mediterranean on half of the holes. Along 6800 meters back tees, the course is a challenge that needs to be relieved. Although the fairways are wide enough, you have to be precise in his faceoffs as a thick bush, right and left, often expected stray balls. Side greens, they are huge, and defended by 112 ultraroulants jagged bunkers - a trademark of the architect. Fortunately, thanks to its five tees, this course can be played by all with pleasure. Once again, we must welcome five-star resort impeccable course maintenance and service: drop bag, driving in grass with balls, carts (highly recommended due to the distance between the holes) with GPS, tees, towel, water and fresh fruit, cleaning clubs after the game ...
€ 170 green fee, www.fincacortesin.com

Flying to Malaga
With private Spanish company Air Europa with three daily flights from Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
From 175 € round trip, www.aireuropa.com

Reside at Finca Cortesin, Hotel, Golf & Spa, the hotel's most prominent in the region. Voted best hotel in Spain nonurban by Conde Nast Traveler, it houses its 67 suites in an Andalusian-style building, facing a lush garden of 23,000 m². Its decor is sublime with successions of patios, stone floors from old abbeys ... Its more a swimming pool overlooking the sea, a private beach, a gourmet kitchen, a renowned spa for its indoor 25m pool and cabin
Snow, unique in Spain. From € 2,730 for two nights with 4 green fees at Valderrama and La Reserva Finca Cortesin. Tel. : 00 34922937800. 

Read More

Big Ben gets a makeover

  IN PICTURES - A professional team cleans this week the four faces of the famous London landmark.

Read More

The base-jump, a "pleasurable" sport, but lethal

In this very impressive sport, which is to jump into the void from urban or natural points of departure, the slightest mistake can be fatal, as evidenced by the twenty-five practitioners who died last year.

A cliff, a building or a bridge. These are the points of departure of the urban or natural base-jumpers, these flying fools that run into the void with the only safety parachutes, they open after steep dives. For Martha Cecilia, who has studied these extreme athletes, the base-jumping is "the most serious of the world game," sport "at risk of death." Four followers, a Swiss 34 years , an Australian 33 French two years and 46 years and 55 years, were killed last week in the Alps and Pyrenees. According to relief, the reasons for these accidents are the same: a problem opening the parachute sail, too late opening or pilot error.
A "fatality list" on the Internet

Because during their free fall, the base-jumpers graze the rough rock like concrete.They are the thank you of any technical error, the shortest moment of inattention, instantly fatal. This danger is permanent, according to sports psychologist, a source of motivation practitioners. "Such an adrenaline rush, it's enjoyable," she says, while ensuring that people who skip are not hotheads. If they seek the danger that gives them extreme sensations, they are above all passionate and well prepared. "Before the first jump of a cliff, one must have completed a minimum of 200 jumps from a plane," says Jean-Philippe Gady, president of the French Association of paraclimbing (base-jump from cliffs) which boasts more than 250 members. They are 35 years old on average and all are self-taught, because France does not have a school does not deliver a state patent for the discipline.

Each jump is carefully prepared. The optimum condition of the equipment, folding millimeter sailing, studying weather, trajectory and gestures to perform, nothing is left to chance. And jumpers do not hesitate to give up in case of danger too high.



Despite these precautions, Jean-Philippe Gady deplores the death of 25 base-jumpers in the world last year. To raise the more adventurous, a dedicated website has established a "fatality list", a simple series of names of practitioners who have died because of their passion. A list on which no base-jumpers wishes one day appear.

Read More

The popularity of high-risk homes

 The range of extreme sports has increased tenfold over the past twenty years, also multiplying accidents.

During the holidays, when some prefer the tranquility of a sunbathing session on the beach, others choose to test their limits by discovering sports "extreme."Downhill mountain biking, canyoning, climbing or rafting, these risk sports are attracting more and more regular followers but also a growing number of holidaymakers adrenaline evil. Many centers of vacation oriented their activities and now offer so-called "thrill" stays. Sports holidays which are however not without danger.

"These sports risk growing strongly over the past twenty years," says Martha Cecilia, lecturer for the Institute of Movement Sciences, Faculty of Sport Sciences in Marseille.According to her, "our company offers more such sensational activities" to the general public, which responds positively to this "tenfold offer sports, confidential departure, which have democratized." The reasons for this popularity is simple. The proposed activities are increasingly accessible. This is the triptych "paying framed secure" as described Cecilia Martha reassures tourists and attracts them to these activities. They are looking for "excitement, overtaking" and derive pleasure that encourages them to start over.

"Holiday periods are conducive to the growth of sports injuries. In winter of course was skiing accidents, but there was also a lot of ATV accidents "

Julien Brun, anesthetist and head of "déchocage" at the University Hospital of Grenoble

A practice which, if it is becoming more prevalent, is not without danger. Every summer, many people are injured, often superficially, sometimes severely.At the Hospital de Bigorre in Tarbes, Hautes-Pyrenees, team orthopedic surgery reported a "steady increase related to mountain sports accidents." Are particularly

concerned canyoning and paragliding. Julien Brun, anesthetist and head of "déchocage" at the University Hospital of Grenoble, is no longer surprised by the rough sport."Holiday periods are conducive to the growth of sports injuries, he says. In winter of course was skiing accidents, but there was also a lot of ATV accidents. "The downhill mountain biking, which involves rolling down a mountain road as quickly as possible, is one of the disciplines that cause more accidents. For a single day, Thursday, August 7, the regional newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré mentioned six injured people on the slopes of the Alps, requiring the intervention of the police squad mountain and doctors Samu. More surprisingly, sports causing many injuries, though more superficial, is none other than hiking.



Some of these risk sports, dedicated to enthusiasts, can be fatal. Four followers of base-jumping, extreme sport of skipping into space from a fixed point, with a parachute that is opened at a certain distance from the ground, were killed last week in France.

Read More

Where cross the stars before the end of summer?

  After a busy year filming, recordings and concerts, people choose sun destinations for their holidays.

  As the summer season comes to an end in a few weeks, there is still time to meet the gaze of Leonardo DiCaprio in Saint-Tropez. Like every year, this city attracts many people such as this vintage 2014, singer Gwen Stefani, model Cara Delevingne and Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith recently separated from. Less than 100 miles away, in Cannes, it's Madonna , accompanied by her offspring: Lourdes, Rocco, Mercy James and David Banda who ed the French sun and also spent an evening with U2 frontman Bono .

As for Jamel Debbouze and Melissa Theuriau, they put their suitcases on the Island of Beauty, as Alizee and her companion dancer Gregory Lyonnet and Baptiste Giabiconi, while Shy'm decided to rest. .. in Paris.

Spain, Ibiza, more specifically, the second summer spot coveted by celebrities, tourists can have the chance to meet - when they are not on yachts or in the VIP square bars and fast food restaurants DJ David Guetta and Will Smith and Calvin Harris or actors Justin Bieber . Brazilian footballer Neymar also raised along with the jet-setter Paris Hilton .The latter then moved to Pampelonne to play DJ, then to St. Tropez.


On another Iberian island, supermodel Kate Moss has tanned on the fine sand of Formentera with her ​​husband Jamie Hince and daughter Lila Grace. Former Miss France 2010 Malika Ménard, she opted for Barcelona, ​​while its sister Flora Coquerel, Miss France 2014, flew to New Caledonia.

Meanwhile, supermodel Gisele Bündchen meditates in Costa Rica for Eva Herzigova and her husband play on a beach in Sardinia.

As the presenter Nikos Aliagas and his two colleagues Thomas Sotto and Stephane Bern, they all three opted for Greece, as Lindsay Lohan, seen in Mykonos.

On the other side of the planet, Johnny Hallyday and his wife Laeticia partied in St. Barts at a party Tahiti with Marc Lavoine .

Read More

New Caledonia: Paradise and blessed pines

  
 IN PICTURES - In the heart of the Pacific, Pine Island owes its name and fame to the unusual landscapes offered by Araucaria set up along the coast bands. A forest lagoon as rare as fascinating.

The greatest explorer of the Enlightenment he crushed black that day? After the Marquesas and New Hebrides, had he seen too much not to drop anchor at an armful of paradise? When in September 1774, James Cook sailed along the island pocket, located south of the main island of New Caledonia, he was not only legitimate fear that his ship aground on coral reefs, but he was also the victim of a seeing things sacred. A native of Yorkshire, probably more accustomed in his youth to tread the wild moors of his beloved England to go up a coconut tree and took by far the slender silhouettes and insolent columnar pines lining the shores to the mast of a menacing alien armada. The two naturalists who accompanied Foster father and son, were little more savvy, who saw the presence of basalt columns similar to the Giant's Causeway, Ireland. It is only upon his arrival to the island bitter for wetting the crew realized it was trees. Specimens of such rare and endemic majestic pines that the English captain decided to baptize their name this piece of land of beauty to believe mirages. More than two centuries later, it is not uncommon, moreover, that after seeing the Isle of Pines, one is tempted to speak of a mere illusion, a hallucination or, better yet, conceal his existence just to keep for yourself this discreet hideout Robinson reduced on a world map, the size of a pinhead stung on the Tropic of Capricorn. Here, no charters or resorts. We can not with impunity Kunié (name of the island in Melanesia), there walks slowly after traveling more than 17 000 km for metro, made a stop in Noumea before embarking on an ATR 42 or fast catamaran. If, in high season, the dock of the Bay of Kuto - a new ferry terminal must be born in 2016 - can become the podium by a parade of Australian and Japanese cruisers, walking on the beach Kanumera enough to experience dear printing Rilke to be "irresistibly alone."



Invariably, the body jettisons. The hours stretch. A soft waiver announcement. Given this landscape of tropical Tuscan whose reliefs bristle strange exotic cypress, eyes linger. It follows, blossom water, languid lines lagoon heckled by the verticality of the araucaria planted to guard you along the coastline. He plays the hieratic posture of these giants - up to 60 meters high - umbrella a funny tuft of brush-brush: a pointed crown composed of "scales on twigs arranged in dihedral" would correct a scientist. Do not mess with these worthy archaic survivors vegetation Triassic, dating back to the beginning of the era of the dinosaurs, there are 230 million years. Plant emblem of New Caledonia, belongs to the columnar pine immemorial heritage that the island was anxious to preserve shows by including evidence of a kind of resistance to the excesses of extreme modernity. "We are not against the development of tourism, but we do not step on the scale of our island, says Hilarion Vendegou, former mayor, senator UMP and great traditional chief ... If we see too large, we runs the risk of undermining our environment. We do not want to. All that is done preserve our natural resources, our beaches, our beautiful forests ... And the smile of the population. For we are all richer for what nature gives us. "Eight tribes (Ouatchia, Ouapan, Touété, Youwaty, Vao, Gadji Comagna, Kere) perpetuate exchanges initiated centuries ago by their ancestors. If Lapita pottery fragments discovered at Vao, testify to a former attachment of Kunié to an area of ​​Pacific communication, probably 1500 years BC, the remains of circular structures in the ground and shot iron found on the board, the presence of piles of fossil coral in the forest area attest to the settlement of the island at a time extremely remote. Fishermen and farmers had settled on the coast and inland, well before the arrival of Polynesian catechists Protestants from the London Missionary Society in 1840, even today, even though they are becoming more living from tourism, 2,806 inhabitants of the Isle of Pines remain deeply attached to the Mother Nature, the land to which they belong ... and not vice versa. "We Kanak, we were environmentalists before the time," like repeating the footballer Christian Karembeu, born on the nearby island of Lifou. Respect for the environment, the worship of the old, the importance of traditional authorities have effectively avoided backhoes property developers - years of palaver preceding the construction of the Hotel Meridien - the privatization of beaches, the mass of vegetation which, after being improperly exploited by sandalwood in the nineteenth century seems to have finally reclaimed its destruction.



Coastal savanna to the limestone forest, nature provides new gross disarming. On the East Coast, in particular, it explodes, measurement exalted blue lagoon, green mesh in a lush, dense garden without grid and safe, but access, lack of footpaths - except one Upi Bay connecting to that of Oro - often remains difficult. What ever! This almost circular island, the show is over. Bay Kanuméra in Kuto Bay, an arbor, born interlacing branches of secular bugnys, transports the visitor into a Forest Dark Forest. To the north, near Gadji, the view of the bay beach crabs reveals a typical postcard of the "closest to the paradise island" with its blessed pines up like pointed skyward index. To the south, a climb to the peak N'Ga (262 meters), to discover other perspectives: the distance, the island Brush and yet another stand of Araucaria, closer, close to the tribe of Comagna few specimen more isolated if the play alone. A configuration that is no coincidence. Traditionally planted on the aisle that leads to big boxes, the columnar pine is the oldest residential witness, usually erected for men of high rank. Tjibaou Cultural Centre in Noumea, a "Kanak Path" perfectly illustrates the symbolic plant in Melanesian culture. Consisting of many species, this course includes a history of the founding hero Tea Kanaké first born of all men whose origin is rooted in the earliest oral tradition of the area paicî-cèmuhi.



The five stages of its existence refers particularly essential plant: the giant taro is associated with the origin of beings, yams, symbol of man and his female complement, water taro represent Mother Earth The columnar pine refers to the land of the ancestors, the banyan, ancient burial ground, brought to the land of spirits, ironwood heralds the rebirth ... Between life and death, there are no boundaries nor between men, land and minds. A relationship between the visible world and the invisible world which Kuniés do not speak little or: "The spirits of our ancestors, our families, our clans are there in the sea and on land. You feel it is proper to each, "said Grand Chief Hilarion Vendegou. A veiled, some fishermen evoke taboo places in the forest where coconuts fall from nowhere, where traces erased repeatedly reappear without explanation ... Difficult to know more. A native of the tribe of Gagdi where was located the first chiefdom, Adriano Vama prefer to recall the beauty of trees - kohu, banyan, blue cherry, sandalwood, Ralia, acacia ... - the forest where he grew up. He often accompanies the curious tourists to see other treasures of the island as well known as the chromo sublime beaches Kuto, the whiter than talc sand or unreal image of the natural pool of the Bay of Oro. His former playground, the young taxi driver knows every corner, any medicinal herb. Beachfront, a first umbrella-shaped shrub holds his attention: "It's called the false tobacco. His prepared infusion leaves are very effective against the guitar - a foodborne illness caused by eating fish contaminated with ciguatoxin. No need to go to the clinic when we hurt all over, a decoction of the bark of melaleuca (eucalyptus) relieves rheumatism and pains. It is all here! "At the entrance to the cave of Queen Hortense, even found a plant shampoo that grows near the river.



With over 3000 species of plants, New Caledonia has one of the world's richest biodiverse land after the Amazon basin. A few yards away, Adriano car stops near a huge banyan. In this miniature jungle, any kid would have used the vines from the tree to imitate Tarzan, but we do not play around this behemoth which represents the image of the ancestors. "The vines are like their long beards," he says. He added: "Here, nature carved and often draws faces on trees. We must look everywhere! "Open the eye and, when the light gradually uncovers the shadows still lurk in the woods, do not hesitate to ogle under leaves which houses another curiosity of island, a potbellied gastropod endemic: the bulime. "This is pocket money for women who are traditionally responsible for collecting says Christine Pollabauer, president of the environmental organization Mocamana-The Natural spirit ... But in recent years, this economic resource tends to decrease. The Bulimes have a very slow growth. You have to wait 3-5 years for them to reach adulthood and are edible. The breeding method is developed but it still customary that undertake discussions to define the location and the tribes concerned ... In the meantime, there has to Pine Island that can consume. This is very good prepared with parsley! "It should not go without tasting this delicious culinary specialty or fun to discover, Vao Market every Wednesday and Saturday, other local products that are the yam, sweet potato, cassava or taro, whose domestication is older than that of cereals ...



In this small village straight out of a document from the archives of the League of Pacific Studies, stands the beautiful Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, built in part by deportees from the Paris Commune arrived metropolis in the late nineteenth century. September 29, 1853 Kaoua Vendegou, Grand Chief of Kuniés, evangelized for years by the Marist Fathers, had signed the official decision of the Isle of Pines by France. Among the deportees were many art, carpenters, cabinet makers, even the Companions of duty workers. Their hatred of the priests did not prevent them from working, against a modest salary for Father Goujon, who was especially entrusted with the construction of the tabernacle of the pulpit and baptismal font ... "It's the ones who made the big cross, the star, the prosecution point of Hungary, said Jean-Christophe Deret guide on the island for fourteen years. They only used local trees, different species to play with colors. Benches, however, more recent, has been made by kohu Joseph, whose son also works on wood as boatman. "Bay St. Joseph has another construction site canoes traditional pendulum. In 1991, organizers of the Raid Gauloises had ordered more than forty. We still remember here, as the program "Koh-Lanta" tour on nearby islands in 2005 Douépéré Alexander, 67, is one of the last to make, old, these iconic boats.



Since his first boat, the Saint Gabriel, built twenty years ago in the trunk of a columnar pin 10 meters long, little or nothing has changed. Although kohu, stronger, replaced the Araucaria and saw the use of fire for the slaughter, the technique remains the same: "Once you spotted the tree, usually in the deep forest, we custom made - ritual exchange - with the tribe in question, then it is cut 3 or 4 days after the full moon, when the sap down into the roots. It rots slower. Wood is allowed three weeks in water, before drying with salt from seawater, and after only one can work at the machine and by hand. And set sail "Essentially used for fishing, outrigger canoes have become the last thirty years the equivalent of Venetian gondolas on which ascend tourists to discover not the Grand Canal but Upi Bay. A inland sea where boats plying between strange coral rocks at the foot carved by erosion (the "potato"). In this paradise to divine grace, preserved by a protective option, nothing is quite like yesterday nor today.It is a time other, a frail point of tangency between eternity and the present. James Thomas Cook, Pine Island has not become the island pinup and oligarchs. Zero armada of boaters or three-masted billionaires ... Just this immemorial landscape where spin, inflated by the trade winds, a few white sails of boatmen up the bay pre tight ... A hallucination perhaps a dream, surely.

TRAVEL BOOK

Helpful

In Paris, the New Caledonia Tourism (01.47.03.14.74;www.visitenouvellecaledonie.com ) will make the most of this long journey which the city takes about 25 hours to Noumea. On the Isle of Pines, an information point is located in the cultural center of Vao (687.46.10.27).

Getting there

Aircalin (0.826.621.320; www.aircalin.com ) offers daily flights Paris-Noumea through partnerships with France / KLM Air Group, Finnair, Alitalia and Singapore Airlines. From € 1461, in Economy class and € 4,244 for business class. Air Cal édonie(687.44.88.50) serves the Isle of Pines (about 25 minutes), at least twice a day from the airport to Noumea-Magenta. From 133 € round trip. By sea, the Betico 2 (www.betico.nc ) makes the crossing from Noumea in 2 hours 15 From 89 €.

Accommodation

In Noumea, the Hilton Promenade 

Residences(687.26.06.66; www.hiltonhotels.com ) near the center and throw a flip of the beach at Anse Vata, is ideally located. A wide selection of apartments, pleasantly arranged and well equipped, make this address a perfect base for a family holiday. 143 € to 294 € Studio apartment for 6 persons.

A Bourail, we only talk about the opening in early August at the Sheraton New Caledonia, Deva Resort and Spa (687.26.50.00;www.sheratonnewcaledoniadeva.com ). Built on the protected area of ​​Deva, this new luxury hotel offers two in one, lagoon and bush, unique in New Caledonia: direct access to 13 miles of beaches, hiking and horseback riding, and opening in January Golf 18 holes (contact@exlusivgolf-deva.com) ... The comfort and decor of the 180 suites, private bungalows and rooms perpetuate excellence Sheraton. From € 206 (opening bid).

On the Isle of Pines, Oro Bay, Le Méridien (687.46.15.15;www.lemeridien.com/iledespins ) can lay claim to being the first and only luxury hotel on the island. Built of wood and stone of the corner, this hotel dream of a perfect architectural discretion, in an idyllic setting offers stylish accommodation where romance - celebration and renewal of vows on an island getaway ... privatized - and exoticism Never flirt with sentimentality. Y spend a night not to be forgotten. From 268 €.

Bay Kanumera the Oure Tera Beach Resort (687.43.13.15; www.tera.nc ) is a friendly and nice 4-star lodge. If the bungalows overlooking the beach (€ 499 for two people, breakfast included) allow you to enjoy the sunset, all rooms (from € 308) have their charm.

Good food
As part of the Meridian restaurant, La Pirogue, with its view of Oro Bay, is especially valuable at night.The chef offers excellent cuisine that gives pride to local products: mangrove crabs, Bulimes, lobsters, fresh fish ceviche ... About 45 € (excluding wine).

The two restaurants at the Oure Tera Beach Resort, The Banyan and Kanuméra also offer high quality dining with a la carte, must-Bulimes (20 €); breaded shrimp with coconut (22 €); lagoon fish cooked on one side (24 €) or the traditional Melanesian bougna fish and shrimp (24 €) ...

Finally, the formula feet in the sand Kou-Gny (687.98.18.70) restaurant proves a real obliged landscape.

A walk on the beach at Oro Bay to pick up some pumice Vanuatu deposited by the sea, and you are greeted by the smile that Alice took up this charming place. On the menu, papaya salad, grilled lobster, vegetables, rice, fruit salad ... around 53 €, reservations required.

What to do

In Noumea, Tjibaou Cultural Centre ( www.adck.nc ) designed by architect Renzo Piano houses permanent exhibitions of quality, always interesting to understand the Melanesian culture. A must-see outdoor Kanak botanical way. At the Isle of Pines, Jean-Christophe Deret (687.94.89.15) organizes trips to the card. This passionate, arrived on the island several years ago, can show you particularly to the cave of Queen Hortense, creepers orchid cherry, Japan reach crazy prices. Sea side, the canoe trips in the bay Upi - Along a minibaie - can be booked with the hotel (or live at 687.46.10.13). For a boat for the day, addressing young and friendly and Sandrine Joseph Kaateu Vakoumé(687.84.43.33): Visit to the star of the Turtle Bay, stop on the atoll of Nokanhui, diving on the reef, barbecue lunch, tour of the island ... Brush € 68 with a meal of chicken, € 84 with lobster option.

The favorite

Arrive by sea to the Isle of Pines is a happiness that, dealing only pleasure yacht crewed New Caledonia, assumes the dimensions of a dream. Former boat owner, Iroue(687.29.64.27; www.complexechateauroyal.nc ) provides high quality services whether for comfort or hospitality. € 970 per hour for minimum 4 hours, from € 6,700 the day. Other possible destinations include Amédée lighthouse.

What to bring

The "mission dresses", pareos, tablecloths Lyne creations designed and handcrafted by Marilyne The Beuze (687.25.19.79). Noumea market and downtown.

Read More