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Don’t-Miss Events
Ins and Outs (noteworthy openings)
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THE RIGHT PLACE. THE RIGHT TIME. IT MATTERS.
NIGHT+DAY’s Absolutely-Don’t-Miss Upcoming Events
During these three months there are 19 don’t-miss events (as rated by NIGHT+DAY writers and editors) in the world’s coolest cities. Click below for details. And start packing!
NIGHT+DAY’S TOP 5 EVENTS
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NIGHT+DAY
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Ins and Outs ... NIGHT+DAY’s City Guide Updates
It doesn’t get better than this–the 50 latest NIGHT+DAY recommend-ations for the world’s coolest cities, including a closures list for venues that have appeared in NIGHT+DAY guides. It’s easy to download the pdfs. And it’s FREE.
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In This Issue:
At the Top: There’s Still Time to Party Carnival-Style
 Many of the world’s greatest parties relate to Carnival—the pre-Lent, February bacchanals such as Mardi Gras, the Opera Ball in Vienna, or the Carnivals in Rio, Venice, Trinidad, and Koln, Germany. But in August, long after the Easter season ends, two similarly styled events take place: the Crop Over festival in Barbados and the Notting Hill Carnival in London. Both Crop Over and Notting Hill Carnival are styled after African-flavored Caribbean celebrations centered on steel-pan, calypso, and soca music, as well as limbo dancing.
The Roman Catholic Church gets credit for having inventing the name carnival sometime around the Italian Renaissance. The Latin roots carne and valle mean “flesh” and “farewell,” respectively, and together they refer to the first day of Lent when Catholics say good-bye to meat until Easter. But little else connected with the Carnival feast of abandonment, pleasure, and revelry belongs to the Catholics. Let’s face it: Liberating internal repression and sinning boldly is a pretty fair trade-off for giving up meat for 40 days.
You’ll have to hustle to catch the peak events of Crop Over, which begin Friday, July 31, with their Pic-O-De-Crop soca finals. Then, at 2am that night, the Foreday Morning parade of music and dancing begins. The partying continues until the whole shebang climaxes with the Grand Kadooment band performances. And it all takes place in Barbados—an island that it shouldn’t take much arm-twisting to get you to visit.
Notting Hill Carnival (NHC) may well be the second biggest street party in the world—topped only by Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. A parade 15,000 participants strong stretches three miles through the once-dingy, now-trendy neighborhood in the northwest section of London. NHC is always scheduled for the weekend leading into the August Bank Holiday (the last Monday of the month), which means the festivities start on Saturday, August 29, this year. Although the official parades, which include over 100 costumed bands and 40 sound systems, are on Sunday (family day) and Monday, the partying is already in full bloom by Saturday night. If you are interested in cultural diversity, or just love to celebrate with a million of your closest friends, this is the place to be.
Oops—you just realized your Aunt Tillie is visiting that weekend and you can’t leave town! Don’t despair: Fantasy Fest (Key West), the final world-class carnival-type event of the year, runs October 23 through November 1.
THE WORLD’S BEST Spas
When the going gets tough, the tough get scrubbed, steamed, massaged, wrapped, and anointed with essential oils. With specialized treatments ranging from hot stone massages, to seaweed facials, to full-body detox treatments, the perfect urbanista oasis doesn’t get better than these upscale spas. Ready, set, ahhh…
LAS VEGAS • CANYON RANCH SPACLUB
 The Draw: Canyon Ranch is a wellness brand known
around the globe, and this Vegas version keeps the high standards alive.
The Scene: With a three-story rock-climbing wall, dozens of exercise classes, a well-appointed workout facility, and a chic spa, this oasis on the fourth floor of The Venetian draws in a sophisticated crowd that knows its spas.
Hot Tip: Try the mango sugar scrub to get an all-over
glow before heading out for the night.
LOS ANGELES • KINARA SPA
 The Draw: The massages and manicures are predictably fantastic, but most people—numerous celebrities among them—come here for the custom facials.
The Scene: The rooms are warm and dimly lit, the bowls in the manicure-pedicure area are built into the ground, and the 100-percent-cotton blankets you’re swaddled in are imported from Japan.
Hot Tip: Come for a half-day treatment, starting with a massage, then a facial, and finally a manicure-pedicure. End with lunch in the cafe garden, and a little champagne—for therapeutic purposes, of course.
SAN FRANCISCO • NOB HILL SPA
 The Draw: The indoor infinity pool with a view of downtown definitely puts the ahh in spa. As posh and opulent as spas in San Francisco get, the NHS offers a full range of treatments, many of an Ayurvedic persuasion.
The Scene: Facials, massages, scrubs, and body wraps are the stock-in-trade in the ten private treatment rooms, where the privileged and temporarily privileged come to be rubbed and anointed. You can relax knowing that a feng shui expert was consulted in the spa’s construction to ensure a serene and harmonious setting.
Hot Tip: NASA has been busy developing ways to keep you from aging, including photomodulation, a kind of LED light therapy on offer here.
Discover the Best Spas in other Night+Day cities
INS and OUTS
(NIGHT+DAY’S Latest Recommendations)
CHICAGO • HOTEL FELIX • Modern
hotelfelixchicago.com
One of the more affordable options among the boutique hotels clustered around the Magnificent Mile, Hotel Felix is also one of the more intimate. At just 12 stories high, it has all the feeling of something quaint and residential, not a surprise considering its previous incarnation as an apartment building back in the 1920s. full review
$$
111 W. Huron St. (Clark St.), 312-447-3440 / 877-848-4040
DC • W WASHINGTON DC • Trendy
whotels.com/washingtondc
No sooner was W, the president, out of office than W, the hotel group, reclaimed the city and the letter for itself. Staking out priceless real estate at the corner of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the W Washington has every intention of attracting the attention of the new president, who lives just across the street, as well as that of every other cool character in town. full review
$$$ 515 15th St. NW (Pennsylvania Ave.), 202-661-2400 / 877-946-8357
LAS VEGAS • M RESORT • Trendy
themresort.com
When Tony Marnell II opened the Rio in the late 1980s, it was a huge hit, especially with the locals. Now Tony III has followed in his father’s footsteps with the M, a resort geared primarily toward Las Vegans, but also the Angelenos and Southern Californians who pass by the property on their way to the Strip. full review
$ 12300 Las Vegas Blvd. S. (St. Rose Pkwy.), 702-797-1000 / 877-673-7678
MEXICO CITY • NH SANTA FE • Trendy
nh-hotels.com
Well known for its minimalist design and efficient service, this Spanish chain has been rapidly expanding over the years. Mexico City now claims three properties, the most recent of which is located in Santa Fe. The hotel’s 135 fully equipped, tastefully decorated rooms are situated within an imposing cement-and-glass façade.
full review
$ Juan Salvador Agraz 44 (Vasco de Quiroga), 55.9177.7380
MIAMI • THE BETSY • Timeless
thebetsyhotel.com
You may recall the Betsy Ross in South Beach—the sole Georgian-style building in Florida, with columns and pediments amid a sea of pastel Art Deco fluff. The old gal has dropped her surname and neatly converted her colonial roots into a tropical plantation design that now includes shuttered windows, rich wooden floors, and poster beds. full review
$$$ 1440 Ocean Dr. (14th St.), 305-531-6100 / 866-792-3879
The Night+Day Promise
Night+Day writers and editors use the same high standards in selecting and
researching venues to be included in our Ins and Outs updates as we do for our
books. Our local correspondents determine which new hot spots are the real deal
and which are simply hype—just as you’d expect from Night+Day—to provide
the kind of reliable information you need to make the best possible choices.
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