The places we know best.
We operate anywhere in the world. These are the places we know most deeply, where our network of contacts and operators is at its strongest, and where clients ask us to design most often. If yours isn't on the list, let's talk.
Japan
The destination at the top of every list right now. Few places offer this combination: a culture of remarkable depth, a cuisine that stands above the rest, and a way of welcoming guests, omotenashi, that has no equivalent anywhere else. Japan, done properly, is never Tokyo and Kyoto in five days.
India
Few destinations on earth match India in complexity, or in what they give back. Five thousand years of history. A cuisine the rest of the world is only beginning to understand. A hotel scene built on palaces reimagined into properties unlike anywhere else. India is a country that rewards judgment, and the right people on the ground.
Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet
Three destinations bound together by the Himalayas, by Buddhist tradition, and by how difficult they are to reach. They offer something almost nowhere else can: the sense of arriving somewhere the world hasn't yet caught up with, somewhere that still lives by its own rules.
China
Five thousand years of history. A geography that contains entire worlds within it. A culinary tradition the rest of us are only beginning to discover. The country rewards those who arrive with a plan, in the right order, alongside the right people.
Mongolia
Few places remain as genuinely off the map as Mongolia. The endless steppe, the Gobi desert, the eagle hunters of the Altai, the nomadic families living much as they did centuries ago. It is a destination for the traveler who has seen almost everything, and is after something genuinely unlike anywhere else.
Uzbekistan
Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva. For centuries, these names marked the edge of the known world. Uzbekistan is the heart of the ancient Silk Road, and today the most accessible gateway to Central Asia: turquoise-tiled madrasas, ancient markets, and a warmth almost no one expects. A region few travelers know, and one that rewards like no other.
South Africa
For many travelers, South Africa is the first safari, and few countries make it this easy without compromise. It has the best infrastructure on the continent, world-class safari, one of the most beautiful cities on earth, and a wine region to rival the finest. All in a single trip, and at a level of service that reassures anyone heading to Africa for the first time.
Kenya
Kenya is where the very idea of safari was born, and it remains one of the greats. The Masai Mara and the crossing of the great migration, the classic camps beneath acacia trees, the Maasai culture, and the option to finish on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The safari most travelers have in mind when they picture one.
Tanzania
Tanzania is the classic safari at its highest expression. The Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater, Kilimanjaro, the island of Zanzibar. A country that gathers, into a single itinerary, some of the most extraordinary landscapes and experiences anywhere in Africa.
Tanzania's finest private camps have fewer than ten tents, dedicated rangers, and a standard of hospitality that has no equal. Materia works in Tanzania with the country's most specialized operators.
Rwanda · Gorilla Trekking
Gorilla trekking in Rwanda is one of the most extraordinary and moving experiences a traveler can have. Hours of walking through Volcanoes National Park, until you find yourself face to face with a family of mountain gorillas. It is something that stays with you for the rest of your life.
Only eight permits are issued per gorilla group, per day. They must be secured well in advance, and with the right contacts. Materia handles the entire process, and designs the rest of the trip to live up to the experience itself.
Egypt
No destination stirs the imagination quite like Egypt. The pyramids of Giza, the temples of Luxor and Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, the Nile that has sustained life for five thousand years. It is one of those places dreamed of for a lifetime, and done properly, lived at the level its history deserves.
Morocco
Morocco works on the senses first. The souks of Marrakech, the blue of Chefchaouen, the Sahara dunes at dusk, the riads hidden behind unmarked doors. A country of vivid contrasts, a few hours from Europe, and one of the best equipped in Africa to receive the luxury traveler.
Turkey
Few countries hold this much in a single journey. Istanbul straddling two continents, the lunar valleys of Cappadocia, the Greco-Roman ruins along the Aegean, the travertine terraces of Pamukkale. Turkey is living history, extraordinary food, and a tradition of hospitality that has defined it for centuries.
The Nordic Countries
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Four countries that share an extraordinary way of life: a love of design, a closeness to nature, world-class cuisine, and a quality of living that reveals itself in every detail. In winter, the northern lights, snowed-in fjords, the quiet magic of the Arctic. In summer, endless daylight and untamed nature.
Materia designs itineraries that pair cities like Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki with the wilder Nordics: the Norwegian fjords, Finnish Lapland, the Swedish archipelagos.
Iceland
Iceland is one of the most singular destinations on the planet. Geysers, waterfalls, active volcanoes, glaciers, the northern lights in winter, the midnight sun in summer. A country where nature still exists in a state you won't find anywhere else.
Materia designs trips to Iceland from the ground up, from road trips along the Ring Road to four-wheel-drive expeditions into the interior, with design-led lodges set beside the country's most extraordinary waterfalls.
Latin America at its finest
South America offers some of the most extraordinary landscapes anywhere in the world. The Salar de Uyuni beneath a full moon. The Atacama at dawn. The glaciers of Patagonia, the towers of Paine, the Galápagos from the deck of a sailboat. These are destinations that compete with anywhere on earth, and they sit just a few hours from home.
Guatemala
Guatemala is one of Latin America's best-kept secrets. The Petén jungle with the pyramids of Tikal rising above the treetops, the indigenous towns around Lake Atitlán, the colonial elegance of Antigua. A small country with a remarkable depth of culture, just a few hours away by plane.
Bolivia
Bolivia is having a moment in the Latin American market, and with good reason. It holds some of the most striking landscapes anywhere in South America, a culture with real depth, and an adventure travel scene increasingly drawing the attention of discerning travelers.
Mexico
Mexico is one of the richest and most varied destinations in the world, and one of the closest to home for the Latin American traveler. But Mexico is vast, and changes entirely depending on where you go. Mexico City, Oaxaca and Los Cabos are three completely different experiences that deserve to be treated as such.
Materia designs trips to Mexico for every kind of traveler, from honeymoons in Los Cabos to cultural immersion in CDMX and Oaxaca, to combinations that hold together as a single experience.
US National Parks
Luxury travelers are discovering them in greater numbers every year. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, the arches of Utah. What matters is doing them right: the right accommodation, the logistics solved, the right pace.