Postcards from Chloe Frost-Smith

Travel writer & editor Chloe shares her favourite hotels, upcoming travels and her dream of opening her own lodge in the Scottish highlands

Hello! I’m finally home from all my travels and have no plans to go abroad again for a couple of months (well, unless any amazing opportunities pop up). Honestly, I’m really content to just be at home for a while, though. I feel like work and travel have been non-stop since Easter, and I’m looking forward to spending time catching up with friends, pottering around my garden and enjoying my home town.

I have a big list of what I want to write here over the summer. A comprehensive guide to my time in Sweden will be my next newsletter — the whole thing will be for paid subs only, but there will be a few tips this side of the paywall if you’re planning your own trip to where is quickly becoming one of my favourite countries.

But first — the new series I teased in my last newsletter. I’m going to be chatting to some of the women who inspire me with both their own travels and their creative pursuits (so far on the list I have writers, photographers and content creators). I’m hoping to publish one interview per month, and they will be free for everyone to read. For my first Postcards from interview, I caught up with someone who I consider to have impeccable taste in travel.

Travel writer and editor,

Chlöe Frost-Smith

is the editor of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, overseeing both print and digital content for their editorial platform, Swoon. She also writes and reviews hotels for the likes of Mr & Mrs Smith, Hotels Above Par, Cabana and Yolo. Whether she’s unearthing hotels that feel like home on Danish islands or travelling around Norway documenting the very best places to stay, I’m always making notes and falling in love with new hotels thanks to her recommendations. She’s also one of my absolute favourite writers; I always look forward to reading her travel recommendations and hotel reviews.

Find out more about Chloe on her website and follow her travels on her Instagram. And read on for our interview …

Please could you introduce yourself?

I’m a freelance writer, editor, and photographer based in Edinburgh, covering travel and interiors for luxury hotel brands and lifestyle publications. I oversee Swoon by SLH, the print and digital magazine for Small Luxury Hotels of the World, review hotels for Mr & Mrs Smith, and inspect dog-friendly properties for Paws & Stay with my beloved hound, Humphrey. I’ve seen my fair share of beautiful hotel rooms, but it’s the more off-grid, wild, and adventurous stays that really call my name.

Where was the last place you travelled to and where did you stay?

For the last week, I’ve been reminiscing about my blissful time in Formentera after returning from Teranka, a shell-white boutique hotel with sea, land, and air-inspired rooms overlooking the rugged Migjorn beach. The water there is comparable to the Caribbean in colour, which comes from the island’s rare Posidonia seaweed.

Where are you heading to next and what do you have planned while you’re there?

I’m heading to the Netherlands for the first time, and will be spending some days in and around Amsterdam as well as the Hague. Amsterdam is celebrating its 750th birthday this year, so the city’s galleries, museums, restaurants, and hotels are putting on special experiences and offers for visitors and locals. I’m especially looking forward to staying at De Durgerdam, cycling around its fishing hamlet, and swimming in the lake each morning when the light is still soft and mist drifts over the docks.

Do you have any more travels planned for the rest of the year?

My work will continue to take me around Scotland, as well as Romania and potentially South Africa. I’ve also booked a solo horseback and snowshoeing expedition through Kyrgyzstan’s Tian Shan Mountains in the depths of winter to celebrate a big birthday later this year by meeting eagle whisperers and yurt crafters, and warming up in traditional banya saunas and thermal hot springs after snowy days on the steppe.

Where is one destination you’re itching to return to?

Norway. My work with 62° Nord and Up Norway means that I’m constantly daydreaming about fisherman’s huts, woodland cabins, and stays so remote they feel like they’re at the world’s edge. Watching the Northern Lights from my little red rorbu at Nusfjord Village & Resort and spotting sea eagles from a RIB on the winter tides are memories which will always live with me.

Could you share three hotels or hideaways where you have had memorable stays?

Waking up to snowfall at Storfjord, a turf-topped lodge in Norway from my forest-framing suite, warmed by a crackling fire and hot chocolate brought to my bedside. I went on a solo hike in the Sunnmøre Alps with nothing but an old-fashioned map (the patchy phone signal wouldn’t have helped, in any case) and defrosted in the hotel’s sauna which looks out across the mountains.

The comfiest hotel bed I’ve ever slept in is Ett Hem in Stockholm, and I love following the little pocket book of local recommendations to design stores and chic cafés around the city, thoughtfully and personally curated by the hotel’s owner, Jeanette Mix. Sitting at the kitchen counter and chatting to the chefs is such a special way to start each morning.

I recently enjoyed going completely off-grid on a privately-owned Scottish island, Eilean Shona, where there are no cars, electricity, or WiFi, but plenty of deer, seals, and sea birds to keep you company on coastal walks through pine forests to white-sand beaches. If you want hot water for your bath (a very beautiful clawfoot, rolltop tub overlooking Loch Moidart, I might add) you need to get a good fire going and light gas lanterns with matches to read while you soak.

And three that are at the very top of your list to stay at?

I’ve read that a swim in the Arctic waters around Brakøya is said to extend your life. The recently opened eco-resort in Raftsundet is offering summit-to-sea skiing, seaweed foraging, and sea-to- plate food workshops from its Norwegian spruce suites, open kitchen, and sauna that’s suspended above the shoreline.

The ‘saved’ section of my Instagram is filled with images from Ranchlands’ Paintrock Canyon Ranch in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains, so I’m manifesting a trip to ride alongside the cattle herd and learn about planned grazing and ranch management.

I’ve also pinned a picture of horses grazing just beyond a bathtub at Agriturismo Re Tarquinio in Tuscany so would love to experience this for myself.

What are your hand luggage essentials, that you never travel without?

Travelling on repeat can be tiring, so I always have the Eye Contour Serum by ROWSE to hand (it’s such a brilliant size for hand luggage, too). It helps to brighten my under-eyes and prevent them from looking puffy with its plant-powered ingredients, ideal for long-haul flights. I love to wear lots of rings but my hands often swell in the heat or while flying, so the compact jewellery case by Daisy London is a must for keeping my bling organised.

If you could open your own hotel, what would it be like?

If I could bottle the magic of Storfjord and sprinkle it over my own lodge in the Scottish Highlands, I’d be tempted to keep it to myself rather than share it with guests. I wouldn’t build anything from scratch, but seek out a heritage-steeped building and, through thoughtful design, create a strong sense of place which translates throughout each space. Ideally somewhere rural that combines the cosiness of the Little Mill in Abergavenny and Hotel The Monica on the Danish island of Ærø with an open kitchen concept (and my very talented sister as chef), alongside activities which immerse guests in nature to learn about and appreciate the land. 

How do you plan your travels? Do you have any go-to resources or any tried and tested planning techniques? 

I love to bookmark hotels as I come across them and organise these by destination (I’m attempting to compile my hand-written lists and transfer these to digital format), so I would say that I’m a hotel-centric trip planner. Whenever I visit a place, I pin everywhere I visit (and would like to visit) to maps within my phone so that I can also share these with friends. YOLO Journal’s Black Books are brilliant resources written by locals or interesting tastemakers who know the area like the back of their hand, and I’m always in favour of following personal recommendations from in-the-know journalists like

Monica Mendal

who shares lots of expert knowledge from her So there’s this place… Substack.

Thank you Chloe for being my first guest! My next edition of Postcards from will be published late July, when I’ll be chatting with one of my favourite travel photographers. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this new series, Chloe’s recommendations, and if there’s anyone you’d like me to feature.

Emma xx