A Private Travel Advisory · An Affiliate of Fora Travel

Travel, as it was
meant to be. Witnessed,
not consumed.

Not every trip changes you. The right one does.

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The Approach

A trip is not a checklist. It is an encounter.

Palmé Travel exists for the traveler who has already done it the easy way. The obvious hotels, the obvious views, and arrived home knowing they missed something.

We start with a conversation. We ask about your best trip, and what made it that. We listen for what you mean, not what you ask for.

Then we build something that could only have been built for you.

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Our Access

The doors that quietly open when you arrive.

Through Fora's preferred-partner network, and our Virtuoso membership, Palmé clients sit inside an inner circle of global hospitality relationships that most travelers never see. Recognition the moment a reservation is confirmed. Complimentary upgrades, daily breakfast, property credits, flexible check-in. All of it included, at the same price as booking direct.

A view from the wooden deck of a vintage motor launch, looking across Lake Como toward a hillside village.
Four Seasons Virtuoso Rosewood Belmond Bellini Club Mandarin Oriental Fan Club The Peninsula PenClub Dorchester Diamond Club Rocco Forte Knights Shangri-La Luxury Circle Relais & Châteaux Leading Hotels of the World Small Luxury Hotels Hilton for Luxury Hyatt Privé IHG Destined Marriott STARS & Luminous
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How We Work

Three movements. One trip that feels inevitable.

The architecture is the same for every client. The result, never. Here is what working with us actually looks like.

  1. The Conversation

    A conversation, where we learn how you move through a day in a new place, what you have loved, what has disappointed you, and what you are quietly hoping this trip will become and where we establish what working together looks like.

  2. The Drafting

    What comes back is a complete itinerary: properties, reservations, transfers. Every recommendation is first-hand or sourced through a trusted contact in-country. Nothing is included because it was easy to include.

  3. The Trip, and What Follows

    We are reachable throughout the trip. If plans shift, we shift with them. When you return, the conversation doesn't close. We stay attentive to what comes next, often before you've thought to ask.

A long view down an empty stretch of road bordered by trees, light falling across the asphalt.
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Field Notes

Dispatches from the road, and elsewhere.

All Notes →
A whitewashed alley in Formentera at midday, with a single open shutter.

Formentera · Summer

The island nobody is writing about yet

Why the smaller of the Balearics rewards a slower hand, and the three properties worth the ferry from Ibiza.
Steam rising from a kaiseki dish on a dark wooden counter in Japan.

Japan · Autumn

What I Actually Tell My Clients About Japan

An honest guide to the country's best hotels, hidden regions, and the decisions that actually make or break the trip.
An empty path through tall grass at dawn in the Maasai Mara.

Maasai Mara · Dry Season

Here's Why Angama Mara is the Luxury Safari Lodge of My Dreams

On safari, the camp is the trip. A short field guide to why this property is the one I send clients to first.
Snow-laden timber chalet exterior in Zermatt at first light.

Zermatt · Winter

A Swiss week, planned slowly

Where alpine adventure meets quiet luxury: the properties, the village, and the moments worth the journey.
The dense green canopy of the Brazilian Amazon seen from above at dawn.

Brazil · Untamed

Brazil Is Bigger Than You Think

From the Amazon to the Atlantic coast: an honest guide to where to stay and what to experience.
Rows of vineyard at dusk on a Tuscan hillside, with a stone farmhouse in the distance.

Italy · Timeless

Italy's Wine Regions Reward the Traveler Who Slows Down

An insider's guide to the estates, cellars, and hilltop tables worth building a trip around.
Palmé Travel, palm emblem Palmé Travel
A Monthly Dispatch

The Edit, once a month.

The kind of note a well-travelled friend sends when they want you to know about somewhere before everyone else does.

One note from Richard, on the first of the month. A single observation from the road, one destination worth knowing about right now, and a quiet recommendation you wouldn't find anywhere else.

Sent on the first of each month. Unsubscribe at any time, in one click. We don't share your address with anyone, ever.

Thank you. You'll receive the next dispatch on the first of the month.
Richard Barningham, founder of Palmé Travel, in a black blazer against a soft neutral backdrop.
The Advisor

The operational view, made personal.

A decade as a flight attendant gives you a particular education in travel, not the brochure version, but the operational one. The delays, the workarounds, the hotels that look the part and the ones that actually deliver. Thousands of arrivals witnessed from a vantage point most travelers never see.

That background is the foundation. Fora certification and preferred-partner status at over forty hotel groups, including Four Seasons, Rosewood, Mandarin Oriental, Rocco Forte, Belmond, Aman, and Leading Hotels of the World, is the infrastructure. What clients return for is the combination of both.

Richard

In Their Words

What clients say after they return.

Every detail arrived before I thought to ask for it.

S.T. New York

We had been to Ibiza twice before. This was the first time we felt we'd actually been.

J.M. Miami

Using Richie this time was night and day.

Amanda Chicago
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Tell us where you're going, or where you've been thinking about.

We work with a small number of clients each year. The conversation is unhurried, the form below short. If a trip is taking shape in the back of your mind, even quietly, write to us.