7 Design Tastemakers Reveal Their Favorite Summer Destinations

Race Point Lighthouse in Provincetown.

1. John Derian |  Decorative Artist

“I spend as much time as I can on the Cape in Provincetown—it’s a magical place with endless beaches and miles and miles of wildlands to explore. I’ll spend my mornings out in the woods, come home for lunch, and then spend my afternoon climbing the dunes. (That is, when I’m not in the water.) We entertain when we can, love to cook, play games, and take lots of naps. We’re all loving the Twenty Summers program offering amazing talent in all the arts in the beautiful Hawthorne Barn, a 20th-century art school studio.”

The Bass in Miami Beach.

2. Michele Oka Doner | Artist

“Summer in Miami is magical because no one is here; everyone has retreated to the northern beaches and mountains. You’re really in Eden. By the Bass Museum, there are four baobab trees by the water that bloom at night. The trees are 100 years old and the result of David Fairchild, a great horticulturist. I also love to go to the Everglades to see the glorious full epiphytes in the trees. Once, I took a walk on the Everglades’ boardwalks at dusk, and I think I saw ten million fireflies.”

Block Island Beach House. Photo: Read McKendree

3. Robert Couturier | Architect and Designer

“Block Island is always a moment we look forward to with much anticipation. It’s laid-back, peaceful, and private; there is no cocktail-party circuit, and it’s ecologically forward looking and simply as beautiful as it might have been a few centuries ago. We go on walks on the empty beaches and hang around on the porch waiting for our afternoon yoga. We go to Dead Eye Dick’s for the best lobster roll on the East Coast, and we have brunch at The Surf [now Block Island Beach House], one of the island’s oldest hotels with the best terrace to enjoy the view of the sea, the harbor, and the beach.”

The swimming pool at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Photo: Courtesy of Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc

4. Benjamin Frowein | President, Schumacher

“I can’t survive a summer without visiting France. I always try to squeeze in two or three days at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes. Although there is really no reason to leave one of the most spectacular properties in Europe, I love to spend an afternoon at the open-air restaurant La Guérite, a quick boat ride off the coast from Cannes. Go antique hunting around the rue Catherine Segurane in Nice’s historic city center.”

The courtyard at Casa Blanca 7, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Photo: Courtesy of Casa Blanca 7

5. Jeffry Weisman | Fisher Weisman

“Andrew [Fisher] and I spend as much of the summer as possible in San Miguel de Allende where the blue skies, intermittent thunder storms, and temperatures in the mid-80s are a blissful break from the chilly summer fog in San Francisco. The normally arid landscape greens overnight, transforming the long hikes we love to take, and waves of friends arrive inspiring lots of fun summer entertaining. We send our overflow company to Casablanca 7, a chic boutique hotel we finished last year inside a landmark 17th-century house in the center of town. Lunch in their lush courtyard or dinner with a spectacular view on the roof offer extraordinary Mediterranean cuisine and are our new favorite haunts. A little shopping at Sollano 16, where we show the Fisher Weisman Collection and Andrew’s one-of-a-kind gilded tapestries is the perfect place to go afterward!”

Villa Margherita. Photo: Richard Powers

6. Pieter Estersohn | Photographer and Author

“Come July, we’ll be traveling in Puglia, Italy, Berlin, and Greece. We’re looking forward to staying at Belmond Villa Margherita, Francis Ford Coppola’s place in Basilicata, for two weeks and then exploring Puglia and the area around the heel of the Italian boot—the one Italian area where I haven’t spent time. In Berlin, I traded apartments through Behomm, a community of photographers, art directors, and creatives who exchange vetted homes for short periods of time. I want to spend some time at Potsdam, looking into the architecture of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The end of August we’ll be in Paros, Greece; there we scuba dive, read, and make side trips to neighboring islands by boat.”

Recommended: Here’s Where Art-World Insiders Are Heading this Summer

The Farnsworth Museum. Photo: Courtesy of the Farnsworth Museum

7. Mark Moussa | Founder and Creative Director, Arteriors 

“For years my family has spent summers in the historic seaside town of Camden, Maine. We love the ocean, and spend our mornings sailing and our afternoons walking through town, checking out our favorite art galleries and shops, like the Caldbeck Gallery, Dowling Walsh Gallery, and the Farnsworth Museum. We spend our evenings cooking dinner with freshly sourced ingredients from the local farmers’ market or eating lobster at the Waterfront.”

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2019 Summer issue under the headline “Bon Voyage.” Subscribe to the magazine.