Six places in the world where you might bump into Meghan Markle
1. Food and fashion in New York
The Lower East Side is one of Meghan’s favourite neighbourhoods in New York. She has been known to clink glasses with celebrities at The Bowery Hotel (theboweryhotel.com), which she has praised for its “cosy charm and the who’s who nightlife scene”.
Her insider food tips include the six-course, $74 (£55) tasting menu at Contra, Clinton Street Baking Company’s blueberry and banana-walnut pancakes, and bagels and schmear at Russ and Daughters, a family-run Jewish deli more than a century old.
The fashion-loving former blogger picks up retro pieces at Narnia Vintage and oversized turtlenecks at Frankie Shop. She loves the Tenement Museum.
2. Wildlife and deserts in Botswana
It was in this astonishing country of spectacular wildlife, lily-flecked deltas and river water collapsing on to the Kalahari Desert sands that Prince Harry and Meghan enjoyed their first official date last August. Somewhat unusually, that took the form of a five-day holiday. They stayed at Meno a Kwena tented camp, a hideaway wedged between the Okavango Delta and Central Kalahari Game Reserve – he also whisked first love Chelsy Davy there in 2007, and the staff are so familiar that they call him by his first name.
Think the kind of place where meerkat safaris and scenic flights over the local salt pans are standard, and guests can witness elephants bathing in waterholes from the comfort of their tent’s own rose-petalled tub. botswanatourism.co.bw
3. The Northern Lights in Norway
In January, Meghan and Harry reportedly holidayed together in Tromso, the Norwegian city that boasts the world’s most annual sightings of the Northern Lights. This gateway to the Scandinavian tundra is a tangle of gingerbread-shaped houses, high-end art galleries and hot chocolate joints hemmed in by crumple-faced fjords weighed down with snow.
It’s also an extremely popular base for Arctic activities; the couple – who stayed in a no-frills isolated lodge – apparently enjoyed whale watching and a trip to Prestvannet, an iced lake that acts as a vast frozen mirror to the green-glowing acrobatics of the Aurora Borealis above. visittromso.no/e
4. Beach activities in Jamaica
Meghan - who we first husband Trevor Engelson at Ocho Rios’ Jamaica Inn – continues to hold a candle for Negril in Jamaica, a swooping, chaotic coastline of flying buttresses, caves and twisting inlets. She recommends morning beach yoga, cliff jumping, diving for sea urchins, climbing ackee trees with the locals, and “jerk sauce covering my face after a perfect meal”.
Her base of choice is Rockhouse Hotel (rockhouse.com), a boutique hewn from volcanic rock where thatched villas have outdoor showers. At 3 Dives restaurant she orders the grilled chicken and lobster washed down with a Red Stripe beer, before dancing to a reggae band.
5. Culture in Mexico
One of Meghan's most vivid childhood memories is travelling to Oaxaca aged nine for the Day of the Dead festival, where the self-confessed foodie recalls eating a lot of moles (traditional sauces). “The culture, food, people and varied landscapes make Mexico a favoured destination of mine year after year,” she says.
These days, she also rates Sayulita – a psychedelic fishing village and surfing hub on the Pacific Coast – for its seafood tacos, “beautiful beaches and boho-chic sensibility”.
Baja California is equally special: this beach destination twice the size of Belgium – all pale blue volcanoes, humpback whales and Asian-inflected cuisine – is where her dad lives. oaxaca.com
6. A Mediterranean escape in Malta
Her favourite getaway in the Med is Malta. Meghan’s great-great-grandmother was Maltese. She described eight-suite Casa Ellul in Valletta as her “favourite property” for its “Calvin Klein meets Game of Thrones” interiors (early Victorian meets romantic classicism is probably more accurate).
Top of her hit list are St John’s Co-Cathedral where Caravaggio’s only signed painting hangs, the rabbit spaghetti at Diar il-Bniet, a restaurant-cum-larder in Dingli, and Meridiana, a winery owned by the Antinori family (they make Tignanello wine, which inspired the name of Meghan’s lifestyle blog The Tig). visitmalta.com
