You may recognize Rebekah Peppler from our Yolo Intel newsletters, where she’s posted stories from places as diverse as Austria and Cape Town. (We also interviewed her here on Club Yolo for one of our first You Should Meet Q&As.) In addition, the Paris-based writer is an accomplished cookbook author (Apéritif, À Table, le SUD) and NYT wine/cocktails columnist, who is always on the road digging up the most special addresses and sharing them in her ultra-discerning Substack, Shortlisted.
So of course we thought of Rebekah right away when considering who we’d like to step in for us this month while we attempt to be a little more OOO. We know you’ll love her too!
As a freelance travel and food writer, it’s rare that more than a few weeks pass that I’m not living out of a suitcase. Often I’m researching for my travel newsletter, Shortlisted or on assignment for one of my editors. Sometimes I’m even on proper holiday (which frequently turns into a pitch or two once I’m home). When Yolanda and the YOLO team asked me to write a guest post on Club Yolo, it felt like the ideal chance to take a look back at the places I’ve been in my year thus far and offer up some of the places and spaces I recommend should you happen to be heading any of these directions in your coming months.
Thank you for having me! —Rebekah
I started the year at home in Paris, the city I’ve called home for over 10 years. When I’m in town, I crave routine and familiar faces, so I’m either hosting friends or heading to spots opened by friends: pour-over coffees and canelés at Dreamin’ Man or Clove, steak frites at Bistrot des Tournelles, tacos cantineros at Tarántula, the marinara pizza at Oobatz, pain suisse at Panifacture. (My full list of Paris favorites can be found here.)
Shortlisted, on the other hand, began 2026 in Tokyo, aka one of my absolute favorite cities to eat and drink in. I’m plotting ways to get back later this year or early next, and when I arrive I’ll be heading directly to Butagumi for tonkatsu and Tenmo for tempura; caffeinating at Fuglen and popping into Studio Mule to say hi to Toshiya-san and drink whatever natural wine he is pouring/make note of every record he plays. If I can snag a reservation, I’ll be splurging on omakase at Sushi Mizukami or Sawada. And if I have the time, I’m taking a trip out of the city to Hanamurasaki in Yamanaka Onsen.
Short Stay | an onsen weekend from Kyoto or Tokyo
In late January, my partner Laila and I took a quick, sun-seeking hop to Lanzarote. I had booked the trip mainly because the Canary Islands are among Europe’s warmest winter destinations and Lanzarote is known for its mineral-rich wines, but I wasn’t prepared to fall completely in love with the simple act of driving back and forth across the volcanic island. The landscape feels lunar and otherworldly and is completely mesmerizing. We stayed at the five-suite Buenavista Lanzarote in La Geria (the island’s wine region), and if you’re planning a trip, definitely make a lunch reservation in advance at Bodega Uga, take a tour of Museo LagOmar, and don’t miss stops at Playa el Golfo and Charco de los Caicos. Also, save room in your checked luggage for bottles from Bodega Cohombrillo (contact them in advance to set up a time to visit!).
In February, we flew from CDG to MEX for our annual few months in Mexico City — where Laila is from. I have an…extremely in-depth Mexico City, Shortlisted, but a few favorites we come back to again and again include: the rib-eye taco at Maizajo, the shrimp at Masala y Maíz, cocktails and chicatana ant popcorn at Salón Rosetta, everything at Hugo el Wine Bar, Fantasma for natural wine paired with a meal at Fugaz next door, Contramar for a long Sunday lunch and a stay at Casa Bosques Pensión.
While I was based in Mexico City, I packed my favorite overnight bag to sneak over to the Riviera Maya for a few nights at Etéreo for YOLO, took another work trip to Antigua, Guatemala on assignment for Travel + Leisure (the piece is coming out soon!), and also spent a long weekend in Oaxaca, where I had the best memela of my life at Tacos Del Carmen. (While in Oaxaca, make sure to book a reservation at La Cocina de Humo, grab drinks a Selva, stop for late night suckling pig tacos at Lechoncito de Oro and go shopping at Marchanta.)
After unpacking all the hot sauces, salsa machas and bags of Tostitos® Salsa Verde back in Paris, we bopped over to Madrid in April to celebrate our anniversary with croquetas de jamón at Jurucha, sherry at La Venencia and gildas served on top of potato chips at Bodegas Alfaro.
In May, I spent a stretch of time in Stockholm filling up on kardemummabullar (cardamom buns) at Lillebrors bageri, sourcing the glassware of my dreams at Bobo, eating an incredible dinner at Bord and making sure my luggage came home overweight with books from Nord Books. I stayed at the very lovely Stockholm Stadshotell — read the full Guest Book on YOLO here.
(Stockholm, Shortlisted coming in September!)
Toward the end of May, I packed my suitcase for three very different trips: a seaside weekend, a work trip and a safari. I started this travel sprint with a phenomenally relaxed Memorial Day weekend at the lovely Cap d’Antibes Beach Hotel. I spent quite a bit of time in Antibes while working on my latest cookbook le SUD and the city’s marché provençal remains one of my favorites in the south of France.
From Antibes, I headed up to Nice to host a trip for Capital One x PRIOR. (We stayed at Hôtel du Couvent, shopped the local marché, ate barbajuans and pâtes au pistou at Chez Davia, and you should too.)
Then from Nice, I flew to Namibia to report a story on the opening of Hoanib Elephant Camp for Travel + Leisure. I also spent a few nights at the newly-opened Nkasa Linyanti, a six-canvas suite camp in Namibia’s northeast. It is the only camp on Nkasa Island and the lush wetlands, rivers, forest and grasslands that surround it offer a completely different landscape from the expansive coastal deserts and sand dunes of Hoanib Elephant Camp. From lions wandering through the unfenced camp to hippo-adjacent sundowners, it was a truly magical trip, and I highly recommend booking a stay if you are planning a trip to Namibia. Whatever safari you’re planning, I wrote a Safari Packing Guide for YOLO a bit ago that is full of the packing advice I very much wish I had had before my first safari.
In June, I took the train from Paris to Marseille—aka one of my favorite places to eat/drink/swim in France (the city even served as inspiration for the chocolate I created in collaboration with Casa Bosques Chocolate). We swam and ate and stayed in Les Goudes at Tuba Club, popped into town to shop for provisions at Épicerie L’ideal, sandwiches from Pétrin Couchette and moitié-moitié (half cheese-half anchovy) pizza at Chez Etienne.
For my birthday last month, I headed to Greece for a proper summer holiday. We started in Athens — making sure to fill up on souvlaki at Volvi Souvlaki, tyropita at Ariston and piles of amaranth greens at ΛΙΝΟΥ ΣΟΥΜΠΑΣΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΣΙΑ before heading to the islands. In Serifos, we stayed at Perma Serifos and in Milos we booked a few nights at the magical Skinopi Lodge. Both stays offered exactly what I was looking for to kick off a new turn around the sun: unparalleled views of (and access to) the sea, outdoor kitchens and the feeling of quiet seclusion…even in high season.
Short Stay | Two Island Stays from Athens
I recently spent a quick, August weekend in Porto based at the fantastic, eight-room Casa Cedo, and am currently repacking my bag to fly back to Greece. I’ll be checking out the just-opened Luura Paros and writing a Guest Book for YOLO while there—stay tuned!
The remainder of my year is starting to fill up with exciting travel (Cairo, Luxor, Milan, South Africa, Botswana and more), but I’m aiming to ease into September at home in Paris. La rentrée is one of my very favorite times to be in the city: the quiet of August magicked into autumnal bustle, piles of ripe tomatoes still at the market, the outdoor terrasses filled with locals catching up after summer holidays. I hope you have a beautiful rentrée wherever you are, and safe travels wherever you’re heading next.
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