Travel Stories
Financial Times: Manila
Finding beauty and spas in Manila.
Financial Times: Asian Fusion
Articles > Newspapers > Financial Times > Asian Fusion Asian Fusion - By Shoba Narayan (This article originally appeared in January 2003) Asian fusion in all but name Shoba Narayan finds a Singapore four [...]
WSJ: Skydiving
Some skydive to confront their fears, some for the thrills, and some, like me, to bond with a sibling.
House Beautiful: Passage to India
What makes Kerala special for a child growing up in India?
House Beautiful: Immutable Madras
Why I love Madras, the land of my youth.
Financial Times Weekend: Singapore
How creative chefs are transforming Singapore's food scene
For Silverkris on Tamilnadu
What makes Tamilnadu a special and tropical melody?
Sleepless in Singapore | Condenast Traveler US |
Staid, chaste, strict, small—Singapore has heard it all. But this island-nation of 4.2 million people has one thing going for it (many things, actually, but we'll get to that later): Singapore is a sure fling. Having lived in Singapore for two years, I have returned wanting to revel in it as a tourist—to see it all and do it all within forty-eight hours.
Geisha Arts of Kyoto | Condenast Traveler US |
I have come to Japan to learn about allure. I’ve been married for seventeen years, and while my marriage isn’t falling apart, it is fraying at the edges. So I have come to Japan to learn about feminine allure from its acknowledged masters: the geisha. Geisha were created to pamper men—but they were also the freest women in old Japan.
Latest Articles
WisdomCircle: Mental Models
No matter what the field, there are three things that all of us need for success. The first and the foundational factor is content, by which I mean talent, knowledge, expertise, rigour, all of these that each of us have learned and cultivated since childhood in our chosen field. The second is attitude, which is the set of character traits that each of us have, either through genetics, through how we were parented, or because of the circumstances of our particular life. The third factor is projection, which has become increasingly important in this digital age. It refers to how comfortable we are with being well-known, either in our chosen field or adjacent ones.
Hindustan Times: Inclusion
How did the MacArthur Foundation with an annual budget of about $160 million, a staff of around 250 people and a jury of about a dozen become so spectacularly inclusive not just in terms of gender parity but also in every other domain? The answer is both obvious and very hard to achieve: by acknowledging their bias, and actively seeking to overcome it.
Hindustan Times: Show your love
An uncle passed away. At his funeral and subsequent days, I witnessed an outpouring of love and from his family, relatives, people he mentored and neighbours. All of which led me to wonder about the age-old question: what will your obituary say? What will people say about you after you are gone? What will they speak about at your memorial service? Which is another way of asking: who are you and what do you project to the world?
Hindustan Times: Secret Bangalore
To write this, I asked a few old and new Bangaloreans for suggestions of where to go and what to do. Here below is a list of “Secret Bangalore” suggestions, in honour of India’s 75th Republic Day. They include chaats to masalas to juices. Thank you Sowmya Nandan, Naresh Narasimhan, Vishal Nagpal and Jay Bhow.
Hindustan Times: Self-care
How to help your diabetes. How to help with your body pains. How to figure out your posture and gait. I talk to three Bangalore experts on these topics. Small things you can do.
WisdomCircle: New Year Resolutions
We all need to change, adapt, and evolve in order to survive and thrive. I have been thinking a lot about this particularly in the context of New Year resolutions. Here then are 10 suggestions.
Nine features I wrote for Condenast Traveler (US edition) a while back
Interviews with His Holiness The Dalai Lama
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Shoba Narayan is an award-winning Indian author, journalist, and freelance travel writer based in India. She specialises in luxury travel, immersive journeys, and Indian culture with a focus on food, wine, culture, cities, and identity. With over two decades of experience, she has contributed travel features to Condé Nast Traveler (US edition), Travel & Leisure, DestinAsian, Mint Lounge, The National (Abu Dhabi), Taj Magazine, and Hindustan Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph UK, The Guardian UK, and Robb Report among others. Her awards include the James Beard food-writing award and a Pulitzer Travel Fellowship. Her travel writing spans India, Southeast Asia, Japan, China, the Maldives, Bhutan, Costa Rica, and beyond — always with a focus on the sensory, the cultural, and the deeply human. Based in Bangalore, India, Shoba is a leading voice on South Asian travel, reviewing luxury hotels in India and abroad, and writing immersive features on traditional Indian crafts, and contemporary Indian culture. As a freelance travel writer and memoirist, she writes evocative, deeply researched features on everything from birding in Costa Rica to spiritual tourism in Bhutan.
For editors: Shoba Narayan is an Indian travel writer and food writer, who contributes to assignments on travel, food, culture, and Indian cities. She has reported from across the world and writes narrative-driven features with a strong sense of place.
Key Expertise: India travel writer, freelance travel writer India, South Asia travel journalist, luxury travel India writer, food and travel writer India, Indian food writer, Bangalore travel writer, South India travel writing, cultural travel writer, narrative travel journalist, travel features India, heritage travel India, slow travel India, sustainability travel writer, hotel and destination features India, travel essays South Asia.