PBA Magazine November 2026

N O V E M B E R

T W O P O R T S O F C A L L

60 N

50 N

Great circle · 9,711 km · 5,244 nm

L O N D O N 5 1 3 1 ′ N

• 0 0 8 ′ W
• 40 N
• 30 N
• 20 N
• 10 N

20 E 40 E 60 E 1 8 1 5 ′ N

S A N YA 1 0 9 3 0 ′ E 80 E 100 E N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6

London to Sanya

From a dining room in Soho to a bay on the South China Sea.

No vemb er 2 0 2 6

I N T H I S I S S U E Contents

T H E TA B L E Kettner’s, Soho

T H E S T O R Y A room that keeps its secrets

• T H E S TAY
• W London, Leicester Squarep. 9

D E S T I N AT I O N

• Sanya, Hainanp. 10

T H E R E S O R T

• Atlantis Sanyap. 11
• M E E T

D I N E Atlantis, room by room

F I V E T O D O Sanya, done properly

N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6

F R O M P B A Every trip in this issue begins with a meeting.

A dinner that needs a quiet booth. A pitch that needs a screen. A board that wants an agenda that ends at the water.

We start in Soho, at Kettner’s, a French dining room that has kept London’s confidences since 1867, then walk a few streets south to W London, where the West End does its late nights.

Then we go much further: to Sanya, on the southern tip of Hainan, where China is running its free trade port experiment and Atlantis has built a resort around an aquarium.

We write about places the way a good host talks about them: where they came from, how they work, and what is worth your time once you are there.

— PBA magazine pba ag

P O R T O F C A L L

• 5 1 3 1 .0 ′N
• E ET D S T R
• O XF O R
• S O H O S Q
• 5 1 3 0.8 ′N
• 5 1 3 0.7 ′N
• 5 1 3 0.6 ′N
• S o h o Kettner’s

2 9 R O MIL LY S T

C A M B R I D G E C I R C U S

W London

1 0 WARDO U R S T

≈ 300 m

P I C C A D I L L Y C I R C U S

L E I C E S T E R S Q UA R E N

• 5 1 3 0.5 ′N
• 0 0 8.5 ′W
• 0 0 8.3 ′W
• 0 0 8.0 ′W
• 0 07.8 ′W

P O R T O F C A L L

London

A French dining room on Romilly Street and a glass hotel on Leicester Square, a short walk apart.

Ket t ner ʼs p 0 5

W Lo ndo n p 0 7

No vemb er 2 0 2 6

T H E TA B L E S O H O L O N D O N

Th e Cham pagne Bar in th e 1 9 2 0s ti l e d lob by F E AT U R E W H E R E L O N D O N TA L K S Q U I E T L Y Kettner’s

Soho’s French dining room has served kings, novelists and prime ministers since 1867, and it still keeps their secrets.

Opened by Auguste Kettner, once chef to Napoleon III

Bedrooms upstairs, in the old private dining rooms

2 9 Ro mi l ly St re et Soho Lo ndo n W1D 5HP

Grade II-listed 1920s mirrors ringing the dining room

T H E TA B L E K E T T N E R ʼ S

T H E S T O R Y A room that keeps its secrets

A uguste Kettner, a German-born chef who had cooked for Napoleon III, opened his restaurant at 29 Romilly Street in 1867. It was among the first in London to serve French food, and it soon became the place where Soho’s discretion was most useful. Edward VII is said to have courted the actress Lillie Langtry here; the regulars who followed included Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie and Winston Churchill.

The room survived the Blitz and, less glamorously, the 1980s, when Pizza Express founder Peter Boizot bought the building and dough balls were served under its cornices. Soho House bought Kettner’s in 2016 and reopened it as a townhouse, turning the old private dining rooms upstairs into 33 bedrooms.

For a time the restaurant was for members and hotel guests only. It opened to the public again in 2023, and in 2024 the French bistro menu came back. The building has done most of the work of keeping its character: Georgian floorboards, an 18th-century spiral staircase, William Morris wallpaper in the bedrooms, and a dining room lit mostly by sconces and white taper candles.

Upstairs one of the 33 bedrooms

W H AT T O O R D E R

Cheese soufflé Steak tartare, toasted brioche Poulet aux morilles Côte de boeuf, to share

W O R T H K N O W I N G

Two velvet booths sit at the back. The tables are set for privacy, not for being seen.

The Champagne Bar can be hired for drinks receptions and private parties.

Rooms run from small to the Jacobean Suite, which has its own entrance. Overnight guests stay as temporary members.

Open dai ly fr o m 7 : 3 0am

8am o n Su nday s

T H E S TAY

L E I C E S T E R S Q U A R E T H E S TAY

L O N D O N

W London

Ten storeys wrapped in a glass veil on the north-west corner of Leicester Square, a short walk from Kettner’s.

AT A G L A N C E Opened

• February 2011
• Rooms
• 192, including suites
• Meet
• Eat & drink
• Wellness

Screening Room for 38; two studios that combine for receptions

W Lounge, all day · Perception bar, first floor

AWAY Spa · FIT gym on the sixth floor

W H Y I T W O R K S

The Screening Room sits beside the W Lounge, with velvet seats, Dolby surround and a 4K projector, so a screening can turn into a reception without anyone changing rooms.

The Extreme WOW Suite with its own Union Jack bar

1 0 Wardo u r St re et Lo ndo n W1D 6QF

Tub e Le i c es ter Sq uare

1 8 24 ′N

P O R T O F C A L L

NAN SH AN 1 8 1 2 ′N

TI AN YA H A IJI AO S Y X

• Sanya Bay
• XI D AO SAN YA
• Dadonghai
• AT LAN TIS SAN YA

W U ZH IZHO U Haitang Bay

• Yalong Bay
• 1 8 0 6 ′N
• 1 0 9 1 2 ′E

S o u t h C h i n a S e a 1 0 9 24 ′E

• 1 0 9 3 6 ′E
• 1 0 km
• 1 0 9 4 8 ′E

P O R T O F C A L L

Sanya

Hainan’s southern coast, from the Guanyin at Nanshan to the sail of Atlantis on Haitang Bay.

S an ya p 0 9

Atlan tis S an ya p 1 0

Me et Dine p 1 1

Five t o Do p 1 2

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D E S T I N AT I O N

H A I N A N

C H I N A D E S T I N AT I O N

Sanya

China’s southernmost resort city is a string of bays at the tip of Hainan island. Since December 2025, it is also the beach end of a free trade port.

Haitang Bay fr o m th e air Atlan tis S an ya at r i g ht

Pho t o Cathay P ac i f i c

C L I M AT E 26.5°C on average across the year. January, the coolest month, averages 22.3°C; the sea stays above 22°C. January and February are the driest months.

E N T R Y Citizens of 59 countries can visit Hainan visa-free for up to 30 days, and 240-hour visa-free transit also applies.

G E T T I N G T H E R E Fly into Sanya Phoenix International Airport (SYX). Highspeed rail runs up the east coast to Haikou in about 1 hour 22 minutes.

O N T H E B U S I N E S S C A L E N D A R

Island-wide free trade port customs began on 18 December 2025. Sanya hosted the 2011 BRICS summit, Miss World eight times and Formula E.

S an ya Hainan Pr o vinc e 1 8 1 5 ′ N 1 0 9 3 0 ′ E 0 9

T H E R E S O R T

H A I TA N G B AY

T H E R E S O R T

S A N YA

Atlantis Sanya

China’s only Atlantis opened on Haitang Bay in April 2018. Every room faces the sea, and 86,000 marine animals live at its centre.

Rooms, all with ocean views

Suites, including the underwater suites

Marine animals in the Lost Chambers Aquarium

Places to eat, drink and lounge

U N D E R T H E WAT E R L I N E The Neptune and Poseidon Underwater Suites put floor-to-ceiling windows in the bedroom and the bathroom, looking straight into the aquarium.

Haitang Bay S an ya

4 5 min fr o m S Y X

Fo r b es Fo u r Star 2 0 2 6

M E E T

D I N E AT L A N T I S S A N YA

A s uite lo u ng e abo ve Haitang Bay

A ballroom for two thousand. A lagoon for after.

• Space
• Grand Ballroom
• Silk Ballroom
• All meeting space
• Area
• 2,304 sq m

495 sq m about 5,000 sq m

Theatre

Reception

W H E R E T O D I N E Ossiano Restaurant & Bar

Overlooks the Ambassador Lagoon

Bread Street Kitchen & Bar

Gordon Ramsay’s British menu, beef Wellington included

• Tang
• Cantonese
• Crab Kitchen

Singaporean chilli crab

O F F T H E A G E N D A Dolphins & sea lions

• Meet them, or swim with them
• Dive with sharks
• Certified divers, in the open-air aquarium
• AHAVA Spa

The resort’s spa, from the Dead Sea skincare house

Aquaventure Waterpark

Slides, a rapids river and a wave pool

Atlan tis S an ya

Haitang Bay Hainan

F I V E T O D O S A N YA

F I V E T O D O Sanya, done properly.

Five ways to spend the hours between meetings, from the water to the temple.

Charter a yacht to Wuzhizhou Island

H ALF O R FU L L D AY

Take a private boat out to the small, butterfly-shaped island off Haitang Bay for diving and snorkelling on your own schedule. Sanya’s charter fleet runs from day boats to crewed superyachts.

Go early to the Guanyin of Nanshan

E AR L Y M O R NING

At 108 metres including its pedestal, the statue at Nanshan Temple, finished in 2005, has three faces: one looks inland, two look out over the South China Sea.

See the free trade port at work

B E FO RE Y O U FL Y O U T

Haitang Bay’s duty-free district, China’s largest, is the most visible part of Hainan’s free trade experiment. Visitors leaving the island have an offshore allowance of RMB 100,000 a year.

Walk the forest above Yalong Bay

B E FO RE TH E H E AT Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park climbs the hills behind the beach, with lookouts over the bay. The Sanya Coral Reef National Nature Reserve lies just offshore.

Sunset at Tianya Haijiao

LAS T EVENING

The “edge of the sky and the sea” is where out-of-favour officials were once sent into exile. Today its carved rocks by the water make a quiet place to end a trip.

No vemb er 2 0 2 6

T H E L A S T L O O K

A read ing co r ner at Atlan tis S an ya Haitang Bay

T H E L A S T L O O K

Know the place before you arrive.

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PBA Magazine November 2026. Published by The Paradise Bay Company LLC d b a Paradise Bay Advisors Photography Kettnerʼs Soho House Sanya Haitang Bay aerial Cathay Pacific

W London Marriott International

Atlantis

P B A A G