ON HER HONEYMOON two years ago, Sofía Sanchez de Betak found herself at a highly recommended, expensive boutique hotel in Brazil—and was utterly miserable. “It was in a very beautiful place,” she explained, “but it lacked a soul.”
So Ms. Sanchez de Betak, 30, a Buenos Aires-born and New York-based art director who’s traveled extensively, decided to create a guide focused not just on butler services and 1,000-thread-count sheets but experiences and people. She wanted to help others find “what I look at as luxury,” she said. “There’s nothing better than when a lodge owner sits with you at the table.”
Out this week, her book, called “Travels with Chufy,” features 20 such soulful adventures. (Chufy, a childhood nickname, is her Instagram handle.) She describes Meme Larivière, the owner of Estancia Arroyo Verde, a fishing lodge in verdant Neuquén, Argentina, as a “grandmother figure.” If your bucket-list escape is “just you and the beautiful ocean,” she recommends Mike’s Camp on Kenya’s Kiwayu Island. Owner Mike Kennedy, she said, “is a crazy lovely man who spoils you with incredible fresh fish.”
In photo after photo, the book also showcases Ms. Sanchez de Betak’s enviable knack for dressing appropriately yet stylishly wherever she lands. Her travels are the catalyst for a new clothing and accessories line, also called Chufy, which launched at Bergdorf Goodman this week. Each Chufy collection will take its cues from a different part of the world. The first references her native Argentina, and she’s currently at work on Japan for fall and Kenya for next spring.