Growing up between Texas and Atlanta, Ciara emerged onto the global music scene as a teenager with her debut single Goodies, which topped charts in both the US and UK and foreshadowed an impressive run of mid-00s hits and global superstardom.
Over two decades on, the Grammy Award-winner continues to evolve. A proudly independent artist, she released her eighth studio album CiCi in 2025 and, most recently, headlined the first US TikTok Awards in Los Angeles.
Away from music, Ciara’s interests span fashion, sport, and business, often overlapping across all three. Alongside running her label, Beauty Marks Entertainment, she holds part-ownership of the Seattle Sounders alongside her husband, NFL star Russell Wilson.
This global, multi-hyphenate lifestyle has shaped how she travels. In this First & Lasts interview, Ciara reflects on her first luxury travel experience, the hotel groups she returns to, and the anniversary trip she’d most like to experience again for the first time.
What was your first experience of luxury in travel?
One of my earliest memorable luxury travel experiences was going to Dubai. That was epic. I’d been to many beautiful places before, but Dubai stood out because everything felt so grand. The city was still evolving into the modern place it is today, but even then there was a sense of scale and opulence everywhere – from the cars to the buildings and the interiors.
See more: Martin Brudnizki on Growing Up Between Borders and Finding a Sense of Place
What was the first hotel that wowed you and why?
There are different types of wow. The Peninsula hotels are timeless – you know you’re going to get incredible service every time. Then there are places like Aman, which wow you architecturally – I particularly love the Amangiri in Utah and the Aman Tokyo. The Rosewood London is stunning, and I love Ellerman House in South Africa, too.
What’s one place you'd like to experience again for the first time?
My husband and I went on this amazing anniversary trip to Abu Camp in Botswana. It was an elephant sanctuary on the Okavango Delta. We landed in the middle of the wild, and our first introduction to the camp was meeting the elephants. We stayed in these high-end yurts, and you can hear the hippos at night.
We had braais in the middle of the wild, on safari. And it’s really special because the elephants are part of the camp experience. In the morning, you get to feed them, and then they go out into the wild and come back at night. They take good care of them, but still allow them to live in their natural habitat.
It was very magical. If it’s a camp like that, I would do it all over again.
When was the last time you fully relaxed?
Being a mother of a two-year-old, it’s difficult to remember the last time I relaxed. I did recently get a brief moment in Cotonou, Benin, where I managed to relax for a day in the middle of travel, but it was short.
The last time was probably our anniversary in Spain. We went to Ibiza and Mallorca, and stayed on the water and traveled along the coast. Moments like that are a blessing – where I’m intentionally switched off to enjoy time with my husband, when phones aren’t for work, and there’s no room for interruptions.
The first time I went to Ibiza, I was in ‘mommy mode’ with my firstborn – it was short and sweet. This last time was fun – I got to see Black Coffee and rock with him on the stage.
It's definitely a good destination for nightlife, and there's a restaurant there that's bananas – Casa Maca. Everything is fresh – it was so good we ended up going back multiple times.
See more: Ian Somerhalder on Travel, Bourbon, and Flying His First Airplane
What was the last time that you were blown away by a meal?
Zou Zou's in New York. They customize your meals – you can tell them something off-menu, and they make it for you.
What was the last thing you bought when traveling?
A translator. It's a device that can translate someone speaking to you into English. I'm learning how to speak Spanish right now – our daughter's bilingual. She can speak both Spanish and English. She's just two, so the cool thing is, she and I are on the same level with our Spanish right now. I can communicate really well with her, which is awesome.
When was the last time you tried something new?
It was actually curating the official World Cup playlist with On Location and FIFA. That was pretty cool because I've never done anything like that before. Music and sports go hand in hand, and a game, to me, is even better with the experience of music. It was a good challenge.
Ciara is a Captain for Atlanta in the FIFA World Cup 2026, in partnership with On Location.
