All posts tagged: LUXURY HOTELS

Where is the Best Luxury Wellness Retreat in the World?

Published by Pamela Thomas-Graham

Are you a Vanavasi? Should you be? These are pressing questions to ponder as we roll into the action-packed fall season. This time of year can bring stimulation, anxiety, excitement or stress – and sometimes all of the above, all at one time. As we head into the autumn, it seems fitting to take a look at a wellness retreat about which we’ve been hearing rave reviews from our jet set friends. A financier and close friend of our Paris Bureau Chief kindly agreed to share his inside views on Vana, an upscale wellness retreat located in North India at the foothills of the Himalaya. He shared his thoughts after returning from his third stay there.  Based on his report, we’re booking our visits right now. It is quite possibly the best luxury health and wellness retreat in the world.

Private Around-the-World Jet Trip Is the Latest Luxury

Published by Pamela Thomas-Graham

If money were no object, how would you choose to see the world? Would you do it “all in one go” on the luxury trip of a lifetime? Or would you spread it out over several years and multiple journeys, so that you could absorb and appreciate everything that you experienced? Would you travel with strangers? With just one other person? Or with 50 of your closest friends? It’s a champagne dilemma. And one that the uber-rich are increasingly faced with. Taking a Grand Tour of the civilized world was a cherished ritual of the wealthy in the 19th century – the trips lasted for months, sometimes years, and were an important facet of becoming a sophisticated adult in high society. Fast forward to today, when such a trip can be completed in a matter of days if you have the right budget. New York, London, Paris, St. Petersburg, Jaipur, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Sydney – if you’ve got a couple of weeks and lot of stamina, you can check all of these destinations and more …

Luxury Legends: Do Aman Resorts Live Up to the Hype?

Published by Pamela Thomas-Graham

The best luxury hotels and resorts in the world, in the most incredible locations. That’s how people who have visited them describe Aman properties. That is, if you can get someone to talk about them – Aman is still a bit of an insider secret. The hotels do not advertise, they have no loyalty program, and rates average $1,400 per night for a basic room (they can climb to $50,000 per night.) We’d traveled the world extensively for years, but we had never heard the Aman name until we started hanging around truly wealthy people a few years ago. Up until that point, we had fancied ourselves knowledgeable luxury travelers, well-versed in the nuances of the Four Seasons, the Ritz, the St. Regis, and the iconic grand dame hotels in major cities around the world. We thought we were totally in on whatever insider luxury hotel secrets there might be. We were wrong.

Jackson Hole Wyoming is the Perfect Summer Luxury Escape

Published by Pamela Thomas-Graham

Sometimes you just need to get out of town. Denizens of the glittering cities of the world are occasionally overcome by occupational and residential hazards – including stress, fatigue, disappointment, overstimulation, ennui, excessive heat, or some combination of all of these, leading to an undeniable longing for fresh air, natural beauty and wide-open spaces. It happens to everyone, whether they’ll admit it or not, especially in the summer. The countryside starts calling. And the only cure is to just pack your bags and go.