Destinations that are the most elegant and luxurious this year

There is a surge in luxury travel. According to the most recent data that McKinsey has compiled for Marriott hotels, more than one third of luxury travelers have an annual income that falls between $100,000 (£80,000) and $1 million, and sixty percent of their customers have more than forty thousand dollars to spend on leisure activities. Which is why luxury hotels — from the lonely islands of Flores to the ancient banking halls in Shanghai — are cropping up across the globe. In this article, Lisa Grainger, the travel editor for Times Luxury, is going to choose six new or revitalized locations that are definitely worth checking out.

Broggi silver and Gi nori crockery are used to serve cuisine that has been awarded a Michelin star

The "Dolce Vitae"

This is where Orient-Express really shines. Not since the heyday of Agatha Christie has train travel been nearly so enticing to the smart traveler. Because of this, there is now not just one luxury train company in Europe, but two of them. These two companies, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, which is managed by Belmond, and the Orient Express, which is operated by Accor, are competing with one another to attract passengers to their coaches, which resemble gentlemen's clubs more than they do rail cabins. On April 4 the much-anticipated La Dolce Vita Orient Express will welcome its first paying passengers on one of eight routes from Rome – some one night, others two. It will take in such popular stop-offs as Venice, Portofino, Matera and Montalcino – as well as Sicily, following a ferry trip with the train onboard.

Interiors have been created to evoke the mood of 1960s

Via Veneto the interiors of each 12-carriage, 31-cabin train will be “totally Italian”, says the train’s general manager, Samy Ghachem. “And a celebration of la dolce vita, full of Italian fashion, food and photography,” with feasts by the acclaimed Michelin-star chef Heinz Beck served on Rivolta Carmignani linens, Broggi silver and Ginori tableware and décor meant to conjure the atmosphere of 1960s Via Veneto. Two trains will be deployed in 2025, followed by two more each in 2026 and 2027 — and, conceivably, if the intentions of its Italian owner Paolo Barletta come to fulfillment, by themed replicas in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Silk Route and UAE.

The barnlike penthouse suite at Salterra

The popular new Caribbean Island

Lovers of the Caribbean, but not lovers of crowds, this is one for you. On February 15 Marriott’s Luxury Collection unveils its first hotel in the British overseas territory of the Turks and Caicos, dubbed Salterra after the extensive salt plains that distinguish the islands. Located on the little 8.2-square-mile island of South Caicos — the quietest and southernmost of the 40-island archipelago — the 100-room boutique hotel was created by the dive resort owner Michael Tibbetts to be “the most sustainable in the archipelago”, according to Marti Trieschmann, its sales director. Salt, known around here as “white gold”, is a crucial ingredient of the huge coastal resort, as are thalassotherapy therapies.

One of the six pools at the hotel

Thanks to Tibbett’s expertise operating high-end dive resorts, water activities here should be top-notch – from diving and fishing with specialists to planting coral and mangroves. One, two and three-bedroomed apartments inside the 85-acre estate has been developed by Edge of Caribbean to be anchored in nature and virtually Scandi in style. The greatest room by far will be the soothingly milky, barnlike penthouse. The hotel — half-powered by solar, with water purified on site, and food obtained as locally as possible — aspires to offer the greatest spa in the Caribbean, six pools, a huge activity center, a kids’ club and six restaurants. This will be an island worth keeping an eye on — especially when, in February, there will be direct American Airlines flights from Miami twice a week, making it quite straightforward to visit.

Euphoria Retrea t

Where ancient Greek philosophy meets contemporary medicine Euphoria Retreat, two and a half hours south of Athens by vehicle, housed in a 200-year-old mountaintop palace, is widely known among spa aficionados. Since Marina Efraimoglou founded it in 2018 — having given up banking and studied Chinese medicine for 15 years following cancer treatment — it has become one of Europe’s best-loved wellness resorts. This year Efraimoglou has combined high-tech tests and therapies, with the objective of making it the greatest all-round medical healing institution in Greece. Now, before going on Advanced Medical Holistic Longevity retreats, visitors are provided comprehensive diagnostic testing — from blood to urine and saliva — so they may begin their personalized therapies immediately on arrival, employing techniques from cryotherapy to IV infusions.

Health treatments at the spa are personalized

The mix of science, philosophy, nature and emotional therapy presently given provides visitors an opportunity “to try things. Some individuals will react well to one sort, others to something other — here you may test a selection that work for you.” And thereafter travelers may explore the neighboring woodlands, which are UNESCO-protected, or see Sparta’s remains. And those, the enthusiastic Greek argues, “can’t help but make you feel better”.

Le Collectionist’s Castello Romano

The coolest collection of dwellings on planet

When Le Collectionist was created in 2014 it was out of desperation — the invention of tourists wishing to live in a home, rather than a hotel, so they could immerse themselves in local culture. As Max ANiort, one of the founders puts it, it was founded “so you could find the loveliest grocery shop, talk to the local butcher, figure out the nicest walks, and make friends… so you could figure out what it was like to live there.” Today the French house-rental firm has more than 2,000 homes on its books, from private islands with boats to some of the nicest chalets in the Alps.

Le Collectionist’s Villa del Tempio

The secret to the success of the endeavor is that each home has professionals on tap: ski instructors and helicopter pilots for snowy expeditions into the mountains; caterers for lavish parties; nannies with boxes of educational games and toys; art experts who can advise on galleries. “One week we might be stocking a house with paints and canvases for a painting holiday, the next toys for a couple with children. Each stay is absolutely bespoke,” ANiort says. certain regulars, he says, come back every year and treat the house as their own “but without all the hassle of owning a second home”, bringing family to join them for certain weeks, friends for others. The true thrill, he continues, is that you get to have “a slow holiday: at your own pace, with the people you like — but with all our expertise”. Extras can include eating in an igloo or a picnic atop a snowy mountain, supplied by helicopter.

Ballynahinch is now a historic property

Expansion of the magnificent Irish castle

Ballynahinch has long been known as one of the glorious estates of Ireland — a place beloved of politicians such as the American president Gerald Ford and the British prime minister James Callaghan, and owned by wealthy international jetsetters including one of India’s greatest cricketers, Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanager or “Ranji”. Today, the County Galway castle — owned by millionaire Denis O’Brien who has spent millions of euros (much too much, financial reports may suggest) on its renovation — is recognized as one of Ireland’s finest. It is one of seven major Relais & Chateaux hotels in which to stay on the equivalent of a 21st-century major Tour of the green island.

Ballynahinch is nestled on a 700-acre estate

With two new private residences, families and groups of friends may now vacation in seclusion on the 700-acre estate, while still having access to the great castle interiors — rebuilt by Bryan O’Sullivan Studio — that have long drawn rich Americans. With an award-winning female chef, a three-mile salmon river on which to fish, a traditional Irish pub, two woodland saunas and activities such as lobster picnics to remote beaches, bicycle rides to the pretty village of Clifden, and sailing trips along the coast on the famous little red-sailed, wooden-hulled “Galway Hooker” yachts, Ballynahinch is now a historic property in which one could spend a whole week — or months, as the besotted cricketer Ranji used to do.

Villa Ostuni, which was originally a convent

Hotels with a feminist attitude

When Bianca Passera’s grandfather launched the famous Lario hotels in 1915, he could never have envisioned the feminist path in which his granddaughter would take the business in the 21st century. Having spent her career working in business in Italy, however, Passera adds, she understood that “the country is not fair when it comes to gender. Women have historically had a terrible deal when it comes to equality at work.” And very few people, she continues, are taking sustainability seriously enough. So when she formed a new brand, Vista, she started the family firm on a different path: repairing broken-down buildings in little-visited places in need of rehabilitation, establishing lodgings that were operated in a manner that was both green and fair. The third Vista hotel is in Ostuni, Puglia, and will not only have a female GM and strive to get half of the personnel to be female, but will, Passera hopes, be LEED Gold level – as green as can be when it comes to hotel operations. The enormous stone building, established in 1506 in the foothills of Ostuni as a convent, had been lived in by strong women for generations. After the nunnery closed, a Mexican nun managed the facility as a tobacco-processing plant which employed over 300 women — until, when the tobacco industry died here, it was shuttered and left vacant. When Passera opens Vista Ostuni in July 2025, having spent three years rehabilitating the elegant structure, she aims not only to provide local women a chance to obtain equality in the field of hospitality, but immerse visitors in beautiful rooms full of locally manufactured items.

There will be three pools, both indoor and outdoors

To represent its earlier incarnations, the structure has been adorned in a plain but attractive style, its five-meter-high chambers sprinkled with pared-back Italian designs, from drapes of raw local linens to clean-lined rattan furniture. Highlights will include three pools, both indoor and outdoor, a big spa and a top-floor restaurant, affording views to the sea to one side (where the hotel will have a beach club) and the “White City” of Ostuni sliding down the hills to the other. The benefit to local people will be that it will be run as what she calls a “benefit corporation” — which will priorities treating employees fairly and give to projects improving the lives of the local community and the environment, with measurable KPIs in place to ensure they keep track of their progress. It’s all about giving back, she says, thus the hotel’s name. “With Vista, it’s all about a long-term view — for people and planet.