BEST ULTRA LUXURIOUS RESORTS
The pinnacle of resort hospitality
Private islands, overwater villas, and mountain retreats where the property is the destination.
Anguilla
Malliouhana
Meads Bay, Anguilla
Built on a headland above Meads Bay, Malliouhana was the property that established Anguilla's reputation for serious luxury in the 1980s, when Léon Roydon commissioned it as his own Caribbean residence and then decided to open it as a hotel. Auberge Resorts rebuilt it around two infinity pools that look directly over the sea.
Belmond Cap Juluca
Maundays Bay, Anguilla
Designed by California architect Oscar Farmer and opened in 1988, Cap Juluca's white-domed Greco-Moorish architecture defined Anguilla's luxury identity for decades. Belmond acquired the property in 2017; Hurricane Irma struck months later, prompting a USD 121 million reconstruction by Houston designer Lauren Rottet. The redesigned private pool villas are named after Moroccan cities — Marrakech, Fez, Tangier — in homage to the Moorish heritage. Among the largest renovation investments in Caribbean resort history.
Antigua
Jumby Bay Island
Long Island, Antigua
A 300-acre private island off Antigua's north coast, reachable only by a 7-minute boat from the mainland. Oetker Collection runs 40 residences and suites on the island's finest beach; the all-inclusive rate covers meals, drinks, and unlimited water sports. The beach doubles as one of three protected hawksbill sea turtle nesting sites in Antigua.
Australia
qualia
Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia
60 pavilions on the northern tip of Hamilton Island, just across the water from Whitehaven Beach — 98 percent silica sand, among the most photographed beaches in Australia. Opened in 2007, adults-only above 16, with Leeward Pavilions that face west across the Coral Sea so the pool views the sunset directly. The reef visible from the deck is protected as part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Longitude 131°
Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia
16 tented pavilions in Australia's Red Centre, each elevated on a platform with Uluru in direct line of sight — the 348-metre sandstone monolith the resort is built to face. Sunrise brings the rock from deep ochre through purple before the sun clears the horizon; the experience reverses at dusk. The site sits inside Kata Tjuta National Park, and overnight access is managed by the Anangu traditional owners.
Bahamas
One&Only Ocean Club
Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas
The former Huntington Hartford estate on Paradise Island, opened as a hotel in 1962. The seven-tier Versailles gardens — assembled from stones of a 14th-century French monastery transported across the Atlantic — are the most elaborate private gardens in the Bahamas. Casino Royale was filmed on the beach here; the property remains the defining name in Nassau luxury.
Kamalame Cay
Off Andros Island, Bahamas
A 96-acre family-owned private cay off the east coast of Andros, founded in 1994 and still run by the Hew family. The property holds the only overwater spa in the Bahamas, positioned above the world's third-largest barrier reef. Bonefishing on the adjacent Andros tidal flats is considered among the best in the world. Serena Williams honeymooned here; Oprah Winfrey and Nicole Kidman are past guests.
Bhutan
Amankora
Bhutan
Aman's only multi-lodge circuit covers five valleys in Bhutan — Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Gangtey and Bumthang — moving guests through the kingdom over days or weeks by mountain road with a dedicated guide and vehicle at each lodge. Bhutan caps total tourism through a government levy, making the allocation to any property as scarce as the properties themselves.
British Virgin Islands
Rosewood Little Dix Bay
Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
On Virgin Gorda, Laurance Rockefeller built this bay into a low-impact nature retreat in 1964 — buildings kept below the tree line, nothing between the room and the beach but a screen door. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip stayed here for the privacy as much as the view; Rosewood rebuilt the property after the 2017 hurricanes without changing that founding restraint.
Necker Island
Necker Island, British Virgin Islands
Richard Branson's 74-acre private island in the British Virgin Islands, bookable only as a whole-island rental for up to 34 guests. Branson bought it in 1978 for GBP 180,000 and rebuilt the Great House from scratch after a lightning fire in 2011. Kitesurfing in Necker Cup waters off the island draws world champions; the surrounding marine park is one of the BVI's richest diving areas.
Cambodia
Song Saa Private Island
Koh Rong Archipelago, Cambodia
27 villas built across two small islands in Cambodia's Koh Rong Archipelago, connected by a footbridge over the channel separating them, within a 400-acre private marine reserve. Cambodia's first eco-luxury resort runs solar-powered, with its own coral reef restoration program and an in-house marine biologist.
Canada
Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge
Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, Canada
25 luxury tents in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on Vancouver Island's wild west coast, accessible only by floatplane or boat. The all-inclusive wilderness program includes guided bear-watching, horseback riding through old-growth forest, and catch-and-release fly fishing in rivers that see fewer than 500 humans a year. The camp closes from October to May.
Chile
explora Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
50 rooms in the driest non-polar desert on earth, with an all-inclusive program running 40 explorations into the surrounding landscape — the Salar de Atacama salt flat, flamingo lagoons at 4,500m, Geysers del Tatio, and 3,000-year-old archaeological ruins. The desert's altitude and near-zero humidity produce some of the clearest night skies on the planet; stargazing sessions run most nights.
explora Patagonia
Torres del Paine, Chilean Patagonia
49 rooms inside Torres del Paine National Park — the only hotel within the park's boundaries — which means the gates open exclusively for guests 30 minutes before public entry. The all-inclusive program runs treks to the base of the Towers, glacier hikes, and horseback rides through lenga beech forests. The three granite towers for which the park is named are visible from the dining room across Lago Nordenskjöld.
Awasi Patagonia
Private Reserve, Torres del Paine, Chile
Opened November 2013 and joined Relais & Châteaux in 2014, Awasi's defining model is a private guide and dedicated 4×4 vehicle assigned exclusively to each of its 14 cabins — no group departures, no shared guides. Guests move entirely on their own schedule. All meals, excursions, private guide, and vehicle are included. Minimum 3 nights; seasonal November–May.
Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa
Lake Sarmiento, Torres del Paine, Chile
Completed in 2011 and designed by Chilean architect Cazú Zegers, the building is explicitly shaped to resemble a prehistoric animal beached on the lake shore — a long, horizontal structure clad in curved lenga wood. It sits at the entrance to Torres del Paine National Park with panoramic views of the massif. Published in architecture journals worldwide and listed in the Michelin Guide Hotels. 40 all-inclusive rooms.
Costa Rica
Nayara Tented Camp
Arenal, Costa Rica
22 luxury tents in primary rainforest adjacent to the Arenal Volcano, fully inclusive and adults-only, with a raised wood-plank path connecting each tent to the central lodge. The volcano stands directly over the property on clear mornings, and a natural hot spring river runs through the grounds. Nayara's companion resort shares the road, but the Tented Camp operates separately with its own dining and activities.
Fiji
Laucala Island
Laucala Island, Fiji
The entire 3,500-acre island is the resort — 25 villas, each with a private pool, and roughly five staff for every guest. The rate covers everything, from meals grown on the island's own farm to a David McLay Kidd golf course and unlimited diving across the surrounding reef. Closed for a full renovation, reopening in 2027 under COMO.
Kokomo Private Island Fiji
Kadavu Island, Fiji
21 villas on a private island sitting directly above the Great Astrolabe Reef — the world's fourth-largest barrier reef. No vehicles on the island; staff travel by foot and boat. The reef currents bring manta rays year-round and hammerhead sharks seasonally, and the Kadavu dive sites regularly rank among the Pacific's finest.
Tokoriki Island Resort
Tokoriki Island, Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Adults-only on the outermost island of the Mamanuca Group, 32 villas on a beach rated among Fiji's finest. Tokoriki is 90 minutes by fast boat from Nadi or 25 minutes by helicopter — the remoteness keeps day visitor numbers at zero, and the surrounding reef is one of the more intact in the island group.
France
Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc
Cap d'Antibes, Côte d'Azur, France
117 rooms across 22 acres of pine-shaded gardens descending to the Mediterranean on Cap d'Antibes, open since 1870. The saltwater pool blasted from the rock face below the cliff is the defining image of French Riviera glamour since Coco Chanel and the Murphys made it their summer home in the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald set scenes from Tender is the Night here; Picasso rented the studio for three consecutive summers.
French Polynesia
The Brando
Tetiaroa, French Polynesia
Marlon Brando bought this atoll in the 1960s after filming Mutiny on the Bounty nearby; the resort that eventually opened on it — 35 villas, each with its own pool, reachable only by a 20-minute private flight from Tahiti — runs on solar power and coconut-oil biofuel. The rate includes everything, across a reef under UNESCO protection since before the hotel existed.
Greece
Canaves Oia Suites
Oia, Santorini, Greece
Cut into the volcanic caldera wall at Oia's northern tip, each suite has its own private terrace with a plunge pool directly over the 300-metre caldera drop — the same view that draws crowds to Oia every evening. The original cliff-carved structure dates to 1936; Canaves expanded it three times without changing the volcanic-rock architecture. The wine bar above the main pool holds close to 400 labels.
Amanzoe
Porto Heli, Peloponnese, Greece
38 pavilions and villas on a hilltop above the Saronic Gulf in the Peloponnese, designed by Kerry Hill as a modern reinterpretation of the classical Greek temple — stone columns, shaded colonnades, a 55-metre pool aligned to face the sea. Epidaurus and Mycenae are within an hour's drive, and the resort operates a private beach club accessible by shuttle boat down the hill.
Carpe Diem Santorini
Pyrgos Kallistis, Santorini, Greece
Opened in 2008 and designed by the late George Kopatsaris, Carpe Diem's 11 suites and 2 residences were each individually designed. Pyrgos is the island's highest and least-touristed village; the property offers panoramic views of the caldera, Aegean, and volcano from all directions — not the single-axis caldera view that defines Oia and Imerovigli. Listed in the Michelin Guide Hotels. Seasonal April–October, adults-focused.
Grace Hotel, Auberge Resorts Collection
Imerovigli, Santorini, Greece
The founding property of the Grace Hotels brand (2007), now managed by Auberge Resorts Collection. The 23-room property in Imerovigli sits 300 metres above the caldera basin — deliberately small-scale versus competitors' 200+ room counts — with a signature infinity pool at the caldera edge. Imerovigli is the highest and least-visited of the three main clifftop villages, affording the most unobstructed caldera views. Consistently cited among the world's most romantic hotels.
India
Taj Lake Palace
Udaipur, India
The white marble palace of the Mewar royal family sits on a four-acre island in Lake Pichola, reachable only by boat from the city. Maharana Jagat Singh II commissioned it in 1746 as a pleasure retreat and summer palace. Taj Hotels took over operations in 1963; Octopussy was filmed here in 1983. The boat arrival across the lake, with the City Palace visible on the embankment behind, is unchanged since the palace was built.
Amanbagh
Ajabgarh, Rajasthan, India
40 rooms, suites and pool pavilions inside a walled garden in the Aravalli Hills of Rajasthan, an hour's drive from the ruined ghost city of Abhaneri and its 10th-century Chand Baori stepwell. The compound is enclosed by low stone walls and a central pool runs the length of the courtyard, following the Mughal charbagh garden layout that the architecture is modeled on.
Oberoi Vanyavilas
Ranthambore, Rajasthan, India
25 tented suites on the edge of Ranthambore National Park, one of the few places in India where Bengal tiger sightings in open terrain are genuinely reliable. Each tent has a private walled garden and veranda; guests enter the park on twice-daily game drives in private jeeps with naturalist guides. Ranthambore's 10th-century fortress is visible from the property boundary.
Indonesia
Bvlgari Resort Bali
Bukit Peninsula, Bali, Indonesia
59 villas and five mansions strung along a 160-metre limestone cliff on Bali's Bukit Peninsula, near Uluwatu, every one with its own infinity pool facing the Indian Ocean. The flagship Bvlgari Villa alone runs 1,300 square metres with a 20-metre heated pool cascading into a second pool below it.
Nihi Sumba
Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
33 villas on a 2.5km stretch of wild beach on Sumba's southwest coast, named the world's best hotel by Travel + Leisure two years running. The island remains one of Indonesia's least-visited, and Nihi limits guest numbers deliberately: the surf break is licensed exclusively to guests, with a maximum of 10 surfers per day permitted on one of the top ten point breaks in the world.
Amanjiwo
Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia
36 suites designed as a modern echo of the 9th-century Borobudur temple visible from every room. Aman guests receive exclusive early-morning access to the temple before it opens to the public — a private sunrise experience requiring a separate permit for any other visitor. The architecture mirrors Borobudur's concentric stone layout; the central rotunda aligns directly with the temple stupa on the ridge above.
Cempedak Private Island
Riau Archipelago, 91 km from Singapore, Indonesia
Opened 2017 and designed by New Zealand architect Miles Humphries — 20 bamboo villas with private plunge pools on a 17-hectare island 2.5 hours from Singapore. Two-thirds of the island remains wild forest and mangrove, home to pangolins, silver-leaf monkeys, and Nicobar pigeons. Solar power and natural ventilation replace air conditioning. All meals and return ferry transfers from Bintan are included.
Italy
Il Pellicano
Porto Ercole, Tuscany, Italy
51 rooms and suites on the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea at Porto Ercole, on Monte Argentario, opened in 1965 by an American couple who built it as their own private house. The saltwater pool is cut into the rock face directly above the sea, and the restaurant has held a Michelin star since the 1970s. Slim Aarons photographed the terrace for Life magazine; those images still circulate as the defining picture of the Italian Riviera.
Borgo Egnazia
Fasano, Puglia, Italy
A purpose-built Puglian village in the Valle d'Itria — 63 rooms and 92 villas designed to resemble the masserie farmhouses and trulli of the surrounding countryside — that opened in 2010. Italy hosted the 2024 G7 Summit here. The Vair spa covers 2,300 square metres and runs a full olive oil therapy program; the surrounding property produces its own oil from trees on the estate.
Grand Hotel Tremezzo
Tremezzo, Lake Como, Italy
An Art Nouveau palace on the western shore of Lake Como, open since 1910 with the original iron and glass roof structure intact. 98 rooms across the main palazzo and two garden villas; the floating pool platform on the lake is moored directly in front of the building, with the Bellagio headland visible across the water. The hotel faces Villa Carlotta, the botanical estate built by Princess Marianne of Nassau.
Rocco Forte Verdura Resort
Sciacca, Sicily, Italy
203 rooms and villas on 530 acres of Sicily's southwestern coastline, designed by Olga Polizzi and opened in 2009. Three swimming pools, a Rocco Forte spa, and golf on two championship courses designed by Kyle Phillips frame an estate built on the premise that Sicily is Europe's great undiscovered resort landscape. The estate produces its own olives, capers, and citrus.
Masseria Torre Coccaro
Fasano, Puglia, Italy
Built as one in a chain of coastal watchtowers against Saracen raids on the Adriatic, this working olive oil estate was converted into a 37-room hotel by the Muolo family in 2003. The Aveda Spa occupies natural tufa caves carved beneath the masseria — indoor pool, Turkish bath, and sauna in native rock. Centuries-old olive trees remain productive on the working estate. Directly adjacent to Borgo Egnazia and often cited as the intimate, family-run alternative.
Villa d'Este
Cernobbio, Lake Como, Italy
The original villa was commissioned by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio in 1568 and opened as a hotel in 1873 — one of Europe's oldest continuously operating luxury hotels. Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Pleasure Garden (1925) on its grounds. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen were married here. Bruce Springsteen has returned nearly every year for over two decades. The floating swimming pool on Lake Como, pioneered here, remains in use. 152 rooms; seasonal April–October.
Jamaica
GoldenEye Hotel & Resort
Oracabessa, Jamaica
Ian Fleming's Jamaican estate on Oracabessa Bay, where he wrote all 14 James Bond novels in the years after World War II. The original house, in which Casino Royale was written in 1952, is now a standalone villa available to rent; the broader resort encompasses beach cottages, treehouse suites, and lagoon cottages built into the sheltered bay around his original property.
Rockhouse Hotel
Negril, Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica
The original structures were designed by Don Erickson and Dennis Stephens — both trained under Frank Lloyd Wright — using volcanic stone, thatch, and organic architecture principles bonded to the Negril cliff face. An on-site woodworking shop fabricates all resort furniture; a farm, candle factory, spa lab, and the Rockhouse Foundation (funding local schools) are all part of the operation. Early guests included Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. Scored 92.5 points in the 2026 La Liste Top Hotels ranking.
Half Moon
Rose Hall, St. James Parish, Jamaica
Opened February 27, 1954 when 17 investors purchased 35 acres on what was once the sugar-loading dock of the Rose Hall estate. Founding investors included Harvey Firestone Jr. and Donald Deskey, designer of Radio City Music Hall's Art Deco interiors. The Robert Trent Jones Sr. championship golf course was added in 1961. Now one of the Caribbean's largest resort complexes: 400 acres, private dolphin lagoon, equestrian center, and 52 individual pools.
Round Hill Hotel & Villas
Hopewell, Near Montego Bay, Jamaica
Opened in 1952 on a former pineapple and coconut plantation, Round Hill was conceived by Jamaican entrepreneur John Pringle. JFK and Jacqueline Bouvier spent their honeymoon in Villa 10 in September 1953; Oscar Hammerstein wrote lyrics to The Sound of Music on the property. Ralph Lauren redesigned the hotel rooms with his Home collection and took one of the 27 privately owned villas. Past guests include Noël Coward, Grace Kelly, Ian Fleming, and Frank Sinatra.
Japan
Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel
Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan
39 rooms and suites on the bank of the Oi River in Arashiyama, at Kyoto's western edge, where the Sagano Bamboo Grove begins immediately behind the property. The main ryokan wing dates to 1909; a 100-year-old teahouse was integrated into the structure when Suiran opened in 2015. Boat lantern festivals on the river below are visible from the riverside rooms in summer.
Amanemu
Ise-Shima, Mie, Japan
26 suites and ryokan-style villas on the Ago Bay coast of the Ise-Shima peninsula, each with a private onsen fed from the resort's own thermal source. The architecture follows Japanese shoin design — no Western hotel corridors — and the surrounding nature park encloses one of Japan's most sacred pilgrimage sites, Ise Jingu, within a short drive. Cultured pearl farming has operated in the bay since the 1890s.
Kenya
Angama Mara
Masai Mara, Kenya
32 tented suites on the edge of the Great Rift Valley escarpment, 500 metres above the Masai Mara, at the cliff where Out of Africa was partly filmed. Both tent rows face the entire Mara Triangle below; the annual wildebeest migration passes through the concession between July and October. A darkroom on-site is dedicated to a resident professional photographer who teaches workshops during high season.
Giraffe Manor
Nairobi, Kenya
12 rooms in a 1930s Scottish baronial house in Langata, Nairobi, where a breeding herd of endangered Rothschild's giraffes wanders the grounds and visits breakfast through the dining room windows. Conservationist Jock Leslie-Melville introduced the herd in 1974 after the subspecies had dropped to fewer than 120 individuals in the wild. The fully inclusive rate covers all meals, drinks and game drives.
Ol Pejeta Bush Camp
Laikipia Plateau, Kenya
Eight tented suites on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy — Africa's largest black rhino sanctuary and the last home of the Northern White Rhino. The concession runs private game drives and walking safaris across 350 square kilometres of Laikipia plateau, where black rhino, lion, elephant, and wild dog coexist in higher densities than most parks in Kenya. The camp has direct access to the northern white rhino enclosure.
Segera Retreat
Laikipia Plateau, Central Kenya
Founded by Jochen Zeitz (former Puma CEO and co-founder of the Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town) on 20,000 acres he acquired in 2005 — then heavily poached and overgrazed. The Zeitz Collection, installed across the lodges and a purpose-built gallery, is among the most significant private holdings of contemporary African art in existence. The Zeitz Foundation is headquartered on the conservancy. Open to guests since March 2013.
Ol Jogi Wildlife Conservancy
Laikipia Plateau, Central Kenya
Built in the late 1970s by the Wildenstein family as a private game ranch, Ol Jogi opened to exclusive-use guests in 2013. The entire 58,000-acre conservancy is occupied by one group at a time — the largest single-group exclusive-use property in Kenya. It houses the largest rhino population of any private Kenyan conservancy, alongside a wildlife rescue center (est. 1986), a veterinary clinic (est. 1995), and a school for staff children.
Madagascar
Miavana, by Time + Tide
Nosy Ankao, Madagascar
14 villas on a private island off Madagascar's northeastern coast, reachable only by helicopter. Time + Tide opened Miavana in 2016 on one of the least-visited coastlines on earth; the surrounding reef is so intact that marine biologists regularly join guest dives to document species. At low tide, a sandbar connects the main island to an adjacent uninhabited island used exclusively for picnics.
Malaysia
The Datai Langkawi
Datai Bay, Langkawi, Malaysia
Designed by Kerry Hill in 1993 and set on a ridge within a 10-million-year-old rainforest, the resort broke convention by positioning itself 300 metres inland rather than on the beach. The Aga Khan Architecture Award (2001) recognized this integration as a landmark in ecologically responsible design; a USD 60 million renovation was completed in 2018. Datai Bay is ranked among the top 10 beaches by National Geographic. A resident naturalist runs the Datai Nature Centre — the only such programme in Southeast Asia.
Maldives
Cheval Blanc Randheli
Noonu Atoll, Maldives
LVMH built this one from scratch across a private cluster of islands in Noonu Atoll, connected by raised wooden walkways, with 46 villas and a dedicated Ambassadeur assigned to each. The spa, run by Guerlain, wraps around a 30-metre infinity pool.
Kudadoo Maldives Private Island
Lhaviyani Atoll, Maldives
Kudadoo built its entire pitch around one idea — Anything, Anytime, Anywhere — meaning the rate genuinely includes everything: a personal chef on call, unlimited spa treatments, a private infinity pool at each of the 15 overwater residences. The island caps out at 30 guests total.
Soneva Jani
Noonu Atoll, Maldives
59 overwater and island villas spread across a 5.6km lagoon in Noonu Atoll, the smallest still larger than most hotels' presidential suites. Every villa has a private pool and a dedicated barefoot butler, plus a retractable bedroom roof and a water slide straight into the lagoon.
Velaa Private Island
Noonu Atoll, Maldives
47 villas in Noonu Atoll, each with a private pool, built around the only golf course in the Maldives — a 9-hole José María Olazábal design — and a snow room for contrast therapy that feels almost absurd this close to the equator. Michelin-trained chef Adeline Grattard runs the kitchens.
JOALI Maldives
Raa Atoll, Maldives
73 overwater and beach villas on Muravandhoo Island in the remote Raa Atoll, designed as an immersive art resort — over 50 site-specific works from artists across Southeast Asia are embedded throughout the property. Raa Atoll is one of the Maldives' UNESCO Biosphere Reserves; whale sharks are frequently sighted in the surrounding waters year-round.
Soneva Fushi
Baa Atoll, Maldives
67 villas on Kunfunadhoo Island in Baa Atoll — a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve — where Soneva invented the concept of barefoot luxury when it opened in 1995. The resort is fully solar-powered with its own waste management and desalination; Hanifaru Bay, the world's largest known gathering point for manta rays and whale sharks, is 15 minutes by boat.
Six Senses Laamu
Laamu Atoll, Maldives
97 villas in the southern Laamu Atoll — the only resort in that atoll — where the relative isolation keeps the house reef in near-pristine condition. The lagoon is a resident spinner dolphin territory; pods appear most mornings at the water villas. The surf break on the outer reef is one of the Maldives' most consistent and least crowded.
One&Only Reethi Rah
North Malé Atoll, Maldives
130 overwater and beach villas on Reethi Rah Island in North Malé Atoll, holding the longest beach in the atoll at 4km of powdery white sand. The resort opened in 2005 and remains the One&Only flagship property; its wellness center runs one of the most comprehensive programs in the Maldives, including Ayurvedic treatments brought from India.
Four Seasons Resort Landaa Giraavaru
Baa Atoll, Maldives
103 villas on a Baa Atoll island adjacent to the Hanifaru Bay marine protected area, where the world's largest aggregations of manta rays and whale sharks gather from May to November. The resort runs a resident Marine Discovery Centre with daily presentations on current manta and whale shark aggregation data; some guests time stays specifically to the aggregation season.
Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas
Kihavah Huravalhi Island, Baa Atoll, Maldives
Opened in 2012 minutes from Hanifaru Bay. The SEA restaurant operates from a glass-walled chamber beneath the lagoon, beside what is described as the world's first underwater wine cellar. The SKY overwater observatory is unique in the Maldives. The surrounding reef is widely ranked among the finest house reefs in the archipelago; the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve ensures exceptional marine life year-round.
COMO Cocoa Island
Makunufushi, South Malé Atoll, Maldives
COMO Hotels' first private island property (opened 2002) is defined by its singular design concept: the vaulted ceilings and curved structural ribs of every villa directly reference the wooden ribs of a traditional Maldivian dhoni fishing boat. With fewer than 66 guests at full capacity, it is among the most intimate branded Maldives resorts. The COMO Shambhala wellness programme and a direct house reef complete the offering.
Patina Maldives, Fari Islands
Fari Islands, North Malé Atoll, Maldives
Opened May 2021 and designed by Studio MK27's Marcio Kogan — earthy palettes, natural materials, every structure built below the treeline. The resort houses 60+ curated artworks alongside Turrell's permanent "Amarta" Skyspace, a rare addition to the artist's globally significant architectural series. Flagship property of Capella Hotel Group's Patina brand; Condé Nast Traveler Hot List 2022.
Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi
Ithaafushi Island, South Malé Atoll, Maldives
Spanning three interconnected islands, this property holds the most restaurant outlets of any single resort in the Maldives — including bamboo private-dining pods at Terra. The attached Ithaafushi Private Island books at USD 80,000 per night for up to 24 guests and was one of the most widely covered hotel launches of 2019. The Maldives' largest spa is also on-site.
Gili Lankanfushi
Lankanfushi Island, North Malé Atoll, Maldives
Originally opened in 2000 as Soneva Gili, this was the Maldives' first resort where not one room touches land — all 45 villas and residences sit on stilts above the lagoon. Each guest is assigned a dedicated "Mr. or Ms. Friday" personal butler for the duration of their stay. The 1,700 sqm Private Reserve is among the largest overwater residences in the world. Ranked #1 in the Maldives and Top 5 worldwide by TripAdvisor's 2018 Travellers' Choice Awards.
Mauritius
One&Only Le Saint Géran
Belle Mare, Mauritius
Opened in 1975 on its own peninsula on the northeast coast of Mauritius, Le Saint Géran was the property that put the island on the luxury travel map before the Indian Ocean circuit existed. One&Only expanded it to 163 suites and villas around a new spa and dive center. The peninsula configuration means lagoon access on both sides; the reef outside it is one of the deepest on the island.
Constance Belle Mare Plage
Belle Mare, Mauritius
243 rooms and villas on a 4km stretch of white sand on Mauritius's east coast, backed by two of the island's most respected golf courses and a Shiseido spa. The Belle Mare beach is rated consistently among the Indian Ocean's finest for clarity of lagoon and quality of sand; the resort has been the benchmark east-coast Mauritius address since it opened in 1986.
Constance Prince Maurice
Pointe de Flacq, Northeast Mauritius
Opened in 1998 and named after Prince Maurice of Nassau (who colonized Mauritius for the Dutch in the early 17th century), the property features overwater villas on stilts — a rarity in Mauritius — and the Archipel floating restaurant, one of the most distinctive dining settings in the Indian Ocean. A preserved mangrove reserve and an extensive wine program add ecological and culinary identity. Named Indian Ocean's Leading Luxury Resort 2026 by the World Travel Awards.
Shangri-La Le Touessrok
Trou d'Eau Douce, East Coast, Mauritius
Le Touessrok has been part of Mauritius's social fabric since 1978, when chef Jacqueline Delais founded it to serve the island's elite. The 185-room property features six beaches, a private island (Ilot Mangénie) accessible by boat, and a Forbes Five-Star spa. Multiple staff have been with the resort since its original opening; the institutional memory they carry is cited as a defining characteristic of the guest experience. Now managed by Shangri-La following a major renovation.
Mexico
Rosewood Mayakoba
Riviera Maya, Mexico
130 suites on 620 acres of coastal jungle and mangrove lagoon on the Riviera Maya, where arrivals at the villa proceed by boat through an interior canal system — the car stops at the main lobby. The resort was built around a Mayan mangrove estuary rather than over it; the canal that connects the villas is the same waterway that existed before construction began. It sits between two cenotes.
Las Ventanas al Paraíso
Los Cabos, Mexico
61 suites on the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja Peninsula, each with a private terrace and a personal concierge whose role includes setting up telescope arrays for whale-watching — grey whales migrate past the property between December and April. The spa operates 24 hours by appointment; the resort introduced the tequila sommelier position to Mexico in 1997.
Montenegro
Aman Sveti Stefan
Sveti Stefan, Budva Riviera
A 15th-century fortified village on a tiny Adriatic island, connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway and converted by Aman into a private resort of 50 cottages and suites, each with its own terrace over the water. Sveti Stefan was built as a defensive settlement by local clans in the 1440s; the original watchtowers, piazzas, and stone-paved lanes remain intact. The adjacent Villa Miločer, once a royal Karadjordjevic summer residence, operates as an annex with its own beach. Rare in Europe: a property where the entire island is the hotel.
Morocco
Amanjena
Marrakech, Morocco
40 pavilions and two-storey maisons wrap around a reflecting pool the size of a small lake, set in a walled oasis of centuries-old olive trees just outside Marrakech. The domes and rose-colored walls draw on traditional Moroccan palace architecture, and the hammam spa runs full traditional rituals.
Kasbah Tamadot
Asni, Atlas Mountains, Morocco
Richard Branson spotted this kasbah from a hot air balloon over the Atlas Mountains and opened it as a hotel in 2005; after the 2023 earthquake, it was rebuilt larger, with 42 rooms across the main kasbah, three-bedroom riads and Berber tents pitched in the gardens. Hiking runs straight into the mountains from the property.
Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech
Marrakech, Morocco
There isn't a single hotel room on this 20-hectare estate outside Marrakech — all 61 stays are freestanding villas, each with its own garden and pool, scattered across grounds planted with olive trees and roses with the Atlas Mountains visible in the distance.
The Oberoi, Marrakech
Marrakech, Morocco
84 rooms, suites and villas spread across 28 acres of olive and citrus groves outside Marrakech that predate the hotel by centuries, with private pools attached to 76 of them. The central courtyard was modeled directly on the 14th-century Medersa Ben Youssef across town.
Mozambique
Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort
Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique
44 villas on Bazaruto Island, the largest in the archipelago national park off the Mozambique coast, where the surrounding channels hold one of the last viable populations of the endangered dugong. The resort operates within the park boundary, which caps room count and prohibits motorized watersports inside the dugong protection zones. Diving here accesses sites that see fewer than 300 visitors a year.
Nevis
Four Seasons Resort Nevis
Pinney's Beach, Nevis, St. Kitts & Nevis
Opened in 1991 at the base of Nevis Peak (3,232-foot dormant volcano) and credited with transforming Nevis from an obscure island into a premium Caribbean destination. This was the first Four Seasons property built as a resort from the ground up — the brand had previously operated only converted urban hotels. 189 rooms and suites, 50 villas, a Robert Trent Jones II championship golf course, and a lava-rock spa. Princess Diana was among its early guests.
New Zealand
Blanket Bay
Glenorchy, Queenstown, New Zealand
10 suites, chalets and a lodge house at the head of Lake Wakatipu — 45 minutes from Queenstown, and the remoteness is the point. The surrounding mountains and the lake shoreline are within the Mt Aspiring National Park; Lord of the Rings was filmed in the valleys behind the property. Helicopter access opens terrain that no road reaches.
Oman
Alila Jabal Akhdar
Jebel Akhdar, Al Hajar Mountains, Oman
86 rooms and villas on the rim of Jebel Akhdar — the Green Mountain — at 2,000 metres elevation in the Al Hajar range, where the air temperature runs 15°C cooler than the Muscat coast. The infinity pool projects over a 1,000-metre canyon drop. The surrounding terrace villages produce roses for Omani rose water during the April harvest; the hotel organizes rose-distillation visits.
Six Senses Zighy Bay
Zighy Bay, Musandam Peninsula, Oman
82 pool villas on a remote beach in Oman's Musandam Peninsula, enclosed on three sides by 800-metre mountains. The entry experience is part of the proposition — guests choose between a 4WD over the mountain pass, a speedboat through the fjords, or a tandem paraglide off the cliff directly to the beach. The beach below is one of the Arabian Peninsula's most secluded.
Peru
Belmond Sanctuary Lodge
Machu Picchu, Cusco Region, Peru
The only hotel at the entrance to Machu Picchu, 31 rooms set inside the archaeological sanctuary at 2,430m elevation. Guests enter the ruins before the buses arrive from Aguas Calientes — the private access window at dawn, when the site holds fewer than 100 people, is available only to Sanctuary Lodge guests. The Sun Gate and the ruins are a 15-minute walk from the hotel door.
Portugal
Six Senses Douro Valley
Samodães, Douro Valley, Portugal
57 rooms in a restored 19th-century manor estate on the terraced slopes above the Douro River, surrounded by vineyards that the resort uses in its wine therapy spa program. The estate was originally built by the family of the Marquis of Souza Holstein; Six Senses opened it in 2015 with the river access and vineyard intact. The Douro wine trail runs directly through the property.
Rwanda
Wilderness Bisate
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Six forest villas on a private concession bordering Volcanoes National Park — the home of more than half the world's remaining mountain gorillas. Wilderness opened Bisate in 2017 as Rwanda's first ultra-luxury eco-camp; the trekking permits are pre-arranged with Rwanda Development Board, and guests typically encounter habituated gorilla families on day one. The design mirrors the traditional Rwandan royal residence.
Saint Barthélemy
Eden Rock
St Jean Bay, Saint Barthélemy
37 rooms, suites and villas built directly onto a rock promontory splitting St Jean Bay in two, founded in the 1950s by the island's own mayor and rebuilt from the ground up after Hurricane Irma. Howard Hughes, Greta Garbo and generations of the Rockefeller family have stayed here.
Saint Lucia
Jade Mountain
Soufrière, Saint Lucia
In Soufrière, on St Lucia's west coast, 24 sanctuaries have a wall deliberately left off each one, so the infinity pool inside your room runs straight out toward the twin volcanic peaks of the Pitons with nothing in between. Every pool is surfaced in one-of-a-kind glass tile, sized and colored differently suite to suite.
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines
Petit St. Vincent (PSV)
115-Acre Private Island, St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Built in 1968 by US Air Force veteran Hazen K. Richardson II with Swedish architect Arne Hasselqvist, PSV's 22 stone-and-thatch cottages are positioned so no villa overlooks another — all 22 original structures still standing. Guests signal for service with a yellow flag or privacy with a red one; no phones or televisions in any cottage. Severely damaged by Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024; full restoration is underway with a 2026 reopening targeted.
Saudi Arabia
Desert Rock Resort
AlUla, Saudi Arabia
54 villas and 10 suites carved into the cliffs of AlUla, near Hegra, Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Cliff-hanging villas and cave suites come with cliffside plunge pools, and the Michelin-starred Nyra serves the property's fine dining.
Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Red Sea, Saudi Arabia
63 villas on a private island in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea development, accessible only by seaplane or yacht, built around a coral reef that was completely uninhabited before construction began. Every villa has its own pool and a dedicated butler.
The St. Regis Red Sea Resort
Red Sea, Saudi Arabia
90 villas on the same private Red Sea archipelago, every one with its own pool and direct coral reef access, run with the full St. Regis ritual — a dedicated butler for every guest, evening champagne sabering, and a butler-drawn bath on request.
Seychelles
North Island
Seychelles
11 villas on an entire private island, each with its own plunge pool and a staff-to-guest ratio north of 2:1. The rate covers essentially everything — meals built around what you actually want to eat, all drinks, diving, kayaking, laundry — and giant Aldabra tortoises wander the grounds freely.
Fregate Island Private
Fregate Island, Seychelles
16 villas on a 2km² island that functions simultaneously as an ultra-luxury resort and a wildlife sanctuary — 2,000 giant Aldabra tortoises roam freely across the property, and the beaches host hawksbill sea turtle nesting from October to March. The island is entirely car-free. The surrounding reef includes some of the most productive dive sites in the inner Seychelles, and the island's highest point offers views across to Mahé and Praslin.
Denis Private Island
Denis Island, Outer Seychelles
25 cottages on a 1.6km² coral island in the outer Seychelles, 95km north of Mahé, on a reef that drops from 10 metres to 60 metres within swimming distance of the beach. All-inclusive covers meals, drinks, and unlimited diving and snorkeling. The island runs its own Hawksbill Turtle Conservation Program — guests can book nest surveys with the island's resident biologist.
Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island
Desroches Island, Amirantes Archipelago, Seychelles
71 suites and villas on a flat coral island 60km from Mahé, with 14km of coastline circling the island in a bicycle loop. Four Seasons runs the island entirely on renewable energy; guests who do not want private pool villas use the resort's fleet of bicycles to cross to the ocean-side beach in 10 minutes. The channel directly offshore the villas produces consistent diving conditions year-round.
South Africa
Royal Malewane
Greater Kruger, South Africa
Four lodges and three private villas sit on their own concession inside Greater Kruger, unfenced and contiguous with the national park itself, so wildlife moves through freely. The two Royal Suites run 5,490 square feet each with a private chef and a dedicated game vehicle.
Singita Boulders Lodge
Sabi Sand, South Africa
13 suites on the Sand River inside the Sabi Sand reserve, each with a private heated plunge pool, built around a wine cellar constructed literally around a boulder that couldn't be moved during construction. A dedicated tracker and resident sommelier round out the staff.
Singita Sabi Sand
Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa
Three camps — Ebony, Boulders, and Castleton — on Singita's 15,000-hectare concession in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve adjacent to Kruger National Park. The reserve operates without internal fences and shares an unfenced boundary with Kruger, giving animals free movement across one of Africa's largest continuous wildlife corridors. The concession is known for producing some of the highest leopard sighting rates in Africa.
&Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Established in 1991 on reclaimed farmland, Phinda introduced South Africa's first privately reintroduced elephant herd (37 orphaned animals) and reestablished locally extinct lions in 1992–93 — a gene pool that has since seeded populations in reserves across the continent. The reserve's six lodges each reflect a distinct microhabitat: ancient sand forest, rocky leopard outcrop, wetland, and three others. The blueprint for African ecotourism.
Singita Lebombo Lodge
N'wanetsi River, Kruger National Park, South Africa
Opened in 2003 on a private 33,000-acre concession bordering Mozambique, Singita Lebombo's 15 loft suites are built directly into the cliff face above the N'wanetsi River — with sleep-out decks under the stars. A full redesign was completed in 2026, Kruger National Park's centenary year. Awards include the Flor de Caña Eco Hotel Award (2023) and three consecutive years on The World's 50 Best Hotels.
Sri Lanka
Cape Weligama
Weligama Bay, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
40 villas terraced down a jungle-covered promontory above Weligama Bay on Sri Lanka's southern coast, part of Resplendent Ceylon's portfolio of ultra-luxury properties. Each villa has its own infinity pool facing the Indian Ocean; the bay below is one of Sri Lanka's best-known surf spots, with consistent right-hand breaks from October to April. Galle Fort is 20 minutes east.
Amanwella
Wella Bay, Tangalle, Southern Sri Lanka
Opened in 2005 under Aman founder Adrian Zecha's commission and designed by Kerry Hill drawing on Sri Lankan vernacular architecture and the legacy of Geoffrey Bawa. The 30 suites are set into a hillside above Wella Bay, considered one of the finest undeveloped beaches in Sri Lanka, each with unobstructed ocean sightlines. Timber, stone, terrazzo, and terracotta throughout; "Amanwella" means "peaceful beach" in Sanskrit.
Switzerland
Badrutt's Palace Hotel
St Moritz, Engadine, Switzerland
The property credited with inventing the ski holiday — Johannes Badrutt bet English guests in 1864 that if they returned in winter the weather would be so fine they would want to stay, and paid for their travel if wrong. The current palace has operated since 1896 on the same lakeshore, with 157 rooms and suites. Skiing from the door accesses the Corviglia ski area directly above the town.
Tanzania
andBeyond Mnemba Island
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Off the coast of Zanzibar, 12 open-sided Bandas shaped like the spiral of a nautilus shell sit on an island just 1.5km wide, ringed by one of the healthiest coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. There's no wall between the room and the sea, and green turtles nest on the beach the island shares with guests.
Singita Sasakwa Lodge
Grumeti Reserve, Serengeti, Tanzania
Nine cottages in an Edwardian-style manor on a kopje hill above the Grumeti River in the western Serengeti corridor — the route of the Great Migration between May and July, when millions of wildebeest and zebra cross the crocodile-filled river below the lodge's veranda. Singita's 350,000-acre Grumeti Reserve concession means private game drives cross terrain that no other tourist vehicle uses.
Ngorongoro Crater Lodge
Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Three camps — South, Tree, and Bush — on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater at 2,400m elevation, 600 metres above the world's largest intact volcanic caldera where 25,000 large mammals live year-round. &Beyond operates the lodge; guests descend into the crater on private game drives at sunrise, when mist fills the basin below and the crater floor holds the highest density of lions in Africa.
Singita Sabora Tented Camp
Grumeti Reserve, Western Serengeti, Tanzania
Opened in 2007 on Singita's Grumeti Reserve, Sabora's large canvas tents on decks feature Persian rugs and claw-foot baths — the 1920s East African safari aesthetic on a concession bordering Serengeti National Park with no other tourist camps. When Singita assumed management in 2002, the area had rampant illegal hunting; lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, and buffalo have since recovered dramatically. A key zone for Great Migration crossings.
Thailand
Amanpuri
Phuket, Thailand
The first Aman ever built, opened in 1988 on a private headland above Pansea Beach on Phuket, with 83 pavilions and villas that reopened in late 2026 after a full renovation. The larger villas come with a private pool, a live-in housekeeper and a personal chef.
Turks and Caicos
Amanyara
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
40 pavilions and six villas on the northwest coast of Providenciales, within the Northwest Point Marine National Park, where the reef directly offshore is one of the healthiest in the Caribbean. The architecture is Asian-influenced: a Japanese-style main pavilion, each room elevated on stilts above the scrub, and a 15-metre freshwater reflection pool running the length of the central terrace.
COMO Parrot Cay
Parrot Cay, Turks and Caicos
A 1,000-acre private island north of Providenciales, reachable only by a 35-minute boat from the main island, with 60 rooms, suites and villas on a beach facing open ocean on both sides. The COMO Shambhala spa runs four-day integrated programs built around daily treatments, yoga and nutrition. Bruce Willis, Keith Richards, Donna Karan and Christie Brinkley have all owned residential villas here.
United States
Amangiri
Utah, United States
Thirty-four suites, plus ten tented pavilions at the adjoining Camp Sarika, cut into 900 acres of red-rock desert on Utah's Colorado Plateau, where the concrete architecture is built to disappear against the mesa. The pool wraps around a stone outcrop so the water seems to grow out of the landscape.
Post Ranch Inn
Big Sur, United States
40 rooms perched 1,200 feet above the Pacific in Big Sur, on a former cattle ranch homesteaded in the 1860s, with no televisions and construction designed to disturb as few trees as possible. Peak Houses have curved living roofs planted with grass and wildflowers so they read as part of the hillside from above.
Vietnam
Six Senses Con Dao
Con Dao Islands, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, Vietnam
50 villas on the island of Con Son in the Con Dao archipelago — 16 islands 230km from Ho Chi Minh City that receive fewer than 50,000 visitors a year. The beach in front of the resort is an active hawksbill sea turtle nesting site; Six Senses partners with the national park to monitor nests, and guests can join ranger-guided night surveys during nesting season. The surrounding reef is among the least-impacted in southern Vietnam.
Zambia
Royal Chundu
Upper Zambezi, Zambia
Ten suites across two lodges on a private island in the Upper Zambezi, 25km upstream from Victoria Falls, where hippos graze the banks overnight and elephants move through the surrounding floodplain. Fully inclusive rate covers all meals, sundowner cruises on the Zambezi, guided canoe safaris, village visits and transfers from Livingstone.
Time + Tide Chinzombo
South Luangwa, Zambia
Six villas on the Luangwa River inside South Luangwa National Park, the park that originated the walking safari in the 1950s under Norman Carr. The concession runs walking safaris at all hours — including dawn walks and night drives — through terrain with some of the highest leopard density in Africa. Fully inclusive rate covers all activities, meals and drinks including premium spirits.
Zimbabwe
Singita Pamushana
Malilangwe, Zimbabwe
8 suites on a private 130,000-acre reserve in southeastern Zimbabwe, one of the region's most biodiverse conservation areas, where black rhino, elephant and roan antelope move freely across the property. Everything's included — premium wine, twice-daily game drives, walking safaris.