The hotels-islands are chosen by the well-off people who can afford such a luxury and extravagant to pay for it.
St. Vincent and Grenadines. Canouan Island
There is everything imaginable for the most luxury vacation in the world in the hotel Raffles Resort Canouan Island on the volcanic island Canouan in the archipelago St. Vincent and Grenadines. Where else can you find a hotel rending services to the guests at a distance 150 kilometers away? But for the guests of Raffles Resort Canouan Island it is true. At the international airport of Barbados they are met by the personal hotel flight-manager who shows the way to the 8-seat airplane Raffles Jet. It takes only 15 minutes to reach Canouan by air.
For those who fly there for the first time it may seem to look almost as a desert island. The airport consists of 2 bamboo huts with signs Arrival and Departure. The luxury there is not showy. But on the other hand the accent is made on the natural beauty. This is a concept of the resort. About fifty wooden cottages are scattered on the pitch of a green hill going down like amphitheatre straight to the aquamarine water. You can choose the cottage on the beach and hear unceasing soft sounds of waves. Or you can accommodate on the picturesque hill or even on the top. Everything in the hotel including very small things is made from natural materials. The material of roofs is the grass with funny name "chicky-chicky" which perfectly protects from heat and occasional rains. Every cottage is a stylized Creole house with a patio. Inside there are huge beds with light semitransparent canopies, soft sofas, elegant furniture, the walls with upholstery in light colours, natural flowers, bathrooms with Bvlgari skin-care products, space television, Internet, a mini-bar, a bathrobe and slippers by Frette. Sitting on a beach chair stretching your legs under big leaves of palm trees you can have a look around your territory: a private swimming pool, a garden, a film theatre and even a personal path to the ocean where a pavilion with a thatch roof is rocking on a pontoon.
The rate of the most modest cottages Orchestra Room Garden View (with park view and area of 56 square meters) is $990. The Mezzanine Room with ocean view located in the top part of the amphitheatre costs $1,080. For $4,000 you can accommodate in 2-floor villa with 3 separate bedrooms, a living-room, a small kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a patio. The villas of Raffles category are the most comfortable in the hotel. They are located on the beach and include 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a living room, a fitness area and a private swimming pool. Their rate is upon request.
The pride of the hotel is the dainty cuisine. The Italian restaurant La Piazza is very elegant. It offers the excellent collection of vines and delicate European cuisine.
Jambu`s is the restaurant in the open air near a swimming pool specialized in Japanise cuisine, and its Jambu Bar with wide choice of cocktails is the best place for aperitif before dinner. The most gorgeous restaurant of the hotel is La Varenne located in the villa Monte Carlo high on the hill. Its menu includes the best dishes of the international cuisine: white truffles, mature Parmesan cheese, caviar of the own brand Raffles and the wide choice of the elite champagne vines. A glass of martini costs $300. In return you can leave the hand-made glass including a golden skewer which is used to pin an olive as a souvenir. Every evening La Varenne became a place for social events where you can meet ladies in diamonds and gentlemen wearing tuxedos.
As for Godahl Beach Bar&Grill, a beach bar located under the palm trees – everyone can go there anytime wearing shorts and beach shoes on bare feet.
Maldive Islands. Lankafushi Island
One of the best hotels of the Maldives archipelago, the five star hotel Soneva Gili Resort&Spa, is located on the private island Lankafushi. It takes about 10-15 minutes to go around the entire island. The owners of the island are the Indian multimillionaire Son Shivdasani and his wife, the Sweden beauty Eva Malstrem (the word Soneva is made up from their names). The hotel consists of 45 spacious bungalows with the area of 210–250 square meters, standing pile-supported in the picturesque lagoon. The unusual architecture of the bungalows seems chaotic from the first sight. There is the "main" building with a living room, a bedroom and a dining area. Also there is the "supplementary" building. There is a terrace covered with palm leaves having beach beds. On the second floor there is an observation area with handrails covered with an umbrella and looking like a real captain’s bridge for romantic-natured people. The interior rooms in bungalows surprise with their spacious area. Big rooms, high ceilings, panoramic windows from the floor to the ceiling create an impression of the lightness and comfort. All this beauty can be acquired for $1,600–2,000. And once in the morning you can open the door of the bungalow, make a step and dip into the ocean water with a round dance of motley tropic fishes. And then you could look at the horizon line where turquoise water merges into the bright blue sky and think about the eternity.
The most luxury bungalow of the hotel, Private Reserve at Soneva Gili with the area of 1400 square meters, is intended for the VIP guests of the hotel – kings, sheikhs and presidents. It consists of the two 2-floor rooms and located in the middle of the lagoon, one kilometer away from the island. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, a dining area, a swimming-pool, 4 bathrooms, a SPA center with sauna, a Russian bath and cosmetics cabinets, a gym, a library-parlour with a plasma TV, a fully equipped kitchen and a private enoteca with vintage vines. A well-trained butler keeps order, and a motor boat is constantly on duty on the berth. The accommodation rate for Private Reserve at Soneva Gili is fixed individually for every guest.
French Polynesia. Motu Omee Island on the Bora Bora atoll
The bird’s eye view of the hotel St. Regis Resort on the coral island Motu Omee eastward from the central island atoll Bora Bora resembles a strand of pearls dropped by a Polynesian beauty in the shallow water. Immediately after the opening in 2006, the hotel could be seen on society pages. This exotic and luxury hotel with refined interiors was lucky to accommodate the newly married star couple – a Hollywood diva Nicole Kidman and the sexiest country-style singer of America Keith Urban. The newlyweds spent their honeymoon in the biggest and most luxury room of French Polynesia – Royal Estate. This room has an area of 1,200 square meters and costs 13,400 euro. According to the eyewitnesses account, Nicole and Keith went out of the room only on the 5th day after arrival to perform a tour around Bora Bora by jeep and to visit the ancient Polynesian temples, ruins of the American naval base destroyed by the Japanese during the Second World War, and then to climb the 727 meter high mountain Otemanu from where the wonderful view of the lagoon is revealed. At night on the same day the sweet couple was noticed on canoe feeding sharks and scates.
If you do not want to wait in the year-long queue of the people willing to accommodate in Royal Estate, you can choose any room from a hundred tropical-stylized bungalow of St. Regis Resort standing on piles in the water or located on the picturesque sandy beach. The minimum rate for a bungalow with a plasma TV and cordless Internet access, an air-conditioner, a Jacuzzi and many other luxury conveniences is 834 euro. In the hotel there are 3 restaurants with Polynesian and European cuisine, bars, boutiques and souvenir shops as well as a gym and tennis courts. A luxury SPA center is located on the neighboring tiny island. Every room is served by an individual butler who will make everything for the pleasant and carefree vacation: he can order a yacht for a cruise, organize an excursion, a tour or romantic dinner.
Natalia Yakubovа
Photoreport
USD:
EUR:
