Posts from the Journeys Category at Luxist

Massimo Ferragamo's Members-Only Tuscan Estate

Posted Oct 6th 2008 2:02PM by Tracy Chait
Filed under: Estates, Journeys

In the Val d'Orcia region of Italy, Massimo Ferragamo is restoring a 4,500 acre property called Castiglion del Bosco, known also as how my mind spent its summer vacation. The 800-year-old estate boasts two 14th century chapels, Gothic ruins, fields of deep red poppies, a macchia forest and vineyards where some of the best Brunello first grows. It's where parts of The English Patient were filmed. And soon enough, you can stay there, too.

Part of Ferragamo's restoration is to create an unparalleled travel experience, as he oversees the creation of 20 villas on the property and 26 additional hotel-like suites. A Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course, restaurants, infinity pool, cooking school, 12,000 square foot spa and library are either underway or in the plans, as well.

16 of the 26 suites are complete, but you can't simply book a night or two at the estate. Instead, you'll pay a fee to be part of a membership club that bestows visiting privileges. The 120 memberships have been estimated at close to $4 million each and are by invitation only. See the gallery for the breathtaking views, an original Lorenzetti fresco inside the Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo and images to induce every kind of wishful thinking.

Gallery: Castiglion del Bosco

Stay Hotel Opens In New York

Posted Oct 4th 2008 2:02PM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Journeys

The latest New York City hotel from hotelier Vikram Chatwal is simply called Stay. Located in Times Square (157 West 47th Street), the hotel offers 210 guestrooms. As Hotel Chatter reports, the hotel was a former Quality Inn. It is now decked out with 300-plus thread count sheets and feather duvets and been given a tech makeover with interactive in-room LCD displays for ordering food from the room-service menu, Bluetooth and Skype enabled cordless telephones and Bose Wave Audio Systems with iPod cradles. There are also L'Occitane products and plush terry bathrobes as well as mini bars with premium spirits and gourmet snacks and refreshments. The centerpiece of the hotel is the Aspen Social Club, a restaurant/lounge which includes an antler-crowned fire pit and serves small plates. Rates at the hotel start at $249.

Gallery: Stay Hotel

Villa Malibu Holiday Getaway Packages

Posted Oct 4th 2008 12:02PM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Journeys

Last time I mentioned the Villa Malibu complex it was to discuss Brody Jenner's move there in 2007. Now the complex which is located near the Pacific Coast Highway between Zuma Beach and Point Dume in Malibu, California, has started renting out units for vacation packages during November and December. Thanksgiving packages start at $10,700 and Holiday packages start at $11,300, per package for two-and-three bedroom suites. The packages include a one month lease, fully catered dinner for five to eight people, a private tour of Malibu wineries with a picnic lunch, horseback riding lessons and access to Villa Malibu's full-service amenities and onsite private staff which consists of a concierge, chauffeur and a beach porter. There is also a pool with private cabanas, an outdoor barbeque and dining garden, tennis courts, basketball court, fitness center, Pars course and a doggy park. While Malibu can be a bit cool in winter, like many beach towns, it is a lot calmer and easier to enjoy out of season.

Gallery: Villa Malibu

Lusso Collection Adds $5 Million Tuscan Villa

Posted Oct 4th 2008 9:03AM by Jared Paul Stern
Filed under: Journeys

In August we reported that the Lusso Collection portfolio of multi-million dollar residences in the world's most desirable vacation spots was launching a new membership program. Now the company, whose properties - worth an average of $4 million each - are located in luxe spots such as Cabo San Lucas, Aspen, Miami, Hawaii and the Bahamas, has acquired a $5 million villa in Tuscany, its first European estate.

Located on the outskirts of picturesque Cortona, La Ripa (above) is a 500-year-old, 4,000-sq.-ft. fully-restored stone farmhouse with five bedroom suites, stone fireplaces, terracotta floors and brick archways. The estate's 27 landscaped acres include a privately situated swimming pool, lush gardens and olive and cypress groves. With 31 luxury properties in 17 destinations currently in its portfolio, the company plans to have 39 luxury residences in 21 destinations by year's end, with London and Paris coming next.

[via Affluent Page]

Floor Ferraris and F1's at the Ascari Race Resort

Posted Oct 2nd 2008 12:02PM by Jared Paul Stern
Filed under: Journeys, Wheels

For the price of a $160,000 membership plus a $6,500 annual fee, you can get 50 days of high-speed driving in a fleet of supercars at Spain's lavish Ascari Race Resort. Situated in the dramatic southern Andalusian mountains, the Ascari consists of a luxury resort complex adjacent to a 3.4 mile racetrack designed to replicate famous Formula 1 courses. The resort features of a ten-villa luxury hotel, spa, salon, clay shooting range, pools, bars and a helicopter pad to take guests to a beautiful beach 15 minutes away. The fleet of cars ranges from several race-prepped Lotus Elises and BMWs to ex-Formula 1 machines and Ascari's own brand of supercar. However, they can procure Ferraris, Lamborghinis or "just about anything you could wish to drive on the circuit, given time and sufficient credit card headroom," BusinessWeek notes. See the gallery for more.

Gallery: Ascari Race Resort

The Danube Express, Europe's Newest Luxury Train

Posted Oct 2nd 2008 8:02AM by Jared Paul Stern
Filed under: Journeys

The Danube Express (above), billed as the "first five-star hotel on wheels to be launched in central Europe for almost 30 years," just completed its maiden voyage from Budapest to Berlin. The Express' classic train cars were retrofitted with hand-built wood-paneled sleeping compartments with en suite baths at a cost of $200,000 apiece, the London Times reports. There's also a VIP compartment with velvet and copper accents that was formerly the private quarters of Hungary's last Communist president, which costs $5,000 for the journey. Other destinations including Prague, Vienna and Istanbul will be added soon.

The World's 10 Most Expensive Hotel Suites

Posted Oct 1st 2008 8:02AM by Jared Paul Stern
Filed under: Journeys

The Wealth Bulletin has compiled a new list of the World's Top Ten Most Expensive Hotel Rooms, and the first and second both cost over $30,000 per night. And despite glum economic prospects, demand for these costly suites is as strong as ever, with waiting lists stretching from now until the end of December. Also worth noting is the appearance of Dubai (the Burj Al Arab's Royal Suite, above) and Moscow hotels on the list, which would have been unheard of just a couple years ago. Here are the Top 10:

1. Ty Warner Penthouse, Four Seasons, New York; $34,000 per night
2. Royal Penthouse Suite, President Wilson Hotel, Geneva; $33,000 per night
3. The Presidential Suite, Hotel Cala di Volpe, Costa Smeralda, Italy; $21,000 per night
4. Royal Suite, Burj Al Arab, Dubai; $18,000 per night
5. Royal Armleder Suite, Le Richemond, Geneva; $17,500 per night
6. The Ritz-Carlton Suite, The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow; $16,500 per night
7. The Royal Suite, Four Seasons George V, Paris; $16,000 per night
8. The Imperial Suite, Park Hyatt-Vendôme, Paris; $15,500 per night
9. Brook Penthouse, Claridges, London; $10,000 per night
10. Penthouse Suite, Hotel Martinez, Cannes; $9,300 per night

Gallery: World's Top 10 Hotel Rooms

Will Gambling Come To Miami Beach?

Posted Sep 29th 2008 3:02PM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Journeys

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel is currently finishing up a $500 million renovation but could there be plans for a casino in the venerable Florida hotel? The Miami Herald reports on a recent push to have the Florida constitution amended to allow gambling at the proposed Miami Worldcenter and any hotel in Miami Beach with more than 800 rooms, a restriction that includes only the Fontainebleau. It's a natural leap considering that a Fontainebleau casino in Las Vegas is already under construction.

The new Fontainebleau in Miami Beach is set to open next month and follows the inclusive hotel paradigm of Las Vegas Strip hotels with 11 restaurants and bars, ample meeting space, 1,500 guest rooms, and a 40,000-square-foot spa. The developers have said that their plains for the Miami Beach hotel did not include casinos. The push for gambling in Miami comes from Miami developer who wants to put a casino in a commercial complex planned for the downtown area. But many feel that the Fontainebleau is the natural place for a casino in Miami Beach, it has the size and prestige to embrace gambling in a way that would add to the resort. And it could also bring a much needed infusion of cash to the South Florida resort economy.

Room Redesign at Treasure Island

Posted Sep 28th 2008 11:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Journeys

Treasure Island isn't the most luxurious place on the Las Vegas Strip by far but it can be an excellent choice if you are saving your money for the gambling tables or the Strip's other attractions. Treasure Island has updated their rooms with pillow top beds, 26-inch LCD flat-screen televisions to MP3/iPod-compatible clock-radios. The suites range in size from 630 square feet to 930 square feet and have foyers, sitting areas and dual bathrooms featuring whirlpool tubs for her and glass-enclosed showers for him as well as his-and-her closets. Tower Suites also have dining nooks for four. Room rates start at $129 per night and suites begin at $140.

Gallery: Treasure Island's New Rooms

Dubai's Latest Project Underway: $82 Billion Aerospace Center

Posted Sep 26th 2008 9:03AM by Tracy Chait
Filed under: Journeys, Wings, Real Estate Developments

It's hard, these days, to read or hear a sentence about Dubai that doesn't end with a staggering financial figure, usually in the many billions or at least the hundreds of millions. Sheikh Al Mahtoum's vision of Dubai's world-class aerospace center is no different, and investors the world over are trying to get in on the action since its announcement this summer that the project was now well underway.

25 miles outside of Dubai, the land on which contractors from the UAE and Europe have begun construction was slated for development 30 years ago (the equivalent of a century or two in any other developed country). The project adds up to $82 billion in cutting edge technology, aircraft, surrounding residential areas and training options.

At the heart of the plan is the $10 billion Al Maktoum International Airport, which would be twice as big as London's Heathrow and Chicago's sprawling O'Hare airports combined, or roughly double the size of Hong Kong.

Iconic Las Brisas Acapulco Gets $20 Million Makeover

Posted Sep 26th 2008 8:02AM by Tracy Chait
Filed under: Journeys

The famed pink and white 1960s Acapulco hotel Las Brisas has just pronounced its $20 million makeover complete. Perched high above Acapulco Bay, the renovated hotel now boasts glass ceilings in guest rooms, new outdoor seating French-terrace style and various interior updates like new flat screen tvs and plush linens.

Many guest rooms have sweeping ocean views, which have kept the place popular over the years. That and the cute pink and white Jeeps they use to ferry guests back and forth from the hotel.

Check out the changes and many of the original '60s details in the gallery.

Gallery: Images of the Las Brisas Hotel, Acapulco

Calabash Cove To Open In December

Posted Sep 25th 2008 2:02PM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Journeys

This winter the latest place to play in St. Lucia is Calabash Cove, a new boutique hotel resort set to open in December 2008. The resort offers three types of suites as well as nine teak and mahogany Water's Edge cottages, shown above, which have plunge pools, outdoor rain showers and hammocks as well as TV/DVD/hi-fi systems, refrigerators and coffee/tea makers, large patios and Jacuzzis. The suit offerings include the "Swim Up" suites which have private Jacuzzis and ar located just steps from Sweetwaters--the resort's designer pool with a 40-foot infinity edge, mahogany loungers and tropical refreshments provided by pool butlers. The swim-up suites afford private access directly from the patio of your room. Calabash Cove will also have a spa, fitness studio and full-service beauty salon as well as the Windsong Restaurant and C Bar. Rates at Calabash Cove range from $295-$895 per night and include the resort's island breakfast buffet. The entire resort can also be rented out for destination weddings for up to 52 guests for $50,000 per day.

THI Collection Offers Luxuriant Italian Hotels

Posted Sep 22nd 2008 12:02PM by Laura Malesich
Filed under: Journeys, Services

From Turin to Genoa, Venice to Naples and more, four- and five-star hotels, resorts and restaurants dot the Italian landscape offered through THI Collection. They provide traditional Italian style, art and history with innovative and modern strokes along with exclusive, personalized spa services. One of their restaurants, the Principe Cerami in Taormina, was recently awarded the coveted Michelin Star in the 2008 Guide. Specialty packages available include individual cooking lessons with a chef in Turin, gourmet weekends in Genoa or Sicily, and exquisite chocolate tastings...yum! Check out the gallery for a taste of what THI has to offer...

Gallery: THI Collection Hotels

Pricey Cruise To Peep At Penguins

Posted Sep 21st 2008 4:02PM by Rigel Celeste
Filed under: Journeys

Think 'luxury cruise' and visions of hot sun and warm blue water probably come to mind, but that couldn't be farther from reality on the latest cruise from Quark Expeditions called "Emperors & Kings: Snow Hill and South Georgia." Leave the sun hat at home and instead grab your ice cleats and arctic gear to sail to Snow Hill Island and South Georgia to see two of the largest and most elusive penguin species, the Emperor Penguins and King Penguins, living in the wild.

The cruise ship, complete with on-board helicopter for shuttling guests to and from the penguin rookery sites, sets sail in November of next year. Prices start at $21,890.

Beauties and the Beasts - A Women's Wildlife Adventure at Spring Creek Ranch, Jackson Hole

Posted Sep 20th 2008 4:02PM by Annie Scott
Filed under: Journeys, Events, Green

Spring Creek Ranch holds photography workshops in September and October

Spring Creek Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has a long list of luxury, seasonal wildlife-focused getaways. The picture at right is for their photography workshops which they hold in September and October.

This year, Spring Creek Ranch has something new for the ladies: The Beauties and the Beasts Adventure is taking place October 2-6.

Subtitled "A Women's Wildlife Adventure," Beauties and the Beasts is a four day excursion, venturing from Jackson Hole up into Yellowstone, where there will be naturalist-led hiking and driving, a trip to Old Faithful, and finally, massages back at Spring Creek Ranch. Ladies only!

There's still room! The price is $1,710 per person for double occupancy and $2,110 for single occupancy.

If I weren't busy keeping tabs on New York for you, I'd be there!

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Massimo Ferragamo's Members-Only Tuscan Estate

Stay Hotel Opens In New York

Villa Malibu Holiday Getaway Packages

Lusso Collection Adds $5 Million Tuscan Villa

Floor Ferraris and F1's at the Ascari Race Resort

The Danube Express, Europe's Newest Luxury Train

The World's 10 Most Expensive Hotel Suites

Will Gambling Come To Miami Beach?

Room Redesign at Treasure Island

Dubai's Latest Project Underway: $82 Billion Aerospace Center

Iconic Las Brisas Acapulco Gets $20 Million Makeover

Calabash Cove To Open In December

THI Collection Offers Luxuriant Italian Hotels

Pricey Cruise To Peep At Penguins

Beauties and the Beasts - A Women's Wildlife Adventure at Spring Creek Ranch, Jackson Hole

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#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Deidre Woollard	171	4
2	Jared Paul Stern	73	0
3	Tracy Chait	42	0
4	Rigel Celeste	38	0
5	Laura Malesich	20	1
6	Annie Scott	17	0
7	Lisa Palladino	9	0
8	Meg Massie	1	1