THE GOLD LIST 2018 Our letter to the hotels that make feel sexier, smarter, that make us walk with a little more and remind us who want to be and we to live. GOLD LIST > BEACHES ALWAYS gardens, horseback riding, WHEN YOU golf, amazing diving, and GREAT just about every other water AND REALLY NEED sport ever invented. CLOSE TO GET (ENOUGH) Nihi Sumba Island AWAY Indonesia TO HOME An eco-surf dream with green architecture, 560 spread across a five-acre untouched acres of jungle, FOR Amanera Playa Grande, Cheval Blanc Randheli Dominican Republic Maldives slip of an island. You’ll also and a legendary left- The rare Maldivian resort have your own private breaking wave you’ll have the Cheval Blanc St Barth Isle where the beach villas overwater spa and dive all to yourself. de France St. Barts outdo those over water; of center, and exclusive use of all the megawatt luxe a 62-foot yacht. Soneva Fushi Cuixmala Costalegre, resorts in the area, it wins Maldives Mexico for most elegant. Halcyon House, More jungly than others in Eden Rock - St. Barths Cabarita Beach Australia the archipelago, this resort St. Barts El Nido Resorts Yes, it’s an Instagram has a refreshingly unfussy Pangulasian Island darling, but it’s more than vibe; everyone is barefoot Four Seasons Resort Philippines a beachy Aussie photo op and rides bikes on the wind- Living the Costa Rica at Peninsula Forty-two pitched-roof villas with its house restaurant ing paths that seem designed of... Papagayo Costa Rica glamorous life at on alabaster sand along pro- that does some of the best to help you get lost. Four Seasons Resort Lanai Hotel Il tected waters teeming with room service and breakfast Hawaii Pellicano in damselfish—and you get anywhere—plus there’s a Trisara, Phuket TAN FEET, Tuscany. sunrise and sunset views. tennis court and a spa on Thailand GoldenEye Jamaica the way. The food alone is enough to get us to this resort that Guana Island Four Seasons Private Island OUTDOOR at Voavah Maldives Laucala Island Resort Fiji overlooks the Andaman Sea. British Virgin Islands Off the grid at This is the spot for a totally This private island is the It’s super secluded too, Hermitage Bay Antigua Kamalame OTT friends or extended- new Polynesian paradise, tucked into a quiet cove SHOWERS, AND Cay in the family getaway, with seven with 25 villas set among surrounded by coconut and Hotel Esencia Playa del Bahamas. bedrooms that sleep 22 coconut trees and tropical fishtail palms. AFTERNOON Carmen, Mexico Hôtel Le Toiny St. Barts NAPS Insólito Boutique Hotel Búzios, Brazil UNDER A Jumby Bay Island Antigua Kamalame Cay Bahamas PALAPA Malibu Beach Inn Malibu, Calif. Malliouhana, An Auberge Resort Anguilla Some beaches make you Ocean House Watch Hill, R.I. want to wear a Valentino dress to dinner, One&Only Palmilla San while others require little more than José del Cabo, Mexico a bikini and a cover-up. Here, the properties The Resort at Pedregal Cabo San Lucas, Mexico we love that satisfy every Jamaica beach fantasy. Rockhouse Rosewood Mayakoba Playa del Carmen, Mexico Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa Trancoso, Brazil lettering by TANYA DESELM From left: Photographs by Yolanda Edwards; Adrian Gaut GOLD LIST > BEACHES ALL ABOUT THE DAYTIME SPRITZ & WINE WITH LUNCH Belmond Grand Hotel Hotel Santa Caterina Timeo Taormina, Italy Amalfi, Italy Etched A requisite stop on the improbably into the side 19th-century Grand Tour, of the mountain overlook- the flawlessly renovated ing the Amalfi Coast, it’s hotel adjacent to the ancient refreshingly old-school, with Greek theater overlooks brochure stands at the the Bay of Taormina and an front desk and the kind of active Mount Etna in the honest food you want to eat distance. in this part of the world. Belmond Hotel Splendido Il San Pietro di Positano Portofino, Italy A La Dolce Italy Still the sexiest Vita fantasia overlooking place to stay on the Amalfi Portofino’s harbor, with Coast, full stop. walls lined with photos of Le Sirenuse Positano, Italy Hollywood legends who’ve Almost every memorable passed through and a gen- Instagram image of teel bar, manned, for the Positano’s rooftops, domed past 47 years, by Antonio. church, and deep-blue curve Borgo Egnazia of the Mediterranean was Savelletri di Fasano, Italy shot from the light-flooded Possibly the loveliest break- deck here. fast buffet, with every Maçakizi Hotel charcuterie and cheese you Bodrum, Turkey could want, and access At this little-known to super-in-the-know local treasure it’ll be just you advisers (instead of con- and beautiful Turkish mod- cierges) who can point you els and actors you won’t to the most authentic orec- recognize sunbathing and chiette con le cime di rapa. taking dips in the Aegean. Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, Masseria San Domenico a Four Seasons Hotel Saint- Savelletri di Fasano, Italy Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France Caught-in-time yet Classic Côte d’Azur glam totally on point, with with the best pool scene monogrammed mus- ever—dedicated sunglass tard-yellow towels, an inti- desmudgers, an enormous mate three-stool pool saltwater pool absent bar set around an olive tree, any lap swimmers, and and simple alfresco the plushest blue-and-white lunches of grilled sardines striped towels. and tomato salad. Hotel Il Pellicano Porto Ercole, Italy A morning swim followed by poolside tanning and Aperol spritzes WANT MORE TRIP takes you right into cocktail INSPIRATION? hour. It’s like living in a Slim CNTRAVELER.COM Aarons photo. GOLD LIST > SAFARIS FOR the LOVE of... BEING LULLED TO SLEEP BY THE SOUNDS OF GRUNTING HIPPOS A few nights in the bush are going to be memorable no mat- ter what, but the right prop- erty—in a spot-on location with expertly trained guides, good community relations, and spaces that enchant during the idle hours between game drives—can make your trip life- changing. What comes to mind are places that plunk you into IMAX-like ecosystems, such as the sleek andBeyond Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge on Botswana’s lush delta, home also to the new Duba Plains Camp, whose tented Jack’s Camp in Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans. Photograph by David De Vleeschauwer GOLD LIST > SAFARIS > MOUNTAINS suites have the copper-tub- chic expedition style of its gold-standard sibling, Zarafa Camp. Or Jack’s Camp out in the Makga dikgadi Pans, with an Oriental-rug-lined tent surrounded by desert so silent you can hear your own thoughts. For deck view- ing, there’s Jamala Madikwe in South Africa, whose five villas overlook a water hole with more wildlife than you’re likely to see on a drive, and Somalisa Camp in Zim- babwe’s Hwange National Park, where herds of elephant guzzle from the pool. You can’t stay at Sirikoi Lodge, with its family-gathered heirlooms, without feeling linked to the land’s history—and to its future, thanks to the excep- tional rhino conservation work on Kenya’s Lewa Wild- life Conservancy. Segera If you are a die-hard American or Retreat, with its contempo- FOR Canadian Rockies skier who can lean rary African art collection, into chili and beer for a week, there makes you conscious of the the is little incentive to ski any other part continent’s shifting identity, of the world. (A direct flight to Salt and lodges like Bisate in LOVE Lake City, plus the 40-minute drive to Rwanda connect deeply with Montage Deer Valley in Park City, the local community, for of... with its ski-in/ski-out primo positioning, whom safari tourism presents is about as frictionless as this most fric- a new economy beyond tion-filled sport gets, whereas the newly subsistence. Then there are FRESH renovated, historic Hotel Jerome in the places that completely Aspen taps into our cowboy fantasies.) channel the soul of their sur- AIR, That is, unless you’re a sucker for the roundings. Consider old-world charms, historic lodges, Tanzania’s Mwiba Lodge, FRESH POWDER, and après-ski culture of the Swiss, where lions sunbathe on giant Austrian, and Italian Alps like we are. stone kopjes nearby; Mikeno In St. Moritz, Badrutt’s Palace Hotel Lodge on the smoking crater AND and Kulm Hotel, which are both on the of a volcano, beside which lake, and Suvretta House, which is mountain gorillas thrive in FONDUE the one resort that has its own lift next the forests of the Democratic to the property, tick every box in our Republic of the Congo’s fairy-tale Alpine dreamscape. As does Virunga National Park; and AT 10,000 Gstaad Palace in Gstaad. Singita Pamushana Lodge in Zimbabwe and its sweeping FEET views that remind you exactly why you came to Africa. Pre-après-ski at Kulm Hotel in St. Moritz. photograph by MATT HRANEK GOLD LIST > WINERIES > LAKES Auberge du Soleil FOR the of... FOR Napa Valley, Calif. LOVE I the Babylonstoren A ROOM Simondium, South Africa NEVER ON A LAKE Borgo San Felice THOUGHT LOVE GRAND HOTEL Tuscany, Italy of... SLEEPING A VILLA Calistoga Ranch, An FELTRINELLI Lake Garda, Italy Auberge Resort IN A It’s like staying at the lake FINALLY Napa Valley, Calif. house of that rich, old Italian aunt with incredible The Farmhouse Inn taste you always wished UNDERSTANDING Sonoma, Calif. IN you had. WHAT La Grande Maison THE Bordeaux, France MIDDLE GRAND HOTEL MAKES La Residence TREMEZZO Franschhoek, South Africa OF Lake Como, Italy Stick to the renovated A SUPER Les Sources de Caudalie A HISTORIC classic lakefront rooms Bordeaux, France HILLTOP (versus the less-successful TUSCAN “modern” rooftop suites), São Lourenço do Barrocal VILLAGE the lounge chairs above Monsaraz, Portugal the pool area, and the SO WOULD bar-restaurant on the ter- Six Senses Douro Valley race, and you might believe SUPER Lamego, Portugal BE the house Riva is yours.