5 Luxe Experiences We’d Book if Money Were No Object

Looking to speed up checking off that bucket list? Four Seasons recently debuted an experience to end all travel experiences: a 24-day round-the-world trip via their own private jet. Over the course of a month, you'll fly to major stopping points across three continents and stay in some of the brand's most luxurious properties (think Four Seasons' Safari Lodge Serengeti or Lion Palace St. Petersburg). Itineraries might read like Bora Bora-Sydney-Bali-Chiang Mai-Taj Mahal-Dubai-Prague-London or Seattle-Kyoto-Bali-Seychelles-Rwanda-Marrakech-Bogota-Galapagos Islands-Orlando. The damage: a cool $147,000 per person.

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Solo travel has its moments, but for those who prefer to share the travel wealth, it doesn’t get much better than chartering a yacht bound for paradise. Sails aboard the two-mast Dunia Baru ply the Mergui Archipelago, south of Myanmar—a tropical utopia of 800 islands home to coral reefs, pink beaches, Nomadic Moken sea gypsies, and Komodo dragons. For five nights ($6,575 per person based on 14 guests), you’ll track the prehistoric creatures, hike volcanoes, go night diving, visit local villages, swim with whale sharks, and relive your adventures over open-air dinners on the deck with your BFFs.

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Antarctica, that final frontier, is out of reach for even the most dedicated travelers. Those 620 miles between it and the nearest outpost (Ushuaia, Argentina), not to mention the required mode of transport (typically large ships built to withstand the Drake Passage's surging seas), mean costs can be as extreme as the continent itself. But to step foot on lunar-like ice fields, waddle with penguins, sail through glacial lagoons, and spot migrating blue whales are moments worth saving up for—especially considering only about 30,000 travelers arrive by cruise a year (while only 300 make it to the interior). White Desert has honed the adventure into to an art form: for $92,500 per person a week, a private jet will whisk you and 11 other guests from Cape Town to the South Pole where "the most remote hotel on this planet" awaits. Here, dome-like pods house stylish rooms outfitted with fur throws and mid-century modern furniture; days include excursions to ice tunnels and emperor penguin colonies and end with three-course meals and wine pairings flown in from South Africa.

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As if Vancouver Island’s Clayoquot Wilderness Resort weren’t already adventure enough, why not take it one step further? For $3,500, guests can book a one-night safari-style adventure at Cloud Camp, a settlement perched 4,500 feet above sea level on a rocky outcrop overlooking Clayoquot Sound. A maximum of four guests are delivered by helicopter and spend the rest of their day on a guided hike around the nearby mountain lake before a five-course dinner with wine pairings prepared by a private chef. At night, guests retreat to plush white canvas tents, complete with four-poster beds and cozy fireplaces.

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Will and Kate famously cashed out to honeymoon on this private island resort in the idyllic Seychelles. The rates to stay here—$7,550 for one of the 10 presidential villas or $11,900 for Villa 11—were meant for the privileged few, but thankfully, that price gets you absolutely everything. What that entails: food, drinks, and cocktails; scuba diving and snorkeling lessons at nearby dive sites; and all activities (think kayaking, surfing, excursions to La Digue and Mahé, sunset cruises, and daily morning yoga). Have a dress you’d like steamed before dinner? They’ll do your laundry. Hoping to rejuvenate that sun-and-sand fatigued skin? A complimentary treatment at the spa is included for every guest. Don’t want to ruin your new Gucci sandals? One “North Island Buggy” is dedicated to every villa.

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