The Havannah, Vanuatu
With just six rooms, the Havannah, opened in July 2009, makes you feel like you’re part of the Vanuatu community, but with much more pampering. Staying here, on the northwest part of Éfaté island, also gives you the opportunity to experience real Melanesian village life through excursions the resort will organize for you. Meet the locals of nearby Tanoliu Village who invite you into their homes for laplap, tuluk and coconut milk. Men can even go into nakamal (men’s houses) for kava tastings and to communicate with ancestral spirits through magic stones. Be sure to go on a bushwalk of Moso Island, visit Chief Roi Mata’s Domain and snorkel off Lelepa island, searching for dugongs, cousin to the manatee. But Vanuatu calls on all your senses. Listen for more than 100 local languages and dialects and breathe in the wafts of cocoa. After a fulfilling and exhausting day of Vanuatu adventure, retreat back to the Havannah for a dinner of local fish on the jetty. It’s the luxurious yet authentic way to visit Vanuatu.
Related Photos
Related Content
VIDEO: Take a 3-Minute Escape to the Maldives
In case you haven't seen our July 2013 issue yet, we're all about overwater bungalows right now. Check out this short video of one the best resorts in the Maldives, and get ready for some serious wanderlust.
Micro-resort Planned for Turks and Caicos
Turks and Caicos is poised to score another luxury resort. Grace Bay Resorts is building its first-ever standalone residential villa enclave at the Caribbean hot spot. Dubbed The Residences, the complex will feature custom-designed homes each with a private beachfront.
New Resort set to Open in Roatán
Fans of Roatán are about to get a new resort option for their favorite Caribbean island. Las Verandas Hotel & Villas is planning to lift its curtain on March 1. The resort includes a championship golf course, the Palapa Bar & Restaurant, two infinity edge pools, 1,000 feet of private beach and six villas with Caribbean views.
Time Running Out for Valentine's Day Travel Deals
Jewelry and chocolate is nice. But if you want to seriously get the attention of your significant other, a plane ticket to a tropical destination would make for the perfect Valentine's Day gift. Thankfully, some of our favorite resorts are offering some great deals, but you better hurry: For some of these deals, you'll have to book by the end of this week.
Editor's Pick: The Luxury Hideaway That Rihanna Loves
I’ll never look like Rihanna. But maybe I can enjoy her lifestyle — if only for a moment — at Sandy Lane, the posh Barbados hotel she calls home away from home. What lures her here? For starters, an unparalleled respect for privacy that even includes the installation of underground passageways so Rhi-Rhi never even has to glimpse a bellhop. Then there’s the swanky spa, where I plan to be daubed head to toe in pink clay and, eventually, emerge red-carpet ready. And afterward, just like the Bajan star, I’ll sashay down the marble staircase to the terrace for afternoon tea. But no photos, please. Because ...
If You've Never Slept in an Island Treehouse...
My whole life I’ve wanted a treehouse, a solitary refuge between the in and outside worlds. And now our jeep is inching down the steep driveway toward it. Lights glow from behind the dense canopy, and I glimpse slivers of sharp edges in the dark. My heart races as if on a first date. I’m dropped off at two-bedroom Zing-Zing, and as my attendant, Maggie, gives me the tour, pointing out pristine appliances, a book collection and Dominican red-cedar furniture, I mouth “Oh my God!” over and over. I breathe in the fragrance of Guyanese greenheart, and contentment washes over me. And later, when I perch my pinot grigio on the wood-encased bathtub, slip in and gaze blissfully through floor-to-ceiling windows into Dominican jungle, I feel ...
The New Secret Belize Resort With Nature AND Luxury
I’ve never really been the rough-and-ready outdoorsy type. Truth is, I’d rather go barefoot than wear Birkenstocks; shopping is my cardio; and my favorite trips usually incorporate some combination of butler service, air-conditioning and spa services galore. So Belize — which I’ve always unfairly associated with bare-bones lodges, sweaty jungle treks and creepy-crawlies galore — was never on my travel to-do list. But it turns out that Belize has its share of plush digs, including El Secreto resort. The Ambergris Caye retreat promises 13 slick villas tricked out with contemporary furniture; 400-thread-count sheets; a pillow menu; outdoor whirlpools and showers; and (yes!) air-conditioning. Sounds like the kind of place where even a high-maintenance traveler like me might ...
Underwater Resorts
People have always been fascinated by what is underwater, and now you can literally sleep and eat with the fishes. The Conrad Hilton in the Maldives has an underwater restaurant that can be converted into a bedroom, Dubai is working to build the first five-star underwater hotel, and the Poseidon Underwater Resort is set to soon open. We've gathered up some photos and renderings of where you could soon stay.
Dispatches: Greetings from Paradise Island, Bahamas
My room number has five digits.
As in, room number 11-544. Can I tattoo this number onto my hand? You know, so I can find my room, or simply remember to keep looking for it? I’ve been distracted by a Maya temple, Chihuly glass sculptures, underwater ruins, 12-foot manta rays, shopping malls, slot machines and thousands of smiling kids — slipping and skipping through miles of water slides, rivers and aquariums.
Of course, all this is Atlantis, visionary Sol Kerzner’s take on the mythical sunken city, raised from the depths as a modern-day, semi-sunken resort. Perhaps the world’s most ambitious. I’m here for a travel conference. It’s an odd setting for one. Atlantis is decidedly not the Bahamas, nor travel. It’s a fantasy. A megasize one.
Now, if only I could locate my room in it all ... whoa, a race-car track?!”
Stay Here: Life of Whoa
What does it take to get to a beautiful private island resort? Three planes, a golf cart, and a boat got us to Petit St. Vincent.
Open Floor Plan
I’d say this villa is decent in size. But when I slid two glass doors open, the place was basically down to two walls. The sea and constant breeze became an extension of the villa. I felt like an invisible king on the hill.
Talking Flags
The resort has its quirks. No phones. No TVs. Quiet beyond belief. When I wanted a drink or a towel, I’d raise a yellow flag outside, with a note. A guy would swing by in a Mini Moke, drop off what I requested and disappear.
Outside Life
Only once did I see a boat cruise past the shoreline. I did find two restaurants on the other side of the private island, both within walking distance — or within reach of a Mini Moke with the help of that little yellow flag.
World's Greatest Escapes: Awake in Wonder on the Great Barrier Reef
Sleep in one of the world's natural wonders at Fantasea Reefworld in Queensland, Australia—a boat moored literally on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
