Prestige and glamour are not the only drivers in luxury exploration: clued-up voyagers are seeking genuine discovery.
For much of the past two decades, luxury travel was defined by a familiar formula: the world’s most celebrated destinations and the most prestigious hotels. Today, however, a shift is underway. Travellers are now looking beyond the obvious. Rather than following well-trodden paths, they are drawn to emerging destinations and experiences that offer a genuine sense of discovery. In many cases, the greatest luxury is no longer access alone, but the feeling of being among the first to experience something new.
This shift is also changing how people travel. Smaller-scale experiences are increasingly prized for the access they provide, while hotels are being judged less by size and more by their ability to create a strong sense of place. The most desirable properties are no longer those that could exist anywhere in the world, but those that feel inseparable from their surroundings.
The result is a new era of luxury travel in which the quality of the experience matters as much as the venue itself. From emerging destinations and storied hotels to expedition voyages and unforgettable stays, the winners on the following pages demonstrate that the greatest luxury is still the thrill of discovery.
Destination Estate: Castelfalfi
Spread across 1,100 hectares between Florence and Pisa, Castelfalfi encompasses a Tuscan landscape of its own. The estate brings together a five-star hotel, historic village and working farmland, with a story that reaches back more than 2,000 years.
The hotel has 146 rooms and suites across the main building and La Tabaccaia, a restored former tobacco barn. Private villas are set throughout the hills, while the medieval borgo remains central to life on the estate, with shops, a gelateria and restaurants drawing residents and visitors into the village.
Castelfalfi’s connection to the land is equally important. More than 25 hectares are planted with vines, while 10,000 olive trees produce organic extra virgin olive oil. Wine and honey are also made on the estate. A programme of more than 40 activities allows guests to explore the landscape through vineyard visits, truffle hunting, hiking and other outdoor pursuits. RAKxa Wellness Spa adds a restorative dimension, combining Thai wellness traditions with the calm of the Tuscan countryside.
A deeper relationship with place has become one of luxury travel’s defining priorities. Castelfalfi delivers it through the life of the estate itself, where the village remains active and the land continues to be cultivated around the hotel. That sense of continuity gives guests a richer understanding of Tuscany and the traditions that still shape it.
Longevity and Wellness Retreat: MONADE
Set within Domaine du Manouiyé, a secluded estate in the hills above Saint-Tropez that opened two years ago, MONADE combines the expertise of a medically supervised longevity programme with the quiet luxury of the Provençal countryside. The estate’s residential atmosphere and six hectares of landscaped grounds create a markedly different experience from a traditional medical clinic. Launched in July 2026, MONADE brings advanced longevity medicine into this relaxed and private setting.
Founded by financier and entrepreneur Alon Mahpud and longevity specialist Dr. Harry F. König, MONADE draws on decades of experience in preventive and integrative medicine. König, whose Baden-Baden clinic has treated thousands of patients and attracted a highprofile international clientele, is joined by Dr. Jacques Taxil, former physician to both the Belgian national football team and Olympique de Marseille. Together, they bring expertise spanning longevity medicine, elite sports performance and proactive healthcare.
The approach is highly personalised. Detailed assessments and diagnostics begin before arrival, allowing treatment plans to be tailored to each individual before they reach the estate. Once on site, guests follow a structured programme combining medical therapies, movement, nutrition and restorative treatments, all under continuous medical supervision. Guests also have access to indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, fitness facilities and wellness spaces designed to encourage recovery and wellbeing.
What distinguishes MONADE is the way it brings those elements together into a continuous private health ecosystem rather than a one-off retreat. Health data, lifestyle, nutrition, recovery, emotional wellbeing and long-term goals are considered as part of a single strategy, supported by medical concierge services and year-round follow-up. Members join not simply for a stay, but for an ongoing relationship focused on vitality, resilience and quality of life.
The membership model reinforces MONADE’s wider philosophy. A limited number of Founding Memberships are available to individuals and families seeking long-term access to facilities, programmes and concierge medical services. A separate Residence Membership can be taken by those wishing to enjoy ongoing access to selected services and experiences throughout the year. All memberships are granted by invitation or application, and are subject to approval by the MONADE Membership Committee.
Rather than offering a temporary escape, MONADE has been designed to support long-term wellbeing through a combination of medical expertise, personalised care and the privacy of a members’ club. With future locations, including Lake Como, set to extend the network further, it reflects a broader shift in luxury wellness: from occasional restoration to continuous, highly individualised care.
Longevity Method: Chenot
For more than 50 years, Chenot has been redefining the way we think about health. Way before longevity became a global movement, Henri Chenot challenged the conventional focus on disease and treatment, proposing a different vision: health as a dynamic state that can be actively created, nurtured and preserved throughout life.
Today, that philosophy remains at the heart of the Chenot Method®—a science-led approach that combines advanced screenings, targeted nutrition, regenerative therapies, exercise physiology, sleep science and personalised medical expertise to support the body’s natural capacity to repair, adapt and thrive. Continuously refined through scientific research and clinical practice, the Method integrates insights from modern medicine, physiology, nutrition science and traditional Chinese medicine within one coherent framework.
At its core lies a simple yet powerful principle: ageing is inevitable, but functional decline is not. Modern science has demonstrated that many of the biological processes associated with ageing—including chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, impaired cellular recycling, mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic decline—can be influenced through lifestyle and targeted interventions. The Chenot Method® is designed to activate the body’s natural regenerative mechanisms through a carefully structured programme that combines precision diagnostics, fasting-mimicking nutrition, therapeutic treatments, restorative sleep strategies and personalised movement protocols to promote detoxification, cellular renewal, resilience and physiological balance.
Under the scientific leadership of Dr. George Gaitanos, chief operating and scientific officer of Chenot International and an expert in energy metabolism and human performance, the Method continues to evolve in line with the latest advances in longevity science, while remaining faithful to its founding philosophy: creating health rather than treating disease. At Chenot Palaces, this philosophy finds its most complete expression. Here, medical expertise, screenings, hospitality and nature converge in a transformative experience designed to empower individuals to take control of their future health.
In an era increasingly focused on lifespan, Chenot’s mission remains clear: not simply to help people live longer, but to help people preserve vitality, performance and quality of life at every stage of life.
Global Wellness Brand: SHA
Gone are the days when travel recuperation meant reclining on a sunlounger for two weeks, formidable cocktail in hand. As wellness becomes pivotal to the way people circumnavigate the planet, SHA has evolved from a pioneering Spanish clinic into one of the most recognisable names in global medical wellness. Its strength lies in the consistency of its philosophy: helping guests improve their long-term health through an integrative approach that combines medical expertise, nutrition, movement, healthy ageing and restorative therapies.
The SHA Method is designed to be both clinical and personal. Advanced diagnostics and expert consultations provide the foundation, while personalised nutrition, fitness, wellness treatments and longevity programmes allow each stay to be shaped around the guest’s goals. Rather than treating wellbeing as a short-term reset, SHA encourages a more sustained approach.
That model now has a growing international footprint. SHA Spain, set on the Mediterranean coast near Altea— which Robb Report visited earlier in the year—remains the original reference point, while SHA Mexico has brought the concept to the Riviera Maya. SHA Emirates, planned between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, will extend the brand’s presence to the Gulf, transporting its integrative health model to one of the world’s most influential luxury markets.
What ushers SHA onto this year’s winners’ podium is its ability to carry a highly specialised health philosophy into different settings without losing the personalisation that define the SHA Method. In doing so, it has helped escort medical wellness into the mainstream of luxury travel.
Art Hotel: Ibiza Gran Hotel
The best-known party destination in Europe reveals its cerebral side with this five-star retreat overlooking the marina and the UNESCO-listed old town of Dalt Vila. Surely the Mediterranean’s most compelling art hotel, the property houses more than 400 original works by over 30 contemporary artists, many specially commissioned.
Rather than treating works as merely ornamental —relegating art to corridors and corners—Ibiza Gran Hotel treats the entire building as a living gallery: think monumental installations bringing the soaring atrium to life, captivating sculptures bossing the public spaces, and striking works appearing unexpectedly in suites. Naturally, the hotel’s collection draws heavily on Mediterranean themes, with artists exploring light, sea, nature and the Balearic archipelago’s distinctive spirit through a variety of media and styles. For all serious art aficionados, a private tour of the collection is a must.
The hotel’s design language is serene rather than austere. A palette of whites, creams, pale stone and natural woods offer warmth, texture and a deferential backdrop to the artworks on display. The 150 m² Gran Suite Dalt Vila, a refined, loft-style penthouse overlooking the bay—with the sibling island of Formentera as a focal point—features two bedrooms, with furniture made from local materials such as Binissalem stone and pale oak, and has its own heated infinity pool and solarium.
Elsewhere, a 1,300 m² spa delivers a sanctuary of hydrotherapy pools, thermal experiences and holistic treatments, while Michelin-starred La Gaia’s highlight is chef Óscar Molina’s sophisticated tasting menus, created using the finest Ibizan ingredients.
Yacht Charter Company: Moravia Yachting
In the yacht charter world, the difference between a beautiful holiday and an exceptional one often lies in the work guests never see. Monaco-based Moravia Yachting has built its reputation on precisely that kind of discreet expertise. Established in the Principality in 1962, the brokerage combines long-standing local knowledge with global reach, matching clients with yachts and itineraries that feel entirely personal.
That approach matters in a market where choice has never been broader. The vessels currently on offer range from sleek Riviera-ready yachts to larger superyachts suited to extended family trips or milestone celebrations. Recent highlights include the 55 m Rossinavi Taleya and 48 m Baglietto Andiamo, as well as smaller options such as the 30 m Amer Baccarat and the new 28 m Sunseeker Nigora. Yet the company’s strength is not simply access to desirable yachts. Its brokers begin with how clients want to travel—the pace, atmosphere and purpose of the trip—before shaping the vessel, crew, provisioning and itinerary around them.
What distinguishes Moravia is the precision behind the ease. From quiet anchorages to high-energy Riviera days, the experience is planned in detail so that guests feel only the freedom of being on the water. For a charter company, that is the highest form of luxury.
Luxury Sailing Experience: Orient Express Corinthian
For more than 140 years, Orient Express has been associated with the romance of grand travel. With the 220 m Orient Express Corinthian yacht, that legacy moves onto the water. Built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique for Orient Express Sailing Yachts, the Accor-owned sailing yacht company led by president Philippe Hetland Brault, and under the leadership of Accor chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin, this vessel represents a new vision of travel at sea.
Designed with 54 suites for 110 guests, Corinthian gives ocean life an unusual degree of privacy and space. Interiors by Maxime d’Angeac draw on the visual language of Orient Express, with Art Deco references, French craftsmanship and panoramic sea views shaping the atmosphere onboard. Details such as Le Wagon Bar, with its Lalique lamps, velvet and Art Nouveau influences, connect the vessel directly to the brand’s rail heritage, while suites feature detailing and upholstering reflective of the original Orient Express trains. The accommodation is central to the experience. The largest suite, the Agatha Christie, spans 225 m² and opens onto a wraparound terrace with a hot tub. It includes two bedrooms, marble bathrooms, living and dining spaces, a fitness room and a children’s room.
Onboard, Yannick Alléno oversees a culinary programme that moves from fine dining to an open-air terrace restaurant, with Italian cooking and a seafood counter. Guests can also visit Le Spa by Guerlain, where treatments are performed against sea vistas, or spend time at the marina, library, cinema, theatre or music salon. Corinthian’s three carbon masts, rising to a total air draft of 100 m, create its defining silhouette. From Le Flybridge, guests can take in the scale of the rig as the vessel moves under sail.
For Orient Express, the sea is not a departure from its heritage, but another way to express it.
New Destination: The Red Sea
There was a time when the phrase ‘experiential travel’ meant crossing off sights in a well-thumbed guidebook. How things have changed. Today, a visit to The Red Sea means stepping into a diverse, fully immersive experiential ecosystem—one shaped by a quartet of interconnected brands: WAMA, Akun, Galaxea and ADRENA.
Sustainable water sports and adventure brand WAMA takes guests kayaking through translucent lagoons, paddleboarding across mirror-flat shallows, sailing between island-fringed channels and foiling over coral-streaked blues. Escorting thrill-seekers beneath the surface, Galaxea guides divers and snorkellers through dramatic, kaleidoscopic coral gardens and reef systems teeming with biodiversity, as well as heritage and wreck sites.
Back on terra firma, Akun offers desert trails, hiking and running routes, e-bike tours which trace geological contours, and evenings spent stargazing under some of the clearest skies on Earth. Meanwhile, surf parks, wakeboarding lakes, cliff diving, BMX tracks, zip lines, snorkel experiences and open-air beach culture are all on the itinerary at ADRENA—The Red Sea’s adventure district, whose name is inspired by the words ‘adrenaline’, ‘arena’ and ‘dream’.
All four brands are zealous participants in Red Sea Global’s regenerative tourism drive, which aims to restore and enhance ecosystems rather than merely sustaining them. Coral reef restoration schemes, large-scale marine habitat protection programmes and biodiversity monitoring initiatives are all part of the deal. “Sustainability,” as John Pagano, group CEO of Red Sea Global, has put it, “maintains the status quo, but the world is changing fast. Regeneration dares to make things better.”
Travel and Lifestyle Management: Onelifestyle
For a growing number of entrepreneurs, business leaders, athletes and internationally mobile families, luxury is no longer defined by ownership alone. These days, it is measured in time, access and the ability to experience places and moments that remain beyond the reach of most travellers. That philosophy sits at the centre of Onelifestyle, the Monaco-based lifestyle membership founded by Aude Berlin and Ornella Petrosino.
Rather than operating as a conventional concierge, Onelifestyle acts as a trusted lifestyle partner. The value of the membership lies in access to exceptional places, privileged experiences and highly personalised recommendations tailored to each member. At the beginning of every membership, the team takes the time to understand each client’s personality, aspirations, travel habits and lifestyle.
This may mean securing access to Château de Saran, Moët & Chandon’s legendary private estate in Champagne, for which Onelifestyle is one of the very few agencies internationally able to unlock access, with guests invited to experience the château only once in their lifetime. For others, it may involve arranging a stay at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, where availability is often reserved for long-standing habitués, or curating a bespoke journey aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient- Express, including pre- and post-train experiences or the privatisation of the entire train for a special celebration.
But Onelifestyle also recommends places and experiences far beyond the well-known names, uncovering hidden treasures such as centuries-old private estates on the Ligurian coast, family-owned properties and confidential gastronomic experiences that remain largely unknown to the public.
Whether opening the doors to the inaccessible or revealing a destination’s best-kept secrets, Onelifestyle’s mission remains the same: to preserve its members’ most valuable asset—time—enhance their lifestyle, and create experiences that feel deeply personal.
Beachfront Hotel: D Maris Bay
If you already have a designated ‘happy place’, it has a usurper in its midst: your terrace at a resort which is perched atop a pine-clad hillside on Turkey’s Datça Peninsula, surrounded by white beaches and olive groves, the Aegean and Mediterranean seas blurring into one in front of you. Throw in some diligently executed five-star hospitality, plus some deft architectural flourishes, and a stay at D Maris Bay becomes easily one of the more exceptional destinations for a rejuvenating getaway we’ve come across in the last year.
Made up of low-lying structures which cascade down towards the water in harmony with the contours of the land, D Maris Bay has interiors which continue the theme of unobtrusive restraint, favouring muted stone, pale timber and seawashed tones. Pick of the 196 keys is the 175 m² Presidential Suite, while a 310 m² Private Villa has its own pool, expansive garden, sauna and roundthe- clock butler service.
Across the resort, a rotating art and design programme sits in juxtaposition to the permanent contemporary furnishings, while a collaboration with Dior brings Riviera polish to the poolside experience. Dining is equally wide-ranging, from Zuma’s contemporary Japanese precision to La Guérite’s Côte d’Azur exuberance, Nusr-Et’s tableside theatrics and Aurora Capri’s Italian coastal elegance, all anchored by exceptional local seafood and regional produce.
Wellness and recreation are taken equally seriously: the Mytha Spa draws on Turkish bathing traditions via hammam rituals, exfoliation and restorative olive oil therapies, while tennis and padel coaching caters to all levels. Yacht jaunts, excursions to secluded coves and nearby villages, and a trip to the ancient city of Knidos, are all boxes to tick, but you’ll always be overjoyed to return to a resort which thoroughly deserves its Michelin Key. From around €10,000 per night for the Private Villa
Adventure Retreat: Eleven Experience
To heli-ski Iceland is to experience the sport at its most elemental. On the Troll Peninsula, volcanic ridges fall towards fjords, the snow line seems to meet the sea, and the scale of the landscape makes even the Alps feel familiar by comparison. Eleven Experience places guests at the centre of the drama from Deplar Farm, its 13-room lodge set within a converted sheep farm in the north of the country.
The skiing is what makes the journey extraordinary. From on-property helipads, guests fly into remote terrain, with wide-open lines, long daylight hours and descents that can run from summit to sea. It is a kind of freedom rarely found in more conventional ski destinations.
Yet Eleven’s strength lies in the way it surrounds that adventure with serious comfort. After a day above the Arctic Ocean, guests return to chef-led dining, spa facilities, geothermal bathing and the level of service expected from one of the world’s leading adventure-travel specialists. The result is a retreat that feels both wild and deeply polished—an Icelandic ski experience that could not exist anywhere else. Prices for the 2027 season start from around €4,790 (single-occupancy room); private buyouts start from around €65,860 (12 guests, three-night minimum)
Small-Ship Expedition Company: Aqua Expeditions
For more than two decades, Aqua Expeditions has carved out a distinctive niche in luxury travel, proving that expedition cruising need not come at the expense of comfort. From boutique river vessels exploring the Peruvian Amazon and Mekong River to ocean-going yachts navigating Indonesia, the Galápagos and East Africa, the company has built its reputation on combining immersive exploration with the standards of service and design more commonly associated with a luxury hotel.
This year marks a new chapter with the arrival of Aqua Lares, the newest, and arguably most luxurious, addition to the fleet. The 15-cabin expedition yacht—also available for private charter—takes guests to some of East Africa’s most remote destinations, including the Seychelles, Aldabra Atoll and Zanzibar, before heading north for Arctic expeditions in Svalbard. With just 30 guests and a one-to-one crew-toguest ratio, Aqua Lares embodies the company’s philosophy of intimate, experience-led exploration.
What continues to set Aqua Expeditions apart is its ability to balance adventure with refinement. But Aqua Lares also reflects a broader shift in luxury travel. The company is helping pioneer what it describes as “semiprivate yachting”, allowing guests to experience the intimacy of a yacht charter without the need to hire an entire vessel. The idea represents a modern evolution of the luxury cruise model, one that blurs the line between expedition cruising and private yachting.
At a time when travellers are seeking more meaningful ways to explore the world, Aqua Expeditions continues to set the benchmark for small-ship adventures with a distinctly luxury perspective. Cruises on Aqua Lares in East Africa and the Norwegian Arctic start from around €7,800 for a five-night, double-occupancy voyage; private charter rates from around €333,000 for the full vessel for five nights
Countryside Estate: Chewton Glen
Instagram users may associate Chewton Glen, on the edge of the UK’s New Forest, with Champagne-inthe- hot-tub images taken outside the property’s 14 treehouses. But there’s more to the Hampshire venue than this: especially since design studio Goddard Littlefair oversaw a spruce-up which revitalises, rather than reinvents, a hotel (one of the first English members of the Relais & Châteaux association) celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
The Dining Room, with its sun-drenched Orangery and an adjacent Summer Room, now has a biophiliarich ambience, its leafy botanicals complemented by a colour palette inspired by the venue’s woodland setting. The oak-lined Colonel’s Bar has been converted into a winter-friendly haven replete with swallow-me velvet sofas and crackling hearths. And the hotel’s various Drawing Rooms have been restyled with soothing hues and tactile materials, providing a more contemporary backdrop for afternoon teas that pair oysters with Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée. Should your key—of the 72 in total—be that of the Marryat Suite, your stay will be in a gently ornate, 83 m² space in the main building, overlooking a manicured croquet lawn flanked by the verdant fringes of the New Forest.
Seasonality, provenance and estate-to-plate sourcing characterise executive head chef Luke Matthews’ cuisine. Other diversions include an award-winning hydrotherapy pool, nine-hole golf course, tennis and pickleball courts, archery and coastal walks. But many guests will feel, instinctively, that this is more a place for simply being than doing. From around €2,800 per night for an eight-guest, 167 m² Treehouse Suite; from around €1,730 per night for the Marryat Suite
Lakeside Hotel: Villa D’Este
The only way to arrive at this palatial 16th-century grande dame, on the shores of Lake Como, is the way countless royals, barons, tsars, aristos and grand tourists did in centuries past: by boat. Forget bashful minimalism, or contemporary spins on old-world grandeur: Villa d’Este is no-holds-barred Italian opulence—a place where marble colonnades, frescoed ceilings, gold-hued corridors, silk-clad walls and gilded salons overlooked by Murano chandeliers feel authentically in situ.
The grandeur continues unabated in the rooms and suites, whether in the Cardinal Building or the Queen’s Pavilion, while Villa Garrovo—a six-bedroom, 700 m² private residence with marble fireplaces, antique furnishings, lake-facing terraces and palatial proportions—is the property’s apex accommodation, offering guests a vicarious approximation of life as a Como aristocrat of yesteryear.
Dining, across all three restaurants, is overseen by executive chef Michele Zambanini, whose menus —replete with his own interpretations of traditional Lombard recipes—offer pleasant surprises aplenty even for gourmands who think they know all of northern Italian cuisine’s finer nuances. Elsewhere, the Beauty Center is one concession to modernity, while the floating swimming pool jutting out into the lake, tree-flanked clay tennis courts, and the Mosaic Garden and its Nymphaeum, are other factors to literally write home about.
The phrase “most prestigious hotel on Lake Como” sounds like a preposterously bold claim: but Villa d’Este is certainly a contender.
