The Great Marrakech Makeover

For memorabilia hunters, the auction on May 24, 2009, at Marrakech’s Palais des Congrès was a bonanza. The 5,000 items on the block—chandeliers, carpets, bathroom fixtures, monogrammed tableware—had until then graced one of the world’s most celebrated hotels, and speculation abounded over which head of state might have splashed in …

Golf: Winds of Change

Frank Rainieri and Tom Fazio are a perfect twosome. Rainieri, CEO of the Puntacana Resort & Club in the Dominican Republic, dreams of making his property the Caribbean’s top golf and beach resort. Fazio, the renowned golf architect, says he "helps people fulfill their dreams." With the opening of Puntacana’s …

A Cape Cod Upgrade

The Wequassett Resort and Golf Club is tucked away among 27 acres of salt marshes and woodlands on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with spectacular views of Pleasant Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. At the centerpiece of its recent million renovation is the Signature Collection, a series of suites with lavish …

Glenmere

After four years of renovations, the Glenmere estate in New York’s Hudson Valley opened as a resort in January. The heart of the 150-acre property, located 50 miles north of Manhattan, is a 1911 Tuscan-style mansion that once belonged to American financier Robert Goelet.
Glenmere’s developers kept the home’s original …

San Lorenzo Mountain Lodge

The Sawtoothed peaks of the Dolomites surround San Lorenzo Mountain Lodge, a 16th-century maso (South Tyrolean farmhouse) that opened to guests in December. The former hunting lodge—set on 42 forested acres above the Italian town of Brunico and across a valley from the Kronplatz ski resort—underwent a two-year, .9 million …

Fairmont Beijing

Japanese architect Paul Tange, son of architect Kenzo Tange, describes the shape of the Fairmont Beijing as "symbolizing a gateway to modern China." The younger Tange’s portal to the present, however, draws from the past: The 25-story, rose-glass-clad hotel recalls ancient Chinese city gates—erected to keep out foreigners—and presents a …

Journeys: Making a Stand

San Onofre in South Orange County, Calif., is an ideal break for novice surfers because of its mostly gentle and consistent waves. Occasionally, however, the spot—located just up the shore from a nuclear power plant—becomes a raging monster. It was here, during a hurricane in 1939, where George "Peanuts" Larson …

Travel: Railroad Royalty

Great Britain’s colonial legacy in India is a controversial subject, but few would question the infrastructural contributions the British made to the subcontinent—namely the 28,000 miles of railroad track that was laid by the early 1900s. A century later, the rail system is one of the largest in the world, …