Tropical beverages were the topic of conversation during most of the 90-minute drive from Kauai’s Lihue Airport to the St. Regis Princeville Resort. My driver, John, whose wife had worked at the former Princeville Resort’s pool bar for 14 years, had much to say about the property’s recent changes. "She …

Cheryl Jacobs, spa director at Manhattan’s Surrey hotel, believes an elite spa experience means a discreet one. "A lot of private information is exposed before, during, and after a treatment," says Jacobs, who joined the Upper East Side hotel in January to launch its new spa. "I think our clients …

Under a patch of land in the remote wilderness of Western Australia, geologic conditions produced just the right amount of nitrogen and heat to create pure and exceptionally clear yellow diamonds. Some of these stones recently surfaced in a jewelry collection from Tiffany & Co. The new line features cushion-cut …

The Castello di Vicarello, a 12th-century medieval castle in Italy’s Tuscany region that has been transformed into a seven-suite hotel, is offering its entire property for rent the week of November 21–28 at a special discounted rate. The guests are invited to experience Thanksgiving in Tuscany on Castello’s expansive 60 …

Tom Fazio counts himself among the fortunate few whose passion and profession are perfectly aligned. "My hobby happens to be golf," says the 65-year-old course designer, whose nearly 200 layouts include Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Pinehurst Nos. 4 and 8 in North Carolina, and Fallen Oak in Mississippi (site …

The Resort: Just 90 minutes by car from Dubai, Six Senses Hideaway Zighy Bay in Oman seems worlds away from the Las Vegas–like emirate. The resort combines elements of an intimate, rustic fishing village and those of a contemporary vacation-home community, with 82 villa accommodations strung along a beachfront site …

The Resort: Eichardt’s Private Hotel dates to 1859, when William Gilbert Rees, cofounder of the city of Queenstown, New Zealand, renovated the woolshed on his lakefront homestead and opened it as an inn for gold prospectors. Far from Rees’ original vision, Eichardt’s today features five hotel suites with fireplaces and …

The Resort: Designed to resemble an opulent Polynesian village, the St. Regis Bora Bora Resort consists of 100 over-water and beachfront villas surrounded by a turquoise-blue lagoon. Bora Bora’s main island is just 15 minutes away by boat, but most guests are happy staying put at this multi-island resort, where …

The Resort: Pink lounge chairs and umbrellas dot the crescent-shaped beach at Sandy Lane, a 113-room Barbados resort that dates to 1961. In addition to a beach club—which offers kayaking, banana-boat rides, and other water sports—the resort features a tennis club with nine courts and a golf club with three …

The Resort: No one will oblige you to do much of anything on North Island. The 519-acre private-island resort—reached via a 20-minute helicopter ride from Seychelles International Airport—immerses guests in a blissfully isolated atmosphere where the urge to remain sequestered in a beachside villa is hardly unusual. Still, the Indian …