This spring will welcome the inaugural Bottega Gran Fondo to California’s Napa Valley. The celebrity chef, vintner, and ardent cyclist Michael Chiarello will host the two-day celebration of food, wine, and cycling, which will take place the weekend of April 12 and 13. While a long group bicycle ride will be a major part of the experience, the ride will be more for pleasure than competition. To that end, chefs including Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in New York City will have rest stations set up along the…

Mooney Aviation has designed fast, efficient, single-engine airplanes since 1929. But like many aviation companies, Mooney suffered during the recession. Now, after a 5-year hiatus in the production of its aircraft, the company is back up and running at its longtime home in Kerrville, Texas, thanks largely to a recent investment from Soaring America Corporation, an aircraft engineering and design firm in California. The first new Mooney airplane to roll out of the hangar in 2014 will be a four-seat M20TN Accla…

Cartier’s newest triple complication, the Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon, made its global debut last month at the Salon Internationale de Haute Horlogerie. The watch’s vibrant lapis lazuli dial is overlaid with roman numerals in chamfered white gold, lending a three-dimensional appearance that has become a hallmark of Cartier’s fine watches. The first of the watch’s three complications, a 24-hour disk that can track a second time zone, is found at the top of the dial and can be set via a pusher positioned a…

The Shangri-La Hotel, Lhasa, beckons luxury travelers up to the roof of the world.
Why Go: At 12,000 feet, Tibet’s capital city is one of the highest inhabited regions on Earth. The fifth Dalai Lama started construction of Potala Palace, the city’s iconic landmark, in 1645. Today the fortresslike red-and-white UNESCO World Heritage Site, with over 1,000 rooms and 10,000 altars, does not allow the taking of photographs, so you must go see it for yourself. The Shangri-La Hotel, Lhasa, adds considerable five-sta…

The most lavish suites from the Mirage and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas —once reserved as prizes for casino high rollers—are opening to the public.
The Mirage’s collection of suites, called the Villas and the Lanais (from $1,000 per night), include 24-hour butler service (with chef service also available on request) as well as access to a private patio, a heated pool, and a fire pit. On guests’ subsequent visits, the accommodations will be personalized to meet their preferences—everything from beverage selecti…

The gleaming Waldorf Astoria Beijing, a newly built bronze jewel box, shines near the high-end Wangfujing shopping district. 
Why Go: From Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, Beijing holds some of the world’s most high-profile attractions. The city is also bursting at the seams with hidden gems off of its narrow hutong streets. The 12-story Waldorf Astoria is an attraction in and of itself, with contemporary Chinese–style interiors by Yabu Pushelberg and an extensive collectio…

Typically, Richard Branson’s Necker Island must be reserved in its entirety for one group. Later this month, however, the 74-acre private-island resort will host a seven-day Celebration Week package, in which all of the property’s 15 authentic Balinese-style rooms can be booked individually. Accommodations include the six one-bedroom Bali Houses, three of which offer sweeping cliffside views of the Caribbean Sea, and the nine rooms, each with an en suite bathroom, within the new Great House, which reopened las…

New Ravenna Mosaics, known for its hand-cut glass and stone tiles, launched a new pattern in February. The Houndstooth Collection gives the historic duo-tone motif a contemporary feel while paying homage to the designer and founder Sara Baldwin’s Scottish heritage. The collection’s four variations, which start at $155 per square foot, include a classic black-and-white colorway made from jasper and alabaster. Additional options are crafted from gold- and ruby-colored glass, purple amethyst and rose quartz, and …

Pangolin London, a sculpture-only gallery located just east of Regent’s Park, is re-creating a series of Britain’s Arts Council touring exhibitions from the 1940s and ’50s entitled Sculpture in the Home,which was an endeavor to spark interest in art for post–World War II domestic interiors. Pangolin London’s contemporary rendition of Sculpture in the Home, taking place April 9 through May 17, will feature three mock interiors created by British designer Amelia McNeil; Pangolin London’s director, Polly Bielecka…

From now until April 20, the St. Regis Aspen Resort is offering guests a travel package that entails a four-night stay at the resort highlighted by a day of heli-skiing fresh powder in the Colorado Rockies. Since the 1960s, heli-skiing has offered adventure seekers easy access to nature’s most remote summits and pristine slopes. For this adventure, which is led by the pros at Telluride Helitrax—one of Colorado’s leading companies for helicopter skiing and snowboarding—participants will begin the day with a 40-…