There are places that make you question why you ever settled for ordinary vacations, and Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island is one of them. This nine-suite retreat sits at the foot of two volcanic peaks that tower over the world's southernmost coral reef, on an island so pristine that …
Somewhere in the Charente countryside of southwest France, on a 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) estate of forests, lakes, and open pastureland, there is a tennis court floating on a pond. There is also a 13th-century castle tower where you can sleep beneath a glass ceiling and look up at the stone ribs …
There aren't many places where you can soak in an outdoor hot spring while gazing at Mount Fuji, then drive three laps around a world-class race circuit before dinner. The Fuji Speedway Hotel, which opened in late 2022, occupies a unique patch of Shizuoka Prefecture where Japan's highest peak looms …
There's a moment, sometime between your first glass of Pessac-Léognan and your third hour of doing absolutely nothing by an indoor pool, when Les Sources de Caudalie stops feeling like a hotel and starts feeling suspiciously like someone's very beautiful home that you've been allowed to borrow for a few …