The usual villa sales pitch is that it's a home away from home, room for you and your family or friends to spread out and feel at ease. But when you really think about it, that’s not quite what most of us want. Especially when we travel with loved ones, we want to feel like we’re somewhere better than home. We want an upgrade—vacation should be lovelier than real life. That’s kind of the point.
All over the world, there are villas with lavish design, killer views, historic pedigrees and—it goes without saying—supremely competent staffs who handle everything from sweeping floors to selecting wines for five-course dinners. Most of them are completely pleasant.
But what we crave now is individuality and scarcity—having an experience that few others get to. In many circles, quirky is cool. Here are ten places that fit the bill. (I’ve stayed at a few as a guest of the owners.)
Nandana, Bahamas
In the Caribbean, you expect conch fritters, rum punch and a visuals that are either Addison Mizner Mediterranean revival or predictable British colonial. So it comes as something of a surprise to find yourself nibbling Argentine-style beef empanadas, sipping a Napa Merlot, being massaged by a Bahamian curiously named Alpacino and, most strikingly, soaking up an aesthetic that’s straight out of Southeast Asia, all temple rooflines, Thai nagas and Cambodian statuary. Nandana, which has four bedrooms plus a safari-style tent, has a 50-foot yacht for fishing, all sorts of land and water toys, and a 400-bottle wine cellar, but perhaps its biggest luxury is its own private airport with immigration facilities.
Pine Lodge Dolomites, Italy
Opened last year in South Tyrol, this four-bedroom villa is 300 meters from the lifts of Val Gardena and spectacular hiking and biking trails—and near the new Zaha Hadid–designed, much-ballyhooed Messner Mountain Museum Corones, a celebration of the esteemed mountaineer. But it’s the après-sport aspects that make Pine Lodge embody la dolce vita, including an inviting contemporary design, beautiful woodwork by internationally known local craftsmen, a rotating collection of pieces by brand-name artists, a large central fireplace, floor-to-ceiling windows, multiple saunas, an indoor pool, a generous terrace and the services of a private chef and concierges for general needs and also for adventure—the latter a local mountaineer, so you'll want to play outside too.
Luna 2, Bali
The owners of this “private hotel” in Seminyak describe it as a “cosmic launch-pad for shoot-the-mooners.” Luna 2 certainly has a Jetsons (and, sure, jet set) quality, with eye-popping colors, appealingly retro midcentury furnishings (like a tangerine-colored round sofa atop a geometric rug) and Warhol-esque art throughout its five bedrooms and shared areas. Beyond the accolades in Wallpaper and Asia Tatler, the fully serviced villa is more than just a style showplace—it works as a hotel. It’s in Bali, after all. Book through UltraVilla.
Canal Huis 58, Amsterdam
A thoughtfully restored canal house overlooking one of Amsterdam’s prettiest waterways, this exclusive-use home is picture-perfect old Holland: blue Delft tiles, open fireplaces, authentic wooden beams, reclaimed oak floors and antiques, local books and artworks galore. But what distinguishes Canal Huis 58 is that it’s part of the luxury adventure company Eleven Experience, so it comes with one of Eleven’s “experience managers” to arrange urban adventures (from active sports to tours of a private Rembrandt collection), as well as its own bicycles and private canal boat to explore the city.
Villa Manzu, Costa Rica
The name means “friend” in the native Chorotegan language, and the concept is that the staff will make guests feel as if they’re in the home of a longtime friend. That’s not reinventing the wheel, but the team at Villa Manzu, in posh Papagayo, nails it. Staying here really does feel like visiting the home of a friend with very good taste—and about $200,000 to spend on each of the eight bedrooms, filled with exuberant colors, tactile details (lamps made of seashells). The eye never lands on anything that’s less than gorgeous. The managers are a Costa Rica dream team, teaching yoga and surfing, and the chef cooked at Michael Mina in San Francisco and Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton resorts. There are always Nutella brownies in the kitchen.
Casa Grande at Vermejo Park Ranch, New Mexico
A just-completed four-year renovation reclaimed the original glory of this early-20th-century home. It was built as one of the most lavish in northern New Mexico by business magnate William H. Bartlett and recently used as a private residence by Ted Turner, who still owns the place. Historic details include an 1886 Steinway upright. The seven bedrooms are available for individual bookings or exclusive use, and guests can avail themselves of all that’s on offer at the larger Vermejo Park Ranch (590,000 acres, roughly the size of Canyonlands, Zion and Redwood National Parks combined) that it’s part of, especially nature and wildlife experiences through the newly created Ted Turner Expeditions ecotourism venture.
Vila Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro
Away from the tourist districts of Copacabana and Ipanema, this new (opening next month) seven-bedroom “boutique home” is in Rio’s boho-chic neighborhood of the same name, which gives it access to the city’s most interesting shops and restaurants, plus postcard views over Sugarloaf and the cityscape below, especially from the pool terrace. Built in a 1970s modernist mansion, Vila Santa Teresa is the private project of one of Rio’s most notable families, who hope guests will adopt their Carioca lifestyle as their own. Private chefs cook home-style dishes, and the guides are out to deliver experiences that are inaccessible to most visitors—including helicopter jaunts to overnight at the family’s beach retreat in Buzios.
Villa Carneros, California
A vacation in California’s wine country generally implies proximity to vineyards (and tasting rooms and other pleasures of the grape), but a handful of villas are kicking it up a notch, locating themselves smack in the middle of vineyards. One of the loveliest is the five-bedroom Villa Carneros, in the appellation of the same name, set in a 100% Pinot Noir vineyard that produces a few hundred cases of single-origin wines for Attune. The winemaker can give special presentations to villa guests, and Attune Wines maintains a tasting room and demo kitchen on the property. Book through Beautiful Places.
Mykonos EV, Greece
If you think it looks like an Aman resort, that means you’ve been paying attention. This new villa, one of the largest residential estates to sparkle on the Mykonian coast in a long time, is the dream home of the scion of a shipping dynasty. She enlisted frequent Aman designer Ed Tuttle to envision her five-bedroom home that sits on her property of a few dozen acres. Mykonos EV has a miniature movie theater, helipad, basketball court, Jacuzzi and hotel-style services—and, of course, glorious views. Book through UltraVilla.
Valley Trunk, British Virgin Islands
Cool hunters might look elsewhere, but Valley Trunk has much to offer those who want a private enclave with glorious gardens, spectacular views, a secluded beach, a well-practiced staff and a certain retro appeal. The home gives guests a glimpse of life as lived by one particularly well-off family—the eight-bedroom compound was built in the early 1980s as a private home for the Wildensteins, who recently opened it to visitors, sending profits to support black rhino conservation on the family’s ranch in Kenya. Along with the main house and bedroom cottages, the villa comes with a Balinese house—shipped from Indonesia and reassembled here—that’s right on the beach for lounging and meals, and the use of the estate’s 68-foot yacht, at the ready or island hopping.
