Top 5 luxury travel gifts for the holidays

by Melanie Nayer on

‘Tis the season of giving! Whether you’re looking for something that sparkles or maybe just something to set the mood, we’ve found a few things sure to please any intrepid traveler (especially those with a taste for the finer things). Of course, it might cost you a little extra, but isn’t the excitement worth it? We think so, which is why we’re naming our top five luxury travel items for the holidays:

The Oscar de la Renta iPad clutch in Red Python. Why should anyone with an iPad not have a designer iPad clutch to keep it safe and fashionable? It’s a logical question and we turned to our friends at Oscar de la Renta for the solution. The iPad clutches come in a few various colors and styles, but the red python certainly makes a statement. At $390, your iPad will be safe in the comforts of luxury.

LUXE Bespoke Travel Guides. Heading to a new destination and need a new guide? Go luxe! With LUXE Bespoke, you can choose your own exquisite handcrafted box and select from our range of 31 LUXE City Guides to fill it, making a truly personalized gift. The LUXE Bespoke Box in Red Velvet holds 5 LUXE City Guides and comes embossed with the gold LUXE logo. LUXE prices range from $55 to $125 (excluding gift wrap) + Shipping.VIP Las Vegas Experiences. If you’re going to do Las Vegas, you might as well do it in style. Total Experiences is offering an “Ultimate Holiday Gift” card that provides lucky recipients with an unforgettable VIP Las Vegas getaway to Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas or Planet Hollywood. This exclusive gift includes two nights’ accommodations, exclusive “Diamond Level” status, elite VIP treatment; $200 food & beverage credit for use at any of Harrah’s Entertainment’s Total Rewards resorts in Las Vegas; Round-trip limo transportation and their own personalized trip concierge to assist with all arrangements. The “Ultimate Holiday Gift” package is available for purchase through December 30, 2010, and costs $899 for stays at Caesars Palace, $749 for stays at Paris Las Vegas and $769 for stays at Planet Hollywood (two-night minimum).

Noise-canceling earbuds from Shure. No one looks good in those big, bulky, black headphones. Sure, they cancel out the noise of the plane (and those aroundyou) but you can do better. Shure’s SE535 noise-canceling earbuds for $500are a much more fashionable way to fly, and you’ll look good, too.

Kelly van Halen luxury travel blankets. Everyone likes to be comfortable in flight, and Los Angeles interior designer Kelly van Halen has just released a new line of luxury travel blankets available exclusively at Fred Segal. The Kelly Van Halen Cashmere Travel Blankets are 4″x6″ and made of 2-ply cashmere. For $425, you can choose your color: black, charcoal gray, heather gray, chocolate brown, red, peony, light pink, blue, ivory and orange. (We’re partial to the ivory and red, but the options really are endless).

OK luxe-lovers… we’ve armed you with a few of our favorites, no go forth and purchase! Remember: a little luxe around the holidays (or anytime of year, really) is always a nice treat.

Daily Pampering: Royalton hotel serves up $495 punch at Forty Four

by Melanie Nayer on

How much would you pay for a good drink? If money is no object (and in Daily Pampering, money is no object), you might consider shelling out more than $500 for a good punch.

Morgans Hotel Group’s Forty Four at Royalton hotel in New York City, and the bar’s all-star team of bartenders known as The Cocktail Collective, created a punch that pretty much beats out any punch Mom used to pour. Comprised of Blue Mountain – 21 year old Jamaican rum, fresh squeezed lime juice, demerara syrup, allspice dram and finished with a dusting of fresh ground Blue Mountain coffee and nutmeg, the punch cashes in at $495 (tip not included).

Forty Four is known for its innovative cocktail menu, which focuses on pre and post prohibition cocktails presented over crushed, cube and freshly chipped rocks of ice. The “Classics” section of the new cocktail menu pays homage to the finest hotel bars from around the globe with cocktails such as the “Hotel Nacional” and the “Vieux Carre”. New “Originals”, created by “The Cocktail Collective”, include dynamic Gin drinks like the “English 75” and the “Hocus Pocus”, and a soothing and witty Rye based contribution called, “The Reconciliation”.

Intrigued? Order up!

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Daily Pampering: Orient-Express launches “Art of Travel” tours through Europe

by Melanie Nayer on

Luxury train operator Orient Express is taking guests on an art journey through Europe, starting in April 2011.

“The Art of Travel” is a series of art tours to Venice, Paris and within England, in conjunction with London’s renowned National Gallery. Guests will learn about the lives of artists such as Canaletto, Bellini, Titian, Veronese, Monet, Rubens, Turner and Constable, all while seeing the places that inspired their work and notable places that house their work today, accompanied by a National Gallery expert.

All tours include at least one night at London’s Goring Hotel and begin at The National Gallery, where a specialist gives a guided introduction to selected masterpieces before the journeys begin. The tours include:
Venice of Canaletto: This seven-day tour gives travelers the opportunity to view Venice through Canaletto’s eyes. Travel from London aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express through France, the snow-capped Alps and northern Italy. In Venice, guests stay at the Hotel Cipriani and trace the footsteps of Canaletto – the artist forever associated with magnificent Venetian views. Trips start at £4,985 (US$8,000) per person.

Venetian Painters: A six-day tour that introduces great masters from Giovanni Bellini and Titian to Veronese. The morning after a tour and dinner at the National Gallery, guests will fly to Venice where they will step back into the Italian Renaissance and explore great sights such as the Doge’s Palace, the Accademia and Ca’ Rezzonica with an expert from the National Gallery close at hand to add depth to all that is viewed. The price of these trips start at £4,320 (US$6,940) per person.

Impressions of Paris: This series of five-day tours focuses on French Impressionism. Guests will trace Claude Monet’s life and will learn about the drama of the birth of a new movement of art – when painters first began painting out in the open air to capture the effects of light. Prices start at £2,990 (US$4,880) per person.

British Pullman: Combining the thrill of a steam-hauled luxury train, complemented by gourmet dining – brunch on the outbound journey and a three-course supper on the return – and delightful scenery, these exclusive tours include Bath’s finest art collections:

  • Collectors and Collecting: This trip is timed to coincide with the reopening of the Holburne Museum in May 2011 following a major project of restoration and extension. Priced at £1,130 (US$1,815) per person.
  • Thomas Gainsborough: This journey focuses on landscape paintings by notable British and European artists including Rubens, Turner and Constable. Priced at £940 (US$1,510) per person.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Daily Pampering: Woodstock Inn & Resort $888 spa packages

by Melanie Nayer on

You can call it a case of crazy 8s, or you can just accept that sometimes Vermont does things a little out of the ordinary, but always well received.

Now through April 28, 2011, The Spa at The Woodstock Inn & Resort will spoil guests with its “Pampered & Great Spa Escape,” offering accommodations for two nights and $888 in spa credit, all for $888. The Vermont luxury spa, which opened in September, is offering this indulgent package for Sunday-Wednesday arrivals in a standard guestroom and $888 of spa credit per room, per stay, based on double occupancy

Housed in a 10,000 square-foot LEED-designed structure, the $10 million new Woodstock Inn spa provides a nature-inspired ambiance and is a celebration of the seasons, which carries through to the full spa menu. Each season, a different signature treatment will take center stage among the extensive selection of year-round spa offerings. For the winter, guests will experience the 100-minute Signature Deep Forest treatment which begins with an exfoliating body scrub and hydrating wrap and ends with a full-body massage. The outdoor meditation courtyard has a sauna, hot soaking pool and a Japanese Lilac meditation tree that marks the passing of seasons. Even on the chilliest days, feet will stay toasty with radiant heating and the warmth from the outdoor fire pit.

What better way to spend the holidays? This daily pampering can be yours for $888 for two nights.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Daily Pampering: Celebrate the holidays on the shores of Lake Geneva

by Melanie Nayer on

The holidays can be a stressful time. To ease the stress La Réserve Genève is offering a special menu of spa treatments for the holiday season from December 1-January 15. And after a day at the spa, celebrate with Christmas Eve dinner or the New Year’s Eve fete, which turns into a DJ-fueled dance party at midnight.

For the spa aficionado, La Réserve Genève is offering the 4-day “Quite an Agenda” package:

The intensive personalized program spa program on the shores of Lake Geneva is based on a preliminary evaluation of your acid-base, stress level, and concentration, as well as an osteopathic analysis and a breathing and cardiac test. Its goal is to combine nutrition, massage, treatments, and sports activity to cleanse the body, and to adopt new life habits so you head home in top shape.

This includes:

-4 hydromassage baths
-2 personalized body wraps
-1 body exfoliation
-1 skin scrub
-2 La Réserve “Better Aging” body massages (80 minutes)
-2 La Réserve “Better Aging” body massages (1 hour and 50 minutes)
-3 personal training sessions
-1 complete slimming/sculpting treatment (80 minutes)
-Daily sports activities (yoga, do in, stretching, Pilates, aquagym)
-Full board with 3 meals per day at Café Lauren (excluding beverages)
-Access to spa facilities

The cost of de-stressing after the holidays? $3230 per person

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