The far horizons
Picturesque hideaways offer splendid isolation.
Vatuvara Private Islands, Lau Group, Fiji
A relatively remote but intriguingly accessible hideaway with just three villas and a complement of staff worthy of a full-fledged resort. This is Kaibu, the centrepiece of the Vatuvara cluster of neighbouring private isles, reached in about an hour by private plane north from Fiji’s gateway of Nadi. The abodes on the island’s sheltered lee side all come with private pool, comfortably furnished sea-facing terrace and adjoining massage and yoga bure. A mantra of “conscientious luxury” refers mostly to sustainability and marine stewardship but also to a certain restraint that suggests you are in a holiday home and not a gold-plated palace. There’s no sense of studied chic in the design but cushioned cosiness and space, textiles patterned with shells and coral, woven mats and artefacts that hark back to the South Seas plantation era of the Fijian islands. Each villa has a sturdy electric golf cart on hand so plonk on the provided beachcomber straw hat and just tootle about.
Pause for lunch at Jim’s Bar and Grill, which serves delightfully healthy meals and spanking fresh seafood by a white-sand scoop of bay. Jim refers to Jim Jannard, the billionaire founder of the Oakley eyewear and sports gear behemoth, and game-changing RED Digital Camera technology. For the 324ha Kaibu and its satellite isles are his, a playground he shares with elite travellers who want to dress down, chill out, potter about and play at an organic certified four-hole golf course that comes, unsurprisingly, with its own resident pro.
Susan Kurosawa
Sanctuary Chief’s Camp, Botswana
For many of us, the movie Out of Africa provides the ideal safari model; just you (or me), the veldt and Robert Redford with nary a tourist in sight. In these days of mass tourism the reality is somewhat different, although the remote Chief’s Camp deep in the Okavango Delta comes close. Twice-daily game drives pass without us spying another vehicle or another soul, quietly tracking rhino, splashing across croc-infested rivers, enjoying a G&T beside a lagoon where hippo attempt some fairly flimsy disguises, as rocks or by donning water lily toupees and making like a chorus line. The “camp”, and I use this term loosely, is 25 minutes by light plane from Maun, then a long, dusty drive through the bush. Dream project for safari pioneer and Abercrombie & Kent founder Geoffrey Kent, Chief’s was rebuilt two years ago; 10 enormous thatched pavilions complete with luxury bathrooms, and plunge pools fan out from a central lodge built around jackalberry trees and cantilevered over the wetlands. The digs are posh and barmen George and Duma might make a mean martini but this remains a wild, off-the-grid outpost. A stroll to breakfast is interrupted by an elephant’s rear end poking out the kitchen door. And when roaring lions keep you up at night there’s no dialling triple-0, just a bedside walkie-talkie and emergency horn. Cue Robert Redford.
Christine McCabe
Sasayuri-ann, Nara, Japan
Tetsuji Matsubayashi’s dream to rewind the clock on modern Japan is partially realised in the sibling villas of Sasayuri-ann. Perched on a mountainside dense with cedars, overlooking the rice-terraces of tiny Muro village in eastern Nara prefecture, is meticulously restored Zao, a 200-year-old thatched-roof farmhouse that sleeps seven. Nearby Ozuno, named after the founder of Shugendo (esoteric nature worship) and fronted with a garden of Zen tranquillity, is ideal for two or four guests. Contemporary kitchen and bathroom facilities are welcome inclusions. Dissipating dawn cloud cover reveals spectacular alpine scenery and extensive trails for biking or hiking to the sacred Akame 48 waterfalls. Optional cultural or farming dalliances provide a gradual step down to gentler adventures in reading, meditation and tub-soaking. Those fascinated by history or metaphysics will delight in local lore and should jump at any opportunity to join the transcendental fire ritual of this so-called birthplace of Ninja. Uda, the closest town, is a steep 15-minute drive and, conveniently, just one hour from the city of Nara by express train. For ultimate privacy rent a car, or book a chopper, and self-cater; however, an organic dinner expertly cooked over your private hearth as you stargaze from the tatami matting, listening to the haunting strains of bamboo flute music, is nothing short of magical.
■ stayjapan.jp/ZAO/PC/index.html
Jane Lawson
Estancia Colome, Molinos, Argentina
There are nine of us watching the introductory video before entering the James Turrell Museum at Estancia Colome. On screen the establishment’s owner, Swiss businessman and art collector Donald Hess, tells of his pitch to the American light artist Turrell of building a museum dedicated to him in Argentina. Turrell is thrilled and has always loved Buenos Aires, he says. Well, not BA, explains Hess. If you fly two hours north to Salta, then travel for hours up winding, unsealed mountain roads with hairpin bends (dodging goats and llamas, as we discovered), to the tiny town of Molinos and a final 30-minute drive through the desert on dirt roads with only cacti for company, then you’ll find the place. “Well ...” Turrell reportedly said after a pause (and I’m paraphrasing), “I suffer to make my art. It’s only right that others should suffer a little to see it.” Thankfully the journey is well worth the dust and even the flat tyre. Also at Colome is one of the oldest vineyards in Argentina, and some rather fine malbec. The terracotta-hued estate boasts only nine spacious and beautifully appointed guestrooms, with private terraces overlooking gardens and vines. Given the otherwise desolate surrounds beyond its stone walls, Colome is well equipped to keep guests amused for a couple of days, or a longer retreat if you really want to escape. There’s great food, a swimming pool, yoga room and plenty of opportunities for wine-tasting. If you want a gourmet escape with a dash of adventure, and can hire a car with maximum grunt to get there, this could be your getaway nirvana.
Glynis Traill-Nash
Travaasa Hana, Hawaii
From the deck of my ocean bungalow or rim of my infinity pool at Travaasa Hana, I’m wondering whether the waves crashing into the volcanic shoreline below have come from San Francisco or Tokyo. There’s little else but endless Pacific between these faraway cities and my hideaway at Hana on the Hawaiian island of Maui. These are the pressing concerns that consume my days at this cloistered coastal community, 50km from Maui airport but a world away from 21st-century cares. The three-hour drive here, via dozens of single-lane bridges and hundreds of snaky bends, ensures Hana’s rich rewards are reserved for determined pleasure seekers. Near-empty beaches — including the wild charms of Hamoa and a shoreline that’s yours for the taking — are complemented by Travaasa Hana’s full-service resort with the upscale Preserve Kitchen and Bar above Hana Bay, a spa, two swimming pools and glorious gardens dripping with the exotic orange blooms of African tulip trees. The sense of seclusion is reinforced by the absence of television, radio or a reliable phone signal. Recent renovations have brought the wonders of Wi-Fi to the resort’s 70 guestrooms but think carefully before logging on and losing the renowned “Hana state of mind” that’s been the defining characteristic of this unsung paradise for several decades.
Kendall Hill
Fabriken Furillen, Sweden
When fashion photographer Johan Hellstrom purchased an abandoned limestone quarry on Gotland, Sweden’s largest island in the Baltic Sea, he intended it to be used as a backdrop for commercial shoots and music videos. But the eerie moonscape was too dreamy not to share, and Hellstrom began to mould it into a minimalistic 18-room hideaway that celebrates Scandinavian design.
To reach the hotel on the remote peninsula of Furillen you need to catch a ferry from Stockholm, then drive for about an hour. And if you check into one of the Hermit Cabins — just 8sq m in size and sans electricity and running water — there’s an additional 20-minute cycle. All other accommodations feature luxe furniture and furnishings from the likes of Andreas Forsberg and Mattias Ljunggren, together orchestrating a staggeringly stylish setting of concrete, steel and glass that cuts a dramatic form against a sci-fi landscape of pulverised rock, abandoned freight trains to nowhere and rusted-out cranes. Sheppskult bicycles encourage exploration of this hauntingly beautiful terrain, or you can just pull up a beanbag and watch Ingmar Bergman films projected on to the sides of hulking concrete towers. It turns out the applauded Swedish director liked splendid isolation, too, spending three decades holed up on the neighbouring isle of Faro.
Natasha Dragun
Helena Bay Lodge, New Zealand
This luxury North Island lodge is so secluded, in fact so very secretive, that I can’t find it. I’ve arrived after dark, and though my GPS says I’ve reached my destination, all I see is a sweep of paddock and an impenetrable wall of pine trees. I should have taken the helicopter from Auckland but instead I have flown to Kerikeri (the lodge is also accessible from Whangarei), hired a car and meandered across inlets and bays and through kauri forests blanketing the coast northeast of here. But now in the gloom I notice a Relais & Chateaux plaque; I press a button and the head waiter answers, relieved to hear my voice. But I’m not quite there yet. Now I must navigate a winding, rainforest-draped road, and crest a hill that in daylight would provide me with a luminous view of detached villas curved beside the bay and cupped by 800ha of undulating farmland. Finally I glide down to the lodge where its expectant hosts await. My hire car is now redundant because everything I could possibly need is right here, even produce from the self-sustaining farm, transformed into gourmet offerings by chef Michele Martino as he works under the direction of Italy’s Michelin-starred Ristorante Don Alfonso 1890.
Catherine Marshall
Hoshinoya, Taketomi Island, Okinawa, Japan
Okinawa is far enough south of the main islands of Japan to be subtropical, with a natural environment and culture that’s surprisingly different from the rest of the country. White beaches, teeming coral reefs and lush jungles wait to enthral visitors in the prefecture’s southernmost Yaeyama Islands. Fly to Ishigaki and hop a ferry at the port to travel 15 minutes and hundreds of years back to the tiny “museum island” of Taketomi. Time moves as slowly as the buffalo pulling carts of day-trippers around the sandy paths of the main village. About 360 people live here permanently and there’s limited accommodation, which makes overnighting a rare treat, all the more so in a private villa at the painstakingly perfect Hoshinoya. Bicycles vastly outnumber cars, guardian shisa statuesperch on red-tiled roofs, and coral-stone walls keep out evil spirits and shelter bright hibiscus and bougainvillea. Hoshinoya’s guest pavilions are outwardly traditional and supremely luxurious inside and, since opening in 2012, the resort has become part of the local community, working with the island’s natural dyeing and weaving collectives and arranging lessons for guests. Add astonishingly delicious nouvelle Ryukyu cuisine, a spa, enormous elliptical pool, snorkelling by day and stargazing at night.
Jane Nicholls