Forget the luxury suite in an otherwise accessible palace. The world’s most expensive hotels are private islands and exceptional resorts where even the cheapest night is extreme. Here are the addresses where you pay the price of a car for a few nights, and what justifies it.
Banwa and Velaa: When You Rent the Entire Island
In the Philippines, Banwa Private Island is regularly named the most expensive resort in the world: its villas start around $3,650 per night, but the entire island can be privatised for $100,000 per night for around fifty guests. In the Maldives, Velaa Private Island, funded by a co-founder of Red Bull, offers the archipelago’s only golf course and can be rented exclusively for up to a million dollars a week.
North Island, the Royal Dream of the Seychelles
With only eleven villas, North Island has a starting price of around $6,000 per night, excluding taxes, and was chosen by Prince William and Kate Middleton for their honeymoon. The largest villa costs over 13,000 euros per night.
Laucala and The Brando: Islands of Legends
In Fiji, Laucala Island, formerly owned by the founder of Red Bull, has only twenty-five villas on 3,500 acres, starting at around $5,000 per night, with an eighteen-hole golf course and an organic farm. In Polynesia, The Brando occupies the atoll of Tetiaroa, once dear to Marlon Brando: the first Polynesian property certified LEED Platinum, it is air-conditioned using deep lagoon water, starting at around $3,000 per night.
Nihi Sumba, the Wildest Island
In Indonesia, Nihi Sumba has been voted the best hotel in the world multiple times by Travel + Leisure. It features a private surf break, and its horses gallop on Nihiwatu beach. Villas start at around $1,420 per night, excluding taxes, but the private Raja Mandaka estate costs over $16,000.
Maldives: Overwater Villas and Slides
In the Maldives, Soneva Jani invented the overwater villa with a slide plunging directly into the lagoon and a retractable roof for sleeping under the stars, starting at around $4,500 per night. Nearby, Cheval Blanc Randheli, the LVMH hotel brand designed by Jean-Michel Gathy, boasts forty-five villas and an island Guerlain spa.
The Luxury of the Inaccessible
Private island, overwater villa, or legendary retreat, these resorts share the same promise: that of a closed, rare world, where price is no longer an obstacle but a barrier. True luxury here is being able to enter it.
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