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Luxury Resorts · Islands · Escapes
Islands, lagoons, mountains, deserts and the wild. Guides that tell you what to ask, atlases that tell you when to go.
News from the great resort brands
What is new at Four Seasons, Rosewood and Raffles, chosen and written by the resortris editors.
Four SeasonsBeach Resorts
Photo: Four SeasonsA private island off Belize, 126 acres of Zanzibar beachfront and a first resort in Japan lead the Four Seasons outlook for the coming year.
Read the reportRosewoodDesert Resorts
Photo: RosewoodSet where the desert meets the sea in Los Cabos, the Rosewood resort keeps its Two MICHELIN Keys and now ranks No. 25 among the world’s best hotels.
Read the reportRafflesBeach Resorts
Photo: RafflesBetween a lagoon and the open sea, Raffles brings its butlers and 33 private pool villas to Shura Island on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
Read the reportA great resort is a set of small decisions made well: which side of the island, which end of the jetty, which month, which villa. resortris is about those decisions.
Ten ways to stay
From a single island in the Indian Ocean to a tented suite above the Mara, every resort style has its own rules. Start with the one that calls you.
The resort atlas
In season
37.09° N · 8.25° W
Best: February to May, September to November
31.63° N · 8.00° W
Best: March to May, October to November
1.50° S · 35.15° E
Best: January to February, July to October
6.16° S · 39.20° E
Best: July to October, December to February
4.62° S · 55.45° E
Best: April to May, October to November
24.85° S · 31.60° E
Best: May to October
20.25° S · 57.55° E
Best: May, September to November
19.30° S · 22.90° E
Best: June to October
16.50° S · 151.74° W
Best: May to October
17.75° S · 177.45° E
Best: May to October
46.55° N · 11.85° E
Best: January to March, July to September
39.60° N · 2.90° E
Best: May to September
36.90° N · 25.40° E
Best: May to September
24.60° N · 55.40° E
Best: November to March
22.90° N · 58.00° E
Best: November to March
3.90° N · 73.40° E
Best: December to April
8.55° S · 115.17° E
Best: May to September
46.50° N · 9.84° E
Best: January to March, July to August
6.05° N · 80.22° E
Best: December to April
7.88° N · 98.39° E
Best: December to March
20.63° N · 87.07° W
Best: December to April
10.60° N · 85.70° W
Best: December to April
21.78° N · 72.26° W
Best: December to April
42.86° N · 140.70° E
Best: January to March
Start here
The sun clock
Local time and the height of the sun in all 24 destinations, calculated in your browser from their coordinates.
The sun clock needs JavaScript. Every destination page shows its local time and season.
Editor’s pick · Overwater Villas
A resort’s list of villa categories can run to a dozen names, from beach villa to water villa with pool to a two-bedroom residence at the end of a jetty. Each step costs more, and the names rarely tell you exactly why. Behind almost every ladder sit the same few variables: size, pool, position, view and service. Once you can see them, it becomes easy to judge which upgrade changes your stay and which only changes the bill.
Read the articleThe journal
Generators, jetties, seaplanes, bars and service paths: how to find the noise on a resort map and request a truly peaceful villa.
How links, parkland, desert and clifftop courses play, how wind and turf change the game, what to pack and which landscape suits which golfer.
Twenty-six atolls and one main gateway. How distance, reefs, monsoon currents and local islands shape where to stay in the Maldives.
How to bathe in a Japanese onsen, an Alpine thermal bath or a volcanic pool in Costa Rica, how long to soak and who should take care.
Moon phase, season and twenty minutes of patience: how to plan a desert stay around the night sky and get the most from a dark terrace.
What breakfast only, half board and all-inclusive really cover at luxury resorts, where the small print bites and how to work out which plan pays.
Residences, connecting villas, step-free paths, buggies, celebrations and who pays: how to plan a resort stay for three generations.
Door to piste, ski-in only, a short walk or a shuttle: how to read the claim, check the run home and test it on a piste map before you commit.
From the knock on the tent before dawn to the lions you hear in bed: how a safari day runs, what happens when, and the rules that keep you safe.
Moments
Three short films from the house archive. Each plays once when it comes into view.
Tools
No rankings, no paid placements, no promises a brochure would make. Only the questions worth asking, the months worth knowing and the details that decide whether a stay is merely expensive or truly good.
resortris, Luxury Resorts · Islands · Escapes
