We’re not denying the allure of a hotel, but for group getaways, an exclusive-use villa remains the preferred choice – especially when it’s equipped with all the mod-cons, features, and perks you’re usually accustomed to during resort stays.
Typically armed with a horde of staff – chefs, concierges, housekeepers, and childminders – rental houses act as homes away from home; a place to call a base while you explore new or familiar locales. And given they’re often privately owned, many villas flex when it comes to interesting, thoughtful, and intuitive design.
For your next big gathering – be it the annual best friend vacation requiring a Provençal pad wedged into a rock face, or a family reunion worthy of a sprawling ranch in the wild Great American West – consider booking one of these villas.
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La Bergerie de Calabrun, Provence, France
Shepherd’s huts are often re-spun into glamping accommodation but this is a completely different proposition, well away from the flock. Located in the village of Les Baux-de-Provence, a former shepherd’s shelter has been crafted into a chic hideaway with a design inspired by the colors and textures of the landscape around it — not least the limestone cliff it is set into. Original stone walls are complemented with brushed plaster and reclaimed wood; rooms are decorated with Le Baiser lamps, wicker pendant lamps, and rattan chairs, along with French art, photography, and sculpture from the owners’ collection. It’s a bubble of rural seclusion, with an outdoor pool and terraces overlooking the olive trees and hills of the craggy Alpilles, the region beloved of Van Gogh. Most dramatic, however, is the living room — built into the cliff, with sofas sprawling below the sheer rock face, it resembles a stealth lair from a spy movie. Cave-dwelling has never been so stylish.
Price
Sleeps eight; from £17,054 (approx. $23,530) per week
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Villa Melissa, Corfu
Corfu’s chichi northeast coast is sprinkled with fabulous villas, but this rises head and shoulders above the rest, commanding look-out views over the waves to the Albanian mountains. It’s a world of its own, set across several levels, with terraced gardens leading down to a private jetty, and linked by water that flows all around — splashing from lion’s-head spouts in the courtyard and a waterfall from the infinity pool. The six bedrooms are divided between the main house and a separate guest house, and the whole space acts as a gallery for the owner’s collection of Indian architectural antiques — from the hand-carved pillars in the pool cabana to stone Buddhas in the library. There’s a cinema and gym, but more time will be spent exploring the coast by boat, dropping in on beachside tavernas before heading back for a wellness treatment and cocktails by the pool before dinner under the stars.
Price
Sleeps 12; from £45k (approx. $62,120) per week
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RockRose, Melides, Portugal
Walking through the doors of this just-finished villa, set amid woodland 90 minutes from Lisbon, feels like walking into a sculpture. Its thick walls and floors have been fashioned using earth and other organic materials that glow in the natural light. Decoration is minimal: a mixture of Japanese-style rice-paper lamps, low-slung modernist sofas, and brass furnishings inspired by 18th-century monasteries in the region. Handmade ceramics and artworks by owner Marta Alvim complete the picture. A visual artist and wellness practitioner, she has conceived RockRose as a longevity space — a place of calm and reflection. A water room designed like a Roman bath has its own cold plunge, and there’s a library, meditation area, and walk-in fireplace. A chef can stir up regional recipes using the wood-fired kitchen; for breakfast expect collagen green juices and adaptogenic mushrooms. More than a mere villa, this is a blueprint for living.
Price
Sleeps 10; from €17k (approx. $20,300) per week
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Scaliscro, Scotland
Scotland isn’t just about drafty castles from The Traitors — it’s also home to some impressive feats of modern architecture. Opening in spring, this 10-bedroom loch-side retreat brings something entirely new to the rugged Isle of Lewis: a stylish spin on a traditional hunting lodge. Pride of place is the central Arts and Crafts-style staircase, along with a collection of pieces commissioned from artists invited to stay on the island — a tapestry on one wall was inspired by the sea kelpies of Hebridean legend. It’s gloriously secluded but not isolated. Guests can connect with the wilderness by jet-skiing, paddleboarding, and even free diving for scallops (the private chef can prepare them later). They can also plot out isle-hopping voyages on the Arksen 30 adventure boat, then return for a performance by the Steinway player-piano, a session in the wellness area, or simply a chance to relax in the library with a dram of whisky in hand.
Price
Sleeps 20; from £25k (approx. $34,500) per night, three-night minimum stay
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Le Statue A Marina Piccola, Capri, Italy
Adrift in the Gulf of Naples, the island of Capri has long been a sweet spot for discerning travelers and European aristocracy, who built their villas on secluded clifftops. This particular three-bedroomed specimen on the south coast dates back to the 1930s but has recently been reinvigorated by its new owner, who has spent the past two years restoring it as a showcase for his taste in art and history. A mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder hangs above the sunloungers, a seashell Neptune can be found in the living room, Montelupo ceramics on the walls, and mid-century furniture by Gabriella Crespi and Gio Ponti rubs shoulders with ancient Etruscan fragments set in the stonework. The real discovery, however, is the villa’s Caprese cook, who brings fresh zucchini flowers and mozzarella daily from Naples for feasts taken on the terrace, where guests join busts of Roman emperors for classical views over the Faraglioni rocks and Tyrrhenian Sea.
Price
Sleeps six; POA
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Noam Solta, Croatia
While the Croatian island of Hvar has long drawn in the party-loving superyacht set, those in the know have been slipping away to anchor at the marina on Solta. It’s far more under-theradar, with an easygoing social scene set around waterfront restaurants in limestone buildings dating back to the island’s Venetian days. So it’s easy to see why Noam Bounekala chose it as a location for one of his small collection of discreet villas, all minimal concrete interiors with wooden details and well-chosen ceramics, a sauna and cold-plunge pool, and even an indoor tree for that overgrown bonsai effect. The young, French-born entrepreneur drills down into the details with each client to ensure each stay is as bespoke as possible. That could mean laying on an entire fleet of staff to keep guests happy, or simply a yoga instructor for morning sessions overlooking the olive trees, and a private chef to make the most of freshly gathered scallops, langoustines, and octopus.
Price
Sleeps 16; POA
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Villa Ang, Sweden
About a decade ago, the Treehouse hotel turned heads with its series of imaginatively designed rooms, each set in a lofty arboreal perch of its own, and pinned the small Swedish Lapland village of Harads on the global travel map. Last December, the founders’ daughter, Jenny Isaacson, unveiled the next chapter with the opening of a five-bedroom lodge that offers guests the luxury of total seclusion amid one of Europe’s most pristine wildernesses. Like the hotel, it’s architecturally stunning: an angular timber structure on the outside, with softly lit, pine-clad interiors warmed by fireplaces and showcasing local crafts and culture. Water is drawn from a natural spring; a sauna sits amid the trees. With a chef providing a creative take on local ingredients, and a host to fix everything from lighting the fire to ice fishing on the lake and a personal invitation to a Sami reindeer camp, this is just the sort of next-level forest cabin the Roy family would make tracks for.
Price
Sleeps 10; POA
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Amangiri Villa, Utah
Set deep in the Utah desert – home to ancient petroglyphs, dinosaur fossils in their thousands and the otherworldly rock formations of the Grand Staircase Monument – Amangiri was astonishing when it opened in 2009. Conjured as if by a djinn, it blends into the landscape, its low-lying structures mimicking the tones of the sandstone cliffs behind it; its swimming pool wrapped around an escarpment. Seventeen years later, architect Marwan Al-Sayed has repeated the trick with the first of six private villas – each with six bedrooms and available to rent or buy – stretched out within nine acres of its own desert. The stripped-back interior design, crafted from walnut, cypress and concrete, allows the surroundings to take center stage, with glass walls framing the views. From the swimming pool and shaded loggias, guests can watch as the colours shift and change throughout the day – with all the resort’s experiences at their fingertips, from night-sky sessions with a local astronomer to a heli-yoga class at the top of Tower Butte.
Price
Sleeps 12; POA
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Villa Fayoum, Egypt
When it comes to experiencing Egypt from an upscale insider perspective, Florian Amereller and Zeina Aboukheir are the names to know. Together, they created Luxor’s Al Moudira, a palm-shaded design oasis on the banks of the Nile, along with an exclusive-use 12-room villa, Beit el Nil, on a private bank of the legendary river and a brace of restored dahabiya boats. Their latest opening has taken over a former artists’ residence in the small lakeside village of Tunis, less than two hours from Cairo. Surrounded by desert, it’s a beautifully crafted, calming space with 12 terraced suites, a pool pavilion and a winter garden set around a tiled Ottoman fireplace. The pair have an excellent eye for vintage pieces, gathering Victorian beds and mid-century Arabesque furniture, 1920s lamps, and rugs from Indonesia. Llinens are created by Malaika, the design outfit run by Amereller’s wife, Margarita Andrade. Taken as a whole, it’s an exquisite place to begin or end an Egyptian adventure, with archaeological sites nearby and the famed pottery workshops of the village to pick up artisanal souvenirs.
Price
$3,500 per night
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Villa Infinity, Bel Air, California
At the sunken firepit here, families can gather round enjoying slow-burn views of the Los Angeles skyline in the distance. During the 1950s, Bel Air was one of the epicentres of mid-century modern style, thanks to the boom in pavilion houses by architects such as Richard Neutra. That particular American dream is alive and well in this clean-lined new villa in the Mandarin Oriental collection, with its gallery-like open spaces and floor-to-ceiling windows that flood the rooms with natural light. Patios lead to the infinity pool, while a 78-ft water feature creates drama by the entrance, a collection of big-canvas art lines the walls, and a floating staircase connects the three levels. This being Hollywood, there’s also a movie cinema, along with a wine cellar, gym, and billiards room. By all means sit on the lawn soaking up the Californian sun and watching chem trails over the country club (Bel Air’s, with its 18-hole golf course, is just below), but the dedicated concierge has a raft of ideas up his sleeve, from hiking Franklin Canyon Park to a private Cab Franc tasting at a Santa Monica Mountains vineyard.
Price
Sleeps 10, from $42,900 for four nights
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Trinchera Reserve and Lodge, Colorado
American philanthropist Louis Bacon put the remote Panamanian archipelago of Islas Secas on the travel map when he launched his private-island resort there in 2019, the scattering of casitas accommodating just 32 guests – far outnumbered by the indigenous iguanas. His new opening is a little closer to home. Set across 250 square miles of prairie amid Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains – not far from Santa Fe – Trinchera was bought by Bacon some years ago as part of an ongoing conservation project to protect a vast swathe of habitat. The ranch opens in May, with just 16 rooms equipped with sauna, spa, and cocktail bar, as well as two mountain cabins and the owner’s own four-bedroom house – which comes with an en-suite private lake for fly fishing. Designed by Los Griegos Studio, the main building riffs off Bacon’s collection of zig-zag Navajo and Zapotec rugs and textiles and artworks. Victorian antiques are combined with vintage baskets, ceramics, and other Native American pieces, many of which can be found in the Hemingway Hallway library, alongside a collection of books on the region. But the landscape outside is best studied through one of the scopes in the rooms – or, even better, on a hiking, biking, or cross-country skiing adventure around its forests, meadows and ridges. The Great American West for pioneers with a taste for luxury.
Price
POA
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Meigetsu Aki Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan
With its champagne powder snow, off-trail skiing through well-spaced trees and gourmet aprés-ski hangouts, the Upper Hirafu region is Japan’s version of Aspen, hidden away on its most northernmost island, Hokkaido. Opened in December, this chalet is a rare find: a four-bedroom retreat less than 500 metres from the ski lifts and gondolas, designed for multigenerational stays. It’s been crafted by the Nomura studio, which is known for splicing tech with traditional materials and techniques – here, that translates into the black stone facade, rose-gold accents and curved wooden louvres inspired by fresh tracks on snow. Inside is a speakeasy bar with a shuffleboard table, four bedrooms (with bunk beds for children) and a top floor devoted to wellness, with sauna, cold plunge and soaking tub, as well as a rooftop bar and dining area. Two dedicated chauffeurs ensure a seamless chalet-to-slope experience, as does a concierge who will arrange lift passes and excursions. But it also makes an excellent summer stay, when wild flowers bloom on Niseko’s mountain slopes and the area can be explored by mountain biking, rafting and tree hikes.
Price
From $89,600 per week
How we chose the best villas
Each property featured is independently selected by Elite Traveler’s editors and contributors, informed by first-hand experience where possible and in-depth research where not. Our curation spans the world’s most luxurious properties and in-the-know addresses, chosen for their uncompromising standards, exceptional service, and access to the extraordinary.
