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by Felicity Long

Whether a high-end vacation is a matter of course for you and your family or a treat reserved for a special occasion, we presnt Family Travel Forum's 2006 Top 10 Getaways for Luxury Travelers awards.

 

 

 

Top Luxury Golf Resort

Sandy Lane
St. James, Barbados
866/444-4080, (1)246/444-2000
 
There’s a reason fans of Sandy Lane on the western coast of Barbados have included celebrities and dignitaries for generations. Like a proper Mayfair hotel, this is the kind of place where guests are whisked to and from the airport in a Bentley, greeted with a chilled towel, and invited to relax in their villa before an al fresco dinner at the elegant oceanfront L’Acajou restaurant.
 
Guests can also while away an afternoon at the 47,000-square-foot spa, which offers its own Chakra therapy room, complete with a heated marble plinth. The property boasts a retro look with a décor and furnishings that give a respectful nod to an oceanfront destination and its history as a coveted British colony.

And thanks to a complete overhaul in 2001, living spaces are generously sized (averaging 900-square-feet in its 110 guestrooms), unless you opt to stay in the 7,300-square-foot Villa at Sandy Lane, which sleeps 14 and has its own private entrance.
 
Also sought after for its fine Caribbean beach and spa, Sandy Lane’s commitment to golf is clearly not an afterthought. We don’t know if Tiger Woods, who chose Sandy Lane for his wedding venue, played here, but there are three world-class golf courses that might have tempted him: The Old Nine, one of the first to be built in the Caribbean; the challenging Tom Fazio-designed Country Club, and The Green Monkey, also by Fazio, which was carved out of a quarry overlooking the Caribbean Sea and boasts a bunker with a green island in the shape of a Bajan Green Monkey. And just to make sure you don’t get lost on the way to the new 55,000-square-foot clubhouse, each golf cart is equipped with a GPS tracking and three-dimensional screens with the layout of each hole.

Children 3 to 12 are catered to by skilled nannies at The Tree House Club, which operates from 10am to 8pm daily. There is an indoor play space where kids can make hats, watch movies and play games like Twister and Bingo, but the real fun is outdoors, playing golf, tennis or football; swimming at the pool; kayaking, or learning about scuba diving. Infants and toddlers are accommodated separately at the charming Toddler Corner, designed for children aged 0 to 3.When not tanning, your teens can keep themselves busy at their own new Den Teen Center, or perusing their own spa menu with treatments that include a facial designed especially for adolescent skin.

2007 rates for a family of four range from US$900/N for a standard double room to US$4,500/N for a one-bedroom suite to US$9,200 /N for the two-bedroom luxury penthouse depending on season.

 

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