A Luxury Travel Blog

Ballet San Jose has announced a five-week, eight-city tour to China scheduled for May and June 2008. The tour, named Goodwill Tour From Silicon Valley, will include performances at the Grand Theatre in Shanghai and the Poly Theatre in Beijing. Programs will include fully staged productions of The Firebird and Carmina Burana, plus additional ballets by George Balanchine, Lew Christensen, and Dennis Nahat.

In a bid not to upset its guests with the mammoth, week-long task of cleaning its windows, the five-star Shanghai Sheraton Hotel took a light-hearted approach to the job in hand.  They got their window cleaners to dress up in Spiderman outfits for the job. The stunt has attracted so much attention that visitors have flocked to the hotel to see their comic star hero at work.

Stay at the new Swissotel Grand Shanghai between now and August and you’ll get to take advantage of their introductory rate of $178 a night.  This is Swissotel’s third hotel in China, on the back of earlier projects in Beijing and Kunshan. The five-star hotel has 467 rooms and suites and four restaurants, and is to be found in the Jing’An quarter of the city.

If you’re in China for the Olympics and looking to explore further afield, then take a look at Red Capital Ranch; it is hidden away in the countryside about an hour from Beijing. The Great Wall is so close you can see unrestored sections of it from your room, and you can walk up it unguided within an hour.  Suites are available from 200 USD.

The Grand Millennium Beijing, which is due to have its grand opening in mid-June, ’soft opened’ last week. It’s a 5-star hotel with 521 guest rooms, three levels of spa and fitness services, restaurants offering a variety of different cuisines, the latest in meeting and conference facilities and hotel-wide broadband access.  Early opening rates start from $198 per night, or $755 a night for an Executive Suite Package.

I’ve previously expressed my dislike of seven-star hotels - not because of their standards, but because of their self-accredited classification.  Worldwide, there are no official, national hotel classification schemes that allocate 6 or 7 star awards.  This aside, apparently there’s another one on the horizon, and this time it’s heading for Hangzhou in China. Construction is expected to begin later this year, with completion scheduled for 2011.

The Plateau at the Grand Hyatt - the birthplace of the residential spa concept - is a spa on the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong’s 11th floor and includes 14 rooms for treatments and sleeping, with thick futons, enormous granite bathtubs, and a compact ryokan-meets-yacht-cabin design. Well-trained therapists deliver spa treatments as though they were room service.

According to the AFP, the most luxurious train in the world could be beginning operations in China later this year:

China will launch “the most luxurious train in the world” to ply the route from Beijing to Tibet’s capital Lhasa, state media reported Sunday.

However, a ride on the train, which will begin operations on September 1, will be about 20 times more expensive than the ordinary fare of about 2,000 yuan (280 dollars), Xinhua news agency said.

“The interior of the train will be decorated according to the standards of a five-star hotel, making it the most luxurious train in the world,” said Zhu Mingrui, general manager of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation.

“Such a train can only seat 96 passengers. The fare would be about 20 times the normal price and also much more than an airline ticket,” he said.

There will be three trains, which will head from Beijing to Lhasa every eight days. The luxury journey will take five days.

Each train will have 12 passenger cars, two dining cars and a sightseeing car. Each passenger car will have four ten-square-metre (108-square-foot) suites featuring a double bed, a living room and bathing facilities.

The train line to the Himalayan “roof of the world” went into operation in July 2006.

Chinese authorities see the 1,142-kilometre (710-mile) railway as an important tool in modernising and developing Tibet, which has been part of China since its troops occupied the region in 1950.

However, critics say that the line is allowing the Han Chinese, the national majority, to flood into Tibet, leading to the devastation of the local culture as well accelerating environmental degradation of the region.

$251 per person will buy you the Nick Faldo Golf Package from Victoria Angkor Resort & Spa, Siem Reap. It includes 2 nights accommodation in a superior room, airport transfers, and a round of golf (caddy included) on the new Nick Faldo golf course close to Angkor Wat.  This leaves you with ample remaining time to visit a temple or two in this UNESCO World Heritage site. And if one of you couldn’t care less about golf, you can substitute your round for a half-day spa package - just to ensure everyone’s happy!  The offer runs until the end of September 2008.

The Peninsula Hong Kong is running a number of themed activities this year, to celebrate its 80th anniversary of service excellence.  Their 80th Anniversary Rejuvenation Package is for 2 people, using the Private Spa for Two, and includes a 30-minute salt and oil full body exfoliation, an 80-minute Aromatherapy massage and Oriental head massage, a 50-minute Intensive Facial, a bottle of limited edition 80th Anniversary Peninsula Champagne and a special gift from The Spa (valued at HK$500), all per person, for a rate of HK$8,080 for two.

Tailor-made wine and culinary programmes are being launched at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, later this month. Their first Weekend Connoisseur package takes place on the weekend of 21st-24th March 2008 and includes 2 nights’ deluxe accommodation, a bottle of Ruinart Champagne, a 3-course lunch, an 8-course dinner, a Champagne brunch, daily breakfast, a one-hour massage, a group wine class and wine tasting from The Fine Wine School… and an opportunity to taste the world’s finest single-origin chocolates, including those from Dominican Republic, Tanzania and Madagascar, with Chocolate Sommelier Martin Li. The rate per guest room is HKD $13,988.

Look out for the Water Cube at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  This national aquatics centre was official unveiled last month and will host diving and swimming events between 8th and 24th August 2008. The complex cost over 1 billion yuan (that’s a little shy of $150 million), covers 65,000 square metres and will have a capacity of 17,000 for the duration of the Games.  And for that kind of spend, you also get a lot of LEDs to ensure the venue looks pretty at night!

Embrace romance in an alluring setting where even the smallest gesture creates indelible memories. Celebrate with Champagne, and wake up to breakfast in bed surrounded by the scent of fresh flowers. Participating St. Regis Hotels & Resorts include the St. Regis Hotel, New York, St. Regis Grand Hotel, Rome, The Lanesborough, St. Regis Hotel, Beijing and St. Regis Resort, Bora Bora.

Honoured as Shanghai’s ‘Most Expected Hotel’ by a panel of professional media specialists, members of the industry elite and World Traveller Magazine readers, the Jumeirah Han Tang Xintiandi will boast several unique attractions once completed – including a purpose-built wedding pavilion and signature Chinese restaurant – to complement the super-luxury guest rooms and service for which Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts have become renowned the world over. It is located in the heart of Xintiandi, an exciting restaurant and bar, retail and entertainment component of a master-planned 52 hectare development in the heart of downtown Puxi, Shanghai, and is scheduled to open in the summer of 2008.

iExplore, named the Best Adventure Travel Website by Forbes Magazine and Travel + Leisure, has announced a list of top 10 world travel destinations as determined by purchases made by adventure and experiential travellers.  Egypt retains its number one spot, but South Africa jumps to the number 2 spot (from 19th position the year before). Argentina and Italy fell to 21st and 26th positions respectively, having previously been in the top 10. Here’s their current top 10, with the previous year’s ranking in brackets:

1. Egypt (#1)
2. South Africa (#19)
3. China (#6)
4. Antarctica (#2)
5. Peru (#4)
6. Galapagos (#17)
7. Thailand (#5)
8. Costa Rica (#11)
9. Tanzania (#8)
10. India (#14)