Where Billionaires Go to Avoid Millionaires on Vacation

The gulf between millionaires and billionaires is vast. It is akin to the difference between booking some lovely five-star accommodations and buying the entire island the hotel is on, renaming it after yourself, and inviting a few heads of state to grill and chill. Millionaires check their bank accounts; billionaires check their rocket launch schedules.

While billionaires might live in a fantasy world fit for a Bond villain, they need vacations just like the rest of us, though their holidays often look more like hostile takeovers of relaxation. Ostentatious displays made their spectacular public comeback in 2025 with the Dionysian frenzy of the $50 million nuptials of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, when guests flew in on 90 private jets and later gallivanted on a $500 million superyacht. Faster than you can say “foam party‚” a doomscrolling world took a break from worrying about rising petrol costs and natural disasters to remind itself that society’s ultra-rich let loose differently.

All over the globe, the elite meet at these rich-kid playgrounds, renting every villa at five-star resorts as casually as you or I would snag a table at Starbucks. And while you probably can’t buy up an entire coastal town for your next birthday, you can probably spend a weekend at these spots—or at least wave to them on your way to the Airbnb.

The Royal Treatment

Prince Rainier III took the principality of Monaco into the stratosphere when he transformed this teeny 500-acre fiefdom into a gambling hub in the 1860s. This Riviera honeypot of jet-set money is buffed to a high gloss. Think royalty with rebel princesses, ex-F1 drivers who take traffic rules as a light suggestion, and tycoons flanked by glamorous companions who know how to blow on a pair of dice. The local accent: 70% French and 30% tax evasion.

Where to stay: The mythic Hôtel de Paris overlooks the Casino de Monte Carlo. The Belle Époque opulence of a glass dome lobby and Louis XVI furnishings is echoed by the epicurean ecstasy of French truffle-infused, gold-leaf-wrapped everything at Le Grill. The cloudy, Michelin-starred soufflé is served with a flourish, overlooking a Mediterranean as sparkling as the diamond collars on the poodles.

Costly cooldown: Whole-body cryotherapy at the hotel’s Thermes Marins Spa gives a new meaning to chilling out, with the chamber’s air set at 166°F to kickstart blood circulation as a jetlag treatment for the ladies who lunch. The $500 La Prairie Gold Illumination Facial drenches skin in the gold particles you didn’t know you needed.

Hotspot to hit: Le tout Monaco congregates under the canary yellow umbrellas of the Jacquemus Jetty at the Monte-Carlo Beach Club. Commit carbacide in style with the lobster pasta.

California Dreaming

Whenever Oracle stock surges, owner Larry Ellison dethrones Elon Musk as the world’s richest man. Even if a proverbial meteor hit the stock market and he lost $1 billion, Ellison would still have $105 billion left. Ellison calls Santa Barbara home—and can you blame him?

The “American Riviera” is a low-rise enclave of whitewashed Spanish Mission revival architecture, dramatically nestled between the Pacific and Santa Ynez mountains. Estates are botanical idylls where marine fog rolls in over waterfront lawns dotted with 1000-year-old olive trees. The region’s world-class, cool-climate pinot noirs and syrahs are simply a bonus. Larry’s neighbours: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and beloved media icon Oprah Winfrey.

Where to stay: Try puttin’ on the Ritz in luxe poolside cabanas by the magnificent, cascading pools of The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, the 78-acre Spanish-style resort above Haskell’s Beach. SoCal coastal luxury meets the old-world charm of stone archways and vine-draped courtyards. Sunbaking under your villa’s rustic wood pergola, one more bottle of sparkling Sea Storm’s “Sea Spray” Blanc de Noirs, and you’ll hallucinate that you actually live here.

The royal (beauty) treatment to try: The 42,000 square-foot cocoon at Spa Bacara starts with an inviting redwood sauna. Your face’s dead cells are cordially invited to be sucked out by vacuum with a coveted Hydrafacial, complete with an LED light chaser to have you looking petal-fresh for happy hour.

Hotspot to hit: The Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club has all the cachet of world-class matches, dashing players in tight jodphurs, and an international social scene - thundering hooves set against a stunning coastal backdrop.

High-End in the Highlands

Old money is one of the few status markers the new billionaires can’t buy, but they love rubbing up against it all the same. Having your own country seat symbolises an ancient family bloodline. Failing that, at least your billions can keep any centuries-old castle roof from leaking.

Queen Victoria built Balmoral Castle, her fantasy holiday home in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands. On this luxury estate, elite pastimes include hunting, shooting, and fishing in the region’s heather-clad mountains and lochs.

Where to stay: Party like it’s 1899. Dip your toe into this fabled part of the world at The Fife Arms, a five-star boutique hotel nestled in the scenic mountain village of Braemar on the River Clunie, near neighbouring Balmoral Castle. The lair resembles a stately hunting lodge owned by an opium-addled lord. Wealthy Swiss art dealer owners Iwan and Manuela Wirth have added wildly contemporary sculptures, cutlery chandeliers, and murals as a gracenote to the Gothic enchantment of carved mahogany, roaring fires, four-poster beds, and elevated country cuisine.

Prosperous pampering: After touring the billionaire terrain of ski fields, castles, stately homes, and lochs, inhaling the crisp Scottish air, reward yourself at hike’s end with seaweed foot soaks and lavender oil massages in the Albamhor Spa. In Scotland, the womb-like cosiness of lambswool, green tartan rugs, and a stiff whiskey are your happy ending.

Hotspot to hit: Sip cognac under airborne taxidermy Braemar style at The Flying Stag, the inn’s social hub where locals and posh Londoners nibble on Millionaires Tart and port-soaked Strathdon Blue. Neighbors include King Charles and Queen Camilla—known locally before the coronation by their Scottish titles, the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay—who have visited this fabulously eccentric manor house.

Private Paradise

Does anything scream “wealth” quite like a private island in the tropics? With one call to their bank, billionaires can make our screensaver their reality. With fragrant air, hissing waves, and a vast palm-fringed horizon, this getaway has become the ultimate dreamscape.

The late Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz filled his coffers by putting a spring in the step of the world’s energy drink consumers. He fell in love with Fiji’s Laucala Island, and created a fabulous hilltop estate at its highest peak to drive home the point that here, indeed, he was king of the world.

Where to stay: Mateschitz transformed his private Laucala Island—previously owned by media mogul Malcolm Forbes, a surname synonymous with wealth—into an ultra-exclusive destination. With 26 fantasy villas on cliffs, boulders, or the beach, this resort is spans 3500 acres for maximum privacy. Now run by Como Resorts, Laucala Island’s golf course hosts A-list guests such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Clooney, and the catch of the day couldn’t be fresher.

Hotspot to hit: Galloping on a pristine beach, mounted on one of the island’s Australian Thoroughbred–British Clydesdale crossbreeds. Yes, this just became your own personal Old Spice commercial.