The Platinum List

Isn’t it great to hear firsthand from a friend about a wonderful travel experience, complete with tips on where to stay and where to play? Welcome to the ever-popular Celebrated Living Readers’ Choice Platinum List, which is like having more than 38,000 friends share their travel preferences in one superb best-of-the-best list. And what a list it is: 130 luxury hotels, 48 legendary golf courses, 26 sumptuous spas, and 10 top cruise lines.

Two highlights of the survey, for me, actually take the form of statistics — we received 10 percent more entries than last year, and a whopping 79 percent more of you reported you read Celebrated Living regularly. As editor, that’s music to my ears.

For your eyes, our Platinum List has a handsome new design, courtesy of CL’s talented art director Marilyn Calley. The pages are fresh, engaging, and filled with images that will make you say “I want to go there,” or, also fun, “We’ve been there and loved it!” As one reader commented, “These picks are a mix of places already visited and those I dream of visiting.” See for yourself, beginning with a handy pullout compilation list on page 49.

Of course, we wanted to entice and reward you for taking the time to weigh in with your outstanding travel knowledge. Grand Prize winner Henry de Lagarde is glad he participated. He was randomly chosen to win a two-year lease on a 2007 Lincoln MKX, MKZ, or Navigator (he chose the MKZ and is pictured with it here), and 500,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles. Ten Second Prize winners received 50,000 miles each. Quite an incentive, I’d say.

We hope you’ll agree that the rest of this summer issue is as entertaining and enlightening as the Platinum List. There’s a feature story on Heidi Klum, a look at chartering fabulous yachts, five great summer motorcycle rides and several bikes to enjoy them with, a tour of several cool European castles, and more. Or, for those weekends when you want to just sit back and enjoy your own backyard, check out our cocktail story, with recipes perfect for poolside sipping — and for contemplating where you’d like to go next.