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Top 5 Hotels: Australia/New Zealand/South Pacific
 1. Four Seasons Hotel Sydney
The top choice Down Under, the Four Seasons Sydney scores points for locale — overlooking Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House — as well as thoughtful extras such as the home-style room-service menu for homesick travelers. Many high-profile events are held here, such as the recent Climate Change Summit. A room refresher now underway will be complete by September. (800) 819-5053 or 011-61-2-9238-0000, www.fourseasons.com/sydney
 2 Park Hyatt Sydney
The hotel Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban chose for their wedding night checks in at number two on the Platinum List. Its top two suites, recently redesigned by Tony Chi, now have flat-screen TVs with DVD/CD players and such tech-forward amenities as the Sony Vaio Notebook computer with photo printer and digital camera for snapping postcard-perfect shots of Sydney Harbour out your window. The top suite includes a stocked wine cellar. (800) 233-1234 or 011-61-2-9241-1234, www.sydney.park.hyatt.com
3. Bora Bora Lagoon Resort & Spa, French Polynesia
The over-water bungalows in this Polynesian paradise draw a global clientele of honeymooners, who can celebrate with a new couples spa treatment that ends with a bath of coconut milk and flowers. (800) 860-4095 or 011-689-60-4000, www.boraboralagoon.com
4. Westin Sydney
The hotel’s new 28th floor Executive Club offers private check-in, food and beverage service throughout the day, and garment pressing. The new Endota Spa dispenses blissful tranquility. (888) 625-5144 or 011-61-2-8223-1111, www.westin.com/sydney
5. Sheraton on the Park, Sydney
Paris Hilton recently visited the Hyde Park hotel’s top suite chock-full of the latest gadgets including plasma TVs, Bose sound, iPod docking stations, and DVD players. 011-61-2-9286-6000, www.sheraton.com/sydney
Mainland U.S. | Hawaii | Canada | Mexico/Central America/South America | Caribbean | Europe | Asia | Africa | Australia/New Zeland/South Pacific | U.S. Business | International | Business | Family Resorts | Editor's Picks
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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.
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