lake okareka lodge

Seven Heavens: Jonathon Ramsey's Year of Empyrean Experiences

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spirits, Luxury Cars & Autos, Sports, Men's Style

"Every day above ground is a good day" is the saying, and it depends entirely on how much latitude you give the definition of "good." There are other days, however – certain days, special days – that cannot be denied their inclusion in the ranks of The Best of the Good Ones. While we have no problem admitting that even the least among our days on the job are still pretty good, there are others that clearly and simply take their places at the front of a very competitive line. In no particular order, then, here are seven places and pleasures that have meant the most to us in 2010.

Tags: chopin, gumpert apollo, jochen70, lake okareka lodge, mammoth mountain, rizk ra, rolls-royce, wales

Continue reading “Seven Heavens: Jonathon Ramsey's Year of Empyrean Experiences”

Lake Okareka Lodge Begins Offering Individual Room Rates

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

New Zealand's Lake Okareka Lodge by lebua, which hosted Luxist earlier this year and we're sure is the second home of The Big Guy when heaven gets too noisy, is now offering individual room rates. Previously, guests booked the lodge and its three rooms exclusively. Now the 1,400-square-foot Lake Okareka suite, and the 731-square-foot Rotorua and Garden suites can be had on their own.

The pricing structure has been changed, but the amenities haven't: rates are inclusive of breakfast, pre-dinner drinks with canapés, and 5 course dinner prepared by your personal chef, and 24-hour butler service. Each room also still comes with a lake view, sitting areas, walk-in closets, plasma TV and DVD player, Sonos music systems, individual climate control and marble bathrooms with underfloor heating and Bvlgari amenities. And your neighbors like the will still be the most inviting kind, like the Polynesian Spa and the Whakarewarewa Redwood Forest.

Those are just a few of the reasons it was voted the World's Best Luxury Country House at the 2009 World Luxury Hotel Awards, and New Zealand's Leading Resort at this year's World Travel Awards. Rates vary throughout the year, with the Lake Okareka Suite going for NZ $4,590 ($3,466 U.S.) right now during high season, dipping down to NZ $2,500 after April 1, 2011. The Garden Suite is currently NZ $2,475, settling at $1,600 ($1,208.20 U.S.) in April. The rates, per night per couple, will also be levied with Zealand's 15% GST, but the experience, we promise you, will remain 100% priceless.

Gallery: Lake Okareka Lodge by lebua

Source

Tags: hotel deals, lake okareka lodge, new zealand, rotorua

lebua at State Tower Teaches Luxist You Can Live Well in Bangkok, Too...

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

When we left off with lebua we were trying to figure out a way to hide out at the company's New Zealand property, Lake Okareka Lodge. That didn't work out, part of the reason being that we were due at the company's other property in Bangkok, and it's difficult to be a stowaway when the commodore himself put you on the ship.

lebua at State Tower hotel in Bangkok is – akin to that of Thailand and New Zealand – an antipodean contrast to Lake Okareka Lodge. Whereas the latter is a grand and solitary lakefront estate, lebua at State Tower is set inside a 67-story concrete pillar, an occasional baobab shot up from the thick tangle of a metropolis usually not more than six stories high. Rotorua, New Zealand, is verdant serenity, Bangkok an assaulting sprawl that tirelessly expands the term "anything goes." We wondered how the same enterprise might deliver this other pole of luxury. Not only did they do it, we left wondering "How come we haven't heard of these people?"

Gallery: Luxist Visits lebua at State Tower

Tags: bangkok, Bangkok Thailand, hotel, lake okareka, lake okareka lodge, lebua, lebua at state tower, lebua state tower, resort

Continue reading “lebua at State Tower Teaches Luxist You Can Live Well in Bangkok, Too...”

Luxist Gets a Lesson in Living Well at Lebua's Lake Okareka Lodge

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

When your bread and butter is acquired by trotting around the world to tell tales of man- and womankind's finest offerings, you get used to the finest. Akin to being a jeweler, when everything you touch sparkles because everything is a gem, it takes a jewel of the extraordinary variety to get your attention. After hopping on four planes to spend 24 hours in the air traveling from London to New Zealand, all to visit lebua's Lake Okareka Lodge, we expected to encounter another fine, shiny object.

What we did not expect – but what we got – was a the finest 4-day stretch of living we've had in years, and a persistent lesson in what the best living is like. We hadn't been on the property two minutes, and upon seeing the view from our suite we realized we had discovered one of the universe's finest secrets: this is where God goes on vacation.

Gallery: Lake Okareka Lodge by lebua

Tags: hotel review, HotelReview, iebua, lake okareka lodge, LakeOkarekaLodge, new zealand, NewZealand, resort review, ResortReview, travel review, TravelReview, trip report, TripReport