This unique contemporary is located in the town of Cologny near Geneva in Switzerland. The four-bedroom home, built in 1989 by Blum & Blum in Zürich, has views of Lake Geneva and the Jura mountains. The home's unique style is formed by two t-shaped concrete rectangles and a crescent-shaped building with a stone facade. The home has three levels and the building's unique shape lends itself to two semi-circular lounge areas including one on the ground floor with a marble fireplace. The master bedroom and bathroom suite are on their own floor which also includes a solarium and the bottom floor includes a gym and laundry area. The home gets lots of light and is surrounded by gardens with flower beds and trees. It is listed as price on request.

Hotels are fine as far as they go. For a really luxurious vacation however, renting a private house or villa is much the better choice. Of course the prices at the top-end can be astronomical. If money is no object, however, a new book called Luxury Houses: Holiday Escapes is a perfect guide to the best high-end hideaways around the globe. One of the standouts is Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld's former villa in Monaco (pictured here), which can be yours for a mere €30,000 per week. For that you get six bedrooms, panoramic views of the ocean and the mountains from an enormous terrace, a pool, Jacuzzi, game room and a tent on a private beach. The interior is described unironically as "quasi royal."

Also on display is the Birkenhead House in Hermanus, South Africa (about $7,000 per night) with eleven bedrooms and three pools, dominating a steep cliff above Walker Bay where whales frolic; and Villa Indigo in the Caribbean Sea within a protective reef in Anguilla with two pools and a private beach and sandbar, for $16,000 - $38,000 a week depending on the season; as well as dozens more ritzy rentals from ski chalets in Switzerland to modern palaces in China.

A small town in Switzerland is fighting to be able to do something most town's take for granted: put its name on its wine bottles. Despite the fact that the village has been in existence for over 1000 years, and has been producing wine since at least as far back as The Middle Ages, there's a ban in place keeping the town name of 'Champagne' from appearing on its wine and food labels. A deal struck back in 2004 between the European Union and Switzerland (in order to protect the French wine-producing region of the same name) is to blame, and as a result the poor town of 713 residents has been experiencing steady drops in sales and may even lose jobs in the future. The residents are fighting it, but so far to no avail. Poor Champagne.

The Dolder Grand in Zurich, Switzerland is re-opening after a four-year $400 million renovation. The hotel has been transformed into a five-star resort with 173 new guest rooms, a new spa, dining options and a geothermal energy concept. The new Dolder Grand was designed by London architects Foster and Partners.

The Dolder Grand has a long history. It was a health spa when it opened in 1899 and was a grand hotel for many years. The new design included restoring the hotel's main building and added two new wings, a spa and golf wing. There are also four unique suites inspired by cultural icons of the 20th century who were former Dolder Hotel: the Rolling Stones, Giulietta Masina (wife of Italian director Federico Fellini), "Maestro" Herbert von Karajan (conductor) and Alberto Giacometti (Swiss sculptor).

The spa is 43,000 square feet and has separate areas for ladies and gentlemen, an Aqua Zone with a Bisazza mosaic pool, a Snow Paradise room, workout, movement and mind-body studios, and 19 treatment rooms as well as two exclusive, over-the-top spa suites. The hotel has two new restaurants and terraces throughout The Dolder Grand offer fantastic views.

Before the construction began geothermal probes were buried under the foundation of the hotel and they draw around one million kilowatt hours of energy per year from the natural heat-storage system in the earth, reducing the energy and heating costs and consumption of the hotel. Rates start at 850 CHF per night/ double occupancy.

Most of us picture art thieves as slinky sleuth types who sneak in under cover of night and quietly disable the alarm system, but apparently that's not what works best in Switzerland. This past Sunday 3 masked men dressed all in black burst into a private museum in Zurich in the middle of the day and took 4 paintings valued at £85 million by simply ripping them off the walls and running. They were in and out of the building and flying down the road in a beater of a white car in less than 3 minutes! Amazing. Sad, and outrageously embarrassing for Switzerland, but amazing.

The truly sad part is that they made off with some major and historic pieces of art: Cézanne's The Boy in a Red Vest, Degas's Viscount Lepic and his Daughters, Monet's Poppies Near Vetheuil, and Van Gogh's Blossoming Chestnut Branches. What a tragedy! I hope they get caught before the art is lost underground forever.

The Swiss ski village of Villars-Sur-Ollon,is home to many chalets. This one, tucked into the side of a mountain, is located just a three-minute walk from the cog-railway to start your day of skiing. In the warmer months it is ideally located for spring hikes. The home has old beams, rustic stone and a cedar roof. It is a recent build, so it has a clean and contemporary style. And you can't ask for better views; you get snow-capped peaks in your window as you sit in your bathtub. There are seven bedrooms total and four bathrooms. It's listed as price on request.

How's this for an ambitious project? A steel and glass pyramid is being constructed for the Klein Matterhorn in the Alps to bring it over the 4,000 meter mark. According to an article in The Guardian, 4,000 meters is the magic height for a mountain, representing a level that most people can never hope to attain. The Klein Matterhorn is already home to the world's highest cable car. In the article, Daniel Luggen or the tourist office in Zermatt is quoted as saying that their "aim is to make the mountain more attractive."

Architect Heinz Julen designed the 100 million Euro Matterhorn Glacier Paradise project that will include the pyramid sky platform and a restaurant and conference center that will be pressurized to avoid altitude sickness. Many are angry over the project, which they see as taking away from the natural beauty of the Alps. The project is just one of many in the area, including plans to turn the Schatzalp in Davos into a luxury high rise.

Tourists in China won't need to go to Switzerland to get the feel of a Swiss resort anymore. A new resort based on the Swiss alpine village of Interlaken is opening near Shenzen this month. The village includes a five-star hotel, golf courses, a park and a spa. The 299-room Interlaken OCT Hotel is home to four restaurants and the 1,000-seat 'Interlaken Theatre' which holds evening cultural shows. The village also has three streets of 'gingerbread' houses and there is a large indoor and outdoor spa with pools and springs.

This is one pricey action figure! Platinum plated and diamond studded, this shiny little robot worth $250,000 can do some serious damage...to your wallet. Not sure if it's for sale, although it is planning to make an appearance at Baselworld in Switzerland this month so if you're interested you might want to head in that direction.

I'm going to be really honest and say that I'm half impressed by such a classy looking "toy," and I'm thinking it's sure to bring some positive upscale press to the Gundam brand, but I'm also half laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Come on, diamonds for eyes? Hilarious.

This package from Buddy Bombard is one of most unique sightseeing packages I've seen. It involves taking in the Chateau D'oex International Balloon Festival in the Swiss Alps. The package includes a few days of Alpine tours in a special fleet of balloons that includes a lunch with wine to be enjoyed in your balloon. Then you take in the festival in Buddy Bombard flowered balloons. There are dinner parties each night in the beautiful ski town of Gstaad. The package is available January 16-24 or January 24-February 1, 2007 and cost $14,313 per person double occupancy.

Though there is still time to spare before summer, it might be difficult to get a reservation at one of the Travel Channel's picks for most expensive hotel suites. When you are spending upwards of $4,000 a night, however, the "necessity" of reservations may just turn out to be a minor inconvenience. Here is the list, with the rates listed per night:

10. Coco Chanel Suite, Hotel Ritz, Paris - $4,300 to stay in the room that Coco herself lived in for 37 years.
9. Presidential Suite, Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills - $4,700 for a chef, butler, kitchen, grand piano and a chance to live like the stars
8. Peninsula Suite, The Peninsula, Hong Kong - $4,875, including butler service and a chauffeured Rolls Royce
7. Royal Suite, The Lanesborough, London - $5,837, with private security and personal butlers for the 3 bedroom suite with a floor-to-ceiling view of Hyde Park
6. Royal Suite, Burj Al Arab, Dubai - $6,800 to stay in the world's tallest hotel, with a private screening room, views of the ocean and use of the hotel's helipad

Through a newsletter from Bluefish Concierge, I learned about Hotel Palafitte, the only five-star hotel in Europe that is built on water. This hotel is located near the town of Neuchâtel, Switzerland and is perched on pilings on Lake Neuchâtel. The hotel opened in 2002 as part of a project between the Sandoz Family Foundation, the Lausanne Hotel School and Siemens. The hotel is eco friendly and uses solar panels and rainwater collection. Inside it's got an ultra-modern look and the junior suites are all on the lakeside with a private terrace. The hotel also has its own restaurant and bar.  A pavilion on the lake runs 440 euros per night.