Bermuda
On Her Majesty's Secret Service: 007's perfect Bermuda vacation

From the March 26, 2001 Issue of New York

Sometimes you just want to get away from the whole damn twenty-first century, and no place satisfies that Ian Fleming, early-jet-set-era jones like the Sonesta Beach Resort in Bermuda. It's only a 90-minute flight away, but the time warp begins as soon as you pull up at the Sonesta, a 400-room pleasure dome perched on the rocks between two half-moon bays. Despite several refurbishings, the main building, with its arc of private balconies looking out over the sea, still has the bones of its 1961 design as well as all the signature details of high-modernist luxe life, like a solar-domed indoor pool and tiki-hutted private beaches. Complete the Sean Connery-as-James Bond fantasy with a trip to the weirdly dated Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, with its pseudo-futuristic displays, then repair downstairs to its harborside restaurant, La Coquille. And be sure to order a martini-shaken, not stirred.
-- MARION MANEKER




Details
Sonesta Beach Resort Bermuda, 441-238-8122 or www.sonesta.com (rooms start at $300 in the summer, $145 in the winter); Underwater Exploration Institute, 441-292-7219; La Coquille, 441-292-6122.