Your Kind of Yurt

Luxury takes on tired old travelogues.

• By Fiorella Valdesolo
• Published Summer 2012

Dunton Hot Springs resort in Colorado   (Photo: Courtesy of Dunton Hot Springs Resort)

The New Cruises
Forget shuffleboard and all-you-can-eat buffets. The elegant Oberoi Zahra (from $1,380 per person per night; oberoihotels.com) sails on a seven-day itinerary down the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. On board you’ll find a library, cigar lounge, theater, and the only full-service spa on the river, plus sumptuous suites with private terraces and Jacuzzis. Or, for a real high-roller experience, book your own private yacht. Y.Co’s 2,200-foot Vertigo—complete with hot tub, scuba equipment, and staff—is available for charter throughout Southeast Asia (from $10,000 per person per week; ycoyacht.com).

The New Trains
The Amtrak Acela these most certainly are not. The Royal Scotsman (from $4,020; royalscotsman.com) invites guests (only 36 at a time) on two- to seven-day trips through the Scottish Highlands, stopping at whisky distilleries along the way. In the evening, sip a dram in the observation car before tucking into a formal dinner of glen-sourced game (grouse, pheasant, venison) by head chef Mark Tamburrini (formerly of London’s Michelin-starred L’Escargot). The Royal Rajasthan (from $590 per person per night; royalrajasthanonwheels.com), which makes eight-day journeys through India’s northern region, lives up to its nickname, “the palace on wheels,” with princely cabins decked out in gold, brass, brocade, and velvet.

The New Campgrounds
Glamping options are plentiful these days. At Treebones (from $179; treebonesresort.com)on California’s Big Sur coast, the lodging is not traditional tents but heated yurts. The Clayoquot Wilderness Resort (from $4,700; wildretreat.com) has twenty inviting tents in a verdant corner of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. In the newest luxury ones you’ll find antique furniture and rugs, flickering oil lamps, heated bathroom floors, and double-headed showers. Guests at Sal Salis (from $740; salsalis.com.au), located near Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef in Exmouth, can snorkel with whale sharks by day, then retire at night to a solar-powered tent. Dunton Hot Springs resort (from $1,050; duntonhotsprings.com) in the picturesque Colorado Rockies, meanwhile, is introducing Cresto Ranch to its stable of opulent tents and cabins this August. Campers there should expect all the luxuries of a four-star resort, including king-size beds and en-suite showers.