You don’t have to be super-rich to go on a super-rich holiday – if you follow our insider tips to travelling in style for less.
It’s now possible for savvy holidaymakers to bag five-star hotels for a fraction of regular prices, tee-off on championship golf courses without eye-watering green fees, fly in private jets and live like an oligarch on paradise islands – all without huge bills.
A little ducking and diving is required, but the experiences for luxury-loving travellers are well worth it. Here’s our ultimate guide.
Five-star hotels with a first-class upgrade
Checking into the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair or Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park will set you back about £1,000 in a basic room.
However, you can experience the high service standards of this top-class chain at its property in Kuala Lumpur – in the heart of the city close to the iconic Petronas Towers – for as little as £144 a night.
This works out at seven nights for the same price as a single night in London. The rooms are just as slick, and you can also enjoy dining at its classic Cantonese restaurant or dropping by the stylish mahogany-topped cocktail bar for a tipple.
Given that British Airways return flights cost from £674, you could conceivably fly over for two nights and still have spare change (mandarinoriental.com).
It’s now possible for savvy holidaymakers to bag five-star hotels for a fraction of regular prices
Likewise, the sleek Mandarin Oriental Pudong, in Shanghai, China, has rooms from £221, while BA flights are from £495 return – again allowing two nights and flights for less than a one-night stay in London.
For more, see ‘Ten Cheapest Mandarin Oriental Hotels in the World’ at luxurytraveldiary.com.
Meanwhile, doubles at the Ritz-Carlton Beijing are from £168, while at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park, they’re from around £1,599. Or you could stay at the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, which has a highly regarded Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant, Jin Xuan, from £276 (ritzcarlton.com).
And then you have the lower cost of living while out there – three courses at Jin Xuan comes to a mere £60, while an equivalent Michelin-star meal in the Big Apple is around £150.
Private jet from £215
It’s possible to book an ‘empty leg’ flight in a private jet – which is when planes need to get to a location for bookings made by customers who are paying full fare.
Savings are as much as 90 per cent – the jet companies are merely attempting to cover some fuel costs and airport charges, so having passengers paying something is better than nothing.
One of the leaders in this field is GlobeAir, but bear in mind that flexibility is required – and you will only be able to make bookings at the cheapest rates at the last minute.
It’s possible to book an ‘empty leg’ flight in a private jet – which is when planes need to get to a location for bookings made by customers who are paying full fare
When we checked, a flight the next day from Birmingham to Paderborn in Germany was available from £1,120 for four passengers (£280pp), while Newcastle to Copenhagen was from £1,207 (£302pp).
Usual prices for these journeys would be just over £10,000 each.
By taking what happens to be available, you are effectively making the experience of the flight the purpose of the trip. There’s no cabin service, but Taittinger champagne, vintage wines, coffee, tea and soft drinks are provided along with a selection of snacks. Interiors have smart burgundy leather seats and the planes are Cessna Citation Mustangs (globeair.com).
Alternatively, you can book a return daytrip on a small private plane via Wingly, a platform where private pilots who want to cover fuel costs offer seats on flights.
You simply put in where you wish to fly from and options come up. For example, flights from Redhill Aerodrome in Surrey to Alderney in the Channel Islands (about 90 minutes each way) was from £316pp when we checked, with time set aside to look around (wingly.io).
Super-cheap superyacht
The most expensive catamarans and superyachts can spiral upwards in price to £100,000 a day.
But charter a skippered, 46ft Dufour 460 Grand Large yacht, named Ilha Grande, with room for nine passengers, for a week-long adventure around the Greek islands in April, and you’ll pay just £1,514.
The most expensive catamarans and superyachts can spiral upwards in price to £100,000 a day (stock)
That comes to an extremely reasonable £24pp per day.
You depart from Alimos Marina in Athens. So if you fly over on Easyjet, from £34 return, the all-in price for a week on your own luxury yacht is from just £202pp.
This is just one of the offers from SamBoat, an online rental platform with more than 50,000 boats in 76 countries, with prices starting at around £20pp per day.
Some of its swankiest catamarans with tempting prices are in the Caribbean. For example, a new, skippered Bali Catamaran, 42ft long and sleeping 12, costs from £5,800 a week in Grenada in May – or £69pp per day (samboat.co.uk).
Private island for a song
A night on the private island of Sviskar, within Finland’s Aland Islands archipelago, costs from £70.
OK, the log cabin accommodation, which sleeps four, doesn’t have electricity, but it’s extremely cosy and peaceful, plus there’s a wood-burning sauna in a separate building. And, most importantly, you will have the 28 acres of the island, surrounded by pine trees and tumbling boulders, all to yourself.
This is a level of luxury that billionaires will shell out tens of thousands of pounds for per week, but on Sviskar it works out at £17.50pp per night (silverskar.ax).
A little ducking and diving is required, but the experiences for luxury-loving travellers are well worth it
Alternatively, in slightly more upmarket accommodation on the private island of Uusikaupunki, also in Finland, you can book some splendid isolation from £222 a night, with a minimum two-night stay.
The island sleeps eight, so the per person per night rate is £27.75. Rooms are simple but comfortable, spread across three cottages. There’s also a wood-burning sauna (airbnb.co.uk). For these prices, who needs the Caribbean?
Lord it up in a castle
Pengarth Castle, on the edge of Eryri National Park in mid Wales, comes complete with turrets and battlements, sleeping up to 22 people in 11 rooms, surrounded by 40 acres of private grounds.
It features a carved oak staircase, billiards room, fireplaces, a film room with a 75in television and elegant antique furniture – plus an outdoor hot tub. Three nights costs from £4,947 – or just £75pp per night (bighouseexperience.com).
Also offered by Big House Experience is Wyatt Castle on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, which sleeps 20 and dates from 1797. Splash about in the indoor heated pool and enjoy the beautiful garden, which overlooks the English Channel. Costs from £7,704 for three nights, or £128pp per night.
Your own Indian palace
You’ll feel like royalty staying at Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, which was once the abode of the influential Nizam dynasty. There are many wonderful Indian palace hotels, which can top £800 a night, and this one is just as grand yet has room rates from as low as £211 a night B&B.
Staying in a castle or palace could give you a more luxurious holiday. Pictured: Alcázar of Segovia, Spain
It’s on a hillside overlooking the city, and on arrival you are taken to the entrance by horsedrawn carriage attended by the palace butlers (tajhotels.com).
Play golf like a pro
Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and just about every great golfer you can name has played at Royal St George’s championship golf course in Sandwich, Kent, which last hosted the Open in 2021. And you can too, staying overnight at the nearby Pegwell Bay Hotel, and also enjoying a second round at North Foreland Golf Club.
While a round alone at Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland can be as much as £1,000, the price here? From a bargain £377pp B&B, all-in (yourgolftravel.com).
Super-rich skiing
The beautiful valley of Jackson Hole in Wyoming attracts Hollywood actors such as Harrison Ford (who owns a place), as well as Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt and Uma Thurman, while billionaire moguls Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have dropped by.
Top hotels such as the Four Seasons cost from around £450 a night, but you can stay at the Mountain Modern motel, which comes with a pool and outdoor hot tubs, from just £163 (mountainmodernmotel.com).
Flights from Britain to Jackson cost from £900 with Delta.
Super-rich ski trips attract celebrities and the ultra-rich, giving them a luxurious feel
Orient Express for less
A luxury train ride from Paris to Istanbul on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express can set you back £18,050pp for five nights.
Instead, book a berth on the overnight sleeper from Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, and roll into the dreamy city overnight on the Sofia-Istanbul Express from £65 in a private sleeper (seat61.com).
Fine dining bargains
It may be one of London’s most famous old-school restaurants, but the set menu ‘lunch and theatre’ price at the original Ivy in Covent Garden, opened in 1917, is from a mere £34.95 for three courses – the last time I went there, the actor Richard E. Grant was at the next table (ivycollection.com).
Meanwhile, the cost of a three-course set lunch at the Hand And Flowers pub in Marlow in Buckinghamshire, with no fewer than two Michelin stars and run by celebrity head chef Tom Kerridge, is from £65 from Monday to Friday (thehandandflowers.co.uk).
And three courses at the fun Scran And Scallie gastropub in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, led by famed chefs Tom Kitchin, Dominic Jack and Jamie Knox, starts from just £40 (scranandscallie.com).
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