Rosewood Residences Lido Key, Florida

Rosewood Residences Lido Key, a development by The Ronto Group and Wheelock Street Capital with residential services by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, is a collection of 65 three- and four-bedroom beachfront residences priced from $6 million. Ranging from 3,350 to 4,942 square feet of indoor/outdoor living space, the residences have expansive terraces, summer kitchens, and outdoor dining areas. Each plan features a private elevator, gallery hallway leading to a grand salon, and open dining room. Amenities include an infinity-edge swimming pool with sun shelves, day cabanas, pool pavilion, fire pits, and paddleboard storage. Purchases of Rosewood Residences Lido Key are now being accepted. residenceslidokey.com

Waldorf Astoria Residences Guanacaste, Costa Rica 

Revolution Places and IMI Worldwide Properties have released a new luxury residential offering in Latin America, the Waldorf Astoria Residences Guanacaste. The development will feature 19 condominium residences and 22 estate homes. The property’s condominium residences range from two to three bedrooms across 1,509 to 2,209 square feet, the four- and five-bedroom estate home floor plans range from 3,996 to 4,996 square feet. The 19 furnished oceanfront condo residences will start at $1.944 million for two-bedrooms and $3.264 million for three-bedrooms. The 22 furnished oceanfront estate homes will start at $5.31 million for four-bedrooms and at $6.37 million for five-bedrooms. waldorfastoriaresidencesguanacaste.com

Gulfside Twelve, Fort Myers, Florida

Gulfside Twelve, one of the first new developments in the Fort Myers Beach/Estero Island area following Hurricane Ian last fall, has entered the final phase of its construction. Heralded by Dublin Real Estate Investment Group, LLC, the 12 units will each consist of 4,000 square feet of interior space and start at $4.1 million. Each unit in the pet-friendly community will boast four en suite bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, a large lanai, plus a flex room, all overlooking 180 feet of beachfront living. GulfsideTwelve.com

The Strand, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands

The Strand offers a limited collection of 41 luxury beachfront villas and custom residences ranging from $2.49 to more than $12 million, all with direct ocean access. The developers introduced three-bedroom villas in 2022 in response to shifting buyer demand for rental opportunity and income. The villas are designed to operate as either a single villa or can lock off on each floor for rentals. The three-bedroom villas start at $3.3 million and offer 4,036 square feet of interior and exterior living space combined. Private residences, two- and three-bedroom villas, and custom homesites are currently available. thestrandtci.com

The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Developed by Catalfumo Companies, The Ritz-Carlton Residences Palm Beach Gardens is a marina-front residential community featuring an exclusive collection of expansive three, four, and five-bedroom residences, within three, seven-story residential buildings. The development offers an array of amenities including an infinity-edge heated swimming pool with cabanas overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, waterfront clubhouse with entertainment spaces, spa with various treatment rooms, and a 29-slip private marina with a limited collection of boat slips accommodating vessels up to 75 feet. Pricing starts at $4 million. theresidencespalmbeachgardens.com

Arc was designed and built with the yacht-lover in mind.

It’s a high-end collection of 17 sky villas located in Providenciales, part of the South Bank community in the Turks and Caicos. A number of South Bank’s villas come with their own private yacht slips. The fully operational marina at South Bank offers 54 dock slips up to 60 feet, a 400-foot-long main dock, with six super-yacht slips up to 150 feet to be added soon.

We’re talking about a full-service marina with maintenance capability on any boat, plus dry dock and fuel – anything the well-heeled boat owner might need, including a concierge service. “You can have your boat cleaned up after a trip out on the ocean, on demand,” says Ingo Reckhorn, Director of Windward and Arc at South Bank. “There’s a centralized slip – you can go out, come back, then have it cleaned up and put it in storage, all with zero hassle.”

It’s a key amenity at South Bank, where 38 townhomes also lay claim to their own yacht slips. South Bank also offers two restaurants and bars, rental and property management services, plus tennis and pickleball courts. Then there’s the manmade lagoon, connected to the ocean. “It’s beachfront and salt water,” he says. “You can use the beach and not be affected by waves.”

Arc is six stories tall, and designed by Piero Lissoni, an Italian architect originally from Milan, now with a satellite office in New York. He specializes in high-end contemporary architecture for resorts and hotels in New York, Miami, and London. This is his first project in the Caribbean.

“Arc is special – it’s not a condo building, because we’ve tried to create a villa-like lifestyle combined with 360-degree views,” Reckhorn says. “The ocean is to the south and the flats and the lagoon are to the north.”

Lissoni’s assignment was to take advantage of the views indoors and out, and all around – using 50/50 indoor-outdoor spaces. Every villa has its own hot tub or pool – some have both – plus an outdoor kitchen, an outdoor shower, a garden. “It’s an indoor-outdoor lifestyle, elevated in a six-story building,” he says. “Some have pools up to 30 feet in length.”

The building is called Arc because its roofline is gently sloped up and down to look like an arc from the ocean. Its developer and architect were guided by two principles – first to create a building that was contemporary but soft in shape, with minimal impact on the natural setting. “We wanted a green building,” he says. “Each of its floors becomes smaller and smaller to lessen its impact.”

The other principle was to create units that have a very high ratio of outdoor-to-indoor space. “We wanted to transform a villa living experience to an elevated outlook, plus take advantage of the 360-degree views,” he says.

Reckhorn and his associates spent a great deal of time in planning, as they analyzed what the market desires in the Turks and Caicos were. They discovered that villa demand had grown stronger over the past few years. “So it was to be low density and villa-centric,” he says. “And it was driven by demand for more privacy and more space, and for multigenerational travel.”

Their overall site plan was centered around those ideas. “There are neighborhoods, and we have 2,000 feet of oceanfront footage and 19 oceanfront villas,” he says. “Then there’s the lagoon in the center for more waterfront.”

But yachts are the driving force behind this development. “From its location you can be out in the open water in 30 seconds, cruising or deep sea fishing, or exploring the islands in a heartbeat,” he says.

And if you’re not out on the Atlantic when the sun’s going down, consider the penthouse at Arc. It’s 12,700 square feet with five bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths. There’s a pool as well as a hot tub, plus multiple outdoor showers.

Eighty-five feet above the island with 360-degree waterfront views, it also come with its own super-yacht slip. “You can look down on your yacht directly from the penthouse while you’re enjoying the sunset over the water and having a drink,” he says. “It’s quite stunning.”

And quite a curve of the Arc.

The fragrant steam from my banana leaf fish wafted off the plate in front of me as I basked in the sultry humidity of the warm evening. I looked up at the stars, and I could hear the waves lapping the shore just out of sight. Had I really woken up earlier that day on a cold, cloudy autumn morning in Boston?

I had arrived at Amanyara that afternoon, ready for a few days in the Caribbean sun at this luxury resort on the Providenciales island of Turks and Caicos. The welcome team, greeting me at the front entrance with a juicy pink grapefruit concoction, whisked me around the corner and through the resort’s central lobby area, where the line between inside and outside begins to blur. The teak buildings practically float on the water of the reflecting pond, among trees and other greenery, and the onyx swimming pool seems to flow straight into the clear water of the Atlantic just beyond. Thirty seconds in and my breath was already gone.

While the ride from the airport to the hotel is only twenty-five minutes, Amanyara feels as secluded as if it were the only resort on the island. And when you’re inside your room, you might as well be the only ones at the resort. Accommodations, all recently refurbished, consist of 38 standalone pavilions that typically sleep two, and 18 villas with three to five bedrooms each, perfect for families.

Each pavilion features a soothingly minimal layout—a bed in the middle of the room, a spacious bathroom area with a soaking tub and rain shower, and glass walls on three sides. Open up a wall or two for a breezy indoor-outdoor accommodation, or shut them all to keep in the AC. The king platform canopy bed makes it hard to get up each morning, but the views of the pond or ocean right outside your pavilion ease the pain.

Our ocean-view pavilion was a short golf cart or bike ride away from the resort’s main areas. We could trip down the path to the water and jump straight into the turquoise waves crashing against the rocky shore when we felt adventurous, or just lie out on lounge chairs, taking in our private view of the Atlantic framed in lush vegetation. The shade of the water by the coast at high noon was the most vivid teal I’ve ever seen.

Dining options at Amanyara include The Restaurant, The Bar, and The Beach Club. The Restaurant serves breakfast and dinner daily and has ample alfresco seating. We loved breakfast under the shade of a tree on the terrace, but for dinner I’d recommend sitting on the deck right over the glittering pond. 

The Bar, the circular centerpiece of Amanyara’s main area, does drinks and light bites throughout the day, served beneath its soaring conical roof or, if you please, beside the pool.

The Beach Club, the resort’s more casual option perched above the white-sand beach, serves lunch daily. On Saturdays, however, the venue puts on a special Indian multi-course prix-fixe dinner with live music, featuring a chef from the Aman team in India. The meal was a smorgasbord of fragrant, savory flavors—freshly baked naan, samosas, and spicy curry were balanced by zingy yogurt and cilantro hints.

Amanyara provides unmatched escapism and relaxation to guests—and the spa, specializing in renewing wellness treatments, is the beating heart of the hotel’s restorative experience. An oasis within an oasis, the spa comprises a main lobby, an outdoor pool, a yoga sala, a sprawling deck overlooking a reflecting pond, and four treatment rooms. After a treatment, you’ll open your eyes to the sun shining over the pond just outside, as if the spa couldn’t get any more delectable. The bliss never really ends.

Amanyara’s spa treatments combine Asian-inspired practices with some Caribbean touches, like cold-pressed coconut oil from Turks and Caicos. While guests can sample any of the spa’s tempting treatments a la carte, like a lymph draining massage, a facial incorporating crystals, or a skin-softening body wrap, Amanyara’s signature wellness immersions deliver an experience like no other. 

The immersions provide guests personalized, results-oriented programs, built in collaboration with the property’s therapists and nutritionists. Guests choose their goal for the immersion, whether it’s grounding themselves mentally, kickstarting their metabolism, or detoxifying. Then, the property’s wellness team will lead them through movement sessions, specialized spa treatments, and a curated menu for the length of the immersion. 

And if you prefer to do your own thing on vacation, there’s no shortage of ways to keep busy on property. The fitness facilities include a gym, four clay Har-tru tennis courts, a soccer pitch, a Pilates studio, and gear for other sports like Ping-Pong, basketball, and lacrosse. 

Prefer to stay by the water? Amanyara’s stretch of private beach has paddleboards, kayaks, and optional snorkeling trips to nearby reefs where colorful fish dart in and out of coral formations inches from your reach. The resort also offers a new, nature-focused kids program called Science Explorers and Environmental Keepers (SEEK).

When it’s time to wind down, evening activities aren’t sparse, either. While you can dine under the stars at The Restaurant and catch the nightly movie at the playhouse, my favorite part of the evenings came a bit sooner—at sunset. We lounged in one of the sunset salas as twilight set in, sipping champagne after a day in the sun and watching the towering clouds turn pinker and pinker over the ocean. If I relived that experience every day, I’d never tire of it. Amanyara, notably, roughly translates to “peaceful place.” 

The lack of light pollution in Turks and Caicos made for the brightest night sky I’ve seen in a long time. We sat quietly on the beach late at night, catching glimpses of shooting stars, making wishes that we’d never have to leave.  

For more information visit aman.com/resorts/amanyara.