Pondering where you and your beloved can escape from it all? According to that Beatles song, “you’ve got to hide your love away.” To do just that, take off to a swoon-inducing destination, far from the drudgery of real life – the mateless socks on the dryer and that skirt you keep meaning to pick up from the drycleaners.
All that drudgery is light years away at a place like Turtle Island Resort. This private island sits in the breezy blue seas of Fiji and has become the “it” place among heat-seeking couples who love luxury and privacy. There’s room for only 28 couples. At $2,500 U.S. per night for a beachfront cottage (or “bure”), pure bliss doesn’t come cheap. On the other hand, it’s like a Harlequin romance novel its with champagne picnics on the beach, horseback riding at sunrise, four-handed lomi lomi massages, outdoor showers, and even a “bure mama,” a kind of private concierge who will offer advice on the best snorkeling spots or how to get him to stop leaving behind blobs of toothpaste in the sink.
For couples seeking more surf with their turf, hop to the all-suite Esperanza Resort, poised on a cliff overlooking the sea of Cortez in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. If the pudding-soft Frette linens, the hammocks, specialized cigar and tequila menus fail to fascinate, then perhaps the five-room suite with private (read: perfect for skinny dipping) pool will. The resort earns raves for its tasty margaritas and staff that remember how you like your coffee each morning. Prices start at $600 U.S. a night so you might want to preserve your pennies by skipping the bar and stock up on cheap liquor at the store across the highway from the resort.
For some love struck couples, just being close to water doesn’t cut it. They prefer water-logged getaways spent in water. Renting a houseboat ensures you’ll never have to put up with nosey neighbours and you can cruise and snooze to your heart’s content. Companies like Ontario Wilderness Houseboat Rentals in offer some beauties to ensure you won’t be roughing it. Most boats come with a fully equipped kitchen, waterslide, microwave, barbecue, picnic table on the sundeck, TV, and DVD players. It’s the perfect option for privacy lovers. One summer Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart rented a modest canal barge, which looks like a floating sardine tin, to cruise down along 14 miles of the Llangollen canal on the Welsh-English border. Eau what a feeling!
For landlubbers, there are the old standbys, of course. Las Vegas oozes sexiness and money, making a perfect place for those who also like to gamble on love. Book a guest room, complete with deep soaking tub and electronic drapes, at the fabulous Bellagio, Its dining scene is stellar with world-class restaurants like Le Cirque and Picasso on the premises. For dessert, try yourself to a big “O” – a reference, of course, to the acclaimed Cirque du Soleil show on site.
Fairmont Hotel and Resorts is showing off its romantic and sexy side with an Engaging Proposal program designed to help couples make a permanent hook up in style. The Canadian company offers a special “Karat Cake” (just don’t swallow the ring) to serve as backdrop to a proposal or it also create the exotic and grand, like a life-size ice castle inscribed with “Will you marry me?” at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, for example. If you’re planning on popping the question (it is a new millennium, ladies), call the chain’s 1-800-on-1-KNEE for ideas from an engagement expert on decent (and indecent) proposals.
Expensive as some as these getaways may be, there’s a ring of truth to those lyrics: “Money can’t buy me love.” Back when Matthew McConaughey was dating Penelope Cruz, they snuck off to Big Oak River Camp in Camp Wood, Texas. The cost? Just $26 US a night.
But enough with all the gruesome twosomes. A sexy getaway can mean some time spent o solo mio. Who needs to be surrounded by googly-eyed lovers who titter over every flutter of an eyelash? Some packages cater to the proudly unattached. The Planter’s Inn in Charleston, S.C., offers an anti-Valentine’s Away Alone program that includes three nights’ accommodation and goodies like an in-room massage, flowers upon arrival from a secret admirer (the bellman?), late night munchies and daily breakfast in bed. Scared of the dark? The hotel also throws in a teddy bear, guaranteed not to snore.
The only aphrodisiac better than money is spending it. Bal Harbour Village in Florida understands this and is cashing in on a Shopping Spree for Singles Package from Sea View Bal Harbour Hotel. Special offers from Neiman Marcus, Roberto Cavalli and Ralph Lauren take the sting out of knowing that the other side of the bed is vacant. Shop to your heart’s content. You don’t have to share your bounty with anyone. It’s all yours.