In a city beloved for its double-decker buses and scones piled with clotted cream, London is quickly becoming known for something else—the world’s best luxury hotels.
With what seems like every major hotel brand breaking ground in London over the past few years, from Six Senses to Peninsula, you’d be hard-pressed to find a higher standard of hotels in any city in the world right now. And there’s no sign the competition is slowing. St. Regis is slated to cut the red ribbon in Mayfair soon, while next year’s Waldorf Admiralty Arch, across from Buckingham Palace, will mark one of the city’s most painstaking historic hotel renovations.
Palatial subterranean spas, special designer suites, complimentary luxury car service, Michelin-star restaurants, and the world’s best white-glove service prove London is the epitome of global pomp.
Sure, the options are overwhelming, but don’t fret; we’ve narrowed down the best freshly painted newcomers and gilded classics throughout London. These are our picks, in no particular order, for the 15 best luxury hotels in London in 2026.
Claridge’s
Photo : Claridge’s
Award: Best overall
If Claridge’s walls could talk, you’d hear the King’s English. Arguably London’s most exquisite grand dame, its top-hatted doormen have welcomed everyone from Audrey Hepburn to Mick Jagger. Opened in 1856, its latest refurbishment in 2023 oozes art deco elegance. Additions include a new penthouse featuring the world’s largest Damien Hirst private collection and 79 mod suites and rooms, bringing its roster to 190 keys. Andre Fu had a big role in the hotel’s redesign, creating the Residence Suite by Andre Fu, a 297-square-metre, multi-level glass suite and the ultra-Zen spa with seven treatment rooms and a sublime subterranean pool. But the hotel’s beloved character is still there, including the city’s most coveted afternoon tea and beck-and-call service that makes you feel like royalty.
Best amenity: There’s not one but two legendary bars at Claridge’s. The Fumoir has been shaking and stirring martinis since 1929, and down the corridor, the pink and playful Painter’s Room mixes floral and fruity drinks.
Can’t-miss experience: There’s nothing more British than an afternoon tea, and Claridge’s has long been lauded as the city’s best. Inside the ultra-elegant Foyer and Reading Room, plates of crustless sandwiches, freshly baked scones, and pot after pot of Claridge’s signature blend hit the table.
From AU$1,680
Raffles London at The OWO
Photo : Grain London Ltd
Award: Best historic hotel
They say war is a dirty business, but everything at the Raffles London at The Old War Office is pristine. From the oak-paneled walls to the original mosaic tiles to the Piastracchia Italian marble on the grand staircase, this eight-year, AU$2.3 billion renovation produced one of London’s most stunning and opulent hotels. Its handsome aesthetic and maze-like interiors reflect its 1900s history as the place where Winston Churchill won World War II, spies ducked in and out, and James Bond was invented. Its speakeasy Spy Bar shakes and stirs the best martinis in town, while its signature Mauro Colagreco and rooftop Kioku by Endo are heading for a Michelin star. Hidden beneath is Raffles’s subterranean Guerlain Spa, with nine treatment rooms and a startlingly grand swimming pool. Choose from 120 rooms and suites—perhaps the Haldane Suite, where the most important decisions of the war were made, or the Turret Suite with knockout views of Big Ben.
Best amenity: The four-story subterranean Guerlain spa, fitness centre, and pool is a sprawling stunner. Spanning 2,508 square metres, it has nine treatment rooms offering an encyclopaedia of cutting-edge spa treatments, a Technogym fitness centre, a steam room, sauna, and picture-worthy pool.
Can’t-miss experience: Book the Secrets & Spies Afternoon Tea, a half-day experience combining a private tour rehashing the hotel’s history, followed by a classically elegant afternoon tea.
From AU$1,650
Broadwick Soho
Photo : Broadwick Soho
Award: Best for design enthusiasts
Stepping inside Broadwick Soho’s lobby feels like an Alice in Wonderland acid trip—but in the best way possible. The pastel green and pink walls are decorated with painted parrots and vintage artwork. Tasseled elephant lamps sit on pink marble as the staff check you in wearing head-to-toe leopard print suits. Hand-stitched French silk lines the elevator for this Martin Brudnizki–designed hotel, which opened in Soho in late 2023. Its 57 rooms and suites are an expert mix of eclectic touches without being an overload for the eyes: herringbone timber floors, floral rugs, bed feet that are actually golden hands, and blue leopard-print wallpaper in the bathroom, not to mention the mirrored furniture, light pastel colours, and a Toucan-shaped handle for the mini-bar. Its basement restaurant, Dear Jackie, is the place to be on a Saturday night. Dress to impress; you never know who you’ll spot.
Best amenity: The Nook is a vintage-designed, private, guest-only lounge where you can sip an espresso or an espresso martini as vinyl spins in the background.
Can’t-miss experience: Its Wes Anderson–esque rooftop bar, Flute, is one of the city’s most whimsical places to imbibe. Animal prints, watermelon pastels, cork walls, and film-inspired cocktails are the perfect way to start or end the night.
From AU$934
NoMad London
Photo : NoMad London
Award: Best for theater lovers
Directly across from the Royal Opera House, this five-story building was once the Bow Street Magistrates’ Court and police station. Everyone from Oscar Wilde to Britain’s suffragettes was held here, and you can access the Bow Street Police Museum directly from NoMad London. Its 91 rooms and suites have an arresting design with wallpapered fireplaces, Calacatta gold mosaic–tiled bathrooms, vibrant chandeliers, and 1,600 pieces of original artwork spread throughout. Dining is in the towering glass-ceiling all-day restaurant, Twenty8 NoMad, or the moody Side Hustle, where they sling tequila cocktails and tacos with house-made hot sauce.
Best amenity: Free admission to the Bow Street Police Museum for a crime and punishment-style history lesson on Covent Garden.
Can’t-miss experience: Londoners love to brunch at Twenty8 NoMad. Its stunning atrium design and brunch classics make it supremely popular. Go for the poppy seed pancakes, cheeseburger, or a British anchovy toast.
From AU$1,257
Chelsea Townhouse
Photo : Will Pryce
Award: Best for couples
Like staying in the townhouse of your well-heeled great aunt, Chelsea Townhouse offers prim and proper pampering. Opened in September 2023, it’s a quick jaunt to its sister property, 11 Cadogan Gardens—where you can also use its facilities. Its 36 rooms and suites are set inside three stately Victorian townhouses formerly known as the Draycott Hotel. The interiors are as British as the flag flying above its entrance. Crown molding, gilded mirrors and chandeliers, 18th-century British artwork, and custom-made curtains decorate its bedrooms, outfitted with Harrison Spinks beds that are hard to leave. But when the English Breakfast tea comes calling, the dining salon and intimate library are the place to sit and sip. Both lounge areas have a marble gas fireplace, velvet furniture, stylish antiques, and loads of natural light.
Best amenity: Through the back door, guests get access to the beautiful Cadogan Place Gardens. Perch on a bench and pull out a good book or simply watch the birds flit past.
Can’t-miss experience: Don’t sleep in. In the refined Garden Room, a buffet of housemade granola, overnight oats, and freshly baked Chelsea buns line the wall. Guests can also choose between a full English breakfast and three different types of Eggs Benedict.
From AU$632
The Peninsula London
Photo : Will Pryce
Award: Best location
They say good things come to those who wait, and after 30 years of searching for a London location in the shadow of Buckingham Palace, it better be up to snuff. Opened in September 2023, its 190 Peter Marino–designed rooms and suites are the latest to join Peninsula Hotels, and just like its Hong Kong sister hotel, it has envy-inducing views. Floor-to-ceiling views of Hyde Park Corner and Wellington Arch mean central London is easy to explore, and thanks to “Peninsula Time,” you can check out whenever you like. That makes it all too tempting to get one more massage at its seven-room holistic spa, a few more laps in its 25-metre swimming pool, or another dim sum lunch at Canton Blue.
Best amenity: Its location is clutch, but if you should need to get around town, the hotel has complimentary Peninsula Pashley and Brompton bikes, and a fleet of luxury electric cars is at your beck and call
Can’t-miss experience: Take the hot air balloon–inspired lifts up to Brooklands Bar. An homage to England’s history in aviation and motorsports, this rooftop cocktail spot is as sexy and sleek as it is quirky.
From AU$1,652
Beaverbrook Town House
Photo : Beaverbrook
Award: Best for art obsessives
The pastel-pink pineapples catch your eye first. Then the turquoise walls, chessboard floors, and blue art-deco tiles. There’s a lot of color at Beaverbrook Town House. The bright blend of decor is just the right amount of kitsch, fun, and whimsy for a new 14-suite townhouse in swank-and-swish Chelsea. It’s the sister property to the award-winning Beaverbrook Hotel in Surrey, with each suite named after one of London’s famous theatres, which explains, well, the theatrics. They’re decorated with rare vintage play posters, black-and-white photos from the theater, a mishmash of furniture patterns, tasseled pillows, and bold shower tiles that somehow work together like the perfect ensemble.
Best amenity: The complimentary mini-bar is stocked with local treats like Tyrrell’s chips, Benjamin’s Pink Lemonade, Love Cocoa chocolate, and kombucha.
Can’t-miss experience: Cozy up at a leather booth at its main restaurant, The Fuji Grill. Spotlighting Japan, it has sake-inspired cocktails, truffle-dotted sushi, and dozens of vintage Mount Fuji works of art. Keep your eyes peeled for celebs.
From AU$675
1 Hotel Mayfair
Photo : Milo Brown
Award: Best for sustainability
Directly across from the Ritz, the new kid on the block swaps British grandeur for a more serene SoCal atmosphere. 1 Hotel Mayfair feels like a tranquil oasis separate from the city grit. You’re welcomed at check-in at a repurposed 200-year-old fallen oak tree in front of a vertically stacked stone wall. Earthy, sustainably sourced materials are carried throughout its Tom Sellers–run Dovetale restaurant and Dover Yard bar, where petrified wood tables and linen couches add to the hotel’s laid-back vibe. Inside its 181 rooms and suites, rope-woven furniture, soft timber, succulents, and white furniture keep things chill. In tune with its eco-friendly theme, each room has a vertical green wall, and you’ll have access to daily chauffeured electric Audi cars on a first-come, first-served basis. For comatose levels of Zen, head to the hotel’s Bamford Spa for a stress-melting massage.
Best amenity: The sustainable in-room offerings, like an in-wall filtered water tap with a complimentary upcycled water bottle, Bamford bathroom products, organic mattresses, and eco-friendly cotton bedding.
Can’t-miss experience: Book on the weekend to take advantage of a proper Sunday roast at Dovetale, where the perfectly cooked roast beef is a must.
From Au$1,070
Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Photo : George Apostolidis
Award: Best for shopping
In London, a Mayfair address is as coveted as a knighthood by the king. Mandarin Oriental’s second property (the first is Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park) sits in posh Hanover Square, the area’s first new hotel in a decade. Mandarin Oriental Mayfair’s sleek, stylish design carries into its 50 rooms and suites, designed with striking hand-painted Gournay floral wallpaper, swirling marble, gold fixtures, creams and royal blues. Offsite, the in-the-know concierge has all the best shopping tips, from an “in” on Savile Row to sessions making your own fragrance at Ormonde Jayne and lipstick at Code8. On-site, its five restaurants and bars range from fine-dining Chinese at A. Wong to a rooftop bar specializing in Negronis from around the world.
Best amenity: Its spa and fitness offerings are impressively creative, from compression therapy to floating sound therapy in its subterranean pool to a bespoke Mayfair Facial by Shane Cooper.
Can’t-miss experience: Vibing to a six-piece band playing soul and funk, snacking on caviar-topped fried chicken into the early hours at its bar Esmeralda’s.
From AU$1,850
One Aldwych
Photo : Nick Rochowski Photography
Award: Best for families
Primed for sightseeing, this Covent Garden hotel is smack dab in the center of museums, shows, galleries, shops, and kid-friendly fun galore. Built in 1905, One Aldwych was once the home of the Morning Post and the Inveresk Paper Company before becoming a five-star hotel in 1998. Morning papers still get delivered to its 101 spacious rooms and suites, recently refurbished with smart, timeless design, like wainscoting, deco lighting, and curved furniture. Colors here are as creamy as its afternoon tea, with pops of light pastels and marble bathrooms. There are multi-bedroom suites, as well as kids’ cots, mini-bathrobes, slippers, and games for little ones. But for a parents’ getaway, book The Dome suite at the top of the Art Nouveau building. Its periwinkle domed bedroom has a gas fireplace, Georgian wood flooring, and a separate art deco-inspired living and dining area. Kids will love the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea, with fizzy lifting drinks for the adults, a chocolate fountain, and clever plays on the book’s sweet treats.
Best amenity: Here, fur babies are just as important as the human ones. Pups get an ergonomic bed, towels, and treats from Bow Wow London.
Can’t-miss experience: Its breakfast is shockingly chic. Served on delicate china and shiny silver, dishes vary from house-made granola with saffron-poached fruit to a full English with St. Ewe eggs, Suffolk pork sausage, and black pudding.
From AU$1,364
The Twenty Two
Photo : The Twenty Two
Award: Best for young creatives
London is undoubtedly a cool kid’s club, and The Twenty Two fits right in. This Mayfair boutique hotel and members’ club has 31 rooms and suites that occupy an opulent white-stone Edwardian mansion on the corner of Grosvenor Square. The grandeur carries inside with maximalist Parisian design, including leopard-print carpet, taffeta curtains, statement Pierre Frey wallpaper, and mirrored ceilings. The decor here feels delightfully over the top, but the vibes are discreet and private, perfect for its members-only library. Warm and genuine service carries into its restaurant (called The Restaurant), where signature pasta and beef Wellington are served in one of London’s poshest hangouts.
Best amenity: The red velvet–clad basement club frequented by A-listers from the Beckhams to Formula 1’s Lando Norris. It’s members-only, but overnight guests get access.
Can’t-miss experience: The pasta al limone. I haven’t stopped thinking about this divine bowl of creamy, lemony spaghetti at The Restaurant since I had it three years ago.
From AU$1,092
The Dorchester
Photo : Dorchester Collection
Award: Best service
The Dorchester’s doormen have been ushering in the world’s biggest movers, shakers, and policymakers since it opened in 1931. In 2022, the hotel started a head-to-toe transformation of the hotel (its largest in 30 years), including its grand and gilded Promenade, where Liberace’s piano serenades you while you’re sipping on Champagne and topping up scones. Sprinkled with its signature Dorchester rose, its 241 rooms and suites follow a royal blue or yellow colour scheme with marble bathrooms, hardwood floors, and velvet furniture that feel both palatially luxurious and inexplicably homey. Butlers here will do anything for you, “as long as it’s legal,” and are reserved for those staying at the Hyde Park suite level and up. Services like babysitting are available for when you want to spend an afternoon in its nine-room spa. End the evening in the Martin Brudnizki–designed Vesper Bar, featuring a flight of one-of-a-kind Louis XIII Cognac that comes with an exclusive invite to the family’s estate in France for AU$21,550.
Best amenity: The king-sized beds here feel like they’ve been crafted by the hands of cherubs, or maybe sorcerers. Made exclusively for the hotel by London institution Vispring, you may need to bribe your butler to get your hands on one.
Can’t-miss experience: The experience at the Michelin three-star Alain Ducasse restaurant is hard to beat, if you can snag a reservation. Its lobster, caviar, and truffle-filled tasting menu is as decadent as it sounds.
From AU$1,940
Corinthia London
Photo : Lartisien Hotel Collection
Award: Best for spa lovers
The epitome of elegance, Corinthia has been a stalwart of the London hotel scene since it opened to acclaim in 2011. This Whitehall hotel has 279 rooms and suites, including a whopping seven penthouses. Its Royal Penthouse has unobstructed views of the London Eye from its terrace and includes a butler, car service, access to a private wine collection, and a spa suite. Its subterranean spa is arguably the city’s most impressive. Although the Raffles usurped the Biome by Corinthia spa in size, it has 17 treatment rooms and dozens of treatments crafted by specialists like Wildsmith Skin and Augustinus Bader. Facilities include heated Cleopatra beds, a steam room, an all-glass sauna, a vitality pool, and a heated swimming pool. When all that pampering works up an appetite, the Corinthia has three sprawling restaurants, ranging from zingy Italian to classic British by Tom Kerridge.
Best amenity: There’s a lot of great food here, but the standout is arguably at the Crystal Moon Lounge, where afternoon tea and scones are served under its show-stopping chandelier made up of 1,001 hanging crystal bubbles.
Can’t-miss experience: Augustinus Bader Longevity Facial is worth the investment. Cell renewal using a LYMA laser shows off tighter skin and a noticeable glow-up.
From Au$1,925
The Goring
Photo : SIMPHOTOGRAPHY
Award: Best for old-school British elegance
There’s an unparalleled level of cachet when you’re the royal family’s “hotel of choice.” Granted a Royal Warrant by Queen Elizabeth II and the host of Kate Middleton’s squad on the eve of her wedding, The Goring is known as London’s “smartest address.” It’s also the only hotel in the city that’s still run by the family that started it. The Gorings have been hosting royal balls, government spies, and England’s swankest socialites since 1910. Of course, its 69 rooms and suites have been upgraded since then, but they still retain their British charm. The walls are lined with patterned Gainsborough silk, the furniture is velvet with playful touches like wool sheep footrests, the bathrooms are marble, and the linen is Italian. But one of the reasons it’s been a favourite for over a century is the service. Butlers here may or may not have ties to Buckingham Palace, and the concierge can secure pretty much any reservation in the city.
Best amenity: Access to one of the largest private gardens in Central London. You can channel royalty with a glass of bubbles and a game of croquet.
Can’t-miss experience: Who said British food was bad? This Michelin-star menu features hyper-local dishes like Cornish duck, Dover sole, and a killer beef Wellington, surrounded by whimsical wallpaper monkeys sipping Champagne.
From AU$1,690
The Newman
Photo : Helen Cathcart
Award: Best-kept secret
The 81-key property isn’t part of the Mayfair cluster, home to so many of the other five-star favourites in central London, but a short stroll away in the quieter, more insiderish neighborhood of Fitzrovia. The artsy, Soho-adjacent enclave is more residential and local than much of central London, meaning it’s both a calmer place to stay and one where you’re likelier to be next to a Brit at the bar than a fellow visitor (Head to Charlotte Street, its main drag, for an assortment of appealing bars and restaurants.) The décor in the rooms—which are reassuringly large, starting at 27 square metres—is best described as neo-deco: all mirrors, gleaming surfaces, and rich colours. The extra-spacious showers are a thoughtful touch. Arguably, the best place to stay is the residential-style four-bedroom penthouse you can carve out of the entire sixth floor, complete with its own sauna, cold plunge, and a 139-square-metre terrace complete with a BBQ. No wonder it earned a slot on our Best of the Best list this year.
Best amenity: Bravo! This hotel has finally cracked how to turn a workmanlike Nespresso shot into something more impressive. The in-room Morning Machines are sleek, stylish, and somehow make drinkable espresso from those very same pods.
Can’t-miss experience: The new-build property was smart enough to dedicate the entirety of its sub-basement to a spa, so the facilities here are expansive and world class, and even include halotherapy (a salt room).
Whether you want to yacht around Mallorca with celebs or hole up in a secluded beach villa in Riviera Nayarit, we have all the inspiration you’ll need for the second half of the year.
The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.
Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.
A watch from the Constellation Observatory Collection, with the Observatory dome on display. Omega
“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”
In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.
A look at a gold case-back from the collection. Omega
Each model is a callback to myriad design features on past Omega models. That two-hand dial, for one, comes from the 1948 Centenary (the brand’s first chronometer-certified automatic wristwatch), while the pie-pan dial (seen in various blue, green, and golden hues throughout the line) and that Constellation medallion caseback both appear on watches from 1952. The star adorning the space above 6 o’clock also harks back to 1950s timepieces from Omega. And to finish off the look, you can opt for alligator straps in a variety of colours, or perhaps a gold iteration to match the precious-metal models; the brick-like pattern on the 18-karat Moonshine bracelet was also inspired by Omega watches from the ’50s.
We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any other Constellation Observatory timepieces (or any other unreleased models from the brand) at the rest of the star-studded events headed our way this year—perhaps the Met Gala?
Colorado’s barely known San Juan Mountains do a fine line in bespoke skiing experiences, luring alpine-sports cognoscenti and billionaire thrill-seekers alike.
“Though no one currently on staff is at liberty to say, billionaire actor Tom Cruise is a very average heli-snowboarder. But although no one currently on staff is at liberty to say, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos—the world’s second richest human—makes up for Cruise’s inability with his off-piste prowess. The pair have been clients of Telluride Helitrax, a heli-skiing outfit operating in the backcountry behind Telluride Mountain Resort, in remote south-west Colorado, since 1982. My source, a former guide who prefers to remain anonymous, admits he’s entertained a host of household-name One Percenters over the years.”
“Power billionaires aren’t going to the popular resorts any more,” he reveals over a happy-hour drink at a Telluride bar. “Luxury skiing these days, it’s all about exclusivity. No one with any clout shares snow, and at every resort, no matter how fancy, you have to share the slopes. But nowhere is more exclusive than the backcountry. That’s your billionaire’s playground. And no backcountry is more exclusive than San Juan backcountry.”
Conditions match those found in Alaska, according to those in-the know.
Which is precisely why I am here. Australia’s considerable brigade of free-spending, snow-crazed executives may jet off to Vail and Aspen each northern winter for thrills, but it turns out some of the world’s most choicest ski experiences have been right under their noses—only a short helicopter ride, car journey or private jet flight from said resorts.
Packed into the ultra-rugged southern end of the Rocky Mountains, the San Juans are a little chunk of the Swiss Alps in the US—young, ridiculously spectacular formations known for their steep slopes, deep powder snow and Disney-esque triangular peaks, all bathed in 300-plus days of sunshine a year. And the region is augmented by unique, and select, backcountry options that rival anything currently in the upscale ski orbit.
Carving clouds in Silverton backcountry terrain.
Case in point: North America’s highest skiing setting, Silverton Mountain. Located in the heart of the San Juans, outside the tiny town of Silverton, the 4,111 m peak boasts 736 hectares of chair-accessible terrain set among what is reputedly the deepest, steepest snow in the nation. It also offers a further 10,000 hectares of private terrain, serviced by heli-ski operation Heli Adventures. This is the Shangri-La of skiing: every slope connoisseur has heard of it, though most wonder if it actually exists.
We arrive via the treacherous Million Dollar Highway, where a disturbing lack of guard rails sometimes causes travellers to plummet into the valley floor (the death toll, grimly, averages eight people per year). Silverton Mountain was bought in 2023 by Heli Adventures’ young co-founders Andy Culp and Brock Strasbourger. While private punters can book the hill in its entirety, starting from around $14,000 per day, plus extra for single heli-skiing runs, the destination is also open to the public from Thursdays to Saturdays through winter.
“Silverton is a bastion for the pure ski experience,” Culp says. “All that corporate consolidation that happened when ski resorts all over the world developed condos and real estate and got super-busy… well, it never happened here. You’re able to access Alaska-like terrain from an old rickety chairlift, but you’re an hour’s drive from a pretty major airport [Montrose]. And you can access snow that’s even better than most heli-skiing straight off your lift.”
There’s no radio-frequency lift passes when I arrive. In fact, I don’t get a lift pass at all. A discarded school bus doubles as the “second chairlift”; it picks me up and returns me to a yurt which serves as a restaurant and bar. “There’s a time and a place to hang out at The Little Nell [Aspen’s legendary après-ski bar] and the world doesn’t need more of that,” Culp says. “This is the new luxury. We also run a heli-ski business out of Aspen [Aspen Heli-Skiing] but this is where we come. You can’t put a price tag on what we have here.”
I drive away from the mountain, back along the perilous Million Dollar Highway, park my car and disappear into the San Juan National Forest with guide Kaylee Walden. This white-coated outback between Silverton and Ouray, dubbed “the Switzerland of America”, offers swathes of primo backcountry skiing terrain. The ski touring here is often likened to Europe’s iconic Haute Route—an emblematic trail between Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
The operator Mountain Trip offers a Colorado version of that feted circuit, on a multi-day traverse between secluded huts. All in all, there’s nearly 8,000 km² of national forest and 2,500 hectares of wilderness to explore, frequented only by the occasional intrepid enthusiast.
A wood-burning sauna is being prepared as I arrive at Thelma Hut, 4,500 m above sea level. Traditionally, US Forest Service huts were humble affairs, with rudimentary bunks, self-service kitchens, and food supplies brought in by skiers. This evening, however, a chef is preparing local bison across from an open fireplace as the sun sets through a floor-to-ceiling window against a horizon of white mountains. As he works, I walk out into the snow to study the twilight sky; beaming planets shine down on me, necklaces of tiny stars sparkle.
Thelma Hut, in the San Juan National Forest.
Back down to earth, upon my return to “civilisation”, we take a two-hour car ride to Telluride, probing through the San Juans. The small town is picture-postcard pretty, wedged at the end of a box canyon surrounded by Colorado’s tallest waterfalls, and hosts the highest concentration of 4,000-m-plus peaks in the state. Most of its buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, including a bank that was robbed in 1889 by the outlaw Butch Cassidy.
While the locale offers everything from luxurious on-mountain dining options to 7-km-long runs, it’s the heli-ski enterprise that’s lured me. Telluride Helitrax holds sole rights to over 500 km² of completely deserted ski terrain, a few minutes’ flying time from town. The company runs a range of Eurocopters which guests can charter into Colorado’s best alpine basins, cirques and couloirs. “The range mightn’t be as expansive as Alaska,” says Telluride Helitrax program director Joseph Shults. “But the views, the terrain, the snow depth and quality is as good.”
I’m staying in a privately owned three-bedroom penthouse apartment, where a helicopter takes off each morning for convenience (when I’m done carving clouds, I move a kilometre up the mountain to the seven-bedroom, three-storey mountain retreat Hood Park Haven, valued at around $42 million). Telluride Helitrax uses an abundance of drop-off locations, all above the tree line, meaning everyone from intermediates to experts can be catered for.
Telluride Helitrax offers a multitude of drop-off points.The $42 million Hood Park Haven retreat.
During my three-day odyssey, I don’t cross a single other ski track, but it’s the peace that is most startling. In this pocket of montane paradise, there is, literally, not a single sound—a stark contrast to the whirling fury of the chopper that transports me. My experienced guide Bill Allen won’t reveal who’s come before Robb Report. “You’d know their names,” he says, grinning.
And so the San Juans remain a secret to all but a fortunate few. Of all the luxuries the ultra-wealthy enjoy in the skiing ecosphere, the promise of untouched snow is by far the most enviable. Here in Colorado is where the white gold truly lies.
Photography: Kane Scheidegger (heli-skiing); Patrick Coulie (hut); Courtesy of Colorado Tourism Office (Hood Park Haven).
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
A modern classic in the making, combining naturally aspirated power with elegant restraint to deliver performance that feels as refined as it is visceral.
In a year when carmakers of all persuasions sheepishly extended hyperbolic electric targets, it’s fitting that the monastic puritans of Maranello—who, lest we forget, won’t finally yield to the sin of battery power until October with the Elettrica—opted to make combustion their major power play.
As an uncertain future of AI omnipresence barrels towards us, the 12Cilindri—an analogue, open-topped tribute to Ferrari’s late-’60s/early-’70s grand tourer, the Daytona—represents a defiant fade into the past, a pause for breath, a fleeting return to The Good Times when nascent technology provoked excitement rather than existential dread.
Guiding this automotive nostalgia trip is, as the nomenclature suggests, a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine, generating an unceasing wave of power as it sears towards the 9,500 rpm redline with relative nonchalance. That’s because the 12Cilindri is not a mouth-foaming attack-dog. It scales performance heights with the refinement of the finest Italian works of art; its “Bumpy Road” mode facilitates comfy al fresco GT cruising, and even the imperious powerplant is mannerly at most speeds.
For all the yesteryear romance, progressive technologies and engineering, such as a world-class 8-speed transmission, advanced electronic aids and independent four-wheel steering, are baked into the deal. The 12Cilindri’s clean, stark design somehow toggles between retro and modern; and while vaguely polarising, one can’t ignore its magnetic road presence.
In terms of aesthetics, Ferrari describes the 12Cilindri as being “ready for space”; in many ways, a fantasy vehicle that transports users to another dimension is probably what the world needs right now.
At Le Bernardin, Aldo Sohm oversees one of the most formidable cellars in fine dining. But on the beach, he’ll happily drink a cheap rosé. The world-class sommelier explains why taste—and humility—matter more than price.
Aldo Sohm is one of the most accomplished sommeliers in the world. The 54-year-old Austrian heads up an oenophile’s empire on New York City’s West 51st Street, where he both serves as wine director at Michelin three-star Le Bernardin and leads his namesake wine bar, just across the road from the fine-dining institution. (He spends his time literally running back and forth between the two.) So it may come as a surprise that this man, who sips prized varietals all day, admits to the joys of a glass of Whispering Angel, a ubiquitous rosé that retails at stateside Target stores for US$22.99 (around $30) a bottle.
The context here is important; the aptly named Sohm is quick to clarify that he’s not about to start serving Whispering Angel as one of the pairings with chef Eric Ripert’s US$530 (around $750) eight-course tasting menu. But during a trip to the Caribbean for the Cayman Cookout food festival, Sohm’s wife requested a glass of rosé on the beach. When he went to fetch it, she specified that she wanted a cheap drop, not the fancy stuff that he likely would have grabbed. “I felt kind of gobsmacked, right?”
Sohm says as we’re sitting in the tasting room at Aldo Sohm Wine Bar. “Now, rather than just criticising, I have to admit: I got out of the water, and I tried Whispering Angel, too. It was delicious.”
Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, across the street from Le Bernardin in midtown Manhattan.
Unlikely as it may be, this humility is perhaps the key to Sohm’s success. His lack of self-seriousness makes him an anomaly in the oftentimes highfalutin world of fine wine. Rather than shaming you for your preferences, Sohm will indulge your desires. Maybe, as in the case of his wife, you’re going to be right. More likely than not, you’re going to be wrong. He won’t simply tell you that, though; he’ll use his encyclopedic knowledge of wine to subtly steer you in the right direction, allowing you to come to that conclusion on your own. “You just wake up from your dream—and mistake—and realise that, ‘Oh yeah, he’s right,’” says Ripert, who has worked with Sohm for almost two decades.
Sohm intended to move to New York for only 18 months. Growing up in Innsbruck, in the Austrian Alps, he wanted to be a helicopter pilot. Like many childhood fantasies, that didn’t come to fruition, and he settled on something more practical, becoming a teacher at a hospitality school. Having overcorrected—“That was way too boring for me,” he admits—he switched to the more public-facing side of the industry, getting a job as a restaurant server. It was then, when he was about 21, that Sohm fell in love with wine. (Prior to that, he was a self-proclaimed Bacardi and coke guy.)
The menu’s croque monsieur
After studying wine on his own time, he began his formal sommelier education in 1998. He rose quickly through the ranks and was named the best sommelier in Austria in 2002, a title he defended the following two years and reclaimed in 2006. Amid that stretch, he sojourned to New York in 2004 with the goal of improving his English to compete in international competitions. It paid off: four years later, he won the top prize from the World Sommelier Association. But more than the accolades, Sohm had discovered a career. By then, he had joined Le Bernardin after stints at Wallsé, Café Sabarsky and Blaue Gans—all Austrian restaurants in Manhattan.
“Back then we had a very strong French sommelier community, and they controlled everything,” he says. “And it was an uproar because how come an Austrian sommelier came to one of the most French restaurants?” He proved his bona fides, and in 2013 Ripert and Maguy Le Coze, the co-owners of Le Bernardin, approached him with the idea of partnering with them in a wine bar. It was Ripert who suggested putting the connoisseur’s name on it.
Aldo Sohm Wine Bar debuted the following year, with a team that Sohm handpicked. Sarah Thomas was part of that opening crew, after meeting Sohm during a fateful dinner at Le Bernardin with her cousins. When her relatives divulged to him that she was a sommelier in Pittsburgh, he proceeded to serve a blind tasting to Thomas. “He didn’t say what I got right or wrong. He didn’t care about that,” she tells me. “He just wanted to hear me talk about wine, I guess. So I did.”
When he offered her a job at the end of the meal, she laughed. Sohm didn’t. Thomas promptly packed up and moved to New York. After she spent about nine months at the wine bar, Sohm promoted her to Le Bernardin, where she worked for another five years. When she decided to start her own business—Kalamata’s Kitchen, which aims to teach kids about other cultures through food—Sohm was one of her earliest investors. He may have found full-time teaching to be too banal, but it’s still a huge part of what he does now, identifying the next generation of stars and giving them the guidance to grow into their own—whether that takes them into the upper echelons of fine dining or beyond the white tablecloths altogether.
Sohm’s side hustles include a line of wineglasses, a Grüner Veltliner produced in his native Austria, and books such as Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings.
Overseeing two teams, at two very different spaces, feeds Sohm’s prodigious ambition. He’s on a mission to completely reshape the world of wine, from what’s in your glass to the glass itself to what you enjoy it with—say, Champagne with eggs. Along with his day jobs, he has partnered with the Austrian brand Zalto to create his own wineglasses. “As a sommelier, you criticise only, but you make nothing,” Sohm says. So, he also now wears the winemaker hat, producing a Grüner Veltliner under the Sohm & Kracher label, a relatively accessible quaff that’s a collaboration with his fellow countryman Gerhard Kracher. And in 2019 he added author to his résumé, releasing Wine Simple, a “totally approachable guide”, as the book’s subtitle puts it. He followed that up with Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings, to help you pick the right bottle for the right meal and the right moment.
“In wine pairings, you have three possible combinations,” Sohm says. “There’s the perfect pairing. Then sometimes you have flavours just going along… it’s like humans—they talk, they interact, but they never connect. And then there’s conflict.” It’s that first one he’s after every time.
“Sohm fell in love with wine when he was about 21. Prior to that, he was a self-proclaimed Bacardi and coke guy.”
Outside of the restaurant, the wine bar and the cellar, Sohm is an avid cyclist who owns six bikes, a number he admits is excessive—especially in New York City. Riding is what he credits with keeping him healthy, when so much of his time is spent eating and drinking—and drinking some more.
Still, despite the 18-year career at one of the world’s best restaurants, despite the top honours from his peers, despite the wine and the wineglasses and the wine books, Sohm doesn’t consider himself successful. Every day, he’s trying to figure out how he can self-correct. “I like what I do, so I go back home that night, think of things which I can improve,” he says. “I get annoyed when I make a mistake, but I improve the next day.”
His quest for perfection may never be over, but Sohm does concede that he’s happy—its own type of success. Sometimes he finds that happiness while sipping a glass of 1980 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, a bottle now so rare and coveted that he calls it “unattainable”. And sometimes, if to his chagrin, he finds it while drinking a mass-produced rosé on the beach.
Photography by Tori Latham
This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
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This article appears in the Autumn issue 2026 of Robb Report Australia New-Zealand. Click here to subscribe.
