Bill Gates shredded some serious powder at Apussuit Adventure Camp, a heli-skiing resort 15 miles outside Maniitsoq, West Greenland. There are no ski lifts in this remote region: One takes a helicopter to the middle of nowhere, and then starts skiing. At the bottom, it's another shuttle to yet another mountain that's surrounded by enormous glaciers. "With six billion people on the planet, it's so appealing to be in a place where only a handful of people have been," says Anders Stenbakken of Destination East Greenland. What's more, Greenland is a paparazzi-free zone. "Given the small populations in Greenland's towns, one can bring their own staff and gallivant around town going completely unnoticed," adds Mads Nordlund of Greenland Tourism.
After Star Wars creator and director George Lucas chartered the Royal Canadian Pacific railway from Toronto to Vancouver, he called the experience "the best holiday in my traveling life." Over the years, royalty, presidents and prime ministers have traveled on these locomotives, which traverse the wilderness and spectacular scenery of the Canadian Rockies. The painstakingly restored vintage railway cars feature details like original tin ceilings, brass fittings, Circassian walnut wall paneling and bird's eye maple imported from Russia. Guests are welcome to curl up in Winston Churchill's former on-board private office, lovingly called Churchill's Cubby, to watch the world go by or experience the sunset fading over the mountains. The 10 cars can accommodate just 32 guests at any time, so it's not unreasonable to do what Lucas did-that is, reserve the entire train for yourself.
Just a decade ago, J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, was a struggling single parent living in a two-bedroom apartment in Edinburgh, Scotland. Now she owns a Georgian house in Kensington, a villa in Edinburgh and Killiechassie House, her country estate built in 1865 on the banks of the River Tay near Aberfeldy in Perthshire. She's been spotted shopping in town, walking around and leading a very normal existence. Located about 90 minutes outside Edinburgh, Perthshire holds great beauty with rolling hillsides, wooded glens, vast farms and dramatic mountains. "The area is extraordinary, especially when you wake up and there is a frosty morning with a bright sky," says Fiona Stewart of Visit Scotland. "It looks as if Scotland is glistening."
With a villa in St. Tropez (where he recently hosted his friend, ex-president Jacques Chirac), a 17th-century chateau near Montfort-L'Amaury and a penthouse in the Barbizon/63 building on New York City's Lexington Ave., this French fashion-retail mogul and contemporary art collector nonpareil has plenty of living space to adorn with painting and sculpture. But not quite enough room to house the thousands of pieces in his collection. And so, he bought a $37 million share in the Palazzo Grassi on Venice's Grand Canal; his art is now on display in the 18th-century white marble palace.
Billionaire Indian industrialist and steel-industry tycoon Mittal makes his home in a 12-bedroom mansion in London's Kensington Palace Gardens, but this billionaire also counts the open sea as a playground. India, Norway, Gibraltar and Spain were among the stops that his 262 foot yacht, Amevi, made last summer, according to Power & Motor Yacht, which ranked the boat no. 32 on its list of the world's largest. Mittal reportedly paid $200 million for the vessel, which includes a pool, gym and movie theater.
Last November, the Saudi prince billionaire investor purchased an A380 "Flying Palace," a double-decker aircraft that is the largest plane manufactured by Airbus. In December, the Daily Mail reported that his royal highness will spend an additional $177 million to customize it; that's more than half the purchase price of the plane. Plans for the complete Airbus makeover include a marble-paneled dining room, Bedouin-style sleeping quarters and a tilting whirlpool bath. And, of course, a missile system to defend the aircraft against attackers.
On their kite boards, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are adept at defying gravity. But they experienced an altogether different feeling of weightlessness at Space Camp in Hunstville, Ala. Here, they played with NASA-developed training equipment, which demonstrates how your body feels during a launch and what it's like to walk on the moon. Huntsville is, in fact, the birthplace of the space program and the Saturn V rocket. Brin and Page were required to learn complex crew and operational systems and prepare for a simulated shuttle mission. Over and over, they were placed in simulated (yet still very stressful) life-or-death situations. In one exercise, they were sent on an emergency shuttle "mission" to rescue a damaged satellite. There was even a mock press conference afterwards where Space Camp employees fired off questions.
For years, out-of-state moguls have flocked to this Rocky Mountain playground. Forest Mars, Jr., the former CEO of Mars Inc. and heir to the chocolate-bar fortune, owns a ranch on 82,000 acres in the southeastern part of Montana, along the Tongue River. Recently, though, there has been trouble in Mars' paradise-in January, a gas company with a "mineral lease" began drilling for coal-bed methane beneath the billionaire's property.
Amidst a sprawling series of ski resorts in the French Alps, Courchevel has a dense concentration of luxury hotels, boutiques and Michelin-starred restaurants, making it an ideal playground for the rich and powerful. Vladimir Putin has been known to helicopter in for lunch. Room rates are commensurate with the altitude, but if you're a billionaire like Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire who heads LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, you simply build your own hotel. His Le Cheval Blanc resort features four suites on the top floor that can be joined together into a 7,000-square-foot living space.
This Russian mining magnate has also been a regular at the star-studded Courchevel ski resorts, but his arrest last year on suspicion of providing prostitutes for his party guests put a damper on New Year's festivities. Police later released him without charges, but this year he traded in his alpine skis for a jet ski and a windsurf board. "I decided to go where it's warm this time," he told the Russian daily Kommersant. "I spend seven hours a day at sports when I am on vacation."
The media mogul who created Fox Broadcasting Network—and wife, designer Diane Von Furstenberg—have a variety of getaway options, including an apartment in Paris, estates in Beverly Hills and a five-bedroom beach house on Harbour Island, Bahamas. The three-mile isle off the north coast of Eleuthera is one of the oldest settlements in the Bahamas, with pink sand beaches and colonial-style architecture. During this past holiday season, the laid-back locale was teeming with celebrities, including Drew Barrymore, Richard Gere, Cameron Diaz and Uma Thurman, who came with her boyfriend, Arpad Busson, who owns a home here. Unlike more ritzy Caribbean spots, flip-flops are the shoe of choice; and golf carts, the vehicles of choice.
You won't find IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad partying with the Russian oligarchs in the Alps. The Swedish billionaire is decidedly un-flashy and has even developed a reputation for thriftiness. According to the U.K. daily The Independent, "Kamprad's idea of a break is fishing or rowing in his native Sweden. He once said that his idea of luxury is buying the occasional nice shirt." Frugality may be relative, though: The reclusive billionaire makes his home in the tiny Swiss mountain village of Verbier. His playground is a vineyard near Hyères in Provence; the winery reportedly produces 16,000 gallons per year.
This Chinese businessman and developer, and chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, likes to start his day by playing nine holes with other billionaires or business associates on the course near his home. For midday relaxation, Li-Ka Shing has been spotted at the spa of the Four Seasons, Hong Kong. The therapy menu at the luxury hotel includes the Harmony Message, wherein "two therapists work simultaneously and in harmony using synchronised pressure and touch to create the ultimate experience of total bliss."
A passionate environmentalist and hunter, media mogul Ted Turner owns properties that are, essentially, wildlife sanctuaries. In addition to cougars, elk, antelope, buffalo, cutthroat trout and rocky mountain bighorn sheep, Turner's playgrounds are home to black-footed ferrets, which he helped rescue from extinction. Cooler yet, his playground can be your playground-from $450 a night, guests can stay at the nearly 600,000-acre Vermejo Park Ranch. Guests may fish in one of the 21 lakes stocked with rainbow, brown, brook and trout; or, hunt mule deer, elk, turkey, pronghorn and bison. Several lodges are available, including Ted's own house Casa Grande (an extra $100). The two-story log Main Lodge offers a sweeping veranda, which provides a perfect spot for watching the wildlife and the mountains during sunset.
Why trot the globe in search of luxury playgrounds when you can build your own at home? Indian petrochem and telecom tycoon Mukesh Ambani is constructing a 27-story skyscraper residence in Mumbai at an estimated cost of $1 billion. According to the Mumbai Mirror, which obtained the architectural plans for the residence, "the house will resemble a virtual glass palace" with six floors of parking and a helipad. The top four floors "will provide a view of the Arabian Sea and a superb view of the city's skyline." All of this, for Mukesh, his wife Neeta, their three children and Mukesh's mother.
For AOL founder Steve Case and other owners of oceanfront homes at the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, arriving is half the fun. A personal butler greets guests at the airport and drives them in a golf cart to the Residences' private dock; from there, an Intrepid powerboat whisks passengers across the North Sound. The master suites overlook a private beach and the sparkling sea beyond, and include personal infinity pools, huge wraparound decks, cathedral ceilings and outdoor rooftop showers. Home-owners also have a luxury BMW 6 or 7 Series at their disposal, lifetime memberships to Greg Norman's on-property golf course and access to the Nick Bollettieri-designed tennis center.
The Russian oilman and mineral trader, whose Nafta Moskva holding company includes major stakes in real estate, cable networks, gas and banking, is said to have paid $1.1 million each to Christina Aguilera and Shakira to sing at his 40th birthday party. Kerimov's fast living has been known to literally spin out of control, as when he crashed his Ferrari Enzo into a tree in Nice, on the French Riviera. When he's feeling less fast-paced, but certainly no less flashy, Kerimov rides in his 295-foot yacht, Ice, which includes helipads. Nice Harbor and Antigua are among its global docking-places.
In 2007, the former biotech giant Ernesto Bertarelli and his yachting syndicate Team Alinghi won the America's Cup in Valencia, Spain. Bertarelli and his family actually lived on a boat in Valencia for several months while he trained for the regatta. "Valencia has the sparkle and innovation of a modern city and it's nicely located the heart of the Mediterranean," he explains. "Sidi Saler is one of the beautiful beaches in Europe. It's very long and separates the sea from a natural reserve, which is a central landing spot for migrating birds." Bertarelli was so inspired that he now finances a program for the reserve's upkeep. With his wife, he's played golf at El Saler Golf Club, which he describes as the kind of course one normally finds only in Scotland or Ireland.
When it opened in 1936 as America's first destination ski resort, celebrities such as Ingrid Bergman, Clark Gable and Errol Flynn quickly adopted Sun Valley as their winter playground. Years later, the locale's ideal ski conditions, art galleries and five-star restaurants still resonate with notable homeowners, including Arnold Schwarznegger, Bruce Willis, Steve Wynn and billionaire businessman and speculator George Soros, who has a ski chalet in Ketchum. "It's amazing how close the backcountry is here—literally a five-minute drive from town and you're at the edge of expansive wilderness," says Bronwyn Patterson of the Sun Valley/Ketchum CVB. "It's not at all uncommon to see celebrities at the local drugstore, but residents in this community are so relaxed and friendly that they'll simply smile and keep going without a fuss."
While he owns a ski chalet in Aspen, Maui is a favored playground of Michael Dell, who made his fortune as the founder of Dell Inc. In fact, Dell has been spotted jogging on the beaches; his wife Susan, an accomplished endurance athlete, competed in the 2003 Hawaii Ironman competition. (She actually finished in first place overall for men and women.) It's understandable why the soft-spoken Texan would be drawn to this island of extremes. There's the weather, of course, which can offer snow at the summit, rain in the east and clear skies in the south. And there's natural beauty, from the breathtaking Kalaupapa Overlook to the craters at Haleakeala. Toss in the swanky shopping, heavenly hiking and gastronomic delights, and it's little wonder Dell purchased the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea.