Party like it’s 1986

What’s your big occasion? A 50th birthday? A momentous anniversary? A BAFTA win? Maybe you’re just planning a happy family reunion – or maybe there’s no milestone occasion and you just want a forthcoming trip to feel a little more special.

Whether travelling for reasons mini or mighty, the destination should befit the occasion, and Scott Dunn has been finding special places for special moments for four decades. Think back to 1986: the days before we were enslaved to our mobile phones, when going away really meant being away, rather than answering the not-really-urgent text as soon as the cablecar reached the summit.

Here's an idea: let’s recapture that fresh spirit – although with a smarter and more discerning sensibility. From safaris and beach houses to bespoke yachts and glamping tents, from wilderness escapes to remote lodges, these are the best places on the planet to party like it’s 1986, especially when booked for private and exclusive use.

Holding Back the Years

Nothing says celebration like a storied location that offers a sense of history as well as a sense of place. Villa Sola Cabiati on Lake Como dates to the 16th century and brims with countless heirlooms, like a bed Napoleon and Josephine slept on and frescoes by the Tiepolo school. Six suites accommodate up to a dozen guests who are looked after by an on-site team, with full access to sister property Grand Hotel Tremezzo nearby.

Across the world on a private beach, ÀNI Thailand has reinvented the all-inclusive, with long-tail boat expeditions, holistic spa treatments, private beach picnics and a strong philanthropic commitment of funding local schools and offering locals free arts education. Guests at WildLand’s spectacular Aldourie Castle on Scotland’s Loch Ness, meanwhile, can warm up after a wild swim in the Sauna Yurt before feasting on ingredients foraged from the grounds. The 21 rooms at Ballyfin in Ireland honour figures from the Georgian estate’s rich history, while public spaces like The Gold Drawing Room have been meticulously restored.

If you’ve ever dreamed of having Big Cat Country all to yourself, that dream will come true at Singita Castleton, a safari lodge-stroke-private farmhouse on 45,000 pristine acres in South Africa’s Sabi Sand Game Reserve. But if your dreams are about fine French vintages, then haute cottage living amid the hilltop vineyards of Château Troplong Mondot in Saint-Émilion should do rather nicely. Finally, if yours is a movable feast, have it aboard the Belmond British Pullman in Celia, a dining and events carriage from 1932, reimagined by director Baz Luhrmann to evoke English theatre and cinema.

A 650-acre estate to explore at Ballyfin in Ireland

Set Me Free

Is adventure on tap more appealing than history underfoot? Tick them off as you spin the globe. At Åmot, a newly renovated seven-bedroom, exclusive-use farmhouse in Norway: horseback riding along fjords and swimming into waterfalls. At Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge on Vancouver Island in British Columbia: hiking through old-growth forests and fishing in Clayoquot Sound, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. At The Ranch at Rock Creek in western Montana: clay-pigeon shooting, rodeo with wranglers, and restorative spa treatments in a traditional Conestoga wagon. At Awasi Patagonia at the southern tip of Chile: spot condors and hike glaciers and icefields. At Dar Ahlam in the Moroccan desert: hot air ballooning by day, candlelit nights under the stars. At Deplar Farm in Iceland’s Arctic Circle: soak in geothermal pools, ride Icelandic horses, fatbike through snow, and sea kayak under the Northern Lights.

Hike the Sierra Baguales at Awasi Patagonia

Wonderful World

You know what every motley crew needs? Rhinos, zebras, elephants and lions. In Laikipia, guests at the art-filled Segera Retreat enjoy game drives into its 50,000-acre Big Five conservancy and new rhino sanctuary, and at Arijiju, where a spectacular, solar-powered, five-bedroom home hidden into the landscape offers up-close sightings of migrating animals. Farther south in the Masai Mara, House in the Wild is a riverside eco-lodge whose cottages are a cosy base for game drives and visits to Maasai villages. In Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the tented suites for eight at Little Mombo are a bijoux, exclusive-use offshoot of sister camp Mombo. Cheetah Plains in the Sabi Sands Nature Reserve in South Africa has four villas and extensive entertainment options that would be ideal for a small, multi-gen family trip.

The perfect soak at House in the Wild, Kenya

The Edge of Heaven

When nature beckons, it’s time to book a remote escape. Nature meets ocean at Fawn Bluff, an off-grid lodge set on 340 acres in the wilderness of British Columbia. Birds and wildlife are plentiful and bush living is supremely stylish at Bamurru Plains, a twelve-tent safari camp in Australia’s Northern Territory. In the Arctic, the new lodge and villa at Octola II in Finnish Lapland are the places to watch the aurora borealis show off 200 nights per year. In Antarctica, meanwhile, White Desert takes guests where few have gone before: to minimal-impact camps in the heart of the Lost Continent (and not via the sea where most travellers go). White Desert also operates Dr. Jones, a 12-day journey between Peru and Patagonia aboard a glamorous, retrofitted 1940s aircraft. For a full immersion in Peru, Andean’s portfolio includes charming and immersive homes and retreats in Lima, Lake Titicaca and Colca Valley.

Boats crafted from reeds on Lake Titicaca, Peru

Take My Breath Away

Beachside bliss never disappoints – especially when said beach is on a private island, like Guana in the British Virgin Islands, one of the only private islands in the Caribbean, with seven beaches and a flock of flamingos. Or Miavana in Madagascar, a former hideaway for pirates and today accessible by helicopter over the mountains. Or Amanpulo in the Philippines, whose white sands and hidden coves are surrounded by a marine life-filled coral reef. Soneva Secret in the Maldives is for castaways who like their Barefoot Butler to curate magical days filled with snorkelling and stargazing. Nay Palad Hideaway in the Philippines offer a no-stress, elevated all-inclusive set-up with mangrove forests, palm trees, fragrant gardens and powder-soft sands. At the Cliff, Garden and Beach villas at Alfijiri Villas on Diani Beach in Kenya, the tropical setting is only outpaced by the attentive and authentic service.

A helicopter safari at Miavana in Madagascar

True Blue

Does it seem like everyone is heading to the seas? Who can blame them, given the extraordinary boats cruising the waters. For trips to the Galápagos Islands, super-luxury options include Hermes catamaran, with twelve rooms and two restaurants; Aqua Mare, with seven cabins, including an 80-metre owner’s suite; and elegant Silver Origin, which Silversea custom built to explore the Galápagos. An archipelago with 17,000 islands, Indonesia is a paradise for sailing, surfing, diving and exploring: on Rascal, whose three yachts are designed as floating villas for 10 or 11; on Vela, an elegant traditional phinisi for up to 12; on Aqua Blu, the former HMS Beagle, refurbished for 30 guests in 15 suites; and on Lamima, one of the world’s largest wooden yachts, with only seven cabins. Aqua Lares, Aqua Expeditions’s exciting new vessel, will sail extremes, including Svalbard and the Seychelles. For a buyout along the Nile, Storia the Dahabeya offers cabins, entertainment, cuisine and excursions that would thrill a modern-day pharaoh.

Oberoi Hotels, one of many hotel companies taking to the seas, sails the Nile with Philae (22 cabins and suites, three restaurants and lounges, and an in-house cinema). Another is Orient Express, whose Corinthian will cruise the Mediterranean starting in June 2026. Also in the Med is Satori, the five-cabin, handcrafted wooden schooner owned by the couple behind the glorious Borgo Santo Pietro in Tuscany. Finally, if the world is your oyster, SDP’s partnership with Burgess offers yacht and superyacht charters throughout the seven seas.

Aboard The Oberoi Zahra, Luxury Nile Cruiser