LIFE'S A BEACH: The ultra-exclusive Alfajiri Cliff Villa
Like a private jet or a 50-ft. yacht, your own holiday villa is one of the great symbols of wealth. In straitened times like these, though, such conspicuous consumption can seem out of place — even, God forbid, unfashionable.
So rent instead. A good modern rental villa has the same luxuries as any you could buy, including an army of staff, a private garden, courtyards, pool and beach. Bali, Thailand and Sri Lanka are already famous for their sensational villas, but Africa is fast catching up, and the latest place to offer a wide range of exclusive rental pads is Kenya. (For more travel tips and stories visit time.com/travel.)
The most exclusive, and expensive, are the three Alfajiri villas — the Cliff Villa, the Beach Villa and the Garden Villa — along Diani Beach on Kenya's south coast (www.alfajirivillas.com). It's all here: 30 staff, excellent seafood and gorgeous décor. It'll cost you — from $850 per couple per night. Then again, your neighbors could be Brad and Angelina.
Further north, on a spur with stunning views of Kilifi Lagoon, are the Baumontia and Oleander villas (www.kenyaholidayvillas.com), both stylishly furnished Moorish houses with wide verandas open to the breeze. And both are a real bargain, from around $200 a night each.
Those after a little culture should head to Lamu and Shela, two magically well-preserved towns (no cars, just donkeys) on an island also called Lamu off Kenya's northern tip (check out www.shelahouse.com and www.lamuretreats.com). Lamu has been a favorite getaway of the Indian Ocean cognoscenti for years, and many of its old Swahili houses — beautifully simple homes of whitewashed walls and wood beams — are now villas. Most spectacular is the five-bedroom Beach House with its pool built into one of the balconies (from $700 per night); most reasonable is the Jasmine House, with five bedrooms set around cool, shady courtyards — and from around $350 a night, a great way to get a place in the sun without putting your bank account in the red.