Rosewood Kauri Cliffs

Kauri Cliffs is located at the northern edge of New Zealand's North Island, perched on a cliffside overlooking the Pacific and flanked by four thousand acres of rolling hilly farmland. Though it is perhaps best known for its world-class golf course, the resort's strengths are its remoteness and its grand elegance, both of which appeal to golfers and abstainers alike. The golf course is the creation of owner Julian Robertson, once a successful Wall Street financier, who discovered this property (then a cattle ranch) during his novel-writing sabbatical during the Eighties. He returned after the dot-com Nineties irreparably damaged his flagship hedge fund, and though the Great American Novel may have eluded him, the Great Antipodean Golf Course has become a reality. This is due equally to the natural surroundings and to the efforts of designer David Harman, who has built courses for Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, and whose light touch on this marvelous course avoids the grand gestures of some gimmicky courses, instead letting the spectacular landscape speak for itself. If the golf course is Mr. Robertson's child, then the hotel itself is the creation of his wife Josie, from the main lodge building (which would not look out of place in the Hamptons) to the outlying cottages, where the guest suites are found. The cottages line the edge of the golf course and face across it, toward the ocean, with dramatic views from private verandas. These suites are spacious and modern, elegantly appointed, with gas fireplaces and huge luxurious bathrooms. This is the sort of place that has “Security” rooms set aside for bodyguards and drivers — and even these second-class rooms would pass for five-star accommodations.