By Lebawit Lily Girma, Bloomberg News The most popular winter destinations this year, whether for Thanksgiving or the December holiday season, point to perennial crowd favorites, according to Google’s latest travel trends report issued on Sept. 5. Think Cancun, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Rome or Barcelona.
Going offbeat, then, has never sounded more enticing, even if you’re likely too late for booking the most affordable flights. Perhaps a glass cabin in Oregon is an enticing proposition? Maybe a remote lodge in Madagascar? What about a private beachfront penthouse in Sharm El Sheikh? Whichever you choose, these new or upgraded hotels put a different spin on locations that aren’t just free of crowds but also offer a more intimate, memorable glimpse of their destinations. Eleuthera, Bahamas In the 1960s and 1970s, the original Potlach Club drew New York socialites and celebrities alike to its private estate and pineapple plantation on serene Eleuthera Island, 50 miles east of Nassau and set along seven miles of beachfront.
Think Greta Garbo and Paul McCartney, who honeymooned here and famously wrote the Beatles hit “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” on a Potlach Club notepad. The refurbished estate, opened in July after seven years of restoration, preserves four of its original buildings, including the original clubhouse, but it ushers in a properly chic aesthetic to Eleuthera. A variety of 11 oceanfront and garden-tucked suites, cottages and villas sit amid 12 acres o.