![Splitting the cost with friends means you might be able to afford more luxury than usual](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2023/06/30/TELEMMGLPICT000340793767_16881386390670_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
The number of friends you need to travel like the one per cent
Lavish holidays can be more affordable – if you have enough pals to spread the cost, that is
![Splitting the cost with friends means you might be able to afford more luxury than usual](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2023/06/30/TELEMMGLPICT000340793767_16881386390670_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
With life more expensive than ever, many of us are finding clever new ways to maximise value for money – especially when it comes to travel. Then there’s the rise in popularity of shows such as Succession and The White Lotus, which, along with aspirational travel content on social media, has only upped our fascination with how the wealthy elite holiday – and how we might be able to tap into some of their habits ourselves, even if just for a day.
According to a recent global travel trends report, 75 per cent of survey respondents said social media inspired them to travel to a specific destination, while 64 per cent confirmed they have been compelled to visit a place after it was featured in a TV show or movie. Although you may not be able to charter a yacht or rent a private island for yourself, if you club together with friends, you will be surprised at what’s possible. Here are eight options for living the champagne life on, if not a prosecco, then a crémant budget.
Castle Elvira, Puglia
From spring until autumn, Castle Elvira, in the Italian region of Puglia, operates as an elegant boutique hotel with a pool and restaurant, but it is also available for buy-outs throughout the year. In summer, the opening of Tower Elvira takes the overall room count from six to 10, allowing for a greater number of guests to share the cost of the stay.
Daily sunset drinks can be sipped from the castle ramparts, and activities range from pasta making to life drawing. The property sits on a 37-acre estate covered with olive and citrus groves.
Price for a three-night buy-out: £12,826
Rooms: 10
Total friends: 22
Price per person: £583
![Castle Elvira: an elegant boutique hotel with a pool and restaurant](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2023/06/30/TELEMMGLPICT000339976752_16881397070960_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqHdA9DsWaBwqJp2PM9ETsE5WZZfaH6H5pjdTnqOlQNWw.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Victor private jet
Summer air travel can be a nightmare through commercial airports, so chartering a private jet can really feel worthwhile, especially if it’s a special trip. For a group of six people flying a round trip from London’s Biggin Hill to Ibiza, British charter broker Victor recommends the Phenom 300 aircraft, operated by Air Hamburg.
Cold catering and an open bar are laid on, but you can also up the ante with bottles of Dom Perignon champagne for £250 each and Grey Goose vodka for £75. Victor also gives customers the option of paying for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to reduce the carbon emissions from the flight. For this flight, selecting a 30 per cent mix of SAF would cost an additional £3,050, which would reduce carbon emissions by 22.5 per cent.
Price for a return flight from London to Ibiza: £35,000 (not including SAF)
Total friends: six
Price per person: £5,833
Villa Punta Paloma, Marbella
This spring, the team behind Marbella Club in Andalusia unveiled a new private home rental called Villa Punta Paloma, along the coast in Tarifa. Described as “rustic yet sophisticated”, the property is only available for exclusive use and has panoramic views of the sea, making it an excellent hideout for family and friends.
Other features include a vegetable garden, infinity pool, barbecue terrace and a shallow lagoon and playhouse for children. Most importantly, there is hotel-style service, so you don’t need to cook or clean – a dedicated host will be there to welcome guests on arrival; yoga classes can be organised by the wellness team at the Marbella Club; and chefs, nannies, butlers and babysitters can also be supplied (at an additional cost).
Price for a three-night buy-out: From £18,160 including breakfast, villa host and housekeeping
Rooms: five
Total friends:10
Price per person: £1,816
![There is hotel-style service at Punta Paloma, so you don’t need to cook or clean](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2023/06/30/TELEMMGLPICT000340106689_16881398030500_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqgsaO8O78rhmZrDxTlQBjdLdu0TL-Cg_AMOUqySXmFgU.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Lagoon 400 Catamaran
Borrow A Boat is the Airbnb of boats, allowing the charter of vessels (there are more than 45,000 available on the website) in 65 countries. Ready to set sail from Lavrion in Greece, for example, Lagoon 400 is a four-cabin, 40ft catamaran. Captains are an optional extra. An onboard cook costs £161 per day. There are countless other options, too – from motor boats to gulets.
Price for a one-week charter of Lagoon 400 in July: £6,679 (including a captain)
Cabins: four
Total friends: 10
Price per person: £668
Le Grand Jardin, Cannes
Le Grand Jardin, which opened last summer on an island near Cannes, in the south of France, is a magnificent option for lavish, Gatsby-esque holidays, away from the prying eyes of neighbours. Stays are a minimum of one week and you will need a generous budget for all the extras such as staff, food and champagne (this isn’t a self-catering kind of place).
That said, when splitting the cost between 20-plus favoured friends, this blow-out mansion experience may well be viable for a milestone celebration.
Price for a one-week buy-out: From £266,000
Rooms: 12
Total friends: 24
Price per person: £11,083
![A one week buy-out of the island costs from £266,000](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2023/06/30/TELEMMGLPICT000339981002_16881399444040_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqD3d2dmOlWYuQkR76XZjLQKOylOV7i1cNNz18XOj47vE.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Rascal Voyages
Rascal Voyages offers luxury yacht charters around south-east Asia aboard two traditional, handmade phinisi vessels – Rascal and the newly launched Rebel. A third boat is due to arrive in 2024, along with new cross-border itineraries through Malaysia and Thailand later this year.
Rebel has five over-water suites, four spacious common areas, a fine wine cellar and an outdoor cinema for movie screenings under the stars. Typical itineraries take passengers around Raja Ampat, Komodo and the Spice Islands Crossing, but routes are tailored to requirements – so if you want more time diving or on a certain secluded beach, that’s fine.
All activities – from volcano visits, scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking and wakeboarding to the pop-up beach club and meals – are included in the price. Alcohol is the only additional cost.
Price for a four-night charter: £41,800
Cabins: five
Total friends: 10
Price per person: £4,180
The Boat House – Pine Cay, Turks and Caicos
If you fantasise about being marooned on a desert island, Pine Cay in Turks and Caicos would be an ideal location. On the edge of the world’s third-largest barrier reef, it has both 800 acres of wilderness and a two-mile-long stretch of white sandy beach.
But if you’d like a little more luxury than Robinson Crusoe, it also has a new private home – with hotel-style services – available to rent on an exclusive-use basis. Located at the top of the island, with private lagoon access, the Boat House has been given a full renovation and offers panoramic views of nearby Lake Marco. Inside are natural coral stone floors, colourful textiles and vaulted ceilings.
Price for a one-week buy-out: from £11,879
Rooms: three
Total friends: six
Price per person: From £1,979
The Aerial BVI, British Virgin Islands
The Aerial BVI offers a James Bond-style hideaway in the British Virgin Islands, about an hour by speed boat from Richard Branson’s Necker Island. But in this case you don’t have to be a billionaire to live like one for a few days.
Owned by self-made millionaire real-estate entrepreneur Britnie Turner, the Aerial BVI is not only her home but the location for wellness retreats and summits she hosts throughout the year. She also rents the island out from US$25,000 per night (based on up to 15 people – additional guests from US$1,600 per night) on an all-inclusive basis (you will eat the most delicious, healthy food of your life here), which means a large group can have her cliff-top mansion all to themselves. You’ll get transfers, staff, activities, water sports and drinks thrown in too.
Price for a one-week buyout: from £197,600
Rooms: 12
Total friends: 24
Price per person: £8,233