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FONTEVRAUD L'HÔTEL, LOIRE VALLEY LUXURY IN FAR-FLUNG PLACES THERE'S A BIG WORLD OUT THERE, FULL OF LEISURELY MORNINGS, RELAXING LUNCHES AND EVENING STROLLS ALONG PRISTINE BEACHES OR DOWN COBBLESTONE STREETS IN HISTORIC QUARTERS. WE'VE PUT TOGETHER OUR PICK OF NEW AND NEWLY RENOVATED PROPERTIES, EACH WITH A THRILLING COMBINATION OF DESIGN, LOCATION, FINE FOOD AND WINES, AND HISTORICAL PRESENCE. JAMES BROCK A nyone who has spent time in the Loire Valley knows it is a land of unique wines, historic chateaux and beautiful towns and villages (all a short distance from Paris by train or automobile). Leonardo da Vinci spent his final years there, inventing and writing, and Joan of Arc received her history- changing vision in the region (in the city of Chinon, to be exact). If you like your holidays steeped in history, book the Fontevraud L'Hôtel, the former Fontevraud Abbey, which was founded in 1101 by Robert d'Abrissel, an itinerant preacher. The abbey welcomed both women and men into its order and was administered by a series of 36 abbesses from the 16th century on. Eleanor of Aquitaine ended her years inside its walls, and she and her son, Richard the Lionheart, are buried on its grounds. Every detail of this 54-room monastery turned hotel, from the natural-fiber mattresses created in Sri Lanka to the bespoke light fixtures and fabrics, was overseen by design visionaries Sanjit Manku and Patrick Jouin, whom you might know from their projects at Paris' Plaza Athénée and Munich's Bayerischer Hof, among others. A unique world of spiritual order reigns. No room is alike; some are duplexes, while others are attic hideaways, high-ceiling studios and light-filled nooks. All possess a calm that Manku and Jouin sought to instill when designing the interiors, befitting the ROSEWOOD CASTIGLION DEL BOSCO, TUSCANY S everal years ago, I spent a few weeks in Italy, landing in Florence and making my way to Tuscany and Umbria, spending most of the trip at an agriturismo above Assisi. Someday I plan to make up for my lack of attention to Tuscany, and when I do, I will stay at Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco. Why? For starters, it's owned by Massimo Ferragamo, chairman of Ferragamo USA, and his wife, Chiara, so you know its 23 suites and 10 villas are full of style, with stone-floored kitchens, exposed wooden beams and antique furnishings. Then there's this: Castiglion del Bosco is an 800-year-old estate on 5,000 acres that includes the ruins of a castle and a church built in the Middle Ages, as well as a winery producing Brunello di Montalcino, two restaurants and a cooking school. My friends and I will book a villa (one with a wood-burning pizza oven) and explore the countryside, taking trips to nearby Florence and Siena, returning in the evening for a meal and perhaps a cooking class. Our heated private pool will be ideal for a late-night swim in the open air. We'll be refreshed, open some great bottles of wine and head home happy. Suites from $1,607 per couple, villas from $5,562 per night, at rosewoodhotels.com/en/castiglion-del-bosco. traditional vows of silence. If you're a fan of design, this hotel is your spot. Worldly appetites can be sated in Le Restaurant, where tables afford a view of the garden, where executive chef Thibaut Ruggeri tends plants and herbs used in his kitchen's creations. C alling Laucala Island paradise on earth is not idle rhetoric. First, this is Fiji. More specifically, Laucala encompasses 3,200 acres of luxury and exclusivity in the Pacific Ocean. This very private island — covered in coconut groves, sprouting green mountains, bordered by pristine white- sand beaches, blue lagoons, coral reefs and all manner of ethereal natural beauty — was once owned by Malcolm Forbes and now belongs to Red Bull CEO Dietrich Mateschitz. Each of Laucala's 25 Fijian-style villas is curvy and heroic, nuzzling into the island's swoops, walls built from stone with massive wooden steps, soaring thatch roofs like clam shells, lashed-together railings, swinging bridges and private infinity pools and baths carved from stone. Each villa has its charms. Hilltop Residence is a sojourn in its vast confines, with the services of a private cook, chauffeur and nanny. Overwater Villa (aptly named, as it's perched on the water) and Peninsula Villa, whose living quarters are connected by rope bridges, both adhere to the resort's commitment to responsible and sustainable environmental stewardship. For that matter, you can inquire about renting the entire island, as one Houston couple did to celebrate a birthday. Five very fine restaurants and bars are stocked from the island's 240-acre organic farm, including Wagyu beef, quail, duck, coconut crabs, lettuces, eggplant and vanilla. Of course, you may want to do more than lounge around your private pool and lagoon — we are perfectly happy to stay put. If you must go afield, you'll find a golf course carved from the rainforest, 14 sleek watercraft, eight Fijian horses, rainforest walks and farm tours, a spa and a well-equipped gym with personal trainer and yoga instructor. The thing about these far-flung paradises is the knotty problem of arrival and departure. Here, problem solved. A private landing strip accommodates all but oligarch-sized planes, and Nadi International Airport, Fiji's main airport, is just 50 minutes away — it's where all manner of big-brand planes land, and where Laucala Island's King Air B200 spirits you away. From $5,520 per couple per night, at laucala.com. LAUCALA ISLAND, FIJI The hotel is a perfectly positioned headquarters for Loire Valley explorations — day trips to Chinon, the many wineries in the region (check out Domaine Cousin- Leduc, where Olivier Cousin makes some of my favorite wines of the moment) and storied castles Chambord, Azay-le-Rideau and Chenonceau. Rates from $191 per couple, at fontevraud.fr/en. Beachfront at Laucala Island Villa Santa Anna at Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco Villa Stabbi Villa Biondi pool Bathing en plein air, Peninsula Villa Overwater Villa master bedroom Hilltop Villa at Laucala Island Claude Lévêque's Mort en été at Fontevraud iBar at Fontevraud L'Hôtel A refectory for the ages at Fontevraud