PARADISE HIDEAWAYS

While getting to many enchanted hideaways requires an invitation, some equally beguiling ones are available for rent. As ALICE B-B discovers, certain secluded spots can be entirely yours for a short time...

ALICE B-B

Fitted DeAtimtim

1 CUIXMALA, MEXICO

A 25,000-acre estate on Mexico's Pacific Coast, large enough for friends, family, and anyone else who cared to join—this was the Xanadu created in 1986 by Anglo-French billionaire Sir James Goldsmith, the getaway where he spent time surrounded by turtles on the beach, crocodiles in the lagoons, and visitors such as Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, and Jacob Rothschild. The estate, still owned and run by the Goldsmith family, is available to rent, including the towering palace of La Loma, with zigzag steps leading to the vast swimming pool on the beach, where mariachi singers serenade guests in the evenings. (aiixmala.com. Tel: 866 516 2611. Price: from $29,860 to rent per night.)

2 BELUGA

Until last summer, a trip on Anouska Hempel's revamped Turkish gulet (pronounced "goo-let") was by invitation only, and thus limited to close friends and family. But now the boat, based in the Adriatic, is available for charter in Croatia and Montenegro. The experience is said to be close to that of staying in a luxury boutique hotel—like Hempel's Blakes Hotel in London—that just happens to be on water. With Beluga's proper rolltop enamel bath, monochrome color palette, and black sails, Hempel has broken all the traditional "boat" rules. Dock Beluga in port, and it's like turning up at a party with the tall, dark stranger in a sea of identikit, plastic-fantastic supermodels. (dalmatiandestinations.com. Tel: 44 333 700 8007. Price: from $53,000 per week.)

3 LISMORE CASTLE, IRELAND

Owned by the Cavendish family since 1753, the fairy-tale castle of Lismore has had many illustrious guests. Fred Astaire visited when his sister Adele and her husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, lived at the castle. In August 1947, John F. Kennedy stayed in the Queen's Room (his sister Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy had married the heir apparent, William Cavendish, who died during W.W. II). It's said that King James I came to stay and, upon nearing the drawing room's window (120 feet above the Blackwater River), leapt back m horror on seeing the almighty drop. This is the spot where the current owners, Lord and Lady Burlington, serve afternoon tea. (lismorecaslle.com, Tel: 353 58 54288. Price: on request.)

4 TALITHA

Launched in 1930, Talitha has Art Deco lines that make her stand out from the crowded sea of blingy white tubs. In her more than 80-year tenure, she frequently changed hands—and names—until 1988, when philanthropist and Anglophile Sir John Paul Getty II found her lying in the port in Lisbon with a broken engine crankshaft. He bought her and commissioned yacht designer Jon Bannenberg to wave his magic wand. In 1993— ta-dal—she emerged as TalithaG, named after Getty's second wife, the model Talitha Pol. Still owned by the Getty family, she's dropped the G and continues to roam the seas. Wherever she goes, her silhouette, with its twin smokestacks, is as instantly recognizable as her style-icon namesake, (edmistoncompany .com, Tel: 377 93 30 54 44. Price: from $361,780 per i

5 LI GALLI, POSITANO, ITALY

The mythology goes that Li Galli, the island off Positano, was home to the Sirens, whose songs so enchanted passing mariners that they lost their minds and control of their ships. Ever since, Li Galli has continued to cast its spell. Curiously, the island was owned in succession by Russian dance icons Leonide Massine and Rudolf Nureyev, the latter

redecorating the island's

cottages in Moorish style with 19th-century tiles from Seville. Now available to rent, the island is private, but just a quick trip away from Positano, for a plate of sea urchins and a Negroni at Le Sirenuse, or a trip to Capri for some serious shopping. (bellinitravel.com. Tel: 44 20 7602 7602. Price: on request.)

6 POINT LOOKOUT, MUSTIQUE

Mustique, the privateisland hideaway in the Grenadines dreamed up by Lord Glenconner more than 50 years ago, now has 74 villas of all shapes and sizes—from old to new, charming to ostentatious. But for ultimate peace and privacy, stay at Point Lookout. Originally designed by Oliver Messel, the property has been reshaped by musician and photographer Bryan Adams. Built on the island's northeastern tip, the house is surrounded by beaches, with

a gentle breeze constantly blowing through the property. Mustique's joy is that, unlike in neighboring Barbados, there's not a paparazzo's lens in sight, (nmstique-iskind.com. Tel: 855 2611316. Price: from $16,000 per week.)

7 TAGOMAGO, IBIZA

Imagine Ibiza in the 80s, when after a night dancing at the Ku Club the next day's lunch was on Tagomago Island (preferably you'd get a lift with Formula One driver Keke Rosberg in his speedboat, cheekily named Wet Dream). Cut to 2012, and for the first time Tagomago can be rented. There's a slick five-bedroom villa, a separate house for staff, and a Bang & Olufsen sound system ready and waiting for visitors to re-create the hedonism of those 80s shindigs. (deliciouslysortedibiza.com. Tel: 34 971 197 867. Price: from $265,000 per week.)

8 DUNTON HOT SPRINGS, COLORADO

When Butch Cassidy robbed the bank at Telluride, he holed up in the nearby mining town of Dunton. But over the years, Dunton slowly fell into disuse until entrepreneur Christoph Henkel (whose properties include Amangani in Jackson Hole and Amangiri in southern Utah) got wind that the ghost town was up for sale in 1994. Henkel bought the town, and now Dunton is top swanks; with 13 cozy cabins that can accommodate up to 44 people, a library groaning with books, and spa and yoga cabins, it is available to rent. Look out for Butch's name carved into the saloon's original wooden bar, and don't be alarmed if, whilst you're doing downward dog in the yoga cabin, a bobcat slinks by. (duntonhotsprings .com. Tel: 970 882 4800. Price: from $19,000 per night.)

9 ZALANPATAK, TRANSYLVANIA

Maybe it was the astonishing biodiversity or the perfect cohabitation between man and nature, or a combination thereof, that drew the Prince of Wales to Zalanpatak, in Transylvania, in 2008. He bought a collection of buildings at the edge of the tiny hamlet, where the locals till the earth using scythes and horse-drawn plows. With the help of his friend Count Kalnoky, Prince Charles has spent years restoring the property and furnishing it with local antiques. The town's gently rolling landscape is ideal for outdoor adventures. The cottages have en suite bathrooms, but don't expect Buckingham Palace. And phone-aholics beware: there's no mobile reception at Zalanpatak. Which for some equals bliss. (transyhaniancastle. com. Tel: 40 742 202 586. Price: from $4,550 per week.)

10 LE GRAND BANC, FRANCE

What to do if you happen upon a tumbledown hamlet in the Luberon, abandoned since World War I? Well, if it's the 1960s and you're inventor Jeremy Fry, you decide to rescue and restore all 13 higgledy-piggledy houses and create a haven for artists, from Henri Cartier-Bresson to David Hockney. Le Grand Banc is the result: a cluster of pretty stone buildings perched high on a hillside, filled with artwork left behind by its creative visitors, who, in the spirit of the 60s and 70s and thanks to Jeremy's generosity, were never expected to pay a penny's rent. The boho vibe continues to thrive under current owners Cosmo and Francis Fry; pets and smoking are actively encouraged. (petershamproperties.com. Tel: 44 1608 658627. Price: from $14,820 per week.)

11 MAKEPEACE ISLAND, AUSTRALIA

As well as intergalactic space travel, Sir Richard Branson has a thing for islands. There's Necker Island in the Caribbean and, now, Makepeace Island, just 10 minutes by boat downstream from Noosa Heads, in Australia. This year, the Branson "home" is available to rent for the first time. The Balinese-inspired villas sleep 22 and activities include deep-sea fishing and diving on the Great Barrier Reef. But it's the island's remarkably individual shape—an almost perfect heart—that has wowed and is presumably the inspiration for bedside copies of the Kama Sutra in every room. It has even tempted Branson to change the island's name. "In fact I'm all for renaming it Make Love Island!," he has said, (originaltravel.co.uk. Tel: 44 20 7978 7333. Price: from $106,320 per week.)

12 VILLA CETINALE, ITALY

Built by Cardinal Flavio Chigi for Pope Alexander VII in the 17th century, Cetinale became the home of the late Lord Lambton soon after his political career was cut short, in 1973—when the British minister of defense was snapped in bed with two prostitutes and the story broke, of course, in the News of the World. So Cetinale, plopped in the Tuscan hills, 20 minutes from Siena's Piazza del Campo, where the fast and furious Palio horse race is run each year, became the disgraced former minister's refuge. With gardens considered to be some of Italy's most beautiful, the house sleeps 26 and has played host to a pick-and-mix of guests, including Tony Blair and the Prince of Wales. (villacetinale.com. Tel: 39 0577 311147. Price: from $72,000 per week.)

13 LARAGAI HOUSE, KENYA

When Lord Valentine Cecil met Kenyan landowners Tony and Rose Dyer at a dinner for Princess Anne in Nairobi, they became such good friends that, when Cecil and his brother Lord Michael were looking to build a house in Kenya, the Dyers suggested their property at Borana. The traditionally thatched house has magnificent views overlooking neighboring Lewa Downs and has been visited by Steve Jobs, Ronnie Wood, and the King of Buganda, though not all at once. Days are spent walking, riding, or taking a helicopter up Mount Kenya for a spot of trout fishing, (borana .coke. Tel: 254 20 211 5453. Price: from $47,040 per week.)

14 VOYAGER

Once upon a time, Voyager's full-sized swimming pool would be turned into a giant bubble bath for its then owner to take naked dips while at sea. Eventually the pool was replaced by a Navy-approved helipad, which can transform into a cocktail bar complete with huge day beds, palm trees, and knockout martinis. Once owned by "Golden Greek" Stavros Niarchos, who named her Nefertiti, she was one of the biggest yachts of her time. Voyager's latest incarnation is a

15 VILLA ICARO, BRAZIL glamorous nod to the 70s, the era of its christening. The 10 cabins are swathed in David Hicks fabric, and cocktails are sipped from colored highball glasses before a sing-along ensues round the grand piano, (lhierryvoisin.com. Tel: 33 4 92 00 42 40. Price: from $195,000 per week.)

On the Brazilian Emerald Coast in the secluded bay of Saco do Mamangua lies Villa Icaro. The bay is a national park, so it's protected from greedy developers or noisy construction, and the villa is as remote as it gets—reachable only by boat or helicopter. Oh, and for R-Patz fans: this is the spot where Bella and her beloved vampire's honeymoon scenes were filmed for the latest installment of Twilight. (dehouche.com. Tel: 5 800 690 6899. Price: from ⅞ $35,000 per week.) >_ c