Parrot Cay and COMO Shambhala Retreat

Class: Deluxe

Style: Minimalist

Rooms: 58

If you haven’t actually checked in on Parrot Cay for yourself you could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. It’s the kind of place that’s written about an awful lot, and its name pops up not just in the travel pages but in celebrity profiles and the society pages as well. Some of the big names in travel, though, got that way by delivering an experience that’s just head and shoulders above the norm — and this, if you’re wondering, is one of those places.
For such an exclusive resort — it’s situated on its own private island in Turks & Caicos — Parrot Cay is surprisingly easy to get to, with daily direct flights from New York and Miami, and an effortless transfer from the airport that compares quite favorably to travel conditions elsewhere in the Caribbean. But once you’re here, it’s a world apart — there’s nothing on the island but the resort at one end, and the private residential villas at the other.
It’s self-sufficient, right down to its own desalination plant, and while the original old resort building and its traditional rooms offer a social space for chance meetings among guests, the newer, almost Spartan modernist-style villas are splendidly secluded, perfect for honeymooners, paparazzi-dodgers, or just getting away.
You can thank the new owners for that, and for a lot of Parrot Cay’s other charms as well. Since the Como group took over, the resort has been re-engineered to fit the Asian chain’s house style — the cuisine is far beyond what most Caribbean destinations are capable of offering, as is the service, and the spa rivals many in the Far East. Add a perfect, uncrowded beach, some of the clearest water in the region, modest but steady winds (perfect for water sports) and you’ve got a resort experience that’s worthy of a little name-dropping.