The holidays are all about time with family and friends. For some of us, that means pullout couches and six to a bathroom. For others, it’s a villa in St. Barts or a ski house in Aspen.
Now that the end of the year is upon us, the uber-wealthy are deploying their private jets and superyachts and heading to expensive destinations to enjoy vacations — and often the company of other billionaires.
“It’s going to places that are exclusively pretty much high net worth,” Winston Chesterfield, the founder of Barton, a consulting firm focused on luxury and the wealthy, told Business Insider. “They want these private resorts away from everyone else.”
Many of the world’s largest yachts have already sailed to warmer waters.
Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht, Launchpad, is in the Gulf of California, not far from Cabo San Lucas.
On the other side of the continent, Jeff Bezos’s Koru, David Geffen’s Rising Sun, and Eric Schmidt’s Whisper are among the dozens of yachts floating in the Caribbean Sea.
Once their billionaire owners are aboard, several of these ships will likely head to St. Barts to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
“I always say if you want to have your toes in the sand and eat a croissant that feels like you’re in Paris, St. Barts is the place for you,” Elisabeth Brown, the membership director at the luxury concierge service Knightsbridge Circle, told Business Insider.
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Those who don’t stay aboard their ships can spend upward of $7,000 a night for a room — and well into five figures a night for a suite — at luxury hotels like Eden Rock and Cheval Blanc, owned by the billionaire Bernard Arnault’s LVMH.
The steep price is part of the appeal.
“There is nothing mass-market about it,” Chesterfield said. “It’s impossible to be there unless you are really wealthy.”
Other superrich travelers choose to embrace the winter weather.
“The holidays in the mountains are more of an escape than any other holidays, even escapes to their own remote private islands and things,” Chesterfield said.
In Europe, that means the Alps. Gstaad, St. Moritz, Courchevel — which used to be a favorite of Russian oligarchs — and Val-d’Isère are classic choices for the ultrahigh-net-worth set, Chesterfield and Brown said.
Real-estate prices continue to rise in these locations, with homes in Gstaad, the most expensive locale, costing as much as 47,300 euros, or about $55,600, per square meter, according to the property consultancy Knight Frank’s 2025 Alpine Index.
Stateside, Aspen, Vail, and Carbondale in Colorado are among the most popular ski resorts for the ultrawealthy, Charlie Garcia, the founder of centimillionaire membership club R360, told Business Insider.
Aspen has the highest density of homeowners worth more than $30 million in the US and the second-highest in the world, behind Monaco, according to a 2025 report by the wealth-tracking firm Altrata.
Hedge fund titan Ken Griffin, Walmart heir Rob Walton, and businessman Charles Koch are among the richest of those with second (or third or fourth) homes near the ski resort. Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are regular visitors.
“It is the closest you’ll get to a European après situation,” Brown said. “Great mountains, great skiing, the hotels are top-notch, the restaurants are awesome.”
There’s a restaurant by the chef Nobu Matsuhisa, designer shops like Gucci and Prada, and private clubs like Casa Tua and the Caribou Club to make the überrich feel at home.
But skiing is the real draw. The No. 1 interest of Aspen’s ultra-high-net-worth homeowners is sports, according to Altrata.
Those with more spiritual interests may prefer a different type of trip — quite literally.
“They’re doing these inward journeys with psychedelics,” Garcia said of several R360 members doing retreats in places like Peru or Costa Rica.
Maybe a little plant medicine is the secret to families getting along over the holiday.
This story was initially published in December 2024 and has been updated with new information.
