Neiman Marcus is known for its annual Christmas Book, a fantasy gift guide that includes over-the-top offerings like a 74-foot yacht for $7 million. This year, the fancy catalog also includes a $630,000 trip to Asia.
What do you get for blowing more than half a mil on a vacation?
The price buys a 30-day, all-inclusive trip for four to India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, with private air charters and premium accommodations, like villas and suites at five-star properties, as well as bespoke experiences, including a safari-style luxury pop-up camp in a remote area.
The first 14 days are spent in India, seeing places such as Delhi, Agra (home to the Taj Mahal), Ranthambore National Park and Jodhpur.
“Many of the experiences within this trip you simply cannot access on your own,” Tom Marchant, co-founder of bespoke luxury travel company Black Tomato, which arranges the trip, tells CNBC Make It.
For instance, in Delhi, Buddhist scholar Shantum Seth and renowned historian and author William Dalrymple are the tour guides, and guests get a sunrise or sunset “after hours” tour of the Taj Mahal, before or after it opens to tourists, according to Black Tomato.
There is a luxury glamping experience in the Indian desert and a safari with wild tigers in Ranthambore National Park too.
Guests stay in a villa at Oberoi Amarvilas, which has views of the Taj Mahal and is considered one of the best hotels in the world. There’s also a stay at Ananda, a wellness retreat in the foothills of the Himalayas, where Oprah Winfrey and Melinda Gates have been guests. “It’s the most authentic spa experience I’ve ever had,” Winfrey wrote on her website.
Days 14 to 18 are spent in Nepal, where there’s a visit to the city of Kathmandu as well as villages and temples in the countryside. A highlight is a private helicopter ride over Gokyo Valley, an alpine valley, landing just above the Mount Everest Base Camp for breakfast and views.
There’s also a private worship ceremony with the Kumari, a young girl chosen to be the living goddess of Nepal, where guests kneel before her and are led in a prayer and blessing.
Days 18 to 23 are spent traveling across Bhutan, visiting sacred temples. That includes a private helicopter flight to Tiger’s Nest, a prominent Himalayan Buddhist temple built into a mountainside (average tourists have to hike two-and-a-half hours up the mountain to visit).
Days 23 to 30 are spent in the picturesque Maldives. Guests will stay at five-star properties Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani, which is known for over-water bungalows with private water slides and glass bottom floors.
Black Tomato is known for creating expensive, over-the-top trips. The company once arranged a 14-day flying safari on a private plane through Southern Africa for $158,000, as well as a $192,000, 10-night trip for two people in Argentina, which included cocktails atop the hanging Ventisquero Glacier in Patagonia and a private helicopter over Igauzu Falls.
The Neiman Marcus Christmas Book trip is the most expensive Black Tomato has ever offered, according to Marchant.
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