Where the richest people in the world spend the December holidays

21.12.2024 - 12:05 / insider.com / Michael Jordan / Jeff Bezos / Lauren Sanchez / Barry Diller / Bernard Arnault

Deck the gangways with boughs of holly.

Billionaires are deploying their private jets and superyachts in preparation for the holiday season, with many headed to familiar hot spots.

Each December, the richest among us depart for expensive destinations to enjoy time with their families — and often other billionaires.

This year will be nothing different.

"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 because they don't want to be around everyone else."

Many of the world's largest yachts have already sailed to warmer waters.

Jeff Bezos' yacht Koru and Barry Diller's Eos are both floating in the Caribbean Sea, according to ship tracker Marine Traffic. Eric Schmidt's Whisper is headed to Barbados, and Len Blavatnik's Odessa II was most recently docked in Antigua.

Once their billionaire owners are aboard, several of these ships will likely make their way to St. Barths.

"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. Barths is the place for you," Elisabeth Brown, the membership director at luxury concierge service Knightsbridge Circle, told BI.

Known for its exclusivity, fine hotels and restaurants, and natural beauty, the island has been a favorite among the uberwealthy for decades. Rockefellers and Rothschilds built estates there in the mid-1900s.

Last year,  Bezos, his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez , and Michael Jordan were spotted on St. Barths, and David Geffen's superyacht, the Rising Sun, was seen nearby.

For those who don't stay on yachts, popular luxury hotels like Eden Rock and Cheval Blanc, owned by billionaire Bernard Arnault's LVMH, cost upward of $5,000 per night for a room at this time of year.

The less expensive hotels aren't exactly cheap — which is part of the appeal. A room in the least expensive hotel available for the week between Christmas and New Year's costs more than $3,000 per night.

"There is nothing mass-market about it. It's impossible to be there unless you are really wealthy," Chesterfield said.

Other superrich travelers opt for colder destinations, choosing 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 was a favorite of Russian oligarchs — and Val-d'Isère are classic choices for the ultra-high net worth set, Chesterfield and Brown said.

Recently, Chesterfield said he's seen some choose quieter destinations,