Oprah Winfrey has vacationed here. So have Steven Speilberg, Mel Gibson, and Princess Diana. Where is this playground of the rich and very, very famous? It is on the incredible BVI island retreat of Necker Island, owned by Sir Richard Branson.
BVI has long been famous for its luxury villa rentals, pristine white sand beaches, stunning natural beauty, and a respect for privacy. All this makes it the perfect vacation spot for any celebrity looking for an ideal Caribbean family vacation.
Necker Island sits just north of Virgin Gorda. It’s small, and the entire island is run as part of the Virgin Limited chain of luxury resorts.
Branson came to BVI in 1978, and felt its natural beauty and privacy would be the perfect place to set up Caribbean private villas for the rock stars signed to his Virgin Records label. He fell in love with the view and the wildlife on the uninhabited Necker Island, and bought it for £180,000 in 1979. He spent three years and about £10 million to turn it into a perfect island retreat, complete with a stunning Balinese villa topping the hill overlooking the beach. Every one of the 10 bedrooms has a 360-degree view of the island and the Caribbean. Branson’s little BVI villa rental can accommodate up to 28 people, and has a staff of about 60, with private pools, private beaches, tennis courts and every kind of water sport imaginable.
If you can’t afford the high price tag of up to $54,000 US per night, you may still spot the island’s famous guests anywhere in BVI. They often sail over to Jost Van Dyke for the famous New Year’s Eve party at Foxy’s. They visit Virgin Gorda to play in the boulders at The Baths. They take a boat to Tortola to play on Cane Garden Bay Beach, said to be one of the best beaches in the entire Caribbean. They pop by Norman Isle, the inspiration for the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, Treasure Island.
When Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, rented Necker Island for his 2007 wedding, he also rented out about half the Caribbean private villas on neighboring Virgin Gorda for his more than 600 wedding guests.
The question now being asked all across BVI, is when will the newlywed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge show up? Branson gave William and Catherine two weeks on Necker Island as a wedding present. Since it said to be William’s mother’s favorite place in the Caribbean, it can only be a matter of time before the world’s most famous couple shows up for their own Necker Island retreat.