Frommer's Review
Tranquil, secluded, and intimate, this is the most exclusive address on Paradise Island, with sky-high prices that match the refined ambience and pampering service (the best in The Bahamas). Although it's owned by the same entity that controls the much larger Atlantis Resort nearby, huge efforts are expended to separate it from the clients at the less personalized, more family-friendly, theme-oriented Atlantis. In fact, although the facilities of the Atlantis are open and available to the residents of the One&Only Ocean Club, that same privilege does not extend in the opposite direction. As such, you'll find a boutique-style hotel with a highly visible security force that, to a large degree, is cloistered from the larger and much splashier "upscale mass market" venue nearby. This is one of the best-developed tennis resorts in The Bahamas, and the white-sand beach adjacent to the hotel is the finest in the Nassau/Paradise Island area.
The spacious and elegantly furnished rooms are plushly comfortable, with king-size beds, gilt-framed mirrors, and dark-wood armoires. The marble bathrooms in the suites are massive, and each contains a bidet, twin basins, and both a tub and a shower.
The real heart and soul of the resort lies in the surrounding gardens, which were designed by the island's former owner, Huntington Hartford II, heir to the A&P grocery fortune. This resort, in fact, was once the site of his private home. Formal gardens surround a rebuilt medieval French cloister set on 14 hectares (35 acres) of manicured lawns. (Bought by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst during one of his trips through France and later sold to Huntington Hartford, it was disassembled and rebuilt on this site as part of a major drama that's more fully explained later within this chapter.) The graceful 12th-century arcades of the cloister are visible at the crest of a hill, across a stretch of terraced waterfalls, fountains, a stone gazebo, and rose gardens. Larger-than-life statues dot the vine-covered niches on either side of the gardens. Begin your tour of the gardens at the large swimming pool, which feeds a series of reflecting pools that stretch out toward the cloister. A new addition is the child-friendly family pool, replete with aqua toys and a waterfall.
Arguably the best dining on Paradise Island can be found at the resort's Dune restaurant, creation of culinary legend Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
Facilities:
2 restaurants; 3 bars; 2 pools; 18-hole golf course; 6 tennis courts; health club; spa; steam room; shuttle to Atlantis casino; room service; babysitting; laundry service; dry cleaning; nonsmoking rooms
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
