What’s your idea of a great place to live? Somewhere with year-round sunshine and low taxes? How about a city well-known for its Michelin-starred restaurants, great art and the ability to walk everywhere? Maybe it’s privacy you want. or high-end nightlife, business opportunities and a busy social calendar?
We’ve put together a list of the world’s most glamorous cities for luxury living, so take a look and see which one would suit you best.
Dubai
Dubai has become enormously popular with wealthy international residents, and for many different reasons.
First off, Dubai has built an entire service economy around people who are willing to pay for convenience. Valet parking is normal, chauffeurs are easy to arrange, and personal trainers, private chefs, beauty treatments and practically every other service imaginable will come to your home.
For entrepreneurs and internationally mobile professionals, the tax environment is another obvious attraction. The UAE doesn’t levy personal income tax on individuals, which can make a huge difference when deciding where to base yourself.
Then, of course, there’s the lifestyle. Winter is when Dubai really earns its reputation. While Europeans are leaving work in darkness, Dubai residents can spend December eating outside, playing golf or disappearing to a beach club for the afternoon.
However, temperatures do become so intense that much of daily life moves indoors. But if your priorities are modern homes, sunshine, service, international business and making day-to-day life as easy as money can reasonably make it, Dubai is difficult to beat.
Paris
The city of Paris can be a fantastic place to live in for lovers of luxury. Live in the 7th arrondissement, and you have the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides and some of the city’s grandest residential streets around you. The 8th puts you closer to Avenue Montaigne, the Champs-Élysées and many of the major fashion houses. And the 16th feels more residential and appeals particularly to wealthy families who want larger apartments and quieter streets. just take your pick.
Fashion is obviously a big thing here, but so too is food, art and design. Paris gives wealthy residents access to couture houses, major auctions, private galleries, museums, wine merchants and some of the best restaurants on earth.
Paris won’t always make your life easy, though. After all, French bureaucracy has never been known to make wealthy foreigners feel relaxed, and France certainly isn’t where most people relocate in search of low personal taxation. But for somebody who really cares about architecture, fashion, gastronomy and art, this is the place to be.
Monaco
It always surprises us just how much can be squeezed into the small city of Monaco is tiny. Superyachts, Michelin-starred restaurants, casinos, luxury boutiques, private banks, beach clubs and some of Europe’s most expensive apartments all occupy an area smaller than many London neighbourhoods.
Live around Monte-Carlo or the Carré d’Or and much of your social life can happen within walking distance. Larvotto gives you modern apartments and easy access to the beach. Fontvieille feels a little more removed from the centre and includes the marina, offices and more residential space.
Taxation is another major reason wealthy people establish residence there. Monaco generally does not impose personal income tax on its residents, although French nationals are an important exception because of the tax agreement between France and Monaco.
There is also the Riviera sitting outside the border. Nice Airport is within easy reach, Italy isn’t far away, and places such as Cap-Ferrat, Cannes and Saint-Tropez are just around the corner. For security, Mediterranean weather, tax advantages and true luxury living, there really isn’t anywhere quite like Monaco.
London
As we all know, London doesn’t offer Dubai’s weather or Monaco’s tax advantages. Yet wealthy people have been buying homes there for generations, and it’s not difficult to understand why.
Few cities give you as many different versions of luxury living within such a small part of town. Mayfair works well for somebody who wants restaurants, private clubs, and five-star hotels almost on the doorstep. Belgravia is more residential, with grand stucco houses and quieter garden squares, and Knightsbridge suits people who want Harrods, Hyde Park and modern luxury apartments nearby.
Move slightly further out, and you’ll find areas like Hampstead, which gives wealthy families greenery and larger houses. St John’s Wood combines big homes with relatively easy access to central London, whilst Richmond appeals to people who want something approaching country life without actually leaving the capital.
There are also many excellent private schools, world-leading universities, major hospitals, private healthcare, theatres, galleries, auction houses, restaurants covering almost every cuisine imaginable and professional services for practically every complicated financial or legal problem a wealthy international resident can invent.
New York
Is your idea of luxury being surrounded by business, culture, restaurants, galleries, entertainment and ambitious people at almost every hour of the day? Then New York is the city for you.
The Upper East Side still offers the classic New York wealthy-family lifestyle: Central Park, Fifth and Madison Avenue, museums, doormen and some extremely grand pre-war apartments. Tribeca feels more discreet, with lofts, converted industrial buildings and enough celebrity residents that nobody seems particularly impressed by seeing one.
Then there are Midtown’s super-tall residential towers, where buyers can live hundreds of metres above Manhattan with Central Park spread beneath the windows. And once you’re through the front door, few cities give you more to do.
Broadway, the Met, MoMA, Madison Square Garden, restaurants that are difficult to book, major art auctions, fashion, sport, finance and nightlife are all competing for your time.
What If You’re Travelling Between Them?
Of course, plenty of wealthy people don’t choose to just stay in one city. They might work in London, own somewhere in Dubai, spend summers around Monaco and regularly find themselves in Paris or New York for business.
Know what works well for these individuals? Services designed around people who are somewhere for a short time and don’t necessarily want to build a new social life every time they land.
That’s where professional companionship comes in. Someone travelling alone might browse the VIP escorts at Blue Monday before a trip and arrange company for dinner, an event or several days away. For a person whose flights, hotel, restaurants and meetings have already been planned, arranging the social side of the trip in advance can be done with ease.
