Bat Sheba’s Palace, a jaw dropping $210 million mansion in Caesarea, Israel, is the sort of place that makes even the White House look a bit modest, which is not a sentence you expect to read on a Saturday.

It stretches across 73,700 square feet, which is a number so big it stops meaning anything unless you’ve tried to hoover it. You’d need a week, a packed lunch, and possibly a small team.

Nestled between Tel Aviv and Haifa, Caesarea – the town where this property is located – is hardly short on history. This place dates back to Roman times, named after Augustus Caesar, with ruins that have quietly watched centuries pass—harbor, aqueduct, amphitheater, the usual hits. These days it’s rather more polished and a tourist hot spot. Cafés, galleries, a golf club, and property prices that suggest everyone there has done quite well for themselves.

And then there’s this house.

It sits right at the front, facing the sea with a sort of quiet certainty. It was completed in 2015, designed by Citterio F.lli with Cristiano Mattia Ferme in charge, alongside Yuri Puchinsky, and landscaped by Mor Avidan. Which is quite a lot of people, but then it’s quite a lot of house. The style leans heavily into neo-Baroque and Rococo. That means columns, flourishes, decorative enthusiasm—nothing here whispers. It all speaks at a comfortable volume.

Inside, it’s a parade of materials that sound like they’ve been borrowed from a museum or possibly a particularly ambitious jewellery box. Marble, onyx, lapis lazuli, tiger’s eye, malachite. Then there’s gold leaf. Not a touch here and there, but properly committed, 14-karat, catching the light from chandeliers that could probably double as small satellites.

Columns rise up in the Corinthian style, ceilings are painted, floors are inlaid with patterns you’d hesitate to walk on in outdoor shoes. Even the stained glass seems to have a theme, leaning into gardens and nature, as if the outside wasn’t already doing that job.

The main house alone is enormous. A grand salon, several smaller lounges for when the grand salon feels like overkill, a billiards room with a bar, and a game room large enough to host something approaching a village fête. The ceiling there mimics a starry sky, which is charming, though again, the real one is available nearby.

There are two kosher kitchens, both professional-grade. I like this detail. It suggests a certain seriousness about food, even in a house where you could easily lose the fridge.

The spa complex sits separately, connected underground like a secret. It has nearly 10,000 square feet dedicated to complete relaxation: an indoor pool, swim spa, a hammam, gym, several massage rooms and even hairdressing suites. It’s less a spa and more a small country dedicated to relaxation.

Bedrooms? Five. Bathrooms? Also five, plus ten powder rooms, which feels faintly excessive until you imagine hosting a party here. Then it makes perfect sense.

The pools deserve a mention as well. The indoor pool sits beneath a vaulted stained-glass skylight, with mosaic tiles below depicting shells in delicate arrangements. Outside, another pool runs to the edge in that infinity style, blending into the horizon in a way that makes you wonder where exactly it ends.

Fountains appear with some frequency. One in the motor court, tiered and assertive. Another between the house and spa pavilion, decorated with golden statues. There’s a theme emerging here, and it’s “more is better.”

Practicalities haven’t been ignored, which is reassuring. Staff apartments, a full backup generator, smart-home systems, security that doesn’t sleep, climate control across multiple zones. You could live here quite comfortably without ever needing to check if the lights were off.

The story behind it is equally large. Reports suggest it was built by Valery Kogan, a man who clearly doesn’t think in small increments. He’s known for high-end property moves, including a rather ornate apartment at the Plaza in New York and a substantial place in Tel Aviv.

There’s also that wedding in 2017, where Mariah Carey and Elton John reportedly performed. Which gives you a sense of scale. When your entertainment budget includes global pop royalty, a house like this starts to feel consistent.

It first appeared on the market in 2020 for $269 million. Now it’s back at $210 million with Davidson Real Estate, which is still an eye-watering figure, though technically a hefty discount. A curious way to think about it, but there we are.

Would anyone need a house like this? Of course not. That’s not the point.

It exists because someone decided to build it, and because there’s a certain fascination in pushing things to their absolute limit—space, detail, extravagance. It’s architecture as a kind of declaration.

And, quietly, it does make the White House look a little bit… modest.

The post This $210 Million Mansion in Israel Makes the White House Look Small appeared first on Luxatic.

Bellini has taken a very particular kind of obsession and turned it into a production boat, and the result is the Astor 38—born from a one-off commission for Italian-Monégasque racing driver Francesco Castellacci and now, somehow, available to people who don’t spend their weekends chasing apexes.

You can see exactly where this started. Castellacci, who races in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Vista AF Corse, didn’t want a typical weekend cruiser. He wanted something that felt like his Ferrari—sharp, reactive, slightly intense even when you’re doing very little. That’s a dangerous brief to hand to a yacht builder, because most boats, if we’re honest, are about as connected as a sofa.

Bellini leaned into it.

The original Astor 38 Pista was never meant to be a production thing. It was a bespoke toy, a translation exercise between two worlds that don’t usually overlap in any meaningful way. Cars chase milliseconds; boats chase sunsets. Yet here, someone decided they should meet in the middle, and oddly enough, it works.

Castellacci’s own boat is the loud one. Silver and red, proper racing livery, the sort of thing that looks like it should come with tyre warmers. There are graphics, signatures, little details that tie it directly back to his LMGT3 Evo car. It feels personal in the way proper driver cars do—slightly indulgent, completely unapologetic.

Step aboard and it gets even more obvious. The helm isn’t just influenced by a cockpit; it basically is one. You sit low, wrapped in shell seats trimmed in a pattern that nods to the old Daytona interiors. There’s carbon fibre where you expect it, flashes of red where you don’t need them but are glad they’re there, and even a hit of Giallo Modena on the windshield frame. That last bit feels like a wink.

Then Bellini looked at it and thought: yes, we should probably sell this.

So the Astor 38 arrives as a slightly toned-down version. Same shape, same intent, but with the volume knob turned down just enough. The production boat swaps the full racing livery for a more restrained silver finish, with subtle accents rather than shouting graphics. It still carries the attitude, just without announcing it from three marinas away.

The layout is what you’d expect from a modern walkaround, though it’s been done with a bit more care than usual. There’s an ergonomic cockpit that actually looks designed for someone who might drive it properly, not just lean on it with a drink. Below deck, a twin cabin sits aft, trimmed in a way that feels considered rather than decorative.

Outside, you get teak underfoot, fold-out platforms, and sunpads in all the usual places. It’s functional, but not dull. Someone clearly spent time thinking about how people actually move around a boat, which is more than can be said for quite a few in this size range.

Underneath, things get interesting again. The hull has been tuned for stability at speed, which matters when you’re trying to inject a bit of motorsport DNA into something that floats. Power comes from twin Volvo Penta setups—diesel or petrol—rated at 350 and 300 horsepower respectively.

With the petrol option, Bellini claims 32 knots flat out at one-third load. That’s properly brisk for something like this. Not terrifying, not outrageous, but enough to make you pay attention. And that’s the whole point, really.

Because what this boat tries to do—what it actually manages to do—is keep you involved. It doesn’t just move across water; it encourages you to drive it, to think about what you’re doing, to enjoy the process rather than just the destination. That’s a very un-boat-like quality.

The Astor 38 Pista, Castellacci’s original, will show up at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September, which feels like the right place for something this slightly eccentric. The production Astor 38 follows at the same time, though Bellini hasn’t said what it’ll cost yet. Probably not cheap. Definitely not the point.

What matters is that someone looked at the gap between cars and boats and decided it was worth bridging. And instead of building something compromised, they built something that leans fully into both worlds.

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The superb Rolls-Royce Corniche has been brought back to life by a small British firm called Halcyon, and before you roll your eyes at yet another restomod, this one is at least doing something rather interesting with the idea.

Because the Corniche, particularly the fixed-head coupe, was always a slightly curious thing. Introduced in 1971 by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, it arrived at a time when the world was worrying about oil shortages and tightening belts, yet here was this enormous, softly spoken coupe wafting about as if none of that applied. Which, to be fair, it probably didn’t for its owners.

The coupe version didn’t last all that long. It disappeared in 1981, quietly, without much fuss, leaving the convertible to carry on for another decade or so. That makes the hardtop version feel a bit more niche today. Slightly under the radar. The sort of Rolls you’d choose if you didn’t feel the need to constantly remind people you were in one.

Halcyon has taken that car and folded it into something called the Great Eight series. Sixty cars in total, of which only twenty will be Corniche coupes. The rest are a mixture of dropheads and a few other Crewe-era machines, all given the same careful once-over. Or perhaps twice-over, given that each build takes around 5,000 hours, which is a rather long time to spend with any one car. You’d hope they get on with it.

The engine remains the old 6.75-liter V8, which is reassuring. It would be a bit like putting a microwave in a Georgian townhouse otherwise. Halcyon says it has been reworked, improved, made more capable. They haven’t said how much more capable, which I rather like. Numbers can sometimes get in the way of the point, and the point here isn’t speed, it’s the way the thing goes about its business.

Still, they’ve made some sensible changes underneath. The original Corniche was never what you’d call agile. It preferred a gentle approach to corners and an even gentler approach to stopping. This one gets adaptive suspension, better brakes, and electronically controlled dampers, which sounds complicated but probably just means it behaves itself when asked.

There are also drive modes—Drive, Spirited, Touring—which feels faintly modern for something like this. I suspect most owners will leave it in Drive and forget the others exist, which is exactly what I would do. A Rolls-Royce doesn’t really need to be “Spirited.” It needs to be calm, unbothered, and faintly aloof.

Visually, they’ve resisted the urge to overdo it. The car is finished in something called Arboretum Green, which sounds like a place you might visit on a Sunday afternoon, and inside there’s tan leather and open-pore wood. Proper materials. The sort of things that improve with age rather than deteriorate, assuming you don’t spill anything unfortunate on them.

Then there’s a detail I rather like. Across the dashboard runs what Halcyon calls the Gallery, a long engraved panel inspired by the Surrey Hills. It’s decorative, slightly indulgent, and entirely unnecessary, which is precisely why it works. Old Rolls-Royces were full of that sort of thinking.

Of course, modern life has crept in. There’s Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, climate control, electric seats, and a reversing camera, which is probably useful given the size of the thing. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about plugging a smartphone into a car like this, but I suppose if you’re going to use it regularly, it helps.

Each car starts at £425,000, which is a considerable sum, though not wildly out of step with what these things cost when new, adjusted for inflation and a general sense of extravagance. Buyers can specify almost everything, and the build takes about a year. Plenty of time to change your mind about the wood.

What Halcyon has done, really, is take a car that belonged to a very particular moment and made it usable now, without scrubbing away what made it appealing in the first place. That’s harder than it sounds.

The post Halcyon’s Rolls-Royce Corniche Is Old-School Luxury Done Properly Again appeared first on Luxatic.

Max Hazan has built a motorcycle around a Ferrari V8, and somehow the most surprising part isn’t that it exists—it’s that it works. It’s called the HF355, and it’s just changed hands for over $500,000, which sounds faintly ridiculous until you spend about ten seconds thinking about what’s actually involved here.

Because this isn’t some overstyled custom with a big motor dropped in for effect. It’s a properly thought-through, deeply engineered thing. Still completely mad, obviously. But not careless.

The engine comes from a Ferrari F355 – a 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V8 that makes around 400 HP and revs to 8,500 rpm. Hazan found it while casually browsing online for something entirely different – usually how terrible ideas begin. Except this one stuck.

He saw it sitting on a dolly, picked it up slightly, and realized it was a bit smaller than expected. That was enough. From there, it spiraled into an 18-month exercise in seeing how far you can push one idea before it breaks you.

The architecture is where it gets properly interesting. There’s no traditional frame. The engine does the structural work, which is the sort of decision that sounds heroic until you imagine the consequences when it doesn’t quite line up. A chromoly trellis bolts directly to the front, while everything else—gearbox, suspension—hangs off the rear of the V8 like it’s been persuaded into place.

And yet, it ends up balanced. Nearly 50/50. Wheelbase of 63 inches. Numbers that suggest someone knew exactly what they were doing, even if the concept itself feels like it shouldn’t cooperate.

At 585 pounds dry, with 400 horsepower, the power-to-weight ratio is somewhere deep into hypercar territory. Which, on a motorcycle, feels… optimistic. You’d want a very steady right hand. Or no sense of self-preservation.

What’s impressive is how much of it Hazan built himself. Not in a polished, high-tech facility, but with manual tools. Proper fabrication. The kind where parts get made, tested, fail, and then come back stronger. He had to design custom spline shafts just to mate the Ferrari crank to a Motus six-speed sequential gearbox. They broke. Of course they did. Then they didn’t.

That’s the whole project in miniature.

Electronics are equally bespoke. The original Ferrari systems were essentially stripped away and replaced with a custom setup running through an AMP EFI ECU. It monitors everything, logs everything, but doesn’t step in to save you. No traction control. No rider aids. No polite intervention when things get out of shape.

Which means when you open the throttle, you’re on your own.

Hazan describes the sound as “Indy car in the pits,” which feels about right. Eight velocity stacks sit just below where your chest would be, dragging air in with alarming urgency. You don’t just hear it—you feel it, constantly. At full throttle, he says it’s “warp speed,” and you get the sense that’s not entirely metaphorical.

There’s a great detail where he thought he’d gone flat out on an early run, only to realize he’d used about half the throttle. That’s the sort of moment that tends to reset your expectations fairly quickly.

Oddly, at lower speeds, it behaves. He says it’s manageable, even predictable on a tight track. Which feels unlikely until you remember the fundamentals are sound. Geometry matters. Balance matters. Get those right, and even something this extreme can feel vaguely normal—right up until it doesn’t.

Visually, it’s just as obsessive. Sixteen carbon-fiber panels, all shaped by hand, starting as foam and gradually refined until the proportions made sense. There’s no CAD perfection here. It’s more instinct, more adjustment, more stepping back and squinting at it until it feels right.

The carbon work itself uses resin infusion techniques you’d normally associate with aerospace, with some input from a composites specialist working with SpaceX. Which explains why it looks so clean, so deliberate, without feeling overworked.

The paint is a deep, custom red—not Ferrari red, deliberately—which feels like the right call. The engine is the star here. Everything else just frames it.

The rest of the components read like a greatest hits list: Brembo GP4X brakes, Öhlins suspension, Marchesini wheels. All the serious stuff, but nothing too flashy for the sake of it. Even the cooling system has been tucked away underneath, shaped into a V duct so it doesn’t interrupt the visual flow of the engine.

That’s the thing that sticks. It’s engineered like a race machine, but composed like a piece of design.

It took about 18 months to get there. Constant revisions, small failures, incremental wins. The usual process, just applied to something far less usual.

And in the end, you get a one-off machine that sits somewhere between sculpture and engineering exercise. Half a million dollars? Yes, it’s a lot for a motorcycle.

Then again, there aren’t many motorcycles that make you question whether they should exist at all—and then quietly prove that they absolutely can.

The post Max Hazan Built a Ferrari V8 Motorcycle and it Just Sold for Over $500,000! appeared first on Luxatic.

Swarovski heir Gernot Langes-Swarovski’s private island in the Venetian Lagoon has come up for sale, and it’s the kind of property that feels slightly unreal even by northern Italy standards—72 acres of cultivated quiet, priced at $28.3 million, sitting just far enough from Venice to avoid becoming part of it.

Isola Santa Cristina isn’t new to discretion. It has spent decades in that soft-focus space between myth and reality, known mostly to those who already knew. The lagoon itself does the heavy lifting—flat, reflective, a little mysterious—and up in its northern reaches, the so-called “garden islands” feel almost pastoral, like Venice exhaled and forgot to check back in.

Gernot Langes-Swarovski bought the island in 1986 with a fairly specific idea in mind. Not a showpiece, not a seasonal escape, but something closer to a working landscape. Close enough to Austria to remain useful, far enough away to feel separate. He leaned into agriculture, sustainability, the rhythms of the land. You get the sense he wasn’t interested in spectacle.

Ownership now sits with a family trust, set up before his death in 2021. It hasn’t been left idle. If anything, the island feels more considered than ever—fish farming revived in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, orchards maintained, systems updated quietly in the background. There’s over $2 million currently going into infrastructure upgrades, which tells you everything about the level of intent here.

The property itself reads like a small, self-contained estate rather than a single residence. The main villa stretches across four floors and about 9,250 square feet, with nine bedrooms and an equal number of bathrooms. Interiors come from Studio Architetto Mar, and they don’t overplay it. There’s a sense of restraint—decorative wallpaper in the kitchen, formal reception rooms that still feel usable, a veranda that pulls everything outward.

The altana might be the best part. It’s a simple rooftop terrace, wood underfoot, slightly uneven, the kind of place you’d gravitate toward without thinking. Up there, the lagoon opens completely. No dramatic skyline, no obvious focal point—just water, light, and that low, distant horizon that makes Venice feel farther away than it actually is.

A separate farmhouse adds another layer to the property. Roughly 6,100 square feet, with two additional bedrooms, its own kitchen and reception spaces, plus a self-contained apartment. It feels more relaxed, a little less formal and it’s definitely a place guests where guests might end up staying longer.

The land does most of the talking though. Orchards of apricot and plum, vineyards planted with Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet. Not decorative rows either—these are working plots. There are vegetable gardens that seem to be taken seriously, and beehives producing saltmarsh honey, which sounds like something you’d be skeptical of until you try it.

Five boats come with the island. Three for operations, two for leisure, though the distinction probably blurs once you’re there. There’s also a helipad, which feels almost unnecessary until you remember how the lagoon works—distance isn’t measured in kilometers, but in time and water.

Energy comes from the mainland, backed by a generator and some solar capacity. Water is drawn from three deep wells. It’s all functional, but thoughtfully so. Nothing feels improvised.

Venice Sotheby’s International Realty is handling the listing, positioning it as a retreat, which is accurate but undersells it slightly. This is more than a place to switch off. It’s a system. A landscape that’s been shaped, maintained, and quietly refined over decades.

There’s a line from the trustees about finding the right “custodian,” which sounds formal until you think about what it actually means here. This isn’t a house you just occupy. It asks for involvement. Attention. A certain kind of patience.

Still, that’s the appeal. In a part of the world where everything feels overexposed, Isola Santa Cristina remains stubbornly its own thing. And that’s getting harder to find.

The post This Swarovski Heir’s Private Island in Venice Just Hit the Market for $28 Million appeared first on Luxatic.

TAG Heuer has expanded its Formula 1 line with a new set of Solargraph models in lovely pastel colours, a direction that feels slightly unexpected but not entirely out of character for a collection that has always leaned on colour.

The brand’s Formula 1 series dates back to 1986 – originally positioned as an accessible, quartz-powered sports watch line, with a strong visual identity. Bright colours, composite materials, and a design that didn’t try to emulate traditional Swiss watchmaking too closely. That formula worked, and TAG has revisited it several times over the years with varying degrees of success.

This new Pastel Solargraph Collection shifts the tone rather than the concept. The case diameter is now 38 mm, which sits closer to the original proportions than the larger versions seen in the past decade. On the wrist, that size tends to wear compact, especially given the lightweight construction.

The use of TH Polylight is central here. It’s essentially a composite material, similar in intent to the plastic cases used in early Formula 1 models, but with a more refined finish. The advantage is obvious the moment you pick one up. Very light, almost to the point where it feels insubstantial if you’re used to steel sports watches.

Powering the watch is the Solargraph movement, introduced into the Formula 1 range in 2025. It’s a quartz calibre with a photovoltaic cell under the dial, so it charges via light. TAG claims a couple of minutes of direct sunlight will keep it running for a day, while a full charge extends autonomy for several months.

Practically speaking, it removes the need for routine battery changes, which makes sense for a watch positioned as low-maintenance daily wear. Solar quartz isn’t new, but it’s still relatively uncommon in Swiss watches at this level.

The pastel dials are the main visual hook. Three versions in Polylight cases: beige, pink, and blue.

The beige opalin dial is the most restrained of the three. Slightly warm tone, low contrast, and probably the easiest to integrate into a daily rotation. It doesn’t draw much attention, which will appeal to some buyers.

The pink version is more assertive. Still within the pastel spectrum, so it avoids looking overly saturated, but it’s clearly intended as a statement piece. Whether that works long term depends on how comfortable you are with colour on the wrist.

The blue sits somewhere in the middle. Cooler in tone, relatively neutral compared to the pink, and likely to be the most versatile option for casual wear. It has enough colour to stand out without becoming the defining element of an outfit.

All three retain the standard Formula 1 design cues. Bidirectional bezel, bold hands, straightforward dial layout. Legibility remains good, which has always been one of the strengths of the collection.

Alongside these, TAG Heuer has introduced two steel models with a slightly more upscale execution.

The pastel green and lavender-blue versions come in sandblasted steel cases with matching bracelets. The shift in material changes the feel entirely. More weight, more presence, and a closer alignment with conventional sports watches.

Both feature diamond-set hour markers, which adds a decorative element without significantly altering the overall design.

The green dial is probably the most contemporary of the five, this particular shade leaning lighter and more casual than the darker tones seen elsewhere.

The lavender-blue version is more unusual. There’s a slight contrast introduced through soft pink accents, which gives it a different character compared to the rest of the lineup. Less straightforward, but arguably more distinctive.

Across the collection, the positioning is fairly clear. Quartz, solar-powered, relatively affordable within the TAG Heuer catalogue, and designed for ease of use rather than mechanical interest.

The choice of pastel colours suggests TAG is targeting a different segment than the typical Formula 1 buyer from a decade ago. Whether that resonates will depend largely on how the market responds to colour in this category, which tends to be conservative despite occasional trends.

The underlying concept, however, remains consistent with the original idea behind the Formula 1 line. Lightweight, practical, visually distinct, and not overly concerned with traditional expectations.

The post TAG Heuer’s Pastel Solargraph Brings a New Mood to the Formula 1 appeared first on Luxatic.

McLaren just decided golf needed a bit more drama—and, unsurprisingly, a lot more engineering.

The company’s new venture, McLaren Golf, arrives with two irons, Series 1 and Series 3, and the kind of language you usually hear around carbon tubs and lap times. Precision. Obsession. Marginal gains. You can almost hear the pit crew in the background while reading the spec sheet.

This isn’t a licensing exercise. At least, that’s the pitch. McLaren says it built a dedicated team of golf specialists and engineers, all steeped in its culture of sweating the details. CEO Neil Howie calls it a long time coming, which is executive-speak for “this took longer than we thought, and cost more, too.”

The interesting part is how far they’ve pushed the engineering narrative. Instead of the usual forging or casting methods, McLaren went with Metal Injection Molding. MIM, if you’re into acronyms. It’s expensive, complicated, and rarely used in golf at this level, which is exactly why they picked it.

Why does that matter? Because it lets them control everything inside the clubhead with surgical precision – weight, geometry, material density. Every gram has a job. It’s very McLaren, in that slightly obsessive, borderline over-the-top way.

The Series 1 is their nod to the purists. A classic Tour blade shape, compact, clean, the kind of club better players tend to romanticize. It looks familiar at address, which is important because golfers are creatures of habit in a way even car enthusiasts aren’t.

But under the surface, it’s been reworked. Justin Rose had a hand in it, which gives it immediate credibility. He’s been testing prototypes for nearly two years, which is either a sign of deep commitment or just how long it takes to make golf gear feel “right.”

There’s tungsten in there for stability. A structural mesh redistributing weight. Individually optimized center of gravity across the set. It all adds up to something that promises forgiveness without losing that soft, controlled feel better players obsess over. Whether that actually shows up on your scorecard is another conversation.

Then there’s the Series 3, which leans into distance. This is the one for people who want help getting the ball out there without feeling like they’ve given up control. A tricky balance, and one every equipment brand claims to have solved.

McLaren’s approach mixes a MIM frame with carbon fiber elements, because of course it does. The carbon panel manages vibration, tweaks the sound, and houses a calibration weight system. It’s very engineered, very deliberate, and probably very expensive to produce.

The sole design is another detail they’re proud of. A heel cut reduces drag through the turf, helping maintain speed on imperfect strikes. That’s golf speak for “you don’t have to be perfect every time,” which is comforting, since almost nobody is.

Pricing lands exactly where you’d expect. About $375 per club in the U.S., £360 in the U.K. This is premium territory, aimed at golfers who already spend more time thinking about gear than they probably should. The kind of buyer who knows what tungsten weighting is and has opinions about it.

Distribution is selective. Custom fitting retailers across North America, Europe, and South Korea, plus direct online sales in North America. No mass rollout, no big-box push. It keeps the aura intact.

And then there’s the roster. Michelle Wie West and Ian Poulter join Rose not just as ambassadors, but as investors. That’s a smart move. Skin in the game changes how people talk about a product, and how seriously others take it.

McLaren Golf feels like a brand extension that actually tries. There’s real engineering here, not just branding slapped onto existing designs. Still, this is a crowded market filled with companies that have spent decades chasing the same promises: more distance, better feel, tighter dispersion.

So the question isn’t whether McLaren can build a beautiful iron. It clearly can. The real question is whether golfers—who are famously loyal, stubborn, and occasionally superstitious—are ready to let a supercar company into their bags.

Give it a few rounds. Golfers always decide.

The post McLaren’s First Golf Irons Are Exactly as Overengineered as You’d Expect appeared first on Luxatic.

Some vacations start with simple “why not?” and end up completely exceeding your expectations.

Our trip to Oman was exactly like that. It started as a curiosity. We knew Oman is one of the world’s oldest countries, with a history that goes back thousands of years.. but for some reason, it’s still a relatively hidden gem.

The default image of a Middle Eastern vacation is still Dubai, or maybe a quick layover in Abu Dhabi or Doha. High-rises, polished luxury, everything designed to stand out and pop out. Bigger, newer, more. And lately, Saudi Arabia aims to go in that same direction as well.

But we kept wondering… what does the other side of the region look like?

The more we read about Oman, the more it started to feel like something completely different. It’s not flashy. Not built around glass towers or trying to impress at every corner. It’s more about its unique culture, the landscape – mountains, deserts, pristine coastlines – and the sense of history behind it.

At some point, curiosity turned into a plan and soon after we booked the tickets to this amazing country.

Naturally, when you’re going to Oman.. everything starts in Muscat.

Oman’s capital city feels different almost right away, even if you can’t quite explain why at first.

It’s not as intense. Things are more spread out, quieter. You notice the space more than anything else—wide roads, low-rise buildings, mountains in the distance pretty much all the time.

Of course, there are many places you’ll want to see in town. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the Mutrah Corniche, the older souks. But moving around isn’t as quick as it seems. Distances add up, especially in the heat.

Which is why the hotel location suddenly becomes a bigger deal than expected.

We ended up prioritizing something practical. Close to the airport and easy to reach everything from, since we were planning to rent a car. But also somewhere that actually felt good to come back to, not just convenient.

That’s how we ended up booking JW Marriott Muscat.

It’s in a newer part of the city, close to the airport and directly linked to the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre. Not the typical tourist location, which we weren’t entirely sure about at first. But Muscat doesn’t really work like that.

Distances are bigger, everything is more spread out, so being slightly outside the main spots isn’t really a downside. If anything, it makes things quieter.

Looking at it before arriving, it had everything—modern five-star setup, over 300 rooms, restaurants, wellness areas, a lot of space. The kind of place that seems easy to settle into.

Still, that only tells you so much.

You only really know once you’re there.

First Impressions

Our arrival in Muscat wasn’t really cinematic. We had a late flight from Dubai, landed there pretty late at night, and by the time we got into the taxi, there was only one thing on our minds: getting to the hotel as fast as possible. No sightseeing, no detours please – just a quick ride and a comfortable bed.

That’s exactly why the location of the JW Marriott Muscat immediately felt like a win. From the airport, it’s barely ten minutes. After a long trip, that short drive actually matters more than you’d think.

As the taxi got closer, the scale of the place became pretty clear. This isn’t a small, tucked-away boutique hotel. It’s large, modern, built to handle volume. You can tell right away it’s connected to the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre, and for a moment we wondered if the whole stay might lean more toward business than anything else.

That idea of a more business-heavy stay disappeared pretty quickly.

Inside, the lobby sets a completely different tone. It’s spacious, yes, but also calm. Clean design, soft lighting, everything put together in a way that feels considered without being too much. It leans more toward quiet comfort than anything corporate.

And then there’s the staff.

From the first moment, the welcome felt genuine. Real smiles, a kind of warmth you hear about when people talk about Omani hospitality. Check-in was quick, too.

It didn’t take long and someone stepped in, handled the luggage, and guided us up to the room.

At that point, we were running purely on travel fatigue… but also a bit of excitement to finally see what we had booked.

And if the first few minutes were anything to go by, we had a pretty good feeling about this place.

Accommodation

We always spend a bit of time choosing the right room before any trip.

Especially in a destination like Oman, where you know you’ll be out exploring most of the day, but still want that comfortable space to come back to and reset. For this stay at the JW Marriott Muscat, we went with one of their standard guest rooms though – but we got a little upgrade to one of their wonderful junior suites.

The first thing we noticed when we walked in? Space.

At roughly 40 square meters, the room feels generous without trying to prove it. The layout is easy, intuitive, and the design keeps things pared back rather than overly considered. There are subtle Omani touches, mostly around the bed, but they stay in the background. Nothing overly traditional, nothing trying too hard to impress.

What stands out instead is the balance. Soft lighting, neutral tones, and those full-height windows that pull your focus straight outside. Ours opened up toward the wadi and the mountains, which added a calm, almost grounding contrast to the hotel’s otherwise polished, contemporary feel.

After a long day of travel, that view did most of the work.

The bed was exactly what you’d expect from a JW Marriott — large, comfortable, and dangerously easy to fall into. The kind of bed where you tell yourself you’ll just lie down for five minutes… and suddenly it’s morning.

There’s also a small sitting corner by the window that, unexpectedly, becomes one of the better parts of the room. We kept coming back to it, especially after the staff left a sweet surprise waiting for us. Beyond that, everything you’d expect is there—good coffee, complimentary water, and a minibar that feels complete.

The bathroom stays in line with everything else. It’s modern, clean, and more importantly, spacious enough to feel comfortable rather than tight. Marble finishes, a large walk-in shower and a tub, and there’s enough room for two people to get ready without negotiating space.

You can tell it’s been designed with care, without trying to impress too much.

And that’s probably the best way to describe the overall experience: effortless comfort.

The hotel itself is large – with over 300 rooms and suites – so it’s clearly built to handle everything from short stays to longer visits. But even at this level, it never felt like we were compromising.

Would we upgrade next time? Maybe — just to see what the higher categories offer. For this trip though, the room did exactly what it needed to do. A comfortable, quiet pause between stretches of exploring Oman.

Sometimes that’s all you ask for.

Dining Experiences

Pretty early on, it became obvious that food is a big part of the experience at the JW Marriott Muscat.

There are plenty of options around the property. Some simple, some more put together. It never feels repetitive, which helps if you’re there for a few days. We ended up going through most of them, almost without planning to.

Let’s start with the place where most of our days began.

Breakfast (and more) at Kitchen 7

Breakfast at Kitchen 7 quickly turned into one of our favorite parts of the day.

The space is open, with everything happening in front of you. Chefs moving, food being prepared on the spot, that low-level buzz you usually associate with busier places—but here it’s softer somehow. It works in the morning.

And the variety? Honestly… a bit overwhelming, in the best possible way.

You’ve got everything from Middle Eastern specialties and Indian dishes to European pastries, fresh fruits, eggs made to order, and more hot options than you realistically have time (or appetite) to try. It’s one of those buffets where you keep telling yourself “just one more thing” until your plate says otherwise.

You’ll definitely forget about your strict diet here, but it’s totally worth it. At some point during our stay, we even came back here for lunch — and that took things to another level.

The buffet setup was even more extensive, with so many options that it actually became difficult to choose what to go for. There’s a lot going on—live stations, multiple cuisines, dishes coming out fresh—and you end up circling a bit longer than expected. It doesn’t feel like a standard hotel lunch.

Safe to say, Kitchen 7 is doing a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to the hotel’s dining scene — and doing it very well.

Special thanks to the staff here for looking after my wife so well. She’s pregnant, and they were incredibly helpful in explaining what was in almost every dish and what might be best to avoid. It really meant a lot to us and made the whole experience much more relaxing.

Butter Buns — Comfort Food Done Right

For a more laid-back dinner, we tried Butter Buns one evening. It’s a casual, slightly playful dining spot, with a gastropub feel and a focus on what they do best: burgers.

And they really do them well.

The burgers were just good. Juicy, full of flavor, put together the way you’d hope—nothing experimental, nothing trying to be clever. After a few days of Middle Eastern food before we arrived to Oman, it hit exactly right. Simple, satisfying, no overthinking.

Pink Salt — A More Refined Experience

Then there was Pink Salt, which couldn’t have been more different. We were there on Valentine’s Day, almost by chance.

It’s the hotel’s signature steakhouse, and you feel that straight away. The space is more refined, a little quieter, more intimate—but not in a way that feels stiff or overly formal.

That evening, everything was clearly centered around Valentine’s Day. The menu, the setup, even the way the service unfolded—it all felt intentional. Not overdone, just… well thought out. More like an occasion than a standard dinner.

The food itself didn’t disappoint.

The focus is clearly on grilled dishes, with good ingredients doing most of the work. Nothing overly complicated, which actually helps. Pink Salt feels like the right choice when you want something a bit more elevated, but still relaxed enough to enjoy it properly.

A Quick Look at the Rest

We didn’t try everything. There are a few more options, though.

Catch is by the pool, more Mediterranean, more seafood-focused. JW Market sits near the lobby—coffee, quick bites, nothing complicated. It’s enough to give the whole dining setup some range without repeating itself.

The Executive Lounge

One thing that probably deserves its own mention is the Executive Lounge. From what we were told, it’s the largest in Muscat, though what stands out isn’t really the size.

It’s quiet, comfortable, and easy to settle into.

You go there for a few minutes and end up staying longer — especially if you go on the terrace as the sun sets. The views from up there will make you forget you’ve made a booking for dinner. The executive lounge also works well as a quiet escape from the busier areas. Or if you just want some place to sit down and get a bit of work done without going back to your room.

Overall, the dining experience at JW Marriott Muscat strikes a really nice balance.

You’ve got variety, quality, and enough different concepts to keep things interesting, whether you’re staying for a couple of nights or a bit longer. And most importantly, it never feels like you’re forced into a single style — you can go from a relaxed burger night to a more refined dinner without ever leaving the hotel.

Spa & Wellness

After a couple of days of exploring Muscat, having a proper setup to relax and reset becomes more important than you’d think.

And this is where the JW Marriott Muscat really shines.

Let’s start with the pools.

Pools & Outdoor Spaces

There are three outdoor pools, which helps more than you’d think.

One is a 25-meter lap pool if you actually want to swim—or at least feel like you should. Then there’s a larger garden pool, more about slowing down and staying in the sun, plus a separate one for kids.

We spent most of our time by the main pool. It’s surrounded by greenery, there are enough loungers, and it never felt busy. Just a quiet, easy place to sit for a while.

The surrounding views are also a nice touch.

There’s no sea view here. Instead, you’re looking out over the wadi and the wetlands in the distance.

It gives the whole area a different kind of atmosphere—quieter, more rooted. Almost resort-like, just without actually leaving the city.

Spa by JW

If you’re in the mood for something a bit more structured in terms of relaxation, the Spa by JW is there for exactly that.

With several treatment rooms, a sauna and a steam room, it covers all the essentials for a proper unwind session. The concept revolves around four main pillars — calm, indulge, invigorate, and renew — which basically translates into a range of treatments depending on what you’re after.

We didn’t end up booking a treatment this time (lesson learned, again — these things tend to fill up quickly), but the space itself looked exactly like you’d expect: quiet, minimal, and designed to slow things down the moment you walk in.

Definitely something we’d try next time.

The Gym — Easily One of the Best We’ve Seen

Now… the gym.

We’ve been to quite a few hotel gyms over the years — some decent, some forgettable, and a few genuinely impressive.

This one? Easily up there with the best.

The fitness center at JW Marriott Muscat is not just a “hotel gym” – it’s a proper, standalone fitness facility. Spacious, extremely well equipped, and with a layout that actually makes sense, whether you’re there for a quick workout or a full session.

It’s all there. Cardio machines, a proper strength setup, free weights, even space for functional training. And everything feels well maintained, not just for show.

It’s open 24/7 too, which helps more than you think once your days start filling up.

But more than the equipment, it’s the feel of the space that stays with you.

Natural light, a clean design, wonderful views of the lap pool and plenty of room to move around — it doesn’t feel cramped or like an afterthought, which is often the case in many hotels. You can tell this is something they actually invested in.

I went in expecting a quick workout… and ended up staying much longer than planned. Every day.

A Well-Rounded Setup

Beyond the main facilities, there’s quite a bit more going on.

You’ve got a tennis court, a few multipurpose sports areas, and an outdoor jogging track that’s actually nice to have if you want a break from indoor spaces. It’s not overemphasized, just there.

They’ve also clearly put thought into families, with different activities and programs for kids. It makes the whole place feel more flexible, not tied to just one type of guest.

Overall, the wellness offering at JW Marriott Muscat feels well covered.

Whether you’re looking to fully switch off, stay active, or just balance things out a bit during your trip, everything is there — and more importantly, it’s done properly.

And that gym alone? Worth mentioning twice.

Final Thoughts

JW Marriott Muscat ended up being exactly what we were hoping for. Nothing complicated. Just a really easy stay from start to finish. What stood out most wasn’t the design or the rooms, though. It was the team.

Everyone was friendly, yes, but more than that—it felt genuine. Not overly rehearsed, not trying too hard. Special thanks to Christina and her team, that stood out without trying to. Things were noticed before we had to ask, small details handled quietly, and it all felt… natural. That’s rare.

The hotel follows the same rhythm.

It’s spacious, calm, and understated in a way that works. Nothing feels forced. Even being close to the airport, it doesn’t feel busy or transitional. You can spend the day out in Muscat and come back to something that actually lets you switch off.

And that’s really it.

It’s not all about over-the-top luxury here. It’s about getting the basics right; and doing it consistently well.

That’s exactly why we’d come back here the next time when we’re in Oman.

Where: JW Marriott Muscat
Address: Madinat Al Irfan, Airport Heights, 113, Oman
Phone: +968 24 920000
Website: www.mariott.com

The post Review: JW Marriott Muscat – The Perfect Base for Exploring Oman appeared first on Luxatic.

Volocopter has just pulled the wraps off the VoloXPro, and the headline writes itself: a personal aircraft for roughly the same money as a Ferrari SF90 Stradale. About $574,000, if you’re checking your bank account. Which, frankly, you probably are.

If it looks familiar at first glance, it’s because it is. This thing borrows heavily from the larger VoloCity. It has the same twin-seat layout, same forest of 18 rotors, same slightly otherworldly stance that makes it look like it’s hovering even when it’s parked. But the trick here is weight. Strip enough of it out, and suddenly you’re not playing in the same regulatory sandbox anymore.

And that’s the whole game.

It’s down to 1,323 pounds, and that’s not just a spec-sheet win. That’s what nudges it into ultralight territory with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, which tends to mean things happen quicker and with fewer complications. After all the slow progress around Volocopter’s bigger ambitions, this feels like a much more realistic way forward.

Performance-wise, it’s… modest. Cruise at around 47 mph, range of about 25 miles. You won’t be crossing countries in it, but then again, that’s not the point. This is short-hop flying, the sort of thing where you skip traffic, land somewhere scenic, and feel vaguely smug about it.

Charging is quick, though. Twenty minutes gets you to 80 percent, twenty-five to a full charge. That’s quick enough to feel usable. You start to picture it slotting into a routine, not just sitting there waiting for the occasional sunny weekend.

Inside, it’s configurable in a way that suggests Volocopter has been paying attention. You can go bare-bones with a single-stick setup—almost playful, like a high-end toy—or spec it up with a proper glass cockpit. There’s even the option to customize it on the outside, because nobody spends half a million on something like this to blend in, right?

The more interesting bit is how they’re pitching it. This isn’t just a toy for billionaires with a helipad and too much time. They’re talking flight schools, clubs, even air sports. That’s ambitious. Maybe optimistic. But there’s something compelling about the idea of this becoming a gateway aircraft, the way small prop planes once were.

Volocopter’s CTO, David Bausek, leans into that narrative—fly-by-wire controls, low noise, zero emissions. Easier than ever to fly, he says. And you can believe it, to a point. Modern control systems do a lot of heavy lifting. Still, “easy” in aviation always comes with an asterisk.

There’s also a broader strategy at play. Now that Volocopter has Diamond Aircraft behind it, there’s a sense that things might finally move with a bit more purpose. The VoloXPro feels like the shortcut—the one you can actually put in people’s hands—while the VoloCity carries on with its slow march through certification.

As ever, the timeline is nicely optimistic. June for initial flights, September for the big reveal, and certification targeted for late 2026. The VoloCity gets its turn in 2027, assuming everything runs to script. That’s a lot of “ifs”, but at least there’s momentum.

And then there’s the price. Half a million dollars for a personal flying machine used to sound absurd. Now it lands in the same mental bucket as a well-speced supercar. Which is probably the point. If you’re already comfortable spending that kind of money on something that exists purely for the experience, this suddenly feels… plausible.

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MANSORY doesn’t do subtle, and the Zeekr 9X by MANSORY makes that point in about half a second. This is a flagship SUV turned into something louder, sharper, and frankly a bit theatrical—in the way only MANSORY seems comfortable pulling off.

It debuted at the Beijing Auto Show on April 24, 2026, although calling it a “debut” almost undersells the moment. This thing feels engineered to stop conversations mid-sentence.

The base 9X already had presence. MANSORY has taken that and leaned all the way in.

The front end is where it starts to unravel—in a good way. There’s a carbon-fibre lip that looks like it’s been carved rather than attached, integrated daytime running lights and the MANSORY logo that sits proudly up front, almost daring you to take issue with it.

And people will, of course. That’s part of the fun.

Move along the sides and it gets busier, but not messy. The new arches breathe a little, thanks to functional air intakes and outlets, and the side skirts stretch the proportions just enough to make the whole thing feel lower than it is. Then you catch the roof spoiler and the reworked rear apron, with that centered brake light—small detail, but it pulls your eye in.

Everything you see is carbon fibre. Not just for show, either. It’s MANSORY’s signature, and here it’s treated almost like jewelry—finished however the owner wants, which says a lot about who this car is for.

Then there are the doors.

Rear suicide doors on something this size shouldn’t work as well as they do here, but they really do. This isn’t a bolt-on party trick. The hinges move, the structure changes, the whole mechanism gets rethought from scratch. You’d never guess how much effort sits behind what looks, at a glance, completely natural.

There’s a quiet confidence in that kind of engineering. It reminds you MANSORY has done this before—think back to its more radical takes on the G-Class—and learned where to push and where to leave things alone.

Which brings us to the powertrain.

They’ve left it untouched. And honestly, why wouldn’t they? The Zeekr 9X already had 1,381 horsepower and 1,410 Nm of torque under the hood. That’s enough to send a full-size SUV to 100 km/h in 3.1 seconds, which is supercar power, on a massive SUV.

Instead, MANSORY adds its own exhaust system—quad pipes, neatly integrated, with a deeper note that gives the whole experience a bit more theatre. You don’t need more speed here. You need presence, and sound plays its part.

The stance changes, too, thanks to a new set of wheels. The FT.19 design, 24 inches across, sits wide and planted without looking oversized for the sake of it. Wrapped in 295-section tires, the car suddenly feels anchored, like it’s gripping the road even when parked.

It’s a look that will almost certainly bleed into other MANSORY projects. You can see the direction already.

Inside, things calm down—but only slightly.

The cabin leans into comfort in a way that feels deliberate. Two-tone leather, clean stitching, ventilated seats front and back. It’s the sort of place you’d actually want to spend time, whether you’re driving or being driven.

And yes, there’s a refrigerator tucked into the rear center console. Because of course there is.

The First Edition details are where it gets more personal. Illuminated logos on the door panels, subtle outlines of global locations tied to Zeekr’s story—it’s a bit theatrical, sure, but also thoughtful in a way you don’t always expect from a tuner brand.

Then come the usual MANSORY touches: carbon trim everywhere, a proper sports steering wheel, custom mats, carbon pedals. It all adds up to a cabin that feels curated rather than simply upgraded.

And that’s the interesting part.

This car doesn’t feel like a one-off experiment. It feels like a statement—about where ultra-luxury SUVs are heading, especially as electric-era performance starts to blur the lines between categories.

The Zeekr 9X by MANSORY is excessive. It’s bold. Unapologetically loud in its design choices. But if you spend some with it, even just looking at it, you start to see the logic behind all this madness.

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