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The rich have it good when it comes to vacationing. Spend a few minutes walking around the new 30-acre Montage resort in Laguna Beach and you'll see why. Unfazed by the two luxury resorts -- the St. Regis and the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel -- just down the road, the investors behind this Arts and Crafts beauty have created yet another reason for big-spenders to unwind along the Orange Coast. You can barely see it from the PCH, and the front entrance is rather understated, but as you walk through the lobby and onto the balcony overlooking the . . . oh my. The change of scenery is so breathtakingly abrupt that it takes composure not to sprint down to the gorgeous mosaic-tiled pool or run barefoot along the sun-kissed beach. It's the same view from the balcony of every room, and you never tire of it.

The Montage Resort is all about style. You don't even check in at the front desk -- as soon as you arrive, you're warmly greeted and given a well-rehearsed tour of the resort by attractive khaki-clad employees wearing tailored jackets. The tours ends at the neo-Craftsman-style guest rooms, which are spacious, immaculate, and tastefully decorated with muted color schemes, museum-quality plein-air artwork, huge marble bathrooms with oversize tubs and plush robes, 27-inch flat-screen TVs with DVD players, quality dark-wood furnishings, feather-top beds with goose-down pillows, and very inviting balconies. But don't get too attached: You'll be spending very little time here as you lounge by the infinity-edged pool sipping a lemonade, spend hours exploring the tide pools, stroll through the hotel's impeccably manicured park and pristine beaches, spoil yourself rotten with skin treatments and massages at the oceanfront Spa Montage, then feast on chef James Boyce's superb Mediterranean-style cuisine at the resort's signature restaurant, Studio. There's plenty for kids to do as well: They have their own pool and several fun-filled programs to keep them entertained (and, of course, there's the beach). Montage is in a better location than the St. Regis (but no golf course) and has far superior facilities compared to the Ritz-Carlton, so if the higher rate doesn't matter, then, well, there you have it.

© 2005, Wiley Publishing, Inc.