‘She Really Blossomed in Warm Climates’: Inside Elizabeth Taylor’s Most Glamorous Getaways (EXCLUSIVE)
From Switzerland to Mexico to Botswana, Taylor traveled the world—and had a fun time doing it
As one of classic Hollywood’s most iconic stars, Elizabeth Taylor lived a life of glamour and was constantly on the go. The actress was known for her appreciation of luxury, with a collection of diamonds that’s the stuff of pop culture legend, and this taste for the finer things in life extended to the way she traveled. Taylor was a true jetsetter who went around the world in style and had multiple beautifully appointed homes in far-flung destinations.
In her later years, Taylor was accompanied by her longtime assistant, Tim Mendelson, on many of her trips. Mendelson sat down with Woman’s World to give us the scoop on her travel philosophy and the vacation spots closest to her heart.
The Gstaad chalet: A postcard-perfect home in Switzerland
When Elizabeth Taylor was married to her fourth husband, Eddie Fisher, the celebrity couple had a home in Gstaad, and she came to own the picturesque chalet through dramatic circumstances. “During the shooting of Cleopatra, Elizabeth sent Eddie to find a house because she wanted him away from her while she was having her affair with Richard Burton,” Mendelson explains. “Eddie found the house, but it ended up really becoming the family home. That was where her four children grew up.” The chalet outlasted the marriage, and Taylor kept the property from 1962 until her death in 2011.
Reflecting on the appeal of chalet life, Mendelson says, “Gstaad was this jet-set, trendy place in the ’60s. I was lucky enough to have visited and it’s so beautiful, just postcard-perfect in both summer and winter. The fashion designer Valentino lived there, and it had a village with all these luxury stores. There was a mix of luxury shops and shops that were more specific to Switzerland.”
“She was part of the community, and her house in Gstaad actually reminded me of her house in Bel Air,” he continues. “As grand and glamorous as Elizabeth was, her home life was very welcoming and warm. Her homes weren’t museum-like. They were meant to be lived in, and that was very much in keeping with her personality. As big a deal as she was, there was also an accessibility, warmth, humor and compassion to her.”
The Dorchester hotel: The London escape where a crucial deal went down
Taylor married Fisher in 1959, the year after her third husband, Mike Todd, was tragically killed in a plane crash. Todd was one of Fisher’s closest friends, and the couple grieved together at the beginning of their marriage. On top of that, there was constant gossip about the circumstances of Taylor and Fisher’s marriage and much speculation that she had broken up his previous high-profile marriage with Debbie Reynolds. “She couldn’t defend herself from the gossip because it would’ve dug her deeper in that hole,” Mendelson sighs.
During this time, Taylor and Fisher were regulars at London’s posh Dorchester hotel (where you can still stay in her preferred suite today), and it was there that the actress received a phone call that would forever change her career. “She was pretty messed up at the time, and it all happened in front of the public eye,” Mendelson says. “She got offered the role of Cleopatra and she just wasn’t in the mood to do it. It was a lot, and she needed the time to live her life out of the spotlight. She’d been making movies since she was a little girl and needed a break, but they kept offering this role, and they were absolutely insistent that she make this movie.”
Mendelson describes how a pivotal scene went down: “Finally, she was in the bathtub at the Dorchester and Eddie knocked on the door and said, ‘Look, they’re on the phone again, and they’re saying that you’re the only one who can do this.’ The studio had considered Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, but everything came back to Elizabeth. She’d been exploited by the studio, and they’d made so much money off of her. She knew her value, so she said, ‘Fine. I’ll do it for a million dollars and 10% of the absolute gross.’ From her marriage to Mike and all her years making movies, she knew how to make money, and she didn’t expect them to say yes to her, since the amount she asked for was astronomical, but they came back and said yes.” And she started to negotiate all that while soaking in the tub, no less!
The Beverly Hills hotel: A Hollywood classic with family history
The Beverly Hills hotel has always been associated with Hollywood lore, so it’s no surprise that Elizabeth Taylor had a long history with the destination. “Elizabeth was born in London, and her family moved to Beverly Hills because World War II was coming and they were warned to get out,” Mendelson says. “Her father had an art gallery on Old Bond Street in London, and when they moved to the U.S., he ended up opening a gallery at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They lived on Elm Drive, and you could walk to the hotel.”
The famous hotel, known as “the Pink Palace,” was a constant in her life, and she spent time there with many of her husbands. Taylor often shopped at the hotel’s jewelry store and dined at their Polo Lounge restaurant, and Mendelson recounts a sweet story from her senior years: “The last time she went to the Polo Lounge was with Colin Farrell, who became a good friend during the last part of her life. He said, ‘I’m taking her out,’ and he threw the wheelchair in the back of the car and grabbed her and they went to the Beverly Hills Hotel.”
Taylor was also known for her trailblazing work in AIDS advocacy, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which Mendelson oversees, hosts their yearly gala there. The fact that the hotel was so close to her heart makes the gala all the more poignant.
Casa Kimberly in Puerto Vallarta: A Mexican hideaway turned tourist destination
During Taylor’s marriage to Richard Burton in the ’60s, the A-list couple had a rule: “Elizabeth and Richard would try not to make films at the same time unless they were in them together. If he was making a movie, she wanted to go and be with him, and if she was making a movie, he wanted to go and be with her, but they also made a lot of films together,” Mendelson says.
Traveling to one of Burton’s filming locations, the pair discovered what would become one of her favorite places. “Richard was filming The Night of the Iguana in this small, quaint, very charming Mexican fishing village called Puerto Vallarta. They fell in love with it, and they ended up buying a house called Casa Kimberly,” Mendelson says.
Unfortunately, Casa Kimberly didn’t stay a secluded spot for long. “Elizabeth told me that she felt like they ruined that town, because they basically put it on the map,” Mendelson notes. “The house has since been turned into a hotel, and it’s still a huge vacation destination, but when Elizabeth and Richard bought the house, they really needed privacy because the paparazzi were all around them. She felt bad, because it went from something that was very authentic and charming to a huge travel destination.”
Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana: The African retreat that felt like home
Taylor and Burton notoriously remarried in 1975, just a year after their first divorce, and the remarriage took place at the Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana. “Elizabeth told me that Africa felt like home, and she had such a strong connection with the animals there,” Mendelson says. “She was definitely a nature person. Bruce Weber actually shot a photo of her with a big black bear with huge claws, and she let this wild bear kiss her!”
Taylor also sought to give back to the country that inspired her so deeply. “At one point, Richard bought her a pink diamond and she basically said, ‘As much as I love diamonds, I don’t think I need any more and we should actually sell this and give the money back,’” says Mendelson. “They were able to build hospitals in Botswana from that,” and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation continues to do valuable work in Africa.
Elizabeth Taylor’s travel philosophy
Taylor had a more-is-more approach to travel. “She had a gypsy-like quality, and she was absolutely an adventurer and a free spirit,” Mendelson says. “She’d always overpack and travel with lots of Louis Vuitton suitcases. She had her family, her staff and her animals, and it was like a traveling show. We had to prepare for anything to happen, because we never knew if something was going to come up. She liked the freedom of having enough with her and having the resources to be able to pivot and do something different at the last minute.”
“One of the things Richard said about Elizabeth was that she really blossomed in warm climates. She loved to sit in the sun and get tan,” Mendelson adds. “She was a Pisces, so she loved the ocean. She wasn’t really a desert person. She didn’t seem to have any affinity for Palm Springs,” unlike many of her contemporaries who kept homes there.
Mendelson remembers how Taylor turned heads wherever she went, saying, “When she launched her White Diamonds perfume in New York, she said she’d never been to FAO Schwartz. We went there and walked through, and the way people responded to seeing her, they were in absolute shock. It was kind of unbelievable, and I think she knew that if she was going out, it was going to be a show. So much of being in her life felt like being in a movie.”
Mendelson may have accompanied Taylor to many fabulous locations—“It’s hard for me to get motivated to travel now, because we traveled so much,” he reveals with a laugh—but he says his favorite memories of traveling with his singular boss come from low-key moments. “It was so chaotic getting ready for trips that my favorite time with her would be when we were finally in the car or the plane,” he says. “Those were such nice, quiet times without anything going on.”
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