Robert De Niro's long-gestating Barbuda resort won't properly open until late 2027, but from this December you can sleep on the property anyway. The Beach Club, Barbuda has started taking bookings for two luxury beachfront tented suites — a two-room preview of the 36-room Nobu Beach Inn that will eventually anchor the site.
The suites sit on the island's southwest coast along two miles of largely undeveloped shoreline, steps from Princess Diana Beach. Designed by Luxury Frontiers, they're far from basic canvas: air conditioning, king beds, freestanding soaking tubs, outdoor showers and private shaded terraces. Rates start at $3,500 per night plus tax, with breakfast, dinner and non-motorised watersports thrown in.
The food angle is a big part of the pitch. Nobu has operated a beachfront restaurant on Princess Diana Beach since 2020, and tent guests get an upgraded version of that — terrace lunches by the water and private omakase dinners cooked by a dedicated Nobu chef under the stars. That last bit isn't just romance: the property sits at Class 2 on the Bortle dark-sky scale, meaning genuinely dark, low-light-pollution nights. A terrace massage can be arranged too.
Beyond the tents, days revolve around the island itself — paddleboarding, kayaking, snorkelling the offshore reefs, boat trips to secluded sandbars and excursions to Barbuda's frigate bird sanctuary, one of the largest colonies in the world. The island's pink-sand beaches often sit empty, and that emptiness is the whole point here. With only two suites in operation, you're effectively staying at a resort that doesn't yet exist, with a private service team and a serious restaurant attached.
The project has been decades in the making for De Niro, and the low room count is deliberate: hundreds of acres of low-density development with just 36 eventual keys on two miles of beach. It also signals where Barbuda is heading — a new international airport, more regional flights and a wave of high-end projects, while it stays noticeably quieter than neighbouring Antigua.
Is it pricey? Obviously. But for travellers who like the idea of getting in early on one of the Caribbean's most anticipated openings — with Nobu dining and an extraordinary beach almost to themselves — this winter is the only chance to do it.
