Whereabouts Nascar driver Juan Pablo Montoya escapes to tropical paradise.

The Places I Go: Juan Pablo Montoya

“WHEN I WAS RACING WITH FORMULA ONE, one of my favorite cities was Singapore. The weather there is really nice and the shopping is great, but if I really wanted to relax I would go to Phuket, in Thailand. There’s a hotel there called the Amanpuri, and my family and I would rent a private villa there right on the beach. Oh my God, it is stupid nice. “I used to live in Monaco, and I would have to fl y twenty-eight or thirty hours to a race. Now that I’m with Nascar and I live in Miami, the fl ights are nice and short. So even though my racing season runs from February to November, I can actually travel more for fun. “We went to Aruba this year. It’s very American now, but it’s still a great place to spend a week, and for kids it’s good because you have both a McDonald’s and lots of really upscale restaurants. Also the windsurfi ng is great. I love windsurfi ng, but even in Miami, where I live, the water is too cold for me.”

Juan Pablo Montoya races the No. 42 Target Chevy in the Nascar Sprint Cup Series.