Tablet Hotels Collection

Below is a list of all hotels available at Tablet Hotels.

Empire Riverside Hotel: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; Given the rather colorful reputation of Hamburg’s St. Pauli district—long a harborside pit stop for visiting sailors, and home to the infamous Reeperbahn—a sleek modernist tower might not be exactly what you expect from one of the area’s hippest new hotels. But that’s exactly what the Empire... Read More
101 Hotel: Reykjavík, Iceland; View | Reserve; Though it may sound like a bit of marketing drivel, 101 is quite literally Reykjavik's most fashionable postal code. This city has long been the holiday playground of hip Europeans and, in particular, Londoners — English pop stars and artists come here for a little anonymity, and the truly... Read More
1835 White Palm Hotel: Cannes, France; View | Reserve; You might expect a place like Cannes to be crowded with excellent hotels, but in a place with guaranteed high occupancy, there’s little incentive to excel, and standards do occasionally slip. So when one of the old guard undergoes a facelift, one hopes for the best — and when a fairly average hotel... Read More
21c Museum Hotel: Louisville, KY, USA; View | Reserve; On the face of it, Louisville, Kentucky seems about the unlikeliest place for a hotel like the 21c. Not just an inspired modern boutique hotel, but a 9,000-square-foot contemporary art gallery as well, it’s the sort of place that would turn heads even in New York or Los Angeles — in Louisville... Read More
23 Palm: Thalpe, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; How small can a hotel be and still be a hotel? 23 Palm is just a single two-bedroom villa, and whether it’s one unit or two depends on the size of your party. And it’s hard to think of a purer way to enjoy the Sri Lankan coastline, with little more than a luxurious suite, a beachfront pavilion, and... Read More
25 Hours Hotel: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; Some sectors of Germany’s hotel world, especially outside Berlin, seem hopelessly wedded to a rather outdated concept of luxury, of the sort that results when old-world opulence crosses over into self-parody. Fortunately Hamburg is not so afflicted. There’s the Gastwerk, an industrial... Read More
25hours Hotel tailored by Levi's: Frankfurt, Germany; View | Reserve; Space concerns prohibit us from saying its name more than once, so here it is, eccentric capitalization and all: 25hours Hotel tailored by Levi’s is, as you may have gathered, a collaboration between the German budget-boutique group 25hours and the American denim company. Let’s just be thankful... Read More
3 Nagas by Alila: Luang Prabang, Laos; View | Reserve; What with the name and all you might be expecting something French-colonial in style, but the 3 Nagas is classic Lao, a former royal residence from the end of the 19th century, a pair of buildings that have traveled on a winding path: from mansion to ice-cream factory to now, finally, a stylish and... Read More
3-14 Hotel: Cannes, France; View | Reserve; Cannes, for most people, means old-world glamour, and a stay in one of the same opulent wedding-cake grand hotels that have stood over La Croisette since the beginning of the last century. There’s nothing wrong with doing Cannes the old-fashioned way, but novelty seekers may find the 3.14 to be a... Read More
41 Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Behind an unmarked door in Westminster, just across from the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, the 41 Hotel is one of London’s best kept secrets. At just 18 rooms, it’s as intimate as they come, offering five-star grand-hotel service on a bed-and-breakfast scale... Read More
42 The Calls: Leeds, UK; View | Reserve; It may seem a perplexing name for a hotel, but The Calls is the name of an old cobbled street down by Leeds' waterfront, and 42 is, true to current style, merely the street address. The building was once home to a corn mill, and the city's riverfront area, though resurgent, bears strong remnants of... Read More
6 Columbus: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About the 6 Columbus Hotel... Read More
60 Thompson: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About 60 Thompson Hotel... Read More
968 Park Hotel: South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Lake Tahoe is known for a lot of things — chiefly water sports, skiing, and other outdoor pursuits — but inventive small hotels are typically not among them. Development here has tended toward the utilitarian, to put it kindly. Which makes the 968 Park Hotel all the more special... Read More
A'jia Hotel: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; Even the most jaded of travelers can’t help but be struck by the contrast between the ancient city of Istanbul and the ever so modern A’jia. Here, on the Asian side of town, on the quiet eastern shore of the Bosphorus, a 19th-century governor’s mansion has been given a makeover... Read More
ABaC Restaurant & Hotel: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Barcelona, already one of Europe’s hottest destinations, has in recent years consolidated its position as a worldwide culinary capital. It’s no longer just about tapas bars that stay open long after other countries have gone to bed, it’s about cutting-edge culinary experimentation as well, pushing... Read More
Abama Golf & Spa Resort: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; View | Reserve; The Canary Islands are hardly an undiscovered vacation spot. In recent decades, the sunny Spanish getaway, and the island of Tenerife in particular, have become synonymous with hordes of visitors on holiday. It’s a highly developed tourist destination, with the benefit that travelers can find... Read More
Abbaye de la Bussiere: La Bussiere-sur-Ouche, France; View | Reserve; One can only hope the original monks lived this well. Imagine what you wish a French wine-country escape could be, and if you’re a traditionalist, prone to visions of stone walls, arches and spiral staircases, then you might just be picturing the Abbaye de la Bussiere, in the Burgundy countryside... Read More
Abracadabra Pousada: Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; View | Reserve; For a new spin on a classic destination it’s never a bad idea to find out where your favorite spot’s residents take themselves on holiday. In the case of Rio, that destination is Búzios, a fishing village turned beachside getaway two hours’ drive to the east, a place where rather than towering... Read More
AC Baqueira: Baqueira, Naut Aran, Spain; View | Reserve; It may come as some surprise that there’s skiing at all in Spain, a country that’s far better known for sunshine and balmy climes. Check it on a map if you like, but we assure you, the Val d’Aran, in the Catalonian Pyrenées, is a bona fide Spanish ski resort — and the AC Baqueira is a rarity for... Read More
AC Ciudad De Toledo: Toledo, Spain; View | Reserve; Due to its small-town location, the Toledo branch of the AC hotels doesn’t see the same steady flow of high-profile guests that parade through the doors of its sisters in places like Madrid. It’s a different animal from its big-city counterparts, a fused-together cluster of traditional... Read More
AC Cordoba Palacio: Cordoba, Spain; View | Reserve; This is certainly a contrast for Córdoba. Right at the edge of the historic old town, where the Moorish influence gives way to something a bit more contemporary (or at least a bit more 20th-century), the AC Córdoba Palacio is as modern as can be. Behind a weathered copper skin, this 162-room luxury... Read More
AC Palacio De Santa Ana: Valladolid, Spain; View | Reserve; It’s enough to make other countries swoon with envy. The United States, for example, seems to have trouble getting interesting hotels open even in some of its biggest cities, while Spain, on the other hand, has chains like AC Hotels, who manage to install swanky, stylish boutique hotels like this... Read More
AC Palacio de Santa Paula: Granada, Spain; View | Reserve; Just a short bus ride from the Alhambra, the Palacio de Santa Paula conceals a Moorish treasure of its own. Behind the facade of a nineteenth-century palace, a modern structure contains the standard rooms; and behind that, a sixteenth-century convent, home to some more spacious rooms, as well as a... Read More
AC Palacio del Carmen: Santiago de Compostela, Spain; View | Reserve; Santiago de Compostela is a picturesque Medieval city in the northwestern region of Gallicia—quite literally as far as you can get from such Spanish travel hotspots as Barcelona, the Balearics, and Bilbao. It’s a formidable tourist destination in its own right, but one with an... Read More
AC Palacio del Retiro: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; In spite of its not entirely undeserved conservative reputation, Madrid’s got a few modern hotels that, in their own serious way, stand up to some of Barcelona’s more outré experiments. Behind the 1908 facade of a palace facing the famous Retiro park, the AC Palacio del Retiro is a... Read More
AC Santo Mauro: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; The Duke of Santo Mauro’s 1895 French-style neolassical mansion is now one of Madrid’s most elegant and luxurious hotels. At just 51 rooms, and located in a largely residential district off the Paseo de Castellana, it’s intimate—a feeling magnified by the discreet nature of... Read More
Ace Hotel: Seattle, WA, USA; View | Reserve; Ace Hotel's standard rooms have shared bathrooms. Let us be absolutely clear about this. Fully half of the rooms do not have their own private bathrooms.We trust some of you, at least, are still with us — the Ace Hotel, obviously, will appeal to a slightly different segment of the marketplace than... Read More
Ace Hotel & Swim Club: Palm Springs, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Our new Tablet Spy program offers the chance to get early looks at the most promising new hotels. If you’re willing to take the risks associated with staying in a hotel that’s not officially open yet — unfinished spaces, noisy construction, inexperienced service — then you’ll be rewarded with deep... Read More
Ace Hotel New York: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; After some years making a name for itself on the West Coast, the Ace brand arrives in the East, with a New York outpost on Broadway at 29th Street. And, as you’d expect, this one is a little bit different from other New York hotels. Start with the location: while you’re in the middle of Manhattan... Read More
Ace Hotel Portland: Portland, OR, USA; View | Reserve; The new Portland outpost of Seattle’s Ace franchise is a boutique hotel, but not as we know it. Forget the jet-set model of the trendy designer boutique — that sort of thing would never fly in America’s Northwest, and certainly not in Portland. For as cosmopolitan as this city may be, it’s far off... Read More
Ada Hotel: Bodrum, Turkey; View | Reserve; Along the Mediterranean on Turkey’s southwestern coast is the port city of Bodrum, a yachtsman’s paradise and an increasingly popular tourist destination — visitors flock from all over Europe for a taste of the good life by the sea, and for the city’s notorius nightlife... Read More
Adam&Eve Hotel: Belek, Turkey; View | Reserve; Not only does it occupy the geographic and cultural frontier between Europe and Asia, but there’s a sense in which Turkey is also the wild frontier of the hotel world. And as such it’s a country that doesn’t shy away from the extreme. Take the Adam & Eve hotel as an example — this is the design... Read More
Adara Hotel: Whistler, Canada; View | Reserve; For the most part, ski hotels are a conservative lot; most lie somewhere on the continuum between the classic Alpine chalet and the bland and shapeless corporate chain. Not this one. Fresh and inspired, the Adara is Whistler's first designer boutique hotel, bringing urban boutique cool to the... Read More
Adrere Amellal Resort: Siwa, Egypt; View | Reserve; Please note: Prepayment will be required by bank wire transfer at time of booking. Special assistance is required for bookings at Adrere Amellal Resort. Please contact Customer Service... Read More
Adriana Hotel: Hvar, Croatia; View | Reserve; If Hvar is going to be the next St. Tropez—that would be the young and ultra-hip St. Tropez of the Sixties, not the current, slightly faded version—then it’s going to need a few very stylish hotels. And they’re working on it. Sister to the Riva, already a mainstay on the boutique-hotel scene, the... Read More
Affinia Chicago: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; It may sound a bit like a car, but a hotel it is. The Chicago branch of the Affinia group has come through a large-scale renovation with a new design that’s decidedly in the modern boutique vein. And it’s not just the furniture: from the welcome cocktail to the Aveda products in the bathrooms to... Read More
Aghadoe Heights Hotel & Spa: Kerry, Co.Kerry, Ireland; View | Reserve; The typical Irish country escape involves rolling green hills, perhaps a bit of golf, and usually a castle of some vintage or another. But a look at the Aghadoe Heights Hotel and Spa should convince you that the part about the castle should be entirely optional. This 75-suite resort overlooking the... Read More
Aigialos: Santorini, Cyclades, Greece; View | Reserve; Aigialos is open annually from May 1 - Oct 31... Read More
Aire de Bardenas: Tudela, Navarra, Spain; View | Reserve; It’s still something of a mystery, the fact that Spain, of all places, has become the site of so much cutting-edge architecture. We don’t have the space to investigate the reasons (and don’t even get us started on the food), so we’ll have to be content merely to report on another worthy... Read More
Akasaka Granbell Hotel: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; At this point in history an affordable, stylish city-center boutique shouldn’t really be a novelty. But in Tokyo it still is. Here you’ll find some of the finest high-luxury accommodation in the world, as well as a plentiful supply of average and below-average business hotels. But places like the... Read More
Al Husn at Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa: Muscat, Oman; View | Reserve; A new addition to the burgeoning subgenre of over-the-top Persian Gulf megahotels is Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, a sprawling (and sparkling new) tripartite hotel complex overlooking the bay of Al Jissah, in Oman’s capital city of Muscat... Read More
Al Maha Desert Resort: Dubai, UAE; View | Reserve; Dubai is a city of excess, a fast-paced, futuristic city, a showcase of unimaginable wealth and nearly unrestrained development — two emblems of which are the 1,000-foot Burj al-Arab hotel, the world's first seven-star hotel, and the massive man-made Palm Island, not just named for but also in the... Read More
Al Moudira: Luxor, Egypt; View | Reserve; The name is Arabic for “the boss” — maybe more poetic if left untranslated, but very much to the point, if what you’re after is summing up the feeling of staying in a palace like Al Moudira. Though constructed in a traditional style, it’s a new build, and must have seemed a bit of a folly, out in... Read More
Albergo Hotel: Beirut, Lebanon; View | Reserve; We’ll skip over all the usual caveats and acknowledgements and just assume you know what you’re doing going to Beirut at this current moment in world history. But if you do, the first order of business (aside from possibly checking with your embassy, and giving the international headlines a quick... Read More
Albero Lodge: Estepona, Spain; View | Reserve; Please note: Albero Lodge will be closed until March 15, 2009... Read More
Alchymist Residence Nosticova: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Residence Nosticova will be closed from January 14, 2008 to July 1, 2008... Read More
Aldebaran Hotel & Spa: Bariloche – Rio Negro, Patagonia, Argentina; View | Reserve; Thanks to the influx of Austrian, German, and Swiss settlers to Argentinian Patagonia at the turn of the century, the lake region’s architecture tends toward chalet-style lodges and wooden cottages. Certain areas of Bariloche, complete with tourist-friendly German shepherd puppies and decorative... Read More
Alden Hotel: Houston, TX, USA; View | Reserve; Houston? Lest we forget, it’s America’s fourth-largest city, and one could make the case that it’s the shadow capital of the US—the ruling dynasty has roots here, and the nation’s energy policy is decided in closed-door meetings in the sleek skyscrapers around the Alden-Houston Hotel... Read More
Alden Hotel Splugenschloss: Zurich, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Not every hotel in Zurich is out to prove how edgy and hip Switzerland can be — for those in the mood for some classic hospitality, one need look no further than the Alden Hotel Splugenschloss, a small all-suite property in a century-old heritage apartment house a few blocks from the Banhofstrasse... Read More
Aleenta Resort & Spa, Phuket-Phang Nga: Phang Nga, Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; Phuket’s no longer the untamed paradise it was, but a place like Aleenta proves that, if you pick your spot properly, you can still get that old desert-island feeling. Not quite the Robinson Crusoe feeling — the architecture sees to that, with urbane little villas and contemporary-styled loft... Read More
Aleenta Resort & Spa, Pranburi: Hua Hin, Pranburi, Thailand; View | Reserve; Perhaps the key to Thailand’s popularity as a destination is its endless variety: from the urban excess of Bangkok to the solitary eco-escapes or package-holiday crowds of the famous beaches, it’s got more faces than many nations twice its size. Time to get used to another: the upscale destinations... Read More
Algodon Wine Estates: Mendoza, Argentina; View | Reserve; Algodon Wine Estates, in the Argentinean province of Mendoza, brings together two of the favorite pastimes of civilized gentlemen (and ladies): fine wine and golf. Those with a predilection for spending half a day swinging clubs and putting on the green, and the other half swirling and sipping... Read More
Alila Cha-am: Amphur Cha-Am, Thailand; View | Reserve; There was a time when travel to Thailand meant one of two things: the bustling inner city of Bangkok or the densely developed island paradise of Phuket. These days, though, the accomplished traveler knows the country’s geography inside and out: Koh Samui, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin — and now Cha-Am... Read More
Alila Jakarta: Jakarta, Indonesia; View | Reserve; The word “Alila” is related to the Sanskrit word for surprise — and a surprise it is, to find such a sleek, modern hotel in Jakarta, of all places. Designed by the multinational firm of Denton Corker Marshall, Alila opened its doors in 2001 and became Jakarta's first high-design... Read More
Alila Manggis: Karangasem, Indonesia; View | Reserve; It’s difficult to say just what is special about Alila Manggis, as many of its attributes could justifiably be claimed by dozens of other hotels. Bali is not exactly an obscure destination (though this East Bali location is a bit wilder), and the idea of a modern hotel with traditional... Read More
Alila Ubud: Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Think of Bali and you almost certainly think of idyllic white sand beaches, thatched-roof villas open to the sea breeze, and maybe a bit of snorkeling. Alila Ubud, then, will confound expectations, as it shows a different side of Bali. The town of Ubud is Bali's arts capital, and is well inland... Read More
Alila Villas Uluwatu: Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; When it comes to successful and stylish high-end resorts across Asia and the far East there are a few different names we could mention. Ask around, though, and you’ll find consistent high marks awarded to the Alila group. They’re not the most decadent resorts in the world, but their sophisticated... Read More
Almyra Hotel: Paphos, Cyprus; View | Reserve; Long gone is the old Paphos Beach hotel, and in its place the Almyra brings a healthy dose of high-design glamour and an unusual young family-friendly angle. Paphos, once the Mediterranean getaway of choice for the budget-conscious and style-impaired, has reinvented itself as a destination for the... Read More
Alta Bay: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; Half the story is the location. Alta Bay, though it may sound like a maritime sort of place, finds itself in the upscale suburb of Higgovale, between Cape Town proper and the foot of Table Mountain. Here you’re close enough that the best of the city is within easy reach, yet far enough away (and... Read More
Altstadt Vienna: Vienna, Austria; View | Reserve; In a city as storied and picturesque as Vienna, a boutique hotel made from an aristocrat’s renovated townhouse already has plenty to recommend it. Add to that an update by the Milan-based architect Matteo Thun (see also the Vigilius resort in the Italian alps) and you’ve the makings of a modern... Read More
Alva Park Resort & Spa: Lloret de Mar, Catalunia, Spain; View | Reserve; The Costa Brava may lack the long history and the pure natural charm of Spain’s more southerly coastal destinations, but this is the sort of fantastically high-end boutique-sized luxury resort that quickly renders moot any concerns about exactly which Costa you’re on. About an hour’s drive up from... Read More
Alvear Palace Hotel: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; Truly, this is the high-society heart of Buenos Aires. Each of the pale-veined stones of its ornate, Beaux Arts facade was shipped from Paris. Outside lingers the unmistakable Buenos Aires scent. Teardrop chandeliers beckon from cathedral ceilings, floors gleam black and white, and Persian rugs are... Read More
Aman at Summer Palace, Beijing: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; To say the Aman at Summer Palace, Beijing is an example of the Amanresorts group gone urban would be perhaps a bit misleading. This one is technically in a city, which is a departure from the usual Aman setting—whether on the beach in Bali or by the side of a mountain in Wyoming, one thing they all... Read More
Aman i Khas: Rajasthan, India; View | Reserve; This Amanresorts offering in India is a bit closer to nature than the norm — this resort, in Rajasthan’s Ranthambhore National Park, is little more than an encampment of tents, surrounded by acres of wilderness and wildlife as well as one of India’s top tiger reserves... Read More
Amandari: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; In terms of sheer luxury of the leave-it-all-behind variety, it is hard to imagine anyplace more relaxing than an Aman resort. This is a chain that is consistently at the head of the class, whose secluded resorts marry top-notch spas with unparalleled service and exquisite natural surroundings... Read More
Amangalla: Galle Fort, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; In the early years of the millennium, as Sri Lanka was rapidly ascending to its current station as the hip travel destination of the moment, the colonial-era New Oriental Hotel was in rather desperate need of refurbishment. Still, nobody could have dreamed it would turn out quite like this — the... Read More
Amangani: Jackson Hole, WY, USA; View | Reserve; The legendary Amangani is not just Jackson Hole’s most exclusive resort, but its most impressive as well. This is the only outpost of the Singapore-based Aman chain in the Americas — and should Wyoming seem an odd choice for a brand mostly known for Bali-style luxury spas, one look at the hotel... Read More
Amanjena: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Amanresorts meets Africa in the form of Marrakech’s Amanjena. It’s another departure from tropical island-chic for the chain that started nearly two decades ago in Phuket with Amanpuri. Designed by the American architect Ed Tuttle to conform harmoniously to its surroundings, Amanjena bears a... Read More
Amanjiwo: Magelang, Java, Indonesia; View | Reserve; The simple fact that it’s an Aman resort high in the hills of central Java would be enough for most people, but Amanjiwo, it turns out, offers something a bit more otherworldly than the trademark Aman cocktail of clever design and world-class luxury. The views here are that much more sublime: for... Read More
Amankila: Manggis, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Trust the Aman resorts to show you a different side of Bali. Amankila’s location, on a cliff overlooking the Lombok Strait on Bali’s east coast, is one of the island’s most isolated resorts — and though the opening of the Denpasar-Klungkung road means that Amankila is a bit more accessible, it... Read More
Amankora: Thimphu, Punakha, Gangtey and Bumthang, Bhutan; View | Reserve; Amanresorts are nothing if not exclusive; relatively modest in size, if not in the scope of their comforts, they’re priced well out of the reach of the undiscerning traveler, and situated in locations that are highly desirable, yet less than obvious... Read More
Amanpulo: Pamalican Island, Philippines; View | Reserve; Amanpulo makes its home on the private island of Pamalican, one of thousands of islands in the oft-overlooked Philippines. Surrounded by a coral reef, this tiny island rises just a few meters above sea level, and there’s nothing here aside from the resort — and, of course, the airfield upon which... Read More
Amanpuri: Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; This is where it all started: Amanpuri was the first Aman resort to open, and serves as the flagship for the Singapore hospitality concern’s winning blend of modern design, classic luxury, stunning settings and first-rate service. Here on the west coast of the island of Phuket lies an exclusive... Read More
Amansara: Siem Reap, Cambodia; View | Reserve; Cambodia’s luxury makeover has been quite understandably long in coming. The temples at Angkor have always been a magnet for tourism, but it’s only recently that the country’s political situation became stable enough to allow for luxury tourism on a scale that could support new upmarket hotels... Read More
Amanusa: Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Of the three Aman resorts in Bali, Amanusa is the closest to the archetypal Bali getaway. This is not to say it’s average, or even typical — this chain takes great pride in promising, and often delivering, the extraordinary — but unlike its more remote sisters, Amanusa is set on Bali’s southern... Read More
Amanwana: Moyo Island, West Sumbawa, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Call it tunnel vision, or the herd mentality of the travel industry; for all the vastness that is Indonesia, most holiday visitors are drawn to Bali like moths to a light. Certainly there’s no place like it — but conversely, there’s no place on Bali like Amanwana... Read More
Amanwella: Tangalle, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; The phenomenon that is Amanresorts is a singularly puzzling one. It’s a chain, yes, but one with seemingly all the strengths and none of the weaknesses that that implies. On the up side there’s consistency of experience, which Aman offers in spades — just ask the “Aman junkies,” who, as legend has... Read More
Amanyara: Providenciales, Turks And Caicos Islands; View | Reserve; Clichés get that way because however unoriginal, they’re true; the Turks & Caicos really are spectacular, ringed with tons of white sand, surrounded by inviting turquoise waters, beneath blue skies punctuated by the occasional picturesque fluffy white cloud. And in a related cliché, the Aman... Read More
Amarvilas: Agra, India; View | Reserve; In light of the recent incident in Mumbai, the security at The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra has been intensified. Amongst the measures armed guards from Agra police have been deployed at the hotel, the strength of security personnel in and around the hotel has been increased and periphery patrolling has... Read More
Ames Boston: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Our Tablet Spy program offers the chance to get early looks at the most promising new hotels. If you’re willing to take the risks associated with staying in a hotel that’s not officially open yet — unfinished spaces, noisy construction, inexperienced service — then you’ll be rewarded with the... Read More
Amstel InterContinental: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; There are plenty of places to stay in Amsterdam if you’re among the fun-seeking youth that regularly descend upon this town, but if you’re a member of the Dutch royalty, you stay at the Amstel. The Amstel is a breathtakingly grand place, with an old-fashioned, almost stuffy air that, in this... Read More
Ananda in the Himalayas: Tehri - Garhwal, Uttaranchal, India; View | Reserve; Note: Ananda Rishikesh welcomes children 15 years of age and older... Read More
Anantara Bophut Resort & Spa, Koh Samui: Koh Samui, Thailand; View | Reserve; When a hotel cares enough to shell out for the services of an architect of Bill Bensley’s stature, chances are the hotel will be obsessive in other areas as well. The Anantara on the Thai island of Koh Samui is one such hotel... Read More
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa, Maldives: South Male Atoll, Male, Maldives; View | Reserve; The very concept of a Maldives resort is one that’s hard to get wrong; the trick, one supposes, is getting hold of one of these shallow, sandy atoll islands, and after that, the rest is just details. After all, once you’re in your villa, on a pristine white sand beach, or in one of the suites on... Read More
Anantara Golden Triangle Resort & Spa: Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai, Thailand; View | Reserve; At the confluence of the Sop Ruak and the Mekong rivers is the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet. Here, on a wooded ridge with views of all three countries, is the Anantara Resort and Spa, a brand-new spa and hotel complex overlooking the waters of the Mekong... Read More
Anantara Hua Hin Resort & Spa: Hua Hin, Thailand; View | Reserve; Before a few years ago, Hua Hin was rather out of the way for international travelers, and was best reached by train or coach. Now four flights leave Bangkok each day for the Hua Hin airport. Survive the slightly claustrophobic journey to the heart of the northern Malay Peninsula and you’ll soon... Read More
Anantara Seminyak Resort & Spa, Bali: Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; It’s not always entirely about getting away from it all. Seminyak is pretty much the heart of the tourist Bali, but it got that way for a reason. And if you can stand a little socializing with your tropical-beach getaway, it’s a rewarding option — even more so considering that it’s now home to a... Read More
Anassa: Polis, Cyprus; View | Reserve; The Greek islands are the stars of the Mediterranean at the moment—but for all the spectacular beauty, and none of the crowds of tourists, Cyprus is a good bet. And as for lodging, Anassa is the queen of this island, perched majestically above the Mediterranean Sea... Read More
Andaz London: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About Andaz London:The Andaz London is a luxury boutique hotel in the heart of London adjacent to Liverpool Street Station. The Andaz's location puts The Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern and Spitalfields Market all within walking distance for guests of the hotel... Read More
Andaz San Diego - ex The Ivy Hotel: San Diego, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Yes, this is the one with the stripper pole. Granted, it’s only in one room (the so very over-the-top Star Suite, complete with fuzzy plush king-size bunk beds and mirrored bedroom floor), but it goes a long way towards illustrating what sort of place the Andaz San Diego is. As in, maybe not the... Read More
Andaz Wall Street: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Our Tablet Spy program offers the chance to get early looks at the most promising new hotels. If you’re willing to take the risks associated with staying in a hotel that’s just opened, then you’ll be rewarded with the chance to help decide whether the hotel will earn a place on Tablet Hotels... Read More
Andaz West Hollywood: West Hollywood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The old “Riot Hyatt” on Sunset, site of countless acts of rock-star debauchery and destruction, is now just about unrecognizable. Mötley Crüe’s loss, however, is your gain — it’s been reborn as the Andaz West Hollywood, the old balconies, venue of many an aerial TV toss, sealed off with full-length... Read More
Andel's Hotel: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Andel, Czech for “angel,” is the name of the once-derelict industrial area, now repurposed as a residential and retail district, that the hotel calls home. The interiors, by Jestico + Whiles (responsible for London’s Hempel and One Aldwych) are bright, clean, predominantly white... Read More
Angleterre Hotel: Saint Petersburg, Russia; View | Reserve; We don′t put much stock in the concept of star ratings for hotels; often it′s just an exercise in list-making, where some phenomenal hotels lose out to boring and predictable ones, for the crime of lacking a swimming pool... Read More
Apostrophe Hotel: Paris, Ile de France, France; View | Reserve; These days design hotels are so widespread as to be almost commonplace, and art hotels are no longer the novelty they once were. So what’s next? One attempt at an answer comes in the form of the Apostrophe Hotel, which styles itself the world’s first “poem hotel” — an idea that’s so perfectly... Read More
Aquapura Douro Valley: Lamego, Portugal; View | Reserve; Traditionally Portugal hasn’t needed much more than a sunny climate (and maybe a bit of golf) to woo tourists by the tens of thousands. There are places, though, that go above and beyond the basic formula: Aquapura, in the Douro Valley, the wine-making region in the north, is one of these... Read More
Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow: Moscow, Russia; View | Reserve; It is an old story by now, so we will spare you the detailed recap of the post-Cold War years, and the changes that have taken place in Russia over the last two decades. Allow us simply to summarize, with an example that is particularly germane to the subject matter of Tablet Hotels... Read More
ARC The Hotel: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; View | Reserve; Ottawa’s first design hotel is officially named ARC The.Hotel — but rest assured, it will not be the subject of any clever wordplay here on Tablet Hotels. The name, so irresistible to pun-happy journalists, is intended to evoke associations with the Canadian capital’s high-tech industry, this... Read More
Arcana Izu: Izu City, Shizuoka, Japan; View | Reserve; Japan’s rural ryokan present a bit of a challenge in classification; while they’re new and uncharted territory for most foreigners, to the Japanese they’re as traditional as it gets. But the Arcana, on the Izu peninsula two hours outside of Tokyo, is one we can all agree on: while in concept it’s... Read More
Aria Hotel: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; The Aria Hotel may have been, as it claims, Prague's first five-star luxury boutique hotel; it is certainly the most unique hotel in town. The location is excellent, on a quiet side street in the picturesque Malá Strana, and the hotel itself is charming, decorated by architect Rocco Magnoli... Read More
Arizona Biltmore Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection: Phoenix, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; The legendary Arizona Biltmore is Phoenix’s grandest hotel, the lodging of choice for old-money Arizonans and illustrious VIP visitors since its opening in 1929. This is a hotel so woven into the fabric of Phoenix’s history that it’s lent its name to the surrounding Biltmore district, and a hotel... Read More
Art Deco Hotel Montana: Luzern, Switzerland; View | Reserve; The Art Deco Hotel Montana is precisely what it claims to be; though the building, high on a hillside overlooking the lake and town of Lucerne, actually predates the movement by a decade or so, it’s an Art Deco hotel, through and through... Read More
art'otel budapest, by Park Plaza: Budapest, Hungary; View | Reserve; The art’otels are perhaps more like auteur hotels—every detail created or curated by the hand of a single artist, resulting in a rather more unified vision than the typical committee-designed chain hotel, and an escape from uninspired hotel art to boot. In this case the auteur is the American... Read More
art'otel dresden, by Park Plaza: Dresden, Germany; View | Reserve; The art’otel chain is a small one, numbering just a few hotels across Germany, mixing modern hotel design with an art gallery atmosphere — each art’otel is dedicated to the work of a particular local artist, and features a collection of that artist’s work. The décor is conceived as a complement to... Read More
Arthotel Blaue Gans: Salzburg, Austria; View | Reserve; The building that’s home to the Arthotel Blaue Gans has stood in this spot on the Getriedegasse for so many centuries that its precise age is unknown. It’s been a hotel for some time, but only recently has it joined the movement of Arthotels that is currently sweeping the... Read More
Artus Hotel: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Located on the rue de Buci, in the left bank, the newly renovated Artus is doubly remarkable; not only is it contemporary and stylish, but it’s quiet about it as well. Some of the most fashionable Parisian hotels take themselves a bit too seriously, with pompous service to match (we could name... Read More
As Janelas Verdes: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; Just down the road from the National Art Museum on the Rua das Janelas Verdes is an eighteenth-century mansion; once the home of the Portuguese novelist Eça de Queirós, today it’s a small and elegant boutique hotel, with many of the trappings of an old-fashioned literary residence... Read More
Asaba: Izu-shi, Shizuoka-Ken, Japan; View | Reserve; They’re all pretty traditional, but some ryokan are more traditional than others. Asaba has not only the tranquil atmosphere and the stunning natural setting you’d expect from a top country inn, but it’s got three hundred and fifty years of unbroken history behind it as well. In fact, if you wanted... Read More
Astarte Suites: Santorini, Greece; View | Reserve; Astarte Suites is closed November - March 2008. Children under 13 years of age are not permitted at the hotel... Read More
At Three Storks: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Prague is a city so steeped in history that even the brand-new high-design boutique hotels have stories that reach back centuries. This one is no different — it started its life as a monasterial brewery some time in the 14th century, lived through several reconstructions (in Renaissance, Baroque... Read More
Atacamadventure: San Pedro de Atacama, II.Region, Chile; View | Reserve; The Atacama of northern Chile is one of the most sublimely bleak and stunning landscapes on this planet and possibly others — if they were making a movie about Mars they could do worse than this vast red desert. The inhospitability of the place demands an extra measure of luxury from its lodgings... Read More
Auberge du Soleil: Rutherford, CA, USA; View | Reserve; If your idea of heaven is Tuscany meets Provence with a Bay Area sensibility, Auberge du Soleil will make think you’ve died and gone there. In the distance rise the mountains, while below, a vineyard sits. Fifty-odd rooms are decorated in a style that can only be described as European country... Read More
Auberge du Vieux Port: Montreal, Québec, Canada; View | Reserve; Old Montréal is like a city within a city, a slice of Old Europe right in the middle of a major North American city, where one can still hear the hooves of horses, drawing carriages along the meandering cobbled streets. And the Auberge du Vieux-Port is a bit of a trip through time as well—though... Read More
Auberge Saint-Antoine: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; View | Reserve; Auberge Saint-Antoine is half hotel, half museum, a unique blend of a boutique hotel and an old-fashioned bed and breakfast, three centuries-old buildings in the lower OId Port of Québec City, overlooking the stately St. Lawrence river, and just steps from many of this historic city's tourist... Read More
Augarten Hotel: Graz, Austria; View | Reserve; It’s no surprise at all anymore to find a slick, modern, loft-style boutique hotel somewhere like Stockholm or Berlin. And at this point, to find a hotel like the Augarten in a place like Graz isn’t terribly surprising either — but the fact that contemporary hotels like this one have... Read More
Avalon Beverly Hills: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; What was once the Beverly Carlton (and two neighboring apartment houses) is now the Avalon, a Fifties retro-style hotel packed with mid-century Eames, Noguchi and Nelson furniture to match its blocky blue facade and curvaceous hourglass-shaped pool, which we’d like to think is an homage to... Read More
AVIA Savannah: Savannah, GA, USA; View | Reserve; Savannah is a historical city, but that doesn’t mean it’s stuck in the past — it’s an art-school town as well, and there’s some appetite here for a bit of experimentation. So a contemporary-style boutique hotel like the Avia is certainly not out of the question... Read More
Awasi: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile; View | Reserve; Until recently, the only hotel filling the luxury-in-the-Atacama niche was Germán del Sol’s Explora—understandable since most craggy edge-of-the-world desert moonscapes haven’t got even one upscale adventure hotel. Now, though, there’s competition, and some of the finest comes in the form of Awasi... Read More
Axel Hotel Guldsmeden: Kepenhaven V, Denmark; View | Reserve; Upon checking into a Copenhagen boutique hotel, you might expect mid-century Danish furnishings and frosty minimalist design. But increasingly, boutique in Denmark means going against the grain. The Axel Hotel Guldsmeden, certainly, is anything but modernist; here, in the heart of Copenhagen, is a... Read More
Azur: Queenstown, New Zealand; View | Reserve; The whole point of New Zealand, from an outsider’s perspective, is the outdoors — there’s city culture there, of course, but what’s worth going on and on about are the natural gifts of the place. So a hotel like Azur plays to all its location’s strengths; it’s urbane and sophisticated, just a few... Read More
Azura: Benguerra Island, Mozambique; View | Reserve; Given Mozambique’s troubled history a hotel as luxurious as Azura, located on the tropical Benguerra Island, must tread sensitively, a fact its British proprietors are clearly well aware of. It was built by locals, it’s largely staffed by locals, it contributes to community health education, and... Read More
B Hotel: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; There’s no shortage of ultra-modern accommodations in Barcelona — it seems there’s a stylish little boutique or two on just about every street. This is a first-class city, though, and a phenomenally well-traveled destination, and so there’s always room for another good one... Read More
Babington House: Somerset, England, UK; View | Reserve; Pre-dating by a moment or two the new rush of country-house design hotels, Babington House was opened in the late Nineties as a sort of rustic sequel to the London members club Soho House. As such it’s quite understandably less about pining for the bygone days of shooting parties and fox hunts, and... Read More
Baby Grand Hotel: Athens, Greece; View | Reserve; Hotel designers far and wide strive for interiors that are hip and eclectic, but these days a few zebra-print pillows and some potted bamboo in a minimalist setting hardly qualify as edgy. Enter the Baby Grand, an Athens hotel that’s delightfully avant-garde, splashed with colorful artworks, and... Read More
Badrutt's Palace: St. Moritz, Alps, Switzerland; View | Reserve; St. Moritz—that place of furs and slopes and lots of champagne—was nothing before Johannes Badrutt. He made this town when he persuaded a bunch of English tourists to try skiing. And today his legacy lives on as the definition of wintry European glamour. If you want to drink kirsch and see money... Read More
Baglioni Hotel London: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; West London has never been short on top-flight luxury hotels, especially around Knightsbridge, Kensington and Hyde Park. What’s unique about the Baglioni is that it’s so, well, Italian — posh and decadent, almost comically over-the-top, yet without a shred of irony, marked by none of the whimsy and... Read More
Bagni di Pisa: San Giuliano Terme, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; In the public imagination the city of Pisa has drawn a pretty short straw — thanks to that tower, it’s relegated to the status of architectural footnote or physics-book illustration. Time was, however, it was known not for its shoddy foundation work, but for its thermal baths — hence the... Read More
Bairro Alto Hotel: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; It’s stylish, it’s plush, it beckons you off the street with its cheery yellow exterior. But perhaps the best thing about the Bairro Alto is the hotel’s choice location on Lisbon’s main square, Praça Luís de Camões. This central spot would make its poet namesake proud: serene by day, the square is... Read More
Banyan Tree Al Areen: Juffair, Bahrain; View | Reserve; One of these things is not like the others. The latest installment in the Banyan Tree series is located not in some jungle-island paradise like the Maldives or the Seychelles but in Bahrain, in the desert a half hour outside Manama. An unlikely location, at first blush — but this Persian Gulf... Read More
Banyan Tree Bintan: Lagoi, Bintan Island, Indonesia; View | Reserve; The unique architectural style of Banyan Tree Bintan villas may pose a potential risk for children below the age of 12 years. Guests with children are requested to read and sign a Disclaimer Form upon check-in... Read More
Banyan Tree Lijiang: Lijiang, Yunnan , China; View | Reserve; The thing about China is that it’s just really massively big. Yes, that’s the kind of insight that makes Tablet Hotels such an authoritative source. But be honest: when you think of a Chinese holiday, the mountainous southwestern province of Yunnan is probably not the first place that comes to... Read More
Banyan Tree Maldives Vabbinfaru: Male, Maldives; View | Reserve; Even as the Maldives heat up, experiencing a wave of new development, there’s one resort that’s been there all along — well, ten years, at least, which these days amounts to about half an eternity in the hotel world... Read More
Banyan Tree Mayakoba: Playa del Carmen, Qunitana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; The Banyan Tree group must have been looking for a challenge. It’s not that Asian-inflected luxury villas can’t work in the Americas; it’s just that the well-developed and not entirely high-end Riviera Maya isn’t exactly the first place you’d look for a resort that depends on an exclusive... Read More
Banyan Tree Phuket: Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; The Banyan Tree Phuket has long been one of the world’s top spa resorts, and years of competition with the neighboring Amanpuri have kept it at the top of its game. Phuket is anything but unspoiled—this is one of the most traveled destinations in Asia—but from the privacy of one of the Banyan... Read More
Banyan Tree Ringha: Yunnan Province, China; View | Reserve; Ten thousand feet up in the mountains of China’s southwestern Yunnan province, Banyan Tree Ringha is a bit of a departure for the Singapore-based hotel company. Though the coastal outposts of the franchise share a Balinese style, the Ringha version leaves that behind in favor of a Tibetan lodge... Read More
Banyan Tree Seychelles: Mahe, Seychelles; View | Reserve; The Seychelles are deep in the middle of the Indian Ocean; and though remote by North American standards, they are stiff competition to the typical Caribbean destinations, in the minds of many Europeans. Mahé is the largest of these islands, and on the shores of this island's stunning Intendance... Read More
Barcelo Asia Gardens: Benidorm, Alicante, Spain; View | Reserve; There is such a thing, in the travel business, as a destination becoming a victim of its own success. It’s not that the Costa Blanca isn’t beautiful in itself, because it is, and the climate, of course, is paradise. But thanks to an excess of development in the coastal towns, many of us don’t... Read More
Barcelo Raval: Barcelona, , Spain; View | Reserve; This is another one to file under the heading of “only in Barcelona.” That metal skin, those modern interiors, the mini-tower construction, looking down on the rooftops of the historic Barrio Chino — it’s a perfect fit with the raucous blend of old and new for which the Catalan capital is so well... Read More
Bardessono: Yountville, CA, USA; View | Reserve; A decade or two ago, Napa Valley was the place to go for a little slice of Renaissance Tuscany. It made sense at the time, with the California wine industry really hitting its stride, for the architecture to aspire toward a classic European sort of gravity. These days, however, Napa is ground zero... Read More
Basico: Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; Please no children or pets.It would have been unthinkable a few short years ago, but today, just south of Cancún, tourist-kitsch capital of the Yucatán peninsula, there’s a small hotel so stylish (and sustainable) you’ll think you’ve walked in on a Dutch design expo — at least until the bartender... Read More
Baudon de Mauny: Montpellier, France; View | Reserve; Please note: Baudon de Mauny has a 2 night minimum stay policy... Read More
Baur au Lac: Zurich, Switzerland; View | Reserve; It doesn’t get much grander than a 19th-century palace hotel in Europe’s banking capital. Baur au Lac, a Zurich institution since 1844, played host to pretty much anyone who was anyone, from royalty and heads of state to artists and Alfred Nobel. It’s kept itself in fine shape, and its... Read More
Bayerischer Hof Munich: Munich, Germany; View | Reserve; Playing host to the likes of aristocrats, film stars and pop idols, the independently owned Hotel Bayerischer Hof is without a doubt the queen of Munich’s grand hotel scene. Once the spare palace where King Ludwig I entertained his royal guests, since 1841 it’s been a stately and old-fashioned... Read More
BCN Design: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; The Eurostars group operates several successful luxury hotels in Barcelona; their latest additions, notably the new BCN Design, have been attracting more and more style-conscious travelers. BCN Design enjoys a prime location on the Passeig de Gràcia, and occupies an antique building that was gutted... Read More
be Manos hotel: Brussels, Belgium; View | Reserve; Until lately the Brussels hotel scene has remained fairly conservative — some fine business hotels, and some gorgeous old-world mansions, but little in the way of modern design fireworks. Be Manos, however, changes all that — this chic little gem around the corner from the Gare du Midi occupies the... Read More
Beau-Rivage Palace: Ouchy, Lausanne, Switzerland; View | Reserve; One of the last of Europe’s traditional grand hotels, Lausanne’s Beau-Rivage Palace recalls the days of aristocrats traveling by coach; from within the gardens of the hotel’s ten-acre grounds, pressed up against Lake Geneva, it would be easy to feel a little bit lost in time... Read More
Bedarra Island: Queensland, Australia; View | Reserve; Please note: Bedarra Island has a 2-night minimum stay requirement. The property is a couples-oriented resort and does not allow children under the age of 12... Read More
Bel Ami: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Not at all what you’d expect of this town, in terms of style and design — the Bel Ami is all simple modernity, rather than fussy muséification, and the palette leans to the muted and earthy, almost Nordic, avoiding the rich crimsons and pinks on display in Parisian grand hotels. This sort of... Read More
Bellevue Syrene 1820: Sorrento, Campania, Italy; View | Reserve; This classic five-star hotel has been an Italian favorite since its opening in 1820, and it’s easy to see why: this cliffside villa looks out over the waterfront and the Bay of Naples from one of Sorrento’s most privileged positions. To this day the Bellevue Syrene drips with 19th-century elegance... Read More
Belmont Hotel: Dallas, Texas, USA; View | Reserve; There’s usually little that’s positive to be said for America’s car culture — sprawl, pollution, and suburban alienation all are routinely laid at its doorstep. But lately one of the car culture’s byproducts — the roadside motor court inn — has begun a sort of renaissance, these one-time symbols of... Read More
Belvedere Hotel: Mykonos, Greece; View | Reserve; High on a hill above Mykonos town and the scenic harbor, the Belvedere makes the most of its visual environment — a look around at the cascade of blocky whitewashed buildings and the deep blue Aegean beyond and it’s immediately clear exactly where you are. The Belvedere is among the cream of... Read More
Bentley Hotel Genova: Genova, Liguria, Italy; View | Reserve; Occupying a rather severe stone-clad Twenties building, a former corporate headquarters, the Bentley is certainly the only hotel of its kind in Genoa. After all when you think of Liguria you think of the Riviera, and the good life on the coast; this, however, is a very urban place, what’s called... Read More
Bernardus Lodge: Carmel Valley, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The location alone would be enough to make Bernardus Lodge an attractive resort getaway. Tucked into the pines and oaks of Carmel Valley, the Lodge is remote enough to provide a measure of seclusion, yet still just minutes from the picturesque town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, and a short (and scenic... Read More
Berns Hotel: Stockholm, Sweden; View | Reserve; Since the 19th Century, Berns Salonger has been one of Stockholm’s classiest hotels, with its Belle Epoque exterior and an opulent interior to match — in fact the Red Room was the setting for August Strindberg’s novel of the same name... Read More
Best Western Hotel Tomo: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Recycling is great for household goods but as it turns out it’s even better for hotels. Formerly the Best Western Miyako Inn, the Tomo is part of America’s great surplus of cheap-but-uninspired mid-century budget hotels, re-designed and re-purposed into a boutique hotel that takes its style cues... Read More
Beverly Wilshire Hotel: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Despite subtle name changes over the decades, to most of us, it’ll always just be the Beverly Wilshire. Fresh off a massive renovation, and still under the Four Seasons flag, this Beverly Hills grand dame is more high-end than ever, a perfect match for the unapologetic opulence of Rodeo... Read More
Biras Creek: Virgin Islands (British); View | Reserve; In a world of near-identical Caribbean resorts, Biras Creek is something truly special, more private, more isolated, more unspoiled than the average tropical resort. Everything one expects from a luxury island resort is here, but it is all done a bit differently, and, dare we say, more than a bit... Read More
Bitter End Yacht Club International: Virgin Gorda, Virgin Islands (British); View | Reserve; Bitter End may seem an inauspicious name for a resort, but it’s a clue to the sailing heritage of the place—the North Sound of the British Virgin Islands was the last sight of land for ships heading back to Europe.Today it’s the most expansive sailing facility in the British Virgin Islands, with... Read More
Black Barn: Hawkes Bay, New Zealand; View | Reserve; “Please note price includes first morning breakfast provisions. There is an additional $NZ 50 servicing fee for bookings of 1 night only.” - Black Barn... Read More
Black Rock Oceanfront Resort: Ucluelet, British Columbia, Canada; View | Reserve; On the theory that there are enough rustic, woodsy old lodges in coastal British Columbia, the Black Rock Oceanfront Resort opted for a more contemporary approach; they hired a big-time modern design firm, the Vancouver/Seattle–based VIA Architecture. It’s a decision that would have to be judged a... Read More
Blackberry Farm: Walland, TN, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: there is a 3-night minimum stay on weekends from September 15 to November 15... Read More
Blakes: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About Blakes:Blakes hotel is a luxury boutique hotel situated in London's quiet residential area of South Kensington. Created by Anouska Hempel, Blakes is now established as one of the truly unique hotels in the world and since it's opening has been the model for the "fashionable small hotel... Read More
Blancaneaux Lodge: San Ignacio, Belize; View | Reserve; There was a time when the fact that the film director Francis Ford Coppola had a special fondness for the jungles of Belize would have simply been celebrity gossip, or Hollywood trivia. But now that he’s opened his holdings to the paying public, it’s a matter for the travel pages... Read More
Blanch House: Brighton, UK; View | Reserve; If Brighton is going to go upscale, and yet retain the thrill of its recent past as a seedy seaside getaway, then a familial, familiar little hotel like Blanch House is just the way to do it. Equal parts chic boutique and dressed-down guest house (with just a dash of dirty weekender) Blanch House... Read More
Blanket Bay: Glenorchy Otago, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Please note: Due to safety reasons, Blanket Bay does not allow children under the age of 13... Read More
Blantyre: Lenox, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: There is a 2-night minimum stay requirement over weekends at Blantyre. There is a 2-person maximum for all rooms at all times... Read More
Bleibtreu Hotel: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Located on the sleepy Bleibtreustrasse, just off the shopper’s paradise of the Kurfürstendamm, the Bleibtreu Hotel is the sort of downtown boutique we’d like to see more of. This is a hotel that succeeds in being modern and hip, yet never painfully so, in being suitable for business and leisure... Read More
BloomEstate: Swellendam, South Africa; View | Reserve; Not quite a hotel, not really a bed and breakfast, Bloomestate is the sort of small, individually-owned lodging that defies categorization. At the edge of the old Dutch colonial town of Swellendam, in South Africa’s Western Cape, it’s more likely a stop on a longer tour of the country — but anyone... Read More
Bloomfield Lodge: Cairns, Queensland, Australia; View | Reserve; Peppers Bloomfield Lodge does not accommodate children under 12 years old... Read More
Blow Up Hall 5050: Poznan, Poland; View | Reserve; The concept, frankly, sounds like a classic Russian Reversal joke: in Blow Up Hall 5050, hotel room chooses you. This place is half interactive art project, half high-design boutique hotel — guests in its stylish public spaces are monitored on video, and their images are incorporated into a... Read More
Blue Palace Resort & Spa: Elounda, Island of Crete, Greece; View | Reserve; Please note: Blue Palace Resort & Spa is closed for the winter season and will reopen again April 22, 2010... Read More
Blue Sydney: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; View | Reserve; It's impossible to resist the Blue's location, an old finger wharf extending out over the water in Woolloomooloo, still surrounded by docked vessels and affording prime views of the marina, the city, and the landmarks on the Harbour... Read More
Bodysgallen Hall: Llandudno, North Wales, UK; View | Reserve; There is no better setting for a cozy whodunit—Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple would have felt quite comfortable here. This 17th-century manor, set in 22 acres of fountains and climbing roses, is British hospitality to the extreme. Fireplaces crackle, footsteps tread softly on Persian carpets, and... Read More
Bora Bora Lagoon Resort: Bora Bora, French Polynesia; View | Reserve; Though the resort is only a few years old, this is the Bora Bora experience you've been hearing about all your life — coral reefs, crystal blue water, and dense green jungle. The resort is secluded and exclusive, situated amidst the dense vegetation of the island. Bungalow living is the norm here... Read More
Bora Bora Nui Resort: Bora Bora, French Polynesia; View | Reserve; The notion of bungalows on pylons in shallow seawater is not a new one — it has been the modus operandi of French Polynesian hoteliers for decades. But there's a reason why this fad never died out, and if you have never experienced overwater bungalow living, it's definitely worth a try... Read More
Boston Harbor Hotel: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Boston’s got a reputation for being one of America’s most old-fashioned big cities — accurate or not, there’s no denying that it’s not exactly the trendiest city on earth. Of course that’s not a bad thing at all; and what Boston lacks in design fireworks it more than makes up for in old-world... Read More
Boutique Hotel Zara: Budapest, Hungary; View | Reserve; No, the Zara is nothing to do with the Spanish fashion chain of the same name — just the same catchy couple of syllables. But a case could be made that there’s an accidental similarity between the clothing brand and the Budapest boutique hotel. After all, it’s sharp and modern, with plenty of basic... Read More
Bovey Castle: Moretonhampstead, England, UK; View | Reserve; Not just any old castle, but a lovingly restored Art Deco revival; which means that Bovey Castle is rich with classic character, but a little less precious than some of England’s museum-piece castle hotels. This one is meant to be inhabited, not just seen — it’s no less devoted to its theme, but... Read More
Brenner's Park Hotel and Spa: Baden-Baden, Germany; View | Reserve; Baden-Baden is well-known as a spa, resort and convention town, and since 1872 Brenner's Park Hotel and Spa has been its finest hotel. This is a side of Germany that is often overlooked: here, at the edge of the Black Forest, one may indulge in all the finest creature comforts life has to offer... Read More
Bristol Hotel Frankfurt: Frankfurt Am Main, Germany; View | Reserve; One might expect the hotels in Germany’s banking capital to tend toward the traditional side, perhaps confined to the city’s signature skyscrapers. This may be in some measure true, but there’s more to Frankfurt than finance. Around the corner from the Hauptbahnhof station is a hotel that caters to... Read More
Brooklands Country Estate: Waikato, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Many of New Zealand’s most famous hotel properties are imposing mountain lodges or adventure-sports meccas; those less adventuresome among us, though, may prefer the quiet life on offer at a place like Brooklands Country Estate. Here, 80 minutes to the south of Auckland, lies a hundred-year-old... Read More
Brown's Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About Brown's Hotel:Brown's Hotel is a 5 star luxury boutique hotel set in the Mayfair area of central London. A short walk from exclusive Bond Street shopping, West End theatres and St James's, Brown's Hotel also features The Albemarle, the hotel's restaurant which serves a daily menu of classic... Read More
Buckland Manor Hotel: Buckland, Gloucestershire, UK; View | Reserve; If you're in the heart of England, Broadway is not a street but a town, the “gateway to the Cotswolds”, and it happens to be packed to the metaphorical rafters with hotels and bed and breakfasts. A bit less besieged with tourists is the tiny village of Buckland, just two miles away — and alongside... Read More
Buddha-Bar Hotel: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; You might be prepared for a new hotel venture from a famed nightclub group to rather emphasize nightlife at the expense of old-fashioned hospitality and in-room luxury and comfort. Prepare to be enlightened. The first of what’s intended to be a series of Buddha Bar hotels has opened in Prague, not... Read More
Buenos Aires cE, Design Hotel: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; Argentina’s economy, after famously melting down at the turn of this century, seems to have rebounded handsomely, at least if the spate of recent hotel openings is any indication — forget about inflation or GDP, the Boutique Hotel Index is the only measure that matters to us. Suddenly it seems that... Read More
Bulgari Hotel: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Bulgari Hotel does not allow children 16 years old or under in their pool/spa... Read More
Bungalow Hotel: Long Branch, NJ, USA; View | Reserve; Go ahead and hold on to your anti–New Jersey prejudices if you like. It just means more space for those of us who have learned to embrace the Jersey Shore. Though it’s technically located on that big land mass to the west of the Hudson River, we think even the most blinkered Manhattanite would... Read More
Burj Al Arab: Dubai, UAE; View | Reserve; The Burj Al Arab is quite possibly the most over-the-top hotel in the entire world, including Vegas. It is also the world's first and only seven star hotel, and it takes that extra star very seriously. Rising like a sail crest out of the Arabian Gulf, all 28 stories of this building are covered in... Read More
Burnham Hotel - a Kimpton Hotel: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; Calling all architecture junkies: the Burnham may just be the hotel of your dreams. Built in 1895 by the famed partnership of Daniel Burnham, Charles Atwood, and John Welborn Root, it was a building ahead of its time. Sixteen stainless steel stories high, the then-called Reliant was one of the... Read More
Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista: San Pietro In Cariano, Verona, Italy; View | Reserve; We’ve seen design hotels, and we’ve seen fashion hotels, but the Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amistà is something slightly different. Though it’s owned by the family that owns the Byblos fashion house, it’s far from just an exercise in cross-branding — instead it’s something... Read More
Ca Pisani Hotel: Venice, Italy; View | Reserve; We have seen many modern hotels, even a few post-modern ones. And in a city like Venice, deeply attached to its past, we might expect a hotel to lean toward the classic, to play up its connection with Venice’s unique architecture and history.Hotel Ca’Pisani, then, is a surprise, in design terms... Read More
Cabo Surf Hotel: San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico; View | Reserve; Los Cabos isn’t short on big seaside resorts; but the savvy surfers know this stretch, outside San Jose, offers some of the best long rides anywhere, and this quiet and uncrowded spot is home to something a bit rare — a friendly small hotel, steps from the beach, that manages to stave off the... Read More
Cadogan Hotel: London, UK; View | Reserve; About Cadogan Hotel:The Cadogan Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel located between London's Knightsbridge area and Sloane Square. The Cadogan Hotel is a short stroll from Buckingham Palace, Green Park and the Natural History Museum as well as local restaurants... Read More
Caesars Palace: Las Vegas, NV, USA; View | Reserve; The size of Vegas can at first be a bit intimidating. From a distance the Strip looks walkable, until you realize that the buildings are four times the size they appear to be, and you begin to have some sympathy for the able-bodied people you see scooting from place to place on those little... Read More
Calcot Manor: Gloucestershire, UK; View | Reserve; Some country house hotels are almost too genteel, all Palladian pomp and manicured grounds. Calcot Manor, on the outside at least, is something a bit more rustic — this Cotswolds hideaway is made from a 14th-century stone farmhouse and associated buildings, and is both more intimate and more... Read More
Calistoga Ranch: Calistoga, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Calistoga Ranch might sound like a rustic old cattlemen’s hideout, and given its location in the upper Napa valley one could mistake it for a nature commune, or some kind of eco-retreat. In fact it’s a modern and highly exclusive luxury resort, easily on a par with the world’s finest rural... Read More
Cambiocavallo - Unesco Area & Resort: Modica, Sicily, Italy; View | Reserve; Situated in the historically rich and geographically blessed southeastern corner of Sicily, Cambiocavallo is a country resort just inland from the port of Pozzallo, and a few miles from the UNESCO-honored baroque city of Modica. But the property’s style has little to do with the flowery... Read More
Cambridge Beaches: Sandys, Bermuda; View | Reserve; 5 night minimum stay April 16 to October 31... Read More
Cameron Highlands Resort: Pahang, Malaysia; View | Reserve; It’s not exactly what comes to mind when you think of Malaysia. The Cameron Highlands is a cool, mild region, almost a mile above sea level, a few hours north and inland from Kuala Lumpur. Here, in a place named for a British explorer (and known for its tea) it’s perhaps no surprise to find a hotel... Read More
Camino Real Mexico City: Mexico City, Mexico; View | Reserve; It would be hard to miss the Camino Real — located in the heart of the upscale Polanco district, surrounded by Mexico City’s top museums, it is itself almost a museum, and something of a monument, both in terms of architectural distinction and in sheer volume. Designed by the renowned modern... Read More
Camino Real Oaxaca: Oaxaca, Mexico; View | Reserve; On a pedestrian street in the heart of Oaxaca’s old town lies the Hotel Camino Real; once a sixteenth-century convent, now a listed landmark, it’s Oaxaca’s most luxurious lodging, without sacrificing any of its colonial charm. It’s a splendid building, rich with stone corridors and quiet... Read More
Can Bonastre Wine Resort: Masquefa, Spain; View | Reserve; Just over a half-hour’s drive from Barcelona, in the Penedes wine region, the Can Bonastre Wine Resort sits near the foot of the Montserrat mountains, on a 250-acre estate that produces several varieties of red and white wines, and a bit of olive oil on the side. And these days it’s producing... Read More
Canary Hotel: Santa Barbara, CA, USA; View | Reserve; In Santa Barbara the Spanish architectural style is laid on pretty thick. So it makes a certain kind of sense that the Canary Hotel is named not for a particular shade of yellow but for the Canary Islands, offering a sort of metaphorical escape from the Spanish mainland. And in a very real sense it... Read More
Caneel Bay, A Rosewood Resort: St. John, Virgin Islands National Park, Virgin Islands (U.S.); View | Reserve; Caneel Bay, A Rosewood Resort, is one of the original blue-blooded Caribbean resorts—a destination for “the man who has everything,” if you like. Caneel is the baby of Nelson Rockefeller, who fell in love St. John in the 1950s and purchased 5,000 acres, most of which has now been given to the... Read More
Canyon Ranch Lenox: Lenox, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Canyon Ranch offers stays of three, four, five or seven nights. Please no children under 12... Read More
Canyon Ranch Tucson: Tucson, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; Canyon Ranch offers stays of four, seven, or ten nights. Please no children under 12 years old... Read More
Caol Ishka Hotel: Siracusa, Sicily, Italy; View | Reserve; It’s odd, we’ll grant, to travel all the way to Sicily and end up in a hotel with a Gaelic name. But it’s not the only thing that’s out of the ordinary about this place. Caol Ishka seems simple enough from the outside, just a traditional masseria, a Southern Italian farming... Read More
Cap Estel: Eze, France; View | Reserve; There are two ways to properly do the Riviera: either march into one of the big grand hotels in Cannes, in full view of throngs of adoring fans or paparazzi, plonk down a pile of cash, and flounce around like the celebrity you are; or else find some secluded spot and duck in, out of the view of... Read More
Cape Grace Hotel: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; Right in the heart of the city, and yet removed, constructed on a quay at the Victoria and Albert waterfront, the Cape Grace Hotel is equally well positioned to take advantage of the views (of the harbor, the marina, and Table Mountain) and of the convenience of a city center location. It’s hard to... Read More
Cape Lodge: Margaret River, WT, Australia; View | Reserve; Unless you’re a wine connoisseur familiar with Chardonnay varietals, the Margaret River region of southwestern Australia may be something of a mystery to you. Here’s a quick update: slightly inland from the Indian Ocean, the vineyard-surrounded town is located about three hours’ drive from Perth... Read More
Cape Royale Luxury Hotel and Residence: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; Rugged colonial romance be damned: this is Cape Town at its most cosmopolitan and sophisticated, a spot of old-world Europe in the south. With Table Mountain behind and the Atlantic in front, Cape Royale couldn’t be in a much more scenic position. And behind that classic, somewhat Parisian-looking... Read More
Cappadocia Cave Resort & Spa: Nevehir, Cappadocia, Turkey; View | Reserve; Even the most jaded jet-setter would have to agree that Cappadocia is a magical place. Tucked deep into Turkey’s central countryside, the region is covered with sedimentary stone cliffs, eerie caves, unearthly “fairy chimney” rock formations, and antique chapels and houses carved deep into the soft... Read More
Capri Palace Hotel & Spa: Anacapri, Italy; View | Reserve; Note: Capri Palace Hotel & Spa is a seasonal hotel and will be closed November 2009 - March 2010... Read More
Carducci 76: Cattolica, Italy; View | Reserve; The Adriatic coast near Fellini’s old haunt of Rimini is a well-traveled tourist destination, particularly among Italians. Carducci 76, however, has developed an international following, a fashion- and design-conscious crowd, drawn to an intimate beachfront villa hotel that’s conspicuous by... Read More
Carlisle Bay: St. Mary's, Antigua / Barbuda; View | Reserve; Carlisle Bay is the sister hotel of London's One Aldwych, and in this case they could be mistaken for twins, so strong is the resemblance. This is not as thoughtless as it sounds — the signature blend of posh elegance and to-die-for hipness translates surprisingly well to the shores of Antigua... Read More
Carlo IV: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; You may find yourself phoning the front desk just to hear a Czech voice reminding you you’re not in Rome or Milan. The Boscolo hotel family has expanded, and this newest offering brings a touch of Italian style to downtown Prague... Read More
Carlton Hotel St. Moritz: St. Moritz, Grisons, Switzerland; View | Reserve; It’s the rare classic grand hotel that actually lives up to its storied reputation — in this case it’s because the Carlton St. Moritz hasn’t been shy about renovating. On the theory that its rather demanding high-end guests could forgive a bit of contemporary design, especially in the service of a... Read More
Carlton InterContinental: Cannes, France; View | Reserve; The Carlton is the undisputed star of the French Riviera. Massive, white and marble, it sits on the famous La Croisette seafront in Cannes. And in a town where everyone is finely tanned, rail-thin, and wears jewels to breakfast, the Carlton clientele are the most dazzling. It has the best parties... Read More
Casa Angelina Lifestyle Hotel: Praiano, Amalfi Coast, Italy; View | Reserve; Maybe you don’t know Praiano, but it’s a sure bet that you do know the Amalfi Coast, that charmed little crescent of heaven on earth just north of Naples, on Italy’s west coast. Some of the world’s most famous hotels lie along this coastline, perched on cliffsides high above... Read More
Casa Camper: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; There’s already a Camper shoe store on the main shopping drag of every city across Europe — it won’t be long before there’s a Camper hotel as well. Here in Barcelona’s arty El Raval district is the first of a projected chain of mid-priced boutique hotels by the Spanish-owned hipster footwear... Read More
Casa Camper Berlin: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; For some of us, the name is all the description this one needs. But for those of you who demand a little more explanation than simply Casa Camper Berlin, we’ll elaborate. It’s a sequel to the Casa Camper in Barcelona, owned by the Spanish footwear brand, and it brings the same youthful irreverence... Read More
CASA Colombo: Colombo, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; With upscale Sri Lankan tourism booming, we’ve seen openings in a couple of the genres that matter: most notably the uniquely Sri Lankan plantation-house hotels and Dutch-fort hotels, as well as outposts of the global Amanresorts mini-genre. Urban high-design boutique hotels, though, have... Read More
Casa Colonial Beach & Spa: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; View | Reserve; If everywhere else in the Caribbean seems old hat, chances are you haven’t tried the Dominican Republic. Here, especially on the rough-and-tumble north coast, it’s possible to escape the package-holiday hordes, and maybe even get a taste of that undiscovered-paradise feeling... Read More
Casa de Madrid: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; Ostentatious it most certainly isn’t. Casa de Madrid comes with no towering atrium, no army of fawning bellhops, no long corridors lined with identical international-minimal bachelor pad bedrooms — just a nearly unmarked door (a small plaque simply says CdM) next to a traditional restaurant... Read More
Casa de Sierra Nevada: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; View | Reserve; The quietly stylish Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende is the perfect setting for a classic refuge like the Casa de Sierra Nevada, equal parts 16th-century residence and modern luxury boutique hotel. It’s one of just a few Orient Express hotels in North America, which speaks well to its general... Read More
Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa: Sausalito, CA, USA; View | Reserve; There are plenty of hotels, both old-fashioned and painfully hip, within the San Francisco city limits. Casa Madrona is different, though; no towering city hotel, this is a Victorian mansion tucked into a hillside in Sausalito — just off the far end of the Golden Gate Bridge, in upscale Marin... Read More
Casa Morada: Islamorada, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Children over the age of 16 are welcome... Read More
Casa Morisca: Granada, Spain; View | Reserve; Though to English speakers it may sound poetic, Casa Morisca is one of those literal, understated hotel names — it means simply “moorish house,” and that’s exactly what it is. This small hotel is in fact a meticulously restored 15th-century Moorish residence, deep in... Read More
Casa Oaxaca: Oaxaca, Mexico; View | Reserve; Casa Oaxaca, a restored colonial home dating from the 18th century, is an artful downtown escape from the lively streets and markets that surround it. Like the city of Oaxaca itself, the hotel is an eclectic mix of indigenous and Spanish colonial elements — think whitewashed adobe walls and bundles... Read More
Casal Santa Eulalia: Santa Margalida, Mallorca, Spain; View | Reserve; Please note: Casal Santa Eulalia is currently closed for the winter season and will reopen March 20, 2010... Read More
Casas Brancas Boutique - Hotel & Spa: Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; View | Reserve; In the southern summer, when the whole world seems to gather in Rio, those of Rio's inhabitants who have the means flee to Búzios, two hours to the north. This humble fishing village (is there any other kind?) has become an upscale resort destination, largely thanks to a '60s visit by Brigitte... Read More
Castello del Nero Hotel & Spa: Florence, Italy; View | Reserve; Surrounded by world-famous vineyards and within easy day-trip distance of both Florence and Siena, the Chianti region of Tuscany is hardly suffering from a shortage of worthwhile attractions. But the Castello Del Nero takes the concept of stately country retreat a step further than various other... Read More
Castello di Velona: Montalcino, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Castello di Velona is currently closed for renovations and will reopen in Spring 2010... Read More
Castello di Vicarello: Cinigiano, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; It’s a testament to what’s special about Tuscany that it’s still even possible to find a part of it that’s not saturated with tourism. Perched on a hilltop surrounded by gently rolling hills, the Castello di Vicarello is one of these places — an authentic 12th-century castle, converted into a... Read More
Castle Hill Inn and Resort: Newport, RI, USA; View | Reserve; Stuck out on a promontory in the middle of Narragansett Bay, the old Agassiz Mansion’s location was ideal for its original owner, a Harvard marine biologist. Which means it’s equally well suited for its present purpose, as the Castle Hill Inn and Resort. A short drive from Newport, it’s possibly... Read More
Cavas Wine Lodge: Mendoza, Argentina; View | Reserve; With Argentina’s wine industry booming as it is, it was only a matter of time before we started seeing some high-quality vineyard hotels. Argentina’s answer to the wine regions of Northern California or rural France is the province of Mendoza, and it’s here, some twenty miles... Read More
Cayo Espanto: San Pedro, Belize; View | Reserve; This tiny private island off the coast of Belize aims to deliver the last word in luxury — today’s version of which looks less and less like a four-hundred-room five-star palace, and more and more like, well, a tiny private island... Read More
Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Foreigners traveling to Tokyo face a set of obstacles they are unlikely to encounter elsewhere — just getting around can be a struggle, given the sheer size and complexity of the city, and the fact that many streets seem to be unnamed. Selecting a hotel, one soon finds, is also not without... Read More
Ceylon Tea Trails: Hatton, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; Sri Lankan tourism has never been hotter, it’s true, but until now it’s been a phenomenon that’s mostly been confined to the coasts. The island’s interior, especially the spectacular tea country, has stayed relatively untouched, leaving quite a bit of lush and unspoiled landscape for a place like... Read More
Chambers: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About the Chambers Hotel... Read More
Chambers Minneapolis: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; View | Reserve; The Chambers, you may have noticed, shares its name with a fairly distinguished New York hotel. There’s good reason for that — it shares its ownership and its look and feel as well. Some of the “boutique hotels” in America’s provincial capitals feel like baby steps... Read More
Charles Hotel - Munich: Munich, Germany; View | Reserve; Forget about Oktoberfest kitsch and the cliches of provincial Bavaria. Today’s Munich is a modern, cosmopolitan city — and it’s finally starting to get the modern, cosmopolitan hotels it deserves. It’s still a bit light on the funky little boutiques that a lot of us wish for, but the opening of the... Read More
Charleston Place: Charleston, SC, USA; View | Reserve; Charleston Place is in the heart of one of the most romantic cities in the USA, Charleston, South Carolina. The 440 rooms and suites are superbly appointed with traditional furnishings and marble baths. Upon arrival, you are instantly transported to a magical, timeless place, surrounded by narrow... Read More
Charlotte Street Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About Charlotte Street Hotel:The Charlotte Street Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel situated in London's media neighbourhood just north of Soho. The Charlotte Street Hotel is a minute's walk from leafy Soho Square and the theatre district, within easy reach of the financial centre and is surrounded... Read More
Charming House DD.724: Venice, Italy; View | Reserve; Venice is one of the world’s most beautiful cities, with seemingly a hotel on every corner—but few quite like DD.724, a stylish (and very small) guest house that’s about as far as you can get from the full-service grand palazzos. After all, to come to Venice is to be steeped in the history of an... Read More
Chateau de Bagnols: Bagnols, France; View | Reserve; It doesn't get much more authentic than this: a 13th-century château in the heart of the Beaujolais countryside, among the forests, vineyards, and rolling green hills of the southeast of France. This is a majestic and lovingly restored hotel, thanks to the efforts of an English couple, Helen... Read More
Chateau de la Chevre d'Or: Eze Village, France; View | Reserve; Location is everything—at least when that location is Eze. This medieval village, high on a cliffside halfway between Nice and Monte Carlo, is one of the most amazing places on the Côte d’Azur, offering spectacular sweeping ocean views that simply can’t be matched from any... Read More
Chateau de la Messardiere: Saint Tropez, France; View | Reserve; Saint-Tropez is an extraordinary enough place on its own, but the Château Hôtel de la Messardiere is almost too much to take. High on a hilltop above the town, the Château is a fairy-tale castle and a Mediterranean-style villa, with fortified towers rising above Italian red tile... Read More
Chateau de la Treyne: Lacave, Souillac, France; View | Reserve; Dramatically perched over the waters of the Dordogne, surrounded by acre upon acre of the valley’s lush greenery, the Château Treyne is the archetypal French fairy-tale castle, a majestic sixteenth-century chateau converted into a modern hotel. This is the perfect place to indulge any... Read More
Chateau de Mercues: Mercuès, France; View | Reserve; The Château de Mercuès has existed in one form or another since about 650 AD, and was home for centuries to the Bishops of Cahors. In its present incarnation, it’s a luxury hotel, its fairy-tale turrets and towers converted into sumptuous and authentic guest rooms, its defenses used for peacefully... Read More
Chateau de Mirambeau: Mirambeau, France; View | Reserve; Please note: Chateau de Mirambeau is closed November through February... Read More
Chateau du Sureau: Oakhurst, CA, USA; View | Reserve; On the edge of one of America’s most beautiful natural landmarks, lies the perfect European chateau hotel run by a warm-hearted Viennese woman, Erna Kubin-Clanin. The hotel is a time capsule of stone on six manicured acres, the living room a Hapsburg salon with its elaborate detailing and its... Read More
Chateau Eza: Eze, France; View | Reserve; The Côte d'Azur is unfamiliar to no one — it is arguably the most heavily-travelled destination in Europe, positively infested with tourists, with one jewel-encrusted hotel palace after another. The sheer popularity of this place can be overwhelming, and it is easy to feel like there are... Read More
Chateau Les Crayeres: Reims, Champagne, France; View | Reserve; This magnificent wedding cake of a chateau was once owned by Madame Pommery, that vivacious lady whose name, in the world of champagne, rivals that of the old widow Clicquot herself. And even now, Les Crayères is the essence of Champagne country. The parkland on which it sits is meticulously... Read More
Chateau Marmont: Hollywood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: Two-night minimum on the weekends for Bungalows, cottages, premier cottages, premier suites, 2 bedroom suites and Penthouses.Of all the haunted hotels, the Chateau Marmont has to be the most glamorous. Located on LA's Sunset Strip, it is where Clark Gable and Jean Harlow got sizzling... Read More
Chateau Yering: Yering Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia; View | Reserve; Though the Victoria countryside, about an hour from Melbourne, may seem an unusual spot for something calling itself a chateau, this 1854 heritage homestead radiates old-world class. Chateau Yering’s luxe period style — less common in the Commonwealth than in old Europe — is the result of... Read More
Chatham Bars Inn: Chatham, MA, USA; View | Reserve; The Chatham Bars Inn is among the oldest of the best of Cape Cod’s luxury hotels, an instant classic for escaping Bostonians upon opening in 1914, and an old favorite today, the impressive main house curving along the hillside, with prime views the Atlantic just behind. In this part of New England... Read More
Chewton Glen Hotel: New Milton, Hampshire, UK; View | Reserve; Chewton Glen may be the country house hotel against which to measure all others. The location is spectacular, occupying 130 acres of parkland at the edge of the New Forest (once the hunting ground of Norman nobles, later the refuge of smugglers carrying Continental contraband). Nearby are Salisbury... Read More
China World Hotel Beijing: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; Though you’d never guess it from the vaguely institutional name, the China World Hotel is actually a Shangri-La property — with all the luxury trappings that high-end brand entails. Located in the diplomatic precinct, its United Nations-inspired exterior doesn’t promise a whole lot of style, but... Read More
Chiva-Som Luxury Health Resort: Hua-Hin, Thailand; View | Reserve; Thailand is, to most, something of a Wild West of holiday destinations, a place whose hedonistic spirit is at least as big a draw as its natural beauty. Chiva-Som Luxury Health Resort, then, is a slight departure from the conventional travel wisdom about Thailand.As you might suspect from the name... Read More
Chongwe River Camp: View | Reserve; The Chongwe River Camp aims to add a measure of distinctive personality to the safari-lodge experience. It starts with a location in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park, at the confluence where the Chongwe joins the Zambezi river, which is itself a departure, a riverine floodplain setting to... Read More
Choupana Hills Resort & Spa: Funchal, Portugal; View | Reserve; Choupana Hills Resort & Spa is a curious import, a resort in the far Eastern style transplanted to the hills above Funchal on the island of Madeira—which is itself quite near Africa, though technically part of Portugal. The Madeiran aesthetic, despite the tropical setting, tends to be... Read More
Chromata: Santorini, Greece; View | Reserve; High above the sea, at the highest point of Santorini’s volcanic caldera, Chromata would be remarkable enough for the view alone. In fact some of Santorini’s hotels stop with the view, perhaps reasoning that any attempts at arresting interior design would be overshadowed by the natural... Read More
Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; Since the sixteenth century a number of palaces have stood on this spot, an unparalleled location amid lush gardens at the edge of the scenic Bosphorus. And perhaps in a bid to halt the seemingly endless series of razings and rebuildings, the Ciragan Palace hotel has chosen a novel method for... Read More
citizenM Hotel Amsterdam Airport: Schiphol - Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; The idea of the airport hotel has certainly changed. Of course it needed to: just the phrase “airport hotel” has become a sort of punchline, a phrase we use to describe the worst kind of hotel. But CitizenM has its own Facebook page. The other airport hotels just want you to check out on time... Read More
Claridge's: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About Claridge's:Claridge's hotel is a luxury business hotel in the Mayfair area of central London. Claridge's has many food and beverage options including The Reading Room, the stylish Claridge's Bar, the distinctive Fumoir and the irresistible Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s... Read More
Clarion Collection Opera Pavillon (ex-Pavillon de Paris): Paris, France; View | Reserve; Paris is a city that’s not short on dazzlement, whether it’s the sights or the hotels themselves. But equally as precious as the grand old palace hotels are those rare boutiques that combine contemporary style and intimate atmosphere with a relatively modest rate — boutiques like the Clarion... Read More
Clarum 101 Boutique Hotel: Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico; View | Reserve; Many of us only know Guadalajara as a place to make a connecting flight en route to our final destination — but these days Mexico’s second city is booming, tourism and industry alike. So it’s only natural that it’d be in line for its first high-design lodging, which comes in the form of Clarum 101... Read More
Claska: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Not available online; for reservations please email customerservice@tablethotels.com... Read More
Clayoquot Wilderness Resort - Bedwell River: Tofino, British Columbia, Canada; View | Reserve; Please note: Clayoquot Wilderness Resort - Bedwell River is open May 14th through September 30th. The resort only takes arrivals on Thursdays and Sundays and has a 3 night minimum stay policy... Read More
Clift Hotel: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Once San Francisco’s grandest old-fashioned luxury hotel, the century-old Clift underwent a thorough re-imagining at the hands of Philippe Starck, who has transformed its faded Victorian elegance into its nearest modern equivalent — all black, ivory and steely grey, with rich textures in hardwood... Read More
Cliveden House: Berkshire, UK; View | Reserve; Few hotels in England offer a stronger dose of the aristocratic life than Berkshire’s Cliveden House. This 19th century Italianate landmark, surrounded by 400 acres of National Trust gardens, is nothing if not monumental. It’s both physically imposing and historically significant — for... Read More
Club Tapiz: Mendoza, Argentina; View | Reserve; Foreigners curious about South America have been making the pilgrimage to Buenos Aires for years, but the wine capital of Mendoza is now emerging as an equally popular destination. The air is dry, the grapes are flourishing, the Andes rise dramatically at the city’s edge, and the accommodations... Read More
Cocoa Island: South Male Atoll, Maldives; View | Reserve; The Maldives seem a bit like an over-the-top parody of an island holiday destination — not an island or an archipelago, but an atoll of a thousand Robinson Crusoe-sized islands, in the shallow water of a coral reef in the Indian Ocean. Cocoa Island is one of these, just a ten minute walk from end... Read More
Colona Castle Manor House: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; It’s not much of a castle, really, and not quite a manor house either — but Colona Castle’s name, in any case, puts the right sort of picture in your head. You don’t come to Cape Town for outrageous, cutting-edge design, but for the classic good life — traditional architecture, old-fashioned... Read More
Colony Palms Hotel: Palm Springs, CA, USA, USA; View | Reserve; There are two ways to go with the rehabilitation of a classic motor inn like the Thirties Spanish-style Colonial House. Keep it simple, cheap and funky, smoothing out the rough edges while making the most of the place’s built-in charm. Or else do what the owners of the Colony Palms did: turn it... Read More
Commune by the Great Wall Kempinski: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; The Commune by the Great Wall Kempinski is most often described as an architectural museum, a design exhibition, an exercise in cutting-edge modernism — architourists travel from all over the world to walk its polished wood and stone halls and admire the work of two dozen of Asia’s leading... Read More
COMO Shambhala Estate: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Dharma-seekers are lining up for COMO Shambhala Estate—the latest and hottest Bali resort—to align their chakras, drain their bad chi, and say om in a ravishing rainforest setting. Meditating in nature has never felt better, possibly because those old-style Zen mountain monasteries never took into... Read More
Compass Point: Gambier, Nassau, Bahamas; View | Reserve; Nassau conjures shudders in many and no wonder - bright pink tourists in lurid Hawaiian shirts and baseball hats crowd the streets. But there's a softer side to Nassau. Just eight minutes from the airport, in the quiet neighborhood of Gambier lies Compass Point. Shells deck the railings. Eight... Read More
Condesa DF: Mexico City, Mexico; View | Reserve; Anyone who still thinks of Mexico City as a polluted, congested urban dystopia hasn’t spent much time in La Condesa, the district that lends the Condesa DF its name. Here the wide avenues are lined with trees, which along with the Art Nouveau architecture resembles Paris more than it does the... Read More
Conrad Bangkok: Bangkok, Thailand; View | Reserve; There’s just something about Bangkok. Some of the top hotels are practically pleasure palaces, urban resorts where business is all but forgotten among spa treatments and poolside cocktails. Here even the most conservative business hotels — and now we’re talking about the Conrad Bangkok — take a... Read More
Conrad Brussels: Brussels, Belgium; View | Reserve; The Conrad is world-class luxury and a strong candidate for the best business hotel in Brussels. There is nothing particularly subtle about it; beneath the nineteenth-century facade is an absolutely modern hospitality experience in the grandest of styles... Read More
Conrad Tokyo: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Conventional wisdom holds that anyone hoping for a glimpse of the future need look no further than Tokyo; this is as true in the hotel business as it is in fashion, technology or anything else. Here even the big-chain luxury properties cut a stylish silhouette with the kind of good looks that used... Read More
Continentale: Florence, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Continentale will be closed January 16, 2010 - March 1, 2010... Read More
Convento do Espinheiro, Heritage Hotel & Spa: Evora, Portugal; View | Reserve; Ninety miles inland from Lisbon, halfway to the border with Spain, is the city of Evora, a charming university town and UNESCO world heritage site — the latter of which is just a handy way of saying, with the authority of the UN behind you, that it’s culturally significant and terribly... Read More
Copacabana Palace: Rio de Janeiro, CEP, Brazil; View | Reserve; Some of the exotic thrill about Rio de Janeiro may have worn off since its heyday—with the proliferation of budget jet travel, there’s nowhere truly exotic anymore, and major cities like Rio are near commonplace... Read More
Coral Reef Club: St. James, Barbados; View | Reserve; Time was, when people said “Little Britain” they were referring to Barbados, the easternmost of the major Caribbean islands, and the one with the most pronounced British Colonial flavor — here the Queen still rules, at least nominally, and cricket is the national sport... Read More
CordeValle, A Rosewood Resort: San Martin, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Golf is the reason for the Lodge's existence. And it is nearly impossible to find fault with CordeValle, A Rosewood Resort, as a golfer's resort. The course, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., is a 7,169-yard championship course with all the conveniences one would expect, including a clubhouse... Read More
Correntoso Lake & River hotel: Neuquen, Patagonia, Argentina; View | Reserve; At first glance, Argentina’s lake region looks a lot like Switzerland — crystal blue water, dramatic mountainscapes, impossibly fresh air, snow-capped peaks. That’s why it’s fitting that the Correntoso Lake & River Hotel feels distinctly European. This impeccably designed boutique hotel stands out... Read More
Cosmopolitan Toronto Hotel and Spa: Toronto, Ontario, Canada; View | Reserve; Hidden away in plain sight in downtown Toronto’s bustling financial district is the kind of hotel experience that it usually takes hours of driving to reach. The Cosmopolitan calls itself an “urban sanctuary,” and while that may sound a bit precious, in the end it’s entirely... Read More
Costa Careyes: Careyes, Jalisco, Mexico; View | Reserve; Was it Walt Whitman or the nation of Mexico that said “I am large, I contain multitudes”? It was the poet, of course, but it’s equally true of Mexico — whether your picture of it is the ruined pyramids of the Yucatán or the hip nightspots of the Distrito Federal, you can bet there’s another side of... Read More
Costa Lanta: Krabi, Thailand; View | Reserve; Phuket is packed, Bangkok is brimming, even Koh Samui isn’t quite so unspoiled anymore. Where to go for some quiet, some open space, in today’s Thailand? On the northern tip of the island of Koh Lanta Yai, on the Andaman side of Thailand, quite off the beaten path, there’s a little modernist... Read More
Cotswold House Hotel: Chipping Campden, Costwold, Gloucestershire, UK; View | Reserve; The Cotswolds present travellers with a dizzying array of country house hotels, from rustic hunting lodges to elegant period pieces to contemporary-styled designer boutiques. How could one more country house possibly hope to stand out... Read More
Cotton House: Mustique Island, St. Vincent & Grenadines; View | Reserve; The island of Mustique is not the easiest place in the Caribbean to get to — but after decades of tourism and development, the better places are the ones a little bit off the well-worn path. It's an hour-long commuter flight on any of three local airlines from Barbados, though some of Mustique's... Read More
Country Residence Le Serre: Moncalieri, Italy; View | Reserve; To say that the culture of the north of Italy is the cool-headed yin to the south’s hyper-dramatic yang would be to indulge in stereotyping of the broadest and most insensitive sort. But we’re going to say it anyway. Where else but the north (Moncalieri to be exact, an ancient resort... Read More
Couran Cove Island Resort: South Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia; View | Reserve; Couran Cove is quite possibly the most low-key of all the island resorts in the world, and without the fawning service of the Maldives or the forced mellowness of a Jamaican resort. This is eco-tourism, of a sort, though more as a result of clever design than through any hardship on the part of the... Read More
Covent Garden Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About Covent Garden Hotel:Covent Garden Hotel is a private, luxury boutique hotel in London, England. Covent Garden Hotel is located in the center of the theatre district and within walking distance to Soho, the British Museum, and the Royal Opera House... Read More
Cowley Manor: Cowley, England, UK; View | Reserve; From the outside, Cowley Manor is an absolutely classical Italianate mansion, actually loosely based on Rome’s Villa Borghese. Seemingly a traditional English country house, this appears from a distance to be the sort of place one might set a BBC adaptation of a nineteenth-century literary classic... Read More
Cradle Mountain Lodge: Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, Australia; View | Reserve; It seems every hotel five minutes or more outside of a major city attempts to sell itself as some sort of escapist fantasy. It’s no overstatement at all, though, to say that visitors to Cradle Mountain Lodge are leaving the civilized world behind. Here in the wilderness of central Tasmania, at the... Read More
Craft Hotel: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; Everyday in Buenos Aires, the cafés fill up early, the dog-walkers wrangle a dozen barking canines through the park, and another boutique hotel opens its doors to the public. All are stylish, and every manager is eager to please — so what sets one of these establishments apart from the... Read More
Crosby Street Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; In general it’s true that we’re skeptical about the idea of hotel chains. But we tend to forget our principles when we’re talking about the Firmdale group. Their six London hotels are six of the best hotels anywhere, and they can’t help but be similar; aside from the obvious fact that they all... Read More
Crystal Hotel: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; With a location a mile and a half outside the medina, the Crystal Hotel is clearly aimed at someone other than the typical Marrakech riad aficionado. A quick look around will tell you exactly who — it’s a part of the Pacha complex, which also houses the Crystal restaurant and Pacha, which is... Read More
CuisinArt Resort and Spa: Rendezvous Bay, Anguilla; View | Reserve; First, just to satisfy your curiosity: yes, CuisinArt is owned by the same guys who chop your carrots extra-fine. But no, the resort does not look like it would belong in your grandma’s cupboard. Rising out of Anguilla, one of the more unspoiled islands of the Caribbean, is a taste of Greece... Read More
Culloden Hotel: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK; View | Reserve; High in the Holywood hills, five miles outside of town, you’ll find what may be Belfast’s grandest old hotel. The 19th-century Culloden estate cuts an impressive silhouette, surrounded by twelve acres of wooded parklands and gardens overlooking the waters of Belfast Lough. Once a... Read More
Custom Hotel: Los Angeles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The phrase “airport hotel” is one we often catch ourselves using as shorthand for the uninspired and uncomfortable places that are the antithesis of everything we at Tablet hold dear. So it’s kind of a big deal when one of them turns out to be as sleek, stylish and thoughtfully put together as any... Read More
Dakota Hotel: Nottingham, England, UK; View | Reserve; The newest hotel venture from Malmaison creator Ken McCulloch is Dakota Hotels, a series of low-priced but high-design business hotels — the first of which is now open outside of Nottingham, just off the M1. It’s a striking sight, this futuristic black granite block of a hotel, and its... Read More
Dan Boutique Jerusalem: Jerusalem, , Israel; View | Reserve; The boutique hotel concept has taken a little longer to arrive in Jerusalem, but if the Dan Boutique is any indication, the awkward early stages have been more or less entirely bypassed. It helps that it was originally laid out as an apartment house — undersized rooms and hasty construction, which... Read More
Dan Hotel Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv, Israel; View | Reserve; The Dan group runs a small empire of glittery resorts around Israel, but with a new boutique facility smartly up and running in Jerusalem and now the Dan Tel Aviv, a new age of hotel style is dawning over the Holy Land. It’s a look that grows on you: the hotel building itself is a massive, concrete... Read More
Dana Hotel and Spa: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; There was a Dana Hotel here before, on this very spot, but a very different one — traditional, old-fashioned, maybe even classic, depending on who you ask. But that’s in the past now: the original Dana has been pulled down, replaced by a brand-new tower of modern metal and glass, home to the new... Read More
Dar Darma: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Too often “design” actually seems to mean an absence of design, as though the end goal were to empty the hotel of everything but beds and white walls. You don’t need a designer for that, just some movers. Here, in Dar Darma, is an exception: a riad hotel that’s quite obviously had some designer... Read More
Dar Les Cigognes: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; With the seemingly endless array of riad hotels in Marrakech, it takes a discerning eye to separate one from another. In the case of Dar Les Cigognes: this is the one with the bridge. Like a few others, this one is made of two courtyard residences joined into a single small hotel; unlike the... Read More
Dar Warda: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; There is perhaps no more authentic way to see Marrakech than to stay in a riad, a private house in the medina (the old town) that faces inward, organized around a central courtyard. Dar Warda couldn’t be more intimate—a mere four bedrooms—nor could it be less like a hotel, or more like a private... Read More
De Las Letras Hotel & Restaurante: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; The spa at the hotel will be closed as of June 14, 2009 for renovation... Read More
Delamore Lodge: Waiheke Island, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Delamore Lodge is the archetypal New Zealand lodge hotel — a luxe and secluded guest house in improbably stunning natural surroundings. In this case, the setting is Waiheke Island, a 35-minute ferry ride from Auckland, and the lodge itself a unique four-suite property carved into a hillside facing... Read More
Delano Hotel: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Miami’s South Beach is the spot where hotels vie for style: The Hotel is the most funky, the Marlin the most rock’n’roll, the Tides the most sophisticated, and the Delano the most cool... Read More
Delle Arti Design Hotel: Cremona, Italy; View | Reserve; Delle Arti Design Hotel is a small hotel – 33 rooms – and a decidedly modern one, in a region heavy on history and tradition. Cremona, an hour south and east of Milan, is a small and wealthy city, once a Roman fortress, later the birthplace of Monteverdi and home to Stradivari and his... Read More
Desa Seni: Canggu, Indonesia; View | Reserve; By now we all know what to expect from a Balinese resort: a walled-in modernist villa, either with or without thatched roof, but otherwise sticking closely to the contemporary-Zen formula of the modern minimalist luxury hotel. But at Desa Seni you’ll find not some sleek and monumental luxury hotel... Read More
Deseo: Playa Del Carmen, Qunitana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; Deseo does not allow children or pets.In another attempt to create a modern Mexican sophistication, the owners of Habita in Mexico City have moved to the Yucatan Peninsula. The Mayan Riviera, long visited for stunning archeological ruins and scuba diving, now has the ultimate destination for... Read More
Desert Islands Resort & Spa by Anantara: Abu Dhabi, UAE; View | Reserve; Five miles off the coast of Abu Dhabi, out there in the waters of the Gulf, there’s a resort that just might change your perception of what’s possible in Emirates tourism. In spite of its name, Desert Islands Resort is just one island, the Sir Bani Yas nature reserve — and to look at the verdant... Read More
Desert Palm Dubai: Dubai, UAE; View | Reserve; Another entry on the more sedate end of the Dubai hotel scene, the Desert Palm lies some twenty miles outside the city center, and trades construction cranes for polo grounds. And if your visit’s purpose allows you to choose the country over the city — well, it’s not much of a choice, to be honest... Read More
Design Hotel Astoria: Opatija, Croatia; View | Reserve; Back in the good old days, around the turn of the twentieth century, this was the Villa Louise, a classic grand hotel in the then-current Belle Époque style; Opatija, the Croatian seaside town it calls home, was at the time one of eastern Europe’s top resort destinations. Now a hundred years... Read More
Design Hotel Waldorf: Milano Marittima, Emilia Romagna, Italy; View | Reserve; This isn’t grey postwar Milan, but sunny seaside Milano Marittima, on the Adriatic Riviera along the east coast of Emilia-Romagna. Here the Design Hotel Waldorf sits just yards from the beach, showing off a different side of Italy, that of the sun-drenched tropical escape. It’s on the outskirts of... Read More
Devi Garh Fort Palace: Udaipur, Rajasthan, India; View | Reserve; Frankly it’s astonishing that there aren’t more hotels like the Devi Garh Fort Palace. Not because 18th-century palace hotels are a dime a dozen in India, certainly they aren’t, but because the contrast between the faded majesty of the exterior and the sparkling modernity of the interiors is so... Read More
Diamant Hotel Canberra: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; View | Reserve; Canberra, though roughly midway between Sydney and Melbourne, sees but a fraction of the tourist traffic — it’s a purpose-built inland capital, like Madrid without the history or Brasilia without the concrete. But in the Diamant, Canberra has got itself a high-end boutique hotel that wouldn’t look... Read More
Distrito Capital: Mexico City, Mexico; View | Reserve; Our new Tablet Spy program offers the chance to get early looks at the most promising new hotels. If you’re willing to take the risks associated with staying in a hotel that’s not officially open yet — unfinished spaces, noisy construction, inexperienced service — then you’ll be rewarded with deep... Read More
DO & CO Hotel: Vienna, Austria; View | Reserve; Hotels don’t really get any more well-located than this; DO & CO stands right on the Stephansplatz, at the top of a modernist landmark building, overlooking the 12th-century Stephansdom cathedral, and a stone’s throw from any number of the cafés, restaurants, high-end shops, not to mention the... Read More
Domaine de Verchant: Castelnau Le Lez, Languedoc-Roussillon, France; View | Reserve; By now you know everything there is to know about the south of France — from the farmhouses and vineyards of Provence to the waterfront glamour of the Côte d’Azur. Less storied, perhaps, though no less worthwhile, is this bit of the Languedoc countryside just outside of Montpellier, a place where... Read More
Domaine des Etangs: Massignac, France; View | Reserve; To the extent that there is such a thing as the “typical” castle hotel (arguable, but bear with us), Domaine des Étangs is a departure. The storybook stone château, flanked by fortified towers, is present and accounted for. But rather than shoehorn a dozen modern hotel rooms into a medieval floor... Read More
Domaine Des Hauts De Loire: Onzain, France; View | Reserve; Please note: Domaine des Hauts de Loire is closed annually from December 1st to February 25th... Read More
Donovan House: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: The rooftop bar and pool at Donovan House is currently closed for the winter season and will reopen in Spring 2010... Read More
Drake Hotel: Toronto, Ontario, Canada; View | Reserve; At the far end of Toronto’s Queen Street West, at the frontier where the newly hip Parkdale district meets the unkempt edge of the grittier neighborhoods beyond, the Drake is not in the ideal location for visitors looking to “do” the city in the traditional touristy sense. It is... Read More
Dromoland Castle: County Clare, Ireland; View | Reserve; Dromoland Castle, located in the west of Ireland (quite near the present-day Shannon Airport), was the traditional home of the O'Brien clan, Ireland’s rulers from the tenth century on. The present castle is not so old as that — first built in the 17th century, it was torn down and rebuilt in its... Read More
Dubrovnik Palace Hotel: Dubrovnik, Croatia; View | Reserve; Until recently Croatia was on nobody’s list of hot travel destinations. All this is changing now, as these things do, and fast — if you’re thinking of Dubrovnik as an undiscovered paradise, you may be a bit late... Read More
Dune: Hua Hin, Thailand; View | Reserve; You know how these things go. The hip destination of the moment is the one with the right blend of natural appeal, geographic accessibility, and exclusivity — the place that’s edgier than the established destinations (read in this case Bangkok or Phuket) but that draws enough traffic to... Read More
Dunton Hot Springs: Dolores, CO, USA; View | Reserve; Mountain hotels come in all shapes and sizes, from rustic lodges to luxurious mega-resorts and everything in between; nowhere, though, is there anything like Dunton Hot Springs. Here, in remote southwestern Colorado, along the banks of the Dolores river, halfway between the ski town of Telluride... Read More
Duomo Hotel: Rimini, Italy; View | Reserve; What was once a fading and slightly tacky seaside resort town is currently enjoying something of a renaissance, and a new hotel like the Duomo can’t help but propel the town a little further into the 21st century. The Israeli-born architect Ron Arad’s bold hypermodern redesign is aimed... Read More
Dylan: Dublin, Ireland; View | Reserve; The design hotel as we’ve known it is dead. In this corner of the world at least — whatever you can get away with calling the U.K. and Ireland collectively without starting a blood feud — the white-walled minimalist-Zen hotel is so very last century. In its place is the new breed of luxury hotel... Read More
Eagles Nest: Russell, Bay of Islands, New Zealand; View | Reserve; New Zealand’s natural beauty is so phenomenal, they can get away with some truly understated place names. Imagine the most spectacular place the name “Bay of Islands” could possibly describe, and you still won’t be prepared for the real thing. It’s notable mostly for its unique geography, but this... Read More
East Hotel: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; We’ll try to resist linking it to some sweeping generalization about the practical and sensible nature of some imagined German national character, and simply say: we wholeheartedly endorse the trend of listing room descriptions like t-shirt sizes, on a spectrum from Small through X-Large and... Read More
Eastwest Geneva: Geneva, Switzerland; View | Reserve; At first blush a Swiss luxury hotel seemingly named after a series of trade agreements might not sound like the most thrilling proposition. But Geneva is a town of subtler charms, and the same can be said for the Eastwest Hotel — which, to be fair, is rather more likely to have got its name from... Read More
Eden Designhotel Maastricht: Maastricht, Netherlands; View | Reserve; Maastricht, the oldest city in the Netherlands, had its beginnings as a Roman outpost, fifty years B.C. (crumbling fortifications still surround the city, and disused tunnels form a labyrinth under the western suburbs). And geographically it is something of a Dutch outpost, on the end of an... Read More
Eden Rock: St. Barthélemy, French West Indies, Guadeloupe; View | Reserve; The original Saint-Barthélemy hotel has seen a thorough restoration, and is much changed since the days when the guest list included the likes of Howard Hughes and Greta Garbo. One thing that hasn’t changed is what may be Eden Rock’s essential feature: its spectacular situation, atop a rocky... Read More
Edgewater Beach Hotel: Naples, FL, USA; View | Reserve; In too many minds a trip to Florida necessarily entails a stay in South Beach, or at very least the greater Miami area. But old Florida hands know the pleasures of the Gulf side, particularly Naples, which is like a parallel-world Miami: plenty of white sand and Art Deco architecture, but facing... Read More
Edsa Shangri-La Manila: Manila, Philippines; View | Reserve; The best luxury chains are often the most consistent, and the Shangri-La group is no different. So what separates the Edsa Shangri-La from its sister, the Makati? Little more than the location. Which one you’ll choose will depend largely on which part of Manila you’ve got business in, whether that... Read More
Eichardt's Private Hotel: Queenstown, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Eichardt's Private Hotel was established during the gold rush days of the 1860s, and was, at the time, Queenstown's premier lodging. Of course that was a long time ago, and in the intervening years hard times befell the property. By 1999 it was nothing more than a slightly tacky pub — and then came... Read More
Ekies All Senses Resort: Vourvourou, Sithonia, Greece; View | Reserve; For every spectacular destination in Greece you can name, it seems there’s half a dozen more, equally spectacular, that you’ve never heard of. So blessed by natural beauty are the Greeks that, when you think about it, it’s rather shocking that they ever left the beach for long enough to do anything... Read More
El Convento: Old San Juan, Puerto Rico; View | Reserve; One need not be a student of the Spanish language to surmise that El Convento, in English, means "the convent." And it was, in a previous life, a Carmelite convent, established in 1651. Hard times befell the property in the twentieth century, as the convent became a dance hall, a flophouse, and... Read More
El Hotel Pacha: Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain; View | Reserve; It’s hard to think of a concept for a hotel that’s more surely guaranteed to pack in a crowd than that of El Hotel Pacha. For starters, it’s in Ibiza town, a place that it’s fair to say gets quite a lot of tourist traffic. And it’s not just anywhere in Ibiza town, but... Read More
El Portal: Sedona, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; Just two hours to the north of Phoenix is an entirely different Arizona, a landscape of pine trees and dramatic red cliffs and the more hospitable climate of the high desert, which at four thousand feet above sea level remains ten degrees cooler than Phoenix at its hottest. This is no sprawling... Read More
Elite Plaza Hotel: Goeteborg, Sweden; View | Reserve; Think of a Scandinavian design hotel and what probably comes to mind is an impossibly hip little boutique, decorated like some design academy's furniture competition. A stereotype, to be sure, but no less apt than that of (most) Parisian hotels as museums dedicated to the preservation of pompous... Read More
Ellerman House: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; Cape Town suffers from no shortage of luxury hotels, that’s for sure. But rare is the degree of historical character on display at Ellerman House. It’s almost a century old now, and looks every bit as old as it is — which, in a business that’s increasingly obsessed with youthful looks and modern... Read More
Ellington Hotel: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; The Ellington is, at least on one level, a throwback to a couple of Berlin’s golden eras. Its reconstructed Weimar-style facade fronts a block-long office building dating back to 1932, and it owes its name to a frequent guest at Badewanne, the famous West Berlin jazz club that stood behind these... Read More
Elounda Beach Hotel and Villas: Elounda, Crete, Greece; View | Reserve; Usually closed January through March... Read More
EME catedral hotel: Sevilla, Spain; View | Reserve; Lately this mix of modern and historic architecture is something of a Spanish trademark. Look no further than the EME Catedral Hotel, in the heart of old town Sevilla, just across the way from the ancient Giralda cathedral. Here what’s most notable is the mix of ornate arabesque patterns, a... Read More
Emiliano: Sao Paulo, Brazil; View | Reserve; We can’t possibly say enough about this hotel, except possibly that if you’re a design and architecture junkie, and you’re not left speechless, then we don’t know you. Even from the street, Emiliano is an imposing presence, a narrow glass tower, gleaming amidst the high-rises of the fashionable... Read More
Emirates Palace: Abu Dhabi, UAE; View | Reserve; They don’t make them small in the Emirates these days, that’s for sure. Still, some are taller than others — and while there are plenty of options for high-rise enthusiasts, the smart money is on a sprawling seaside compound with a private beach like the Emirates Palace. UAE's only palace concept... Read More
Enchantment Resort: Sedona, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; Phoenix is nice enough, if you like sprawl, and if you don’t mind the fact that the landscape is so flat and featureless that the one modest hill in the center of it all is revered as cactus country’s answer to Mt. Fuji. The real Arizona, though, begins at the end of the city planners’ grid, and by... Read More
Eolo: El Calafate, Santa Cruz, Argentina; View | Reserve; For the adventurous there are plenty of good reasons to trek all the way down to the southernmost reaches of South America, but here’s one more: the stunning three-mile-long Perito Moreno glacier. Countless hotels have sprung up in the town of El Calafate to accommodate the stream of foreigners... Read More
Eremo della Giubiliana: Ragusa, Sicily, Italy; View | Reserve; It’s not all farm houses and olive groves. Near the south coast of Sicily, housed in a medieval-era convent once occupied by the Knights of Malta, lies the Eremo della Giubiliana, a remarkably posh boutique hotel hidden away within an imposing fortified exterior. These stone walls still look up to... Read More
Esencia: Playa Del Carmen, Mexico; View | Reserve; A mere forty miles south of the glitz and hustle of Cancun lies a decidedly more relaxed section of the Riviera Maya. But usually wherever there are blinding white sand beaches and water so clear you can discern the precise shade of your toenail polish, the developers are close behind. Even this... Read More
Esperanza: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; View | Reserve; Esperanza is located at the tip of the Baja Peninsula, four miles outside of Cabo San Lucas, where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. The setting is spectacular and the resort itself is luxurious and exclusive, the sort of place where you just might spot a vacationing Hollywood star... Read More
Establishment Hotel: Sydney, Australia; View | Reserve; Children are welcome in the hotel, although... Read More
Estalagem Da Ponta do Sol: Ponta do Sol, Madeira, Portugal; View | Reserve; This is Portugal, technically, although it's hardly the Portugal you are accustomed to — the island of Madeira is more a part of Africa than of Europe, and lies 400 miles off the western edge of Morocco. It's a volcanic island, which means lush vegetation, and the climate is tropical, which means... Read More
Estancia El Colibri: Santa Catalina, Cordoba, Argentina; View | Reserve; Since the devaluation of the peso in 2001, Argentina’s struggling economy has depended on visitors eager to order juicy steaks, learn the tango, even glimpse a real gaucho or two. These days the countryside has no shortage of estancias, ranches where guests can gallop around on thoroughbreds and... Read More
Estancia Vik Jose Ignacio: Jose Ignacio, Uruguay; View | Reserve; Estancia Vik Jose Ignacio isn’t exactly what you’d expect of a high-end Uruguayan ranch. It’s not in the jet-set capital of Punta del Este, for starters — the hotel is located a mere twenty kilometers away, just outside the laid-back beach community of Jose Ignacio — and the aesthetic is a notable... Read More
Estrela d'Agua: Trancoso, Bahia, Brazil; View | Reserve; If you’ve been disappointed by the beaches in Rio or São Paulo, this is more like it — Trancoso, on the Bahian coast, is the kind of rustic, historic town you always wanted to see by the seaside, and the beaches are unspoiled and undeveloped, just the sort of thing you leave town for in the first... Read More
Etnia Pousada & Boutique: Trancoso, Bahia, Brazil; View | Reserve; Up north in Bahia is where you’ll find the wilder, rougher side of Brazil — which for anyone bored of the beach scene in Rio is not a warning but a positive enticement. Trancoso was one of the prototypical fishing-villages-turned-hideaways, and there’s still plenty of that mellow bohemian vibe... Read More
Eurostars Madrid Tower: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; Once upon a time the stylish modern hotels were smallish and independently owned, while the massive towers tended very much towards the beige and bland side of things. It’s no longer quite so simple. The Eurostars Madrid Tower is no mom-and-pop operation — it’s part of a fairly extensive chain... Read More
Evason Ana Mandara & Six Senses Spa - Nha Trang: Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam; View | Reserve; You could stress yourself out trying to keep track of all the many permutations of Evasons and Ana Mandaras and Six Senseses and whether they’re Hideaways or not. And you shouldn’t stress yourself out, it’s bad for that sixth sense, and entirely contrary to the point of all these places, including... Read More
Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa: Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; Of all the Evason resorts, the Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa might just be the most back-to-basics. Which is really saying more about the chain’s high standards than it is about the Phuket outpost. This is by no means a second-rate operation, simply a relatively humble one, in a world where... Read More
Evian Royal Ermitage: Evian-les-Bains, France; View | Reserve; With two hotels, a pair of spas, a world-class golf course, and eleven restaurants, the Evian Royal Resort is pretty much self-sufficient. And while guests have access to facilities on each of the park’s 42 lovely acres, there are decisions to make: chocolate fondue or low-calorie synergetic... Read More
Excelsior Hotel Ernst: Cologne, Germany; View | Reserve; Long Cologne’s number one grand hotel, the landmark Excelsior Hotel Ernst has stood on this spot since 1863, in a commanding position on the cathedral square, in the heart of the city center. This stately old palace has played host to emperors, statesmen and all manner of VIPs, and today... Read More
Exedra: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; Though nominally the sister hotel of the bizarre modernist fantasy that is the Aleph, the Exedra could hardly be more different: while the Aleph is a small and insular hipster haven, the Exedra is a large and luxurious business hotel; and while the Aleph strains at the boundaries of cutting-edge... Read More
Exedra Nice: Nice, France; View | Reserve; The original Exedra, on the Piazza della Reppublica in Rome, sounds like a strange proposition for Nice — how would its monumental colonnaded grandeur translate to this sunny seaside town? It’s a question that’ll never be answered, as the actual Exedra Nice turns out to be a very different animal... Read More
Faena Hotel and Universe: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; Buenos Aires’s new Faena Hotel + Universe, brainchild of Argentinean fashion designer Alan Faena, has been making some big waves, as much for the ambition of its universe-spanning concept as for its design, courtesy of a rather familiar name: Philippe Starck.Largely absent, though, is the signature... Read More
Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; The Vier Jahreszeiten has set the standard for luxury-hotel elegance in Hamburg since the late 19th century, a decade or so before the first Fairmont hotel was built. But in spite of the change of management, what’s now the Fairmont Hamburg has sacrificed none of its classic character... Read More
Fairmont Le Montreux Palace: Montreux, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Fairmont Le Montreux Palace is the city’s biggest and grandest hotel, with a sprawling Belle Epoque facade that dominates the lakeside, itself almost enough to keep Montreux architecturally anchored in the 19th century. Inside it’s more of the same, enough meticulously preserved opulence to stun... Read More
Farmer's Daughter Hotel: Los Angeles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Just to give you an idea of the sort of place we’re talking about here: the Farmer’s Daughter Hotel is just across the street from CBS Studios, and The Price Is Right recommends it to guests. Five-star luxury it most definitely is not. But just as youth is wasted on the young, a hotel this cool... Read More
Farol Design Hotel: Cascais, Portugal; View | Reserve; On the marina in the historic heart of Cascais, the upscale western suburb of Lisbon, a nineteenth-century manor house and a neighboring lighthouse have been painstakingly renovated, converted into a contemporary-style design hotel, complete with all the expected trappings: a Mediterranean fusion... Read More
Fasano: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; View | Reserve; The sequel to the wildly successful São Paulo establishment, the Fasano in Rio De Janeiro sets its sights no less high. Like its sister, it’s as dignified and serious as a cutting-edge modern-design boutique hotel can get, all supremely confident understatement — which is all the more surprising... Read More
Fazenda Sao Francisco do Corumbau: Ponta do Corumbau, Bahia, Brazil; View | Reserve; Let’s face it: the details of your hotel room are almost beside the point when you’re staying on a beach as staggeringly beautiful as Corumbau. On the other hand, there’s something to be said for a hotel that’s so wisely designed and seductively outfitted that it’s not completely outshined by the... Read More
Finca Cortesin Hotel Golf & Spa: Casares, Andalucia, Spain; View | Reserve; Southern Spain is blessed with an array of natural gifts: not just sun, sand and surf, but a climate and a landscape that are ideal for the game of golf. And while golf resorts the world over are a conservative lot, Spanish hotels have been quicker than most to modernize — beneath its traditional... Read More
Finca Son Gener: Son Servera-Mallorca, Spain; View | Reserve; When it’s summertime and Spain is calling there’s no end of options. More than a few of us prefer to leave the Costa del Sol to the tourists and Ibiza to the clubbers, and set out for Mallorca — either Palma, the capital city, or something a bit on the quiet side, like the pastoral Finca Son Gener... Read More
First Hotel Grims Grenka: Oslo, Norway; View | Reserve; It’s a puzzling irony: the sort of modern, minimalist design that’s so often described as Scandinavian is actually quite rare in real live Scandinavian hotels. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part they’re a conservative lot. That’s about to change, though, if the opening of the... Read More
Fisher Island Hotel & Resort: Fisher Island, FL, USA; View | Reserve; A private ferry drops you and your car off, and a personal attendant promptly hoses the sea water off your fender. You get a mimosa along with mineral water at check in, and your own personal golf cart to shuttle you about the grounds during your stay. It’s hard to believe that you’re just seven... Read More
Florblanca Resort: Mal País, Costa Rica; View | Reserve; Once simply a magnet for student backpackers, the tropical Eden of Costa Rica has lately begun to attract a slightly more upmarket crowd. Adding to the number of budget lodges and surfers’ haunts, a new wave of luxury hotels is opening, as are some more intimate hotels — places like the Florblanca... Read More
Fontana Park Hotel: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; If you haven’t been to Portugal in a while you might be surprised at the explosion of new contemporary design that’s taken place there. Suddenly this classic, conservative town is full of striking avant-garde architecture and interiors. And that goes for the hotels as well — among the best of the... Read More
Fonteverde Natural Spa Resort: San Casciano dei Bagni , Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; You know you’ve hit the big time when Galileo Galilei is your children’s science tutor. Only the fabulously wealthy and influential Medici family could pull it off — they also commissioned Florence’s Pitti Palace and produced three popes, a duke, and a couple of queens. They... Read More
Four Seasons Bangkok: Bangkok, Thailand; View | Reserve; The Four Seasons is located just across Rajadamri Road from the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, surrounded by the Thai capital's business, entertainment, shopping, and cultural centers. Catering equally to the business and the pleasure traveler, it is an absolutely modern service-oriented luxury hotel... Read More
Four Seasons George V: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Paris palace hotels—the Bristol, the Crillon, the Ritz—have always been renowned for their historical significance and their stuffy grandeur. Though it’s not officially a palace, the George V is, in many ways, the most palatial. From the moment it opened off the Champs-Elysées in 1928, it was... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Amman: Amman, Jordan; View | Reserve; Within a decade of its opening the Four Seasons has managed to become, by many lights, the top luxury hotel in Jordan’s capital city of Amman. In terms of design, it doesn’t get much more conservative than this — it’s about as avant-garde as you’d expect from a Middle Eastern outpost of a Canadian... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Boston: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Since it opened in 1985, the Four Seasons Boston has been the place for the establishment to drink tea. New as it is, it feels completely part of its blue-blooded home, next to Beacon Hill and overlooking the Boston Public Gardens. From its entrance lined with fountains, to its massive staircase... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; Some of the Four Seasons properties are contemporary, almost verging on modern in style. Not this one. The Four Seasons Buenos Aires starts with a stunning French-style mansion, and runs with it — even in the newer 13-story main building, the interiors are as Belle Epoque as you’re likely to come... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at the First Residence: Cairo, Egypt; View | Reserve; You might expect Cairo, a city with a demonstrated taste for grandeur, to be chock full of first-class luxury hotels. For the most part, you’d be wrong. But there are exceptions, some of them rather striking — a case in point is the Four Seasons Cairo First Residence... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Firenze: Florence, Italy; View | Reserve; One of the most common complaints about the big luxury chains is that they tend to exhibit a certain sameness of style, no matter the location. But whatever you might say about the Four Seasons Firenze, you certainly can’t get away with saying that. Never mind the museums and the galleries — you... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Geneva: Geneva, Switzerland; View | Reserve; The Hotel des Bergues stood here on the shores of Lake Geneva back when the Four Seasons was still just a suite by Vivaldi — it was literally the first hotel in Geneva, and even now, post-renovation and under new management, it’s still, by many lights, the top luxury lodging in town. Even-keeled... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest: Budapest, Hungary; View | Reserve; Four Seasons Gresham Palace? On Roosevelt Square? Names aside, everything else about it is pure home-grown Art Nouveau Budapest romance. It’s in one of the city’s most auspicious locations, just off the Pest side of the Chain Bridge, and the square provides a perfect vantage point for taking in the... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire: Hampshire, England, UK; View | Reserve; We all know more or less what a Four Seasons is, and most of us are at least familiar with the basic idea behind an English country house hotel. But put the two together and the result, the Four Seasons Hampshire, is something of a novelty, even, in some circles a controversy; these hotels tend to... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong: Hong Kong, China; View | Reserve; Come to think of it, it is a little bit hard to believe there hasn’t been a Four Seasons here for almost a decade. But it’s a good thing there wasn’t, because now we get to watch as the venerable luxury chain makes its grand re-entrance into the Hong Kong market. And this truly is an impressive one... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; Istanbul is a glorious city—marvelous in its architecture, profound in its history, and exciting in its cuisine. And now, at last, there is a proper place to stay and enjoy it all… in a former jail. But what a jail it is. Certainly, our idea of a penitentiary doesn’t include a delicate... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; The second Four Seasons in Istanbul is a different animal entirely from its sister in the Sultanahmet district. This one, right by the side of the Bosphorus, is quite a bit farther from the heart of the city’s tourist trade, and closer to the clubs, shops and restaurants where you’ll find the... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta: Jakarta, Indonesia; View | Reserve; When it comes to hotels, we’re all for novelty, and in these pages you’ll find hundreds of listings to prove it. But there’s also something to be said for consistency. You’re talking about the fulfillment of basic needs, after all, things like food and sleep — not areas where we always feel like... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas: Las Vegas, NV, USA; View | Reserve; Only in a city like Vegas could the Four Seasons' trademark elegance seem new and daring. Everyone's talking about the Vegas Renaissance. Yes, you can still get comped rooms, a six-dollar all-you-can-eat steak buffet (iceberg lettuce and Jell-O included) and sell your soul to the slots—but that's... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Mexico, D.F.: Mexico City, Mexico; View | Reserve; It’s only a bit more than a decade old, but it’s not a stretch to lump the Four Seasons México D.F. in with some of the capital’s more historic buildings; the style is consciously Belle Epoque French-influenced, and the vast central courtyard makes for a peaceful atmosphere that’s very much at odds... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Milano: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; Though it’s got plenty of competition, a considerable subset of our readers will likely find the Four Seasons to be hands down the finest hotel in Milan. The handiest reason is simply that the location dovetails nicely with what many consider to be the main reason to visit Milan: it’s right in the... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai: Mumbai, India; View | Reserve; In some towns the Four Seasons is among the most conservative luxury hotels in town. But in Mumbai, and in India in general, it would take some doing to out-classic some of the grand old palace hotels. Here the new Four Seasons is all contemporary: from the gleaming glass facade of the Four Seasons... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel New York: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About the Four Seasons Hotel:The Four Seasons Hotel is a 5-star luxury hotel, conveniently located near Central Park and Fifth Avenue shopping... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA, USA; View | Reserve; The Four Seasons in Philadelphia is everything that you’d expect from a grand-dame hotel in a picturesque city center. Two bellhops to help you out of your car, a carved granite facade, a rose marble lobby with flowers, flowers, flowers, and rooms—in true blue-blooded Philadelphia... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Provence: Var, France; View | Reserve; It’s nice, when you’re in the south of France, to stay in some quaint little farm house, or a family-owned boutique hotel. But there’s also something to be said for staying in a proper resort, one with executive suites, tennis courts, a golf club, a spa — just the kind of full-on high-end... Read More
Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; View | Reserve; A lot of big business hotels claim to occupy a “privileged” position, or offer a “unique” or even a “commanding” view. In the case of the Four Seasons Riyadh, though, it’s a tough proposition to argue with. It’s a part of the Kingdom Tower, an award-winning, vaguely bottle-opener-shaped 99-story... Read More
Four Seasons Marunouchi: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Tokyo is the kind of place where they can just simply decide to build, from scratch, a brand-new commercial and financial district. Turn your back for a year or two and the next time you turn around there’s Marunouchi, tucked in alongside the Imperial Palace, right next to the Ginza. High-flying... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay: Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; The south coast of Bali is anything but a well-kept secret — recent political troubles aside, it’s one of the world’s most storied holiday destinations, and is home to no end of hotels and resorts.You’d be hard pressed to take notice of any of this, though, from the grounds of the sublime Four... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Time was, travel to Bali was all about surf and sand, a classic beach-front island paradise. Lately, though, the savvy and crowd-shy travelers have set their sights on Ubud, the artist’s colony in the island’s central hills. This departure from habit, presumably, dictated that the Four Seasons at... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora: Bora Bora, French Polynesia; View | Reserve; To be honest, most of the work in describing this place is done by the name alone. Say it out loud and see if it doesn’t put a picture in your head: Four Seasons Bora Bora. You’ve got the good life, on an idyllic blue lagoon in French Polynesia, and you’ve got the kind of thoughtful luxury and... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Carmelo: Carmelo, Dpto. de Colonia, Uruguay; View | Reserve; South Americans know it well, but the rest of us might need some introduction: Carmelo, Uruguay is on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, three hours by car (or a negligible plane flight) up the river from Buenos Aires, and not much farther from Montevideo. And the new Four Seasons Carmelo presents a... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo: Guanacaste, Costa Rica; View | Reserve; When most of us think of Costa Rica we immediately think of some little eco-lodge deep in the jungle — but the idea of a high-end luxury resort, like the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo, is less strange than it sounds... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai: Ka`upulehu-Kona, HI, USA; View | Reserve; With all the action happening on the beaches of Oahu and Maui and in the deep forests of Kauai, it’s easy to overlook the Big Island. And perverse as it may be to claim that any part of Hawaii qualifies as a well-kept secret, it’s nevertheless true that the island of Hawaii, for all its natural... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole: Teton Village, WY, USA; View | Reserve; There was a time in the not-so-very distant past when Jackson Hole was a bit more like the name makes it sound: a rough-edged and rugged Rocky Mountain hideaway. These days its rugged beauty is still very much intact, but a bit of the rough has been smoothed away — today it’s a place where, for... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele: Lanai City, HI, USA; View | Reserve; The Four Seasons Lana'i, The Lodge at Koele doesn’t feel particularly tropical. For one thing, the majority of the guests are fully dressed—for horseback riding, tennis or golf. Surrounding you are evergreens—no palm trees—and rolling green lawns. Inside is done in English country house style... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Langkawi: Langkawi, Malaysia; View | Reserve; It feels a long way indeed from the massive urban center of Kuala Lumpur. Yet this is the same Malaysia: Langkawi is an archipelago of some 99 islands on the Andaman Sea side of the Malay peninsula, as close to the southern edge of Thailand as it is to the Malaysian mainland. Which should give you... Read More
Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea: Maui, HI, USA; View | Reserve; To a fashion-obsessed travel press, always in search of the next big thing, it’s probably a bit too obvious. But from a traveler’s point of view, the idea of a Four Seasons on the Hawaiian island of Maui has everything to recommend it... Read More
Francois Plantation: Saint Barthelemy, French West Indies, France; View | Reserve; Change the name to Français Plantation and you're at least halfway to understanding what François Plantation is all about. Saint-Barthélémy of course is in the West Indies, but culturally it's a lot closer to France, and these cottages, amid tropical gardens surrounding the old plantation house... Read More
Fresh Hotel: Athens, Greece; View | Reserve; Just when we were beginning to worry that “design” had become a synonym for “monochrome,” along comes a place like Athens’ Fresh Hotel, a place that’s bursting with color. And by color we don’t mean muted earth tones, or burgundy and brown leather—think, instead, of a palette that’s not found in... Read More
Fuchun Resort Hangzhou: Zhejiang, China; View | Reserve; If it looks as pretty as a picture, it’s no coincidence; the Fuchun Resort just outside of Hangzhou was in fact inspired by a classic of Chinese landscape painting, the fourteenth-century “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.” Here just 150 miles from the urban enormity of Shanghai is a secluded rural... Read More
Fundu Lagoon: Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania; View | Reserve; Though it may sound perverse, there are some novelty-seekers and civilization-dodgers who find Zanzibar to be a bit too close to the beaten path. Lucky for them, there’s Pemba island, fifty kilometers to Zanzibar’s north. This is a place, like Zanzibar, largely known for the spice trade, a history... Read More
Gaia Hotel & Reserve: Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica; View | Reserve; Ponce de León put Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast on the map in 1519 — but, too afraid to confront the native Quepoa tribe, he was left to appreciate the evergreen forests and white sand from the safety of his ship. Today, thanks to the establishment of the Manuel Antonio National Park and a... Read More
Gaige House: Glen Ellen, CA, USA; View | Reserve; With one foot in the old world and one foot squarely in the new, the Gaige House is a California wine country bed and breakfast unlike any you’ve ever seen. From the outside it’s a classic Victorian mansion of the sort that’s for some reason peculiar to Northern California; inside, though, it’s... Read More
Galle Fort Hotel: Galle, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; Though fashionable enough, the Galle Fort Hotel is hardly just luxury lodging — checking into a suite here assures a bit of a cultural experience as well. The hotel is located within the massive stone walls of the seaside fortifications built to defend the port by the Dutch East India Company. And... Read More
Gallery Hotel Art: Florence, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; Don't be put off by the concrete exterior, which unlike most Florentine buildings is contemporary, and of no architectural distinction. It's the stuff inside this Salvatore Ferragamo hotel that's the key. High couture meets maximum efficiency. Art meets the commercial world of the hospitality... Read More
Ganischgerhof Mountain Resort & Spa: Deutschnofen, Südtirol, Italy; View | Reserve; You might be forgiven for thinking this was somewhere other than Italy. Here, near Bolzano, where the place names are in German and the architecture is pure Alpine, is where you’ll find Ganischgerhof — again, not the most stereotypically Italian name you could think of. It’s enough to make other... Read More
Gansevoort South: Miami, FL, USA; View | Reserve; The sequel to the original Gansevoort, in New York’s Meatpacking district, is understating its situation a bit — it’s not in Tribeca or the Financial District but in Miami Beach, over a thousand miles to the south... Read More
Gastwerk Hotel: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; Though it loses something in translation, Gastwerk is a pun on the building’s original function—a gaswerk, or gasworks—and on its new one, that of a ‘guest works,’ or a hotel. This is a textbook reclamation of a decaying heavy industrial site, a trend that takes Americans’ appetite for loft living... Read More
Geejam: Port Antonio, Jamaica; View | Reserve; Chris Blackwell’s Island Outpost hotel group has always made the most of its music-business connections, for good reason — Jamaica without reggae just wouldn’t be the same (and Chris Blackwell, without Island Records, might not own hotels in the first place). With Geejam, however, this marriage... Read More
Georges Blanc: Vonnas, Bresse, France; View | Reserve; In the sleepy Bressan village of Vonnas, alongside a gentle river flowing through fields of wildflowers, is one of the finest restaurants in France, accompanied by a charming country inn. Georges Blanc may be one of the country’s most celebrated chefs, and his three-star restaurant may be the main... Read More
Gerbermuehle: Frankfurt am Main, Germany; View | Reserve; Some of the best contemporary-design hotels are renovations of existing buildings. But few start with structures as storied as Frankfurt’s Gerbermühle. This 16th-century flour mill had a second or third life as a local businessman’s summer house, where Goethe met his Marianne — and now it begins a... Read More
Gild Hall: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About the Gild Hall Hotel... Read More
Glin Castle: Glin, Glin, Ireland; View | Reserve; Please note: Glin Castle will be closed in 2009... Read More
Golden Apple Boutique Hotel: Moscow, Russia; View | Reserve; Time was, visitors to Moscow, however accustomed they were in Europe or North America to staying in small and stylish boutiques, were more or less out of luck. There were always the massive and impossibly opulent grand hotels, which are impressive in their own right, as nobody else has a feel for... Read More
Goldman 25hours Hotel: Frankfurt, Germany; View | Reserve; As they expand across Germany, one thing the 25hours group can’t be accused of doing is repeating themselves. The Hamburg version looks like it’s from space, and the other Frankfurt outpost is a partnership with Levi’s, and is decorated accordingly. This one, in Frankfurt’s east end, was created by... Read More
Good Hotel: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; That’s “good” as a noun, not an adjective. San Francisco’s Good Hotel is less about being a good hotel—it certainly is that, in its unassuming way—and more about doing good... Read More
Gora-Kadan: Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan; View | Reserve; Eighty-five minutes outside of New York and you could still be in North Jersey, or partway across Long Island; eighty-five minutes from central London and you’re lucky (in a manner of speaking) to be in Luton. But somehow, just eighty-five minutes outside Tokyo you could be at Gora-Kadan, a... Read More
Grace Bay Club: Grant Turk, Turks And Caicos Islands; View | Reserve; The Grace Bay Club is the picture-perfect Caribbean getaway, a Mediterranean-style villa, red tile roofs and all, fringed with imported palm trees and opening onto one of the finest beaches in the Western hemisphere, a stretch of immaculate white sand framing the deep turquoise waters of the bay on... Read More
Grace in Rosebank: Johanesburg, South Africa; View | Reserve; The Grace lives up to its moniker with ease. Situated in the northwestern Jo’burg suburb of Rosebank, it inhabits a gentrified and culturally rich area, full of high-profile businesses, posh shopping malls, restaurants and art galleries – a lively little community where lattes can be sipped al... Read More
Gramercy Park Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Gramercy Park Hotel is the latest luxury boutique hotel in New York from Ian Schrager. It is located on the private Gramercy Park, steps from Union Square and slightly below the Midtown area. The hotel features 2 bars (Rose Bar & Jade Bar) and a private rooftop lounge, the Roof Club. Award-winning... Read More
Gran Hotel La Florida: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Gran Hotel La Florida is a unique place, a bit of an oddity; it is equal parts city boutique and luxury resort, located on a hilltop just outside of Barcelona. The view is stunning, overlooking the city, and beyond, the Mediterranean, and the location is secluded, a thousand feet above the city... Read More
Granados 83: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Staying on La Rambla may ensure proximity to Barcelona’s waterfront, but at a price: the ubiquity of the tourist-trap tapas bars and fluorescent-lit souvenir shops quickly begins to detract from the charm of the old pedestrian streets. A ten-minute stroll (or five-euro cab ride) away in a quieter... Read More
Granbell Hotel Shibuya: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; It’s perhaps a bit odd that for all the other ways in which Tokyo leads the world in cool, it’s still hard to find a small and stylish boutique hotel in a central location. This town has some of the best luxury hotels in the world, and a vast array of lesser options, from middle-of-the-road... Read More
Grand Hotel Baglioni: Bologna, Italy; View | Reserve; Bologna may be the original college town, and home to a thriving bike culture not seen this side of Amsterdam, but that doesn’t mean you’re in for student housing: the Baglioni is a classic five-star grand hotel, by far the poshest in town. After all, even a university town can expect its share of... Read More
Grand Hotel Central: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Spacious, cool and clutter-free, the Grand Hotel Central melds the scale and efficiency of a business hotel with the textures and colors of a city-center boutique hotel. The minimalist-chic design looks immediately familiar, immaculately clean and gracefully illuminated, but is confidently handled... Read More
Grand Hotel Continental: Siena, Italy; View | Reserve; Siena is, on the one hand, a time machine, a meticulously preserved medieval city, known for its artworks and architecture, and ever-popular with travelers of all nationalities. But people live here too; and alongside its medieval fortifications and Renaissance palazzos is a thriving boutique and... Read More
Grand Hotel de Cala Rossa: Porto-Vecchio, Corsica, France; View | Reserve; Closed from January 4 to the beginning of April... Read More
Grand Hotel du Cap-Ferrat: Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Riviera, France; View | Reserve; The Cote d’Azur positively teems with the rich and famous, and groans under the weight of serious amounts of cash. Those wishing to mingle with the beautiful people will no doubt find the Grand Hotel du Cap-Ferrat to be isolated perfection; however it’s clearly not for those traveling on a strict... Read More
Grand Hotel et de Milan: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; Milan may be the most fashion-forward city in Italy, the couture capital, and the center of industrial progress as well—but this is still Italy, after all, and there’s always room for a little bit of ancient history. Nothing industrial or futuristic about it: the Grand Hotel et de Milan is every... Read More
Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria: Sorrento, Italy; View | Reserve; The Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria benefits from a phenomenal location, right in the heart of Sorrento, high on a cliff overlooking the harbor and separated from the bustling Piazza Tasso by orange groves and acres of parkland. The hotel itself comprises three separate villas, all built between... Read More
Grand Hotel Heiligendamm: Bad Doberan - Heiligendamm, Germany; View | Reserve; It’s not exactly tropical, but the Baltic is a sea all the same, and for the German aristocrats of the nineteenth century, Heiligendamm was the equivalent of a Cannes or a St. Tropez. In the intervening decades this paradise by the Baltic was rather overtaken by events; now, after a massive... Read More
Grand Hotel Nord-Pinus: Arles, France; View | Reserve; It’s been a long time since Provence was unspoiled and uncomplicated — today’s Provence experience is a mediated one, a sort of collective fantasy, mutually constructed by local landowners and generations of tourists British and otherwise. It’s a problem if you’re on a quest for authenticity, but... Read More
Grand Hotel Stockholm: Stockholm, Sweden; View | Reserve; With not an ounce of blonde wood and not a single platform bed in sight, the Grand is Stockholm style circa 1874, and the place to stay if you’re a Nobel winner, foreign dignitary, or just an everyday movie star. The location can’t be faulted, in the heart of the city, across from the Royal Palace... Read More
Grand Hotel Timeo: Taormina, Italy; View | Reserve; High on a hillside above Taormina, just below the Greek Theatre, stands the Grand Hotel Timeo, an opulent neoclassical symbol of the Sicilian aristocracy since 1873, playing host to the likes of Oscar Wilde, DH Lawrence, Guy de Maupassant and the Kaiser Wilhelm II — all, no doubt, taken in by the... Read More
Grand Hotel Tremezzo Palace: Como, Italy; View | Reserve; Midway down the southwestern arm of Italy’s sublime Lake Como is the town of Tremezzo — just one of many spectacular towns by the water, it’s as stunning as any of them, and is home to something rather impressive: the Grand Hotel Tremezzo Palace... Read More
Grand Hotel Vesuvio: Naples, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: The Caruso Roof Garden is undergoing renovations and will not reopen until April 2010... Read More
Grand Hotel Villa Medici: Florence, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; The Grand Villa Medici is possibly the most relaxing hotel in Florence, for two simple reasons: Its slightly out-of-the-way location, and its swimming pool. Florence is lovely, but in the summer, with tourists jamming the streets and aggressively hot temperatures, you may easily reach your limit of... Read More
Grand Hotel Zermatterhof: Zermatt, Switzerland; View | Reserve; The Matterhorn is the focus; this imposing, eerie mountain peak, standing upright above the high Alps, is possibly Switzerland's most recognizable icon, and the high mountain town of Zermatt the Alps' classic resort town. The Grand Hotel Zermatterhof has been here since 1879, and was the favored... Read More
Grand Hyatt Berlin: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; It would be easy to mistake this place for a Tokyo hotel, with its Zen-inflected interiors and Japanese-style overflowing tubs, not to mention Helmut Jahn’s sleek and towering Sony Center next door—but this is not Shibuya, but rather Potsdamer Platz, the Wall-era no-man’s-land... Read More
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong: Hong Kong, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; The flagship property of the already quite impressive Grand Hyatt brand is located here, in Hong Kong, with the Convention and Exhibition Center at one side and Victoria Harbor at the other. This makes for an ever so slightly out-of-the-way location—but there’s no mistaking this place... Read More
Grand Hyatt Jakarta: Jakarta, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Jakarta is an exotic place, to be sure, and many of its hotels are heavy on showmanship. But Jakarta is also the capital of Indonesia, a vast nation, and an important player in the global economy. As such, it needs a few no-nonsense business hotels, of which the Grand Hyatt is king.Fears of a bland... Read More
Grand Hyatt Mumbai: Mumbai, India; View | Reserve; India is home to some grand old historic palace hotels, even in Mumbai—but this most modern of cities is booming, and a number of spectacular and utterly modern business hotels have landed in the suburbs, nearer the airport, rather than in crowded and historic South Mumbai... Read More
Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo: Sao Paulo, Brazil; View | Reserve; Sao Paulo may be an old city with plenty of historical flavor, but don't expect to find any opulent old-world hotels. Two competing hotel concepts have dominated for the last few years, through the city's boom (and subsequent glut) of construction. There are the ever-fashionable boutique hotels... Read More
Grand Hyatt Seoul: Seoul, Korea; View | Reserve; Those who haven’t traveled in Asia might blanch at the thought of checking in with one of the big Western chains. But they do things a bit differently over there. Anyone who’s seen Lost in Translation can tell you that the Park Hyatt Tokyo, for one, is something more than just your ordinary... Read More
Grand Hyatt Shanghai: Pudong Shanghai, China; View | Reserve; Skidmore, Owings and Merrill’s 1998 Jin Mao Tower is, quite possibly, the perfect visual symbol of Shanghai, the city some call the New York of the next century. Rising some 88 stories above the new development in Pudong, it’s utterly futuristic, yet at the same time Art Deco-inspired... Read More
Grand Hyatt Taipei: Taipei, Taiwan; View | Reserve; The Grand Hyatt Taipei is the archetypal Far East megahotel, an enormous palace on a hillside overlooking the city, where even the humblest of its 856 rooms are quite justifiably named Grand Rooms. Intimate and funky it certainly isn’t, but smaller isn’t always better—you haven’t lived until you’ve... Read More
Grand Hyatt Tokyo: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Loosely speaking, Roppongi Hills is Tokyo's answer to Rockefeller Center — a multi-billion dollar, multi-purpose shopping and dining development. The centerpiece is Mori Tower, with its 53rd-floor modern art museum. But the newest addition to Roppongi Hills is right next door — the... Read More
Grand Marina Hotel: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Barcelona's new Grand Marina Hotel is easily the city's premier business hotel, very much in the same league as the Park Hyatts of the world, though in a distinctly bright and summery Spanish style. The twist here is the location — the hotel occupies the western quadrant of the World Trade Center... Read More
Grand Resort Lagonissi: Athens, Greece; View | Reserve; Total luxury overkill is the theme at Grand Resort Lagonissi, a sprawling seaside compound on a peninsula 30 miles south of Athens. This is the kind of place where wealthy industrialists arrive via helicopter or Learjet, and Hollywood stars make discreet entrances in chartered limos. Long a... Read More
Grande Roche Hotel: Paarl, South Africa; View | Reserve; Less than an hour from Cape Town, in the Drakenstein valley in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, this eighteenth-century farm estate has been rebuilt in a reproduction Cape Dutch style and rehabilitated into a top-flight spa retreat. Though it’s just outside the town of Paarl, and within easy reach of... Read More
Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg: Cologne, Germany; View | Reserve; Though the Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg is perhaps not the most conveniently located hotel for doing business in Köln, there’s more to life than convenience alone. This three-hundred-year-old Baroque castle, on a hilltop in Bensberg, twelve kilometers from the city center, is close enough... Read More
Gravetye Manor: East Grinstead, West Sussex, UK; View | Reserve; Somehow Gravetye Manor is only an hour from the city, and, incredibly, just 12 miles from Gatwick airport; but it feels a good deal more remote than that, with an air of pastoral calm worlds away from the rush of today's cosmopolitan London. It is as though chain hotels had never existed and white... Read More
Great John Street Hotel: Manchester, UK; View | Reserve; Theories both plausible and implausible abound, from the flurry of reconstruction in the aftermath of the 1996 IRA bombing to some sort of trickle-down effect associated with City and United footballers and their spendy wives. But whatever the cause, there’s no disputing the effect... Read More
Gregans Castle Hotel: Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, Ireland; View | Reserve; Far from the grim stone fortress conjured by the name, Gregans Castle turns out to be something quite a bit more refined and urbane: not a castle at all, it’s a 250-year-old manor house, lovingly maintained, thoroughly renovated, and reopened as a charming and elegant country house hotel, the sort... Read More
Greulich: Zurich, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Zurich may still mostly be known as a banking capital, a grown-up town, long on old money and short on youthful exuberance. When you’re talking about Zurich West, however, none of the old stereotypes apply. Here, and in the neighboring Langstrasse (the city’s vice district... Read More
Grosvenor House West Marina Beach by Le Meridien, Dubai: Dubai, UAE; View | Reserve; Please note: Due to the development work currently ongoing at the Dubai Marina, which is located near the hotel, there may be some noise disturbance caused around the hotel. Sea view rooms are not affected... Read More
Grotta Giusti Natural Spa Resort: Monsummano Terme, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; We’re often partial to cutting-edge design around here, it’s true — but a hotel like this one, in the postcard-perfect Italian countryside, proves that the classics never go out of style. Here, in inland northern Tuscany, roughly between Florence and Lucca, stands the... Read More
Hacienda Benazuza elBullihotel: Sevilla, Spain; View | Reserve; Please Note: Hacienda Benazuza elBullihotel is currently closed for the winter season and will reopen March 19, 2010... Read More
Hacienda de San Antonio: Colima, Mexico; View | Reserve; This authentic nineteenth-century plantation estate is one of Mexico’s best-kept secrets. The Hacienda de San Antonio spent five years under the Amanresorts flag, and though it’s now gone independent, it’s still very much in the same class as its former siblings, offering all the luxury, service... Read More
Hacienda del Cerezo: Santa Fe, NM, USA; View | Reserve; Located just 12 miles outside of Santa Fe, in the high desert of New Mexico, the Hacienda del Cerezo is one of the Southwest’s most extraordinary hideaways. With just ten rooms it’s dwarfed by the typical American luxury resort, which definitely counts in the Hacienda’s favor — more and more often... Read More
Hacienda Puerta Campeche: Campeche, Mexico; View | Reserve; This one’s a bit of a departure — the Hacienda Puerta Campeche has little in common, besides common management and a loose geographic tie, with the other Starwood-run hacienda hotels across the Yucatán. First of all, it’s not really strictly speaking a hacienda at all; while its sisters are old... Read More
Hacienda San Angel: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; View | Reserve; Puerto Vallarta was, at one time, among the most glamorous of Mexican destinations — and though it fell victim to overdevelopment, it’s never completely lost its magic. These days there’s a bit of a resurgence at hand, with a few absolute gems among the big hotels. One of the better examples is the... Read More
Hacienda San Jose: Tixkokob, Yucatan, Mexico; View | Reserve; The interior of the Yucatán Peninsula is a side of Mexico that’s not often seen by casual tourists, who tend to stick to the beaches and the cities. It’s a shame, really — the charms of the Mayan country are a worthy alternative to the same old sand and surf... Read More
Hacienda Santa Rosa: Santa Rosa, Yucatan, Mexico; View | Reserve; It’s hard to imagine any place more at odds with the stereotypical Mexican holiday experience than the Hacienda Santa Rosa. If you’re after a surf-side beach hotel or a glam city boutique, look elsewhere; the Santa Rosa is deep in the heart of the Mayan country, at the west end of the Yucatan... Read More
Hacienda Temozon: Temozon Sur, Yucatan, Mexico; View | Reserve; Located in the heart of the Mayan country of the Yucatán peninsula, the Hacienda Temozon is an authentic 19th-century hacienda, a family-owned farming operation converted into a luxurious hotel that’s at once big and small — with just 28 rooms, it’s intimate, but the rooms themselves are massive... Read More
Hacienda Uayamon: Uayamon, Campeche, Mexico; View | Reserve; Just fifteen minutes from the historic walled city of Campeche, and deep in the heart of Mayan country, Hacienda Uayamon offers a taste of the other side of Mexican tourism — not the hedonistic indulgence of the seaside resorts, but the time-machine fantasy of the remotest places in the country’s... Read More
Halekulani: Honolulu, HA, USA; View | Reserve; At 455 rooms it’s not small. But once you’ve settled on Waikiki Beach as a destination it’s clear that you’ve decided to forget about secondary concerns like secrecy, exclusivity, hipness, and the like, and simply focus on pleasure. And at that point you could do a whole lot worse than Halekulani... Read More
Hambleton Hall: Oakham, Rutland, UK; View | Reserve; Along the shores of Rutland Water in the English Midlands is Hambleton Hall, a classic country house hotel that remains a well-kept secret, possibly owing to nothing more than geographic chauvinism—Rutland, the smallest county, is just two hours from Heathrow and one from Leicestershire, yet... Read More
Hapuku Lodge: Kaikoura, New Zealand; View | Reserve; It’s enough to make you wonder why anyone stays anywhere else. Hapuku Lodge, near Kaikoura on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s South Island, is that most rare of lodges: splendidly located, stunningly designed, small, personable, and yet still quite affordable. It seems there must be a catch... Read More
Hard Days Night Hotel: Liverpool, England, UK; View | Reserve; It could have gone so wrong. In less capable hands a Beatles-themed hotel, right around the corner from the Cavern Club, could easily have resulted in a nightmare of kitsch. But the Hard Days Night, against the odds, doesn’t try to coast on theme alone — were it not for the portraits and the... Read More
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino: Las Vegas, NV, USA; View | Reserve; The Hard Rock in Las Vegas conjures up images of bikini babes, guitar riffs, and blue cocktails glowing in the night. It's of course already had its moment on the silver screen—in the monstrous Nicolas Cage vehicle Con Air, runaway convicts smash their plane into the neon guitar atop the roof... Read More
Harvest Inn: St Helena , CA, USA; View | Reserve; Hidden in plain sight on the edge of the charmingly old-fashioned Napa Valley town of St. Helena is the Harvest Inn, a rustic boutique-style hotel set on 20 acres of parkland and redwood groves. This is the wine country’s main artery, and literally St. Helena’s Main Street — but from within the... Read More
Haymarket Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About Haymarket Hotel:The Haymarket Hotel is located in the heart of London's theatre district. Adjacent to the Haymarket Theatre Royal and opposite Her Majesty's Theatre, The Haymarket Hotel is surrounded by some of London’s best restaurants and bars and is ideal for Mayfair, Regent Street and... Read More
Hazlitt's: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Tucked away off Soho Square lies a discreet little townhouse hotel called Hazlitt’s. Named for William Hazlitt, the essayist and Napoleon biographer who lived and died here in the early 19th century, the hotel has held on to its literary theme, and is today a favorite among writers and publishers... Read More
Heidelberg Suites: Heidelberg, Germany; View | Reserve; Germany’s urban centers are magnets for hospitality experiments, for cutting-edge art and design. Heidelberg, by contrast, is a trip back in time. This is the Oxford of Germany, if you like, and the university, the churches, and Heidelberg Castle are exemplars of a long-ago Germany that’s... Read More
Helvetia & Bristol Hotel: Florence, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; On the outside, this building—despite having been built in the 19th century—blends in comfortably with the surrounding architecture, with its white walls, gray stone arches reminiscent of Brunelleschi’s churches. But while the exterior is reminiscent of the Florentine Renaissance, inside is firmly... Read More
Heritage Av Liberdade: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; The sunset-blue facade of the Heritage hotel is the only original remnant of this 18th-century palace on Lisbon’s Avenida Liberdade; the interiors are unrecognizable, pure contemporary luxury, courtesy of the designer Miguel Câncio Martins, perhaps best known for the interiors of the Buddha Bar in... Read More
Hermitage Bay: St. Marys, Caribbean, Antigua / Barbuda; View | Reserve; An idyllic Caribbean holiday should tick certain boxes: foliage must be verdant, sand must be white and waters must verge on day-glo blue. Luxury cabins, private plunge pools and gourmet dining are less common, and it’s exactly these not-so-trivial extras that rank Hermitage Bay as one of the most... Read More
Hi Hotel Eco Spa & Beach: Nice, France; View | Reserve; The term design hotel has found wide currency in recent years, and has devolved into a vague superlative, almost without referent. Today any hotel built after 1900 calls itself a design hotel, as though in opposition to those hotels which were not designed but which assembled themselves, of their... Read More
Hidden Hotel: Paris, Ile de France, France; View | Reserve; You would think the first rule of establishing a truly hidden hotel would be, Don’t put a sign over the door that says “Hidden Hotel.” But some allowances must be made, we suppose, for the necessity of commerce — and even with that sign over the door, the Hidden Hotel is practically invisible... Read More
Hidden Pond: Kennebunkport, ME, USA; View | Reserve; So steeped in history is seaside New England that you sometimes forget they’re building new hotels too. But in the woods outside of Kennebunkport, that’s exactly what they’ve done — though you wouldn’t know it from a glance around the grounds that Hidden Pond is any less than a century old... Read More
Hillside Su Hotel: Antalya, Turkey; View | Reserve; Hillside perfectly well describes not just the hotel, but the city of Antalya as well — this south coast resort town clings to the cliffs above the Mediterranean, and it seems everyone’s got an elevated sea view. The view from the Hillside Su is no different: here the front-side rooms have... Read More
Hilton Auckland: Auckland, New Zealand; View | Reserve; We know what you're thinking, and you're right — a Hilton hotel had better be something special to be included in our listings. You're right, of course, and we are happy to say that this particular Hilton hotel is indeed something a bit out of the ordinary... Read More
Hivernage Hotel & Spa: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; In Marrakech hotels the choice, often enough, is between a contemporary resort way out in the Palmeraïe and a traditional-style riad hotel in the crowded, buzzing medina. But it’s not actually as simple as that. Take the Hivernage Hotel & Spa as an example — it’s in town, though just outside... Read More
Hix Island House: Vieques, Puerto Rico; View | Reserve; Hix Island House does not accommodate guests under 16 years old... Read More
Hob Knob: Edgartown, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Martha’s Vineyard is the kind of destination that can feel a bit closed off to outsiders. It’s a place that’s perhaps better known for vacation homes and vacation estates than it is for hotels. But there are some gems to be found, among them Hob Knob, a charming 19th-century house in Edgartown... Read More
Hollmann Beletage Design & Boutique Hotel: Vienna, Austria; View | Reserve; When a hotel like the Hollmann Beletage opens, skeptics reach for their calculators. Spacious rooms, high modern style, in the center of old-town Vienna, all at a relatively modest price — it couldn’t possibly add up, could it? Probably best to leave that question to the accountants. However they... Read More
Homestead Inn-Thomas Henkelmann: Greenwich, CT, USA; View | Reserve; The French countryside is home to more than a few gastronomic inns, operated by the partnership of a highly regarded chef and his virtuoso decorator wife—hotels where the cuisine and the hospitality are equal attractions, and the hotel, however remote, becomes a destination unto itself... Read More
Hope Springs Resort: Desert Hot Springs, CA, USA; View | Reserve; There is a two-night minimum stay requirement for all stays at Hope Springs Resort. When making a reservation, please specify your arrival time... Read More
Hope Street Hotel: Liverpool, England, UK; View | Reserve; Liverpool is Europe’s Capital of Culture for 2008, and the new Hope Street Hotel is perfectly positioned to capitalize on that fact. In the heart of the cultural district, between the two cathedrals at each end of Hope street, the hotel is walking distance from the theatres, the Philharmonic... Read More
Horned Dorset Primavera Hotel: Rincon, Puerto Rico; View | Reserve; “Nothing” is the motto here. There’s no tennis, no TV, not even a phone. Located on a strip of beach in nowhere, Puerto Rico, this four-acre haven is dedicated to the sweet, slothful life. It also happens to be one of the most elite spots in the Caribbean... Read More
Hospes Amerigo: Alicante, Spain; View | Reserve; Another outpost of the Hospes group, a series of five-star boutique hotels across Spain, the Amerigo chooses Alicante as its home. Once a Dominican convent, later an office building and an apartment block, today it’s a bit closer to its original incarnation, offering the sort of creamy-white... Read More
Hospes Lancaster: Paris, France; View | Reserve; In general if it’s classic Parisian pomp you’re after, you’re headed to one of the big luxury hotels. This town has no shortage of them, and they’re among the most opulent in the Western world. The boutique hotels tend to be more contemporary, often a bit minimalist — but one boutique in particular... Read More
Hospes Las Casas del Rey de Baeza: Sevilla, Spain; View | Reserve; It seems unlikely that any hotel could make good on a promise to shield its guests from the electrifying din of Seville’s flamenco-tinged street life. Las Casas del Rey de Baeza, though, accomplishes this, and a bit more... Read More
Hospes Madrid: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; It took a while, but the Hospes group has moved into the capital. The patented Hospes formula (classic building, modern-luxe interiors, signature spa and restaurant) is on display in this classic 19th-century building just off the Plaza de la Indepencia, deep in the heart of Madrid... Read More
Hospes Maricel: Palma de Mallorca, Spain; View | Reserve; Ten minutes west of Palma, perched at the edge of the Mediterranean, this stately old building was once a grand residence, and later one of Mallorca’s top nightclubs. Today it’s the Maricel, a luxury boutique by the Spanish Hospes group—and while it is one of the city’s most in-demand destinations... Read More
Hospes Palacio de los Patos: Granada, Spain; View | Reserve; Somewhere in the middle ground between history worship and idol-smashing avant-gardism lies a place like the Palacio de los Patos. In frontal view, it’s a 19th-century palace, utterly authentic, marble staircase and all; behind this, though, stands a brand-new modern addition — not the sort of... Read More
Hospes Palacio Del Bailio: Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain; View | Reserve; The Palacio del Baílio is the Córdoba branch of the Hospes franchise, and while the word “Palacio” may put some of us in mind of an old-fashioned grand hotel — like the seaside palaces of Cannes, for example — this is a palace of an entirely different kind. More a mansion than a hotel... Read More
Hospes Palau de la Mar: Valencia, Spain; View | Reserve; It’s time the world discovered there’s more to Spain than Barcelona and Madrid: Spain’s third city is heating up, with travelers from the UK in particular discovering Valencia in record numbers, and budget airlines scrambling to establish routes from all over Europe... Read More
Hospes Villa Paulita: Puigcerdà , Girona, Spain; View | Reserve; Puigcerdà might not easily roll off the non-Catalonian tongue, but it’s a name worth learning — this little village at the foot of the Pyrénées is a scenic enough spot, and home to a remarkable small hotel, the Hospes Villa Paulita. This storybook Art Nouveau mansion, in the woods by the... Read More
Hostal Nicolas de Ovando: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; View | Reserve; This very modern hotel occupies a compound of buildings that includes the former home of Nicolas de Ovando, which dates back an impressive 500 years — obviously, this is one of the oldest Spanish buildings in the New World. This sense of history is what makes Santo Domingo unique, setting it... Read More
Hotel 1000: Seattle, WA, USA; View | Reserve; For everything that makes the Northwest such a vibrant and livable place, there’s a bit of a shortage of style in the upper end of the hotel market. But not to worry — this is an imbalance that is well on its way toward being redressed, thanks to the brand-new Hotel 1000... Read More
Hotel 1898: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; These days when a hotelier is stuck for a name, the safest solution is just to use the street address — it’s mysterious and blank, and avoids unwanted connotations, or any connotations at all. As it turns out, Barcelona’s Hotel 1898 is named not for its address at all, but for the year... Read More
Hotel Abalu: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; Hotel Abalu is proof that there’s much more to the hotel business than just location. What was formerly a rather dowdy little hostel (albeit a well-located one, right off the Gran Vía) is now, after some drastic renovation, one of Madrid’s hippest small hotels, the kind of cozy yet stylish boutique... Read More
Hotel AC Barcelona: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Barcelona’s got some fine little boutique hotels, but in a destination this popular, there’s much more demand for high-design boutique-style accommodation than the little guys can comfortably supply. It’s no surprise, then, that some of the bigger hotels would get in on the action. The AC Barcelona... Read More
Hotel Adagio: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Think of American boutique hotels and you’re probably thinking of hotels by Schrager or Balazs, in cities like New York or Los Angeles or Miami. All this time, however, Chip Conley’s Joie de Vivre group has been building a small empire in San Francisco — and one of its pillars, in the heart of the... Read More
Hotel Adler: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; Hotel Adler is at the corner of Velazquez and Goya, deep in the heart of the shopping and commercial districts — which makes for a busy neighborhood, but one largely free from throngs of tourists in short pants. The noise of the street is, in fact, the only complaint levelled against the Adler, so... Read More
Hotel Albatroz: Cascais, Portugal; View | Reserve; Forty minutes’ drive west of Lisbon, the coastal town of Cascais is part seaside resort, part suburb. This is where kings and queens summered, and today it’s where Lisbonites of means come to indulge in some sun and sand — and for the last couple of decades the Hotel Albatroz has been the classiest... Read More
Hotel Albergo Villa Marta: Lucca, Italy; View | Reserve; Hotel Albergo Villa Marta will be closed for restyling from November 15, 2009 - February 28, 2010... Read More
Hotel Albert Premier: Luxembourg, Luxembourg; View | Reserve; Luxembourg City may not be one of Europe’s headline-grabbing tourist destinations, but it sees its fair share of visitors — business travelers, perhaps, and those in search of an out-of-the-way urban escape. Among the former group there will be some who are in the mood for a departure from... Read More
Hotel Alfonso XIII: Seville, Spain; View | Reserve; Hotel Alfonso XIII is a relic of a bygone age — built in 1928 to anticipate the Ibero-American Expo the following year, the hotel was named for the then-current king, and constructed in a an opulent blend of Baroque and Moorish styles that looks centuries older. Of course in the Thirties... Read More
Hotel am Schlossgarten: Stuttgart, Germany; View | Reserve; Book a hotel in most modern city centers and you’re in for bustling crowds and the chaos of crowded streets. Not so in the wide-open green center of Stuttgart — the Hotel am Schlossgarten finds itself surrounded by landmarks like Stuttgart Palace and the state theater and art gallery, and... Read More
Hotel Amigo: Brussels, Belgium; View | Reserve; Once a jail, later a rather uninspired hotel, today’s refurbished Hotel Amigo (courtesy of Rocco Forte) is one of the best hotels in Brussels, for business or pleasure. The location is central, steps from the scenic Grand Place, in a pedestrian-only historic district, near enough to any number of... Read More
Hotel Andra: Seattle, WA, USA; View | Reserve; Though it’s the hotbed of a certain kind of entrepreneurial creativity, and one of America’s centers of new technology, Seattle has always been slightly conservative in terms of design and visual arts. It’s a delight, then, to come across a hotel like this one, not just another... Read More
Hotel Angeleno: Los Angeles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; America’s wealth of disused and neglected modernist hotels and motels is a resource we’d like to see put to better use. So the Hotel Angeleno comes as a nice surprise. This cylindrical tower on the West Side was a Holiday Inn, from that middlebrow chain’s Sixties tower period — today, though, after... Read More
Hotel Art Nouveau: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; This place has got to be one of the best-kept secrets we’ve ever seen. The sign which identifies this residential building as the site of Art Nouveau hotel gives no clue, and may even scare you off. In fact, it takes a trip up an antique iron-gated lift to the fourth floor to even find the front... Read More
Hotel Astoria: Saint Petersburg, Russia; View | Reserve; St. Petersburg is home to a few historic grand hotels, but the Astoria is near the top of any list—not just for its historic Art Nouveau elegance, but for the simple fact that its Western management (courtesy of Rocco Forte) takes some of the edge off the slightly disarming and disorienting... Read More
Hotel Avenue Lodge: Val d'Isere, Savoie - Alpes , France; View | Reserve; It’s taken a while, but the modern-design boutique-hotel concept has finally trickled down (or should we say up?) from the cities to the ski resorts. Val d’Isere, for example, has more than a few fairly typical Savoyard ski lodges, some of them quite good — but there’s only one that’s as stylish as... Read More
Hotel Baltschug Kempinski: Moscow, Russia; View | Reserve; Quite probably, this is Moscow′s flashiest hotel—at least, it′s where Elton John stays when he′s in town. Behind the Baltschug′s hundred-year-old facade beats a glossy and very up-to-date heart—huge rooms overlooking the Kremlin, internet access, and a blissfully... Read More
Hotel Bel Air - Dorchester Collection: Los Angeles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Note: Hotel Bel-Air is currently closed for major renovations and will reopen in mid 2011... Read More
Hotel Bergs: Riga, Latvia; View | Reserve; With the Soviet era just a fading memory, and the Baltics now absorbed into the EU, it was only a matter of time before the concept of the design hotel touched down in Latvia. Within the walls of these two late nineteenth-century buildings lies what may be Riga’s most stylish lodging, the... Read More
Hotel Birger Jarl: Stockholm, Sweden; View | Reserve; You couldn’t get much more modern or more Swedish than this. Named after the city’s founder, the Birger Jarl is the ultimate in Stockholm chic, with its kiss-me red lobby and birch wood paneling that makes even the most jaded of interior decorators catch their breath. Every piece of... Read More
Hotel Bora Bora: Bora Bora, French Polynesia; View | Reserve; Hotel Bora Bora is currently closed for a major renovation. The Re-opening is scheduled for 2011... Read More
Hotel Brandenburger Hof: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Berlin’s top hotels tend to be grand hotels, stately old palaces with hundreds of rooms—so the Brandenburger Hof cuts a bit against the grain. From the outside, this fin-de-siècle mansion could pass as a smaller, more intimate cousin to places like the Adlon; but the elegant facade... Read More
Hotel Britania: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; Though they’re all outwardly different, the boutique hotels of Lisbon’s Heritage group share a common approach: they’re historic buildings in central locations, heavily renovated, with one eye on contemporary design and the other on historical preservation. And of all of them, the Britânia is at... Read More
Hotel Bulow Residenz: Dresden, Germany; View | Reserve; The charming, old-fashioned Hotel Bülow Residenz is possibly the finest small hotel in Dresden. It is located in the traditional city center, next to a monument to August the Strong, and its carefully restored façade itself dates back to August's time (1730, to be precise). The interior, of course... Read More
Hotel Caesar Augustus: Capri, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Caesar Augustus is currently closed for the winter season and will reopen April... Read More
Hotel Cala Di Volpe: Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, Italy; View | Reserve; Closed late October to early April... Read More
Hotel Capo d'Africa: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; Rome is rich with history and many of its hotels are grand and old-fashioned; the exception, of course, is at the opposite extreme, embodied by capital-d Design statements like Aleph and Es. The gap in the hotel landscape between classic opulence and avant-garde chic loomed large, but has been... Read More
Hotel Carl Gustaf: St. Barthelemy, French West Indies, Guadeloupe; View | Reserve; Saint Barthélemy has always been an exception in the Caribbean, an exclusive and upscale Gallic outpost surrounded by what in a pessimistic mood can seem like island after island full of tacky overdevelopment and overcrowded beaches. Frankly it’s hard not to think slightly elitist thoughts here... Read More
Hotel Caruso: Ravello, Italy; View | Reserve; Fresh off a long renovation, Hotel Caruso is once again one of the finest hotels in Ravello. For some, that’s recommendation enough; for the benefit of the others, though, we’ll go on... Read More
Hotel Casa del Mar: Porto-Vecchio, Corsica, France; View | Reserve; Something’s been happening in Corsica for a few years now — the mountainous island with its French-Italian hybrid culture, once a haven for pensioners and people who truly apreciate its rugged beauty, is turning hip. And while it will be a few years before Corsica replaces the Côte d’Azur in the... Read More
Hotel Casa Del Mar Santa Monica: Santa Monica, CA, USA; View | Reserve; If you believe in karma, then the Casa del Mar has paid its dues. In the 1920s Santa Monica was the place to party, and the Club Casa del Mar was the hotspot — at least for silver screeners like Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. Built for two million, a then unheard of sum, it was where... Read More
Hotel CasaSandra: Isla Holbox, Quintana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; Not “Cassandra,” but CasaSandra. As in Sandra’s place — in this case a Cuban-born writer and artist named Sandra Pérez, who has transformed a little strip of coast on Isla Holbox, just offshore from the Yucatán, into a pared-down, unpretentious, funky little beach resort. It’s intended to be as... Read More
Hotel Certosa di Maggiano: Siena, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; It’s not entirely irrelevant that Siena’s Hotel Certosa di Maggiano began its life in the 14th century as a monastery: to this day it retains a certain ascetic air, a feeling of escape from worldly concerns, an uncanny calm that could, we’re confident, quite reasonably be called spiritual... Read More
Hotel Cezanne: Aix en Provence, France; View | Reserve; There’s more to choose from in the South of France than just the beach towns and the farmhouse inns. The charming Roman-era town of Aix-en-Provence is a perennial favorite, and it’s not hard to see why — it’s a picturesque city, with fine Mediterranean weather, a bit of culture, and a refreshing... Read More
Hotel Charleston Bogota: Bogota, Colombia; View | Reserve; Consider it a “business boutique,” for lack of a better phrase. The Hotel Charleston dates back to the 1980s, which means it anticipated by some years the boutique hotel boom. And yet with its modest size (64 rooms) and its emphasis on style and design, a boutique hotel it most certainly is... Read More
Hotel Cheval: Paso Robles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; When we talk about the California wine country we’re generally talking about the Napa and Sonoma valleys, just north of San Francisco. But the more southerly region from Paso Robles to San Luis Obispo, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, shouldn’t be overlooked. And while central... Read More
Hotel Cipriani & Palazzo Vendramin: Venice, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Hotel Cipriani will be closed for the winter season from October 25th 2009 to March 31st 2010 inclusive... Read More
Hotel Claris: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Only in architecturally adventurous Barcelona would one find a downtown grand hotel in a style like this; the Claris is a postmodern mélange of the modern and the classic, visible from a glance at the exterior—the 18th-century shell of the Verdruna Palace remains, but it’s as... Read More
Hotel Claude Marbella: Marbella, Spain; View | Reserve; The trouble with seaside paradises like the Costa del Sol is that they suffer under the weight of their own undeniable attractions; they’re developed too quickly, and often a little tastelessly, in order to capitalize on the massive demand. Here and there one finds pockets of good taste, however... Read More
Hotel Cocoon & Lounge: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; View | Reserve; The contrast couldn’t be greater between the self-styled “first spaceship hotel in the world,” the retro-futuristic Hotel Cocoon, and its setting: it’s more or less right at the seaside, but rather than condo complexes and luxury hotels for neighbors it’s bordered by a busy avenue (under which a... Read More
Hotel Concorde Berlin: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Berlin is a city of many centers, or of no center at all — same thing, really, and in the end you’ve got to quit meditating on that seeming paradox and just pick a neighborhood. Old East Berlin is where you’ll find the cutting-edge nightlife, Mitte is the booming commercial center, and for... Read More
Hotel Continental: Oslo, Norway; View | Reserve; In spite of the rich history of modernist Scandinavian design, there’s nothing terribly modern about Norwegian hotels. The best bet in Oslo is to forget about hipster hotels and live it up at the century-old Hotel Continental. It’s a grand hotel of the classic old style, family-owned... Read More
Hotel Copernicus: Krakow, Poland; View | Reserve; There was a time when Poland’s second city would have been little more than a tourism punchline. These days Kraków is rapidly emerging as an alternative to well-trod paths like Prague: its historical beauty is still drawing new crowds, it’s a surprisingly lively city, and it’s cheap. Thus you can’t... Read More
Hotel Cour des Loges: Lyon, France; View | Reserve; Once four separate buildings dating back as far as the fourteenth century, Cour des Loges is now a single hotel, and a masterful example of modern design meeting old-world charm. Jean-Louis and Jocelyne Sibuet have updated the Italian (yes, Italian) Renaissance style of the original dwellings with... Read More
Hotel CRAM: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Architecturally-minded visitors to Barcelona can’t help but have high expectations these days — it seems every building is either an ultra-modern masterpiece or a centuries-old treasure. These expectations are more than satisfied by Hotel CRAM, a bit of both worlds: a tour de force of modern... Read More
Hotel Crillon le Brave: Crillon le Brave, France; View | Reserve; In northwestern Provence, 25 miles from Avignon, is the medieval hilltop village of Crillon le Brave. The hotel itself is a cluster of stone buildings, centuries old, looking down on the village's rooftops and beyond, at the vineyards and orchards of the valley below. The terraces and gardens are... Read More
Hotel Croatia: Dubrovnik, Croatia; View | Reserve; Landlocked Eastern Europeans longing for the sight of open water have long been acquainted with the seaside delights of Dubrovnik, and in recent years the rest of the world has been quickly catching up, as this historic city has become a major tourist destination. Many out-of-towners find... Read More
Hotel d'Angleterre: Geneva, Switzerland; View | Reserve; The shores of Lake Geneva and the banks of the Rhone are thick with deluxe grand hotels, many a century old and more. One of the most unique is the Hotel d’Angleterre, on the Quai du Mont Blanc, on the right bank; this hotel’s English flavor runs deep, and may well account for its... Read More
Hotel D'Urville: Marlborough, New Zealand; View | Reserve; It’s almost unfair, if you dwell on it, that New Zealand, blessed as it is with natural gifts — from surf and sand to rainforests and rocky peaks — should be home to a booming culinary and winemaking scene as well. And a place like the Hotel d’Urville, in Marlborough, on South Island, could only... Read More
Hotel Daniel: Graz, Austria; View | Reserve; Austria’s second city is a youthful town, a university town, and thus perfect for a hotel like the Daniel. After all these years finally smart modern design is available at budget rates: there’s nothing at the Daniel over 100 euros, and in fact the most basic rooms start at €59, a price... Read More
Hotel Daniel: Paris, France; View | Reserve; In Paris, one of the most-visited cities in the world, there are the old palace hotels, the new minimalist boutiques, and, as in this case, various shades in between. A newly minted classic, and a bit of a stylistic departure for Paris hotels, Hotel Daniel comes outfitted in a sort of Silk Road... Read More
Hotel Das Gogers: Austria; View | Reserve; Spend enough time playing golf, that most tradition-bound of games, and the ultra-conservative architecture of the typical country club will start looking reasonable. So pervasive is it, in fact, that a place like the Hotel Das Gogers looks positively alien, set as it is in the golf-happy region of... Read More
Hotel Das Triest: Vienna, Austria; View | Reserve; Vienna suffers no shortage of history; seemingly around every bend there’s a reminder of the city’s rich cultural heritage, and the hotel scene reflects this fact—most of Vienna’s better hotels are opulent classical palaces, untouched by the passage of time or the changing... Read More
Hotel de Crillon: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Parisian luxury hotels are well known for their historical bent, but when measured against the Hôtel de Crillon, the rest of them are practically brand new. This massive stone edifice at the end of the Place de la Concorde has been a luxury hotel since before the Revolution, and can honestly claim... Read More
Hotel de la Cite: Carcassonne, France; View | Reserve; Carcassonne is the largest walled citadel in Europe, and the Hotel de la Cité sits behind the ancient fortifications, with the Romanesque Château Comtal and the Gothic Basilica of Saint-Nazaire as its neighbors... Read More
Hotel de la Paix, Geneva: Geneva, Switzerland; View | Reserve; One of Geneva’s original luxury hotels, the De La Paix has stood on this spot on the Quai du Mont Blanc since 1865. As a classic five-star, it wasn’t entirely without company — the shores of Lake Geneva are all but lined with luxury palaces — but now, after an extensive renovation, it’s staking out... Read More
Hotel de la Paix, Siem Reap: Siem Reap, Angkor, Cambodia; View | Reserve; Tourism in Cambodia is booming, and nowhere more than in Siem Reap — this picturesque colonial city is the center of the local luxury travel industry, thanks in no small part to its proximity to Cambodia’s most famous attraction, the temple at Angkor Wat. And now one of the city’s... Read More
Hotel de la Tremoille: Paris, France; View | Reserve; La Trémoille has been a fixture on the Paris luxury hotel scene since 1883. In 2002 it was re-opened following a complete renovation by Richard Martinet. The restored Haussmannian facade, a historical monument in its own right, is as authentic as ever, while the interior has been updated in an... Read More
Hotel de Paris: Monte Carlo, Monaco; View | Reserve; An extravagant pure-white swan of a building, this is arguably the true palace of Monte Carlo. Belle Epoque columns and spires adorn the facade; statuettes of nubile nymphs flank arched doorways and fountains, and a bronze statue of Louis XIV on horseback stands in the lobby, the horse′s... Read More
Hotel de Rome: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; It doesn’t get much heavier than the Hotel de Rome, a converted 19th-century bank building off the Bebelplatz in old East Berlin — its stone walls and neoclassical architecture are a perfect match for the high seriousness of the Rocco Forte house style. This hotel is set to become the lodging... Read More
Hotel de Russie: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; Once upon a time, on a sunny day at the Hotel de Russie, you might have spotted Pablo Picasso or Jean Cocteau peeling and eating the oranges that they picked in the hotel garden. After a sixty-year hiatus, the Russie has re-emerged and is still a languid spot. While you won't catch today's Picassos... Read More
Hotel de Sers: Paris, France; View | Reserve; The Marquis de Sers, it seems, was a country gentleman in need of a Parisian second home — he commissioned this classic four-story mansion just off the Champs Elysées in 1880, and in the intervening hundred-plus years it went on to become first a rather conventional hotel (the Queen Elizabeth) and... Read More
Hotel del Casco: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; In the last few years in Buenos Aires, boutique hotels have been popping up left and right. Some are perfectly stylish urban havens, while others are minimalist knockoffs that miss the mark. The Hotel del Casco, steeped in genteel history, doesn’t fit into either category. The palazzo was restored... Read More
Hotel des Academies et des Arts: Paris, France; View | Reserve; An utterly traditional Thirties hotel in Paris’s Montparnasse district is now, after a radical update, the very picture of the modern boutique hotel. With just twenty rooms, the Hotel des Académies et des Arts owes some debt to the cozy Left Bank lodgings of times past; but the bold colors, graphic... Read More
Hotel Des Indes: The Hague, Netherlands; View | Reserve; Though the cutting edge of modern design may arguably be located in the Netherlands, here on the Hague’s stately Lange Voorhout boulevard you’ll find a different sort of Dutch design. The Hotel des Indes has long been the Hague’s grand dame, and its 19th-century atmosphere is still overpowering... Read More
Hotel Drisco: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Hotel Drisco’s most extraordinary feature has to be its location; while most of San Francisco’s hotels are clustered around the bustling downtown area, the Drisco makes its home in the sedate upscale residential district of Pacific Heights. This is the postcard vision of San Francisco... Read More
Hotel du Palais: Biarritz, France; View | Reserve; Biarritz’s grande dame is the Hotel du Palais, the summer residence of Napoleon and Eugenie, an ostentatious brick-red and beige palace standing at the water’s edge, offering incomparable views up and down the rugged Basque coast and out into the Bay of Biscay. Old-world opulence... Read More
Hotel du Vin & Bistro Birmingham: Birmingham, Midlands, UK; View | Reserve; With locations just about everywhere in England but London, the Hotel du Vin mini-chain can hardly be accused of neglecting the provinces. So it’s a bit of a surprise that what’s possibly the most successful of the lot (and, key fact, the only one with a spa) is located not in York or Harrogate but... Read More
Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens: Glasgow, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; Possibly Glasgow’s finest small hotel, and certainly its poshest, Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens is the favorite of many a visiting actor or pop star. But don’t hold that against it. Some hotels try altogether too hard—with flashy design, precious modern cuisine, and always-packed... Read More
Hotel Duo: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Nothing completely new ever really opens in the center of Paris — but the newly expanded, heavily renovated and recently renamed Hotel Duo is about as close as it gets. Previously the Axial Beaubourg, the Duo has had a makeover at the hand of the modern architect and interior designer Jean-Philippe... Read More
Hotel Eclat Taipei: Taipei , Taiwan; View | Reserve; With all the new hotel action in China proper, it’s high time Taipei stepped up its game. There are a couple of absolute gems in the Taiwanese capital, but there’s always room for more: the home-grown Hotel Éclat is a worthy addition to the city’s hotel landscape, a shamelessly luxe and... Read More
Hotel Eden: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; To call a hotel the Eden is hardly the dictionary definition of unpretentiousness, but don’t be put off by the audacity of its name; this Roman mainstay, for all its splendor, is remarkably discreet, its recently restored opulence never striking a crass note. Once a favorite haunt of the... Read More
Hotel Erwin: Venice Beach, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The very eclectic San Francisco–based Joie de Vivre group has been setting up shop in Southern California, most recently in Venice Beach, itself quite possibly the most laid-back place in the United States. And the Hotel Erwin does its level best to fit in — with a restaurant called Hash and a... Read More
Hotel Excelsior: Munich, Germany; View | Reserve; Independent, family-owned, intimate, with the kind of gorgeous traditional interiors the big luxury chains would kill for — that’s the Hotel Excelsior in a nutshell. You can find anything you want in Munich, from grand hotels to design experiments, but this sort of thing is, and probably always... Read More
Hotel Fasano: Sao Paulo, Brazil; View | Reserve; The Fasano family name is well known in São Paulo, in the context of fine dining: the family has over 100 years of experience in the restaurant business, having brought the finest in Italian cuisine with them from Milan. Their flagship restaurant, called simply Fasano, has presided over this... Read More
Hotel Fauchere: Milford, PA, USA; View | Reserve; It’s often said that Pennsylvania is a microcosm of all of America — one big city on each end, and three hundred miles of farms, mountains and small towns in between. To look at the exterior of the Hotel Fauchère, in Milford, which looks straight out of American Gothic, you’d think you’d found the... Read More
Hotel Fortyseven: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; There’s something for everyone in Rome, from stately old palaces to user-unfriendly design exercises and everything in between. The austere 1930s brickwork facade of the Fortyseven Hotel is a compromise, its Deco style striking enough to satisfy those bored with the classics, yet restrained enough... Read More
Hotel Frank: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; San Francisco, already America’s highest-occupancy hotel town, has lately been upgrading its stock, and the Personality Hotels group has been at the front lines. Hotel Frank is a fine example of the new guard of stylish hotels around Union Square; though the classic building is pure historic San... Read More
Hotel Fuerstenhof: Leipzig, Germany; View | Reserve; Just to make this perfectly clear: Leipzig is not, at the moment at least, where you go to see the latest in avant-garde design. You come to Leipzig for a bit of old-fashioned neoclassical splendor — and, by a lucky coincidence, the Hotel Fürstenhof has that in spades... Read More
Hotel G: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; If you accept the premise that this is China’s century (and we’re all just living in it) then logically one inescapable conclusion follows: they’re going to need a lot more boutique hotels. This, obviously, is what the Hotel G is for: a new 110-room boutique in the hip-yet-luxurious mode, located... Read More
Hotel Gabbia D'Oro: Verona, Italy; View | Reserve; Verona is a city steeped in history; the architecture spans the ages from Roman times through the Renaissance and beyond, and it’s all perfectly preserved, having survived the 20th century completely intact. Today it’s this rich heritage upon which Verona’s tourism industry trades... Read More
Hotel Gansevoort: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About Hotel Gansevoort... Read More
Hotel Gasthof Rote Wand: Lech am Arlberg, Arlberg, Austria; View | Reserve; Tucked away high in the mountain state of Vorarlberg, Austria’s westernmost state, is the resort village of Lech am Arlberg, which is that most unusual variety of ski town: it’s actually a proper town, founded not during the 20th-century ski boom but by Swiss migrants during the 14th century. And... Read More
Hotel Gault: Montreal, Québec, Canada; View | Reserve; In the historic quarter of Vieux Montréal, behind the 18th-century stone facade of a former carpet factory, you’ll find one of the most modern hotels in North America. Hotel Gault has no time for the French country style of many of its neighbors—the look here is industrial contemporary, with... Read More
Hotel Giraffe: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About the Hotel Giraffe... Read More
Hotel Goldener Hirsch: Salzburg, Austria; View | Reserve; Hotel Goldener Hirsch has existed in one form or another since 1407, the year of the first mention in the city’s archives of an inn on this spot in Salzburg’s Old Town, just down the road from the birthplace of Mozart. Its present incarnation dates back to 1948, and is today a... Read More
Hotel Grande Bretagne: Athens, Greece; View | Reserve; The Hotel Grande Bretagne is a bit of a departure for a Greek luxury hotel: rather than some sprawling compound out on a rock by the Aegean, this one is a Victorian mansion right in the bustling heart of Athens. Yes, you read that right — the meticulously restored facade is all Victorian, and... Read More
Hotel Gritti Palace: Venice, Italy; View | Reserve; Venice is a magic city—the site of many a novel, love affair and Bellini cocktail, with pigeons, Canaletto style watery vistas, and alleyways and bridges that lead nowhere. In many ways, the only proper place to stay in Venice is a palace. And of all the palaces-turned-hotels in Venice, they... Read More
Hotel Guanahani: St Barthelemy, French West Indies, Guadeloupe; View | Reserve; Saint Barthelemy, a pearl nestled in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Its pure white sandy beaches stretch between an emerald sea and an azure coloured sky. A little part of France, colonized by the Brittans in the XVII th century, where a gentle way of life is jealously maintained. The Guanhani's... Read More
Hotel Habita: Mexico City, Mexico; View | Reserve; Mexico City’s Hotel Habita is the very face of urban boutique cool, wrapped in an outer layer of frosted glass, extending the old apartment block’s volume out into space, making corridors of the old balconies, keeping the cool air in and the street noise out. From outside, the silhouettes of the... Read More
Hotel Habita Monterrey: San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, Mexico; View | Reserve; Grupo Habita, already responsible for more than a few of Mexico’s most stylish boutique hotels, is at it again, this time in Monterrey. And while other hotels in town play to Monterrey’s colonial heritage, the Habita MTY, as they’re calling it, opts for contemporary lines and a striking and utterly... Read More
Hotel Hana Maui and Honua Spa: Hana, HI, Maui, USA; View | Reserve; Like more than a few classic Hawaiian resorts, the Hotel Hana-Maui and Honua Spa went through a rough patch at the close of the last century. Those days are past, though — fresh off a ten-million-dollar renovation, the Hotel Hana-Maui is back in fighting form, again a luxurious and exclusive... Read More
Hotel Healdsburg: Healdsburg, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Northern California’s wine country has no shortage of lodgings—seemingly every third house is a bed and breakfast. Hotel Healdsburg, though, is something unique; this full service luxury hotel bucks the faux-rustic trend in favor of sleek modern design... Read More
Hotel Hermitage: Monte Carlo, Monaco; View | Reserve; Anyone hoping for a hip little boutique hotel in Monte Carlo is missing the point, and badly. The only way to do this town properly is to leave your taste for minimalism at home, and check into one of the over-the-top Belle Époque palaces... Read More
Hotel Hesperia Madrid: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; The Hesperia is an oddity in Madrid, a modern-design hotel, standing out like a bit of a sore thumb in a city where 18th-century architecture is prized above all. It may have seemed a risky proposition, but Madrid has warmed to this stylish newcomer, thanks in no small part to an all-star team... Read More
Hotel Holos: Sevilla, Spain; View | Reserve; Architecturally the Spanish are unfazed by the mixing of the new and the old — in Barcelona, for example, works by Calatrava and Gaudí comfortably exist side by side. So it’s only natural that in a historic district like Heliopolis, a sort of concept city built within Sevilla for the 1929... Read More
Hotel Home: Florence, Italy; View | Reserve; There’s a lot to look at in Florence, so much that they’ve actually got a name for the city’s particular brand of visual overstimulation: Stendhal Syndrome is the feeling of dizziness and confusion brought on by exposure to too much classic art, too much Renaissance architecture, and too many... Read More
Hotel im Wasserturm: Cologne, Germany; View | Reserve; This 11-story brick water tower, the tallest in Europe, must have seemed like an unlikely candidate for the sort of industrial renovation that is sweeping Germany—but punch some holes in the sides for windows, drop a restaurant on the roof, and you've got yourself a striking and stylish... Read More
Hotel Imperial: Vienna, Austria; View | Reserve; The Imperial opened in 1873 and from that day forward has been the hotel of choice in Vienna for visiting dignitaries—it’s the official lodging for guests of the Austrian government. And in a city with as rich a musical history as Vienna’s, it’s no surprise that the... Read More
Hotel Jerome: Aspen, CO, USA; View | Reserve; It’s been a long journey for Aspen, from rough-and-tumble Old West outpost to upscale ski resort and playground to the stars. It was arguably the Hotel Jerome itself that kick-started that long upward ride during the silver boom of the late 1800s, when Macy’s co-owner Jerome Wheeler started... Read More
Hotel Josef: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Prague’s light and airy Hotel Josef is the perfect alternative to the heavy atmosphere and gritty authenticity of the city’s historic hotels. The design, courtesy of London architect Eva Jiricná, is as modern as they come, a familiar idea (the whiter-than-white design boutique... Read More
Hotel Juana: Juan Les Pins, Riviera, France; View | Reserve; Though it’s passed through varying degrees of cool, from golden age to slightly passé and back again and again, it’s by now clear that the French Riviera is just one of those timeless destinations. The perennial warm-weather migration back to this stretch of the Mediterranean is due in part to the... Read More
Hotel Jules Cesar: Arles, France; View | Reserve; The Hôtel Jules César is styled, rather incongruously, after a Roman palace — you’d never guess at its provenance as a seventeenth-century Carmelite convent. Interesting enough from a historical perspective, but more so for the fact that today it offers something of a blend of both worlds: a... Read More
Hotel Julien: Antwerp, Belgium; View | Reserve; As a holiday destination, Antwerp is one of Western Europe’s best-kept secrets — home to Europe’s diamond trade, Belgium’s second-largest city also happens to be its style capital, playing the fashionable foil to serious old Brussels and serving as the proving ground for a... Read More
Hotel Kabuki: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Previously a slightly faded chain hotel, the Kabuki now belongs to San Francisco’s homegrown Joie de Vivre boutique hotel group. And under their direction it’s looking to recapture a bit of the optimistic jet-set romance that must have accompanied the opening of this modernist concrete high-rise... Read More
Hotel Kamp: Helsinki, Finland; View | Reserve; Helsinki’s finest hotel opened in 1887, and was the sort of place where well-heeled Finns like Sibelius could be spotted mixing with Europe’s aristocracy. A thorough reconstruction and new management by the Starwood group find the Hotel Kämp in fighting form, restored to its Belle... Read More
Hotel Katikies: Santorini, Greece; View | Reserve; Please note: Hotel Katikies does not accommodate children under 13 years of age... Read More
Hotel Keppler: Paris, France; View | Reserve; In Paris we’re always on the lookout for something that shows a little restraint, whether that means understated style, unimposing atmosphere, or reasonably affordable rates. It’s rare to find all three at once, but that’s more or less what the Hôtel Keppler offers: a sensible amount of luxury, a... Read More
Hotel L'Auberge: Punta del Este, Uruguay; View | Reserve; The exclusive Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este caters to the cream of Brazilian and Argentinian high society, most of whom come to stay in ostentatious seaside palaces or big-money casino hotels. French-style farmhouse hotels, on the other hand, are quite understandably few and far between, and... Read More
Hotel La Bobadilla: Loja, Granada, Spain; View | Reserve; An hour west of Granada, in the olive-strewn hills of Andalusia, the Hotel La Bobadilla sprawls over a thousand-acre estate in the manner of a Moorish village, all whitewashed buildings, winding paths and courtyard after courtyard connected by arched walkways. This is one of the finest hotels in... Read More
Hotel La Colombe d'Or: Saint Paul de Vence, France; View | Reserve; Closed in November and December.Many decades ago this was a likely spot to run into the leading lights of the European art scene; the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and Braque dined here during time spent in the scenic hilltop village of Saint Paul de Vence. Short on funds, as artists so often... Read More
Hotel La Perouse: Nice, France; View | Reserve; After all these years, there are still a few surprises left on the Côte d’Azur — the famous grand hotels carry on as they always have, but there’s the thrill of occasionally discovering a place like La Pérouse. Cut into a cliffside overlooking the Baie des Anges, this one-time prison is... Read More
Hotel le A: Paris, France; View | Reserve; The first thing that’s notable about Hotel le A is the style. Any time a high-design, architecturally modern hotel opens in Paris, it’s news. First because there are still few of them — the Paris hotel scene remains in thrall to a century-old vision of architecture and interior design — and second... Read More
Hotel le Beauvallon: Sainte-Maxime, France; View | Reserve; The Hotel will be closed for all of 2009 as it undergoes a major renovation. It will reopen in early 2010... Read More
Hotel Le Bristol: Paris, France; View | Reserve; The most well-mannered of the Paris grand hotels is the Bristol, named after an English lord and a bishop. It is also by far the most reserved. Rather appropriately, it's where Newland Archer stays in that final, heartbreaking scene in Wharton's Age of Innocence, when he goes to see Madame Olenska... Read More
Hotel Le Germain Montreal: Montreal, Quebec, Canada; View | Reserve; In Montreal, the boutiques have all but run the big chains out of town — and Hôtel le Germain is the place that started it all. Once a deeply unfashionable Sixties office block, this was the first hotel in town to embrace the sort of high-concept hotel design made famous by Starck and Schrager in... Read More
Hotel Le Germain Toronto: Toronto, Ontario, Canada; View | Reserve; It's about time squeaky-clean Toronto had a style transplant, and it's probably no surprise that this one happens to be a Québecois import. The Germain family's first Ontario outpost adds a dash of style to the theater district, in the form of this scratch-built 11-story red brick building, which... Read More
Hotel le Germain – Dominion (ex-Hotel Dominion 1912): Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; View | Reserve; Classic architecture meets modern interior design in this Old Port boutique, perennial contender for the title of Québec City’s finest small hotel. Once the 1912 Dominion Fish & Fruit building, today it’s the Hotel le Germain – Dominion, a warm and inviting home base for exploring the historic... Read More
Hotel Le Grand Balcon: Toulouse, France; View | Reserve; Unless you’re an academic, an aerospace engineer, or, you know, French, you probably don’t pay a huge amount of attention to what goes on in Toulouse. The south gets more tourist traffic than the southwest, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see here: a look at the Hôtel Le Grand Balcon... Read More
Hotel Le Meurice - Dorchester Collection: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Nicknamed “The Hotel of Kings”, the Meurice has played host to everyone from Queen Victoria and the Maharajah of Jaipur to the King and Queen of Spain. For more than a hundred years the Meurice has been, for many, the quintessential French hotel. Reflecting its uninterrupted attachment to the... Read More
Hotel Le Saint Paul: Saint Paul de Vence, France; View | Reserve; There's more to the Côte D'Azur than the opulent casino hotels of Monte Carlo and the grand palaces of Cannes — and Le Saint-Paul is a perfect example of the alternative. The walled town of Saint Paul de Vence is just 15 kilometers from Nice airport, midway between Cannes and Monaco, but... Read More
Hotel Lenado: Aspen, CO, USA; View | Reserve; Aspen, as one of the most famous destinations in the Rockies, has more than a few big and glamorous hotels. And for those in the mood for something on a smaller scale, there are some more intimate options, though perhaps none so unexpectedly modern or unconventional as Hotel Lenado... Read More
Hotel Les Trois Rois: Basel, Switzerland; View | Reserve; There’s history, and then there’s history; there are old hotels, and then there are old hotels. Few, though, are quite as old as Les Trois Rois (or the Drei Könige, if you prefer), which has stood by the banks of the Rhine since the year 1026. The building, happily, isn’t quite that old, dating... Read More
Hotel Lisboa Plaza: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; Just off the the Avenida da Liberdade, the main boulevard in Lisbon’s city center, lies the fifty-year-old Hotel Lisboa Plaza, a classic family-owned hotel housed in a listed historic monument, behind a charming Art Nouveau facade. Here you’re within walking distance of the best of... Read More
Hotel Lord Byron: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; It’s readily apparent from the name that the Hotel Lord Byron is nobody’s idea of a stereotypical Roman hotel. And though there’s nothing wrong with Rome’s central grand hotels, there’s something to be said for a smaller and more intimate hotel, just off the Borghese... Read More
Hotel Los Gatos: Los Gatos , CA, USA; View | Reserve; Los Gatos, if you’re not familiar, is a charming little town just outside of San Jose, nestled at the foot of the Santa Cruz mountain range. It’s no Silicon Valley insta-suburb, however — there was a Ferrari dealership on Main Street back when the internet was just a gleam in the Defense... Read More
Hotel Louis C. Jacob: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; On the banks of the Elbe river, to the west of the Hamburg city center, is an old-world throwback to the Hanseatic days: the two-hundred-year-old Hotel Louis C. Jacob. It’s named for a French gardener, and after one look at the meticulous landscaping that surrounds this opulent mansion of a hotel... Read More
Hotel Madero: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; Compared to its high-profile neighbor, the Philippe Starck-designed Faena, the Hotel Madero is downright sedate, just a humble business hotel as opposed to a “universe” and a comprehensive lifestyle program. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and frankly the world would be a better place if... Read More
Hotel Madlein: Ischgl, Tirol, Austria; View | Reserve; Hard to believe, but once upon a time the Alps were considered an eyesore, a terrifying no-man's land populated with dragons, forming an impenetrable barrier between the north of Italy and the rest of the continent. But all that had changed by the time a visiting Norwegian brought his skis to... Read More
Hotel Majestic Cannes Barriere: Cannes, France; View | Reserve; No hotel market is immune to change. But the scene in Cannes along La Croisette has looked more or less like it does now for the better part of a century. And among the grand old luxury hotels along the beachfront promenade, the Majestic is one of the most celebrated. This Art Deco palace dates... Read More
Hotel Maria Cristina: San Sebastian, Spain; View | Reserve; We're as fond as anyone is of the small hotel, the quirky hotel, the independently owned, off-the-beaten-path hotel — but there's something to be said for seeing a city from the vantage point of one of its classic grand hotels. San Sebastian's most luxurious hotel is the Maria Cristina, on the... Read More
Hotel Market: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Any doubts about whether Barcelona really is one of the world’s capitals of cool are quickly settled by a look at the boutique hotel scene. And in a city full of funky, well-designed small boutiques, the Hotel Market fits in perfectly... Read More
Hotel Marques de Riscal: Elciego, Rioja, Spain; View | Reserve; There’s something of an architecture arms race afoot in the Rioja wine country, with new buildings by the likes of Zaha Hadid and Santiago Calatrava now joined by one from the Basque country’s adopted son, Frank Gehry. Originally intended just as a corporate headquarters for the Marquès... Read More
Hotel Martinez: Cannes, France; View | Reserve; The Art Deco king of the Croisette has seen some ups and downs throughout the decades since its 1929 opening; but today, after a thorough renovation, the Hotel Martinez is poised to recapture its place of honor along Cannes’s famed oceanfront promenade... Read More
Hotel Mas de Peint: Arles, France; View | Reserve; Hotel closed from mid-January to mid-March, and from mid-November to mid-December. Restaurant closed Wednesdays and for lunch on Thursdays... Read More
Hotel Max: Seattle, WA, USA; View | Reserve; What used to be the wholly unremarkable downtown Hotel Vance is now making a play for the title of Seattle’s hippest hotel, under a new name: Hotel Max. To that end, it’s had something of a modern-design makeover, and the new look, all brightly colored modern furnishings against dark masculine... Read More
Hotel Maya: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; View | Reserve; Finally, with the arrival of the newly renovated Hotel Maya, the decades-old design boutique wave has touched ground in Kuala Lumpur. In a city that’s clearly no stranger to modern building — the iconic Petronas Towers, for example, stand just blocks away — there’s been a distinctly conservative... Read More
Hotel Mayet: Paris, France; View | Reserve; At this late date the mere fact of a contemporary-style hotel in Paris may not be enough to raise eyebrows. But add to that the fact that Hotel Mayet manages to come in at a starting rate of under €120 per night, and you’ve got yourself a story... Read More
Hotel Metropole: Monte Carlo, Monaco; View | Reserve; Some classic hotels are never quite the same again after a big renovation. The Métropole, however, is perhaps even more a big deal than it already was — when it started to show its age, the famed Parisian designer Jacques Garcia was commissioned for an update, and it turns out that his hyper-luxe... Read More
Hotel Mirador de Dalt Vila: Ibiza, Baleares, Spain; View | Reserve; While Ibiza may be primarily known for its hedonistic nightlife, there’s a lot to recommend it by day — the old town is as picturesque as they come, and the Balearic island setting isn’t exactly hard on the eyes either. Dalt Vila is the old town, the fortified hilltop settlement, and the Hotel... Read More
Hotel Miramar Barcelona: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Score one for historic preservation, as well as one for modern architecture. This Twenties palace sat disused on a Montjuïc hillside for decades, which was a waste, considering its view of the port, and its semi-idyllic city-park location. Now, though, it’s rather exceeded its original potential... Read More
Hotel Misani: St. Moritz - Celerina, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Think of St. Moritz, and Swiss alpine resorts in general, and the word “affordable” might not leap directly to mind. For the most part it’s still very much an upscale destination, but just down the road in Celerina, one town over from St. Moritz proper, there’s a much more attainable option, in the... Read More
Hotel Missoni Edinburgh: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; We’ve seen fashion hotels before. In some ways the parallel between fashion design and hotel design seems apt — if an outfit is a temporary personality, then a hotel is a temporary lifestyle, and there’s an element of fantasy to both. If there’s anything really unusual about the Hotel Missoni, it’s... Read More
Hotel Monaco Chicago - a Kimpton Hotel: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; Chicago’s Hotel Monaco may be perfectly located for business travelers, but this hotel’s atmosphere is anything but buttoned-up. Most business hotels aim for inoffensive and land somewhere between bland and charmless—the Monaco, in contrast, heaps on the Art Deco kitsch with a shovel, decorating... Read More
Hotel Monaco Portland - a Kimpton Hotel: Portland, OR, USA; View | Reserve; Yes, the Hotel Monaco in Portland is descended from (or shares a lineage with, or something) the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco. Both are part of the California-based Kimpton group, whose accessible boutique aesthetic is spreading across the United States. With more charm and character than the... Read More
Hotel Monaco Seattle - a Kimpton Hotel: Seattle, WA, USA; View | Reserve; Though located deep in the heart of Seattle’s financial district, Hotel Monaco is anything but the typical drab business accommodation. After all, what corporate chain hotel boasts bright yellow and red striped wallpaper in the guest rooms, animal-print upholstery, and dog coats monogrammed... Read More
Hotel Monasterio: Cusco, Peru; View | Reserve; "Now with oxygen enriched rooms" - Hotel Monasterio... Read More
Hotel Mont Blanc: Megeve, France; View | Reserve; Long the biggest name in Megève hotels, the Hôtel Mont-Blanc has done a bit of sprucing up. Actually it goes deeper than that — the new-look Mont-Blanc joins a family that also includes such Tablet favorites as Cour des Loges and Les Fermes de Marie, with a new design by the very same Jocelyne... Read More
Hotel Montalembert: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Most Parisian hotels, for better or worse, fit comfortably into one category or another — the bohemian boltholes, the lavish luxury hotels, the impeccably styled minimalist boutiques. But like a lot of the best hotels, the Hôtel Montalembert defies categorization. It’s on the Left Bank but it’s far... Read More
Hotel Murmuri: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; At one extreme Barcelona’s got bold avant-garde architecture and streaming Mediterranean sunshine. And at the other it’s got quiet, chic little hideaways like the Murmuri, a 53-room boutique hotel just off the Passeig de Gràcia, in Barcelona’s central Eixample district... Read More
Hotel Nelligan: Montreal, Québec, Canada; View | Reserve; The Hotel Nelligan is named for Émile Nelligan, one of Quebec’s most celebrated poets, and his face and quotations adorn the interiors of the hotel. It’s a detail that stops well short of outright gimmickry, but it contributes to the sense of history that is thick in the halls of... Read More
Hotel Neruda: Prague , Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Hotel Neruda is named for Czech writer and poet Jan Neruda, who was raised in this district, the Malá Strana, and who, by some accounts, lived in this building, a converted foureenth-century convent, just down the hill from Prague Castle. Neruda was an obsessive documentor of this... Read More
Hotel Nikopolis Thessaloniki: Thessaloniki, Greece; View | Reserve; If Puglia is the new Tuscany, then maybe Greek Macedonia is the new Mykonos. Bounded by the Aegean Sea on the northern coast, the region boasts a natural beauty that’s similar to that of the south — but without the crowds and the constantly unloading cruise ships. Due to its relative obscurity... Read More
Hotel Normandy: Deauville, France; View | Reserve; The Côte d’Azur has its devotees, to be sure, but there’s always been a contingent that prefers the coast of Normandy — what it may lack in Mediterranean balm it more than makes up for in proximity to Paris, not to mention London and Brussels. And for close to a century the smart money has been on... Read More
Hotel Oceana Santa Monica: Santa Monica, CA, USA; View | Reserve; There’s a case to be made that the popular image of LA has it all wrong. It’s a vast, sprawling, crowded city, in most places hardly the oasis of mellowness it’s commonly suspected of being. Santa Monica, however, is exactly that oasis of mellowness — it’s got the beach, the pier, the promenade... Read More
Hotel of Modern Art: Guilin, Guangxi, China; View | Reserve; Yes, why not a Hotel of Modern Art. To be more exact, perhaps a hotel of modern sculpture: this resort outside Guilin, in China’s south central Guangxi province, is surrounded by a thousand and a half acres of outdoor sculpture, by a wide-ranging array of international artists. It’s the folly (in... Read More
Hotel Omm: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Sunlight and privacy — these are the twin motivations behind Omm's unique facade, a slab of light stone with rectangular sections peeled back like the pages of a book, revealing the guest room windows underneath. The white slab reflects the strong Catalan sun into the room, while blocking the... Read More
Hotel on Rivington: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About Hotel on Rivington... Read More
Hotel Opera: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; From the name it could be an overstuffed baroque fantasy; from the outside it could be a bank. The location, just across from the Royal Opera, accounts for the name, and the Los Austrias district, nearby the Royal Palace, is obviously an upscale one. So it’s all the more surprising that Madrid’s... Read More
Hotel Ormelune: Val d’isère , France; View | Reserve; Please note: this hotel is seasonal, and is open from December until the end of April... Read More
Hotel Palafitte: Neuchâtel, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Perfect for those with no taste for the tropics, or anyone who appreciates an inventive and inspiring hotel, Hôtel Palafitte is a South Pacific-style overwater bungalow hotel, located not in the Maldives but on the waters of Switzerland’s Lake Neuchâtel, at the foot of the Jura mountains, with a... Read More
Hotel Plaza Athenee - Dorchester Collection: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Combining Eighteenth-Century elegance and Art Déco cool, this Belle Epoque hotel may be a classic but it is no museum. Even in its youth, in the 1930s, the Plaza Athénée was equal parts classical French style and contemporary hipster hangout — the likes of Josephine Baker and Rudolph Valentino... Read More
Hotel Pont Royal: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Time was, in the early years of the last century, the Pont Royal was a haunt for literary types — this, of course, back when Paris was the destination of choice for writers in any language. Today it’s known for creation of a different sort; not only is it an intimate 75-room luxury boutique hotel... Read More
Hotel Principe Di Savoia - Dorchester Collection: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; The Principe is the grandaddy of Milan hotels—ostentatious and slightly fraying, with a staff of elderly men who seem to have worked there since the beginning of time. It’s easy to imagine that it’s stayed the same for the last hundred years—crystal chandeliers in the lobby, ornate antique chests... Read More
Hotel Pucic Palace: Dubrovnik, Croatia; View | Reserve; It’s a pleasure to see Croatia in the news for something other than football or political trouble. These days tourism is booming, especially in Dubrovnik — travelers, it seems, are charmed by its sidewalk cafes and historic sights, and are descending on the “jewel of the Adriatic”... Read More
Hotel Pulitzer: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; The more brand-conscious among you may be imagining an American-style business hotel, transplanted to the Netherlands.Well, things are a little bit different in Amsterdam — mainly in terms of the legality of various leisure pursuits, but there are differences in the hotel world as well. In... Read More
Hotel Pulitzer Barcelona: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Hotel Pulitzer Barcelona:The Hotel Pulitzer Barcelona is a boutique luxury hotel in Barcelona, Spain situated on Bergera street which opens on to Plaza Catalunya, the center of Barcelona... Read More
Hotel Pulitzer Roma: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; Sister to the smart and stylish Hotel Pulitzer in central Barcelona, the Pulitzer Roma occupies a 20th-century modernist building in the EUR district, the Fascist-era exposition center, now a business park and residential area just south of the city center. And what it lacks in picture-postcard... Read More
Hotel PUR: Quebec City, Canada; View | Reserve; Québec City’s not all castles and ramparts, not by a long shot. Quite a bit of it, as in many other North American cities, is Sixties and Seventies office towers. And say what you will about office towers—certainly they’re not the most picturesque things in the world—but once you’re inside the... Read More
Hotel Q!: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Berlin’s new Hotel Q! is as stylish a space as any of the high-end retail shops around the corner on the Kurfürstendamm—and quite a bit more affordable. Unlike similarly avant-garde hotels in, say, London or Milan, Q! shows that high-design hotel interiors need not demand a premium price... Read More
Hotel Quadrifolio: Cartagena de Indias, Colombia; View | Reserve; Named for the four-leaf-clover figure that forms a common motif in Spanish Colonial Colombian architecture, the Quadrifolio is a bit of a time capsule. It’s a renovated colonial manor house on the Calle del Cuartel, in the historic walled old town of Cartagena, the port city where Colombia meets... Read More
Hotel Quinta Das Lagrimas: Coimbra, Portugal; View | Reserve; One of Portugal’s best-kept secrets, the Quinta das Lágrimas is an authentic aristocratic residence on a sprawling garden estate in the inland city of Coimbra, the historic capital of the Kingdom of Portugal. Though steeped in history, it’s not all old-fashioned — beyond that stately golden... Read More
Hotel Quinta do Lago: Algarve, Portugal; View | Reserve; Hotel Quinta do Lago isn’t the sort of place where you check in because you happen to be passing through Southern Portugal—this is a first-class luxury resort, a destination unto itself, attracting the likes of football stars, opera singers and genuine aristocracy from all over the world to the... Read More
Hotel Quintessence: Mont-Tremblant, Canada; View | Reserve; The age of the boutique ski hotel is upon us. While the typical North American mountain resort counts rooms by the hundreds, Quintessence, on the shores of Quebec’s Lake Tremblant, numbers just thirty suites — though surely they had space for more, as each spans at least 700 square feet, they went... Read More
Hotel Raya: Panarea, Italy; View | Reserve; Panarea is the smallest of the inhabited Aeolian islands, just a speck of a place off the coast of Sicily — the perfect location for a quiet, subdued sort of resort, the kind of escape that hardly seems possible in today’s Italy. While the rocky, olive-dotted island’s simple charms have... Read More
Hotel Recamier: Paris, France; View | Reserve; If there’s a common thread that runs through most of Paris’s big-name hotels it’s this: whether they’re centuries-old grand hotels or cutting-edge design experiments, they tend to announce themselves with some fanfare. For that reason we’re always partial to the soft-spoken, to Parisian hotels that... Read More
Hotel Restaurant Troisgros: Roanne, France; View | Reserve; The culinary tradition of France’s famed Troisgros family is on display here in Roanne, and most guests are in it for the food, frankly. Don’t let that fact obscure the brilliance of this hotel, though; while Michel Troisgros works his magic in the kitchen, Marie-Pierre tends to the aesthetics, and... Read More
Hotel Rex: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Those who aren’t fans of the 1930s detective stories may be unaware that San Francisco is the original hardboiled town. San Francisco crime had class—dames in silk stockings offering you two hundred to knock off tiresome husbands. Well, the Hotel Rex hasn’t forgotten this... Read More
Hotel Ritz: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; The Ritz Madrid boasts a noble heritage; the child, quite literally, of Alfonso XIII, who opened it in 1910. Guests are those with too much good taste to stay elsewhere: Paloma Picasso, Nelson Rockefeller, Barbara Hutton, and the Rainiers, who came here on their honeymoon. Today, rooms look very... Read More
Hotel Rival: Stockholm, Sweden; View | Reserve; Widely hailed as Stockholm’s first boutique hotel, the newly rehabilitated Hotel Rival is in the heart of the hip Södermalm district and comes complete with an entertaining pop culture connection in the person of owner Benny Andersson, of ABBA fame. Some say Andersson is the reason the... Read More
Hotel Roemer: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; Hotels in Amsterdam are an odd business. For all the talk about ultra-edgy Dutch design it’s often forgotten that they’ve got quite a lot of protected historic architecture to contend with. The Hotel Roemer, however, expertly manages this fusion of old and new — behind its 18th-century townhouse... Read More
Hotel Rouge: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; On the whole, Washington's buttoned-up image is well deserved — among the many areas of life with which Washingtonians are concerned, style does not always rank highly. And the hotels, like the people, tend to be dignified, serious, even elegant, but just not very hip. Hotel Rouge, though, is one... Read More
Hotel Royal - Evian: Evian-Les-Bains, France; View | Reserve; Yes, that Evian. The same company that owns the famous French water bottler also owns the Evian Royal Resort, comprising a pair of hotels — one, l’Ermitage, in the woods a few miles inland, and the other, the Evian Royal Palace, right by the shore of Lake Geneva... Read More
Hotel Royal Riviera: St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France; View | Reserve; For decades, the French Riviera was unchallenged as the center of all that was glamorous on the Mediterranean, from the Roaring Twenties through the Swinging Sixties—but at some point, the gilt-edged opulence and wedding-cake splendor started looking dated, and the beautiful people moved on... Read More
Hotel Sacher Salzburg: Salzburg, Austria; View | Reserve; The Hotel Sacher Salzburg was born the Hotel D'Autriche in 1866, and remains to this day one of Salzburg's grandest hotels, occupying a privileged position along the banks of the Salzach river. And even today it's better known under another name — the Österreichischer Hof, or, mercifully, the ÖH... Read More
Hotel Sacher Wien: Vienna, Austria; View | Reserve; Don’t let the masses of tourists at the Sacher Café put you off. The Sacher torte (an unbelievably sinful chocolate cake) is at once the hotel’s claim to fame and, for its ability to draw a crowd, its greatest disadvantage. But everything else about the Hotel Sacher is charming and exclusive... Read More
Hotel Saint Cecilia: Austin, TX, USA; View | Reserve; For a while now Austin has been one of the United States’ best-kept secrets: a little enclave of progressive thought, high-tech savvy, and hipster culture, cleverly hidden in Texas, which is not the first place you’d look — and it’s disguised as the state capital, no less. But until recently its... Read More
Hotel San Anselmo: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; A little off the beaten path, in a residential neighborhood on the Aventine Hill, the Hotel San Anselmo is ideal for that most paradoxical of escapes: the big-city hideaway. Whether it’s a lovers’ weekend or just some time alone, it’s an undeniable fact that some of us would rather disappear to the... Read More
Hotel San Jose: Austin, TX, USA; View | Reserve; A half-mile south of downtown, in Austin’s authentically funky South Congress neighborhood, the San Jose perfectly fits its location: it’s unpretentiously stylish, relaxed and comfortable, and surprisingly easy on the budget, cheaper even than the big chains downtown... Read More
Hotel San Roque: Garachico - Isla Baja, Tenerife, Spain; View | Reserve; Geographically speaking, a holiday in the Canary Islands is already pretty much by definition an exercise in getting away from it all. But you’ve got to choose wisely — there are parts of Tenerife that are so thoughtlessly overdeveloped as to leave you wondering why you bothered at all. Luckily... Read More
Hotel Santa Caterina: Amalfi, Italy; View | Reserve; It’s the rare traditional-style hotel that really gets us going, but the Santa Caterina is an absolute classic. Family-owned for the better part of a century, it sits high on a hillside facing the sea and the town of Amalfi — guests ride an elevator down to the hotel’s private beach, for the... Read More
Hotel Santa Teresa: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; View | Reserve; Here’s an entirely new take on the familiar city of Rio de Janeiro. The gentrifying, bohemian Santa Teresa district is an exception among Rio’s most desirable neighborhoods, in that it’s high up on the hillside rather than down along the beach. This is a district full of colonial mansions and... Read More
Hotel Savoy: Florence, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; From the look of the Savoy’s facade, facing onto central Florence’s Piazza della Repubblica, one would perhaps expect the sort of arch and historic grand hotel that hasn’t seen so much as a new set of draperies since it opened in 1893. Perhaps a few years ago this impression would have been... Read More
Hotel Savoy Prague: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Just down the road from Prague Castle, behind a soft and quiet yellow Jugendstil facade, is one of the city’s finest hotels, the Savoy. Adjacent to the Foreign Ministry, the Savoy has become a favorite for visiting officials, and anyone in the market for an elegant yet understated experience... Read More
Hotel Seerose Classic & Elements: Meisterschwanden, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Behind the unconventional is a hotel with something of a split personality. Here just outside the village of Meisterschwanden, alongside Lake Hallwil in north central Switzerland, is what’s really two hotels in one: Seerose Elements, a high-design contemporary-style boutique hotel, and Seerose... Read More
Hotel Sezz: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Please note: While the jacuzzi at Hotel Sezz is presently closed, the hammam and massage services are still available... Read More
Hotel Signum: Malfa Salina, Sicily, Italy; View | Reserve; Scientists look at Sicily and see volcanic landforms, geothermal sites and ongoing geologic land-creation, the building of the earth itself. For anyone seeking to indulge their inner volcanologist, there’s not much left to say. But for the rest of us there’s the Hotel Signum. A marriage between... Read More
Hotel Silken Puerta America: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; Sure, it’s a Metro ride away from the sights of central Madrid, the Royal Palace, the opera house, the museums; but for the sort of travelers who’ll stay here, the Hotel Puerta America is a sight unto itself. It’s practically a museum of modern architecture and design, from John Pawson’s lobby and... Read More
Hotel Skt Petri: Copenhagen, Denmark; View | Reserve; In downtown Copenhagen's Latin quarter, just off the Strøget (the famed shoppers' walk), is the Hotel Skt. Petri. The very large building was previously home to the Daells Varehus department store, and the hotel's exterior retains the quaint, retro-futuristic look of the 75-year-old building.The... Read More
Hotel Solamar - a Kimpton Hotel: San Diego, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Located in the booming Gaslamp quarter, and just a block from the new baseball stadium that’s driving this city-center renaissance, Hotel Solamar is the first San Diego venture for the San Francisco-based Kimpton group — a group that’s busy exporting its funky yet accessible aesthetic all over the... Read More
Hotel Spadari al Duomo: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; You might surmise from the name that the Spadari is just steps away from the Duomo cathedral, and you'd be right. But close proximity to tourist attractions isn't what keeps the Spadari's style-conscious clientele coming back again and again—designers and editors set up shop here during the... Read More
Hotel Splendido: Portofino, Riviera, Italy; View | Reserve; Note: Hotel Splendido is closed from November 28, 2009 - April 2, 2010... Read More
Hotel Square: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Paris, a city of historical architecture, has very few hotels that make an unequivocally modern design statement. Hôtel Square is one of them. The hotel is located in the 16th arrondissement, close to the Eiffel Tower, but also right in the midst of the media district, just opposite the Maison de... Read More
Hotel St. Augustine: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; In Miami’s bid to maintain its reputation as America’s sexiest destination, South Beach is its red carpet. With hotels, bars and clubs like glittering starlets flashing canned smiles to the cameras, SoBe’s exhibitionistic brand of luxury sometimes borders on sensory overload. So while its hot-list... Read More
Hotel St. Paul: Montreal, Quebec, Canada; View | Reserve; The landmark Beaux-Arts exterior of the ten-story St. Paul Hotel, in the heart of the historic district of Vieux Montréal, is utterly at odds with what’s inside—an utterly modern and minimalist hotel, something light and ethereal, straight from the pages of a design magazine... Read More
Hotel Stein: Salzburg, Austria; View | Reserve; So effectively does Salzburg trade on the fact of having been Mozart’s birthplace that its more immediate charms are easily overlooked. But Amadeus or no Amadeus, the fact remains that Salzburg is a picturesque, ancient Alpine town, in the heart of Austria, one of western Europe’s most livable... Read More
Hotel Straf: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; The Straf is one of the new breed of high-design hotels to have recently opened in downtown Milan. The city that this hotel inhabits is less the dingy industrial center of decades past, and more the new Milan, the center of all things stylish in Italy. In this case, the architect, Vincenzo de... Read More
Hotel Teatro: Denver, CO, USA; View | Reserve; This refurbished 1911 landmark bills itself as Denver’s only luxury boutique, and it certainly has a strong claim to that title. Smallish and reservedly stylish, it’s all intimate elegance, its 111 guest rooms fashioned from Indonesian sandstone and marble and outfitted with luxurious earth-toned... Read More
Hotel Terra: Teton Village, WY, USA; View | Reserve; At this point there’s very little left to say about places like Aspen or Jackson Hole. If après-ski glamour is your thing, then your choice is basically one or the other. And if you care more about the mountain than the village, then you’ll probably write these places off as overly civilized. But... Read More
Hotel Therese: Paris, France; View | Reserve; It would be difficult to imagine a location for a hotel that would be closer to the center of it all than the Hotel Thérèse. Just a stone's throw away from the Louvre, the Palais Royal, and the Comédie Française, this hotel could hardly be in a better location for shopping or sightseeing. The... Read More
Hotel Tres: Palma de Mallorca, Spain; View | Reserve; One of Palma de Mallorca’s most stylish hotels brings to this Spanish Gothic town an infusion of bright Scandinavian modernism. This Swedish-owned boutique spans the centuries, a sixteenth-century mansion and a Sixties apartment block joined together, the interiors renovated and redecorated... Read More
Hotel Tresanton: St. Mawes, Cornwall, UK; View | Reserve; In the postwar years the Tresanton was one of Britain’s favorite seaside hotels, before falling on hard times from the Seventies on. Lately it’s again become one of Cornwall’s hottest spots, rescued from the ravages of time by Olga Polizzi, perhaps best known as the keen decorator... Read More
Hotel Una: Brighton, East Sussex, UK; View | Reserve; Kitsch still runs rampant in Brighton, as an ironic nod to this seaside town’s progressive loss of status, as first rail and then air travel made more exotic destinations suddenly accessible. You’ll find none of this irony on display at the Hotel Una, however; this place dispenses with the... Read More
Hotel Unique: Sao Paulo, Brazil; View | Reserve; We are going to try to resist commenting on Hotel Unique's name, as it should be obvious enough from the photos that it is an appropriate one. The design is inescapable — the structure is by Niemeyer protegé Ruy Ohtake (himself one of Brazil's most famous architects) and takes the form of a... Read More
Hotel Urban: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; Madrid may be the more conservative of Spain’s big cities, but there’s plenty of modern design, made all the more striking by the contrast with the city’s prevailing classic architecture, much of it dating to the 18th century and earlier. In the center of Habsburg Madrid, near the Puerta del Sol... Read More
Hotel Valencia Riverwalk: San Antonio, TX, USA; View | Reserve; As American cities go, San Antonio is not exactly on the cutting edge of fashion. But visiting the “Fiesta City” doesn’t have to mean resigning yourself to a forgettable stay at one of the big chains. The Hotel Valencia Riverwalk towers over El Paseo del Rio, the famed riverside promenade, and is... Read More
Hotel Valencia Santana Row: San Jose, CA, USA; View | Reserve; For all the cash flowing in and out of Silicon Valley, San Jose Northern California’s overlooked city, less cultured and picturesque than San Francisco and lacking even Sacramento’s dubious status as state capital. Visitors would have found plenty of chain hotels, motor inns and little... Read More
Hotel Valley Ho: Scottsdale, Arizona, USA; View | Reserve; Tokyo has its skyscraper-hotels, London has its converted Georgian townhouses, Germany its art hotels. If there’s such a thing as a uniquely American hotel concept, it’s probably the boutique motel — a prime example being the Hotel Valley Ho, in Scottsdale, the upscale and somewhat historic Phoenix... Read More
Hotel Verhaegen: Ghent, Flanders, Belgium; View | Reserve; Not a hotel in the way we typically use the word, the Verhaegen slides in on the Francophone exemption. In English we’d call it a bed and breakfast, or maybe a guest house — whatever you want to call it, it’s a carefully preserved 18th-century mansion located just off the old port, two streets away... Read More
Hotel Vertigo: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Back when it was called the Empire, this downtown San Francisco classic played a role in Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Now, after a very thorough renovation and re-branding, the film plays on a loop in the lobby. Recently, as the York, it was showing its age — but that was before the reins were handed to... Read More
Hotel Victor: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; It’s not easy making a splash in South Beach’s sea of would-be chic hotels. At every turn a gaggle of trend-chasing properties are vying for to be at once impossibly cool, deeply conceptual, and plush enough to attract pampered celebrities. Hotel Victor takes a risk with its Ocean Drive location... Read More
Hotel Villa Cipriani: Asolo, Italy; View | Reserve; Venice is of course a wonderful place, but it can be a bit much; beautiful, delicate, and crumbling, it is besieged by tourists year-round. So why not stay where the Venetians themselves have historically gone to get away from it all... Read More
Hotel Villa del Quar: Verona, Italy; View | Reserve; Though not as heavily traveled as some of Italy’s neighboring regions, the Veneto has more than its share of charms. Verona is a major one, a small and picturesque city rich with history; another lesser-known one is the Villa del Quar, a 16th- and 18th-century villa on an estate just a few minutes... Read More
Hotel Villa Fiesole: Florence, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; Hotel Villa Fiesole is far more than one has any right to expect from a hotel. Fiesole is a small town in the gorgeous wooded hills above Florence, and the Villa itself is a converted private residence, an elegant, luxurious hotel, peaceful and idyllic, yet with a view of the city. Add to this the... Read More
Hotel Villa Real: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; Madrid’s Hotel Villa Real may be a bit more traditional in style than its sister, Barcelona’s Claris—but that’s to be expected, given the stylistic differences between the two cities. The Villa Real may not be an ultra-modern design showcase, but for conservative Madrid, it’s downright striking... Read More
Hotel Villa San Michele: Fiesole, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; Heat, cathedrals, and German tourists clicking cameras at the Venus de Milo — Florence in the summer has a way of wearing you down. Desperate? Well, a way out exists, a fifteen-minute drive outside of the city's throbbing heart. Welcome to the Villa San Michele, where tranquility reigns, alongside... Read More
Hotel Villa Soro: San Sebastian, Spain; View | Reserve; San Sebastián is not quite at the top of the list for Spanish destinations, but it’s hard to say why. Perhaps it’s that those few tourists who venture north find themselves at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, but everyone, it seems, is missing out on a perfectly shaped bay and some extraordinary cooking... Read More
Hotel Vincci Maritimo: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; The Vincci hotels are a chain seemingly intent on injecting a sleek, no-nonsense modernity to the multifarious Spanish hotel scene, a scene that ranges from dusky and traditional old palaces to Guggenheim-inspired flights of postmodern fancy. Against these extremes, the Vincci Maritimo seems a... Read More
Hotel Vitale: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; One of the only brand-new ground-up hotel projects to open in San Francisco this decade, the Vitale stands on the newly revitalized Embarcadero, right across from the foodie mecca that is the rehabilitated Ferry Building. This is new-school luxury hospitality, distinct from the stately palaces of... Read More
Hotel Vondel: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; Other Amsterdam boutique hotels get more attention, but the quietly stylish Vondel has become one of the city’s most desirable lodgings. And it’s easy to see why: a charming townhouse setting, located just off the nightlife-centric Leidseplein and close to the Museumplein and the shops on PC... Read More
Hotel Yasmin: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Prague has been one of Europe’s most talked-about destinations for some time now, but until lately, high-design boutique hotels have been a bit thin on the ground. Bit by bit, though, the city’s classic old buildings are getting a contemporary makeover — a case in point is the Hotel... Read More
Hotel Zaza Dallas: Dallas, TX, USA; View | Reserve; Just because you’re going to Dallas doesn’t mean you have to stay at one of the big chain hotels. Hotel ZaZa is, if you can believe it, a bit of the south of France, transplanted to the south-central United States. It’s a conceit that seems difficult to carry off, but in this case it certainly... Read More
Hotel Zaza Houston: Houston, TX, USA; View | Reserve; In Texas everything really is a little bit bigger, a little bit bolder. And the boutique hotels are no exception. Downtown Houston’s Hotel ZaZa, the second from the Dallas-based group, puts decadence first, and you won’t confuse it for a business chain anytime soon... Read More
Hotelito Desconocido: Cruz de Loreto-Tomatlan, Jalisco, Mexico; View | Reserve; Note: Hotelito Desconocido is closed due to renovations until January 2010... Read More
Hudson Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About Hudson Hotel... Read More
Huka Lodge: Taupo, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Huka Lodge is a fisherman's paradise, founded in 1930 on seventeen acres of land alongside the Waikato river, three hundred meters upstream from Huka Falls. The Waikato, along with some 40 other nearby rivers, attract anglers from all over the globe, and nearby Lake Taupo is filled to the brim with... Read More
Huvafen Fushi: Male, Maldives; View | Reserve; Just the fact that the Maldives exist is extraordinary in itself. Were the waters of the Indian Ocean just a few feet higher, there’d be virtually nothing here. As it is, though, these islands seem tailor-made for tourism — each one a picture-perfect island idyll, a soft sand beach ringing an... Read More
Hyatt Regency Birmingham: Birmingham, Midlands, UK; View | Reserve; As close as it is to London — globally speaking at least — Birmingham’s hotel scene could scarcely be more different. Simply put, with neither the immense demand nor the astronomical real estate costs, England’s second city feels less pressure to innovate. However, there’s a lot more to hotels than... Read More
Hyatt Regency Hakone Resort & Spa: Gora, Hakone, Japan; View | Reserve; Travelers to (and within) Japan know the Hyatt name means something special here. There’s the famous Park Hyatt in Tokyo, of course, and a number of fine Grand Hyatts all around the country. Located in Gora, a hot spring town at the foot of Mount Fuji, an hour and a half to the west of Tokyo, the... Read More
Hyatt Regency Johannesburg: Johannesburg, South Africa; View | Reserve; While foreign visitors know all about South Africa’s colonial-era charms, its mansion-style boutiques and classic old grand hotels, fewer seem to be aware of Johannesburg’s modern side — this is the de facto capital of sub-saharan Africa, and a global style center in its own right. So it should... Read More
Hyatt Regency Kyoto: Kyoto, Japan; View | Reserve; Here’s a hotel that forces you to dispense with a couple of easy generalizations. The first is the idea that the big chains guarantee a dull experience — not a bad rule of thumb but one with many, many exceptions. And the second is the idea that in Japan, Tokyo is the center of all that’s modern... Read More
I Portici Hotel Bologna: Bologna, Italy; View | Reserve; Maybe it’s out of necessity, or maybe it’s an aesthetic preference, but in either case, nowhere do they blend the historical and the contemporary more seamlessly than in Italy. And it’s in Bologna, one of Italy’s more picturesque old cities, that we find I Portici, a contemporary boutique-style... Read More
Ibiza Gran Hotel: Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain; View | Reserve; For a long time in Ibiza the hotel situation lagged some way behind the legendary nightlife. We’ve seen the odd boutique here and there making an effort to remedy the situation, but nothing on the scale of the Ibiza Gran Hotel. One look at the place and you can see it doesn’t suffer from any lack... Read More
Il Falconiere Relais e Ristorante: Cortona, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; Italy has its fair share of dazzling palace hotels, but there’s much joy to be had in the simpler pleasures of this rustic country villa. Once home to the 18th-century poet Antonio Guadagnoli, this tiny estate and its 400-year-old buildings were painstakingly restored by owners Silvia and Riccardo... Read More
Il Palazzo at the Bauer: Venice, Italy; View | Reserve; Of the two hotels on this Venice block, one might expect that we would prefer the Fifties-style Hotel Bauer; the city does suffer from a bit of antique overkill, and to be fair, the Bauer is a nice change of pace. But the real gem is the Bauer Il Palazzo—which is, as you may guess from the... Read More
Il Pellicano: Porto Ercole, Italy; View | Reserve; In a way, Il Pellicano’s location is notable for its lack of attractions. Most of Italy has been done to death, with a villa on every outcropping, an artistic treasure in every town, and every café beset by tourists in shorts begging for a cup of drip coffee. It’s the price a region pays, one... Read More
Il San Pietro di Positano: Positano, Italy; View | Reserve; Even by Italian standards, Positano is naturally breathtaking: its colorful houses and churches cling desperately to the mountainside, with postcard-perfect views of the sea coming seemingly a dime a dozen. Perhaps a bit more than a dime, actually; it’s possible (if unlikely) that there are... Read More
Ilha de Toque Toque: Sao Sebastiao, Brazil; View | Reserve; We may go to São Paulo for a taste of Brazil but when the Paulistanos are in the mood to escape, some head east: to São Sebastião, a coastal enclave some two and a half hours away. It’s not a resort town, per se, nor is it the “humble fishing village” of Brazilian-tourism cliché — it’s a town whose... Read More
Indigo Patagonia: Puerto Natales, Chile; View | Reserve; Time was, travelers to Patagonia were faced with a pretty stark choice: rough it in a tent or a hostel, or splash out five-star–style at Explora. But it seems the market has found a third way, as markets will: Puerto Natales, increasingly, is home to more than a few sub-luxury, supra-hostel... Read More
Indigo Pearl: Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; It’s a boutique hotel forged from the remnants of a century-old tin mine — and thanks to the efforts of the interior designer Bill Bensley, the look is akin to industrial cool. As luxury-spa-villa fatigue begins to set in, a new take on the old familiar Phuket is more than welcome... Read More
Inis Meain Restaurant & Suites: Co Galway, Ireland; View | Reserve; It’s not the first place you’d look for a hotel like this. Which, one imagines, is pretty much the point of the place. Inis Meáin is just a speck of a place, a tiny island in Galway Bay on the Atlantic side of Ireland, home to just 200 people. But two of those 200 are your hosts, a chef and his... Read More
Inkaterra La Casona: Cusco, South America, Peru; View | Reserve; The Peruvian Andes may seem at first glance to be more a backpacker’s sort of adventure, but La Casona is an option for those who want to start the Inca Trail in high luxury style. This rehabilitated Spanish colonial manor at the heart of the old town of Cusco has joined the Inkaterra family of... Read More
Inkaterra Machu Picchu: Machu Picchu, Peru; View | Reserve; It’s not the closest hotel to the ruins at Machu Picchu, but Inkaterra boasts a location that’s special in another way: this 85-room eco-lodge is surrounded by twelve acres of high-mountain forest filled with all kinds of flora and fauna, wild birds and exotic orchids. It’s at the edge of the town... Read More
Inn at Irving Place: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Not available online at this time; for reservations please contact Customer Service.Quite the opposite of what the New York hotel world has become, the Inn at Irving Place is like a snapshot of an entirely different era—a pair of 1834 townhouses without so much as a sign to mark its presence, it’s... Read More
Inn at Palmetto Bluff: Bluffton, SC, USA; View | Reserve; The Inn at Palmetto Bluff may be the first East Coast hotel from the California-based Auberge Resorts, but it would take a keen eye indeed to notice any Napa Valley influence here — this place, though brand new, is absolutely authentic, its fifty clapboard cottages built in the local Low Country... Read More
Inn at the Market: Seattle, WA, USA; View | Reserve; The Market, in this case, is Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, best known as the place where all that fish-tossing goes on. This inn is quite literally on the market, in the heart of Seattle’s most picturesque tourist area, and some rooms look over the market or the city, while others... Read More
Inn of the Spanish Garden: Santa Barbara, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Santa Barbara, though only 95 miles from Los Angeles, is the aesthetic opposite of the prevailing image of Southern California; L.A. might be all chaotic sprawl and strip malls, but development in Santa Barbara is tightly controlled. The result is that, while few buildings survive from before the... Read More
InterContinental Boston: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; A prime waterfront location in the Financial District is the only natural site for the InterContinental group’s grand entry into Boston, given the demographics of its likely audience — the fact that it’s pretty much the exact site of no less historic an occurrence than the Boston Tea Party is just... Read More
International House: New Orleans, LA, USA; View | Reserve; About the International House Hotel:International House Hotel is a newly renovated luxury boutique hotel in New Orleans. International House Hotel is located two blocks from the French Quarter in the historic Central Business District of New Orleans. It's recently opened restaurant Rambla from... Read More
Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong: Central, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; Quite possibly the apex of the Far East school of high-luxury mega-hotels, Hong Kong’s Island Shangri-La is nothing if not large. A futuristic skyscraper rising some 56 floors above Victoria Harbour, its 16-story glass-topped atrium contains the world’s largest landscape painting, an... Read More
Isle Of Eriska: Argyll, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; Most often when you talk about a private island hotel you’re talking about Tahiti or the Caribbean, not the western coast of Scotland. But then the Isle of Eriska isn’t your typical hotel. For one thing, there’s a bit of golf here, but not in a contemporary “golf resort” kind of way — here there... Read More
ITC Sonar: Kolkata, West Bengal, India; View | Reserve; If there’s one thing India does well it’s massive, lavish, and extremely well-equipped business hotels — unfortunately for the more design-sensitive among us, they tend to be extremely conservative in style. Not so, however, the ITC Sonar, on the outskirts of town near the Science City. This is a... Read More
Jade Mountain: Soufrière, St. Lucia; View | Reserve; That view of the Pitons from the wraparound infinity pool pretty much sums it up — this little corner of St. Lucia is one of the most stunning sites in the Caribbean. And now, with the opening of Jade Mountain, it’s got the small, intimate luxury resort that it’s always deserved... Read More
Jake's: St Elizabeth, Jamaica; View | Reserve; The appeal of Jake’s, in a nutshell, is that it’s more or less what you would want a Jamaican boutique hotel to be like. On an island whose tourism tends toward the tasteless and the all-inclusive, a place this mellow and unassuming is guaranteed to stand out... Read More
Jamaica Inn: Ocho Rios, St. Ann, Jamaica; View | Reserve; 10 night minimum stay over Christmas and New Years... Read More
Jasper Park Lodge: Jasper, Alberta, Canada; View | Reserve; Canada has a tradition of railway hotels, built by the rail companies to house travelers on the epic journey across this vast country. Many, like Château Lake Louise, are grand old palaces, rising like visions from the sublime Canadian landscape... Read More
Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort: Fiji Island, Fiji; View | Reserve; It may come as no surprise that a resort named for Jean-Michel Cousteau (son of Jacques, and a famous undersea explorer and filmmaker in his own right) offers a phenomenal diving experience. But there is more to Fiji than undersea life, and this is a resort designed to take full advantage of its... Read More
Jesmond Dene House: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, UK; View | Reserve; Even allowing for all the progress Newcastle has made in recent years, it’s still quite safe to say it’s one of the last places that springs to mind when you think of a likely setting for a country house holiday. Unless, of course, you happen to be thinking of the Jesmond Dene House. It’s not... Read More
JIA Hong Kong: Causeway Bay, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; Jia is Hong Kong’s first boutique hotel, and, surprisingly, the first in Asia for celebrity designer Philippe Starck—who, one presumes, was too busy opening hotels on three other continents to have got round to Asia any sooner. And though it’s a boutique, it’s anything but... Read More
JIA Shanghai: Shanghai, China; View | Reserve; The sequel to the Philippe Starck-designed JIA Hong Kong is a new direction for a successful franchise. JIA Shanghai is more a luxury-residence concept, at least in the design, courtesy of the Australian firm Hecker Phelan & Guthrie — it’s a fully serviced boutique hotel, just like its... Read More
Jiva Hill Park Hotel: Crozet, French side just across Swiss border, France; View | Reserve; We say Geneva for clarity’s sake but it’s worth knowing that the Jiva Hill Park Hotel is technically in France — it’s in the greater Geneva area, in the town of Crozet, just across the border, which looks out over the valley towards Lake Geneva. You’ll find it matters little, until you settle your... Read More
JK Place: Florence, Italy; View | Reserve; Florence is home to many old-fashioned palazzo hotels, and more than a few modern-design boutiques; and though JK Place falls closer to the latter category, it is something a little bit different. The architect designed the Lungarno hotels as well, so he’s no stranger to contemporary chic... Read More
JK Place Capri: Capri, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: JK Place Capri is open from 1 April until 30 October. In July and August there is a 7 night minimum stay requirement... Read More
Jumby Bay, A Rosewood Resort: St. John's, West Indies, Antigua / Barbuda; View | Reserve; Jumby Bay is currently closed for renovations and will not reopen until November 2009... Read More
Jupiter Hotel: Portland, OR, USA; View | Reserve; Though there’s a certain family resemblance between a hotel like the Jupiter and the glossy high-design luxury boutiques you see in the design magazines, the small-market American budget boutique is an altogether different sort of place. The Jupiter, the Thunderbird or the Hotel San Jose in the... Read More
JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; View | Reserve; Easy access to the airport and the northern business districts couple with prime beachfront real estate to make Juhu the ideal location for a hotel like the JW Marriott. This sprawling megahotel is equal parts cutting-edge business hotel and five-star luxury resort, serving corporate and leisure... Read More
Kahanda Kanda: Galle, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; Much of the buzz around Sri Lanka has centered on the seaside colonial town of Galle Fort, and the beach in general. Perfectly reasonable, and all very well — but there’s more to it than that. For example, a few miles inland from Galle there’s Kahanda Kanda, formerly a private residence and still a... Read More
Kameha Grand: Bonn, Germany; View | Reserve; There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the sensory feast that is the Kameha Grand – the stunning wing-shaped building by Karl-Heinz Schommer and the cutting-edge interiors by superstar designer Marcel Wanders leave jaws permanently dropped. It’s intended for that most desirable demographic, the... Read More
Kandalama Hotel: Dambulla, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; At the moment it seems the global travel industry has its sights set on Sri Lanka, and why not? The splendid climate, lush landscapes and pristine beaches make it a natural choice, now that the political situation has settled. But the action isn’t only happening down on the coasts. Dambulla, in... Read More
Kasbah du Toubkal: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; For the better part of a century, North Africa has been the preferred destination of Europeans in search of a mind-expanding, doors-of-perception-opening experience. Today much of Morocco has been brought back to Earth by an endless stream of holidaymakers. But 40 miles outside of Marrakech, high... Read More
Kasbah Tamadot: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Morocco is an undeniably intoxicating country, especially for Europeans. It’s fitting, then, that the story of Kasbah Tamadot’s beginnings reads like something from a modern fairytale: Sir Richard Branson’s mother first spotted this majestic estate while her son was preparing one of his balloon... Read More
Kauri Cliffs: Northland, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Kauri Cliffs is located at the northern edge of New Zealand's North Island, perched on a cliffside overlooking the Pacific and flanked by four thousand acres of rolling hilly farmland. Though it is perhaps best known for its world-class golf course, the resort's strengths are its remoteness and its... Read More
Kemang Icon by Alila: Jakarta, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Jakarta’s been slow to jump on the design hotel bandwagon. This is not necessarily a bad thing; it just means they’ve missed out on the awkward stages, where comfort was often sacrificed in the name of visual impact, when staffers were expected to look pretty rather than provide any... Read More
Kempinski Hotel Grand Arena: Bansko, Bulgaria; View | Reserve; Nobody is about to mistake Bansko, Bulgaria for St. Moritz. But it’s certainly not without its charms. You can actually afford to ski here, for one thing; and if you’re having an increasingly difficult time telling one Alpine resort from another, you’ll find Bansko has an almost comical abundance... Read More
Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch: Neu-Isenburg, Frankfurt, Germany; View | Reserve; Though only fifteen minutes from Frankfurt's city center, Gravenbruch is a country idyll, a wooded lakefront resort, and evolved over hundreds of years from country estate to hunting lodge to, finally, Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch. Its current incarnation is a five-star luxury hotel, equal parts... Read More
Kempinski Hotel Moika 22: St. Petersburg, Russia; View | Reserve; The Kempinski Hotel Moika 22 St. Petersburg is a throwback to an earlier era, the days a century and a half ago when St. Petersburg was still very much part of Europe; its neoclassical exterior, in fact, was designed by a Dutch architect. These days, as Russia re-assimilates itself, this sort of... Read More
Kempinski Hotel Taschenbergpalais: Dresden, Germany; View | Reserve; If you know your local history then you’ll know why a reconstruction of an 18th-century Baroque palace is just as big a point of local pride as an authentic, unreconstructed 18th-century Baroque palace. Either way, today the Taschenbergpalais is Dresden’s top luxury hotel, with the Kempinski flag... Read More
Kensington Place: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; Just outside Cape Town proper, in Higgovale, a quiet enclave overlooking the city from the foothills of Table Mountain, Kensington Place is about as intimate as they come — just eight suites, in a magazine-ready contemporary-luxe style, with all the bells and whistles, including sprawling king beds... Read More
Keswick Hall at Monticello: Charlottesville, VA, USA; View | Reserve; Just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Keswick Hall at Monticello is built in the Italianate style that has become synonymous with the dignified old American South. Professional old-world service meets house-guest intimacy; this place feels like a... Read More
Kiaroa Eco-Luxury Resort: Município de Maraú, Maraú Peninsula, Costa do Dendê, Brazil; View | Reserve; The name, Kiaroa Eco-Luxury Resort, says it all. This environmentally friendly beachfront resort, remotely situated on the tip of the Maraú Peninsula in south Bahia, offers a mix of simple pleasures and decadent extravagances. White sandy beaches, aquamarine waters, and towering palms swaying in... Read More
Kimber Modern: Austin, TX, USA; View | Reserve; Amidst the hustle and bustle of South Congress Avenue, an oasis of therapeutic efficiency awaits even the most harried traveler at the KimberModern. Proprietors Kimber Cavendish and Vicki Faust strike a balance between local and global, commissioning Austin-based architects to design the Zen-like... Read More
Kirimaya: Pakchong, Nakom Ratchasima, Thailand; View | Reserve; There’s more to Thailand than Bangkok and the beaches. Two hours inland from the capital, at the edge of Khao Yai National Park, Kirimaya sprawls over hundreds of acres of near-virgin forest, with picturesque views of the mountains in the distance. Here, far from the bustle of the urban centers and... Read More
Kise Bettei: Nago City, Okinawa, Japan; View | Reserve; For too many visitors, Japan means Tokyo: packed trains, the neon lights at Shibuya crossing, and a hotel in the top of some skyscraper. But if you want to properly experience Japan, you’ve got to get out to the country. Take Okinawa for example — this is wild, wide-open country, and in the... Read More
Kivotos: Mykonos, Greece; View | Reserve; To outsiders, the appeal of Mykonos has waxed and waned, cool one decade, uncool the next. For the record, it’s apparently cool again, but ask a local (or better yet, visit yourself) and you’ll find it’s the kind of place whose natural charms should transcend any concerns about... Read More
Klaus K: Helsinki, Finland; View | Reserve; For a city with such a rich modern design heritage, Helsinki has precious little in the way of flashy contemporary hotels. This regrettable state of affairs is now one step closer to being remedied, however, with the re-opening of the Klaus K, in the design district at the top of the Esplanade... Read More
Klooster Hotel: Leuven, Belgium; View | Reserve; Leuven is a land of superlatives. It boasts the oldest Catholic university in the world, which also happens to be the largest university in the country. Then there’s the longest bar in Europe, which is within staggering distance of the smallest bar in Belgium. Martin’s Klooster is a bit harder to... Read More
Knightsbridge Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; The Knightsbridge Hotel is the perfect modestly-priced entrée into one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the world. In fact the Knightsbridge is the ideal shopper’s hotel, a sort of junior version of its sisters, Covent Garden and Charlotte Street, with a correspondingly lower... Read More
Kona Village Resort: Kailua Kona, HI, USA; View | Reserve; A common epithet leveled against destinations thought over-traveled, over-built, over-polished: every so often a place like Puerto Rico is sniffily derided as ‘the 51st State,’ consigned to the status of a Euro-Disney by hip travelers ever in search of the next hot thing.How unfortunate for... Read More
Korakia Pensione: Palm Springs, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Korakia does not allow children under the age of 13... Read More
Kruisheren Hotel: Maastricht, Netherlands; View | Reserve; To put it a bit broadly, the Dutch are no strangers to recycling spaces and putting them to inventive use — close to half the country is reclaimed land, for a start. And here you’ll find cutting-edge design in some of the unlikeliest of places, like the fifteenth-century monastery... Read More
Ksar Char-Bagh: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Just fifteen minutes outside of Marrakech is an upscale district called the Palmeraie, a thousand-year-old palm-grove oasis in the midst of a dry desert landscape straight out of The Sheltering Sky. It is here that Marrakech's new breed of mini-palace hotels has sprung up — of which the most... Read More
Ku' Damm 101: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Some of the best shopping in Europe is to be had in Berlin, specifically on the Kurfürstendamm, the main commercial drag of what was pre-unification West Berlin. Perfectly placed for shopping excursions is the Ku’ Damm 101, quite prosaically named for its address, in a converted office block in the... Read More
Kulm Hotel St. Moritz: St. Moritz, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Please note: Kulm Hotel St. Moritz will be closed from March 29, 2009 to June 26, 2009... Read More
Kumarakom Lake Resort: Kottayam, Kerala, India; View | Reserve; Along the coastal lowlands and backwaters of India’s south-western state of Kerala lies the vast Vembanad Lake, connected to the Arabian Sea by a network of canals, estuaries and rivers. And at the edge of Lake Vembanad is Kumarakom, a tiny town at the edge of a lagoon, crisscrossed by narrow... Read More
L' Heure Bleue: Essaouira, Morocco; View | Reserve; If Marrakech is a city that never sleeps — chaotic, colorful, romantic, and cramped — then Essaouira is a seaside town that would rather take a leisurely siesta in a hand-woven hammock. The old-fashioned port city has long drawn surfers to its stunning Atlantic beaches and the occasional... Read More
L'Albereta: Erbusco-Franciacorta, Italy; View | Reserve; In Milan you have the option of staying in the all-new Tuttle-designed Park Hyatt, or any number of chic boutiques, as individual and as style-obsessed as the competing fashion houses. It's surprising, then, that you need only venture 40 minutes northeast of Milan to find the other face of Italy... Read More
L'Andana: Castiglione della Pescaia, Italy; View | Reserve; L’Andana occupies a particularly auspicious parcel of land near western Tuscany’s Tyrrhenian coast — Tenuta La Badiola was once the hunting estate of the Grand Duke Leopold II, and today is as picturesque a collection of vineyards and sun-drenched foothills as one is likely to find anywhere in... Read More
L'Auberge de Sedona: Sedona, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; As Arizona getaways go, Sedona’s not hard to love. Far from the heat and sprawl and traffic of Phoenix, it’s a hundred miles north, and three thousand feet higher up, in an entirely different landscape — one of stunning red rocks and dramatic mountain sunlight. It’s a bit of a cult destination, in... Read More
L'Auberge Del Mar: Del Mar, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Just past La Jolla, north of San Diego, is the upscale seaside village of Del Mar — and fresh off a brief closure and a massive renovation is the town’s top lodging, L’Auberge Del Mar. If Southern California makes you think beaches and bare feet, you’re certainly not wrong, but the Auberge belongs... Read More
L'Hotel: Paris, France; View | Reserve; “No two rooms are the same” — any hotel with even a modicum of personality is likely to include such a phrase somewhere in its promotional literature, and it is bound to be true, at least to some degree, of any hotel selected by Tablet (though there may be a Japanese capsule hotel in our future... Read More
L'Hotel de Toiras: Saint-Martin de Ré, France; View | Reserve; While seemingly everyone is perennially flocking to the Côte d’Azur, there’s a sizeable contingent that prefers a seaside getaway that’s a little less glam. Not to say the Ile de Ré is gritty, exactly, but the unpretentious little port town of Saint-Martin is a magnet for a certain set of urban... Read More
La Banane: St Barthelemy, French West Indies, Guadeloupe; View | Reserve; St. Barthelemy is the most fashionable corner of the Caribbean, a tiny outpost of French style in a region seemingly dominated by square Americans and Englishmen in short pants. La Banane is a perfect fit for this sexy island; a former burlesque club, it is now a tiny (nine rooms!) hotel in... Read More
La Bandita: Pienza, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; Like any of the world’s top travel destinations, Tuscany is capable of showing visitors a few different faces. Leading approaches include the lap-of-luxury grand-hotel treatment, and the theatrical and painstakingly authentic traditional-farmhouse treatment. Add to those a new angle, one that’s... Read More
La Bastide de Capelongue: Bonnieux, Provence, France; View | Reserve; This is why people started going to Provence in the first place. On a hilltop looking towards the Luberon mountains is the ancient hill village of Bonnieux; and on the next hill over, looking out over Bonnieux from the landscaped gardens that surround its outdoor pool, is the Bastide de Capelongue... Read More
La Bastide de Marie: Menerbes, France; View | Reserve; La Bastide de Marie avoids the traditional version of Provençal “authenticity,” and in so doing, brings new life to the well-worn genre of the Provence farmhouse hotel. La Bastide is contemporary and sophisticated, in a region where one expects to see only the most staid and old-fashioned hotels... Read More
La Bastide Saint Antoine: Grasse, France; View | Reserve; Though its present incarnation dates back only to 1996, La Bastide Saint Antoine was built in the eighteenth century, on this hillside overlooking the Bay of Cannes. Surrounded by acre upon acre of cypress and olive trees, the locaton is peaceful and secluded, minutes from the village of Grasse... Read More
La Casa que Canta: Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico; View | Reserve; La Casa Que Canta does not accommodate children under 16 year old... Read More
La Costa Resort and Spa: Carlsbad, CA, USA; View | Reserve; La Costa Resort and Spa was, quite literally, America’s first full-service destination spa resort, opening its doors in 1965, long before “wellness” became big business. Hollywood stars and other well-heeled Americans embraced the concept wholeheartedly, and a new kind of resort... Read More
La Cour des Augustins: Geneva, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Switzerland’s reputation as the land that time forgot might not be entirely deserved, but a look around the very traditional Geneva hotel scene is proof that it’s got at least some basis in fact. This is a city that, for all its classic architecture and grand-hotel opulence, could use a small... Read More
La Ferme Saint Simeon: Honfleur, France; View | Reserve; The ancient port of Honfleur, on the banks of the Seine estuary, has long been a magnet for artists, drawn to the spectacular waters and skies of the English Channel. The Ferme Saint Siméon itself was a gathering place for artists like Monet, Courbet, and Honfleur native Eugene Boudin... Read More
La Lancha: Tikal, Guatemala; View | Reserve; They take years to plan, scout and develop, and present so many logistical challenges along the way that simply to finish one, to say nothing of a whole trilogy, is possibly enough achievement for a lifetime. Of course we’re talking about movies, but it’s equally true of hotels — just ask Francis... Read More
La Maison: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; View | Reserve; It’s a commonplace by now that Rio tourism is big business — it’s been a long time since Brazil was truly exotic or undiscovered, and the archetypal visit involves a stay at one of the the massive high-rise hotels that blot out the sun along Ipanema or Copacabana beach, an experience you’ll share... Read More
La Mamounia: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Thanks to a massive makeover in the eighties, La Mamounia is more fantasy than ever before: huge and bright and excessive, a glittering combination of the Art Deco and Moroccan traditions with mosaics, painted columns and gleaming marble floors. Turbaned waiters, belly dancers, and doormen wearing... Read More
La Mansion del Rio: San Antonio, TX, USA; View | Reserve; La Mansión del Rio is located deep in downtown San Antonio, on the banks of the Paseo del Rio, alongside its historic River Walk. The building itself is authentic Colonial, built in 1852, and home to St. Mary's College until 1966... Read More
La Merced Hotel: Cartagena, Colombia; View | Reserve; Unless you’re a Spanish colonial history buff, you might not have ever given Cartagena de Indias a second thought. But thanks to a prime location on the Caribbean and a quaint, well-preserved colonial center, this port city has always been a popular escape for Colombia’s beautiful people — thanks... Read More
La Minervetta: Sorrento, Italy; View | Reserve; Contemporary design on the Amalfi coast — that alone makes La Minervetta worth noting. And we’re not using “contemporary” as a euphemism for that faceless minimal international style, either; you’ll find little in the way of greys or cream tones in La Minervetta’s... Read More
La Mirande: Avignon, France; View | Reserve; The building which houses La Mirande dates back seven hundred years, in a variety of forms: once a cardinal’s palace, during Avignon’s 14th-century tenure as the seat of Papal power and headquarters of the Catholic church, and later a private nobleman’s townhouse, today it’s... Read More
La Passion Hotel: Cartagena de Indias, Colombia; View | Reserve; Passion doesn’t have to declare itself loudly. La Passion, an eight-room boutique hotel in a Spanish Colonial manor house in Cartagena, Colombia, is quiet, intimate, and about as elegant as it gets — and the adults-only policy certainly doesn’t hurt. At this size, it would hardly qualify as a hotel... Read More
La Pedrera, Hotel Boutique & Spa: Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; View | Reserve; Though little-known to foreigners, idyllic Buzios has long been a popular warm-weather getaway destination for well-to do Cariocas. The place still feels like something like a beach village — you won’t find deluxe resorts or high-rises here — with family-owned shops and old-fashioned pousadas... Read More
La Perla: Corvara in Badia, Italy; View | Reserve; This classic South Tyrolean lodge sits high in the Dolomites, in the charming Alpine village of Corvara, close to the Swiss border and just over a hundred miles from Venice. There’s nothing of the boutique world about La Perla — it’s old-fashioned hospitality at its best, as though it... Read More
La Posada De Santa Fe: Santa Fe, NM, USA; View | Reserve; Set foot inside La Posada’s six-acre compound and you might have difficulty believing that you’re still in both the city and the desert. Perhaps that’s because the beautifully landscaped property, with tropical flowers lining shaded pathways and leafy vines climbing up stucco walls, resembles a... Read More
La Posta Vecchia: Roma, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: La Posta Vecchia is now closed and will re-open on April 20, 2010. La Posta Vecchia has a 2 night minimum stay policy over the weekend... Read More
La Puertecita Boutique Hotel: San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico; View | Reserve; San Miguel de Allende is one of Mexico’s national treasures, a beautifully preserved colonial city, rich with centuries-old architecture, charming historical attractions and hundreds of churches and cathedrals. On a hillside above the city center, in a private park in the Atascadero residential... Read More
La Purificadora: Puebla, Mexico; View | Reserve; If not for the Grupo Habita, Mexico would be short about half a dozen very fine modern hotels. And if not for Habita’s newest, La Purificadora, the little colonial city of Puebla (on the road from Mexico City to Oaxaca) would likely be off our radar entirely... Read More
La Reserve de Beaulieu: Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, France; View | Reserve; What began as (and yet remains) a fine seafood restaurant on the coast between Monaco and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat added a handful of guest rooms during the postwar boom, to accommodate diners weary of driving up and down the shore at night — and, in so doing, began La Réserve’s transformation... Read More
La Reserve Geneve Hotel & Spa: Geneve-Bellevue, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Geneva’s top hotels tend to be stately old grand hotels, restorations of early 20th-century palaces, places where the only nod to modernity is a wireless LAN or a flat-screen television, hidden in an antique armoire. The exception, though, is La Réserve; thanks to Jacques Garcia of... Read More
La Residence d'Angkor: Siem Reap, Angkor, Cambodia; View | Reserve; Somewhere between a mini-resort and a boutique hotel, La Résidence d’Angkor is just about as close as you can get to the literal heart of Siem Reap — which, in turn, is the closest city to what is for many Cambodia’s main attraction, the temples at Angkor. La Résidence stands right at... Read More
La Residence Hotel & Spa: HUE, Vietnam; View | Reserve; On the banks of the Perfume River, in the old imperial city of Hue, is a restored classic, an Art Deco–style boutique hotel: La Résidence. This was once the Governor’s mansion, a piece of colonial history, looking straight across the river at the imperial citadel. And today its colonial-chic luxury... Read More
La Residence Phou Vao: Luang Prabang, Laos; View | Reserve; Deep in the heart of northern Laos, along the banks of the Mekong, is the old royal capital of Luang Prabang, one of the better places in Southeast Asia if you’re looking to get away from the crowds and the bright lights of the established tourist destinations. And roughly two kilometers outside of... Read More
La Residencia: Deya-Mallorca, Baleares, Spain; View | Reserve; Like most of the world’s fabled tourist destinations, Mallorca has seen its share of development, even verging in places on overdevelopment. This is to one extent or another the natural fate of any desirable locale, yet it need not be all-consuming... Read More
La Samanna: Saint Martin, French West Indies, France; View | Reserve; Located on the French side of the half-Dutch St. Martin/Maarten, La Samanna can perhaps be best understood as a Caribbean version of the Côte d’Azur. No sprawling array of seaside shacks, this is a bona fide resort hotel, with all the glamour of a prime spot on the Croisette, along with the balmy... Read More
La Suite: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; View | Reserve; A chip off the La Maison block, La Suite shares an owner, and a concept — a tiny and impossibly stylish luxury guest house, far enough off the main tourist drag to escape the crowds, but close enough to feel like you’re in on the action. In La Suite’s case, this means Joatinga, one of Rio’s most... Read More
La Sultana Marrakech: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; You can only make a riad hotel so big. But if you’re stuck for size, you can join them together — La Sultana, for example, combines four traditional Marrakchi courtyard mansions into one contiguous complex, and in so doing creates one of the medina’s most complete luxury hotels. In some towns 18... Read More
La Sultana Oualidia: Oualidia, Morocco; View | Reserve; For anyone who’s ever wished they could combine the architecture and atmospherics of Morocco with the self-explanatory pleasures of a beach town, Oualidia is the answer. This fishing village turned vacation spot is where Marrakchis go when the tourist season hits, and it’s where you’ll find La... Read More
La Valencia: La Jolla, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Perched on a cliffside in La Jolla, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, La Valencia has been the grand dame of the San Diego area since 1926, its pink stucco walls and mediterranean-style terraces playing host to Hollywood's biggest stars from the silent era to the present. There are more modern hotels... Read More
La Villa Gallici: Aix-en-Provence, Provence, France; View | Reserve; Just five minutes from the city center, La Villa Gallici was created by three friends who, tired of lamenting Aix-en-Provence’s lack of a traditional country house hotel, took it upon themselves to create one. The result is delightfully excessive, more luxurious than most Provencal inns, and... Read More
LAICO l'Amitie Bamako Hotel: Bamako, Mali; View | Reserve; Mali is a destination perhaps best known to the adventure holiday crowd who are in search of something other than a safari in Africa. The streets of the capital city of Bamako are filled with traders, noise and motorbikes, all surrounded by some unusual architecture and some striking landscapes... Read More
Lake Placid Lodge: Lake Placid, NY, USA; View | Reserve; A century ago, New York’s beautiful people flocked to the Adirondacks in search of a little bit of the sublime; Manhattan was full up, Connecticut and Rhode Island were passé, and wealthy Americans were in love with nature again. More recently, jet travel has dispersed the rich and famous across... Read More
Lanchid 19: Budapest, Hungary; View | Reserve; There are plenty of hotels out there that are taking risks in interior design, but to be honest relatively few that are doing anything really attention-grabbing with the building itself. Lánchíd 19, in Budapest, is the exception, directing your attention not to a witty piece of lobby furniture but... Read More
Langham Place: Hong Kong, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; Please note: The swimming pool at Langham Place will be temporarily closed for maintenance until Feb 14 2010... Read More
Lanson Place: Hong Kong, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; You can’t really get any closer to the middle of it all, at least in Hong Kong, than Causeway Bay — rents in this teeming commercial district rival those on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and the shops, bars and restaurants are tightly packed. Best, then, to escape to a hotel that’s a bit... Read More
Lapa Palace: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; Far from modern-day Lisbon traffic, perched on a hilltop in the middle of the city’s most civilized district, sits a 19th century palace surrounded by fairytale gardens, fountains, flowers and century-old trees in whose branches birds are encouraged to nest... Read More
Lapa Rios: Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica; View | Reserve; Children under 5 are not encouraged... Read More
Las Alamandas: Quemaro, Jalisco, Mexico; View | Reserve; The backstory seems too fantastic to be true, like something from a Roger Moore-era James Bond movie. Don Antenor Patino, the Bolivian tin magnate, plans a beachfront mega-resort, but does not live to complete it — so his granddaughter Isabel Goldsmith (English financier father, long story) takes... Read More
Las Brisas: Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico; View | Reserve; Much of the low-key glamor and exotic charm that made Acapulco the destination of choice for the beautiful people of the Fifties and Sixties has since been crowded out by a riot of speedy development. Today the seaside is alive with enormous megahotels and endless crowds. There are still a few... Read More
Las Hayas Resort Hotel: Ushuaia, Argentina; View | Reserve; Argentina’s southernmost province, Tierra del Fuego, is home to some of the planet’s most dramatic landscapes, and its capital city, Ushuaia, is one of the world’s last frontier towns. The southernmost city in the world, it’s set between the rocky Atlantic shore and the jagged peaks around the... Read More
Las Mananitas: Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico; View | Reserve; Think of Mexico and many of us think of the over-developed mega-resorts—which makes a place like Las Mañanitas such a welcome surprise, and such a well-kept secret. In fact it’s the restaurant, believe it or not, that gets most of the attention; but these 21 rooms are something special as well, a... Read More
Las Ventanas al Paraíso, A Rosewood Resort: San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico; View | Reserve; Only recently has Mexico gone from spring break to sophisticated — and if we're asked who is behind its miraculous transition, we'd have to say that Las Ventanas al Paraíso, A Rosewood Resort, is a major player. Certainly, Las Ventanas has its location to its advantage. Previously only occupied by... Read More
Lausanne Palace and Spa: Lausanne, Switzerland; View | Reserve; There’s still nowhere quite like Switzerland for getting away from it all in the classic high style. This monument of a hotel stands high on Lausanne’s terraced hillside streets, with the city-center financial district just out the front door and spectacular views of Lake Geneva and the... Read More
Le Bellechasse: Paris, France; View | Reserve; It’s often a bit of a gamble commissioning boutique hotel interiors from fashion designers, but one thing you can almost always be sure of is that you won’t end up looking at the same tired minimalism you’ve already seen in a thousand other hotels. Extravagant materials, bold colors, quirky details... Read More
Le Byblos St Tropez: Saint Tropez, France; View | Reserve; You could do worse for a sexy and chic summer destination than Saint-Tropez, the town that Brigitte Bardot built (or at least put on the jet-setter’s map)—and in Saint-Tropez, there’s no place more deadly fashionable than Le Byblos, an assemblage of bright ochre and baby blue... Read More
Le Cap Est Lagoon Resort and Spa: Le Francois, Martinique; View | Reserve; Le Cap Est Lagoon Resort and Spa is on the Atlantic side of Martinique, 18 Creole cottages containing 50 suites, nestled against a sparkling crystal blue lagoon. This place is French through and through — its owner is descended from Martinique's first French settlers, who arrived in the 17th... Read More
Le Chalet d'Adrien: Verbier, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Please note: In the winter season, there is a 7-night minimum stay requirement (Saturday-Saturday) at Le Chalet d'Adrien... Read More
Le Chateau Frontenac: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; View | Reserve; The grand dame of the Canadian railway hotels, Le Château Frontenac is Québec City’s most famous landmark, a century-old castle high on a bluff over the St. Lawrence river; if you’ve seen a single photo of Québec City, you’ve seen the Château in the background... Read More
Le Chateau Saint Martin & Spa: Vence, France; View | Reserve; Le Château du Domaine St Martin occupies the former site of a fortress, carved into the side of a mountain, overlooking the French Riviera — the location is just outside the town of Vence, midway between Cannes and Monaco, and just 20 minutes from Nice International Airport... Read More
Le Couvent des Minimes Hotel & Spa: Mane en Provence, France; View | Reserve; There’s a rich tradition in France of convents, monasteries and abbeys subjected to renovation and re-opened as plush luxury retreats. A fine enough example is the Couvent des Minimes, a 17th-century convent in the Provençal village of Mane converted into a high-end resort compound, one whose spa... Read More
Le General Hotel: Paris, France; View | Reserve; It’s not just the design, by the Parisian architect Jean-Philippe Nuel, that’s turning heads — this stylish little boutique is garnering notices for its budget-friendly price tag as well. After all, it’s not every day that a new contemporary design hotel sets up shop on these... Read More
Le Gray: Beirut, Lebanon; View | Reserve; Consider it an 87-room vote of confidence in Beirut. Opening a luxury hotel here is a proposition that’s not without its risks, but this town was practically crying out for such a place as Le Gray, and you have to admire Campbell Gray’s nerve in actually going through with it — this is the man... Read More
Le Hameau Albert 1er: Chamonix, Mont-Blanc, France; View | Reserve; The finest hotel in Chamonix is over a hundred years old, and from the exterior, it’s postcard-perfect, a classic ski chalet surrounded by Europe’s highest peaks. Inside, though, Le Hameau Albert 1er anything but a museum piece; rooms and suites in the main hotel building are decorated... Read More
Le Lodge Park: Megeve, France; View | Reserve; If you’re of the mind that the precious little chalets of the French ski country could use a rougher edge, you’re not alone. No less a regional authority than the Sibuet family seems to agree, if their hotels are any indication. Just as their farmhouse hotels are a bit more rustic than most, their... Read More
Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons: Great Milton, Oxfordshire, UK; View | Reserve; A stone path leads past the green grass, hedgerows, and delphiniums to a honey-colored fifteenth-century manor house. The damp air is sweet with the scent of hydrangea. In the lobby, chintz cushions soften the flagstone floors, fireplaces, and wood beamed ceilings. It couldn't be more English... Read More
Le Mas Candille: Mougins, France; View | Reserve; For the discerning traveler, Le Mas Candille is a welcome rest from the bustle of the Côte D'Azur. Though just seven kilometers from Cannes, the quiet hillside village of Mougins stands in stark contrast to the tourist mecca of the Riviera... Read More
Le Mas de Pierre: Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Côte d'Azur, France; View | Reserve; These days, with the Riviera as crowded as it is and Provence practically a borough of the city of London, the greatest luxury to be had in the south of France is a little privacy. The most sought-after experience is that of being a guest in a private home — which goes a long way to explaining the... Read More
Le Melezin: Courchevel 1850, France; View | Reserve; Le Melezin is only open during the winter ski season, from December 19, 2008 - April 14, 2009... Read More
Le Meridien Cyberport: Hong Kong, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; With a name like Le Meridien Cyberport, you’d expect this place to be wired to the rafters. And you’d be right. For those who are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the Hong Kong–area IT industry, Cyberport is essentially a new purpose-built high-tech district on the south side of Hong Kong island... Read More
Le Meridien Stuttgart: Stuttgart, Germany; View | Reserve; For a city of its size, Stuttgart has perhaps more need than most for top-notch business accommodations. This is the home of Porsche and Daimler after all, among other auto companies, as well as any number of tech companies and research institutes — and that kind of brain power tends to travel in... Read More
Le Meridien Turin Art+Tech: Turin, Italy; View | Reserve; The Lingotto building is Turin's world-famous industrial landmark, the one-time Fiat factory with the testing racetrack on the roof, and the setting for an unforgettable scene in the original Italian Job. This '20s masterpiece has been repurposed, and today lives a multifarious existence as a... Read More
Le Parc Hotel: Quito, Ecuador; View | Reserve; The old-fashioned charm of Quito survives, in part, because the Ecuadorean capital remains somewhat off the tourist radar. The new Le Parc Hotel is a pioneer on the scene. Quito’s first proper boutique hotel, rising twelve stories and containing 30 executive suites, is a model of sleek urban design... Read More
Le Pavillon De La Reine: Paris, France; View | Reserve; This chateau-styled boutique hotel is blessed with a remarkable location, on the Place des Vosges, in the Marais, in the heart of historic Paris. It is housed in an eighteenth-century mansion, and the décor is full-tilt historical — no stark modernism on display, and nothing that could reasonably... Read More
Le Petit Hotel: Montreal, Quebec, Canada; View | Reserve; Although Le Petit Hôtel may be petit in size, it’s grand in luxury, in a style that evokes a lost bohemia of nineteenth-century Europe. The Antonopoulos Group have made a habit out of carving modern boutique hotels out of Vieux Montréal’s historic buildings, most notably the Nelligan and the... Read More
Le Petit Nice Passédat: Marseille, France; View | Reserve; France’s second city rarely tops anyone’s list of travel destinations, perhaps unsurprising given the competition along the neighboring stretches of Mediterranean coast. There’s plenty worth seeing, though, including Le Petit Nice Passédat, Marseille’s most exclusive hotel, converted from two... Read More
Le Place d'Armes Hotel & Suites: Montreal, Québec, Canada; View | Reserve; Hotel Place d’Armes is a new addition to the historic district of Old Montréal, a modern boutique hotel within the renovated nineteenth-century Great Scottish Life Insurance building, and an ideal vantage point from which to witness the resurgence of this once-neglected neighborhood... Read More
Le Prieure: Villenuve-les-Avignon, France; View | Reserve; Please note: Le Prieuré is currently closed for the winter season and will reopen April 2, 2010... Read More
Le Prince Maurice: Poste De Flacq, Mauritius; View | Reserve; Mauritius is hardly overrun with throngs of tourists — in fact it is one of the world's more remote places, 500 miles to the east of Madagascar, in the middle of the Indian ocean. Le Prince Maurice is even further isolated, amidst lush green foliage on the islands leeward Northeast coast, protected... Read More
Le Quartier Francais: Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa; View | Reserve; Franschhoek, meaning “French corner,” is an oddity in Dutch-settled South Africa — a village founded by Huguenots during the seventeenth century, and a place that retains its Provençal character to this day. The surrounding area is part of the South African wine country, and the nearby vineyards... Read More
Le Relais Bernard Loiseau - ex Hotel de la Cote d'Or: Seaulieu, Burgundy, France; View | Reserve; Chef Bernard Loiseau himself is no longer with us, but his kitchen carries on, in the restaurant and hotel that now bears his name. And just because it’s known as a restaurant first doesn’t mean there’s anything second-class about the hospitality — this is something more than just the typical... Read More
Le Relais de Franc Mayne: Saint-Emilion, France; View | Reserve; Le Relais de Franc Mayne is housed in a 16th-century château. Not the sprawling estate style that’s so common in the Bordeaux countryside, but the other kind — a down-to-earth wine château, the sort of place where one of the main attractions is a series of old stone quarries where Cabernet Franc... Read More
Le Relais Saint-Jacques: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Modern design hotels may be moving into Paris, but Hotel Relais Saint-Jacques is decidedly in the opposite camp. This is, in many ways, what one expects from a Parisian hotel — comfort, traditional style, and enough antique furnishings to start an auction house. This Hausmann-style building, near... Read More
Le Riad Monceau: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Le Riad Monceau would be little more than another perfectly lovely riad hotel, if it weren’t for the creative touch of its owner. Hotelier and artist Isabelle Aubry has a keen eye for Islamic patterns and Moorish textures and exhibits her bold, colorful embroidery works throughout this intimate... Read More
Le Richemond Geneve: Geneva, Switzerland; View | Reserve; One of Geneva’s grandest hotels, the 130-year-old Richemond stands opposite the Brunswick Gardens, with views of the Old Town Cathedral, Lake Geneva (just 50 meters away) and beyond, the Alps. The style is a theatrical and imposing blend of Art Deco chic and Victorian elegance, decorated in... Read More
Le Royal Meridien Bristol: Warsaw, Poland; View | Reserve; This century-old grand hotel, next door to the Presidential Palace, was long the city’s most elegant lodging, before falling on hard times, along with Warsaw itself. Today, as Poland recovers from the twentieth century and joins the new Europe, the Bristol is once again its splendid old self... Read More
Le Royal Meridien Shanghai: Shanghai, China; View | Reserve; In Shanghai these days they don’t make anything small, least of all the luxury hotels. Just as in Beijing, there’s a construction boom going on, with tall cranes dotting the skyline. And while we tend to prefer fun and funky little boutique hotels, we make exceptions for anything that’s as... Read More
Le Saint Sulpice Hotel: Montreal, Quebec, Canada; View | Reserve; A few years ago we’d have never believed that Vieux Montréal would be the epicenter of an outbreak of chic and modern boutique hotels, but for whatever reason, that’s what’s come to pass; within the historic district of the walled old city, one finds some of the most... Read More
Le Sereno: Saint Barthelemy, French West Indies, France; View | Reserve; When it comes to a modern, living connection to Europe, there’s nothing quite like Saint-Barthélémy — it feels uncannily like a tropical island version of present-day France, like a little bit of 21st-century Paris on the beach. This urbane charm is Le Sereno’s bread and butter. Where most tropical... Read More
Le Sirenuse: Positano, Italy; View | Reserve; Children under the age of 8 years old are not allowed in the hotel during the high season. For 2009, high season dates are May 1st to October 18th... Read More
Le St James Hotel: Montreal, Québec, Canada; View | Reserve; Montréal has recently seen a bumper crop of new boutique hotels—few, though, are as self-consciously opulent and relentlessly upscale as Hotel Le St-James. The building is, like so many in Old Montréal, a nineteenth-century landmark, a Second Empire bank building dating to 1870, an imposing and... Read More
Le Taha'a: Patio, French Polynesia; View | Reserve; Le Taha’a Island Resort & Spa is the kind of place that needs very little selling. What could be more self-evident than the appeal of a private island on a lagoon in the Tahitian archipelago, surrounded by 48 overwater bungalows? You could probably just about wade there from the main island of... Read More
Le Toiny: St. Barthelemy, French West Indies, Guadeloupe; View | Reserve; Le Toiny is the sort of place where budget is no consideration. Not because it’s so affordable—quite the contrary, in fact. If you’re in the market for a stay at Le Toiny, you probably make your travel plans based on factors other than price... Read More
Le Touessrok Hotel and Spa: Trou D'Eau Douce, Mauritius; View | Reserve; Le Touessrok, long vying (with the upscale Le Saint Géran) for the title of It Resort on Mauritius, has gone under the knife for a multi-million-dollar renovation, and a slight name change. Habitual guests will find One & Only Le Touessrok looking quite a bit more dashing than they left it, the... Read More
Legado Mitico: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; The idea of a theme hotel is normally cause for some skepticism. Which makes the success of Legado Mitico in Buenos Aires so much more impressive. Its stylish guest rooms and public spaces pay homage to Argentina’s history in a subtle, intelligent manner, and the result is a quirky, cool hotel with... Read More
Legado Mitico Salta: Salta, Argentina; View | Reserve; When it comes to stylish boutique hotels in Argentina’s rural northwest, there’s not a lot of competition, so a place like Legado Mitico may seem like a bit of overkill. But its architect owners honed their craft in Buenos Aires, where fashionable small hotels are thick on the ground, and their... Read More
Les Deux Abbesses: Saint Arcons d'Allier, France; View | Reserve; Deep in the French countryside it may be, but Les Deux Abbesses is far from the stereotypical farmhouse-pastoral getaway you might be thinking of. The Auvergne is rural, to be sure, but its countryside is one of valleys, lakes, and volcanic mountains, a more wild experience than the gentle... Read More
Les Fermes de Marie: Megève, France; View | Reserve; Megève is unique among ski resort towns; this Haute Savoie getaway is not just a winter sports center, but one of France’s culinary hot spots as well. And Les Fermes de Marie is Megève’s most classic hotel, a collection of traditional farmhouses and chalets lovingly restored and... Read More
Les Ottomans: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; East meets West along the Bosphorus. Secularists walk alongside devout believers. And old-world buildings have been outfitted with ultra-modern comforts. Modeled down to the details on the eighteenth-century mansion that originally stood there, Les Ottomans has just ten suites, each with sumptuous... Read More
Les Pres d'Eugenie - Michel Guerard: Eugénie-Les-Bains, France; View | Reserve; Les Pres d'Eugenie is a well kept secret, a 19th-century palace in a somewhat unlikely location, the town of Eugenie Les Bains, a spa town near the Atlantic coast, at the foot of the Pyrénées. Still not exactly famous overseas, it has nevertheless become a favorite of gourmands all over France, due... Read More
Les Sources de Caudalie: Bordeaux, France; View | Reserve; It’s a new twist on the traditional notion of the spa hotel. Les Sources de Caudalie, on the grounds of the Chateau Smith Haut-Lafitte vineyard, just a few minutes outside Bordeaux, is at first glance just a delightfully conventional countryside retreat — 49 contemporary luxury hotel rooms in... Read More
Les Suites Taipei Ching-cheng: Taipei, Taiwan; View | Reserve; The label "Made in Taiwan" used to carry a connotation of cheapness, of inferior goods imported from an inferior overseas economy. But as the fortunes of the region have risen, Taiwan has emerged as a tech powerhouse, one whose citizens probably now buy cheap knick-knacks with a Made in USA label... Read More
Les Suites Taipei Da-an: Taipei, Taiwan; View | Reserve; Though conveniently located right in the middle of downtown, surrounded by the shopping, business, and entertainment districts of Chung Hsiao and Dun Hua roads, Les Suites Taipei Da-an is a cozy and intimate boutique hotel, a worthy alternative to the city’s many enormous business hotels... Read More
Library Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; The Library is boutique hotel master Henry Kallan's latest creation. Steps away from the New York Public Library, this sixty-odd-room hotel is headquartered in a typically narrow, turn of the century building with terra cotta detailing and a copper bay window that extends down the length of the... Read More
Life Gallery Athens: Athens, Greece; View | Reserve; Greece’s finest hotels have traditionally been monumentally excessive seaside palaces, heaping almost absurd helpings of luxury atop delightful natural settings, fantasies in bright white and deep blue, with all the old-world hospitality one could possibly ask for... Read More
Life Resort Quy Nhon: Quy Nhon City, Vietnam; View | Reserve; With a name like Life Resort, clearly it’s intended to be a little bit more than just another night in a hotel. The setting is unmatched, just outside the south-central seaside town of Quy Nhon, a place that’s largely untouched by the tourist trade, mountains, sea, and ancient... Read More
Lighthouse Hotel & Spa: Galle, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; Built hundreds of years ago by the Portuguese and Dutch, the fortified city of Galle marries European architectural tastes with the humid climate and colorful culture of southern Sri Lanka. The Lighthouse Hotel, too, is characterized by contrast: an imposing brick exterior gives way to airy... Read More
Lilianfels Blue Mountains: Katoomba, Australia; View | Reserve; Ninety minutes’ drive from Sydney is Lilianfels Blue Mountains, one of Australia’s most unique lodgings. Equal parts charming country house and elegantly modern boutique hotel, Lilianfels begins with a spectacular location, at a cliff’s edge overlooking the Jamison Valley, and alongside the... Read More
Limes Hotel: Brisbane, Australia; View | Reserve; If you’re surprised to see something quite so cosmopolitan and sophisticated in Brisbane, don’t feel bad. Limes is the first hotel of its kind in this town, but to be honest it would stand out in Melbourne, in Sydney, or anywhere else. The design, by Alexander Lotersztain, is front and center, from... Read More
Linthwaite House Hotel: Windermere, UK; View | Reserve; The Lake District isn’t short of hotels or bed-and-breakfasts, but there are few that can compete on the level of Linthwaite House. Take a setting as striking as any (in this case an Edwardian manor house surrounded by fourteen acres of woodlands and gardens, looking out over the picturesque... Read More
Little Arches: Christ Church, Barbados; View | Reserve; Little Arches offers adult only accommodation and welcomes guests 16 years of age and older... Read More
Little Dix Bay, A Rosewood Resort: Virgin Gorda, Virgin Islands (British); View | Reserve; Rosewood Little Dix Bay is the Burberry of the Caribbean—a country club perched on turquoise waters, where old-style elegance reigns over flash. Like other Laurence Rockefeller resorts, it’s understated in a way that is reserved for the really rich. Casually manicured grounds are lush with rare... Read More
Little Palm Island: Little Torch Key, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Though the words "Florida Keys" might prompt mental images of crowded, touristy excess, fear not: Little Palm Island is a remote, secluded resort, accessible only by boat or seaplane. This is, one imagines, how the Keys were meant to be enjoyed; surrounded by five acres of tropical foliage, crystal... Read More
Lizard Island: Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia; View | Reserve; Please note: Lizard Island cannot accommodate children 12 years old and under and has a 2 night minimum stay requirement... Read More
Llao Llao Hotel & Resort: San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina; View | Reserve; Llao Llao is one of South America’s best-known and most unique hotels, located in scenic northwestern Patagonia, between Lake Moreno and Lake Nahuel Huapi, at the feet of snow-capped peaks, offering postcard views in every direction. The hotel was built in 1940, in the style of one of Canada’s... Read More
Lloyd Hotel: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; There’s more to Amsterdam than hostels and canal houses, to be sure. And with Dutch design all the rage, it’s odd that something like the Lloyd Hotel hasn’t been attempted before. From the outside it’s anything but a design statement, a century-old former prison, a listed historic monument that... Read More
Locanda Palazzone: Orvieto, Italy; View | Reserve; In the United States, a hundred-year-old hotel is a big deal; and even in the great old cities of Europe, two hundred years is close to the practical limit. On any scale you choose, however, this place, on a hilltop deep in the Umbrian countryside, has more than its fair share of history. According... Read More
Loden Hotel: Vancouver, BC, Canada; View | Reserve; Many hotels in Vancouver can boast breathtaking views — this town is nothing if not topographically gifted. However, the district of Coal Harbour on the north edge of downtown has a slight edge on the rest. Think of it as stadium seating for the panorama that unfolds across the Burrard Inlet. Coal... Read More
Lodge at Doonbeg Golf Club: County Clare, Ireland; View | Reserve; Sticklers may be disappointed to learn that the Lodge at Doonbeg, a sprawling seaside manor in County Clare, is just a couple of years old, but it’s their loss, to be honest. Thankfully the question of provenance means quite a lot less in the hospitality world then in, say, antiquities, or the art... Read More
Loft 523: New Orleans, LA, USA; View | Reserve; Loft 523 is an oddity in old-fashioned New Orleans - a boutique hotel in a completely modern style, one that would look at home in New York or London. Where many New Orleans hotels aim for a French mansion style, all antiques and ivy, Loft 523 is stark, minimal, contemporary. From inside, one could... Read More
Londa: Limassol, Cyprus; View | Reserve; Limassol, the south coast port town that’s Cyprus’s second city, has for years been on nobody’s list of fashionable travel destinations. It’s got the natural beauty, to be sure, and the infrastructure, but the hotel offerings have been largely confined to drab and unhip Seventies resorts... Read More
Londolozi Private Game Reserve: Kruger National Park, South Africa; View | Reserve; Here’s a safari camp that sets out in the direction of high luxury and never looks back. At Londolozi Private Game Reserve it’s about making the bush experience as stylish and comfortable as is humanly possible. To begin with, Londolozi’s physical location is about as auspicious as it gets. It’s in... Read More
Londra Palace Hotel: Venice, Italy; View | Reserve; It’s hard to beat this location; one entire side of the Hotel Londra Palace opens onto a stunning view of the lagoon and the island of San Giorgio, a view which, as the hotel is quick to point out, kept Tchaikovsky inspired during the creation of his Fourth Symphony... Read More
Longitude 131: Yulara, Ayers Rock, Australia; View | Reserve; Please note: Longitude 131 cannot accommodate children 15 years old and under and has a 2 night minimum stay requirement... Read More
Lopez De Haro: Bilbao, Spain; View | Reserve; The Guggenheim is far from the only thing worth seeing in Bilbao — but it is the key to the renaissance of this once-drab, industrial city. It is up for debate whether the museum is the cause, or merely an effect, of Bilbao's new forward-looking attitude, but one thing that is not up for discussion... Read More
Louisa's Place: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; It’s a warm and causal name for a formal and elegant hotel. Louisa’s Place is a high-end all-suite hotel, a boutique hotel in the truest sense — not a design hotel but a small, independent luxury hotel, with a location right on the Kurfürstendamm, close to some of the most tempting shopping and... Read More
Lower Slaughter Manor: Cotswold, Gloucestershire, UK; View | Reserve; When it comes to hospitality, authenticity only goes so far. Absolute historical correctness is a lot easier on the eyes than it is on the other senses, which is how a hotel like Lower Slaughter Manor manages to come off so well. Old outside, new inside, to put it simply — the exterior is pure and... Read More
Lucknam Park: Chippenham - Bath, Wiltshire, UK; View | Reserve; In the midst of the scenic Cotswolds, Lucknam Park is an old-fashioned country house hotel, on five hundred acres of registered parkland, just six miles from the original English resort town of Bath. The manor itself dates back to 1720, and was in fact a family residence right up until the hotel’s... Read More
LUMEN Paris Louvre: Paris, France; View | Reserve; A little explanation in order to properly introduce the new Hotel Lumen: Paris is in another league when it comes to hotels — its enormous volume of tourist traffic combined with its general scarcity of real estate places it in the same pricey bracket as London or Tokyo. Combine that with a... Read More
Lungarno Suites: Florence, Italy; View | Reserve; Lungarno Alberghi is the hotel division of Italy’s Ferragamo fashion dynasty—but while some fashion label hotels seem little more than marketing exercises, with the brand name splashed across every available surface, the Lungarno hotels deliberately downplay, even obscure, their... Read More
Lute Suites: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; For a couple of years now, Peter Lute’s restaurant has been luring foodies from Amsterdam out to the suburb of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Now there’s another attraction: a row of seven old cottages alongside the river has been converted into a sort of minimally serviced apartment-hotel... Read More
Lux 11: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Most boutique hotels aim to create an immersive and theatrical experience, one that the low-maintenance traveler may find slightly overbearing. If you’re the type that depends on the hotel bar for your entertainment and the hotel staff for your every need, then Lux 11 may feel a bit sparse. But for... Read More
Luxe Hotel Rodeo Drive: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; At first glance, we must admit, we were skeptical—the Luxe Hotel is quite possibly the only storefront on Rodeo Drive that doesn’t belong to a luxury goods brand or a designer boutique. It seems the height of folly to establish a hotel here, on the world’s most famous shopper’s drive, and given our... Read More
Luxe Hotel Sunset Blvd: Los Angeles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; With a name like that it’s not hard to guess where they’re coming from. The Luxe Hotel Sunset Boulevard is luxe indeed, with a location that’s more upscale retreat than downtown hipster haunt — it’s spread over seven acres of parkland in Brentwood, near the Getty Center, where Sunset Boulevard is a... Read More
Lydmar Hotel: Stockholm, Sweden; View | Reserve; Some of you might remember another Stockholm hotel that went by the Lydmar name, a rowdy, almost painfully hip sort of place, where the focus was very much on the nightlife, and the revelers at times threatened to overwhelm the guests. Well, that was then, and this is now — around the turn of the... Read More
L’Ermitage Beverly Hills: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; From the outside, L'Ermitage hasn't changed from its days as a condominium complex circa 1970 — but inside is a different story. The lobby is an airy minimal paradise in mahogany and caramel. The bedrooms are boudoirs lined with gilded silk, with pale wooden screens that open into walk in... Read More
Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge: Machu Picchu, Peru; View | Reserve; Clearly the attraction here is the proximity to the ruins of the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, hidden away almost eight thousand feet up in Peru’s Andes mountains. There are other places to stay in the general area of Machu Picchu, but there’s only one luxury hotel within the protected... Read More
Madinat Jumeirah Al Qasr: Dubai, UAE; View | Reserve; One doesn’t visit Dubai with an eye towards subtlety, or towards intimate scale. The Madinat Jumeirah complex is massive, somewhere around a thousand rooms, all scattered amid the terraced gardens by the side of the Arabian Gulf. It’s made more manageable, though, by the distinctly Emirati practice... Read More
Magnolia Hotel: Houston, TX, USA; View | Reserve; Houston's skyline is a collection of sleek glass air-conditioned towers, relics of the 1970s spike in energy prices and the resulting boom for the local petroleum industry. The Magnolia Hotel, by contrast, occupies the old Houston Post-Dispatch building, a 22-story 1920s original and a much more... Read More
Magnolia Hotel: Denver, CO, USA; View | Reserve; Please note The Magnolia Hotel does not allow pets... Read More
Maison 140: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Maison140 is essentially the boutique hotel take on the good old bed and breakfast, LA style, in a 44-room building that once belonged to actress Lilian Gish... Read More
Makati Shangri-La, Manila: Metro Manila, Luzon, Philippines; View | Reserve; Arguably Manila’s top business hotel is the Makati Shangri-La, towering over the intersection of Ayala and Makati avenues, in the heart of the city’s central business district, close by to the best of the city’s shopping, nightlife and entertainment. There’s nothing small about it — from the... Read More
MalaMala Game Reserve: Northlands, South Africa; View | Reserve; There are any number of reasons for staying in a hotel. Often it’s simply convenience; however inspiring the city boutique, for example, you’re likely only there because you have some business or other in that city. At the opposite end of the spectrum is a place like the MalaMala Game Reserve, a... Read More
Mama Shelter: Paris, France; View | Reserve; There’s a widening gap between the picture-book Paris and the real one. As with many great cities, New York and London among them, the center has a tendency towards preciousness, a sort of theme-park quality, a nostalgic romance, which the travel industry trades on heavily. You have to get all the... Read More
MaMaison Le Regina Hotel: Warsaw, Poland; View | Reserve; Not to be confused with the British Malmaison chain — MaMaison, no L, is an Eastern European phenomenon, specializing in converting historical buildings to high-end boutique hotels. The markets they’re in are under-served in that particular category, to put it mildly; there’s nothing else in... Read More
MaMaison Residence Sulekova: Bratislava, Slovak Republic; View | Reserve; Given the relative dearth of boutique hotels in this part of Europe, and in particular the tardiness with which international travelers have embraced Slovakia, it’s a bit surprising, honestly, to find that one of Bratislava’s first small contemporary design hotels is such a strong entry. But that’s... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Boston: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; It may have been a long time coming but this new Mandarin Oriental, on Boylston Street in the upscale Back Bay, was exactly what Boston needed. It’s not simply that it’s a high-end luxury hotel — this town’s already got a few of those — but it’s the obsessive attention to the finer points of style... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi: Chiang Mai, Thailand; View | Reserve; Not at all the typical Mandarin Oriental, and in fact quite unlike just about any hotel anywhere — the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, on the outskirts of the inland city of Chiang Mai, is no high-rise city hotel but a bona fide resort, Mandarin’s first. And what a resort it is... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong: Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; The original Mandarin Oriental is back. Though it’s always been one of the best hotels in Hong Kong, if not all of Asia, this relic of the Swinging Sixties was beginning to show its age. Now, after a thorough rethink of its interiors (and not just a cosmetic one — we’re talking walls... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park:The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is a 5 star luxury hotel in London's Knightsbridge district, located to the west of central London. Guests to the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park will be near some of London’s most fashionable shopping and homes as well as minutes from... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; View | Reserve; We love to root for the underdog as much as anyone, and we delight in exposing small independent hotels to a wider audience. But like the mainstream pop radio hit that, despite yourself, you just can’t stop humming, sometimes the big hotel chains get it exactly right... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Miami: Miami, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Most of us hear the word “Miami” and our minds automatically fill in the word “Beach.” But Miami’s Mandarin Oriental proves there’s more to this town than the South Beach scene... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Munich: Munich, Bavaria, Germany; View | Reserve; ... Read More
Mandarin Oriental New York: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Located in the north tower of the brand-new, $1.7bn Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, the Mandarin Oriental brings Far East hospitality to America's hottest hotel market. The Asian influence is apparent at a glance, with wood paneling, marble everywhere, and clean Zen-influenced design. And... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Prague: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; The Prague we’re used to reading about in the travel press is one thing: youthful, edgy, affordable, bohemian (as well as literally Bohemian). Like any real-world city, though, it’s got other dimensions, one of which is inhabited by a hotel that’s pretty far from backpack/hostel... Read More
Mandarin Oriental San Francisco: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The Mandarin Oriental hotels famously bring a taste of Far East ultra-luxury to American shores, and the San Francisco outpost goes even a step further; to the Asian-inspired décor and the top-flight service, add the simple fact that the Mandarin is San Francisco’s highest hotel, occupying... Read More
Mandarin Oriental Washington D.C.: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; DC’s brand-new Mandarin Oriental occupies an unusual location, in the Portals complex, a multi-use site on a concrete promontory near the 14th Street Bridge, at the confluence of the Washington Channel and the Potomac Tidal Basin. This may mean it’s a less convenient location than some... Read More
Mandarin Oriental, Geneva: Geneva, Switzerland; View | Reserve; The Hotel du Rhône is what a business hotel should be. Anything but the usual faceless downtown office block, this one is located (as the name may imply) on the right bank of the Rhône river, a picturesque situation, yet still convenient to Geneva’s business district and shopping destinations—it is... Read More
Manoir Hovey: North Hatley, Quebec, Canada; View | Reserve; While the Eastern Townships of Québec are the French-speaking answer to the rural idylls of northern New England, the Manoir Hovey takes its inspiration from something a little further south — this lakeside retreat was built a hundred years ago, in the style of George Washington’s Mount Vernon... Read More
Mansion Vitraux: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; Don’t be fooled by the unorthodox location. Despite its address on a cobblestoned street in San Telmo, a barrio that’s deeply old-fashioned compared to the boutique-strewn Palermo, this is no glorified B&B. And while the name suggests traditional grandeur, Mansión Vitraux doesn’t feel like a... Read More
Marbella Club Hotel: Marbella, Spain; View | Reserve; Marbella is one of the Costa del Sol’s most storied destinations, and the Marbella Club is the quintessential Marbella resort — established by Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe in 1954 and playing host to the cream of the European aristocracy, titled and otherwise, ever since. And as the town has grown... Read More
Marigot Bay Hotel: Marigot Bay - Windward Islands, St. Lucia; View | Reserve; The American novelist James Michener once proclaimed Marigot Bay in St. Lucia the most beautiful bay in the Caribbean. Take it from a tropical-island expert: there’s hardly a finer spot to soak up some sun, and there’s nowhere more grand at Marigot than Discovery, a three-story complex of a... Read More
Maroma Resort & Spa: Solidaridad, Qunitana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; Please note: During the high season (December to April) Maroma Resort & Spa does not allow children under 16. During the low season (May to November), Maroma does not allow children under 12... Read More
Mas de Torrent: Torrent, Spain; View | Reserve; Though converted from an 18th-cenury farmhouse, Mas de Torrent is anything but the simple rustic bed and breakfast you may expect. Behind these honey-colored stone walls is a stunningly smart luxury hotel to rival any in Spain... Read More
Mas Passamaner: La Selva del Camp, Spain; View | Reserve; Mas Passamaner, in the hills above Tarragona, an hour east along the coast from Barcelona, is a hotel with a history, equal parts luxury hotel and architectural museum. Originally built in the Twenties by the pioneering Modernist architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the hotel has recently been... Read More
Masseria San Domenico: Brindisi, Italy; View | Reserve; Leave to the travel writers the question of whether or not it’s the new Tuscany; Puglia, by now, is familiar enough on its own, its dramatic and often sublimely bleak landscape just about as far as you can get from the postcard paradise of parts farther north. In contrast to the soothing spectacle... Read More
Masseria Torre Coccaro: Savelletri di Fasano, Italy; View | Reserve; If you’re in the business of keeping up with these sorts of things, you probably already know that Puglia, in Italy’s southeast, is the country’s latest undiscovered travel paradise — smart money has it down as the new Tuscany, now that the old Tuscany has been so thoroughly... Read More
Masseria Torre Maizza: Savelletri di Fasano, Apulia, Italy; View | Reserve; Note: During the month of August, the hotel has a minimum age requirement (10 years... Read More
Matakauri Lodge: Queenstown, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Matakauri Lodge is a tiny hotel — comprising just three suites in the main lodge, and four villas nestled in the native bush, this is one of the most private and intimate hotels anywhere. And its location doesn't hurt a bit, to say the least; New Zealand has been a hot travel destination for some... Read More
Maximilian: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; A mid-priced Prague favorite since 1995, the Hotel Maximilian is fresh off an extensive renovation, and is now not just sensible but also one of the more stylish options in town. The location is central, a few steps from Old Town Square on Haštalská, one of Prague’s oldest streets; yet behind that... Read More
ME Madrid: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; In typical Madrid style, the new boutique on the block is actually an update of a classic building, or perhaps even an update of an update. This gorgeous 1923 building housed first a rough crowd of bullfighters and associates, then a more sedate and upscale haute-luxury crowd; now it’s the ME... Read More
Medusa Hotel: Sydney, NSW, Australia; View | Reserve; Quirky, stylish Medusa is a converted eighteenth-century Victorian townhouse in ultra-fashionable Darlinghurst, Sydney's gallery and boutique district. The award-winning design, by prominent Australian interior architect Scott Werner, is anything but Victorian; in fact, these daring, modern... Read More
Metropole Hotel: Venice, Italy; View | Reserve; Once an orphanage church in which Antonio Vivaldi gave music lessons, the Metropole was converted into a hotel at the end of the nineteenth century. It was known in Freud's day as the Casa Kirsch, and as the Metropoli was briefly enlisted as a military hospital during World War II. For the last... Read More
Mezzatorre Resort & Spa: Forio D Ischia, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Mezzatorre Resort & Spa will close October 18, 2009 for the winter season and reopen again April 22, 2010... Read More
Michel Bras: Laguiole, Aveyron, France; View | Reserve; Please note: Michel Bras is closed most Mondays and all of November through March... Read More
Mill Valley Inn: Mill Valley, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, nestled between the waters of Richardson Bay and the slopes of Mount Tamalpais, Mill Valley is one of California’s most scenic small cities, equal parts upscale bedroom community and rustic redwood canyon retreat. A short walk from the town... Read More
Mine Hotel Boutique: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; At the moment the Palermo Soho neighborhood is the epicenter of everything creative that’s happening in Buenos Aires — and as such it’s where most of the new developments in the hotel scene are happening as well. Here, just off the Plaza Cortázar, is the Mine Hotel Boutique, a lively and... Read More
Miraflores Park: Lima, Peru; View | Reserve; In the context of airlines, "business class" means "how I would like to fly if someone else were paying the bill." The Miraflores Park Hotel is another example of the kind of elegance and pampering ostensibly intended to minimize the discomfort of business travelers, but also quite enjoyable as an... Read More
Miraval Arizona: Tucson, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; Some spa resorts indulge their guests in an unceasing orgy of pampering, enough mud masks, seaweed wraps and steam baths to turn adult skin to porcelain; others, taking a more masculine approach, simulate to an alarming degree some sort of boot camp or reality-television contest of attrition. The... Read More
Miro Hotel: Bilbao, Spain; View | Reserve; As in Antonio Miró, the fashion designer, not Joan Miró, the late pseudo-Surrealist painter and sculptor — one imagines that if the latter were responsible for this hotel, Gehry’s Guggenheim might have had some competition for the title of most talked-about building in Bilbao. No surrealist... Read More
Modern Hotel: Boise, ID, USA; View | Reserve; The City of Trees, capital of the Gem State (or, if you prefer, the Potato State) — Boise has been bashful about asserting itself as a cool modern city. There are signs, however, in the opening of the Modern Hotel, which revises a former Travelodge motel into a mod micro-oasis... Read More
Mollies: Auckland, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Mollies on Tweed (you might guess by the name) is anything but the standard hotel experience. This charming little hotel is operated by Frances Wilson and Stephen Fitzgerald, a singing instructor and a designer of sets for opera productions, and bears their personal stamp through and through... Read More
Mondrian Hotel: West Hollywood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Fresh off a large-scale redesign at the hands of the designer Benjamin Noriega Ortiz, the updated Mondrian has done well to keep pace with the times. The intensely avant-garde interiors from the Starck days are all grown up now, the Mondrian adapted for a more refined taste... Read More
Mondrian Miami: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; With the Collins Avenue strip on the Atlantic side of South Beach pushing maximum density, it makes a certain kind of sense that the Morgans group’s next move would be to set up shop on the Biscayne Bay side. For one thing, it affords a bit of space to spread out: with over three hundred units... Read More
Monmouth Plantation: Natchez, MS, USA; View | Reserve; It’s refreshing every so often to come across a hotel without a concept or a philosophy. Monmouth Plantation isn’t about some kind of hospitality revolution — it’s about hospitality, pure and simple, the old-fashioned Southern kind, just a couple of hours up the river from New Orleans in Natchez... Read More
Mont Rochelle Hotel: Franschhoek, South Africa; View | Reserve; There’s very little that’s at all hip about it, but for most of us, that’s no obstacle — it’s difficult to find fault either with the stunning natural setting of Franschhoek, the valley at the heart of South Africa’s wine industry, or with Mont Rochelle, the superb small hotel on the hillside... Read More
Montage Resort and Spa: Laguna Beach, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Montage Resort & Spa is a throwback to the Laguna Beach of the turn of the twentieth century, a conscious homage to the city's birth as an artist's colony. The atmosphere evoked is a world away from the present associations with ultra-affluent, ultra-conservative Orange County, home of John Wayne... Read More
Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort: Monte Carlo, Monaco; View | Reserve; The quickest way to oblivion for a travel destination is to coast on past glamour, and this is a sin that parts of the Côte d’Azur have been accused of. Fortunately not everyone in Monaco is looking backwards — the new, massive and endlessly stylish Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort is proof of that... Read More
Montgomery Hotel: Brussels, Belgium; View | Reserve; Not quite in the heart of the traditional city center, the Montgomery is nevertheless quite convenient for business travelers—located in a residential area in Upper Town, it is a ten-minute walk from the European Communities and a ten-minute drive from both the airport and the picturesque... Read More
Montpelier Plantation Inn: Charlestown, Nevis, St. Kitts & Nevis; View | Reserve; Montpelier Plantation’s history goes back centuries, but it only became a hotel in the 21st century. Now they’re making up for lost time — what was, not all that long ago, a disused and overgrown sugar plantation is now the Montpelier Plantation Inn, one of the top options on the delightfully... Read More
Moonlight Head Private Lodge: Wattle Hill, Victoria, Australia; View | Reserve; Please note: There is a 2 night minimum stay requirement for Moonlight Head Private Lodge... Read More
Moonrise Hotel: St. Louis, MO, USA; View | Reserve; One of the items on our global wish list is that every major city in America should have a hotel like this one. In a landscape dominated by cost-cutting chain hotels, there’s an advantage to be had by showing a little bit of personality, something that the Moonrise Hotel, in St. Louis, Missouri... Read More
Moreno Hotel: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; The trouble with boutique hotels, if you had to boil it down to just one thing, is that the very same stylish modern design that’s supposed to set them apart too often ends up feeling a bit samey, a bit rootless, a bit ‘where-am-I-this morning’. That’s a problem you won’t have with the Moreno... Read More
Morgans Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About Morgans Hotel... Read More
Mosquito Beach Adult Hotel: Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; Please note: Mosquito Beach Adult Hotel can only accommodate guests over the age of 16... Read More
Mosquito Blue: Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; By the time you get to Playa del Carmen it’s pretty clear you’re in Mexico — so why the big hotels insist on playing up the colonial-kitsch influence, we couldn’t begin to say. Some of the more distinguished hotels break this mold, however, like Mosquito Blue, a small, stylish and laid-back hotel... Read More
Mount Nelson Hotel: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; This hundred-year old British Colonial hotel is by most accounts the place to stay in Cape Town; at the foot of Table Mountain, surrounded by nine acres of lush gardens, the Mount Nelson was already the grande dame of the South African hotel scene when a young Winston Churchill came to stay while... Read More
Movie Colony Hotel: Palm Springs, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Movie Colony Hotel has a 21+ age requirement... Read More
Mume: Kyoto, Japan; View | Reserve; The conventional wisdom would have it that Kyoto is the center of all things traditional in Japan, the classic counterpart to hypermodern Tokyo. And in large part the hotels do tend to follow suit — the postcard image of a Kyoto hotel would be a traditional tatami-style inn. So a hotel like the... Read More
Museum Hotel: Uchisar-Nevsehir, Cappadocia, Turkey; View | Reserve; Situated as it is between Europe and Asia, Turkey is a land comfortable with dualities: east and west, religious and secular, ancient and modern. It’s no surprise that the Museum Hotel, in the Central Anatolian region, also blends two distinct hotel experiences: luxury and history. Recent visitors... Read More
myhotel Brighton: Brighton, East Sussex, UK; View | Reserve; In a town known for its ramshackle, bohemian charm, a place like Myhotel Brighton can’t help but stand out. The design, by Karim Rashid, is anything but traditional: whether it looks retro-futuristic or just plain futuristic probably depends on the observer, but either way the visual impact is... Read More
Mykonos Theoxenia: Mykonos, Greece; View | Reserve; Mykonos may remind some of the swinging Sixties, as the playground of aristocrats like Jackie and Aristotle Onassis—but the island has had a resurgence of late. Some may still be trying to recapture the good old days of decades past, while others have moved on; one look at Theoxenia and it’s easy... Read More
Myojinkan: Matsumoto-shi, Nagano, Japan; View | Reserve; Japan is justly famous around the world for its first-class luxury hotels and for a couple of very inspired boutique hotels. But there’s another, much more traditional side to Japanese hospitality, which few foreigners, up to now, have experienced: the ryokan, the traditional country inn, of which... Read More
Mystique Hotel: Santorini Island, Greece; View | Reserve; Please note: Mystique Hotel is open April 15 - November 1, 2010... Read More
Naladhu Maldives: South Male Atoll, Maldives; View | Reserve; The Maldives are already pretty close to the Platonic ideal of the island escape. Thousands of tiny semi-private islands, ringed by soft sand beaches, surrounded by the crystal-clear Indian Ocean — by now you know the sales pitch by heart. It’s no wonder, then, that this place seems to lend itself... Read More
Nannai Beach Resort: Ipojuca, Pernambuco, Brazil; View | Reserve; You could be forgiven for picking up a bit of a South Pacific vibe at the Nannai Beach Resort. Though the actual location is Brazil’s northeast Atlantic coast, there’s an air of Polynesia about these thatched-roof bungalows, many of them standing on stilts over palm-fringed lagoon-like swimming... Read More
Naoura Barriere: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; If ever there’s a hotel scene that could stand some shaking up, it’s Marrakech. Here your choices are pretty strictly limited: a tiny riad in the medina, a sprawling resort in the Palmeraïe, or the very rare luxury hotel that’s neither one nor the other. In this town a city-center luxury boutique... Read More
Naumi: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; The colonial style reigned in Singapore hotels for quite a long time. But today a new generation of design-conscious boutique hotels is moving in. In the place of what was once the Metropole, a fairly standard budget hotel, the Naumi now stands proudly clad in steel mesh, just down the street from... Read More
Neri Hotel: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; On the outside, the Neri Hotel is a weathered 18th-century palace, deep in the heart of the Gothic Quarter, overlooking St. Felip Neri Square, right alongside the cathedral. This is the historic district, dating back to Roman times, so the rakish modern architecture on display elsewhere in... Read More
New Majestic Hotel: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; Score one for truth in advertising: the New Majestic is new, converted from a classic ‘20s building (once the just plain Majestic hotel) by Singapore’s DP Architects, and is indeed majestic, its soaring spaces and cozy bedrooms designed in a sort of modern ironic high style by Ministry... Read More
New York Palace Budapest: Budapest, Hungary; View | Reserve; Budapest doesn’t get any more upscale than the brand-new New York Palace. Despite its all-American name, it’s essentially an Italian production — the original Italian Renaissance building, dating back to 1894, has been given a contemporary makeover by the Boscolo hotel group and the... Read More
Nhow Hotel: Milan, Lombardia, Italy; View | Reserve; If we were writing a TV ad we’d say it’s Milan Fashion Week style at Zara prices; if we were proper travel writers we’d make some kind of pun in the headline. Hopefully we would think of something better than Right Nhow. (As it is, we get to write the pun and blame someone else.) And anyway, you... Read More
Night Hotel: New York , NY, USA; View | Reserve; For anyone tired out by the unrelenting tackiness of the neon-lit Times Square, there’s an alternative, this one in basic black. The Night Hotel, a new addition on West 45th between Sixth and Seventh, is, adjusting for the neighborhood, the model of fashionable composure, from the monochrome checks... Read More
Nimb: Copenhagen, Denmark; View | Reserve; International jet-setters may come to Denmark in search of modernist furniture. But they’ll inevitably be surprised to discover that one of Copenhagen’s best-kept secrets, the Nimb, is anything but a design hotel — the quiet confidence of this 13-room lodging leaves the hard-striving hipster... Read More
Nine Zero - a Kimpton Hotel: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Boston is justifiably proud of its colonial heritage, and in terms of architecture and design (if not politics) its conservative streak runs deep. There’s plenty of room for some contemporary style — and while we’re not eager to see a spate of anonymous international-style design hotels, Nine Zero... Read More
Nita Lake Lodge: Whistler, British Columbia, Canada; View | Reserve; The Spa and Fitness Centre at Nita Lake Lodge will open mid-February 2009... Read More
No. 11 London: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About No. 11 London:No. 11 London is a luxury boutique hotel in the heart of London's fashionable Knightsbridge district. Just a stones throw from the River Thames, Hyde Park and an array of attractions, No.11 London has been recently refurbished to combine the latest facilities and technologies... Read More
No. 5 Maddox Street: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Imagine the perfect apartment. If you were glamorous, talented, with piles of money and more aesthetic sense than you knew what to do with, yours would be rather like No. 5 Maddox Street. It’s not a conventional hotel, but a dozen or so very modern studios (complete with kitchens) in the heart of... Read More
Nojiriko Hotel El Bosco: Nagano , Japan; View | Reserve; Note: Nojiriko Hotel El Bosco will be closed December 2009 - March 2010... Read More
Nordic Light Hotel: Stockholm, Sweden; View | Reserve; Under no circumstances should anyone be put off by the unashamedly dated exterior of this one-time office block. The Sixties are inevitably the new Fifties, and this populist-utopian strain of Sixties modernism is only just now distant enough to be coming back into fashion... Read More
Number Sixteen: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Number Sixteen is either the coziest boutique hotel in London, or the most luxurious bed and breakfast—we’re still not sure. The location, down a sleepy side street in South Kensington, is fairly well hidden; just a row of nineteenth-century Victorian townhouses without so much as a sign to show... Read More
Ohtel: Wellington, New Zealand; View | Reserve; It can be argued that New Zealand’s hospitality world is a victim of its own success in one important sense — thanks to the popularity of the rugged country lodges, the more cosmopolitan urban hotels end up neglected. Of course the urban hoteliers are working to put things right, and with hotels... Read More
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa: Ojai, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Don’t let the word ‘Inn’ fool you—the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa isn’t some rustic little bed and breakfast, but a secluded and spectacular resort, a 1920s Spanish Colonial revival-style compound sprawling across several hundred acres of a wooded mountain valley. It’s long been a favorite getaway for... Read More
Old Bank Hotel: Oxford, UK; View | Reserve; The first new hotel in the city centre in 135 years, the Old Bank Hotel sits on Oxford’s main street, the High. Behind the Georgian facade of the one-time Barclays bank building is a boutique hotel in a charmingly contemporary style, restrained in its elegance, as far from British... Read More
Old Course Hotel Golf Resort and Spa: Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; Presumably it’s only golfers who will be interested in the Old Course Hotel; a few of you may just be mad for the hills of Fife, but most are here to see the birthplace of the game. For the Old Course is not just any old course, but the original course, St. Andrews, and the Old Course Hotel... Read More
Old Quay House: Fowey, UK; View | Reserve; This Cornwall riverfront hotel is the best of both worlds. The Old Quay House is small, just twelve suites, and it's family-owned, operated with care by Jane and Roy Carson. At the same time it's a remarkably polished experience; the owners are no strangers to the hotel business, so the service is... Read More
On the Rocks: Santorini, Greece; View | Reserve; There’s no metaphor here. On the Rocks is literally on the rocks. Like the rest of the tiny village of Imerovigli, this elegant hotel balances atop the cliffs that overlook the famous caldera of Santorini. The only danger is in trying to decide when to move the umbrella shielding your deck chair or... Read More
One & Only Le Saint Geran: Belle Mare, Mauritius; View | Reserve; Le Saint Géran is the Indian Ocean counterpart to the Ocean Club in Bahamas; and like its western sister, it’s the apotheosis of the top-shelf luxury island experience. Don’t think you’ll be roughing it in Mauritius—despite the pristine white sands and the unspoiled palm stands, this is the most... Read More
One & Only Ocean Club: Nassau, Bahamas; View | Reserve; It is hard to believe that the Ocean Club, a perfect haven of British colonial understatement, where butlers tiptoe on mahogany floors to serve you strawberries; and the Atlantis, a splashy orgy of pink, fake Mayan temples, waterslides and casinos are both the children of mega-millionaire Sol... Read More
One & Only Palmilla Resort: San Jose Del Cabo, BCS, CP, Mexico; View | Reserve; The original Palmilla Resort, in its incarnation as a 1950s hot spot, played host to the A-listers of the day — people like Bing Crosby, Ernest Hemingway, even Dwight Eisenhower came here for a taste of the still-exotic, still-unspoiled Baja California. Today, after an $80m renovation, the Palmilla... Read More
One & Only Reethi Rah: North Male Atoll, Maldives; View | Reserve; Wherever it is, whether in Mexico or Mauritius or the Maldives, the One&Only experience is sure to be completely over the top. The newest installment, the Reethi Rah on North Male Atoll, is no different. Its location, of course, is blindingly beautiful in itself, impossible white sand beaches and... Read More
One Aldwych: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; The London hotel scene these days is all flash interiors and decadent comforts, a sort of arms race of bold design and lavish luxuries. No hotel can compete in this market without designer-dressed staff, the obligatory Frette linens and whimsically outsize furniture, and a hotel without a happening... Read More
ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa: Bal Harbour, FL, USA; View | Reserve; There are times when the most desirable destinations feel a little too desirable, and South Beach is no different. The very same glamour and buzz that make it one of the travel capitals of the United States can also leave guests badly in need of some peace and quiet. It’s a stretch to say, as the... Read More
One by the Five: Paris, France; View | Reserve; It had to come to this, didn’t it? Ever since luxury hotels began to shrink, emphasizing the privacy and exclusivity that only a small hotel can offer, this day was coming: the dawn of the one-room hotel. And it’s only fitting that it would come to Paris, a city that’s almost comically short on... Read More
Opus Hotel: Vancouver, BC, Canada; View | Reserve; Located in a converted warehouse in the once-seedy, newly rehabilitated district of Yaletown, Opus is that most uncommon of hotels: the brand-new, impossibly cool, ultra-stylish boutique hotel that actually has the goods to back up the image... Read More
Opus Hotel Montreal: Montreal, Québec, Canada; View | Reserve; Fans of contemporary-design boutique hotels are already spoiled for choice in Montreal, but most often they’re confined to the scenic-but-sleepy old quarter. The Opus Montreal, by contrast, stands at the top of St. Laurent, what’s essentially the city’s main drag; maybe not where... Read More
Orange Hotel: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; If it’s classic architecture and antique furniture you’re after, we can direct you to a number of very fine Roman hoteliers who’d be more than happy to have your business. But if you prefer a more contemporary style, your options are a bit more limited — and throw budgetary constraints in the mix... Read More
Ostape: Bidarray, France; View | Reserve; The celebrity chef Alain Ducasse seems to be doing rather well for himself in his second line as a country-house hotelier — his Tuscan villa, L’Andana, has been a smashing success, on both the hospitality and culinary fronts. And while the French Basque Country may not have quite the postcard... Read More
Ostraco Suites: Mykonos, Greece; View | Reserve; Please note: Ostraco Suites is closed for the winter season and will reopen May 14, 2010... Read More
Otahuna Lodge: Tai Tapu , Christchurch, New Zealand; View | Reserve; As the New Zealand lodge boom shows no sign of slowing, perhaps it’s time to soberly take account of the situation, and note for the record that not all lodges are created equal. For one thing, there are lodges that pride themselves on being rustic, unfinished, homely and rough around the edges... Read More
Oustau de Baumaniere: Les-Baux-de-Provence, France; View | Reserve; Les Baux de Provence is perhaps one of the most spectacular and unsettling of nature’s creations. These white washed cliffs, dotted with medieval houses, will stun you with their proportion and their beauty. It has been the site of elegiac poetry—courtly nobles swearing their love to ladies and... Read More
Padaste Manor: Muhu Island, Estonia; View | Reserve; To people who hail from less, shall we say, climatically challenged parts of the world, the idea of an island getaway in the Baltic Sea probably sounds perverse. But before there were budget airlines (or cars, or trains) the people of northern Europe made do with what they had close at hand: places... Read More
Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; The brand-new Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt was met with a bit more enthusiasm than the typical big-chain luxury hotel. It’s at the same time an homage to the glory days of Buenos Aires, a Thirties mansion (from which it takes the first part of its name) connected to a modern tower. It splits the... Read More
Palacio Urgoiti: Mungia-Bilbao, Spain; View | Reserve; There’s more to Bilbao than heroic feats of modern architecture: though it’s home to the Gehry-designed Guggenheim (and the ripple of modern building that has followed in its wake), it’s also home to some classics, like this 17th-century palace — dismantled stone by stone three... Read More
Palais Coburg: Vienna, Austria; View | Reserve; There’s more to Vienna than the centuries-old splendor of the city center, the living museum that’s roughly bounded by the Ringstrasse. But what more, exactly, is a question for another time — at the moment that centuries-old splendor is precisely what we’re concerned with, in the... Read More
Palais de la Mediterranee: Nice, France; View | Reserve; The Palais de la Méditerranée is back, to add at least another chapter to its already storied history. The “Méd” opened in 1929, just months before the great stock market crash—and what months those were, for its American owner Franck Jay Gould, as well as for... Read More
Palazzo Sasso: Ravello, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Palazzo Sasso has closed for the winter season and will reopen April 1, 2010... Read More
Palazzo Versace: Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; View | Reserve; Rather improbably situated on Queensland’s Gold Coast is one of the more eccentric hotel ventures we’ve ever seen — the Palazzo Versace, a monument to Milan-via-Miami haute decadence, is a joint venture between the eponymous fashion house and an Australian property developer, and is roughly one... Read More
Palihouse Holloway: West Hollywood , CA, USA; View | Reserve; Though the phrase “extended stay” may summon images of dreary corporate apartments, West Hollywood’s Palihouse Holloway proves that it’s a concept that can be done in high style. Boasting boutique-hotel looks alongside apartment-scale space and a discreet low-maintenance atmosphere, it’s quite a... Read More
Palms Place Hotel and Spa: Las Vegas, NV, USA; View | Reserve; If your idea of fun in Vegas is an irony-drenched Fear and Loathing experience, then Palms Place just might not be weird enough. It’s a subset of the office-park-sized Palms complex, and its suites are among the most stylish in town, extravagant though they may be; if you’ve ever wanted a... Read More
Palomar - a Kimpton Hotel: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; This is the sort of town that’s long on ultra-expensive luxury hotels, presidential suites, and restaurants of the sort that cater mainly to lobbyists on expense accounts. Few and far between are places that could reasonably be called “hip,” at least without unrecognizably stretching the meaning of... Read More
Pan Dei Palais: St Tropez, France; View | Reserve; Arguably it’s not the same place it was when Brigitte Bardot put it on the map, but everything that was great about St. Tropez then is still great about it now: the bay, the beaches, the gentle Mediterranean climate, and a tradition of high-end hospitality. It’s a tradition that now includes the... Read More
Pangkor Laut Resort: Lumut, Perak, Malaysia; View | Reserve; One island, one resort — that’s Pangkor Laut’s motto, and it’s the key to its appeal. This secluded island resort, five kilometers off the Malaysian mainland in the Strait of Malacca, is surrounded by protected two-million-year-old rainforest, the kind of unspoiled natural paradise that it’s hard... Read More
Park Hotel Kenmare: Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland; View | Reserve; The Park Hotel makes its home in Kenmare, a quaint little village at the foot of the Cork and Kerry mountains in southwest Ireland. Originally a railway hotel, today it’s a grand Victorian-style spa retreat, an authentic 19th-century railway hotel converted into a contemporary five-star... Read More
Park Hotel Tokyo: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Like many Tokyo hotels, the Park Hotel occupies part of a mixed-use skyscraper; in this case, ten uppermost floors of the Shiodome Media Tower, right in the heart of downtown. Architecturally, the Park Hotel is rather unique — the core of the building has been hollowed out, so that its 274 rooms... Read More
Park Hotel Weggis: Weggis, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Park Hotel Weggis opened in 1875 as Hotel Bellevue, and still retains its authentic Art Nouveau facade; but beneath the old-fashioned exterior is a boutique hotel in the most modern of styles. The contrast could not be more profound, and is a welcome surprise to pass from the exterior, with its... Read More
Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa: Avon, CO, USA; View | Reserve; At the risk of stating the obvious, a Park Hyatt in a place like Beaver Creek, Colorado is a very different animal from more typical Park Hyatts — it’s not exactly Lost in Translation. But the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa is proof that they’re just as skilled at Rocky Mountain luxury... Read More
Park Hyatt Chicago: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; Never happy simply being America’s second city, Chicago is the sort of place that continually goes out of its way to remind you of its status as one of the world’s great cities — and from the Park Hyatt, just off the Magnificent Mile of North Michigan Avenue, it’s impossible to... Read More
Park Hyatt Dubai: Dubai, UAE; View | Reserve; We’d love to tell you about little independently-owned well-kept secret of a place in Dubai. But it’s not that sort of place. So instead we’ll tell you about the sort of thing they do do well there. Now Park Hyatt is no mom-and-pop operation, but for a top-flight luxury chain they do tend to be... Read More
Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa: Goa, Goa, India; View | Reserve; It’s probably not, at first glance, what you’d expect a Park Hyatt to be. But then again Goa is probably not quite what you’d expect it to be. This hippie hideaway went mass tourism for a bit, but is now being rediscovered by a totally different breed of traveler, one that appreciates the idyllic... Read More
Park Hyatt Hamburg: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; There’s plenty of new building going on in Hamburg, but you won’t find any of it here. The new Park Hyatt is a retrofit, occupying the upper floors of a classic warehouse in the center of town. And it’s no ordinary warehouse — the Levantehaus dates back to when a warehouse was something worth... Read More
Park Hyatt Melbourne: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; View | Reserve; Like the city it calls home, the Park Hyatt Melbourne is unpretentiously grand, almost shy of attention. Located in one of the city’s most scenic historic districts, at the top of Collins Street, overlooking St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the surrounding Victorian rooftops, this hotel has all the... Read More
Park Hyatt Mendoza: Mendoza, Argentina; View | Reserve; All of us are familiar with the caricature of Argentina: Buenos Aires, some cattle ranches, maybe Patagonia if we’re feeling outdoorsy. Too often forgotten is the wine country, and the Andes-side city of Mendoza — not a major metropolis by any means but a city that’s big enough to have at least one... Read More
Park Hyatt Milano: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; Milan may have a reputation as a drab, grey city, but it is nonetheless the style center of Italy, and its high-tech capital as well. Deep in the center of Milan’s industrial sprawl stand such spectacular landmarks as the Piazza della Duomo, the Teatro della Scala, and the Galleria Vittorio... Read More
Park Hyatt Paris - Vendome: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Leave the tourists to gawk at the ostentatious facade of the Hôtel Ritz on the Place Vendôme. The smart money is on (and presumably in) the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, just steps away, a row of discreetly converted Haussmann-style office blocks with only a small sign to mark the way... Read More
Park Hyatt Saigon: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; View | Reserve; The only thing keeping the Park Hyatt Saigon off the list of historic Ho Chi Minh City landmarks is the fact that it’s brand new. But give it time. Not only is it already by a long way the top hotel in town, but its classic colonial-style facade fits seamlessly into the city’s central Lam Son... Read More
Park Hyatt Seoul: Seoul, Korea; View | Reserve; So successful and so focused are the Park Hyatt hotels that once you’ve said the name, there’s very little left to add. The Park Hyatt in Tokyo, world famous thanks to its starring role in the film Lost in Translation, sets out the formula: modern high-rise architecture, sweeping views, sober... Read More
Park Hyatt Shanghai: Shanghai, China; View | Reserve; It’s our official position that Shanghai is a city that international business-travel types are going to be seeing a lot of in coming years. But where to begin? You could do a lot worse for a kind of hospitality Rosetta Stone than this: see how the ever-reliable Park Hyatt concept translates to... Read More
Park Hyatt Sydney: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; View | Reserve; The Park Hyatt Sydney is arguably the most impressive hotel in town—a fact which, when combined with its scenic and utterly central location, makes for high occupancy and rates to match. Then again the Park Hyatt hardly needs to compete on price; this is the place for a slightly excessive... Read More
Park Hyatt Tokyo: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; No one quite does over-the-top like the Japanese. Take the Park Hyatt toilets, which have enthroned everyone from Issey Miyake to authentic royalty and, reportedly, Leonardo DiCaprio himself. The electronic seat adjusts to your bum temperature for a cozy wait, while you watch a slide show of cherry... Read More
Park Hyatt Toronto: Toronto, Ontario, Canada; View | Reserve; Toronto’s conservative hotel scene has begun to liven up, as a few independent boutiques mount a challenge to the chain hotels; but if it’s pure untrammeled luxury you’re after, it would be hard to beat the newly expanded and renovated Park Hyatt... Read More
Park Hyatt Zurich: Zurich, Switzerland; View | Reserve; The brand-new Park Hyatt Zurich may be a new addition, but it’s already indispensable. It’s got an absolutely central location, just off the Bahnhofstrasse, and given the kind of hypermodern efficiency and grown-up modernism the Park Hyatt chain is known for, it’s a wonder this town’s high-flying... Read More
Park Plaza Wallstreet Berlin: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Berlin may very well be the hipster capital of Germany, and possibly all of Europe. But there’s still business that needs to be done. Still, there’s no reason why the business hotels shouldn’t have a bit of fun. What makes the Park Plaza Wallstreet unique is that its particular idea of fun is in... Read More
Parrot Cay and COMO Shambhala Retreat: Providenciales, Turks And Caicos Islands; View | Reserve; Please note: Parrot Cay and COMO Shambhala Retreat has a three night minimum stay requirement... Read More
Peninsula Manila: Metro Manila, Philippines; View | Reserve; Luxury travelers are heartened to know that in most every major capital across Asia they’ll find a Peninsula hotel. And it’s no exaggeration to say that if you’re a Peninsula fan, the newly re-opened Manila outpost, is, well, a thriller. From the public spaces, all opulent colonial splendor, to the... Read More
Periscope: Athens, Greece; View | Reserve; There’s a lot more to Greece than just fine beach weather and whitewashed waterfront villas. One might expect that the birthplace of Western civilization would remain a forward-thinking, cosmopolitan city, and one would be right. Signs of sophistication are everywhere: restaurants, shops... Read More
Pershing Hall: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Pershing Hall is named for the American general John Pershing, who used this nineteenth-century mansion as his headquarters during the First World War. But anyone expecting this place to be some sort of museum, or a throwback to 1917 and before, will be in for a shock: the hotel as we know it today... Read More
Pestana Convento do Carmo: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; View | Reserve; The Pestana Convento do Carmo is the product of a familiar formula: a large hotel chain snaps up a small historic property, tears down the old wallpaper and knocks down a few walls, brings in the fine linens and installs a sophisticated lighting system, then reintroduces the place to the public as... Read More
Pestana Palace: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; Here “Palace” really isn’t an overstatement. The Pestana Palace, located in a tiny residential district just outside the city center, occupies the grounds of a century-old estate, a manor house (with modern additions) surrounded by lush gardens — not quite the most convenient hotel option for... Read More
Peter Island Resort: Tortola, Virgin Islands (British); View | Reserve; If it's a secluded island getaway you're after, it's hard to beat this private island resort, in the British Virgin Islands, just 20 minutes from Tortola by boat. Peter Island is the kind of place that is perenially on one “best of” list after another, and is the kind of place where you... Read More
Petit St. Vincent Resort: St. Vincent, St. Vincent & Grenadines; View | Reserve; Petit St Vincent is not the easiest place in the world to get to — but that's the key to why this tiny island resort is so special. Guests must fly to Barbados, then change planes for an hour-long flight to Union Island, in the Grenadines; from there it is another half-hour on the resort's private... Read More
Phuket Pavilions: Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; Just how little do you want to do when you are on holiday? If you don’t want to cook, explore, push through crowds, or even leave a luxurious villa, then there are more than a few upscale Thai coastal resorts that will meet your needs. But if you don’t even want to bother putting on clothes in the... Read More
Pikes: Island de Ibiza, Spain; View | Reserve; Ibiza has been known lately for its constant stream of European club kids, but its slightly more grown-up side has been staging a resurgence. Pikes has long been Ibiza's top hotel, though of course it's anything but stuffy. This is where visiting pop stars and well-paid club DJs stay, and the... Read More
Pimalai Resort & Spa: Lanta Island, Thailand; View | Reserve; The main calculation in traveling to Thailand is where exactly on the continuum between civilization and seclusion you want to end up. Though there’s no real desert-island experience to be had anymore, there’s a compromise to suit just about any taste — from the domesticated ex-wilderness of a... Read More
Pink Sands: Harbour Island, Bahamas; View | Reserve; Pink Sands is an almost excessively cultured little place—the sheets are Frette, there are macadamia nut cookies in your mini bar, your bedroom is decorated with hibiscus and batik, and people tend not to stay up very late. In many ways, Pink Sands fits right in with Harbor Island, a community that... Read More
Planters Inn: Charleston, SC, USA; View | Reserve; Planter's Inn is at the corner of Meeting and Market streets, in the heart of historic Charleston, South Carolina. Built in 1844 as a dry goods market, and expanded to its present form in 1997, the hotel now resembles nothing so much as an authentic Southern mansion, with the hospitality to match... Read More
Pod: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India; View | Reserve; Pod cannot accommodate children under the age of 12... Read More
Ponta dos Ganchos Exclusive Resort: Governador Celso Ramos, Santa Catarina, Brazil; View | Reserve; Due to local topography and assurance of total serenity, no one under the age of 18 is allowed at the resort... Read More
Pool House: Poolewe, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; Though the name may conjure images of bathing beauties and poolside bungalows, it’s not that kind of pool house. This Pool House takes its name from the village of Poolewe, where the River Ewe meets the sea, on the shores of Loch Ewe, in the far North West of Scotland. It’s a classic Victorian... Read More
Portrait Suites: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; The flagship Ferragamo store at the foot of the Spanish Steps would already be something of a holy place, if you’re into that sort of thing. Less well known, but possibly more exciting, is what’s upstairs, in the top floors of this 19th-century townhouse: the Portrait Suites, the newest... Read More
Posada del Angel: La Antigua, Guatemala; View | Reserve; It’s not exactly topping any magazines’ lists of the season’s hot destinations. And its time as a regional capital is centuries past. This lack of attention, however, might make La Antigua more rather than less appealing — and the fact that development essentially halted after an 18th-century... Read More
Posada la Sacristia: Tarifa, Andalucia, Spain; View | Reserve; Windsurfers already know about Tarifa, at Spain’s southernmost point, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean; the sea conditions here make for some of the best windsurfing and kiteboarding in Europe. It’s probably a different audience, though, that makes up La Sacristia’s... Read More
Post Hotel & Spa: Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada; View | Reserve; Alberta may be flyover country to the urban leisure traveler, and coastal folk who ski are apt to check out Whistler or Tahoe, even Park City or Vail before venturing this far into Western Canada. That’s their loss, though, and that many more available rooms around Lake Louise, the jewel of the... Read More
Post Ranch Inn: Big Sur, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Post Ranch Inn is blessed with one of the most extraordinary locations on the face of the earth, a place of such breathtaking beauty it’s hard to believe it’s even accessible by mere automobile-driving mortals. Big Sur is the most scenic destination along California’s most scenic drive, Highway 1... Read More
Pousada Flor da Rosa: Crato, Portugal; View | Reserve; The Pousada Flor da Rosa is a study in stark contrasts; it was built as a fortified monastery in the year 1356 and converted into a hotel some six centuries later, and here sharp-edged contemporary furnishings stake a claim to modernity beneath timbered ceilings and medieval stone walls. A swimming... Read More
Pousada Maravilha: Fernando de Noronha, Brazil; View | Reserve; If there’s one magic combination of travel-industry buzzwords right now, it’s eco-luxury. All the luxe trappings without the guilt — all the small-footprint saintliness of eco-tourism without all the dust and jungle spiders. And if there’s one place that perfectly embodies the confluence between... Read More
Pousada Picinguaba: Paraty, SP, Brazil; View | Reserve; Picinguaba, meaning “fish shelter,” is a tiny fishing village, with a population of about five hundred, on Brazil's Costa Verde, midway between Rio and São Paulo, and close to Paraty. This tiny hotel almost stretches the definition of “off the beaten path” — Picinguaba is definitely not in the... Read More
Prestonfield: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; The classic stereotype has it that Edinburgh is the quiet, refined foil to the noisy brashness of Glasgow. Trot out this canard in a pub in either town and you’re in for a long night — but like many simplifications, it hangs on precisely because it does offer some insight, however reductive... Read More
Propeller Island City Lodge: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; At this point a lot of the novel thrill of the design hotel has worn off — overexposure has a way of making even the most avant-garde of designer interiors feel a bit safe. Then again it’s always possible to go a bit further out there, proof of which comes in the form of the Propeller Island... Read More
Proximity Hotel: Greensboro, NC, USA; View | Reserve; Why Greensboro, North Carolina? Because that’s where the Proximity Hotel is — and a hotel like this deserves to get noticed no matter where in the world it’s located. It’s contemporary in design, it’s independently owned, it’s state-of-the-art in function, and it’s manageably small — all qualities... Read More
PuDi Boutique Hotel Fuxing Parc Shanghai: Shanghai, China; View | Reserve; Where else in Shanghai but the French Concession would you expect to find a boutique hotel like this one? The Pudi Boutique Hotel at Fuxing Parc Shanghai is subtly, discreetly French, right down to the “c” in “Parc” — French-designed, decked out in French-made furnishings, and managed by the French... Read More
Pudong Shangri-La, Shanghai: Pudong, Shanghai, China; View | Reserve; For many guests, the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel occupies the perfect location. The Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone is the heart of Shanghai’s financial industries, and the Shangri-La sits along the banks of the Huangpu River, overlooking the legendary riverfront buildings of the Bund and the... Read More
Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay: Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico; View | Reserve; Mazatlán may be known for its tourist industry, and for its seasonal influx of drunk and belligerent American college students. And it's true that parts of the city, especially the Zona Dorada (the Golden Zone) are overbuilt, noisy, and lacking in character... Read More
Pullman Barcelona Skipper: Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; We’re obviously partial to independent little boutiques, but we freely admit that sometimes, big is beautiful. And so it is, in the case of the Hotel Pullman Barcelona Skipper. With some 241 rooms and suites, and existing as it does under the ownership of the French hospitality giant Accor, it’s no... Read More
Pullman Marseille Palm Beach: Marseille, France; View | Reserve; Mention Marseille and immediately thoughts turn to brawling sailors in the bars of the old port — in the popular imagination, it’s still a place to get in trouble, not a place to get away from it all. But today’s Marseille is something rather different, an urbane and cosmopolitan city, its idyllic... Read More
Punta Islita Resort and Spa: Nicoya Peninsula of Guanacaste, Costa Rica; View | Reserve; Four hours from San José, on a lush hillside overlooking Costa Rica’s Pacific coastline, Punta Islita is a tropical idyll, unspoiled and secluded, cut off from the mainland by dense jungle and difficult terrain. It’s a truly unique location, with the curving black sand beach a few hundred feet... Read More
Puri Wulandari: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Increasingly the action in Bali is moving ever farther from the beach, to idyllic inland enclaves like the artists’ colony of Ubud and the lush, unspoiled countryside that surrounds it. In this environment of rice paddies, lush tropical forests and spectacular valley views lies Puri... Read More
Puro Hotel: Palma de Mallorca, Spain; View | Reserve; Though there's certainly something to be said for the grand old mansion hotels, high on the Mallorcan hilltops, the once-overlooked capital city of Palma is making a resurgence, drawing a younger and more energetic breed of traveller. Maybe you're here for the nightlife, and want the easy downtown... Read More
Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara: Hameem, Abu Dhabi, UAE; View | Reserve; Until recently the Anantara resorts were pretty much confined to the lush environs of Thailand, the Maldives and Indonesia; their move into the United Arab Emirates comes as something of a surprise. And we’re not even talking about a hotel on stilts off some island in the Gulf — the Anantara Resort... Read More
Quebecs: Leeds, UK; View | Reserve; So far Leeds has been relatively undisturbed by the wave of boutique hotels that has overrun other English cities (especially London). The first ripple, then, is Quebecs; and if there is a hotel renaissance coming to Leeds, then this hotel is a fine start... Read More
Queenstown Park Hotel: Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand; View | Reserve; It would be criminal to upset the natural beauty of NZ’s South Island with overbearing design, and this boutique hotel strikes a harmonious balance between the holistic and the hip. Positioned amid some of the world’s most dramatic topography, the Queenstown Park Hotel strives not to compete with... Read More
Quincy Hotel: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; Singapore’s reputation for conservatism still holds true in many areas of life, but in recent years the Singaporean hotel scene has come to life in a big way — a hotel like the Quincy just wouldn’t have been possible here a decade ago... Read More
Quinta da Casa Branca: Madeira, Portugal; View | Reserve; Madeira, among certain demographics, is something of a well-kept secret. Lush and subtropical, it’s the sort of place that’s very popular indeed with an older generation of travelers. But its pervasive calm is its greatest asset — if it were heaving discos and all-night debauches you were after... Read More
Quinta Real Guadalajara: Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico; View | Reserve; Some hotels are remarkable for the ease with which they represent the essence of their location; others are remarkable for the contrast between the hotel’s environment and that of the city at large. Guadalajara is one of Mexico’s biggest cities, a bustling and chaotic metropolis, but you’d be hard... Read More
Quinta Real Monterrey: Monterrey, Mexico; View | Reserve; Forget sun, sand and surf: Monterrey is Mexico’s business dynamo, more likely a destination for a working holiday than a leisurely escape. No surprise, then, that one of its most impressive hotels should be the Quinta Real... Read More
Radisson Blu Hotel Berlin: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; On paper it sounds a bit odd, but we assure you that in person, the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium is truly a sight to behold. Located in the lobby of the Radisson Blu in Berlin Mitte, the 25-meter AquaDom is filled with a million liters of sea water, and is home to more than two thousand... Read More
Radisson Blu Hotel Frankfurt: Frankfurt, Germany; View | Reserve; With another installment in the always surprisingly design-conscious Radisson Blu series, Frankfurt continues to take steps toward the modern and stylish hotel scene it deserves. A glass cube housed inside of a massive glass disc, this Blu, designed by the British architect John Seifert, looks as... Read More
Radisson Blu Le Dokhan’s Hotel, Paris Trocadero: Paris, France; View | Reserve; In the crowded and often ostentatious world of Paris hotels, Le Dokhan’s sets itself apart—the feeling is less grand hotel, more private mansion, one impeccably designed by the noted decorator Frédéric Méchiche, whose antique selection and keen eye for color make hospitable order from what would... Read More
Radisson Blu Royal: Copenhagen, Denmark; View | Reserve; The Royal, designed from the ground up by the legendary Danish architect Arne Jacobsen, is quite possibly the world’s first designer hotel. Jacobsen was responsible for every detail, from the custom furniture (his famous Egg and Swan chairs were both designed with this project in mind) to the... Read More
Radisson Blu Strand: Stockholm, Sweden; View | Reserve; First-time visitors to Stockholm’s hotels might be surprised to find that the modernist architecture and interiors for which Scandinavia is so well known seem to be produced for export only. Here classics like the Radisson Blu Strand, a 1912 Jugendstil palace topped with an oxidized copper roof... Read More
Radisson Edwardian Hotel Manchester: Manchester, England, UK; View | Reserve; In its former life as the Free Trade Hall, this stately old building bore witness to more than its share of historic moments, from political rallies and violent uprisings to, more recently, the Sex Pistols gig that spawned the Buzzcocks, the Smiths and Joy Division... Read More
Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor: Siem Reap, Cambodia; View | Reserve; This hotel is a true period piece, more than seventy years old — and Raffles, its new owners, have turned back the clock a bit, with an extensive renovation, erasing some of the shoddy “modernisations” in the historic main building, as well as constructing two new (though convincingly old-fashioned... Read More
Raffles Hotel: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; Raffles hotel in Singapore is the stuff of legends. Since opening in 1886, the last Singapore tiger was shot underneath the Bar and Billiards room (1902), the first Singapore sling was mixed at the Long Bar (1915), and beauties Ava Gardner and Elizabeth Taylor have called it home. All the writers... Read More
Raffles Hotel Le Royal: Phnom Penh, Cambodia; View | Reserve; Don’t laugh. Phnom Penh is a tourist destination once again. It is not a town for the faint of heart, however—it is dusty and challenging and strange - just ask the weary expat journalists who prop up the bar at the Foreign Correspondents Club. Meanwhile, lush antique silks line the bazaars, and... Read More
Rambagh Palace a TAJ Hotel: Jaipur, Rajasthan, India; View | Reserve; Since the Fifties this splendid, sprawling palace has been at the top of Jaipur’s luxury hotel market. Rambagh Palace began its life as a guest house for Rajasthan’s royals, and the more things change, the more they stay the same — it’s a part of the Taj hotel group now, and is more or less a guest... Read More
Rancho Bernardo Inn: San Diego, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Twenty-five minutes north of San Diego in the San Pasqual Valley, the Rancho Bernardo Inn offers the sort of secluded and tranquil experience that’s hard to come by in overbuilt and hyperactive Southern California. Still, this is no austere eco-retreat; focusing on top-notch recreation... Read More
Rancho Valencia Resort: San Diego, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Think San Diego and you’re likely to think of crashing surf, Pacific ocean breeze, and, less pleasantly, mobs of tourists feeding parking meters down by the beach. Just north of the city, though, a few miles inland from Del Mar, is the Rancho Valencia Resort, a quiet retreat in a private canyon... Read More
Real Casona de Las Amas: Azofra, La Rioja, Spain; View | Reserve; No one image serves adequately to capture the whole of Spain — in some ways it’s almost best understood as several countries in one, divided not just by language and politics but by landscape as well. Far from stylish Barcelona, cosmopolitan Madrid, sun-drenched Andalucia or the beaches of... Read More
Red Capital Ranch: Beijing, Huairou District, Beijing, China; View | Reserve; Just as the Red Capital Residence fondly recalls a bygone era of revolutionary Communist kitsch, the Red Capital Ranch, in the countryside outside of Beijing, is an homage to an earlier time. In this case a fantasy that predates the Revolution — this place, currently billing itself as China’s first... Read More
Red Capital Residence: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; To stay in one of Beijing’s big business hotels, you’d almost think capitalism had been invented here — they’re as modern, as opulent and as technologically advanced as those elsewhere in Asia or anywhere else, and are in their own way hugely impressive, if that’s the sort of thing you’re after... Read More
Regina Hotel Baglioni: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; Just a hundred years old, the Regina Hotel Baglioni has to count as barely middle-aged as Roman hotels go. That said, it does old-world Italian pomp and circumstance as well as any of the palace hotels; we’re talking chandeliers, marble staircases, and loads of gilt and shiny fabrics. What saves it... Read More
Reid's Palace: Funchal, Portugal; View | Reserve; If you’re finding Reid an unlikely name for a Portuguese fellow you’re not wrong. Reid’s Palace was founded over a century ago by a Scotsman of that name, back in the early stages of what’s now a full-fledged relationship between the British and the Portuguese island of Madeira. After all there’s... Read More
Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce: Bruges, Flanders, Belgium; View | Reserve; If what you’re after is a picturesque medieval town, criss-crossed with canals, you should know that Bruges out-Amsterdams Amsterdam by some distance. And only in Bruges could you find a hotel like the Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce. It occupies a pair of gorgeous, delicate old timbered houses, and... Read More
Relais Christine: Paris, France; View | Reserve; A 16th-century abbey converted into a small and charmingly traditional boutique hotel would be special enough, were it located somewhere far out in the French countryside; in the heart of Paris’s Latin Quarter, however, it’s truly extraordinary. This is the Relais Christine, hidden away... Read More
Relais Ravestein: Bruges, Belgium; View | Reserve; You could be forgiven for imagining that a place with a name as old-fashioned as Relais Ravestein, housed in a centuries-old canal-side aristocratic residence might be a bit too sedate and grown-up for our tastes — especially one in Bruges, the self-styled “Venice of the north,” a city... Read More
Relais Residenza d'Arte: Torrita di Siena, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; There’s an undeniable poetic quality to the Italian language. “House of Art” would land on the ear with a dull thud, not at all an appropriate sensation for a beautiful little hotel in the Tuscan country about an hour’s drive outside of Siena. But Residenza d’Arte: now that’s more like it... Read More
Relais Saint-Germain: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Despite the recent outbreak of modern-style design hotels in Paris, there are still a few places where you can get an authentic taste of the old romance of the city. Like the Hôtel Relais Saint-Germain, for example... Read More
Relais Villa San Martino: Martina Franca (Ta), Puglia, Italy; View | Reserve; Even as it gains momentum as a sun-drenched Italian holiday destination, it’s worth remembering that Puglia has been here a long time. Why exactly it’s booming right now is anyone’s guess, but they didn’t just knock the place together out of plywood and plaster in a bid to divert tourist dollars... Read More
Remota: Puerto Natales, Patagonia, Chile; View | Reserve; For a big architectural statement, this one, at least from the outside, comes off awfully quiet. But then that’s exactly as it was intended to be. Remota, in Puerto Natales, an old fishing town in Patagonia, is the latest hotel project from the Chilean green architect Germàn del Sol — so the... Read More
Residence & Spa at One & Only Royal Mirage: Dubai, UAE; View | Reserve; The popular, cynical journalistic image of Dubai — basically a vision of a golden construction crane, building an air-conditioned skyscraper out of stacks of money — actually sells the place short as a travel destination. There are some hotels that strain the limits of good taste, of course, but... Read More
Residence 6*: Leeds, UK; View | Reserve; Residence 6, a converted post office in Leeds’s tony Victoria Quarter, is something a bit novel: a stylish small hotel that’s content to stay out of the limelight. Time was, crisp modern design was the exclusive province of the bold and brash boutique hotels, hotels of the... Read More
Residence Hilda: Florence, Italy; View | Reserve; In the foreigner’s mind, Florence strains under the weight of so much history that it’s sometimes difficult to remember that it’s the 21st century there too. It’s not all Renaissance architecture and crumbling frescoes — modern life goes on there, just like anywhere else, and contemporary small... Read More
Residenza del Moro: Florence, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; Nowhere else but Florence could you hope to find a meticulously restored Renaissance-era villa turned, with a minimum of modern interference, into a small and swanky boutique hotel. The Residenza del Moro is central, on the west side of the city center, minutes from the Ponte Vecchio and everything... Read More
Resort at Paws Up: Greenough, Montana, USA; View | Reserve; Backcountry living in the Montana Rockies never felt quite so luxe. Deep in the heart of the American West, an easy 35 minutes from Missoula airport (and another 35 minutes from the exact middle of nowhere), the Resort at Paws Up is for the traveler who wants a wilderness escape to include all the... Read More
Riad 72: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Tucked away on one of Marrakech’s winding side streets, Riad 72 is a pint-sized modernist haven offering a bit of Italian style, courtesy of its Milanese owner. Originally a palace, this harmonious retreat is filled with rich red fabrics accenting plush white floor cushions, glowing candles... Read More
Riad AnaYela: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; When you’re shopping for a riad hotel you can go for the pared-down and unpretentious, just a mellow slice of Moroccan life. Or you can go all-out epic Marrakech romance, and book in at AnaYela. There are probably places you can go if you want a bit of humble, down-to-earth traditional Moroccan... Read More
Riad Dar One: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Numbers are important in certain areas of life but they’re close to useless in selecting a riad hotel. Five rooms, ten rooms, what’s the difference? These places are so much more about personality than anything else — and in the case of Riad Dar One it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that that... Read More
Riad Dixneuf La Ksour: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; By and large the hoteliers of Marrakech are a pretty traditional lot, at least aesthetically. The riad hotels in particular are, almost without exception, outfitted in varying shades of classic Arabian style. So a place like Riad Dixneuf La Ksour, while hardly avant-garde in its design, stands out... Read More
Riad Due: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; The numerically-minded Italian proprietors of the small and luxurious Riad 72 are back with something of a sequel, Riad Due. And despite the name’s thirty-sixfold reduction — due being Italian for two, of course — it’s nearly identical in size, just four exceedingly stylish little suites in a... Read More
Riad Fes: Fes, Morocco; View | Reserve; Marrakech has convenience and accessibility going for it, but if you want to see the ancient side of Morocco, you want to see Fez. And if you’re staying in Fez, you want to stay in a riad — and this one, Riad Fès, is among the best of them... Read More
Riad Kaiss: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Let’s face it, the riad hotel is not a genre that thrives on novelty. Most of what there is to say about any individual riad is subsumed within the definition of the word. They’re all townhouse mansions, wrapping around quiet little courtyards, their inner opulence shielded from the city streets by... Read More
Riad Meriem: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; There’s a simple reason why the riad hotels of Marrakech have been so much more popular among the French than the English, Americans, or other anglophones. It’s not the proximity, not in these days of budget air travel, but the language — the simple fact is that so many riad owners are French, and... Read More
Rimrock Resort Hotel: Banff, AB, Canada; View | Reserve; Deep in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains is the picturesque resort town of Banff, surrounded by some of North America's best ski resorts and some of the most breathtaking mountain vistas this side of the Alps. The Rimrock Resort Hotel is designed to take full advantage of the views: the... Read More
Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas: St Thomas, Virgin Islands (U.S.); View | Reserve; It’s hard to think of a way to do St. Thomas in bigger style than the Ritz-Carlton. Just coming off a $40M renovation, the compound sprawls out over thirty secluded acres on a peninsula at the island’s easternmost point, right up against the waters of Great Bay, with postcard-perfect... Read More
Riva Hotel: Hvar, Croatia; View | Reserve; Riva Hotel, on the Croatian island of Hvar, is something of a time capsule — the sort of place that just might take you back to the days when this whole design boutique thing started. For any number of world-historical reasons that don’t really bear examination here, Croatia is, as a tourist... Read More
Riva Lofts Florence: Firenze, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; In Italy even the most modern hotel has hundreds or thousands of years of architectural history to deal with; one hypermodern hotel in Rome has a working archaeological site in the basement. By these standards, Riva Lofts is on the young side: this 19th-century complex on the banks of the Arno... Read More
Riyad Al Moussika: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; One could reasonably argue that the experience of staying at a historic hotel, an ancient castle, say, or a converted country mansion, can be improved by a bit of familiarity with the heritage of the place, a passing acquaintance with the story of whatever medieval friar or Victorian earl used to... Read More
Rockhouse Hotel: Negril, Jamaica; View | Reserve; We don’t know who would bother with the sterile all-inclusive Jamaican resorts; the smart travelers get themselves westward, to Negril, and to the Rockhouse, a tiny collection of villas stretching along the cliff’s edge at Pristine Cove (a location as aptly named as any you’ll... Read More
Rodavento Boutique Hotel: Valle de Bravo, Mexico; View | Reserve; The more typical destinations in Mexico have done such a good job selling themselves that it’s quite easy to forget what a three-dimensional country it is. Maybe that’s why it’s mostly travelers from elsewhere within Mexico who know the Valle de Bravo — this lush mountain valley defies all the... Read More
Romeo Hotel: Naples, Campania, Italy; View | Reserve; Italy, in general, is no stranger to contemporary design, to say the least, but Naples has always been a different story. Never the most forward-looking city, it’s nevertheless now developing a bit of a modern streak — and a hotel like the Romeo couldn’t have existed any sooner... Read More
Room Mate Alicia: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; At last count, the Room Mate chain of budget boutique hotels comprises some ten hotels all across Spain, four in Madrid alone. All have their own personalities, but show a certain family resemblance, a certain breezy lightness in design, a whimsical and unpretentious approach. This one, Room Mate... Read More
Room Mate Grace: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Formerly Hotel QT, the Grace is the Spanish Room Mate group’s first stateside outing — and it seems the stylish budget chain and the quirky Times Square boutique are a match made in heaven. While the name has changed, the idea remains the same: to offer something cheap but still chic, more... Read More
Room Mate Laura: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; As a sequel, or sister, or something, to the original Mario, Room Mate Laura has some big shoes to fill. The idea is that each Room Mate hotel will have a distinct personality, as well as a certain family resemblance. This one, like its brother, is stylish, minimalist, somewhat whimsical... Read More
Room Mate Lola: Malaga, Spain; View | Reserve; Yes, technically, it’s the Costa del Sol — but try, if you can, to stop those images of grim high-rise developments and package tours from darting across the screen of your imagination. For one thing, this is Málaga, no sleepy sanitized resort community, but a bustling port town. And for... Read More
Room Mate Marina: Valencia, Spain; View | Reserve; This member of the Room Mate family is named not just for a fictional character (Marina, loves sailing, her dog Gretel, and the music of Kruder and Dorfmeister) but for a literal marina as well. It’s located by the port of Valencia, near the old shipyards, and not far from the beach at... Read More
Room Mate Mario Hotel: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; Any hotel worth staying at has a personality of its own, almost by definition — avoiding the bland and the soulless is, after all, the reason you’re here in the first place. Some one-off hotels, literally unique, can’t help but have a personality; meanwhile some chains develop something... Read More
Room Mate Migueletes: Granada, Spain; View | Reserve; There’s not much more to say that we haven’t already said about Spain’s Room Mate hotels. It’s hard to go wrong with a low-cost, high-design concept, and the central conceit of inventing a character and personality for each hotel — well, either you love it, or you ignore it... Read More
Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi: Santa Fe, NM, USA; View | Reserve; There are adobe walls, wood floors, and gas burning kiva fireplaces in every room of this former Santa Fe penitentiary. The scent of pinon pine permeates the air, hand woven carpets warm your feet on the floor and bath oils impregnate your water with the smell of cedar. Funky Southwest food that... Read More
Rosewood Mayakoba: Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; The Riviera Maya has become increasingly appreciated as the escape hatch from Cancún craziness, and the architecturally bold Rosewood Mayakobá raises the sophistication bar up several notches. In a word, this place is refined. The clean white lines of the resort’s pavilions interplay with the... Read More
Round Hill Hotel and Villas: Montego Bay, Jamaica; View | Reserve; Over the years Jamaica as a holiday destination has transformed from the British colonial retreat of the likes of Ian Fleming into a slightly more downmarket affair, and it’s easy to feel that the student backpackers and hard-drinking hedonists have taken over... Read More
Royal Davui Island Resort - A Select Hotel: Royal Davui Island, Fiji; View | Reserve; On cold, dark days, most of us likely dream of white sand, blue sky, and bluer water. We dream, perhaps unknowingly, of Fiji — these islands in the South Pacific are the stuff of fantasies, and so is the Royal Davui Island Resort. The 16 guest “vales” dot the adults-only, 10-acre private island... Read More
Royal Malewane: South Africa; View | Reserve; Some modern luxury safari lodges differentiate themselves by pushing against the boundaries of tradition. Others set themselves apart by pursuing the traditional concept of the safari camp to its logical conclusion... Read More
Royal Palm Hotel: Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador; View | Reserve; If we tell you there’s a resort you’ve got to see in the Galápagos Islands you’d probably imagine some kind of bare-bones eco-resort, or a bit of sailing on some latter-day HMS Beagle. What you might not expect is an inland luxury resort hidden away in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island — but... Read More
Royal Palms Resort and Spa: Phoenix, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; The Spanish colonial mansion that was to eventually become Royal Palms was built in 1929 for New York industrialist (and nephew of J.P. Morgan) Delos Cooke. Cooke himself would not live another two years, and the house changed hands several times before its conversion to a resort, in 1948... Read More
Royal Plantation: Ocho Rios, St, Caribbean, Jamaica; View | Reserve; Jamaica’s got just about every kind of hotel, from guest houses to boutiques to resorts, both large and larger. Royal Plantation, in Ocho Rios, is technically a part of one of the big chains, but it’s got an air of upscale exclusivity that the all-inclusives can’t touch... Read More
Royal Windsor Hotel Grand Place: Brussels, Belgium; View | Reserve; If the thought of an old-world grand hotel in Brussels doesn’t exactly get your heart racing, you’re not alone. This town’s hotels, even the best ones, are a notoriously sober lot, especially at the high end. But overlook the Royal Windsor Hotel Grand Place and you’ll miss out on a hidden cache of... Read More
Royalton Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; A lot has changed since the Royalton opened in 1988, both inside and outside its walls. This is arguably the original boutique hotel, having spawned a legion of imitators, many of which sought to duplicate the formula of stylish-enough bedrooms atop stunning public spaces — both, in the Royalton’s... Read More
Ryad Dyor: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Brighter, sunnier, somehow friendlier than the average riad hotel — maybe it’s the owners, a couple of designers, one Dutch and the other Spanish, but for whatever reason, Ryad Dyor stands out. The medina location and the inside-out riad design mean it’s as private as any, but where many go dark... Read More
Sagamore Hotel: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; The Sagamore bridges the gap between the ultra-chic boutique and the more stately, upmarket luxury hotel. It's not easy to define the Sagamore — is the hotel within the art gallery or the art gallery within the hotel... Read More
Saint James: Bouliac, Bordeaux, France; View | Reserve; Here’s something rather unexpected. Surrounded by the idyllic French countryside, just a few minutes outside of Bordeaux, is the Hauterive Saint James, a classic French country hotel with a twist. Where you may expect to see a classic farmhouse inn, the Saint James is a design statement, a... Read More
Saint John Hotel Villas & Spa: Mykonos, Greece; View | Reserve; Every year, Saint John Hotel Villas & Spa is closed from late Oct. until late April for the winter season... Read More
SALA Phuket Resort and Spa: Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; It says something good about the robustness of Phuket’s tourist economy that even now, new hotels are continuing to open there. Sala Phuket, at Mai Khao in the island’s northwest, is a Thai beach resort in the modern mold: some seventy-nine airy loft-style modernist units strung along the coast... Read More
SALA Samui Resort and Spa: Koh Samui Suratthani, Thailand; View | Reserve; The serious novelty-seekers have probably moved on from Koh Samui, if not from Thailand entirely, in search of the next great undeveloped tropical paradise. That’s their prerogative, of course, but to give up now is to miss out on places like the Sala Samui, which brings a bit of much-needed... Read More
Samode Palace: Jaipur, Rajasthan, India; View | Reserve; As Indian royal fantasies go, it doesn’t get much more classic than this. The Samode Palace, in the rocky hills an hour or so from Jaipur, appears more or less unchanged over the course of its four-hundred-year life — in its new life as a luxury hotel, even the modern additions, such as they are... Read More
San Domenico Palace Hotel: Taormina, Sicily, Italy; View | Reserve; Long Sicily’s finest hotel, and one of the most storied in all of Italy, San Domenico Palace benefits from a superb location, high on a hill above Taormina, with views of the Ionian Sea and the volcanic peak of Mount Etna. The building, an authentic and intact fifteenth-century monastery, is... Read More
Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain: Scottsdale, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; Scottsdale’s changed quite a bit in recent years, in a sort of Dorian Gray manner; as Phoenix’s cookie-cutter strip malls and unsightly cement surfaces sprawl farther into the desert, Scottsdale just gets younger, hipper, better looking. A prime example is Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain’s... Read More
Sanderson: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Though a rated historical building, the sixties office block that housed the Sanderson fabrics company is not the most elegant facade for a stylish boutique hotel. Fortunately the interiors find Starck and Schrager in rare form, raising their game a bit to stand out in this most competitive of... Read More
Sandy Lane Hotel and Golf Club: St. James, West Indies, Barbados; View | Reserve; Minimum stay in effect over Christmas and major US holidays... Read More
Sant Cugat H&R: Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain; View | Reserve; Sant Cugat, the town, is an upscale suburb a few miles north and west of Barcelona proper; here, in a curvaceous modern building, is where you’ll find the Sant Cugat Hotel & Restaurant. Located adjacent to the cathedral, overlooking a park in the heart of the town, it’s in truth... Read More
Santa Marina Resort & Villas: Mykonos, Greece; View | Reserve; If there’s one thing we can thank the Greeks for (apart from the whole Western civilization thing) it’s the concept of an over-the-top deluxe seaside hotel. Typically whitewashed, sprawling, and scenic, the archetypal Greek resort is perched on an outcropping or promontory, offering unparalleled... Read More
Santa Teresa Resort: Pantelleria - Scauri S., Italy; View | Reserve; Located on Pantelleria, a tiny Mediterranean island closer to Tunisia than it is to Sicily, the Santa Teresa Resort blends Italian and African styles. Sprawled out over a hundred-acre farm and vineyard, the Santa Teresa encompasses 18 bungalows, grouped in four small “villages,” each with its own... Read More
Sax Chicago - A Thompson Hotel: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; For fans of old-fashioned luxury hotels, Chicago offers no end of options; many of the city’s hotels feel like throwbacks to Chicago’s glory days as the business-and-industry capital of the Middle West. For the rest of us, however, Sax Chicago is a bit of a welcome departure, with soft, light... Read More
Saxon: Johannesburg, South Africa; View | Reserve; Impossible to imagine, but the Saxon, on the fringes of Johannesburg, was once a private residence — not bad, considering it now sleeps about fifty. And surrounded as it is by a ten-foot wall, it’s about as private as a boutique hotel can get. This is where Nelson Mandela came to work on his... Read More
Scandic Front Hotel: Copenhagen, Denmark; View | Reserve; This newly renovated boutique hotel on the Copenhagen waterfront promenade is modern and classic at the same time; with a view of the Amalienborg Castle and a location close to the picturesque Nyhavn Canal, it’s a part of the old Copenhagen — inside, though, it looks like today, a mix of modernist... Read More
Scapes: Miura-gun, Kanagawa, Japan; View | Reserve; If we have a mission when it comes to these rural Japanese escapes, it’s this: to make the classic ryokan-style country inn every bit as familiar an image, in foreigners’ minds, as the iconic Western-style luxury hotels or the only-in-Japan capsule hotels and love hotels. All the Japanese hoteliers... Read More
Schloss Elmau Cultural Hideaway & Luxury Spas: Elmau, Bavaria, Germany; View | Reserve; They’ve got Alps in Bavaria too, you know. Come winter, Schloss Elmau finds itself immersed in the kind of snowy wonderland that the Swiss might like to believe they’ve got exclusive rights to. But from the name of the place you can tell it’s a slightly different sort of ski hotel — it’s not every... Read More
Schloss Velden, a Capella Hotel: Velden, Austria; View | Reserve; It sounds hopelessly old-fashioned, the idea of a 17th-century castle turned luxury hotel, alongside a placid Alpine lake in southern Austria. Indeed Velden am Wörthersee has centuries of resort-town history behind it, and the distinctive goldenrod-hued castle, Schloss Velden, has stood here on the... Read More
Schlosshotel Buhlerhohe: Baden-Baden, Germany; View | Reserve; Does anybody really still go to Baden-Baden? The answer is a resounding yes — it’s not just for heads of state or 19th-century literary figures anymore. While the rest of the travel world was scurrying about trying to find the next big European resort destination, the town has been sprucing itself... Read More
Schlosshotel im Grunewald: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Located on a verdant, tree-lined suburban street, the only thing that distinguishes the Schlosshotel from the other mansions in the neighborhood is a small sign lit subtly in white lights. Not surprisingly, it started out as a private residence. Walther von Pannwitz, the original owner, was a... Read More
Se San Diego: San Diego, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The sleek, new-on-the-scene Sè San Diego brings together an unusual mix of stylistic influences — and, considering its nearly instant popularity with the city’s fashionable young set, the results are a hit. First, the interior design, very cool and masculine, filled with rich leather and polished... Read More
Seiler Hotel Mont Cervin: Zermatt, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Open end of November to end of April and mid-June to beginning of October... Read More
Selenza Madrid: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; By now the idea that Barcelona is the fun one and Madrid is the serious one is simply a long-dead stereotype. But there is something to be said for the way that Madrid’s gems often lie hidden beneath a stately and sober exterior. The Selenza Hotel is a case in point: behind an elegant 19th-century... Read More
Semeli Hotel: Mykonos, Greece; View | Reserve; This small luxury hotel complex sits high on a hilltop overlooking Mykonos town, and its swimming pool terrace, splendid enough in itself, boasts commanding views of the city’s rooftops. The location may not be as dramatic as the archetypal Greek island resort, perched on a cliffside, but... Read More
Semiramis Hotel: Athens, Greece; View | Reserve; One look and it’s obvious that Semiramis is a radical departure from the norm: bold swathes of day-glo color set it immediately apart from the icy cool of most modern boutique hotels, not to mention the monochrome white of the typical Greek luxury hotel. Puzzling, unless you happen to follow... Read More
Seven One Seven: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; All the big stereotypes about Dutch hotels (freaky modernist design, low-budget student digs) are right out the window — Seven One Seven is as traditional and as haute-luxury as they come, just eight sumptuous rooms (six of them actually suites) in a landmark 19th-century house along the... Read More
Sextantio: Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Italy; View | Reserve; To give it its full name, it’s Sextantio Albergo Diffuso; roughly speaking, the Sextantio Distributed Hotel. Which sounds a bit futuristic in English, but is in fact nothing of the sort — it’s a sixteenth-century village, the Abbruzzese mountain village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio, complete with... Read More
Shade: Manhattan Beach, CA, USA; View | Reserve; From humble beginnings as the quintessential SoCal beachside bungalow town, Manhattan Beach has gone upscale. Expensive homes, swanky restaurants, luxury retailers, and now, just now, a boutique hotel. Though just three blocks from the beach, Shade is about interiors; these spaces, by the Discovery... Read More
Shangri-La Harbin: Harbin, Heilongjiang, China; View | Reserve; First-time visitors to Harbin might find themselves checking maps to see if this is really China. The distinctly Russian-style architecture (not to mention the wintertime Siberian winds) give the city a distinctly Northern European flavor. And the Shangri-La, the city’s top luxury hotel, follows... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel Chengdu: Chengdu, Sichuan, China; View | Reserve; Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province, is perhaps less familiar to foreign visitors than places like Beijing or Shanghai. But in an increasingly global world, first-class business hotels like the Shangri-La are needed everywhere, not least in the high-tech industrial center of... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta: Jakarta, Java, Indonesia; View | Reserve; In Asia, the Shangri-La name connotes a certain kind of utterly maximal hotel, a strong measure of traditional opulence, along with a grand scale that can easily seem intimidating, especially to Westerners who have grown accustomed to 40-room boutiques and intimate country inns. Never fear; this is... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel Singapore: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; Singapore boasts an astonishing density of impressive hotels; among the best in town for three decades has been the Shangri-La... Read More
Shangri-la Hotel Tokyo: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Whether the Tokyo hotel market is crowded with high-end lodgings or merely presents a wealth of upscale choices is perhaps a matter of perspective. But whatever the challenges hoteliers face, it’s a great time to be a guest; Tokyo is arguably already the luxury-hotel capital of the world, and new... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok: Bangkok, Thailand; View | Reserve; Please note: Renovations have been underway at Shangri-La, Bangkok. The hotel is now in the final stages of this program which includes the refurbishment of the upper guestroom floors in the main wing. While intermittent noise may be heard, measures have been taken to minimize disruption to guests... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; The palatial megahotels of the Far East are renowned for their state-of-the-art facilities and for their almost absurdly high standard of service — the best hotels in Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong provide an experience so over-the-top as to make the finest Western hotels look like roadside... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi, UAE; View | Reserve; A rapidly diversifying economy and constant development are helping Abu Dhabi step out from the shadow of its better-known sister, Dubai. A prime location on the Persian Sea and lots of green space haven’t hurt either. Naturally, travelers of all types are taking note. They won’t be disappointed by... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel, Suzhou: Suzhou, Jiangsu, China; View | Reserve; Suzhou may be best known for its thousand-year heritage, and the innumerable gardens, temples and bridges. But that’s the postcard Suzhou — the Shangri-La Hotel is aimed at a different audience entirely, an audience of savvy international business travelers, in town not for the picturesque gardens... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver: Vancouver, Canada; View | Reserve; The days of the purpose-built luxury hotel just might be behind us. The Shangri-La Vancouver is built, as is increasingly common, on the Asian model — as a part of a mixed-use skyscraper, incorporating offices, retail, dining and residential space in addition to the fifteen hotel floors. The big... Read More
Shangri-La Hotel, Zhongshan: Zhongshan, Guangdong Provice, China; View | Reserve; We’re not yet at the point where second-tier Chinese cities like Zhongshan have got cutting-edge design-oriented boutique hotels of their own. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some very fine places to stay. The Shangri-La group is known across Asia for high-end hospitality on a massive scale, and... Read More
Shangri-La New Delhi: New Delhi, India; View | Reserve; In New Delhi they already know a thing or two about business-oriented luxury hotels. But there’s room for a perspective from abroad as well, in the form of the Hong Kong–based Shangri-La group. This 320-room high-rise in Delhi’s government district is as comfortable, as opulent, as any of the... Read More
Shangri-La Sydney: Sydney, Australia; View | Reserve; Sydney has its share of world-class hotels, at the top end of the business/luxury market — but there aren’t many that are more high-profile than the Shangri-La. Not only figuratively, given the location in the Rocks, a stone’s throw from the opera house and Circular Quay, but literally as well... Read More
Shangri-La's Boracay Resort and Spa: Boracay Island, Philippines; View | Reserve; They’re internationally known for their big-city resorts, but Shangri-La can do remote island escapes with the best of them. Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort & Spa is proof of that — nestled into a lush green hillside, overlooking a pristine beach, surrounded by an a nature reserve on an island two... Read More
Sheen Falls Lodge: County Kerry, Ireland; View | Reserve; Oh, to have been the Marquis of Landsdowne — what’s now one of Ireland’s finest country house hotels was once his summer home, just a place to disappear to for a bit of hunting and fishing, alongside Kenmare Bay and the Sheen River falls, surrounded by countless acres of parklands and... Read More
Sheraton Centro Historico: Mexico City, Mexico; View | Reserve; The Sheraton Centro Historico is named, prosaically enough, after the historical center of Mexico City, a district that is in the midst of an extensive renovation, an attempt to create a world-class downtown area. This massive hotel, some 457 rooms and suites, is built on the site of the Hotel del... Read More
Sheraton Salobre Golf Resort & Spa: Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain; View | Reserve; Ordinarily it wouldn’t be a recipe for an inspiring or unique hotel experience. Luxury villas by the side of a golf course on the island of Grand Canaria sounds like something from a J.G. Ballard novel, but Sheraton Salobre Golf Resort & Spa shows how it can be done right. Whether you’re a golfer... Read More
Shiv Niwas Palace: Udaipur, India; View | Reserve; An old-world Indian classic, Shiv Niwas stands within the walls of Udaipur’s City Palace — once a guest house for royal visitors, today it’s a different sort of guest house, a small hotel (thirty-six rooms and suites) that’s nonetheless very big on luxury... Read More
Shore Club: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Shore Club is one of those chic hotels, a magnet for the jet set and for the entertainment and fashion elite — and why not? This is a place with all the hipster cachet of the other uber-modern nightclub hotels, with an added bonus: some real, substantive luxury, from its exclusive atmosphere... Read More
Shutters on the Beach: Santa Monica, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Some call Shutters on the Beach the most comfortable hotel in the world — and they may be right. It's just the perfect mix of that Deco glamour, old world coziness and modern LA laissez-faire, but it also has a lot of what the modern traveler wants — quiet... Read More
Silken Gran Hotel Domine: Bilbao, Spain; View | Reserve; Please note: Construction is taking place between the hotel and the Guggenheim Museum. Rooms facing the museum will have an obstructed view and may experience noise disturbance. Construction is scheduled for completion in March 2010... Read More
Silos Arte y Relax: Tarifa, Cadiz, Spain; View | Reserve; If you’re looking to get away from it all, you could do a lot worse. Tarifa is already the southernmost point in Europe, an ambitious stone’s throw from Africa via the Straits of Gibraltar. And tucked away in the picturesque old quarter of town is a seventeenth-century home converted into a... Read More
Singita Ebony And Boulders: Mpumalanga, South Africa; View | Reserve; Not at all your average safari camp, even by today’s haute-luxury standards — Singita may be deep in the bush, at the edge of Kruger National Park, but there’s very little that’s rough about it. Split into two camps, each made up of a pair of sleek modernist lodges, Singita is as urbane and... Read More
Sivory Punta Cana: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; View | Reserve; It’s not about the Dominican Republic so much as it is about a beach at the end of the earth. Sivory Punta Cana may as well be on its own desert island, so focused is it on the sand, the surf, and the horizon. And if you wanted to get away from everything else, it’s hard to imagine a more gorgeous... Read More
Six Senses Hideaway & Evason Hua Hin: Pranburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand; View | Reserve; At least half of what we said about the Six Senses Hideaway next door is also true of the Evason Hua Hin & Six Senses Spa. After all, they share a lot: ownership, obviously, as well as a common aesthetic and a similar service philosophy, as well as (even more obviously) a location in Hua Hin, a... Read More
Six Senses Hideaway Samui: Koh Samui, Thailand; View | Reserve; In general we’re deeply mistrustful of pronouncements that one or another destination is the “new Bali,” for instance, or the “next Phuket.” We will, however, go so far as to say that Koh Samui, on the Gulf side of Thailand, shares many of Phuket’s natural gifts, but is in terms of development... Read More
Six Senses Hideaway Yaonoi: Phang-Nga, Thailand; View | Reserve; The Soneva/Evason/Six Senses group’s relentless expansion across the Far East continues apace; as long as they’re this luxurious and well-located, though, then we’ll continue to welcome their arrival without complaint... Read More
Six Senses Hideaway Zighi Bay: Sultanate of Oman, Oman; View | Reserve; If your mental picture of the Arabian Peninsula doesn’t include some stunning seaside resorts, then your travel knowledge is in danger of being out-of-date. Zighi Bay, on the northern end of Oman, just across the peninsula from Dubai, is the sort of desert-meets-the-sea idyll that the Middle East... Read More
Smyth, A Thompson Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Here the dark and slightly masculine Thompson house style is used to stunning effect, its rooms and suites clean in line yet rich in color, its public spaces swanky and romantic, whether by day or by night. Fittings are strictly boutique-luxe, with iPod docks and massive LCDs in the bedrooms, and... Read More
Sofitel Berlin Gendarmenmarkt: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; Berlin-Mitte is home to some grand and palatial hotels, like the old-fashioned Adlon and the stately Four Seasons. This upscale boutique joins the old boys on the Gendarmenmarkt (one of Berlin's celebrated squares) and has proved itself a worthy competitor, drawing guests who prefer a sleeker and... Read More
Sofitel Bora Bora Marara Beach & Private Island: Bora Bora, French Polynesia; View | Reserve; The Motu is just a three-minute boat ride from its sister property, the Marara—but its location, on a tiny private island, makes for a much more private and secluded atmosphere. Thirty bungalows, twenty of them on stilts over the water, make up the guest accommodations, and a restaurant pavilion on... Read More
Sofitel Brussels Europe: Brussels, Belgium; View | Reserve; Far from the chocolate shops and historical buildings of the tourists’ Brussels — well, not literally far, but you get the point — is the sparkling newish EU district, home, mostly, to endless ministry buildings and a stable of corporate chain hotels. And a few gems. The Sofitel Brussels Europe is... Read More
Sofitel Brussels Le Louise: Brussels, Northern Europe, Belgium; View | Reserve; As the capital of the European Union the city of Brussels is something of a crossroads, and as such it’s got no shortage of high-end hotels — most of which, perhaps understandably, are a bit on the conservative side. Exceptions, however, are ever easier to come by. Previously an absolutely... Read More
Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge: Budapest, Hungary; View | Reserve; What was until recently a not-terribly-exciting business hotel is now the Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge, a new link in the very stylish Parisian chain. It’s not a sea change — the building won’t be joining the ranks of Budapest’s architectural monuments anytime soon — but it is a thorough redesign... Read More
Sofitel Buenos Aires: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; The Sofitel Buenos Aires dates back to the golden age of Argentinean style; this authentic Art Deco monument, the city’s first skyscraper, has towered over the historic heart of Buenos Aires since 1929. From the first look inside, though, you’ll be convinced it’s a modern reproduction, so... Read More
Sofitel Chicago Water Tower: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; Often a new city hotel has to settle for adapting an existing building, shoehorning modern interior design into a prewar skyscraper or hiding boutique flash behind an unassuming facade. Not so the Sofitel Water Tower. Architect Jean-Paul Viguier was allowed to start from scratch, and the result is... Read More
Sofitel Essaouira Medina & Spa: Essaouira, Morocco; View | Reserve; From the way the travel press tells the story you’d think Marrakech was Morocco in its entirety. But those who have the time for a bit of rambling often find themselves taking some time by the sea in Essaouira (formerly Mogador), a town that’s no less charming than Marrakech, but quite a lot more... Read More
Sofitel Hamburg Alter Wall: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; Not as edgy as some of Hamburg’s smaller boutiques, of course, but neither is the Sofitel Hamburg Alter Wall a typical luxury hotel. This is a group that’s got a little extra time for contemporary design, and it shows here, starting with the eight-story modern waterside building, its glass-walled... Read More
Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi: Hanoi, Vietnam; View | Reserve; This is simply the place to stay in Hanoi. The hotel itself dates back to 1901, to the French colonial days, and it shows in every detail. In most East Asian capitals, the premier hotel is an ultra-modern Peninsula or Mandarin Oriental, or something like Singapore's Fullerton, a 21st-century hotel... Read More
Sofitel Lisbon Liberdade: Lisboa, Portugal; View | Reserve; Right on the Avenida Da Liberdade, the Sofitel isn’t exactly off the beaten path — but don’t hold that against it. We tend to shy away from the big luxury chains, in most cases, because while they typically offer methodical and attentive service (a big plus, obviously) there’s usually little to... Read More
Sofitel London St James: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Prepare for a slight case of culture shock — the old Cox’s and King’s bank on the corner of Waterloo Place and Pall Mall, just around the corner from the Picadilly Circus tube station, is now the place to go in London for a little taste of Paris. Today owned by the French Sofitel chain... Read More
Sofitel Los Angeles: Los Angeles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The Sofitel Los Angeles is back, after the sort of renovation that makes most hotel facelifts look like little more than a good spring cleaning. Gone is the faded South-of-France style that looked almost defiantly out-of-place at the edge of Beverly Hills; this 295-room hotel is now decidedly a... Read More
Sofitel Luxembourg Europe: Luxembourg, Luxembourg; View | Reserve; The Sofitel chain is one we’ve generally got a lot of time for; they do many of the things we want from a chain (service, professionalism, above all consistency) and very few of the things we don’t (bland décor, dull atmosphere, that deflating feeling when consistency turns into sameness). And in... Read More
Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand Ducal: Luxembourg, Luxembourg; View | Reserve; We’d be willing to bet that when you imagine five-star luxury hotel in the heart of Luxembourg City, the chances of your coming up with something that looks like the Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand Ducal are slim indeed. Though Luxembourg is not exactly well known as a hotbed of modern interior... Read More
Sofitel Marrakech Lounge & Spa: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; The compromise position between the densely packed medina and the wide-open, suburban Palmeraïe is the Hivernage district; it’s less crowded than the old town, but closer to the center of it all than the sprawling out-of-town resorts. And there are a few very worthy hotel options in the Hivernage... Read More
Sofitel Munich Bayerpost: Munich, Bavaria, Germany; View | Reserve; It’s a bit like a microcosm of Munich itself, the Sofitel Munich Bayerpost: at first glance conservative, traditional as can be, but upon closer inspection surprisingly modern, even hip. The old post office building, just a hundred meters from the Munich city-center rail station, retains its... Read More
Sofitel New York: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Maybe we just have a soft spot for all things French. Or maybe it’s the case that for a big-business hotel chain, Sofitel seems to have it pretty well figured out — the consistent quality of a corporate hotel, but with the personality too many others lack, and an aesthetic sense that we may... Read More
Sofitel Old Cataract Aswan: Aswan, Egypt; View | Reserve; Note: From May 2008, Sofitel Old Cataract Aswan will be closed for 24 months for renovations... Read More
Sofitel on Renmin Square: Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China; View | Reserve; With every decade that goes by China opens itself further to the West. By now Hong Kong feels like it’s right next door, and Beijing and Shanghai are quickly losing their air of exoticism. Even Xi’an, the eastern end of the Silk Road, is finding itself more and more accessible to foreign travelers... Read More
Sofitel Palais Jamai: Fez, Morocco; View | Reserve; The Palais is named for its original occupant, the Grand Vizier of Jamaï, and the original palace building dates back to 1879. It became a hotel in the Thirties, and a new wing, much larger than the original palace, was constructed in the Seventies — but in a style remarkably comparable... Read More
Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Le Faubourg comprises two landmark buildings on rue Boissy d’Anglas, close to the Place de la Concorde. One of them was previously the headquarters of the Marie Claire magazines, the other the former Hotel St. Honoré. The location is fantastic, adjacent to the US embassy and quite near the... Read More
Sofitel Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA, USA; View | Reserve; Maybe we’re not entirely impartial, but to our eye, one of the best luxury hotel chains operating in America happens to be a French one. And where better for a Sofitel than Philadelphia’s up-and-coming French Quarter, in the old stock exchange building, a modern-era high-rise tower that’s a... Read More
Sofitel Rabat Jardin Des Roses: Rabat, Morocco; View | Reserve; If you went by what the travel press says you’d think Marrakech and Morocco were different names for the same place. But there are other cities in Morocco — one of them, Rabat, even happens to be the capital. It’s less a pure holiday spot than Marrakech or Essaouira, of course, but its seaside... Read More
Sofitel Santa Clara: Cartagena, Colombia; View | Reserve; Hotel Santa Clara is a converted seventeenth-century convent, a grand and historic hotel, easily the top lodging in the Caribbean coast city of Cartagena — which is, in turn, the destination of choice for travelers from elsewhere in Colombia; the young and the beautiful congregate here for a... Read More
Sofitel The Grand Amsterdam: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; Everything you’d expect from a hotel called the Grand, including a dignified old-world exterior, a location in the heart of the historic city center, every imaginable service and amenity, and a guestbook that reads like a social register, including captains of industry, heads of state, and... Read More
Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; It’s fitting, given Washington D.C.’s French heritage, that one of its top hotels would be a Sofitel. As the name may suggest, this fine 1920s Art Deco building is just off Lafayette Square, which is also bordered by the White House; it’s hard to imagine a more prestigious location, or one that’s... Read More
Soho Grand Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; On the outside, with its cheery pink brick facade, the SoHo Grand resembles a brand-new shopping complex. But inside is a different story. Cast iron dogs stand guard at industrial design central — square lights, molded concrete walls, a coffee table the size of a grand piano. There's mesh wire... Read More
Soho House: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; No, it’s not in Soho, it’s in the Meatpacking District, the west-side warehouse neighborhood that’s suddenly found itself enjoying a second career as something of a dining and nightlife mecca. The Soho House name, rather, refers to its status as the New York chapter of the legendary London members... Read More
Sokha Beach Resort: Sihanoukville, Cambodia; View | Reserve; There was a time not all that long ago when the phrase “holiday in Cambodia” was instantly understood to be a contradiction in terms. These days, though, the political situation having changed in a big way, a new frontier is opening up. First it was just the temple at Angkor, but now Cambodia’s... Read More
Sol Arrayan Resort & Spa: Villa La Angostura, Patagonia, Argentina; View | Reserve; While it’s often the Chilean side that gets the most attention, the Argentine side of Patagonia has its fair share of charms as well. Perhaps less otherworldly, Argentine Patagonia, where the plains meet the Andes, contains a mountain idyll by the side of Nahuel Huapi Lake, and the architecturally... Read More
Solage Calistoga: Calistoga, CA, USA; View | Reserve; It’s incredible that in 21st-century California a wine-country resort is still half-expected to look like something from 18th-century Tuscany. So it’s to Auberge Resorts’ credit that their newest creation, Solage Calistoga, calls on that most Californian of idioms: the bungalow. For though the word... Read More
Solar Do Castelo: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; The Castelo, of course, is St George's Castle, once a fortress and now a walled-off, pedestrians-only district, and one of Lisbon's hippest — the coolest shops, bars, and cafes are within walking distance of Solar do Castelo... Read More
Solitaire Lodge: Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand; View | Reserve; In the scheme of things New Zealand’s luxury lodges are probably more similar than different — or at least, the difference between the luxury-lodge experience and just about any other kind of hospitality is so vast as to overshadow the individual personalities of the lodges. But if you look... Read More
Soneva Fushi by Six Senses: Baa Atoll, Maldives; View | Reserve; The Maldives are an oddity, a vast archipelago of a thousand tiny islands seemingly tailor-made for tourism — and this particular island, home to Soneva Fushi, is perhaps the archetypal Maldives destination. Here a spectacular soft white sand beach rings a modest expanse of jungle and looks out... Read More
Soneva Gili by Six Senses: Male Atoll, 8290, Maldives; View | Reserve; On one level, trying to discern the differences between the upscale Maldives island resorts feels like an exercise in hair-splitting. Baby-powder white-sand beaches, the gently lapping turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean, and thatched-roof bungalows stuffed to the rafters with sleek high-end... Read More
Soneva Kiri by Six Senses: Koh Kood, Thailand; View | Reserve; Sometimes it’s hard to tell one Thai beach resort from another. Soneva Kiri is far from overexposed, however, as the island on which it is located — Koh Kood — is so secret many Thais haven’t even heard of it. There are no roads there. You’re flown in the resort’s private plane from Bangkok’s... Read More
Soniat House: New Orleans, LA, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: Children under the age of 12 are not permitted at Soniat House... Read More
Sonnenalp Resort of Vail: Vail, CO, USA; View | Reserve; The idea of Bavaria in the Rockies may raise eyebrows, but it’s no gimmick — this remarkably authentic Alpine-style resort is owned by the same Faessler family that opened the original Sonnenalp hotel in Ofterschwang in the years immediately following the First World War. It’s the sort... Read More
Sorrento Hotel: Seattle, WA, USA; View | Reserve; This 1909 building is the oldest operating hotel in Seattle and the most romantic. Once upon a time, it had the best views of the city, and if your idea of courtship involves skyline, then the Sorrento is still a pretty good place to go... Read More
Spitz Hotel: Linz, Austria; View | Reserve; Having a bit less high-culture history to weigh it down than Vienna or Salzburg do, Austria’s third city of Linz gets on with the business of modern life — some of which happens to take place in a very modern hotel called the Spitz. It’s right in the heart of the city, across from the new town hall... Read More
St Martins Lane Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; St Martins Lane was the first Ian Schrager/Philippe Starck collaboration on English shores, moving into Covent Garden a few months ahead of its younger sister, Soho’s Sanderson. The concept (at both hotels) is Urban Resort, and there’s no question guests walk into a different world upon entering, a... Read More
St. George Roma: Roma, Lazio, Italy; View | Reserve; Rome offers up so much history that it’s sometimes hard for the traveler to remember that, antiquity aside, Rome is a completely current and connected city too. It’s a cosmopolitan town fueled more by academia and the film business than by industry, and top-rate hotels usually aim for grandiloquent... Read More
St. James's Hotel & Club: London, UK; View | Reserve; If you’re looking for a window into an earlier era of British hospitality you could do a lot worse than the St. James’s Hotel and Club. This gorgeous bright red Victorian house stands at the end of a cul-de-sac off St. James’s Street, and it aims to recreate some of the atmosphere of the... Read More
St. Regis Beijing: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; The St. Regis Hotel is occupies the former grounds of the Beijing International Club, in the center of the diplomatic district, and near the Jian Guo Men Wai business district, which, we wager, will be the ultimate destination of most visiting foreigners... Read More
St. Regis Hotel San Francisco: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Imagine lying in a supremely comfortable bed, gazing out at a world class city skyline over a beckoningly deep soaking tub, and wondering how the people of Africa settled the farther reaches of the earth. If you’re staying at the St. Regis San Francisco, you could wander down to the Museum of the... Read More
Standard Design Hotel Paris: Paris, France; View | Reserve; The budget boutique has come to Paris. As improbable as it may seem in a city where high prices and high opulence rule the day, the Standard Design Hotel is a pared-down contemporary-design boutique hotel — in fact it’s reminiscent in terms of aesthetics and atmosphere of the similarly-named (but... Read More
Stary Hotel: Krakow, Poland; View | Reserve; We’ll spare you the comparisons with Prague and simply say that Krakow combines picturesque good looks with affordability and livability in the manner of the best Eastern European destinations. And Hotel Stary is the kind of hotel you expect to see a bit later in a city’s tourism development — not... Read More
Stein Eriksen Lodge: Park City, UT, USA; View | Reserve; Established in the Eighties by the legendary Norwegian ski champion Stein Eriksen, this luxury lodge has, in spades, what so many ski hotels lack: personality. Studiously avoiding Mountain West clichés, the Stein Eriksen instead opts for a subdued European design, with robust wooden furnishings... Read More
Stendhal Hotel Rome: Rome, Lazio, Italy; View | Reserve; Rome can be a bit overwhelming — surely there are less exciting places in the world to wake up than in Rome’s Hotel Stendhal, just yards from the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps, and the high-end shopping district along the Via dei Condotti. This last, for the committed shopper, may just be... Read More
Stonefield Estate Villa Resort: Soufriere, St. Lucia; View | Reserve; Children under the age of 4 are not allowed at the resort... Read More
Storfjord Hotel: Aalesund, Møre & Romsdal, Norway; View | Reserve; The rest of the world may be heating up, and places like the Maldives may be slowly sinking into the ocean — but you’ll always have Norway. And if it’s a comfortably cool rural idyll you’re looking for, it doesn’t get much more picturesque than the Storfjorden, on the west coast, where the... Read More
Stowe Mountain Lodge: Stowe, VT, USA; View | Reserve; A new-build ski resort could be a dicey proposition — typically it’s all about proximity to the slopes, with little time for the traditional virtues of building. But that sort of thing would be out of place at Stowe, which is, if not the East Coast’s biggest ski resorts, certainly one of its most... Read More
Strawberry Hill: Irish Town, Jamaica; View | Reserve; Though the original Georgian house on Strawberry Hill was destroyed in the hurricane of 1988, the new building maintains a traditional feel. The bungalows are built to meticulous nineteenth-century specifications. You sleep in mahogany four-poster beds shrouded in muslin, and gaze out at the... Read More
Sublime Ailleurs: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; However audacious the name may be, we’d have to agree that sublime is precisely the right word. Sublime Ailleurs is located in the heart of Marrakech’s Palmeraïe, at the foot of Atlas Mountain, surrounded by acres of gardens, with views stretching to infinity in all directions... Read More
Sumahan on the Water: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; And not just any water either; Sumahan on the Water sits on the Asian bank of the Bosphorus, in an upscale residential neighborhood full of vacation homes, looking across the strait at the city skyline over on the European side of Istanbul. The unobstructed view is what it’s all about — the hotel... Read More
Sundance Resort: Provo, UT, USA; View | Reserve; Yes, that Sundance. To many minds, this is just another aspect of the multi-faceted house that Robert Redford built, and the fact that it’s a first-class ski getaway is almost secondary. But as many a proud Utahn knows, once you ski Park City, you might never bother with Aspen (or Vail, or Tahoe... Read More
Sundial Boutique Hotel: Whistler, British Columbia, Canada; View | Reserve; Minimum stay may be required depending upon season... Read More
Sunset Beach: Shelter Island (on Long Island), NY, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: Sunset Beach is closed for the season and will reopen on May 14, 2010... Read More
Sunset Marquis: West Hollywood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Hard to believe this is West Hollywood. The newly and massively renovated Sunset Marquis is so exquisitely private, and the Bar 1200 so strict with its admissions, that one need never be reminded of the throngs of celeb-watchers and velvet-ropers that beset most of LA’s other hot spots. This... Read More
Sunset Tower Hotel: West Hollywood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; In Hollywood the line between history and kitsch is so fine as to be practically non-existent. But one way or another the Sunset Tower manages to land on the right side of the line. In the latter years of the golden age this Art Deco apartment tower was home to the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Frank... Read More
Sydney Hilton: Sydney, Australia; View | Reserve; Yes, Hilton — but gone (or at least all but unrecognizable) is the dismal Seventies tower that once went by that name. Today’s Sydney Hilton, fresh off a A$200m makeover, is a revelation, a modern business hotel done the way they all ought to be: prime central location, swanky modernist guest... Read More
Taj Bengal: Calcutta, India; View | Reserve; Likely Kolkata’s toniest hotel, the Taj Bengal is something of a throwback to the age of hotel architecture that’s so focused on achieving a dramatic interior atrium that the exterior begins to break a few laws of proportion. To its credit, the gardening staff ameliorates the hotel’s girth with a... Read More
Taj Boston: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; For the quintessential grand-hotel experience, an obsessive homage to the French Riviera of the Thirties, there’s no competition — it’s got to be the newly renovated Taj Boston, at Newbury and Arlington, just across from the Public Gardens... Read More
Taj Coromandel: Chennai, India; View | Reserve; Those whose work takes them to India likely know the Taj hotel empire well — with an outpost in every major city they’re a mainstay of the high-end business-hotel market, where efficiency meets luxury, and traditional Indian style meets contemporary international design. And those with business in... Read More
Taj Exotica Resort and Spa Maldives: Male, Maldives; View | Reserve; Though they’re known primarily for big-city business hotels, Indian palace hotels, and their specialty, big-city Indian palace-style business hotels, the Taj group has a healthy side line, under their Exotica label, in decadent barefoot island escapes. And where better for that sort of thing than... Read More
Taj Krishna: Hyderabad, India; View | Reserve; Those of us with an aversion to big hotels might be put off by the hulking silhouette of the Taj Krishna. But in India’s big cities, Hyderabad included, it’s probably wise to adjust your sense of scale a bit. Sure, the Taj is not exactly small, certainly not a boutique, and the only thing exclusive... Read More
Taj Lake Palace: Udaipur, India; View | Reserve; The Taj Lake Palace floats on the calm surface of Lake Pichola and was built in 1740 as a summer retreat, taking advantage of the cooling lake breezes. The Taj group took over in the Sixties, and the hotel has since become standard postcard (and Bond film) material.The standard rooms face inward... Read More
Taj Malabar: Cochin, India; View | Reserve; The Taj group, though perhaps best known for a string of faultlessly competent business hotels, has a healthy sideline in time travel — the kind of meticulously preserved historical properties that make you feel as though you’ve stepped right into another century. Take the Taj Malabar, on... Read More
Taj West End: Bangalore, India; View | Reserve; Luxury hotels in India tend to fall into one of two camps: the lavish Western-style resorts, with the sobering divide between corporate travelers and locals; and the new high-design boutiques, cool and intimate but strangely ahistorical. The Taj West End transcends both categories. Opened as a... Read More
Talaa 12: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Most of the riad hotels in Marrakech trade heavily on history, antiques, traditional décor. Talaa 12, on the other hand, leaves old Marrakech outside the walls. The interiors here are as contemporary as can be; not quite minimalist, and certainly still quite identifiably Moroccan, but more like... Read More
Taprobane Island: Weligama Bay, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; Even by the rarefied standards of Sri Lankan escapes, Taprobane Island is something special. To even call it a hotel is stretching the definition a bit; it’s really just a single five-bedroom house, occupying its own private island, a little two-acre crag, grown thick with tropical trees, a short... Read More
Telegraaf Hotel: Tallinn, Estonia; View | Reserve; Stylish boutique hotels are still pretty thin on the ground in Tallinn, which is understandable — it seems to take years for the Soviet gloom to properly recede from a place, and only once that’s happened can it properly count itself among Eastern Europe’s most desirable destinations. In this case... Read More
Ten Bompas: Johannesburg, South Africa; View | Reserve; Johannesburg is a bit off the travel radar, for such a large city; whether it's geography (on a high plain, nowhere near a body of water) or much-publicized social issues (there are still neighborhoods that are not quite safe for tourists), no one can say for sure. But travelers who do brave the... Read More
Terre Resort and Spa: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; The classic Marrakech hotel concept is the riad, typically a mansion in the old medina quarter, a small-scale and intimate sort of hotel, however extravagant the hospitality. The Terre resort, the first from the American-owned Octogone group, takes this concept out of town, to the desert oasis of... Read More
The Address Hotel, Downtown Burj Dubai: Dubai, UAE; View | Reserve; There’s a case to be made that if you want to get to the heart of the new Dubai, this is the place to go. The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai is sandwiched between the sprawling Dubai Mall and the enormous Burj Dubai, which will be for a time the tallest building in the world — and if there’s a city... Read More
The Alex: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; In hotels, as well as in the air, sometimes if you want to be treated properly you’ve got to spring for business class. In the case of the Alex Hotel, that means a stunning, stylish hotel, the last word in modern minimalism from David Rockwell, with rooms, suites and apartments that are as... Read More
The Ambrose: Santa Monica, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Adjust your mental picture of Santa Monica: the Ambrose is more than a mile inland, leaving the beach to the high rollers, who inflate their prices accordingly. Here you’ll find that it is possible to get an excellent room in Santa Monica, at a charming little boutique, for about the price one... Read More
The American Colony Hotel: Jerusalem, Israel; View | Reserve; The American Colony Hotel is, in some sense, a relic of a more innocent time — it was built in 1860 as a pasha’s palace, with a separate wing for each of his wives. In 1883 a group of American evangelicals bought the palace and founded a religious community, called (naturally) the American Colony... Read More
The Andaman, Langkawi: Langkawi, Malaysia; View | Reserve; Just a bit farther down the Andaman Sea from the ever-popular Phuket is another equally worthy yet slightly less traveled destination — Malaysia's holiday paradise island of Langkawi. It's hardly a secret — in fact it's Malaysia's biggest tourist draw — but from the sheltered beach idyll of Datai... Read More
The Angler's Boutique Resort: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Well south of Lincoln Way on a formerly neglected stretch of lower Washington Avenue, the Angler’s is a bit of a departure for South Beach hotels; visually it’s a Mediterranean Revival standout in the midst of the Art Deco district, and in terms of atmosphere, this enclosed residential compound... Read More
The Annabelle: Kato Paphos, Cyprus; View | Reserve; The Annabelle will be closed from November 1, 2007 - March 31, 2008... Read More
The Augustine, Prague: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Our Tablet Spy program offers the chance to get early looks at the most promising new hotels. If you’re willing to take the risks associated with staying in a hotel that’s newly opened, then you’ll be rewarded with the chance to help decide whether the hotel will earn a place on Tablet Hotels... Read More
the b akasaka: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; If money is no object, then Tokyo is a hotel guest’s paradise — the top five luxury hotels here are easily in the world’s top ten. But it’s when you’re on a more limited budget that the limitations of the Tokyo hotel market begin to show. If you’re after something between a grim little tourist trap... Read More
The Back Bay Hotel: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; It may have been easier to remember the name of this place back when it was called Jurys. But it’s worth noting that now, under its new name, it’s still family-run — the Doyle family not only owns but also operates the Back Bay Hotel, as well as a few others in Ireland and the UK, which is a... Read More
The Bale: Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; The Bale cannot accommodate children under 16 year old... Read More
The Balmoral: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; The Balmoral opened in 1902 as the North British Hotel, long before referring to Scotland as North Britain became an outright slander. Today it’s a thoroughly modern operation, run by Rocco Forte, but this majestic old Edwardian landmark is still one of Edinburgh’s most elegant hotels... Read More
The Benson: Portland, OR, USA; View | Reserve; This grand, old dowager hotel, may have been coasting on its reputation for a while, but it is still Portland’s most elegant. The Benson Hotel was built by lumber baron Simon Benson in 1912, in the pre-Crash days of American industrialism, when the captains of the logging industry were the Pacific... Read More
The Berkeley: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The Berkeley:The Berkeley hotel is a 5 star luxury boutique hotel in the fashionable Knightsbridge area of London's West End. The Berkeley features a rooftop pool, the Gordon Ramsay restaurant Boxwood Café, Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, and The Blue Bar, a favorite for guests and locals... Read More
The Betsy Hotel: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; In Miami the flash hotels arms race has escalated to a point where a hotel like the Betsy is almost shocking in its restraint. We’re almost tempted to call it conservative, but with a disclaimer: the Betsy’s pre-deco plantation style means it’s got a personality all its own, and can’t help but... Read More
The Beverly Hills Hotel - Dorchester Collection: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The Pink Palace has, in true Hollywood fashion, had some work done; nothing shocking, just a hundred-million-dollar renovation in an effort to stay competitive with a new generation. It’s a success—this place could have slid gently into self-parody, but it’s every bit as fine as when Marilyn Monroe... Read More
The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa: Carefree, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; Seldom have nature and high tech come together so flawlessly. Camouflaged amidst jaw-dropping 12 million year old rock configurations silhouetted against the Arizona desert sky, Boulders is a hippie camp gone super-luxe. It's for those with a burning desire to commune with the desert and spirits of... Read More
The Bowery Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; The Bowery Hotel — the name alone pretty much sums it up. The first and only high-design hotel on this one-time skid row is the younger sister to the Maritime, over in the Meatpacking district, and is thus fueling fears among downtown purists that this little strip, bordering on the East Village... Read More
The Brazilian Court Hotel: Palm Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Though in recent years it’s often overlooked in favor of bolder, brasher Miami, Palm Beach is, to many minds, the classic South Florida destination. There’s a classic, old-world atmosphere here that the trendy boutiques of South Beach just can’t match. And this is the feeling that the Brazilian... Read More
The Breakers: Palm Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Miami may be where you make yourself seen in a bid to get in the gossip pages; Palm Beach, though, is an altogether different sort of place, and no hotel encapsulates its essence quite like the stately Breakers. This hundred-year-old hotel, designed after the style of an Italian Renaissance villa... Read More
The Broadmoor: Colorado Springs, CO, USA; View | Reserve; The legendary Broadmoor has stood at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain since 1891 — a near-eternity in the American West. For decades it’s been one of Colorado’s most iconic hotels, a sprawling Italian neoclassical compound against a backdrop of dramatic skies and purple mountain majesty... Read More
The Brown Palace Hotel: Denver, CO, USA; View | Reserve; They used to call it “White House, Denver.” After all, every president since Teddy Roosevelt has slept here. And just like the White House, there is something democratic about the Brown Palace’s grandeur. The two kings Elvis and John Wayne were guests, while deposed European... Read More
The Bryant Park Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; The American Radiator building is a strange and imposing landmark, a black-and-gold gothic skyscraper, towering above Bryant Park like something out of a comic book. How pleasantly surprising, then, to find that it houses a boutique hotel that is as sober and restrained as many of its competitors... Read More
The Bulgari Hotel: Uluwatu Bali, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; How do you follow up a hotel like the Bulgari in Milan, where the architecture, the design, and the stunning, secluded city-center ex-monastery location conspire to produce one of Europe’s finest modern hotels. Rather than hope to work the same magic twice, they’ve set out for the other side of the... Read More
The Cambrian: Adelboden, 3715, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Nothing against the chocolate-box chalets, but we’re glad to see more and more Swiss hotels embracing modern architecture and design. There’s something satisfying about the way a crisp modernist interior amplifies the drama of the high Alpine landscape. So there’s plenty to love about the... Read More
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; This is the old-world, old-money face of Manhattan, the Upper East Side, where the wealthy (including the occasional head of state) pass their time, leaving downtown to the trend-chasers and aspirants. For many of us a trip to The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, is as close as we can ever come to the... Read More
The Carneros Inn: Napa, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Finally a break from the Tuscan-Provençal style that seems to dominate the California wine country. Carneros Inn, at the south end of Napa, close to San Francisco, is rather more modern, its style a sort of rustic minimalism, its inspiration seemingly drawn not from Europe but from the American... Read More
The Caves: Negril, Jamaica; View | Reserve; Please note: The Caves does not allow children under the age of 16 and has a 3 night minimum stay requirement... Read More
The Cellars-Hohenort: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; Please note: During the 2010 World Cup, June 11 - July 11, The Cellars-Hohenort has a 5 night minimum stay policy... Read More
The Chamberlain: West Hollywood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Deep in the heart of West Hollywood, on a quiet residential street between Sunset and Santa Monica, the Chamberlain is actually quite a bit cooler than it looks. This is no backhanded compliment — in a reversal of what seems to be the standard procedure in Los Angeles, the Chamberlain presents an... Read More
The Charles Hotel: Cambridge, MA, USA; View | Reserve; The Charles Hotel is a rare thing: an Ivy League hotel nestled in between Harvard and Radcliffe. Certainly with its red brick institutional exterior it’s practically part of the campus. Inside, however, it’s far from dormitory standard. The Charles Hotel is very Boston, with red apples at the front... Read More
The Chedi Chiang Mai: Chiang Mai, Thailand; View | Reserve; If Chiang Mai does turn out to be the next big Thailand destination, it’ll be because it’s something a little different. Far from the sandy beaches of the southern coast or the sheer sensory assault of Bangkok, Thailand’s second city lies high in the mountainous inland north, on... Read More
The Chedi Muscat: Muscat, Oman; View | Reserve; Oman’s capital city of Muscat is, in some ways, the polar opposite of its flashy neighbor, Dubai—with no monumental man-made islands, or floating skyscraper seven-star hotels, Muscat’s wealth (and make no mistake, it is wealthy) is understated, humbler, deliberately less ostentatious than the... Read More
The Chedi Phuket: Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; Phuket is Thailand’s largest island and represents the sunny island getaway side of the multi-faceted Thai tourism industry. Alongside the Andaman Sea, on Pansea Bay (and rather near the legendary Amanpuri), is the Chedi Phuket, a peaceful, secluded beachfront resort... Read More
The Chelsea: Atlantic City, NJ, USA; View | Reserve; If you’ve been thinking, as we have, that it would be nice if Atlantic City were a bit less of a punchline and a bit more of an actual destination, then you should be cheered by news of the Chelsea Hotel. Los Angeles hipsters never stopped going to Vegas — so why shouldn’t the Jersey Shore bask in... Read More
The Citizen Hotel: Sacramento, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Though it’s the capital of California, a state with an economy bigger than those of about 180 countries, Sacramento doesn’t get much respect — it’s often overshadowed by nearby San Francisco, much as Albany plays second fiddle to New York City. But in the Citizen Hotel, Sacramento might finally... Read More
The Clarence: Dublin, Ireland; View | Reserve; Let’s get the obvious out of the way: yes, the Clarence is owned by Bono and the Edge, of U2 fame. And yes, the Clarence is more or less the official stopover for actors, musicians and the like—but we’d argue that this has little to do with the owners’ marquee value, and... Read More
The Cloister at Sea Island: Sea Island, GA, USA; View | Reserve; Gentlemen, pack a jacket and tie. The Mediterranean-style Cloister was built in the '20s by the Florida architect Addison Mizner, and though it's been meticulously maintained and restored through the years, it's one of the last hotels in America where the rules of polite society are still in... Read More
The Coeur d'Alene: Coeur d'Alene, ID, USA; View | Reserve; Golf may be the Coeur d’Alene’s primary raison d’être, but this lakeside resort at the northern edge of Idaho draws crowds from all over the American northwest as well as western Canada in search of a temperate summer getaway or a picturesque winter ski holiday. The lake is the... Read More
The College Hotel: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; One of Amsterdam’s most stylish hotels happens to be a student operation—the College Hotel, occupying a converted historic school building at the edge of the Museumplein, is managed by the Barcelona-based Franklyn luxury group, but owned by Amsterdam’s Hotel Academy, and staffed largely with... Read More
The Connaught: London, UK; View | Reserve; If there’s an up side to the enormously overheated London hotel market, it’s the competition at the top end: the Connaught is just one of a fraternity of clubby old grand hotels, any one of which would be by some distance the top hotel in just about any other town... Read More
The Cooper Square Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; For some time now the East Village has suffered from a certain imbalance — plenty of places to dine and drink, but nowhere to stay. It’s a situation that’s found some resolution in recent years, as a building boom in Manhattan’s south-eastern quadrant has made space for a new wave of modern... Read More
The Crane: St. Philip, Barbados; View | Reserve; Location is everything. This is as true now as it was in 1887, when the Crane first opened, high on a cliffside above the sublime pink-white Crane Beach, on the secluded eastern end of Barbados. This is a spectacular stretch of sand, shielded by a coral reef and continually ranked among the... Read More
The Crescent: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Beverly Hills, minus the luxurious excess, at bargain prices — that’s the appeal of the Crescent. Built in the early days of Hollywood as a dormitory for silent film actors, today it’s something of a social hub for the entertainment and media industries, and an affordable yet reasonably chic... Read More
The Datai: Langkawi, Malaysia; View | Reserve; Malaysia may not be the first place that springs to mind in the context of beachfront island getaways, but while the less imaginative travelers descend upon Thailand and Bali, a new resort scene has developed on Malaysia’s Langkawi Island, on the Andaman Sea... Read More
The Dharmawangsa: Jakarta, Java, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Jakarta on business makes perfect sense for a certain type of globetrotter, but as a destination for a luxury retreat, it’s slightly curious. Consider, though, that the Dharmawangsa is a Rosewood hotel, a sister or at least a cousin to New York’s Carlyle and erstwhile Martha Stewart... Read More
The Dolder Grand: Zurich, Switzerland; View | Reserve; The century-old Dolder Grand was impressive enough as it was, but it entered a new league following a massive renovation by the British architect Norman Foster. This isn’t just a new interior for an old hotel, but a complete re-design, with a bold contemporary addition wrapping around the original... Read More
The Dominican: Brussels, Belgium; View | Reserve; We’re all for hoteliers recycling the local architecture rather than splashing out for brand-new buildings. Provence has its farmhouses, America its motor inns, and Belgium, lucky Belgium, seems to be covered with abbeys, monasteries, nunneries. Check into a boutique hotel in Brussels called the... Read More
The Dorchester - Dorchester Collection: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The Dorchester:The Dorchester Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel located in the Mayfair area of central London. The Dorchester is just outside of Hyde Park and a short distance to London's most exclusive shopping areas, including New Bond Street, Old Bond Street and Knightsbridge. The... Read More
The Driskill: Austin, TX, USA; View | Reserve; The Driskill is where you go for a taste of the grand old Texas, pre-George W. It's arrogant and opulent, with its massive marble lobby and awe-inspiring stained glass dome. Cattle baron Colonel Driskill wanted to open a hotel to rival the big city, to astound the locals, and to make Austin the... Read More
The Dupont Hotel: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; In a town as traditional as Washington, a little bit of modern design goes a long way. The newly redesigned Dupont Hotel is, in its subtly stylish way, one of the hippest hotels in the nation’s capital. It’s the only hotel on Dupont Circle, in a neighborhood better known for dining, nightlife and... Read More
The Dutch House: Galle, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; After the Portuguese and before the British, the Dutch ruled Sri Lanka, and left behind some impressive colonial architecture — including the naval fortifications at Galle and, on the hillside above, Doornberg, the Dutch House. Built in 1712 for an officer in the Dutch fleet, it’s remarkably... Read More
The Dylan Amsterdam: Amsterdam, Netherlands; View | Reserve; The Dylan Amsterdam is, obviously, the sister hotel to the legendary Blakes London - which is not to say, however, that it is a reproduction, an exact copy of a London fixture, transplanted to the streets of Amsterdam. This Blakes has a personality all its own, starting from its location in a... Read More
The Elandra Mission Beach: Mission Beach, Far North Queensland, Australia; View | Reserve; Queensland is often unfairly regarded as the uncultured cousin of its southerly neighbors, those edgy urban nests of Sydney and Melbourne. Put it down to the Australian competitive spirit, since any claim of The Elandra as being anything less than cosmopolitan, luxurious or refined is nonsense... Read More
The Elysian: Bali, Indonesia, Indonesia; View | Reserve; The days when Bali was innocently viewed as an undiscovered paradise are long since gone. These days travelers can expect something a little more worldly, and peace and quiet are increasingly hard to come by. Hence the appeal of a place like the Elysian... Read More
The Emperor: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; With the amount of construction that’s going on in Beijing at the moment we’d probably do well to get used to this sort of thing. For years, nothing — and then, seemingly overnight, a design boutique hotel as contemporary and cutting-edge as any we’ve seen springs up right in the heart of the city... Read More
The Empire Hotel And Country Club: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam; View | Reserve; We’re not what you’d call believers in the star system, by which hotels are categorized according to a checklist of services and amenities. However we can’t help but smile at the sheer audacity of a hotel that claims more than five. One of just a handful of six-star hotels in the world is the... Read More
The Equinox Resort: Manchester Village, VT, USA; View | Reserve; If you haven't heard of Equinox Resort, or you're not a Vermonter, then the name itself might strike new-age terror into your heart, conjuring visions of solstice worship and an obsessive focus on “wellness.” Put those fears to rest, though: the resort is named for Mount Equinox, and though... Read More
The Eugenia: Bangkok, Thailand; View | Reserve; In Asia, luxury hotels are generally supersized affairs, where everything from the continental breakfast spread to the dimensions of a bathtub exist on a grand scale. Bangkok, in particular, is home to a number of high-end hotels, each with nearly a thousand immaculately maintained rooms... Read More
The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise: Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada; View | Reserve; The railway hotels of the Canadian Rockies are famous for their grand scale, improbable luxury, and their stunning natural surroundings — and among them perhaps none is so well-known as the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Two hours west of Calgary may seem an unlikely setting for a world-class luxury... Read More
The Fairmont Chateau Whistler: Whistler, British Columbia, Canada; View | Reserve; We don’t mean to offend anyone in Colorado, California or Vermont when we say Whistler and Blackcomb are home to North America’s best skiing and snowboarding; it’s merely a statement of fact. Blessed with the longest season and the greatest vertical drop of any resort on the continent, in addition... Read More
The Fairmont Tremblant: Mont Tremblant, PQ, Canada; View | Reserve; When you think of Canadian mountain resorts you probably think of the Rockies, of Whistler first, then perhaps Banff and Lake Louise in Alberta. Eastern Canada is rarely mentioned as a top winter destination — which meant it's either woefully underrated, or a well-kept secret, depending on... Read More
The Fairmont Waterfront: Vancouver, BC, Canada; View | Reserve; The key to the Fairmont Waterfront's appeal is the view — every room in this hotel has a stunning view, whether the 300 rooms facing the harbor and the mountains beyond, to the comparatively less fortunate, overlooking Stanley Park and the skyline of Vancouver, one of North America's most... Read More
The Fitzwilliam Hotel: Dublin, Ireland; View | Reserve; It’s a medieval Irish castle relocated to the heart of Dublin and re-imagined for the boom years. The Fitzwilliam is Terence Conran’s big Irish hotel design statement, and it’s not a quiet one. This hundred-odd-room palace lords over the west side of St. Stephen’s Green, complete with park views... Read More
The Five Hotel: Paris, France; View | Reserve; It’s never easy to let go of a comfortable old idea. We’ve gone on and on in these pages over the years about what a conservative lot Paris’s hotels are. The point was beginning to stretch a bit already, but now, on the occasion of the opening of the Five Hotel, it’s time to... Read More
The Fort Printers: Galle, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; In recent years Sri Lankan tourism has been heating up in a big way. And nowhere, it seems, has got a bigger share of the action right now than the Galle Fort, the south-coast walled city built by Dutch traders in the 17th century. Here on the winding streets of this historic district, hotels are... Read More
The Fortress: Galle, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; In recent memory Sri Lanka was a fairly obscure locale for a holiday. But now that seems a very long time ago. Today it’s an absolutely first-class luxury destination, especially the Dutch colonial town of Galle, on the island’s south coast. It’s home to a picturesque fortress, with battlements... Read More
The Frangipani Tree: Galle, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; Most of what makes southern Sri Lanka such a magical place to visit has to do with the conjunction of the climate, the landscape, the culture, the sea. But more than a little bit of it seems to come down to the architecture. Take a look at the best small hotels in the region, and in most cases... Read More
The Fullerton Hotel Singapore: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; Singapore's Fullerton is, like Singapore itself, one-of-a-kind, at once a historical curiosity and a modern marvel. The iconic building, designed in the style of such classical Greek structures as the Parthenon, was a colonial landmark, indeed the last refuge of the colonial Governor at the dawn of... Read More
The G: Galway, Ireland; View | Reserve; The relatively understated exterior, in a modern building with views of Galway City’s skyline, does little to prepare you for the spectacle that awaits within. The G’s designer, the milliner to the stars Philip Treacy, has left his stamp all over the hotel — it’s as luxe and dramatic as one of his... Read More
The Gallery Hotel: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; You can tell from a quarter-mile away that the Gallery Hotel is meant to stand out. Its modernist facade, standing over Singapore’s redeveloped Robertson Quay, is plainly an homage to Mondrian (the artist, not the hotel), with its irregular primary-color rectangular accents. You could be forgiven... Read More
The George: Christchurch, New Zealand; View | Reserve; There’s more to New Zealand than just those rustic rural lodges. Though it may confound the narrative a bit, New Zealanders can do cosmopolitan style as well. The George, a 53-room boutique in central Christchurch, would look at home in any European capital, so chic is the pared-down modernist... Read More
The George In Rye: Rye, UK; View | Reserve; Expect neither a hidebound period re-creation nor a fashion-chasing lifestyle boutique from the George in Rye. This 400-plus-year-old coaching inn by the East Sussex seaside has been cleaned up and classed up just enough to suit the modern taste, while neither throwing the historical baby out with... Read More
The Gleneagles Hotel: Perthshire, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; There was a time, in the first half of the twentieth century, when a stay at Gleneagles was an obligatory entry on anyone's society calendar - in fact before 1982, the hotel was only open during the summer, when the beautiful people made a point of venturing northward from London for a Scottish... Read More
The Gore: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The Gore:The Gore is a small luxury boutique hotel in London, England. The Gore Hotel is located in the center of the Kensington district of London and within walking distance to the Gloucester Tube station and Hyde Park... Read More
The Governor Hotel: Portland, OR, USA; View | Reserve; The Governor is a splendid Arts and Crafts hotel with a bit of a Lewis and Clark fixation; murals depicting the famed explorers adorn the lobby walls, alongside mahogany paneling and rich leather furniture. In fact the décor is so well done it’s hard to believe it’s a restoration—the hotel was... Read More
The Gray: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; While Milan may be the capital of Italian fashion, you would never have known it from its hotels — until recently, they have all come in two flavors: the over-the-top opulence of the palatial luxury hotels, and the carpeted blandness of the corporate chains. The Gray is representative of a new (new... Read More
The Greenbrier: White Sulphur Springs, WV, USA; View | Reserve; To the Washington elite, Greenbrier is one of those legendary places — a deluxe resort in the picturesque Allegheny mountains, the favored retreat of Southern gentlemen since the 1830s, host to twenty-six American presidents. In those days it was known as White Sulphur Springs; but in 1910 the... Read More
The Greens Hotel: Sacramento, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Plenty of well-heeled San Franciscans dream of having their homes filled with exquisite, international modern furnishings of a legendary local showroom/gallery called Limn. What they might not know is that there’s something of a “Camp Limn” just up the road in slightly sleepy, highly underrated... Read More
The Greenwich Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; What do we already know about the Greenwich Hotel? It’s got a celebrity owner (none other than Robert DeNiro), a prime Tribeca location, impeccable design credentials courtesy of one of New York’s top firms, Grayling Design, and some truly obsessive construction having something to do with... Read More
The Grove: Chandler's Cross, Hertfordshire, UK; View | Reserve; The Grove is an attempt at blending the best of both worlds, in more ways than one. Here is a country house hotel, offering all the charms of rural living, yet just 30 minutes from Heathrow and 20-odd miles from central London. And in terms of execution, the Grove is part traditional, part... Read More
The Halkin: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Many of the world’s most stylish hotels are heavy on the public spaces, pouring money into lounges, libraries, drawing rooms, even private cinemas, while relegating the paying guests to cramped, uninspired rooms. How this works as a business proposition is quite beyond our understanding, but in... Read More
The Harmony Hotel: Nosara, Guanacaste, Costa Rica; View | Reserve; If the hotel’s name sounds a little New Age, it’s no mistake: this sustainable resort on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is dedicated to the green lifestyle, complete with yoga classes and vegetarian tapas. But the Harmony Hotel, despite its popularity with eco-friendly travelers and surfers, isn’t... Read More
The Hatton: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; View | Reserve; Set in a striking hundred-year-old Italianate mansion, the Hatton is an utterly up-to-date prestige hotel. Period features such as stained glass and stone archways are accented with bold colors and sleek contemporary furniture. The building has been completely renovated, the exterior painstakingly... Read More
The Hay-Adams Hotel: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; The Hay-Adams is as close as anyone can get to staying at the White House, short of being invited by the President. Originally designed in the 1920's as a residential hotel, The Hay-Adams has always preserved the ambiance of a distinguished private home. The 145-room hotel features 21 suites, some... Read More
The Hazelton Hotel: Toronto, Ontario, Canada; View | Reserve; Possibly the most luxe of Toronto’s new crop of luxury boutiques, the Hazelton is a sign of the times: both high-design, with interiors by the ubiquitous Canadian firm Yabu Pushelberg, and unashamedly high-end, with suites averaging six hundred square feet and outfitted with all the latest luxury... Read More
The Henry Jones Art Hotel: Hobart, TS, Australia; View | Reserve; Tasmania’s known for unspoiled nature, but the port city of Hobart is Australia’s second-oldest. And it’s this old industrial history that the Henry Jones Art Hotel trades on; the property consists of a series of historic row houses and an old jam factory that have been restored to house a cool... Read More
The Hermitage Hotel: Nashville, TN, USA; View | Reserve; When the Hermitage Hotel opened in the heart of downtown Nashville in 1910, its rooms were billed at “$2 and up,” a statement which is technically still true today, at least the “up” part. Back then, two dollars is what you could expect to pay for the finest of hotels, at least in this town... Read More
The Hollywood Roosevelt: Los Angeles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; About the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel:The Hollywood Roosevelt hotel is a luxury boutique hotel in legendary Hollywood, California. It is located on Hollywood Boulevard directly across the street from the famous Chinese Theatre and is a very popular spot for Los Angeles nightlife... Read More
The Hotel: Luzern, Switzerland; View | Reserve; “The Hotel” may seem a bit audacious as a name; but in Lucerne, there’s really nothing else like it. This is a design-oriented boutique, through and through, designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel around a simple organizing concept: each room’s ceiling is decorated... Read More
The Hotel Arts Barcelona: Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain; View | Reserve; One hundred yards from the Mediterranean, Barcelona’s Hotel Arts is the tallest building in Spain, and possibly the most over-the-top hotel in Western Europe. This 44-floor skyscraper is striking enough from the outside, its inside-out steel superstructure gleaming in the sun, but the inside... Read More
The Hotel Fouquet's Barriere: Paris, France; View | Reserve; New hotels open all the time; new boutiques, new design hotels, new chain hotels. It’s not every day, though, that the curtain goes up on a new grand dame. It’s a lofty goal, to be sure, but that’s exactly what the Hôtel Fouquet’s Barrière aspires to be... Read More
The Hotel of South Beach: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; When Tiffany the jeweler challenged Tiffany the 1939 hotel (re-opened in 1998) over the rights to its original name, it didn’t go down too well. The project was, after all, the baby of Tony Goldman—the developer responsible for South Beach’s chic makeover—and Todd Oldham, the official fashion... Read More
The Hotel Providence: Providence, RI, USA; View | Reserve; The last century was hard on downtown Providence, as it was on so many American city centers. These days, though, it’s on the upswing — Downcity, as they call it, has been designated an arts and entertainment district, and is filling up with art galleries, loft apartments, all the trappings of the... Read More
The Hotel Rialto: Warsaw, Poland; View | Reserve; There are plenty of big business hotels in Warsaw, but the Rialto is the Polish capital's first boutique hotel. Though brand-new, it's a masterpiece of Art Deco design, its retro décor and authentic antique furniture paying homage to the last time Poland was free — the 1920s and '30s... Read More
The Hotel Telluride: Telluride, CO, USA; View | Reserve; From Old West silver town to backcountry ski mecca to tony winter getaway, Telluride has been through a series of incarnations over the years. More carefully preserved than some of Colorado’s other mountain boomtowns, it’s a lesson in sensitive development — growth has not come at the expense of... Read More
The Huntington Hotel & Nob Hill Spa: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The Fairmont and the Mark Hopkins, both classic hotels (and tourist attractions) in their own right, sit just a block away — but for a quiet, classic elegance and a taste of old-world San Francisco there’s nothing like the Huntington Hotel. Atop Nob Hill, the Huntington is ideally situated... Read More
The Huntley Hotel: Santa Monica, CA, USA; View | Reserve; In years past this glorious location, a block from Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade and two blocks from the beach, was wasted on one of those boring old corporate hotels — or, truth be told, the location very nearly elevated a chain hotel into something special. Now, in a new life as the... Read More
The ICON Hotel and Lounge: Prague, Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Much is made of Prague’s medieval history, and to be honest, it’s inescapable. If you’re anywhere near the old town, a walk around the block is a trip to the Middle Ages. But there’s no reason why this historic city’s hotels need to be backward-looking — this place is firmly established as a travel... Read More
The Imperial: New Delhi, India; View | Reserve; What India lacks in cutting-edge boutique hotels it more than makes up for in classic old-world luxury hotels. And really, what else would you expect from a hotel called the Imperial? This place is generally regarded as New Delhi’s most elegant grand hotel, and it’s certainly got the pedigree; it... Read More
The Inn at Perry Cabin: St. Michaels, MD, USA; View | Reserve; Alongside the Miles River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, sits a classic white Colonial mansion, built by Purser Samuel Hambleton after the War of 1812, and christened the Inn at Perry Cabin. Long known as the top hotel on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, this meticulously restored manor house is now... Read More
The Iron Horse Hotel: Milwaukee, WI, USA; View | Reserve; If you’re in the upscale Midwestern Harley-riding demographic that The Iron Horse Hotel is aimed at (yes, you read that right) then chances are you already know about it. Not only is it a high-end boutique hotel in a contemporary urban-loft style, which is remarkable enough for Milwaukee as it is... Read More
The Islington Hotel: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; View | Reserve; Please note: The Islington Hotel does not allow children under 16 years old... Read More
The James: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; Something richer than the average boutique, and more stylish than the typical luxury hotel — that’s the idea behind the James. The flagship in what’s to be a new chain, the James Chicago is actually the fledgling company’s second effort — the prototype, in Arizona, was sold to Morgans and is now... Read More
The Jefferson Hotel: Richmond, VA, USA; View | Reserve; In Virginia, history runs a bit deeper than elsewhere in America — and nowhere is this more apparent than in this Richmond classic. Designed by the architecture firm responsible for the New York public library, the Jefferson is every inch as monumental, from the Italian Renaissance exteriors to the... Read More
The K Club: Straffan, County Kildare, Ireland; View | Reserve; The K Club (more formally known as the Kildare Hotel and Country Club) is possibly Ireland’s most imposing country hotel, and without a doubt its poshest. While some of the castles and manor house hotels can be disarmingly friendly, even over-familiar, the K Club is all buttoned-up elegance... Read More
The Kahala Hotel & Resort: Honolulu, HI, USA; View | Reserve; The Kahala is the “Diamond of Diamond Head,” a secluded oceanfront hotel tucked into a wealthy residential neighborhood. This location, with its private beach, made the hotel (then a Hilton) the preferred Hawaiian getaway for Hollywood names of the fifties and sixties.Of course, there's nothing... Read More
The Kandy House: Kandy, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; Note: The Kandy House only accepts children over the age of 12... Read More
The Keating: San Diego, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Don't be fooled by the slightly old-money country-club name, or by the building itself, which at over a hundred and ten years old is surely one of San Diego's oldest — the Keating is as of-the-moment as it's possible to be, utterly emblematic of the current fascination with high-design boutique... Read More
The Kensington Hotel: London, UK; View | Reserve; We’re not generally drawn to traditional hotels, and a Georgian townhouse hotel is about as traditional as it gets in London. But we make exceptions for conservatism in the name of something that’s worth conserving — and the old-school London luxury hotel is a tradition that’s worth hanging on to... Read More
The Kenwood Inn and Spa: Kenwood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; It takes all kinds, in the Napa/Sonoma wine country of Northern California, from rustic little B&Bs to big-time luxury resorts and everything in between. And in the “in between” category goes the Kenwood Inn and Spa. As is often the case in the American wine country, this one is a charming... Read More
The Kirketon: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; View | Reserve; Sydney’s hippest hotel is back. The Kirketon was part of the first wave of Sydney boutique hotels, and the design always turned heads. But while the urban grit of Darlinghurst is a welcome counterpoint to the sunny mellowness of the rest of the city, the Kirketon’s highly polished design was... Read More
The Lalu: Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan; View | Reserve; Located in the geographic center of Taiwan, Sun Moon Lake is a spectacular, partially man-made wonder. Before 1934, it was two shallow, marshy lakes, one in the shape of the sun, the other resembling a crescent moon, with an island in between — the island of Lalu, home to the indigenous Shao... Read More
The Landing: Harbour Island, Bahamas; View | Reserve; The Landing will be closed August 26th until November 1st for refurbishing... Read More
The Landmark Mandarin Oriental: Hong Kong, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; The original Mandarin Oriental on Hong Kong island just about cornered the market on over-the-top classic luxury. No surprise, then, that the Landmark, over in Central, is a little bit different. It’s a contemporary masterpiece in a town where tastes run conservative — the interiors by Adam Tihany... Read More
The Lanesborough: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The Lanesborough:The Lanesborough hotel is a 5 star luxury hotel located in Knightsbridge, to the west of central London. Besides the Library Bar, where guests at The Lanesborough can taste the world's oldest and rarest Grande Champagne Cognacs and Whiskies, the hotel also features The Garden... Read More
The Leela Kempinski Goa: Salcette, Goa, India; View | Reserve; The state of Goa, on India’s west coast, is known for its spectacular beaches along the Arabian Sea, as well as for its Portuguese colonial past. The Leela avoids the former, set back as it is from the seaside and oriented around seventy-five acres of manicured tropical gardens and lagoons... Read More
The Legian: Denpasar, Indonesia; View | Reserve; On the beach at Seminyak is one of Bali’s most stylish hotels, the Legian. This is a more contemporary and urbane take on the Balinese resort, going easy on the island atmosphere with interiors that wouldn’t look out of place in a big-city boutique hotel. And though honeymooners are of course... Read More
The Levante Parliament: Vienna, Austria; View | Reserve; In a city as resolutely classical as Vienna, even the Bauhaus facade of the Levante Parliament hotel stands out as something stylistically extraordinary. Equally surprising is what’s inside — a contemporary take on the era’s obsession with monochrome and geometric forms that’s just as striking as... Read More
The Liberty Hotel: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; For a luxury hotel it’s an awfully imposing structure — they’re not typically rough-hewn granite monuments. But this is is no ordinary luxury hotel. The Liberty is imposing and monumental because, in a previous life, it was a jail — the 1851-vintage Charles Street Jail, with a riverside Beacon Hill... Read More
The Library: Koh Samui, Thailand; View | Reserve; This close to Koh Samui’s bustling Chaweng Beach, the greatest service a hotel can provide is a break from the crowd. Enter the Library, a stunning modern minimalist hotel, set on an acre and a half of protected land. It’s so named not just for the hush that falls over you upon entry... Read More
The Listel Hotel: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; View | Reserve; Don’t let the slightly anonymous exterior put you off: once you’re inside, the Listel is one of Vancouver’s most stylish hotels. It’s a local favorite not just for its design — most boutique hotels these days can afford some decent modern furniture — but for its personality, something that many... Read More
The Little Nell: Aspen, CO, USA; View | Reserve; It’s no mean feat to be considered the toast of Aspen. This cozy little town in the Rockies is considered the American winter destination for anyone with style, whether they can ski or not. Named after a madam who used to run the town, Little Nell has not dishonored her legacy of hospitality... Read More
The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera: Edwards, CO, USA; View | Reserve; There’s a school of thought which maintains that ski hotels are best located slopeside, ski-in/ski-out if possible — and there’s something to that. But if you’ve spent time at Vail Village during peak season, you’ll appreciate the relative seclusion of a place like the Lodge at Cordillera, which is... Read More
The Lodge at Tikana: Southland, South Island, New Zealand; View | Reserve; The Lodge at Tikana cannot accommodate guests younger than 13 years old... Read More
The Lodge at Torrey Pines: La Jolla, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Designed in a remarkably authentic Arts and Crafts style, and patterned after some of Greene and Greene’s historic Pasadena houses, the Lodge at Torrey Pines shows a respect for history that’s rare on the prefabricated Southern California coastline. And all the more impressive is the... Read More
The Lodge at Vail: Vail, CO, USA; View | Reserve; There are plenty of ski resorts in Colorado that do one thing better than Vail: there are hipper towns, swankier resorts, cheaper tickets and more conveniently located mountains. But the key to Vail’s enduring appeal might just be that it offers a little bit of everything. And for an introduction... Read More
The London NYC: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About The London NYC Hotel... Read More
The London West Hollywood: West Hollywood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Think of big-time luxury these days and you’ll probably find you’re thinking of New York and London — so it’s only fitting that some of the best of what Los Angeles has to offer has roots in both. The London West Hollywood follows on the heels of the London NYC, bringing its trademark grown-up... Read More
The Lowry Hotel: Manchester, UK; View | Reserve; Located in Manchester’s Chapel Wharf development, on the Salford side of the River Irwell, at the foot of Santiago Calatrava’s forked Trinity bridge, the Lowry Hotel is without a doubt the queen of the Manchester hotel scene. From the outside, the building’s bowed glass face draws... Read More
The Lugger Hotel: Truro, Cornwall, UK; View | Reserve; The Lugger is unable to accommodate children under 12... Read More
The Luigans: Fukoka-shi, Fukuoka, Japan; View | Reserve; Too many foreign visitors never see more of Japan than Tokyo plus maybe a quick jaunt to Osaka or at most Kyoto. But it pays, when seeking out a new travel destination, to find out where the locals go on holiday. And in the Japan’s case, one of the answers is Kyushu, the most southwestern of the... Read More
The Luxe Manor: Kowloon, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; Though the name may give pause, rest assured, they know exactly how over-the-top it is, and it’s meant to be delivered with a wink. The Luxe Manor is, on one level at least, a satire on the ever-escalating absurdities of the high-end luxury hotel market, complete with painted-on chandeliers... Read More
The Lyall Hotel: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; View | Reserve; The Lyall is a converted apartment building in South Yarra, a highly fashionable and cosmopolitan district outside of the city’s center. Melbourne is already one of the world's most comfortable and enticing cities, and the downtown area is easily accessible by train — with a station just minutes... Read More
The Madison: Memphis, TN, USA; View | Reserve; This 1905 Beaux-Arts bank building has been painstakingly converted into what may be Memphis’s most elegant small hotel. The renovation makes the most of the building’s heritage, with original features like the foyer’s ornate tiled floor or the lobby’s double-height windows... Read More
The Malabar House: Fort Cochin, Kerala, India; View | Reserve; Malabar House is an example of a hotel concept that’s vanishingly rare in South India, even as it thrives in Sri Lanka — the colonial-house luxury boutique hotel. This one is a Dutch-era mansion, located in the historic Fort Cochin district of the Keralan city of Kochi, and it’s been running as a... Read More
The Mandala Hotel: Berlin, Germany; View | Reserve; In the heart of Berlin’s shining new Potsdamer Platz, amid a sea of futuristic skyscrapers, and sandwiched between the Sony and Daimler Chrysler complexes, the Madison is something of an oasis. Despite the bustle on the streets below, the atmosphere is anything but harried, with views over... Read More
The Mandeville Hotel: London, UK; View | Reserve; About The Mandeville Hotel:The Mandeville Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel in London's fashionable, mainly residential area of Marylebone Village, located in central London. The Mandeville Hotel is located between two of London’s most famous historical large parks, Regents Park and Hyde Park, as... Read More
The Mansfield Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; In New York real estate circles the word “prewar” is one that holds a special significance. This is the era stretching back from the start of the Second World War to, for all practical purposes, roughly the dawn of the 20th century. When buildings were buildings, elevators had attendants, and a... Read More
The Mansion on Forsyth Park: Savannah, GA, USA; View | Reserve; Quite a lot of the appeal of the American South lies in its attachment to history and tradition. But there’s room for a little creativity. While other Southern mansion hotels feel dry and airless, preserved in amber, the Mansion on Forsyth Park, in Savannah, Georgia, is a fantasy — behind the walls... Read More
The Mansion on Peachtree, A Rosewood Hotel: Atlanta, GA, USA; View | Reserve; Anyone who underestimates Atlanta hasn’t spent time there. This is the unofficial capital of the South, and it’s not only a cosmopolitan city, but an affluent one as well — an impression that’s reinforced by a hotel like the Mansion on Peachtree, A Rosewood Hotel, in the upscale northern suburb of... Read More
The Marine Hermanus: Hermanus, South Africa; View | Reserve; More than a few seaside resorts offer whale watching excursions. But at the Marine Hermanus, guests need not leave their rooms to watch the spectacle — this stretch of the southern coast of South Africa is a natural playground for the Southern Right Whales that breach near the shore from July to... Read More
The Maritime Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; The Maritime Hotel was designed in 1966 for the National Maritime Union; hence its name, and its nautical theme. Today it is one of New York's hipster hangouts, owing as much to its location (just off the Meatpacking District) as to the charms of the hotel itself... Read More
The Marmara Antalya: Antalya, Turkey; View | Reserve; What’s most often the main selling point of a seaside hotel — the view — is most often, in practice, its biggest weakness as well; lured by the promise of transcendent vistas, travelers too often find themselves relegated to the “garden view” or some such rooms, while the sea... Read More
The Marmara Bodrum: Bodrum, Turkey; View | Reserve; The first rule of the Marmara hotels seems to be: build somewhere with a view. This is the Turkish mini-chain that brought you the world’s first revolving hotel building, high on a hillside above Antalya; the Bodrum outpost, fixed though it may be, is hardly less dramatic, on a rocky outcrop... Read More
The Marquesa Hotel: Key West, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Children under 14 years of age are not allowed at the hotel... Read More
The May Fair: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The May Fair:The May Fair is a 5 star luxury hotel in the heart of London's West End. A short walk from Bond Street and London's chicest shopping areas, guests at The May Fair will also enjoy the hotel's close proximity to Green Park and Hyde Park, some of London's most beautiful green... Read More
The Mena House Oberoi Hotel: Cairo, Egypt; View | Reserve; Cairo hardly needs another reason to visit it, but the Mena House is a destination in and of itself. It’s a building with a remarkable history, a palace converted into a luxury hotel as far back as 1869, with one particular detail that will enthrall even the most seasoned and jaded traveler: it... Read More
The Mercer: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Located at the intersection of Mercer and Prince in SoHo, The Mercer hotel is New York's first loft hotel and captures the very essence of the area. Lofts are a uniquely SoHo phenomenon, pioneered by artists in the 1960s who took over the neighborhood's many abandoned warehouses. Loft living is... Read More
The Merrion: Dublin, Ireland; View | Reserve; Design plays an important role in the function of any environment, and it’s no secret that we’re suckers for a well-designed hotel. In fact, if you’re reading this, it’s probably true of you as well. The current obsession with ultra-modern interiors misses an important... Read More
The Metropolitan Bangkok: Bangkok, Thailand; View | Reserve; The Metropolitan Bangkok is the sister hotel to London's Metropolitan — a sleek and contemporary boutique hotel, with staff outfitted in black designer uniforms, and lots of white paint and dark wood. One might be tempted to think that the sort of minimal, vaguely Oriental design that is all... Read More
The Metropolitan London: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The Metropolitan London:The Metropolitan Hotel London is a luxury boutique hotel on the border of London's Mayfair and Knightsbridge neighborhoods. The London outpost of the restaurant Nobu as well as members only bar The Met Bar, are both available to guests without leaving the property... Read More
The Milestone Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; London is home to some truly bizarre experiments in hotel design, featuring some of the most daringly modern interiors anywhere; but the Milestone, delightfully, pretends to have taken no notice of this trend. This is as traditional as London gets, from antique four-posters and sleigh beds to the... Read More
The Miller of Mansfield: Goring on Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK; View | Reserve; It’s not necessarily high on the list of destinations for foreign visitors to England, but for a weekender from London (or Reading, or Oxford) the Thames Valley town of Goring is a logical stop. Of course you’re unlikely to be passing through on your own — if anything you’ll be here because you’ve... Read More
The Morgan: Dublin, Ireland; View | Reserve; In the heart of the Temple Bar district, the cultural center of Dublin, one may be surprised to find a hotel that so thoroughly dispenses with Irish tradition—not a hint of mahogany, antiques or country house style anywhere. The Morgan belongs to an entirely different tradition, though, one... Read More
The Morrison Hotel: Dublin, Ireland; View | Reserve; The city of Dublin is cosmopolitan enough that there’s room for more than one painfully stylish boutique hotel; the Clarence is not the only game in town. Here on the north side of the Liffey—just north, in fact, overlooking the river—the Morrison Hotel is slightly less in the... Read More
The Nam Hai: Hoi An, Vietnam; View | Reserve; If Thailand’s feeling a bit crowded, fear not — this is the dawning of the age of the Vietnam beach resort. The Nam Hai, on the famous China Beach, just outside of Danang, will have you wondering why you hadn’t thought of Vietnam before... Read More
The Nines: Portland, OR, USA; View | Reserve; Portland may be better known for its homespun, folksy charm, its artisanal espresso and one-speed bicycles — but with The Nines, there’s finally a chic luxury option. The name is no accident: “dressed to the nines” isn’t a phrase you hear often enough around Oregon, but it certainly applies here... Read More
The Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi: New Delhi, India; View | Reserve; The Oberoi is regularly mentioned as a contender for the title of best five-star hotel in India. This is a superlative that is not thrown around lightly — they know hotels here, and the best hotel in India would be one of the top hotels in the world. Of course we don't pay much attention to who... Read More
The Oberoi Lombok: Mataram, Lombok, Indonesia; View | Reserve; For reasons we’re at a loss to explain, Bali is Indonesia’s holiday hotspot, home to any number of hotels of varying quality, attracting crowds of tourists year in and year out—while Lombok, the island just to the east, is undiscovered, unspoiled, and unpopular.Of course unpopular is often high... Read More
The Oberoi Mauritius: Pointe Aux Piments, Mauritius; View | Reserve; If the Oberoi name conjures visions of very conventional luxury hotels, then you’re about to have your mind changed. What’s true enough in India is something else entirely in Mauritius, where an all-star design team comprising the Thai architect Lek Bunnag and the American-born landscape architect... Read More
The Oberoi Rajvilas: Jaipur, India; View | Reserve; The Oberoi Rajvilas is, quite perfectly, the India of our imagination, with all her beauties distilled and dusted down, plus the conveniences and the luxuries that only a modern mind could dream of. Fortress walls gleam white in the moonlight, surrounding an 18th-century Hindu temple rising out of... Read More
The Oberoi Udaivilas: Udaipur, India; View | Reserve; In light of the recent incident in Mumbai, the security at The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur has been intensified. Amongst the measures strength of security personnel in and around the hotel has been increased and periphery patrolling has been enhanced. The hotel continues to operate normally... Read More
The Oberoi Vanyavilas: Sawai Madhopur, India; View | Reserve; Vanyavilas is an adventure resort, yes, and technically its 25 luxurious suites are tents, but you won't be roughing it here; these tents are as regally appointed as many hotels' penthouse suites... Read More
The Oberoi, Mumbai: Mumbai, India; View | Reserve; Due to the tragic attacks of November 26-28, 2008, the Oberoi Mumbai is closed until further notice. Our thoughts are with the families involved and the staff.Mumbai may surprise you — it's a forward-looking, cosmopolitan, international city, modern where New Delhi is historical; and its hotels... Read More
The Observatory Hotel: Sydney, Australia; View | Reserve; The Observatory Hotel sits tucked away on a quiet side street near the historic Rocks district, an easy walk from any number of downtown destinations yet well isolated from the constantly developing Wharf and waterfront. Here, behind a stately Georgian facade, is one of Sydney’s most elegant and... Read More
The Omnia: Zermatt, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Where most ski lodges seem miss out on the fine points of design, relying upon the surrounding snowy peaks to make an impression, the Omnia is the kind of ski hotel that doesn’t shy away from an architectural challenge: in this case the challenge of taking on some of Switzerland’s most dramatic... Read More
The One Hotel Angkor: Siem Reap, Cambodia; View | Reserve; What at first seems like an oddly boastful name in fact turns out to be quite literally descriptive of the place. The One Hotel Angkor is named not for some outsized ambitions, like “one hotel to rule them all,” but for its fairly humble and unassuming reality — it’s a hotel with... Read More
The Opposite House: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; Though it’s called The Opposite House it’s not as high-concept as it may sound. Not a hotel where down is up, or the flat-screen TVs watch you, but a hotel named for the guest house that sits across from the main house in a traditional Chinese courtyard home... Read More
The Oriental: Bangkok, Thailand; View | Reserve; Some say that the Oriental is the most overrated hotel in the world. The rest of the world, however, says it's the best. It is, after all, the most famous of the splendid colonial hotels. And the most famous of the splendid colonial writers, Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, and W Somerset Maugham used... Read More
The Outback Resort: Vernon, British Columbia, Canada; View | Reserve; It’s not as familiar perhaps as certain other destinations in British Columbia — and that’s a good thing. Okanagan Lake is about three or four hours inland from Vancouver (or a brisk half-hour from the airport at Kelowna), a distance that separates the day-trippers from the determined. Those who... Read More
The Park Hotel - Bangalore: Bangalore, India; View | Reserve; The high-design boutique hotel has landed in India, and what better place to start than Bangalore, the center of the subcontinent’s booming computer industry and, to be honest, a city that’s as newly flush with cash as Silicon Valley was at the end of the ‘90s... Read More
The Parker Palm Springs: Palm Springs, CA, USA; View | Reserve; This hotel has racked up an impressive number of names in its seventy-year history. Once Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch estate, it was, for a time, the Merv Griffin Resort, then the Givenchy Hotel and Spa—and now, after a substantial rethink by lifestyle designer Jonathan Adler, it’s back; this time as... Read More
The Pearl: San Diego, CA, USA; View | Reserve; It’s an apt name for a hotel like this. The Pearl, in contrast with the rather more ostentatious boutique hotels of San Diego’s Gaslamp district, stands on Rosecrans, on the other side of the airport — the better to avoid the stretch Escalades and valet stands, one supposes. But in these... Read More
The Pelham Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The Pelham Hotel:The Pelham Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel located in the South Kensington district of central London. Guests at The Pelham will enjoy the hotel's proximity to the Victoria & Albert and Natural History Museums, Harrods, Hyde Park and the shops of Knightsbridge and Chelsea... Read More
The Peninsula: Kowloon, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; The Peninsula is the original Hong Kong luxury hotel, still its grandest, and is the archetypal Asian colonial hotel, still serving afternoon tea, British Empire style, in its massive gilded lobby. You have not experienced truly world-class service until you have been waited on by an army of... Read More
The Peninsula Bangkok: Bangkok, Thailand; View | Reserve; This is a case of an excellent hotel which becomes, by virtue of its location, a phenomenal one. The Peninsula's location on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River provides a panoramic view of the city, and a measure of seclusion in riotous, congested Bangkok. But it is not only the prime real... Read More
The Peninsula Beijing: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; The Palace Hotel, now the Peninsula Palace Beijing, is exactly what one expects from a Peninsula hotel in the Far East. This should not be taken to mean that a stay at the Palace is a predictable experience, in the way that the average chain hotel experience is canned and uninspiring; rather that a... Read More
The Peninsula Beverly Hills: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The Peninsula Beverly Hills is almost impossibly opulent, even by Hollywood standards, a dressed-up Renaissance mansion in a deeply casual town. This hotel is a favorite of industry bigwigs, offering Hong Kong–style amenities that almost seem custom-designed for high-powered and impatient... Read More
The Peninsula Chicago: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; In the middle of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile of department stores and designer boutiques is the Peninsula Hotel, only the third in America. The Peninsula’s brand of Hong Kong luxury has fared well in New York and LA, but in the heartland... Read More
The Peninsula New York: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Behind a century-old Beaux Arts facade right on the poshest stretch of Fifth Avenue lies the New York franchise of the phenomenal Hong Kong-based Peninsula Hotel. And if there’s anywhere in America that’s an appropriate spot for some mega-hospitality, Far East style, it’s this particular corner of... Read More
The Peninsula Tokyo: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Like Moses just back from the mountain, we’re here to tell you that we have seen the Peninsula Tokyo, and it is good. Actually, good is a bit of an understatement. This hotel, let’s not fool ourselves, is enormously expensive — but it’s as close to worth it as any luxury hotel we’ve ever seen. It’s... Read More
The Phoenician: Scottsdale, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; Phoenix is home to more than a few top-class luxury resorts; but even against such competition, the Phoenician stands out, by virtue of sheer opulence. This sprawling complex at the foot of the picturesque Camelback Mountain occupies some two hundred and fifty acres of lush gardens, complete with... Read More
The Plettenberg: Plattenberg Bay, South Africa; View | Reserve; Set perched in the rocky headlands above its namesake bay, The Plettenberg’s whitewashed walls house 37 stately rooms and suites that could each play the set to a modern-day Merchant-Ivory film. Though a five-star through and through, it breaks the gilt mold, forgoing decorous opulence in favor of... Read More
The Pure Hotel: Frankfurt Am Main, Germany; View | Reserve; The Pure’s former life as a textile factory leaves little trace on what’s now Frankfurt’s sleekest hotel. There’s nothing you’d call industrial-chic, no exposed brick or metalwork or funky old doors: this place is as smooth and white and cool as an eggshell. White... Read More
The Racha: Rawai Muang, Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; Please note: To access the island where The Racha is located, clients must comply with a strict speedboat schedule. When booking, please contact Tablet Hotels Customer Service for information... Read More
The Raleigh: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; The growing pains are over: The Raleigh has emerged from its most recent bout with restoration, and the result is a hotel that quite lives up to its exceptional public image. We are also happy to say the rooms are up to the level of the hotel’s impressive public spaces. Today there are other places... Read More
The Rania Experience: Maldives; View | Reserve; It may come off as a bit hyperbolic to call it an “experience,” as opposed to just a hotel, or a resort. But in this case, it’s earned: how else to describe an arrangement where small groups rent out a private island in the Maldives complete with an 86-foot luxury yacht, a squad of scuba... Read More
The Reefs: Southhampton, Bermuda; View | Reserve; Please note: The Reefs requires a 5 night minimum stay between April 14 - November 2... Read More
The Regent Beijing: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; Beijing is placing big bets on the future, with a wealth of high-profile building projects — Herzog & de Meuron’s Olympic Stadium and the Rem Koolhaas-designed CCTV tower, a new mammoth airport terminal by Norman Foster, and many more. And in advance of the expected surge in travel... Read More
The Regent Esplanade Hotel Zagreb: Zagreb, Croatia; View | Reserve; Surely it won’t be long before the contemporary-design boutique hotels move in to Zagreb, but there’ll never be anything in the Croatian capital to match the historic appeal of the Regent Esplanade. It dates back to the Twenties, to the heyday of the Orient Express, and its Art Deco interiors have... Read More
The Regent Grand Hotel Bordeaux: Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France; View | Reserve; If you were measuring strictly by the number of quality hotels, you might conclude that the city of Bordeaux is little more than a backwater. For a city of a million, it’s a bit short on noteworthy hospitality experiences — which is why the re-opening of the city-center Grand Hôtel, just across... Read More
The Regent Palms Hotel: Providenciales, Turks And Caicos Islands; View | Reserve; More new upscale Caribbean than traditional mellow island funk, the Palms is a new addition to the pantheon of haute-luxury Turks and Caicos escapes. Don’t be fooled by the main house’s Palladian architecture; this place is a full-service luxury resort in the modern mold, with all that that... Read More
The Residence Mauritius: Belle Mare, Mauritius; View | Reserve; Though a modern hotel, this Mauritius resort is something of a throwback, a reconstruction of the plantation houses at the turn of the last century, and featuring a standard of service that it’s easy to imagine doesn’t exist anywhere anymore. The Residence is rather true to its name, feeling quite... Read More
The Residence Tunis: Tunis, Tunisia; View | Reserve; Think of it as the other North African destination. Most well-heeled Europeans opt for Marrakech and its infinity of intimate riad hotels; for big-bucks haute-luxury flash, though, it’s hard to do much better than The Residence, on the beach at les Côtes de Carthage, twenty minutes from the center... Read More
The Richardson Hotel and Spa: Perth, Western Australia, Australia; View | Reserve; If you can stand to be slightly outside the city center (and let’s face it, Perth isn’t exactly the first place you’d look for a quintessentially urban experience) then you’ll find, in West Perth, what’s probably the city’s finest luxury boutique hotel. Granted, there isn’t a ton of competition... Read More
The Rittenhouse Hotel: Philadelphia, PA, USA; View | Reserve; Overlooking Rittenhouse Square in one Philadelphia’s toniest districts, this very modern 33-story high-rise gives away little about the luxurious small hotel that lies within. An elegant and charming classic, the Rittenhouse is one of the city’s most exclusive lodgings, offering not only the... Read More
The Ritz: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Paris may have older hotels, but in terms of glamour, it all starts here. Coco Chanel lived here for thirty years, Pamela Harriman clocked innumerable laps in its pool, Edward VII was one of its first guests, and Guillaume Escoffier was one of its first chefs... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch: Avon, CO, USA; View | Reserve; Not quite what you’d picture from Ritz-Carlton, is it? Of course the Beaux-Arts style one is accustomed to seeing from their urban hotels would look a bit out of place at the foot of Beaver Creek Mountain, in the Bachelor Gulch gated community. The look is a sort of pastiche of Rocky Mountain... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel & Spa: Manama, Bahrain; View | Reserve; If you’re a cynic you could worry a bit about the quite possibly over-the-top results of a global luxury-hotel brand taking on a project in a Persian Gulf boom town. But the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain, in the capital city of Manama, while not exactly shattering all the stereotypes, goes just enough... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Beijing, Financial Street: Beijing, China; View | Reserve; Most Ritz-Carltons look, from the lobby if not from the street, like something out of Revolutionary France; in 21st-century Beijing that would just be perverse. Here, in a modern glass skyscraper on Beijing’s very sensibly named Financial Street, is a new breed of Ritz-Carlton, one that departs in... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown occupies the site of the historic Georgetown Incinerator, whose 130-foot chimney still rises over the hotel and the attached luxury condominiums. This might sound less than appealing, but there is nothing dingy or industrial about the extensively renovated building, and... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; View | Reserve; Chances are, in the Cayman Islands neither you nor your money are looking for unpredictability. It’s not exactly the adventure tourism capital of the world, but an impossibly tranquil island idyll that’s frankly much better suited to the luxury operators of the world — so it was only a matter of... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay: Half Moon Bay, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Just half an hour down the scenic Highway 1 from San Francisco, Half Moon Bay feels a world away; tucked between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, this sleepy town still enjoys some of the most spectacular vistas on the West Coast, as well as a distinctly undeveloped and down-home... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua: Kapalua, HI, USA; View | Reserve; This opulent monolith of a hotel is remote, tucked away on Maui’s northwest coast, and perhaps uncharacteristically it’s set back from the beach, high on a forested hillside, with commanding views of Honolua Bay and the distant and picturesque island of Molokai more than making up for... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; View | Reserve; Kuala Lumpur's Ritz-Carlton is not all that different from any other; perhaps a bit on the small side (overall, that is — the rooms themselves are the city's largest), perhaps a little more intimate than some others. Then again, maybe it just feels more intimate because the staff are a little bit... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; This is something different, both for Ritz-Carlton and for Singapore. A stunning slab of a skyscraper, designed by the Pritzker winner Kevin Roche, it towers over seven acres of lush gardens at Marina Centre, the new business and commercial district... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans: New Orleans, LA, USA; View | Reserve; In a city filled with opulent manors and gleaming white columns, the Ritz-Carlton has found the ideal setting for its own tried-and-true formula for classic luxury. Don’t expect any funky twists on the chain’s standards, like the black terrazzo floors at the South Beach branch or the... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; It’s hard to believe this is Manhattan. No other hotel in New York offers a view like this one, taking in the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and all of New York Harbor. Like everything in real estate, it’s down to location; in this case, Battery Park City, at the southern tip of... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; We love small, independent hotels, but you’ve got to hand it to the big chains once in a while. It takes a staggering amount of dedicated effort to build a brand up to the point where “Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park” tells you just about everything you could possibly wish to know about a... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes: Orlando, FL, USA; View | Reserve; At times we’re a bit ambivalent about the big corporate chain hotels, preferring to take our chances with the small and the unique. But how quickly, in a town like Orlando, we go running for the comforting consistency of the Ritz-Carlton... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Osaka: Osaka, Japan; View | Reserve; One might expect a Japanese Ritz-Carlton to set aside the company style book and make some concessions to the local traditions. But one would be wrong. The only thing distinctly Japanese about the Ritz-Carlton Osaka is the fact that it occupies the upper floors of a mixed-use high-rise building... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach: Manalapan, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Slightly off the beaten path, the Ritz-Carlton is something of a departure — it’s not in Palm Beach proper, but eight miles away in the tiny town of Manalapan, at the southern tip of Palm Beach Island. Thus it’s not the first choice for those out to make some kind of Palm Beach scene... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA, USA; View | Reserve; “Ritz-Carlton” and “urban renewal” may not be phrases that often occur terribly close together. Here in Philadelphia, though, an abandoned neoclassical bank building and a neighboring Thirties marble office tower have been renovated, converted after a decade left vacant into... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Sharm El Sheikh: Sharm El Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt; View | Reserve; One knows, by now, what to expect from the best of the Ritz-Carltons - a certain lavish luxury, a high standard of service. This, however, is a country whose tourist industry (in fact that of the entire region) has seen some dark years. This hotel goes a long way toward reversing the trend of those... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton South Beach: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; South Beach has come a long way in the past decade or so — from warm-weather winter refuge to the pop-culture capital of America. The perverse result of Miami's hip and youthful makeover is that it's almost too cool to actually enjoy. The boutique wars are heating up, with South Beach... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton St Louis: St Louis, MO, USA; View | Reserve; The appeal of staying in a chain hotel, any chain, is a certain consistency, an ability to know what one can expect in advance. If you are visiting a place like Milan, New York, or Tokyo, you may prefer to be surprised by the seemingly endless variety of hotels; you may welcome the unexpected, and... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; Tokyo’s all-new Midtown, a massive mixed-use development in Roppongi, has been big news lately — some third-world military coups and minor wars have come and gone more quietly, judging by newspaper and magazine column-inches. It’s already one of the high holy sites of Tokyo retail... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Washington D.C.: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; Ironic in Washington D.C., a town full of French Neoclassical buildings, that the Ritz-Carlton would be a modern structure in glass and brick, with not a marble step to be found. Still, it's more traditional than its Georgetown sister — this mid-century institutional look is more familiar than the... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton Wolfsburg: Wolfsburg, Germany; View | Reserve; High-tech industry and cutting-edge design are not perhaps the first things that come to mind at the mention of the words Ritz and Carlton. This one, however, is a bit different, with daring architecture, futuristic materials and some decidedly contemporary interiors, courtesy of none other than... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead: Atlanta, GA, USA; View | Reserve; Atlanta’s bigger than you think; there’s the old downtown city center, and then there’s Buckhead, which is basically North Atlanta, a sort of Southern version of Beverly Hills, complete with its own business and retail districts, upscale residential neighborhoods, and of course a wealth of high-end... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow: Moscow, Russia; View | Reserve; If, twenty years ago, you could have predicted that Moscow would today be the most expensive city in the world — well, you’d probably be staying at the Ritz-Carlton, on Tverskaya Street, with views over Red Square. Here caviar and champagne don’t literally flow from the bathroom taps, but maybe... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples: Naples, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Not that Naples, the other one — Naples, Florida, on the southern end of the Gulf side of the peninsula. Not the most glamorous of destinations, probably, but that’s the glamorous people’s loss, not yours; while they’re still loading their luggage onto some St. Barths–bound seaplane, you’re already... Read More
The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco: San Francisco, CA, USA; View | Reserve; This majestic neoclassical building was the headquarters of an insurance company before being converted to a luxury hotel in 1991, and today it’s difficult to imagine it having ever been anything but a Ritz-Carlton, so perfectly is it suited to the task — midway between the old money of Nob... Read More
The River House: Balapitiya, Sri Lanka; View | Reserve; It’s hard to imagine a location more pristine. The River House occupies seven acres of lush woodland along the banks of the Madhu River, just inland from the estuary, accessible only by boat or by a dirt road. Along the river, it’s all unspoiled nature, abundant wildlife, and the charms of village... Read More
The Rockwell: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The Rockwell:The Rockwell Hotel is an independent budget boutique hotel situated in the Kensington district of West London. Earls Court Stadium, Earls Court Olympia, Harrods department store, the Royal Albert Hall, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum as well as the shopping areas... Read More
The Rookery: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; About The Rookery:The Rookery Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel in London's fashionable Clerkenwell area, located between the West End and London’s central business district. A short distance from the Barbican, St Paul’s Cathedral, Holborn and The Tate Modern, The Rookery Hotel's management has... Read More
The Roxbury: Roxbury, NY, USA; View | Reserve; When we were young the Catskills were where our grandparents vacationed. But now, with flying growing more dehumanizing by the year, car-trip holidays are back in style. And it can’t be a coincidence that hip country hotels like the Roxbury are opening in unlikely places — this one in the town of... Read More
The Royal Crescent Hotel: Bath, UK; View | Reserve; Bath’s Royal Crescent, for those not in the know, is something not unlike the 1774 equivalent of Trump Tower—a collection of some thirty houses joined together and spread out in a five-hundred-foot arc. This is one of the textbook specimens of Georgian architecture, one of this Roman... Read More
The Royal Phuket Yacht Club: Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; Phuket has lately been one of Thailand's more popular destinations, and it was inevitable, really, that Westerners would eventually catch on to this tropical island idyll. The Royal Phuket Yacht Club predates most of the new development, and is in some sense the island's grand dame, still one of... Read More
The Samling: The Lake District - Windermere, Cumbria, England, UK; View | Reserve; It’s a dense country, and it’s hard to find a place that feels truly remote. But deep in the Cumbrian countryside of North West England, on a hillside above the shores of Lake Windermere, you’ll find the Samling, an 18th-century house that’s entering a new phase of life as an intimate 11-room... Read More
The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort: Kiawah Island, SC, USA; View | Reserve; Three cheers for stylistically sensitive development. A brand-new American golf resort too often means a bland and faceless building full of identical L-shaped bedrooms, but the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island just isn’t that sort of place. Instead imagine a resort with all the comforts and luxuries of... Read More
The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille: Ol Lentille, Laikipia, Kenya; View | Reserve; We’ve seen eco-resorts, safari camps, wilderness lodges; few, though, are as well-conceived as the Sanctuary at Ol Lentille. It’s a 6500-acre nature reserve, chock full of endangered African species, and boasting stunning views of the surrounding peaks and Mount Kenya. And perhaps most uniquely... Read More
The Sandpiper: St. James, Barbados; View | Reserve; Please note: The Sandpiper is unable to accept children under the age of 12 from January 15th to March 15th... Read More
The Sarojin Thailand: Khao Lak, North of Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; The Sarojin is a hotel that almost wasn’t. This stunning beachfront boutique, on the mainland just north of the island of Phuket, faces right onto the Andaman sea — and was just about completed before the tsunami of 2004 undid an entire year’s work. The owners, however, weren’t lacking for vision... Read More
The Scarlet: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; Singapore’s original boutique, the Scarlet, boasts that it is “vivacious and uninhibited”—which may at first sound like a bit of hyperbole, but turns out to be quite accurate. Located in the city’s historic Chinatown, the hotel occupies a row of preserved shop houses dating to 1868, and an original... Read More
The Scotsman: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; This red sandstone building was once home to the offices of the Scotsman newspaper (hence the name). The location, on North Bridge, is a (very) short walk from Waverley Railway Station, Princes Street, and the Royal Mile. From the exterior, this is quite obviously a historic location. Inside, the... Read More
The Screen: Kyoto, Japan; View | Reserve; In a hotel as small as Kyoto’s The Screen, what matters most is the attention to detail. It’s not simply the fact that it’s a hybrid style, somewhere between a traditional ryokan and a modern design boutique — thought of course that certainly helps. In the end what makes it special is the sheer... Read More
The Sebel Pier One Hotel: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; View | Reserve; The Sebel Pier One Sydney benefits from a striking Dawes Point location, alongside the historic Harbour Bridge, just around the cove from the Opera House. In hotel-speak, "waterfront location" often means "somewhat near the water" or "not really all that far from the water, in the grand scheme of... Read More
The Sentosa Resort & Spa: Sentosa, Singapore; View | Reserve; Only in Singapore could there be a place like Sentosa Island, a government-established tropical paradise, just fifteen minutes from the financial district, with development (and strategic areas of non-development) controlled by the central bureaucracy. At worst it could be (and in times past has... Read More
The Setai: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; The long-awaited opening of the Setai is some of the biggest news to hit the South Beach hotel scene in a while. This is a town that’s not exactly hurting for over-the-top luxury accommodations, but the Setai manages to set itself apart by being even more over-the-top than the competition... Read More
The Shilla Seoul: Seoul, Korea; View | Reserve; To westerners Seoul is an uncommon travel destination; South Korea is unjustly viewed as Japan’s country cousin, and those in the mood for some culture shock tend to choose cosmopolitan Tokyo. And Korea’s temperate climate does little to attract the types of people who typically travel to balmy... Read More
The Shoreham: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; It’s hard to get more old-school Manhattan than the Shoreham’s midtown location. On 55th between 5th and 6th it’s close by to the park, Rockefeller Center, Times Square and the theatre district, as well as some of be best upscale shopping in the world along 5th Avenue... Read More
The Side Hotel: Hamburg, Germany; View | Reserve; The favorite hotel and meeting place for Hamburg’s advertising and fashion players is a collaborative effort; Milan designer Matteo Thun’s interiors and the spectacular lighting effects of New York installation artist Robert Wilson combine to create an environment that puts to shame many lesser... Read More
The Sky Hotel: Aspen, CO, USA; View | Reserve; Stylish ski hotels are rare enough, and all the more so in Aspen, where the local style tends toward a fairly conservative overstuffed-armchairs-and-stone-fireplaces sort of luxury look. The Sky Hotel is the first hotel in town to try to change all that, and its efforts haven’t gone unnoticed... Read More
The Sofa Istanbul: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; Some cities are compact and manageable, the kinds of places you can easily get your head around on just one visit. Istanbul is not one of these. It’s sprawling, chaotic, and ever-changing — so a hotel like The Sofa Istanbul is doubly welcome. Not just because it’s a chic and luxurious little... Read More
The Soho Hotel: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; London’s new Soho Hotel is impossibly glamorous and opulent, a luxury boutique that is at once classic and original—classic in the now-familiar London sense of overstated and outsized comfort, robust and enveloping furnishing and fixtures (as compared to the papier-mache set... Read More
The Spire Hotel: Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Though you’d never know it from the mass media, there’s a lot more to New Zealand than luxury lodges, adventure sports and Lord of the Rings tours. Queenstown, for example, may be known for its alpine setting, a mecca for skiers and snowboarders, but it’s a cosmopolitan city as well, as amply... Read More
The St. David's Hotel and Spa: Cardiff, Wales, UK; View | Reserve; Twenty years ago it would have been unthinkable, but Cardiff Bay's waterfront is in the midst of a transformation from rough-and-tumble shipyard district to tony arts and entertainment center. This futuristic glass-and metal wedge could pass for a museum, or, less charitably, a landed spaceship; as... Read More
The St. Regis Aspen: Aspen, CO, USA; View | Reserve; Aspen’s days as a sleepy ski town are decades behind it — today it’s well-known as a playground for the rich and famous from all across America. As such, it demands world-class luxury accommodation, an area in which the St. Regis does not disappoint... Read More
The St. Regis Mexico City: Mexico City, Mexico; View | Reserve; When some hotels are getting smaller and less conspicuous, there’s opportunity at the high end. The new St. Regis Mexico City isn’t about to be mistaken for a humble little boutique — it stands atop architect Cesar Pelli’s Torre Libertad, a shining glass skyscraper on the Paseo de la Reforma... Read More
The St. Regis New York: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; New York’s cutting-edge boutique hotels get a lot of well-deserved attention. But it’s worth remembering that there’s a classic side to this city as well — alongside the funky downtown boutiques, this town is also home to some century-old gems, among them John Jacob Astor’s landmark St. Regis, on... Read More
The St. Regis Singapore: Singapore, Singapore; View | Reserve; You may think you know about luxury hotels, but until you’ve seen the Asian version, you haven’t seen anything yet. And don’t let the sleek glass tower fool you — the St. Regis Singapore, despite its contemporary sheen, is a luxury hotel of the old school, the sort of place where, if you’ll let... Read More
The Standard Hollywood: Hollywood, CA, USA; View | Reserve; About the Standard Hotel Hollywood:The first of the cheap chic Standard Hotels from Andre Balazs, the Standard Hotel Hollywood is an affordable boutique hotel located on Sunset Blvd. between Crescent Heights & La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles... Read More
The Standard Hotel Downtown Los Angeles: Los Angeles, CA, USA; View | Reserve; It wasn't so long ago that downtown Los Angeles after six P.M. was a ghost town. This is the case no longer, and it's thanks in no small part to the Downtown Standard — in particular, the rooftop bar, with its astroturf, topiary gardens and waterbed loungers, a fixture on the downtown nightlife... Read More
The Standard Hotel New York: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; About the Standard Hotel New York... Read More
The Standard Miami: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: Children under 14 years old are not permitted on the property... Read More
The Stanhope: Brussels, Belgium; View | Reserve; In bureaucratic Brussels, home to the headquarters of the European Union, gargantuan business hotels are the rule. But the Stanhope is the exception — nothing megalithic about it, this hotel is sewn together from an old convent and the surrounding townhouses, and the result is possibly... Read More
The Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa: Dallas, TX, USA; View | Reserve; This is the sort of thing America could do with a lot more of: the Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa is an Art Deco classic from the Roaring Twenties, thoroughly renovated in a contemporary-classic style and updated with all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a modern high-end hotel... Read More
The Strings by InterContinental Tokyo: Tokyo, Japan; View | Reserve; In the traditional Tokyo style, the Strings is a high-rise hotel, occupying the top floors of an office tower just across from the Shinagawa train station. Operated by an airline (All Nippon Airways) and aimed primarily at business travelers, the Strings is nevertheless just about as stylish as... Read More
The Sukhothai Bangkok: Bangkok, Thailand; View | Reserve; Most of Asia’s grand hotels are ostentatious skyscrapers, but the Sukhothai breaks the mold—this low-slung and labyrinthine complex, designed by Ed Tuttle (of Aman resorts fame) sprawls over six acres, and functions as an island of calm amidst the bustle of that other City of Angels. Gardens... Read More
The Surf Lodge: Montauk, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: The Surf Lodge will be closed October 4, 2009 through Spring 2010... Read More
The Table Bay Hotel: Cape Town, South Africa; View | Reserve; Set on the picturesque Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, the Table Bay Hotel espouses a wholly traditional brand of luxury. Inspired by the ocean liners of yesteryear, it matches Victorian leanings with a contemporary maritime aesthetic, its glass façade offering extraordinary views of the titular... Read More
The Taj Mahal Hotel: New Delhi, India; View | Reserve; New Delhi's Taj Mahal Hotel is a local landmark, a top-class international luxury hotel, located in Lutyens' Delhi, the historic city center that is home to India's senior government officials as well as a number of millionaires and CEOs. The architecture in this district is historical and unique... Read More
The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower: Mumbai, India; View | Reserve; No, they haven't gone and turned the original Taj Mahal into a hotel — but this place is so impressive that it would be easy to forget about its namesake altogether. Conventional wisdom holds that this is the finest hotel in India, the equal of any luxury hotel in New York or Paris, and given... Read More
The Talbott Hotel: Chicago, IL, USA; View | Reserve; Though it’s easy enough to forget, there’s no law of nature that says a small, independently owned urban boutique hotel has to look like something out of a design competition. The Talbott Hotel, on Chicago’s Gold Coast, is a throwback to another era, in this case the 1920s, a time before... Read More
The Three Sisters Hotel: Tallinn, Estonia; View | Reserve; Tallinn is the sort of city that defies easy stereotyping; the most Scandinavian and cosmopolitan of the Baltic capitals, it’s also home to a picture-book Medieval old town, as well as some monumentally dreary Stalinist architecture. During the Cold War, Tallinn was a destination for Finnish... Read More
The Thunderbird Hotel: Marfa, TX, USA; View | Reserve; A tiny and incongruous oasis of high culture in the Chihuahuan desert, Marfa bears the lasting influence of the minimalist sculptor Donald Judd, who tired of the New York art scene of the early Seventies and relocated to this West Texas town with an eye toward permanently installing his signature... Read More
The Tides South Beach: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; The Tides towers over South Beach, a 12-story monolith in gleaming white, vaguely nautical, like a moored cruise ship, complete with telescopes in the guest rooms for scanning the high seas (surely nobody uses them just for watching the girls on the beach). Distinctly un-ship-like in their... Read More
The Tides Zihuatanejo: Zihuatanejo, Mexico; View | Reserve; The old Villa del Sol, a Zihuatanejo beachfront classic since 1978, is now the Tides Zihuatanejo — it’s owned by Kor, the same group that owns the Tides in Miami Beach as well as a number of LA-area boutique hotels. New ownership hasn’t changed the essential appeal of the place one bit; it’s still... Read More
The Tsitouras Collection: Santorini, Greece; View | Reserve; Please note: The Tsitouras Collection is open from March 10th through October 31st... Read More
The Twelve Apostles Hotel: Camps Bay, South Africa; View | Reserve; Think of a luxury hotel in South Africa and your thoughts may run to isolated safari estates, old-world colonial compounds, or opulent waterfront mansions. Rarely, though, would the mind conjure images of boutique elegance, of a smartly designed spot that would look equally at home in Miami Beach... Read More
The Upper House: Hong Kong, Hong Kong; View | Reserve; Hong Kong’s upscale hotels scale dizzying heights of luxury, and lately its more adventurous boutiques have been setting the bar high for style. And now there are hotels that do a bit of both: the Upper House, with over a hundred rooms, is bigger than a boutique hotel, and its crisp-edged Chinese... Read More
The Veranda House: Nantucket, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: The Veranda House cannot accommodate guests under the age of 10 years old... Read More
The Viceroy Bali: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; No relation, apparently, to any other Viceroy, in Los Angeles or anywhere else — the Viceroy Bali is a one-off, a family-owned hotel, a rarity at the high end of the resort market. The location is increasingly familiar, as more travelers discover the charms of inland Bali — the Viceroy is minutes... Read More
The Viceroy Miami: Miami, FL, USA; View | Reserve; It’s almost implicit when you’re talking about Miami hotels that you’re really talking about Miami Beach, and most often South Beach in particular. So it may bear some spelling out: the Viceroy is in downtown Miami — as in, on the mainland, surrounded by tall buildings, trading easy beach access... Read More
The Wauwinet: Nantucket, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Please note: The Wauwinet Inn is open May 14th - Oct. 12th... Read More
The Wentworth Mansion: Charleston, South Carolina, USA; View | Reserve; The historic district of downtown Charleston, South Carolina is Old South elegance at its most refined, and when the Wentworth Mansion was built in 1886 it was among the grandest residences in town. Now this 1886 classic, built in a red-brick French revival style—tower, fleurs-de-lys, mansard roof... Read More
The Westcliff: Johannesburg, South Africa; View | Reserve; The Westcliff's 115 rooms are spacious enough, and handsome enough, to sustain the illusion that you are staying not in a hotel, but in the guest house of an aristocrat's country estate. Though this is a city hotel, the impression comes rather near the truth; Johannesburg is, of course, a wealthy... Read More
The Westin Chosun: Seoul, Korea; View | Reserve; The Westin Chosun was established in 1914 as, simply, the Chosun Hotel, named for the dynasty that had ruled Korea for five centuries. It was a smallish but grand affair, a four-story European-style hotel with a Louis XVII living room and elevators from New York. This was the new center of Korean... Read More
The Westin Excelsior, Florence: Firenze, Italy; View | Reserve; If it’s the classic Florentine experience you’re after, you need look no further: this is the definitive downtown Florence grand hotel, a century-old palace on the banks of the Arno, the sort of place where the Presidential Suite is used by actual presidents. The Ponte Vecchio and the... Read More
The Westin Excelsior, Rome: Rome, Lazio, Italy; View | Reserve; Finally the Excelsior’s long-overdue refurbishment is complete. Frankly it’s a hit-or-miss proposition when one of the world’s great grand hotels goes under the renovation knife. Will it wake up renewed, refreshed, but with personality intact? Or will it find all its character... Read More
The Westin Kuala Lumpur: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; View | Reserve; Kuala Lumpur's Golden Triangle, the business and commercial district at the heart of the downtown area, is home to a number of five-star megahotels, of which the Westin is one of the newest. This is state-of-the-art hospitality, on par with any of the best East Asian hotels, both in terms of luxury... Read More
The Westin Palace Madrid: Madrid, Spain; View | Reserve; The Westin Palace has been around since 1912, and has for decades been one of the most elegant hotels in a city full of grand old hotels. Madrid is a courtly city, built up around a government that moved here as a gesture of Spanish unification; thus servicing the aristocracy was long the only game... Read More
The Westin Valencia: Valencia, Spain; View | Reserve; If your thought process about Spain consists of simply weighing Barcelona against Madrid, you’re leaving a lot out — namely Valencia. This is Calatrava’s city, for one thing, and its architectural pedigree goes back much farther, including the Westin, which occupies a grand white palace of a... Read More
The White Barn Inn: Kennebunkport, ME, USA; View | Reserve; The White Barn Inn is one of America's finest country house hotels, an rustic and intimate inn (and now, a cottage compound) down by the waterfront in the Atlantic coast town of Kennebunkport, Maine. This is a town perhaps best known outside of the Northeast as a presidential summer home, but long... Read More
The White Elephant: Nantucket, MA, USA; View | Reserve; In the small world of seaside New England, Nantucket looms pretty large. The island is one of the region’s most storied destinations, and the White Elephant, by virtue of its privileged position in town on Nantucket Harbor, is one of its central attractions. It’s more or less everything you’d want... Read More
The Whiteface Lodge: Lake Placid, New York, USA; View | Reserve; These days Lake Placid is perhaps better known as a Winter Olympics venue (and as the site of a certain Cold War–era hockey game) than as a holiday destination. Which is unfortunate — the same sublime geography that makes it so well-suited to winter sports means it’s none too shabby in the summer... Read More
The Zetter: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Clerkenwell, neighboring on tiny Soho, the buttoned-up City and art-damaged Shoreditch, is ground zero for London’s design and creative communities, chock full of imaging labs, ad agencies, and design firms. Many of our customers will have business in and around Clerkenwell, and now they have a... Read More
Thompson Beverly Hills: Beverly Hills, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The Thompson group continues its westward expansion with this Beverly Hills outpost, built from the bones of a Sixties-era chain motel on Wilshire Boulevard. Not that you’d notice — if the Thompson is retro, it’s retro of the Seventies chocolate-leather variety, rather than another revival of the... Read More
Thompson LES: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Over the last few decades the center of gravity of hipness in New York has tracked steadily to the south and east. And given how long these things take to make, it’s natural that only just now are we beginning to see high-end boutique hotels on the Lower East Side — among the first wave, the... Read More
Thorngrove Manor: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; View | Reserve; Quite a departure from the standard Australian lodge hotel — Thorngrove Manor is a fantasy version of a European castle, complete with turrets, towers and rough stone walls. The interiors carry on in the same baroque vein, with antiques, artworks and architectural details at every turn. Yet in... Read More
Threadneedles: London, England, UK; View | Reserve; Financial districts are always unlikely places for hotels with anything resembling style—after all, if the bottom line were the only concern, we’d all be staying in chain hotels beneath the airport landing approaches. Bucking this trend, though, is London’s Threadneedles, a... Read More
Tides Riviera Maya: Playa Del Carmen, Qunitana Roo, Mexico; View | Reserve; No children under 16... Read More
Titilaka: Puno, Peru; View | Reserve; Split between Peru and Bolivia, the magnificent Lake Titicaca, considered by Incas to be the sacred birthplace of human civilization, is one of the largest, deepest, and highest bodies of water on the globe. Backpackers have long made the pilgrimage to the water’s edge; this, by contrast, is a... Read More
Tomtom Suites: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; In this enormous city the prevailing trend in hospitality seems, oddly enough, to be something along the lines of “smaller is better.” And who are we to argue? We’ve got nothing against the big boys, but when you can provide top-shelf service and world-class style in a smaller, more intimate hotel... Read More
Topnotch at Stowe Resort & Spa: Stowe, VT, USA; View | Reserve; Though not blessed with the same natural gifts as some western resorts, Stowe offers some of New England’s finest skiing, and more than a few excellent hotels. Notable among these is the aptly named Topnotch, a perennial East Coast favorite occupying 120 acres of land between the town of... Read More
Torre di Moravola: Perugia, Italy; View | Reserve; Italy isn’t exactly hurting for impressive small hotels, but Torre di Moravola stands out all the same. Frankly, they had us at “thousand-year-old Umbrian hilltop watchtower converted into a seven-room boutique hotel,” and that was before we ever saw inside. For while the exterior may be a thousand... Read More
Tortuga Bay, Puntacana Resort & Club: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; View | Reserve; It wasn’t all that long ago that the Dominican Republic was known chiefly as the place where baseball players come from — as a travel destination it came into its own only recently, and as a high-end one, more recently still. The apex, though, has to be the opening of the Tortuga Bay Villas, at the... Read More
Tower 23: San Diego, California, USA; View | Reserve; Poor overlooked San Diego — not even California’s second city, it’s long been overshadowed by Los Angeles, San Francisco, maybe even Orange County. Of late, however, overlooking San Diego means overlooking some ever more stylish hotels — Tower 23, for example, would turn heads even in the... Read More
Townhouse 31: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; Travelers to Milan need not choose between grand old palaces and boring business hotels. The third option is this quiet, discreet little townhouse hotel, in a peaceful residental neighborhood, seemingly a world away from the bustle and grime of Italy's industrial center (though in reality just ten... Read More
Townhouse 70: Turin, Italy; View | Reserve; The third in a franchise that includes the Milanese Town Houses 12 and 31, Turin’s Town House 70 is of a piece with its sisters — a classical facade on a city center street hiding the kind of effortlessly stylish interiors that, if it’s not overly parochial to say so, the Italians seem to do best... Read More
Townhouse Hotel: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; South Beach may be the new capital of American cool, but all the celebrity-spotting comes at a steep price — rooms in this most in-demand of holiday destinations can set you back several hundred dollars a night... Read More
Treetops: Rotorua, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Deep in an ancient forest overlooking Lake Rotorua, on more than two thousand acres of game reserve, Treetops is as close to Eden as any of us are likely to get. Outdoorsmen, particularly, are in paradise — the area around Rotorua is the trout fishing capital of the world, and the sheer... Read More
Tremont House: Galveston, TX, USA; View | Reserve; Before the hurricane of 1900 the Gulf Coast city of Galveston was on its way to becoming one of America’s great cities, a Victorian fantasy of a bustling port town and the center of Texas high society. Today the tourist trade is the city’s main business, and that 19th-century history is... Read More
TriBeCa Grand Hotel: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Tribeca is one of Manhattan’s oddest blends, a district mixing the arty downtown cool of Soho with the big-money sheen of midtown, the spot where 19th-century cobblestones meet sleek industrial architecture, with a dash of bright light courtesy of the sun going down over the Hudson, and several of... Read More
Triple Creek Ranch: Darby, MT, USA; View | Reserve; To indulge in such rugged pastimes as fly-fishing and snowmobiling, one must usually accept a certain coarseness of accommodations. Here, though, it is possible to experience the spectacular landscape of the heart of Montana while making your home in a luxurious private cabin, complete with the... Read More
Trisara: Talang, Phuket, Thailand; View | Reserve; It’s been a while since Phuket was an undiscovered paradise — this is one of Thailand’s major tourism centers, and the secret is well and truly out. There are, however, still places on this island where it’s possible to recapture the feeling of seclusion and exclusivity... Read More
Tschuggen Grand Hotel: Arosa, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Please note: Tschuggen Grand Hotel is closed for the season from April 14th through June 26th... Read More
Turnberry Resort: Ayrshire, Scotland, UK; View | Reserve; In the southwest of Scotland, between the rolling hills of South Ayrshire and the Atlantic coast, stands a century-old red-roofed Edwardian mansion; not just a historic building but a luxury hotel as well, Turnberry is one of Scotland’s preeminent golfing destinations, and a place with real... Read More
Turtle Inn: Placencia Peninsula, Belize; View | Reserve; The hotelier Francis Ford Coppola is generally better known for his films, and for a thriving sideline in Northern California wines. But his foray into the hospitality sector in his beloved Belize can be counted as one of his hits. After winning praise for his rustic, elegant Blancaneaux Lodge... Read More
Twin Farms: Barnard, VT, USA; View | Reserve; Rate include all meals, all beverages, full use of any on-site recreation and equipment, ground transfer from BTV, LEB and MHT airports and range from 1300.00 to 3000.00 USD per night per couple... Read More
Txai Resort: Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil; View | Reserve; The popular foreign conception of travel to Brazil is limited to the beaches of Rio or the bustling city of São Paulo — but there’s plenty going on outside of the major cities. And while visitors line the beaches at Ipanema and Copacabana, Brazilians escape to the Bahia coastline... Read More
Ubud Hanging Gardens: Payangan, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Though a long way from Babylon, the Ubud Hanging Gardens might just be worthy of sharing a name with one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Consider the situation: a half hour outside of Ubud, Bali’s inland attraction, it clings to the edge of the densely forested valley, a situation so... Read More
Ultra Hotel: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; In Buenos Aires, the bar has been set high in the boutique hotel category – and that fact makes the new Ultra Hotel all the more notable. Centrally situated in the fashionable neighborhood of Palermo Soho, the Ultra looks intimidatingly dark from the street: the shadowy lobby, illuminated... Read More
Uma Paro: Bhutan; View | Reserve; Think of world travel hot spots and it’s unlikely that Bhutan is the first destination to come to mind. There’s a good reason for that: this tiny Himalayan kingdom strictly limits the number of tourists allowed to enter each year at just a few thousand, fewer than pass through some individual... Read More
Uma Ubud: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Bali is back, as a holiday destination — many governments are finally easing their travel restrictions, and citizens of the remaining holdouts are, more and more, ignoring the warnings. Let's put things into perspective, Bali is easily safer than the subway systems of any major city. And, besides... Read More
UNA Hotel Bologna: Bologna, Italy; View | Reserve; In the not-so-distant past, stylish contemporary hotel design was the hallmark of the independent hotel, or the maverick mini-chain, à la Schrager, for example. Today, though, it’s getting more and more difficult to guess a hotel’s business model by its décor... Read More
UNA Hotel Malpensa: Cerro Maggiore, Italy; View | Reserve; One could be forgiven for sensing something boastful about the new UNA hotel, out in the countryside near Milan’s less convenient airport. Intentional or not, the message is clear: Milan is a city so fashionable that even its airport hotels are stylish enough to knock most towns’ city-center... Read More
UNA Hotel Palace: Catania, Italy; View | Reserve; Set in a restored hundred-year-old building in the Catania city center, in the shadow of Mount Etna on the east coast of Sicily, the UNA Hotel Palace is something of a departure — both for the city it calls home and for the UNA chain, whose hotels elsewhere in Italy are resolutely forward-looking... Read More
UNA Hotel Tocq: Milan, Italy; View | Reserve; As the design-hotel phenomenon marches on, its benefits begin to trickle downward — the kind of avant-garde sophistication that was once the purview of the most exclusive boutiques is now becoming more and more widespread. A decade ago a mid-priced chain like UNA might have played it safe, but not... Read More
UNA Hotel Vittoria: Florence, Italy; View | Reserve; Florence’s UNA Hotel Vittoria is a masterpiece of ultra-modern hotel design, the handiwork of the improbably named Italian architect Fabio Novembre, and it’s a highly individual expression. If you turn up expecting yet another international-modern minimalist design hotel, you risk having your Zen... Read More
Unique Garden: Sao Paulo, Brazil; View | Reserve; What’s in a name? Well, in this case, Unique Garden pretty much covers it; the centerpiece of this country retreat, located within a state park fifty kilometers from São Paulo, is its garden — actually acre upon acre of gardens, managed by a team of agronomists and gardeners. If you’re... Read More
URBN Hotel Shanghai: Shanghai, China; View | Reserve; “Yes, well, I’m more worried about what China is doing.” It’s the last refuge of the unrepentant carbon-guzzler, who will, in the next sentence, go on to remind you that there are a billion people there, just in case you somehow didn’t know, and they’re all busily undoing whatever environmental... Read More
US Grant: San Diego, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Lately San Diego has stepped up its act insofar as providing urbane boutique accommodations for a new, younger breed of sophisticated tourists, as well as the throngs of sun-seeking Midwestern convention-goers who make up a goodly part of the downtown action. The US Grant remains stalwartly... Read More
UXUA Casa Hotel: Trancoso, Bahia, Brazil; View | Reserve; It’s quite obviously a hotel. And it was designed, it happens, by the creative director of Diesel, the Italian fashion brand — a man who can pretty safely be called a designer. But don’t call it a “design hotel.” Uxua Casa’s nine villas, though newly built, are traditionally Bahian in style, far... Read More
Vedema Resort: Santorini, Greece; View | Reserve; Please note: Vedema Resort is closed for the winter season and will reopen May 1, 2010... Read More
Venetian: Las Vegas, NV, USA; View | Reserve; It's amazing what you can do with a desert. Not content with Bugsy Siegel's original dream of one city in the sand, the new generation of Vegas entrepreneurs is building several. First it was Paris. And now, from the ashes of the Rat Pack's former haunt, the Sands Hotel, rises Venice, complete with... Read More
Ventana Inn and Spa: Big Sur, CA, USA; View | Reserve; Big Sur is the jewel of the California coast, one of the most spectacular places in North America, and Ventana Inn is Big Sur’s original luxury resort, founded by writer Lawrence A. Spector, using profits from the film Easy Rider. Clearly it doesn’t get much more California than that... Read More
Verdura Golf & Spa Resort: Sicily, Italy; View | Reserve; The hotel is accepting reservations as of March 1, 2010... Read More
Viceroy Anguilla: Barnes Bay, Anguilla; View | Reserve; You may know the Viceroy hotels from Miami or Santa Monica or Palm Springs. We wouldn’t have bet money that their next expansion would be into the tonier end of the British West Indies, but that’s exactly what the Viceroy Anguilla is — and on 35 acres of land, alongside a private beach that spans... Read More
Viceroy Palm Springs: Palm Springs, CA, USA; View | Reserve; It seems everything old becomes new again someday; who’d have thought geriatric Palm Springs could relive its glamorous glory days? Yet that’s just what’s happening, as a new generation of Angelenos skips out on Beverly Hills and heads inland to this desert oasis hideaway. And in Palm Springs, it... Read More
Viceroy Santa Monica: Santa Monica, CA, USA; View | Reserve; The green glow through translucent glass is the only clue that there’s anything out of the ordinary going on behind the discreet (and unsigned) facade of this seaside hotel. Inside, though, it’s something else entirely — the Viceroy is one of Santa Monica’s hottest spots, and the interiors are as... Read More
Victoria Angkor Resort & Spa: Siem Reap, Angkor, Cambodia; View | Reserve; Cambodia’s fast-growing luxury-tourist destination witnessed the defeat of the Thai Empire, the French colonists and the Khmer Rouge. But the Victoria Angkor betrays nothing of the region’s former struggles. Instead the hotel reflects the best of the past, including the peaked roofs and heavy... Read More
Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel: Interlaken, Switzerland; View | Reserve; For centuries Switzerland was the playground of Europe, and to this day it’s practically bursting with classic grand hotels — when it comes to old-fashioned luxury, these people know what they’re doing. In Interlaken, the grande dame is the Victoria-Jungfrau, a 19th-century hotel which, like its... Read More
Vigilius Mountain Resort: South Tyrol, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Vigilius Mountain Resort will be closed November 16 - December 3, 2009... Read More
Vila Joya: Guia/Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal; View | Reserve; The Algarve is one of those blessed places, a sun-kissed expanse so heavenly it gets to keep a “the” at the front of its name, like the Riviera or the Amalfi. As such it’s quite popular with basically anyone who likes sunshine, and its hotels run the gamut from the big and bland on down to, well... Read More
Vila Monte: Algarve, Portugal; View | Reserve; The Algarve, Portugal’s southernmost province, is a destination seemingly ready-made for tourism. It’s covered with sandy beaches and sunshine, and just as places like New Zealand get comic mileage out of their ratios of sheep per capita, the Algarve seemingly has at least one hole of golf for... Read More
Villa 32: Taipei, Taiwan; View | Reserve; Geographically, it’s only an hour from the airport; figuratively, though, Villa 32 is just about as far as you can get from the clamorous urban cityscape of downtown Taipei. While the vast majority of the city’s high-end business and leisure travelers take in the sights from the top of a... Read More
Villa Belrose: Gassin, France; View | Reserve; Closed annually from October 30 to April 1... Read More
Villa d'Este: Cernobbio, Lake Como, Italy; View | Reserve; Villa D’Este is one of the world’s most famous grand hotels, and deservedly so. This authentic neo-classical villa (built in 1568) has been a hotel for almost as long as the modern unified Republic of Italy has existed—the first guest checked in in 1873—and the transition from aristocratic... Read More
Villa de l'O: Essaouira, Morocco; View | Reserve; Sure, it’s a bit farther out than Marrakech, but for anyone who’s at all attached to the seaside, there’s no contest: Essaouira has got the medina and the beach, both in one pocket-sized package along the Atlantic coast. And there’s nowhere else a hotel like the Villa de l’O could exist — this... Read More
Villa del Sogno: Gardone Riviera, Lombardia, Italy; View | Reserve; There was a time, back before the invention of air travel, when the lakes of northern Italy were the favored destination for Europeans of means. And even now, the fact that the flight to the Maldives is quicker than the coach ride from Vienna to Lake Garda has done nothing to diminish the intrinsic... Read More
Villa des Orangers: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; Villa des Orangers is happy to welcome guests aged 18 and older... Read More
Villa Florentine: Lyon, France; View | Reserve; The most spectacular views in all of Lyon are to be had from the terraces and windows of the Villa Florentine. This seventeenth-century former convent is positioned at the heart of Vieux Lyon, at the highest point of the historic district, taking in the stunning vistas and Renaissance-era... Read More
Villa Fontelunga: Arezzo, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: There is a 2 night minimum stay requirement at Villa Fontelunga. Special packages require 3 night stays. Fontelunga opens March 28th and closes on the 8th of November.Villa Fontelunga is not at all the stereotypical Tuscan experience. This Padronale residence has been thoroughly... Read More
Villa Kennedy: Frankfurt, Germany; View | Reserve; You’d expect the top-flight business hotels in Frankfurt, the financial center of Germany, to be skyscraperish modern glass-and-metal affairs. And quite often you’d be right. The Villa Kennedy, though, is something a bit different. Though it’s a high-end modern business hotel... Read More
Villa La Massa: Florence-Candeli, Italy; View | Reserve; This kind of haute-luxury Tuscan-villa experience can certainly stand on its own, and probably needs little selling anyway — but all the same, it would be unfair not to mention that the Villa La Massa happens to be a sister hotel to one of Italy’s best-loved luxury hotels, the famed Villa d’Este on... Read More
Villa Mangiacane: Florence, Italy; View | Reserve; Set on a hillside just outside Florence, the Villa Mangiacane is the best of both worlds — the sort of Tuscan country-house escape that absolutely sells itself, along with easy access to one of the world’s great cultural capitals. It took some doing, as it was essentially in ruins, but the owner, a... Read More
Villa Maria Cristina Boutique Hotel: Guanajuato, Mexico; View | Reserve; The scenic old town of Guanajuato is noted mainly for having been an old mining town (back when mining towns were picturesque) as well as the birthplace of the painter Diego Rivera. So it’s a little bit unexpected to find that it’s got a hotel of the quality of the Villa Maria Cristina — a fine... Read More
Villa Marie: Ramatuelle, Côte d'Azur, France; View | Reserve; For anyone despairing of the big noise of the St. Tropez scene, there’s hope, in the form of Villa Marie. It’s the latest project from Jocelyne and Jean-Louis Sibuet, the team behind La Bastide de Marie and Les Fermes de Marie, and like its sisters, the Villa Marie is a winning... Read More
Villa Sassolini: Moncioni-Montevarchi, Tuscany, Italy; View | Reserve; Please note: Villa Sassolini will close for the winter season December 8, 2009 and reopen March 15, 2010... Read More
Villa Spalletti Trivelli: Rome, Italy; View | Reserve; You wouldn’t believe how hard it is not to resort to clichéd phrases like “La Dolce Vita.” See, there we’ve gone and said it again. But it’s hard to see what the alternative is — life in a posh Roman villa is indeed sweet, and if ever there were a hotel that perfectly exemplifies the genre, it’s... Read More
Vintage Design Hotel Sax: Prague , Czech Republic; View | Reserve; Prague is a city that, for various world-historical reasons, sat out the heyday of Fifties and Sixties modernism. So when a hotel like the Vintage Design Hotel Sax ventures down the retro-modernist road, it does so with a special vigor. A couple of present-day Czech architects have transformed this... Read More
Vitrum: Buenos Aires, Argentina; View | Reserve; There’s no shortage of boutique hotels in Palermo Viejo, widely considered to be Buenos Aires’ most fashion-forward barrio. There is, however, a dearth of boutique hotels that deliver the goods without looking like second-rate minimalist knock-offs or victims of last year’s trends. One that stands... Read More
W Atlanta - Downtown: Atlanta, GA, USA; View | Reserve; Unless you’re a rap star, a pro athlete, or a Southerner by birth, the idea of Atlanta as a modern, upscale metropolis might be a strange one. But that’s exactly what it is — this is the capital of the South, and a city that’s big enough and busy enough to sustain not one or two but three W hotels... Read More
W Dallas - Victory: Dallas, TX, USA; View | Reserve; If you still think Dallas is a cowtown, you’ve got another think coming. It’s an urbane and relatively cosmopolitan city, with enough style-seekers and design addicts to keep a W Hotel in business. And it’s not just any W — the W Dallas – Victory (it’s one of the anchors of a massive multi-use... Read More
W Doha: Doha, Qatar; View | Reserve; By now you’re probably prepared to see a W cropping up just about anywhere, but Doha? How, quite frankly, is the high-design luxury chain’s whole nightlife-centric, anything-goes approach supposed to work in buttoned-up Qatar? The answer: pretty well indeed. For foreigners the W Doha provides a... Read More
W Hong Kong: Hong Kong, China; View | Reserve; High-design style with luxury-hotel trimmings — that’s what the W hotels are all about, and nowhere is it more evident than the W Hong Kong, a riot of graphic color standing hundreds of feet above the waterfront in the up-and-coming West Kowloon district. It’s a massive development, with condo... Read More
W Istanbul: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; Turkey’s got history, to put it mildly, but they’re not afraid of a little modernity either — they’ve taken to boutique hotels with zeal, turning out some of the world’s most stylish and surprising hotels. It’s high time some of the more design-centric names moved into Istanbul, and with the advent... Read More
W Mexico City: Mexico City, Mexico; View | Reserve; Just the second W outside of the United States, the W Mexico City opened in October 2003 in the glitzy Polanco district — itself a sort of luxury hotel row, already home to the Inter-Continental and the J.W. Marriott. Next to these buttoned-up business hotels, the W plays the brash... Read More
W Montreal: Montreal, QC, Québec, Canada; View | Reserve; Montreal takes pride in its reputation as North America’s most fun city — so it’s only natural that here you would find a classic old bank building converted into a dramatic and colorful high-design luxury hotel. This is the W brand’s bread and butter: the W Montreal is a hotel that’s equally well... Read More
W Retreat & Spa Maldives: Fesdu Island, Maldives; View | Reserve; Everybody knows the W hotels as the chain that took the concept of the “design boutique” mainstream, with a series of stylish properties, mostly in American cities, attracting a design-savvy, upwardly mobile sort of crowd. So it’s a bit of a surprise to find that big white W cropping up in the... Read More
W Scottsdale: Scottsdale, AZ, USA; View | Reserve; If you haven’t been paying attention to Scottsdale you might be surprised to find its demographics have shifted a bit. What was once a haven for upscale golf resorts and Southwestern art galleries is now a nightlife and entertainment mecca, with a new breed of hotels to match — including the W... Read More
W Seattle: Seattle, WA, USA; View | Reserve; At the height of the WTO riots, two guests at the W Seattle decided to get married… with one day’s notice. As there were no judges, justices, or ministers handy, concierge Daniel Petzoldt got ordained on-line. Actually, he says, becoming a minister was the easiest part. Compared to... Read More
W Seoul: Seoul, Korea; View | Reserve; The first W hotel in Asia would have to be impressive, and this one certainly is—the W Seoul is an eye-catching sculpture in blue glass, in something of a unique setting, alongside the Han river, at the foot of Mount Acha, on the grounds of the semi-rural Walkerhill hotel and casino complex... Read More
W South Beach: Miami Beach, FL, USA; View | Reserve; It’s hard to think of a W hotel whose opening was this big a deal. It’s not as though Miami had a shortage of hotel rooms, but the W seems to have touched a nerve — this new Collins Avenue behemoth is so quintessentially South Beach it’s already hard to imagine what the city was like without it... Read More
W Times Square: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; It’s by now habitual to expect the worst of Times Square, as years of concerted effort have shaped it into a style-free zone, hammering out everything that could once have passed for local color. Step through the doors of the W Times Square, though, and you’ll likely forget you’re anywhere near... Read More
W Union Square: New York, NY, USA; View | Reserve; Sure, there’s a family resemblance with the other W hotels, but this one, fittingly for a hotel on Park Avenue South, feels a bit more old-money than the rest. Maybe it’s the Beaux-Arts architecture of the former Guardian Life building, or maybe it’s the spiraling grand staircase in the soaring... Read More
Warwick Ibah Luxury Villas & Spa: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; View | Reserve; Ubud is Bali’s artistic center, an inland mountain town, rather than the beachfront idyll you might expect at mention of the word Bali. As such it offers a bit more culture, as well as a bit more seclusion than the seaside resorts, and, one would be tempted to say, a slightly more authentic... Read More
Watermark Hotel & Spa: San Antonio, TX, USA; View | Reserve; There’s more to San Antonio than just the Alamo. Deep in the heart of Texas though it may be, the Watermark Hotel & Spa is an international-caliber luxury hotel, the sort of place any substantial American city needs one of: business-friendly enough for CEOs and traveling salesmen, and plush... Read More
Waters Edge Hotel: Tiburon, CA, USA; View | Reserve; This may be San Francisco Bay — Tiburon is located on the north side of the Golden Gate, just around Richardson Bay from Sausalito — but there’s something decidedly New England about Waters Edge. The view takes in what is quite unmistakably San Francisco’s skyline, as well as the nature preserve of... Read More
Wedgewood Hotel: Vancouver, BC, Canada; View | Reserve; Unlike many of Vancouver’s hotels, the Wedgewood is a privately owned boutique, decorated and still overseen by its manager, a Greek-born Vancouverbusinesswoman. And in contrast to the modern business hotels, this place is all European-style pomp and old-world elegance, beginning with the... Read More
Wequassett Resort and Golf Club: Harwich, MA, USA; View | Reserve; According to many New England luxury travelers, this is Cape Cod’s top hotel, and when upscale Bostonians hit out for the coast, as often as not this is where they do it. Chatham, on the quaint little elbow of the Cape, is a classic, unspoiled seaside town, and the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club... Read More
Westin Paris: Paris, France; View | Reserve; Any Parisian hotel — especially when it's part of a foreign chain — that can actually boast its popularity among its fellow Parisians has to be something special. The Westin marque is new, but the hotel is anything but: from the authentic Napoleon III tapestries and design to the Louis XVI... Read More
Wharekauhau: Featherston, New Zealand; View | Reserve; Wharekauhau (pronounced, apparently, Forry-ko-ho) is New Zealand lodge living writ large — a spectacular location, a fantastic building, and all the manor-house luxury you can stand. The site, on the south coast of New Zealand’s North Island, is a short flight or a circuitous 90-minute drive from... Read More
Wheatleigh: Lenox, MA, USA; View | Reserve; The Wheatleigh is one of those uniquely American places; an Italianate mansion right in the middle of the Berkshires, once the country house of an American heiress and her husband, a Spanish count, it is now a small château-style hotel, just 19 rooms and suites, with a restaurant that is not to be... Read More
Wickaninnish Inn: Tofino, British Columbia, Canada; View | Reserve; Wickaninnish Inn will be closed January 2-9, 2009 for a week due to refurbishing... Read More
Widder Hotel: Zurich, Switzerland; View | Reserve; Throw out the stereotypes about Zurich and its stuffy bankers and chocolate shops—the Widder defies all these with strikingly inventive design, while never forgetting about the fundamentals that make Swiss hotels some of the most professional in the world... Read More
Willard InterContinental: Washington, DC, USA; View | Reserve; The Willard is the capital’s most elegant and old-fashioned hotel, and it’s still the unofficial center of Washington. Every president since the middle of the 19th century has been a guest, along with countless foreign diplomats and heads of state, and all manner of American... Read More
Willows Lodge: Woodinville, WA, USA; View | Reserve; Willows Lodge’s location, on the eastern edge of the Seattle suburbs (not far from a little town called Redmond) makes it an obvious choice for tech-industry corporate retreats. Of course what’s good for the salaryman is good for the leisure traveler as well — you don’t have to be on a... Read More
Windsor Arms: Toronto, Ontario, Canada; View | Reserve; Don’t be put off by the name; behind the 1927 neo-Gothic facade of the Windsor Arms is a delightfully modern hotel, completely redesigned in a sort of luxe-minimalist style, yet with an emphasis on old-world service that today’s fashion-first boutiques would do well to study... Read More
Windsor Court Hotel: New Orleans, LA, USA; View | Reserve; Despite its perch on the outskirts of the French Quarter, the Windsor Court doesn’t exactly ooze Creole charm. Forget buttery beignets and the strains of a saxophone wafting through the humid air; think instead of afternoon tea with raspberry scones and smartly dressed maids straightening... Read More
wine & spa resort LOISIUM Hotel: Langenlois, Austria; View | Reserve; It’s hard to even remember the dark ages before the invention of vinotherapy, when wine and spa treatments had to be enjoyed separately. These days, though, they’re best taken together. And these days, most everywhere there’s a wine industry, there’s an ultra-modern haute-luxury spa hotel — like... Read More
Winvian: Morris, CT, USA; View | Reserve; Note: Children under the age of 18 are not permitted at Winvian unless it is during a Family Friendly date... Read More
With the Style: Fukuoka, Japan; View | Reserve; Let’s be honest: the odds that our typical Western reader will just happen to breeze through Fukuoka in need of a place to stay are fairly slim. Sure, it’s Japan’s sixth-largest city, but unless you’re a traveling executive with regular stops all across Asia, that’s a bit like calling it... Read More
Witt Istanbul Suites: Istanbul, Turkey; View | Reserve; While other Istanbul hotels emphasize the city’s ties to antiquity, Witt Istanbul Suites is every inch the ultra-modern contemporary-design boutique hotel. Formerly an ad agency HQ, it’s close by to the central business district, as well as some of the best shopping, dining and nightlife in this... Read More
Woodmark Hotel: Kirkland, WA, USA; View | Reserve; Who cares about landlocked Lake Washington, when the rest of the Seattle area borders on the picturesque Puget Sound? The short answer: everyone who can afford to, including Bill Gates, whose Xanadu 2.0 stands by its shores. So too does the Woodmark Hotel, Yacht Club & Spa, a hundred-room... Read More
Wynn Las Vegas: Las Vegas, NV, USA; View | Reserve; The last effort from Steve Wynn, the Bellagio, was for a while if not the most over-the-top hotel in the world then at least the most over-the-top hotel this side of Dubai. No longer. What during construction seemed like an experiment designed to test the credulity of the rumor-mongerers — how many... Read More
X2 Koh Samui: Koh Samui, Thailand; View | Reserve; Though it’s actually a bit more polished than its sister in Kui Buri, this one, the second resort in the X2 micro-chain brings a much-needed change of pace to Koh Samui. It’s a destination that’s been slightly over-civilized, to put it gently — the X2 approach, with its unfinished-looking surfaces... Read More
X2 Kui Buri: Prachuap Khirikhan , Thailand; View | Reserve; It may be fashionable to boast of having abandoned Thailand for parts less well-known, but deep down you know that as long as there’s still undeveloped coast, and thus new resorts to be opened, you’ll keep on finding reasons to come back. One compelling enough reason is X2 Kui Buri, set on another... Read More
XV Beacon: Boston, MA, USA; View | Reserve; Boston needs to grow young, in the same way many of us need to grow up. Somber, red bricked, brown stoned, the keystone of New England dignity — it's almost as though the Puritans are still in residence. Enter XV Beacon (pronounced Fifteen Beacon, for those who forgot their Roman numerals), the new... Read More
York House: Lisbon, Portugal; View | Reserve; Some of us may find Lisbon a bit long on steeped-in-history palace-style hotels, and a bit short on the kind of mellow modernism that’s spread so widely across the rest of Europe. There’s one stylish little boutique, though, that’s hidden away in just about the last place you’d expect it; the York... Read More
Zamani Zanzibar Kempinski: Zanzibar, East Africa, Tanzania; View | Reserve; Zanzibar was already impressive enough, with its miles of sandy beaches, endless Indian Ocean views, and its long, strange history as an outpost of the Arab spice trade. Now to the list of attractions you can add a rather impressive luxury hotel, the Zamani Zanzibar Kempinski, a brand new... Read More
Zank Boutique Hotel: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; View | Reserve; Crisp all-white decor and ocean views are nothing new in the realm of beachfront boutiques. But in the Brazilian colonial capital of Salvador da Bahia, where dated luxury resorts and sandy-floored guesthouses dot the coast, the Zank Boutique Hotel amounts to a very stylish alternative... Read More
Zanzibar Serena Inn: Zanzibar, Tanzania; View | Reserve; For a lot of us it’s not exactly close by, but as long as you’re in the hemisphere, you could do a lot worse for a classic holiday escape than Zanzibar. And Stone Town, on the island’s Africa-facing west coast, is the ideal compromise: a bit of civilization, a bit of exoticism (unless you’re... Read More
Zaouia 44: Marrakech, Morocco; View | Reserve; The flip side of the insular, sequestered charm of the typical Marrakech riad hotel is that, at times, they can feel a bit claustrophobic — one man’s cozy is another man’s cramped, and what to one designer looks like a classic Arabesque fantasia looks to another overstuffed and overdecorated. Of... Read More
ZeroHotel: Valparaiso, Chile; View | Reserve; We’re not sure exactly where the zero part comes in actually. But there is something charmingly minimal about the Zerohotel Valparaiso, a hotel that knows when to stop trying and just get out of the way. After all, they don’t call this place Paradise Valley for nothing; a cozy and comfortable... Read More
Zoetry Agua Punta Cana: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; View | Reserve; There’s more to the Dominican Republic these days than just massive all-inclusive resorts. Today the crowd-shy luxury traveler has more options than ever, including the Zoetry Agua Punta Cana, just west of Punta Cana... Read More

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