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Like every inch of Florence, the Collegio alla Querce breathes history. The hotel, sitting high atop the hills overlooking the city, was a nobleman’s palazzo in the sixteenth century. A few of the rooms have the original frescoes on the wall. A hundred years later it became a private school for the city’s elite, including members of Salvatore Ferragamo’s family. Bar Bertelli is the former headmaster’s office and named for a scientist who taught at the school. It’s in there that you order a Negroni and take it onto the veranda to see the sun dip below the cypress trees and bathe Florence in color—a view of which you never tire, to paraphrase W. Somerset Maugham in Up at the Villa, his novella set in the city. It’s quiet out here, and you feel miles away from the hordes of summer tourists invading the city. Yet the center of Florence is so close. The Collegio alla Querce is one of those hotels that feel so much like home you never want to leave. No surprise it’s part of the Auberge Collection, whose portfolio of luxury hotels and resorts are known for their intimate scale and strong sense of place. At the Collegio alla Querce, this is the work of ArchFlorence, a design firm that transformed the common areas into something both sumptuous and deeply inviting—and, above all, deeply Florentine. Your room might have a panoramic view of Florence or a sweeping vista of the Tuscan countryside. The scent of lemon trees wafts through your open window. The sun-drenched pool is said to be the longest in Florence, and next to it is a café that serves pizza fresh from the stone oven. Afterward, you can treat yourself to the ninety-minute massage at Aelia Spa and later dine at La Gamella, where seafood is the main event—a rarity in Tuscany. The tuna tartare is better than any you’ll find at a seaside resort. But it’s that veranda and that perfect cocktail and that red dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore bathed in sunlight that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. “On such a day,” Maugham wrote of early evening in Florence, “it was very good to be alive.” Rooms from $1,850. —Michael Sebastian

Resort pool area overlooking mountains with umbrellas and seating.

ANDREW HOLMAN

L’Auberge de Sedona

Sedona, Arizona

People come to Sedona looking for the fabled red-rock vortices, where you can be immersed in the earth’s energy. We’re not saying L’Auberge de Sedona lies in a vortex, but it’s definitely the case that it surrounds you with healing power, makes you at least a slightly better person, and definitely leaves you never wanting to return to your real life. Originally opened in 1984, the property has long been a mecca among those looking to escape, the wealthy and hippies alike. Following a recent renovation, there are ninety-one new lodges with incredible views that offer the opportunity to take a dip in the pool, eat by the river, stargaze (or search for aliens), and, you know, gather up your crystals and head for that special spot out in the desert. Rooms from $499. —K.J.

Cozy living area with a dining space and a fireplace.

Hotel El Roblar

Ojai, California

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Yes, you’ll want to double your order of tuna tostadas and sweet-potato tacos from chef Brandon Boudet and his crew at the exceptional Condor Bar, and, yes, you can visit a pair of actual Aldabra giant tortoises in a little nook at the back of the property. This place stuns with the big things. But also, the small things are perfection: the tilework, the woodwork, the quirky interior mural populated with images of Ojai seer Jiddu Krishnamurti and eighties ladies doing aerobics (a relic of the space’s years as a Pynchonesque wellness center), the crackling fireplace in the lobby on a rainy afternoon, the way both locals and guests gather around that fireplace to read and flirt and drink. Ultimately it’s these smaller gestures and flourishes that summon the spirit of denim-and-crystals California chill that has made Ojai the West Coast shorthand for everything cool. Rooms from $550. —Jeff Gordinier

Historic beachfront hotel with distinctive architecture and palm trees.

Hotel Del Coronado

San Diego, California

The Del, as it’s known on the West Coast, opened by the shore in 1888, and you’d probably recognize it on sight—its red Victorian turrets, its sweeping wooden porches, its white walls—even if you’ve never stayed there. Marilyn Monroe shot Some Like It Hot at the Del, and author L. Frank Baum sequestered himself in a room by the sea to write some of his Oz books. It’s that place. If the Del seems to gleam more brightly these days, that’s because it came out of hibernation last summer after a $550 million renovation. Now there are new neighborhoods nestled against the grand original structure (Shore House and Beach Village, the first more buttoned-up and the latter more hang-ten), and there’s even a Nobu where you can sear strips of Wagyu on top of a hot black disc of lava. Rooms from $600. —J.G.

Outdoor pool area with sun loungers and umbrellas

Le Petit Pali

St. Helena, California

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Curious, in this Age of Amenities: no spa and no dinner service. It’s as if the hotel is telling you that in a setting such as this, there’s no need to overdo it. Observe the simple miracle of opening a door in the morning in Napa Valley and watching fog lift from a landscape of hills and vineyards. The hotel is right. Rooms from $525. —J.G.

Indoor plant shop featuring a floral-themed car and various plant displays.

ERINKUNKEL

Treehouse Hotel Silicon Valley

Sunnyvale, California

It’s pretty weird to wake up next to the gleaming edifice of Google. Even though the Treehouse is new, having opened as the search-engine giant’s immediate neighbor in May 2025, it feels like some pre-digital hippie commune that refused to sell out to high-tech gentrification. The suites overflow with a multitude of quilts and vinyl albums and rustic wooden tables where a family may’ve shared a vegetarian casserole in the 1970s. Mushrooms serve as an ongoing design motif; there’s a flower-strewn Volkswagen Beetle in the lobby; there are the decidedly analog pleasures of disco fries and empanadas at chef Stephanie Izard’s Valley Goat. You haven’t actually teleported to a simpler and cozier time, but it’s nice to pretend. Rooms from $400. —J.G.

Indoor seating area with a view of an outdoor pool and patio.

Hotel Wren

Twentynine Palms, California

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Hotels like Hotel Wren are what motels dream of as they take their dying breaths. Its twelve rooms, each immaculately outfitted by Manola Studios, a Los Angeles design firm, sit at the entrance to Joshua Tree, promising peace. Everything here is carefully considered, all taupe, beige, and umber. A king-size bed beckons; a fireplace quietly flickers as the night stars twinkle. (Half the rooms face the vast desert itself; the others offer secluded patios.) Actual books, like the kind you want to read, line the bookshelves. Some hotels offer you a chance to explore a new destination. The best offer you a chance to explore a new self. Hotel Wren is gloriously the latter. Rooms from $330. —Joshua David Stein

Cozy wooden cabin surrounded by greenery

World of Quercus

Gay, Georgia

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Think of Quercus as the spiritual successor to nearby Warm Springs, where FDR went for polio treatment. The team runs a top-tier, modern, holistic wellness program in rural Georgia. Every cabin is well-appointed, and the staff is a revelation, southern hospitality as world-class service. The pinnacle of the experience? The biodynamic garden tour and tasting menu at Uberto, the new concept from chef Ryan Smith of Atlanta favorite Staplehouse. (The poached cabbage with caviar and sakebushi … one of my favorite bites ever.) More important, your retreat can be workouts and massages, but it can also be porch drinks and shoal-bass fishing. Absolutely presidential, if you ask me. Rooms from $2,700. —Luke Guillory

The Asticou Hotel

Mount Desert Island, Maine

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Acadia, on Maine’s down-east coast, is one of America’s most beautiful national parks. In the fall, you won’t find more stunning sunsets surrounded by bright-orange and -red foliage. The Asticou Hotel is on Mount Desert Island, the ruggedly gorgeous landmass that holds most of the park. Which means that peerless public land is mere minutes from the hotel’s fifty newly renovated guest rooms and outdoor pool; its intimate Moss Bar, which serves a spicy pear margarita that is a tonic after a day of hiking; and its restaurant, Dahlia’s, which boasts lobsters and oysters on the half shell at both lunch and dinner. (I know because I ate them two times a day.) The hotel has changed ownership since we visited, but when it opens for the summer season on May 15, there is one thing you can be certain of: You will not find a more magical location from which to explore the most breathtaking shoreline on the eastern seaboard. Rooms from $514. —Josh Rosenberg

Cabins by a lake surrounded by autumn trees

Prospect Berkshires

Egremont/Berkshires, Massachusetts

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Tucked away in the lower-left corner of Massachusetts, Prospect Berkshires is hardly the first property to deliver a luxury camping experience (aka glamping, a cursed term). But it’s the rare one that actually delivers on the price of admission. Perched on the side of a gorgeous, sprawling lake—you can rent a kayak or go cold-plunging in the morning if you dare—Prospect Berkshires pairs cozy cabins with a tennis court, a pool, and private waterfront saunas. The s’more on top? Its on-site restaurant, the Cliff House, whips up a delicious countrified menu. Rooms from $350. —Brady Langmann

One&Only Moonlight Basin

Big Sky, Montana

The resort company One&Only’s map finally has a pin in the U.S. In the Montana mountains, it’s pulled off something much harder than it appears: mixing wilderness, recreation, cuisine, and what we’ll call “the finer things.” You can go straight from the ski trail to the gondola to the Landing for Alpine-inspired dining with truly marvelous views … then begin a run back down. Every room, suite, freestanding cabin, and home for purchase exudes the same seamless integration of lifestyle and luxury. The suites all have fireplaces; the cabins add hot tubs. And Big Sky is for more than skiing: Stargaze by night, take a trip to Yellowstone by day, or fly-fish and clay-shoot in the warmer months. Whoever said going to Montana had to mean roughing it? Rooms from $1,100. —K.J.

Modern reception area with natural lighting and cozy seating.

Hotel Willa

Taos, New Mexico

The seasons come on strong in Taos, tucked into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. Snow-covered cottonwoods sway gently in the winter; yarrow and columbines paint the high desert pink, blue, and yellow in the spring. So too does the town, a longtime artist’s colony, turn itself new again and again. To wit: The old Indian Hills Inn, a real shithole, has been reborn as the Hotel Willa, a deeply soulful fifty-one-room property that doesn’t sit on the land so much as provide a luxurious portal into it. Whether it’s the terra-cotta-walled rooms that smell gently of piñon or the heirloom corn from nearby Rancho La Villita at Juliette, the restaurant by the wildly talented chefs Noah Pettus and Johnny Ortiz-Concha, or the relaxing poolside shade of an utterly magnificent willow tree, Hotel Willa is of the land. And this is land that, as the license plate says, is enchanting. Rooms from $255. —J.D.S.

Stylish bar area featuring a decorative ceiling and extensive liquor display.

Faena

New York, New York

Faena shelters you from the city’s chaos, but it’s New York through and through. To the west, views of the Hudson River Greenway and Little Island. To the east, you can high-five people on the High Line from the terrace of the Living Room bar. The most N.Y.C. touch? The staff’s suits are nicer than yours. Rooms from $1,395. —Dave Holmes

Elegant corridor with chandeliers and plants

Waldorf Astoria

New York, New York

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On the hotel’s website, it says that “to tell the story of New York is, in some sense, to tell the story of the Waldorf Astoria.” For once, the marketing is correct. Like Manhattan, the hotel’s story is a tale of outsize real estate ambitions. A global standard for hospitality ever since the combination of the Waldorf Hotel and the Astoria Hotel in 1897, the property became the prize in the most expensive hotel sale ever in 2014. Three years later, the new owners closed it for renovations. The project cost $2 billion and took eight years, during which time the property was traded again. The wait was worth it. From the rooms to the restaurants (there are three) to the sprawling lobby, where Cole Porter’s piano anchors the room, to the Guerlain Wellness Spa, the hotel outright dazzles. It’s the talk of Manhattan. And word is it’s already back up for sale. Rooms from $1,295. —Madison Vain

Indoor swimming pool area with greenery and a bar.

Cascada

Portland, Oregon

Plenty of hotels have spas. The Cascada, in Portland’s Alberta Arts District, presents you with a vast underground chamber where you can treat yourself to a wellness bender of steaming, schvitzing, shivering, and soaking in an array of hot rooms, whirling thermal pools, and the de rigueur cold plunge. It’s like the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of flushing out toxins. Add in the hotel’s overarching commitment to sustainability, as well as a bright and fresh Portuguese-Japanese fusion menu from chefs Megan Sky and Jules Boyd at Terra Mae, and you’ve got a place that can make you feel immeasurably better, overnight. Rooms from $450. —J.G.

Cozy lounge with chess and art in a bookshelf setting

Hotel Daphne from Bunkhouse

Houston, Texas

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When it was founded in 1886, Houston Heights was meant as a utopian community at a remove from the mosquito-infested downtown, a suburb on a hill. Now the Heights is in the center of Houston, culturally and physically. Virtually all of H-town’s best restaurants are here. Ditto boutiques, bars, and now, with the opening of the forty-six-room Hotel Daphne, one of its best hotels. Daphne, like the Heights, balances luxury and soul. The building is new, but the oaks around it are old. The furniture is trippy and upholstered, arts and crafts meets botanic psychedelia. The all-day restaurant, Hypsi, has a mozzarella cart with stracciatella and caviar. It’s as close to utopia as you’re going to get. Rooms from $359. —J.D.S.

Resort with a swimming pool, spa, and mountain backdrop.

Black Desert Resort

Greater Zion, Utah

Nestled in southwest Utah, not far from Zion National Park, lies a golfer’s paradise: Black Desert Resort. The ultramodern getaway more than lives up to its name. Yes, that’s onyx in the lobby. And the spa. And your room. Outside the window, though? That’s a lava field surrounding the links, one whose rugged imperfection only heightens the luxury of all that other chic, black rock. Teeing off against a backdrop of picturesque mountains—their geology a vivid red that pops against the black—is just the start of a perfect day. Enjoy a world-class massage in the afternoon, then end the night at one of several killer dining options. The sports bar 20th Hole serves up succulent hot wings and VR golf simulators. Or you could go to the high-end Basalt, eat one of the best steaks you’ll ever have, and follow a trail of shimmering, striated stone all the way back to your room. Rooms from $400. —Eric Francisco

Bed surrounded by lush greenery and illuminated by light fixtures.

Hotel SonoLux

Montreal, Canada

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For most of modern hotelry, hotel art has been a malediction: anodyne abstracts, watercolors of trees, photographs of skylines easily forgotten. The new thirty-six-room Hotel SonoLux brings razor-sharp, extremely immersive art to Old Montreal. Each of the eight floors contains a rotating exhibition of video art, including works that touch upon Canada’s horrific residential schools (“Savage,” by Lisa Jackson) and a music video of corn, beans, and squash rapping. Thankfully, each of the rooms is a peaceful respite: minimalist cocoons with king-size beds and all conveniences. The restaurant Lumi is more Noma than Joe Beef—the chef Graham Hood is an alum of Alinea—and Subterra, the downstairs vinyl lounge, located in the vault of the old bank, is already the hottest club in Montreal. Rooms from $375. —J.D.S.

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James McDonald

Templeton Garden

London, England

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It’s late afternoon on a midsummer day in London. Seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit. Blue skies. Instead of braving the tourists in Leicester Square or Notting Hill, you’re enjoying an ice-cold martini on the terrace at Miiro Templeton Garden, which sits on a quiet residential street in Earl’s Court, a million miles from the selfie takers. The veranda looks out over an expanse of lawn—the garden—where other guests are sipping cocktails and tea. The garden is framed by houses and apartment buildings. A cat strolls past the chairs. It’s perfect. You order a second martini because the only thing on your schedule is dinner at Pippin’s, the excellent restaurant about twenty-five paces from where you sit, then a nightcap at Sprout, the bar that’s thirty paces away, before you head off to bed to dream of doing it all over again tomorrow. Rooms from $300. —M.S.

Cozy interior of a modern lounge with unique lighting.

The Newman

London, England

When one imagines central London, the mellow, modish streets of Fitzrovia are seldom the first to mind. It’s a Londoner’s kind of London—central but not the star, under the radar but not unknown. From this paradox arises the Newman, a worthy ambassador for its neighborhood—sophisticated, welcoming, only a tad mischievous. Anyone can drop in to see it for themselves: all-day dining at the Brasserie Angelica, drinks at the downstairs Gambit Bar, and even treatment at the full-service spa are open to the public. Only the gym is reserved for hotel guests, as well as the rooms, of course—all of which, ranging from charming studios to spacious suites, are exquisitely detailed and thoroughly modern. At once walking distance from Fitzroy Square and the British Museum and boxed between Regent’s Park and Soho, the Newman is both the ideal escape hatch from the bustle and the optimal launchpad for the seasoned insider or aspiring gadabout. Rooms from £695. —Mark Burger

Historic building with ornate architecture and multiple flags.

Jonathan Maloney / Inga Beckmann

Corinthia

Brussels, Belgium

When an institution like Corinthia takes over a former royal palace in one of Europe’s oldest cities, expectations are understandably high. Housed in the iconic former Rue Royale building, this storied property has long been a landmark in Brussels. The historic halls have been given new life without sacrificing an ounce of their original grandeur. The renovation was meticulous in its respect for heritage, and many of the grand rooms retain their original paint colors, a considered detail that speaks volumes about Corinthia’s commitment to authenticity. Across its 126 rooms and suites, the sense of occasion never wavers—every space makes you feel like genuine royalty. Downstairs, Michelin-star chef David Martin presides over the Palais Royal restaurant, where Belgian and French cuisine reaches its finest expression. And when it’s time to unwind, the twelve-hundred-square-meter marble spa—complete with relaxing hot tubs—offers an unlikely but entirely convincing sanctuary in the heart of a bustling capital city. Rooms from €690. —K.J.

Modern living space featuring bookshelves and comfortable seating.

Experimental Marais

Paris, France

Le Marais is Paris’s trendiest district. You’ll wish your home were as well-appointed as the rooms, down to the literature in the bathroom. And don’t miss the American Bar. Sure, the Europeans are down on the Yanks, but polishing off a lobster roll and steak with a martini will always be on trend. Rooms from $545. —K.J.

Rooftop lounge area with seating, drinks, and a view of the Eiffel Tower.

Romain Ricard

La Fondation

Paris, France

New York designers Roman and Williams are known for a certain woodsy Americana. But their first hotel in Paris, La Fondation, draws more from Japanese minimalism and French modernism than it does Walden’s woods. Located in the seventeenth arrondissement, a quiet upscale quartier, the fifty-eight-room hotel is part of a larger complex that includes office space, a hanging garden, and an auditorium. There is, therefore, always a buzz of cosmopolitan activity. But the color-blocked rooms are like living in a Zenned-up Mondrian painting, and the two restaurants—a ground-level brasserie and an elevated bistronomique restaurant—are calmly indulgent. Meanwhile, a massive gym in the basement with a semi-Olympic-size pool, a climbing wall, and three fitness studios offers a perfect place to burn off all the calories of croissants and steak frites. Rooms from $490. —J.D.S.

Cozy outdoor dining area overlooking the ocean at dusk.

Terre di Sacra

Capalbio, Italy

The wild coast of Maremma is best known for its Maremmana cattle and Il Pellicano, the famously elegant hotel captured by Slim Aarons. In Terre di Sacra, a twenty-five-hundred-acre nature preserve with seven miles of private wild beach and the first World Wildlife Federation refuge in Italy, there’s now a more Thoreauvian retreat, a place where one might see flamingos resting their wings on their journey from North Africa as the setting sun turns a medieval tower orange. Scattered across the property are twenty-nine private homes and forty glamping tents, but for me the twenty-four eco-lodges—think Amagansett, not East Hampton—are the perfect mix of rustic and luxe. Rooms from $230. —J.D.S.

Outdoor bar area with seating and plants

The Hoxton

Florence, Italy

Just outside the Piazza della Libertà, nestled away on the cobblestone streets of northern Florence, the Hoxton strikes a seamless balance between modern and historic. In the corner of the lobby, the café serves Scandinavian pastries most days; the Alassio restaurant, under a fresco from 1611, offers traditional Florentine cuisine. Naturally, there’s also a wine bar, Enotecca Violetta. The place gets lively at night, but come down from the pastels of your postmodern suite at 9:00 a.m. and the private Renaissance-inspired courtyard, lush with greenery, is all yours. Rooms from $205. —Bryn Gelbart

Lively indoor seating area surrounded by greenery.

W Hotel

W

Florence, Italy

Florence, a beautiful city, does old well. New? Not so much. Contemporary Italian design can often lean cheeky or, worse, cheesy. But the new W Hotel, housed in a restored rationalist building from the mid-sixties, is neither. Steps away from Piazza Santa Maria Novella, it’s a chic respite from the churches and chapels, not to mention the tourist hordes. A vast lobby mural of exotic beasts is an homage to the menagerie of the Medici family. The 119 rooms channel the Renaissance but make it new again. A neon arch above every bed nods to the Vassari corridor. Otherwise, the touches are light: marble accents, modernist chairs. The restaurant, Tratto, is a modern trattoria. (Try the swordfish spiedini with ’nduja mayo.) And in a city where the view of the Duomo is the coin of the realm, the Zefiro Rooftop is worth untold florins, plus inflation. Rooms from $507. —J.D.S.

Rooftop pool area with plants and seating

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Hotel Calimala

Milan, Italy

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When you’re on a Eurotrip with little time in lots of places, you need a reliable hotel that’s squarely in the middle of the action. That’s Hotel Calimala. It’s about a thirty-minute walk from Piazza del Duomo, but even closer is the handmade pasta of your dreams (PLIN Pastificio con Cucina), a pizza window that will blow your mind (Crosta Lab), and a cocktail joint that will destroy what’s left of it (Nottingham Forest). And when you tuck inside for the night, Hotel Calimala’s breathtaking rooftop is right upstairs, just waiting for you. Rooms from $305. —B.L.

Relaxing interior space featuring a pool and seating area.

Vista Ostuni

Puglia, Italy

We don’t make this kind of declaration lightly: This is the coastal Italian getaway you’ve been waiting for. The colossal property has the works: spa, rooftop pool, world-class staff, breakfast with endless pastries, architectural feats in every room. Then there’s the White City, a town that is so historic that Neanderthals lived there fifty thousand years ago. Lose yourself in all of it—mom-and-pop shops, sunny outdoor bars, tiny art museums, a sports dive if you look hard enough—but save room for dinner. You’re eating at Vista Ostuni’s Bianca Bistrot, whose southern-Italian menu is in beautiful lockstep with the local harvest. Then: a nightcap at Chiostro Bar. Then: sleep, wake up, and do it all again. Rooms from $1,180. —B.L.

Outdoor lounge area with sun loungers and umbrellas overlooking a city view.

Mett

Barcelona, Spain

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Set on the city’s highest hill, Mett Barcelona marks the stylish rebirth of the former Gran Hotel La Florida, a 1925 Noucentista landmark with a storied guest list that includes Ernest Hemingway and modern-day power players alike. Recently reopened after a full renovation, the seventy-room hotel blends classic architecture with a contemporary, lifestyle-driven approach. Rooms are calm and understated, dressed in Mediterranean tones, with many offering terraces, plunge pools, or sweeping sea-to-city views. Public spaces bring the energy: an infinity pool hovering above Barcelona, a lively Pool Club, and a design-forward lobby lounge created in collaboration with Lladró. Dining ranges from refined Mediterranean fare at Albarada to elevated tapas at 1925 Vermutería, while the Valmont Red Carpet Spa adds a polished wellness component. Equal parts destination hotel and urban resort, Mett Barcelona brings fresh momentum to one of the city’s most iconic addresses. Rooms from $286. —Jordi Lippe-McGraw

A modern hotel with an infinity pool and lounge

Pol Viladoms

SLS

Barcelona, Spain

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Barcelona’s relaxed yet invigorating vibe, perfected. Consider: After lounging at one (or more) of the four different pools on site, you can head over to Kyara, a totally unique scent-forward bar and lounge staffed by mixologists who use your sense of smell to create a drink to suit your taste. Relaxed. Invigorated. It’s that kind of place. The property is just outside the bustling center of Barcelona but also conveniently located right near where the Primavera Sound music festival is held. You can be among the commotion, but it’s also your private oasis. Rooms from $350. —Sirena He

The Palace Hotel

Madrid, Spain

I wish I could just tell you to do the Palace’s weekly Opera & Brunch and send you on your way, but there’s so much more to this stunning historical restoration. The sprawling property, located in the heart of Madrid, welcomes you with such a striking stained-glass ceiling that you won’t even need to go to the actual Royal Palace to witness that level of craftsmanship. Every inch of the space is loaded with history; the hotel has seen far too many legends to count over the past century. Picasso and Hemingway famously swung through, something the bartenders at the Palace’s cozy 27 Club—a cocktail bar that serves an otherworldly whiskey sour—will happily remind you of. Did I say to do the Opera & Brunch? Do the Opera & Brunch. Rooms from $525. —B.L.

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View from a window showcasing a pool, greenery, and the ocean.

Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

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At Cabo’s Waldorf Astoria, which underwent a massive renovation in the summer of 2025, beauty is—as it should be—a multisensory experience. Take in the room decor made exclusively for the hotel by Mexican artists: vibrant paintings, dark wood doors, and metal turtle-shell sculptures above every bed. Breathe in the refreshing floral scent of every room in the spa, which delivers serenity in just one long, deep breath. You won’t soon forget a simple lunch of ceviche or tacos at Crudo, the swim-up bar, let alone an extravagant five-course ocean-to-table meal with curated wine pairings at El Farallon or Don Manuel’s. And of course an arresting tableau of glistening ocean and sculptural rock formations circumscribe the property. But the most beautiful thing about this hotel is how the staff members treat every guest. They greet you by name, without fail. On twice-daily housekeeping visits to your room, they will roll up your phone chargers, place your razor on a folded-up washcloth, and put a Waldorf Astoria bookmark in the book you left open on your bed. Then there’s the 4:00 p.m. chips and guacamole (and Coronas). Just, magically, there they are in your room. That, friends, is a beautiful thing. Rooms from $1,100. —Bellamy Richardson

Rosewood Mandarina

Nayarit, Mexico

An hour north of Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s west coast, a new luxury outpost from high-end hotelier Rosewood makes its home along the edge of one of the country’s last remaining beachfront jungles. The collision of bright white sand, verdant palms, and lush, mountainous rain forest is a sight—one you can now take in from new, über-elegant accommodations. Mandarina, the master-planned development on which the hotel sits, has plenty of delights: stunning polo fields, trails for hiking and bikes, an Arnold Palmer golf course, tennis, and more. Make time for all of it or settle into a lounge chair and don’t move a muscle. We won’t tell. Rooms from $1,200. —M.V.

Luxury resort with multiple swimming pools and beachfront.

Waldorf Astoria

Punta Cacique, Costa Rica

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The Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica has, objectively, some of the earth’s most incredible coastline: gorgeous weather, steep green hills that drop right into the water, incredible surf, and world-class sport-fishing habitats. With that much in the way of natural bounty at hand, the best hotels keep it simple. Good access to paradise, good food, and a nice spa, basically. The Waldorf Astoria does that better than anybody. Every room has an ocean view, and the entire property funnels down to the beach. The food and drink program is worthy of real attention, as it explores Indigenous food, spirits, and coffee rooted in the region’s rich culture and biodiversity. And for the days when you’re excursioned out or overdid it on the rum, there’s always a spot by the pool. Or, rather, pools: You could park yourself by a different one each day of the week and still not see them all. Rooms from $1,200. —L.G.

Balcony view overlooking a tropical landscape with seating.

The St. Regis

Cap Cana, Dominican Republic

Flying to the Dominican Republic for the sole purpose of drinking a local spin on the Bloody Mary may sound a little crazy—and it is. You should not book a stay at the St. Regis Cap Cana for this reason alone. You should do it because the space is stunning, with semi-open corridors letting the sea breeze in before giving way to big, opulently outfitted rooms that (on the ground floor) open onto private patios with walk-in pools. Because Nina, the standout of the on-site restaurants, serves a fantastic skirt steak alongside an almost overindulgent plate of triple-fried pommes Pont-Neuf. Because the private beach is a prime spot to scour tide pools with your kids before decamping to the pool—no rocky seabed underfoot and no waves intimidating little ones—to swim or dangle your legs in the water. And then, after you’ve watched someone saber a bottle of Champagne at a rooftop sabrage ceremony and visited the spa to get a massage, you should go to the St. Regis Bar. You should order a Quisqueya Mary, made with local rum. (The St. Regis in New York, by the way, is the home of the original Bloody Mary, and each new location gets its own version.) After that, you should sit back, listen to the waves and the birds and the wind, and, if you’re anything like us, think to yourself, Damn. This might just be the best drink I’ve ever had. Rooms from $499. —Jonathan Evans

Lounge area with modern furniture overlooking a beach.

Four Seasons Resort

Río Grande, Puerto Rico

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Puerto Rico, in a nutshell: In one direction, the beach; in the other, El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. Choose your own adventure. Think it over in the lobby, with live salsa and a meal made with produce from local farmers. A true celebration of the island. Rooms from $1,625. —Alfonso Fernández Navas

Sign displaying the regions of Middle East, Africa, and Asia

Justin Nicholas

Mondrian

Gold Coast, Australia

Set just back from the beach in Burleigh Heads, ocean stretching endlessly below, this design-forward newcomer spans sculptural twin towers and leans fully into open-air living. The 208 studios, suites, and beach houses are built for lingering, some with generous terraces, private plunge pools, and views that are genuinely jaw-dropping. If you can bring yourself to leave your room, there’s a different energy downstairs, between Haven’s seafood-driven menus, Italian plates and cocktails at Lito, and a Euro-style pool club made for long afternoons. This Aussie property captures Burleigh’s laid-back rhythm … then elevates it. Rooms from $325. —J.L.

Modern beachfront living room with panoramic ocean views.

Regent Bali Canggu

Bali, Indonesia

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It can take a long time to get to Bali, but Regent makes it worth it. White Lotus vibes—calm, warm, unmistakably luxurious. The sunset view from our ocean-side villa looked like a screen saver. Hospitality is where the hotel truly shines: refined but never stiff, never getting in the way, so intuitive you feel truly cared for. After a twenty-three-hour flight from New York City, we needed that. And the local culture. And the exceptional food. And the constant rhythm of the sea. Bali is paradise, and okay, fine, it’s worth it all on its own. But the Regent sure doesn’t hurt. Rooms from $800. —Mike Kim

Upscale restaurant with a view overlooking a cityscape.

Waldorf Astoria Osaka

Waldorf Astoria

Osaka, Japan

The first Waldorf Astoria in Japan is cleverly located just over two bullet-train hours west of the bustling capital city of Tokyo, in the comparatively chill “kitchen of Japan,” Osaka. It hovers serenely over the city’s up-and-coming Grand Green Osaka district of boutiques and restaurants. (Think “Japanese Hudson Yards,” except interesting.) The views from the three-story windows of the hotel’s central restaurant and bar, Peacock Alley, take your breath away. Just off Peacock Alley, speakeasy Canes & Tales makes literary-themed cocktails, restaurant Tsukimi offers high-end teppanyaki and omakase, and brasserie Jolie serves the solid breakfast you’re going to need, because eventually you’ll have to stop hovering and start exploring. Vintage vinyl shopping, great menswear, and Osaka Castle are all a fifteen-minute subway ride away via Osaka Station just below the hotel. It’s hard to pull yourself away, though: As is the chain’s calling card, the service is attentive and helpful without being overbearing. We stayed there for three days in December, and there are staff members we miss. Rooms from $748. —D.H.

Indoor swimming pool area with large windows and a city view.

Park Hyatt

Tokyo, Japan

After a nearly two-year renovation, the iconic skyscraper hotel from Lost in Translation has reopened with all its drama intact. You enter through the Peak Lounge and Bar on the forty-first floor, with its indoor bamboo garden and glass atrium showing off panoramic views of the city. Rooms are minimalist but comfortable, in the Park Hyatt’s signature sagy green, some just casually giving you views of Mount Fuji. Tokyo is vast and dense and bustling, certainly unknowable to any single individual, but when you’re in the jazz bar of the Park Hyatt’s New York Grill, you are positive you’re in the coolest room in the city. Rooms from $1,800. —D.H.

Rural landscape featuring dome-shaped structures amidst greenery.

andBeyond Suyian Lodge

Laikipia County, Kenya

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Private villas on an outcrop overlooking an untamed valley provide unmatched views: Zebras parade through tall grass, hippos snooze by the river, elephants and giraffes lumber between trees. There are twice-daily game drives through the forty-four-thousand-acre Suyian conservancy, and if that’s not enough, the lodge offers safaris on horseback, guided nature walks, and surprise delights like coffee beneath acacias and cocktail hour on the savanna. Over a post-dinner drink, you’ll recount the day’s sightings on one of the main lodge’s many decks, conjuring leopards and lions as the silhouette of Mount Kenya fades from crimson to inky blue to starlit black. Rooms from $1,500. —Mark Burger

Luxury outdoor seating area with a view of the night sky.

Mahali Mzuri

Narok County, Kenya