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A 10-minute walk from downtown Scottsdale, the Hotel Valley Ho, its name most likely inspired by the long-ago repurposed Westward Ho (once the area’s premier hotel), has the kind of riches-to-rags-to-riches story that makes the crowd hanging around the pool on weekends not just hip but part of history. Opened in 1956, it featured a futuristic design of red-tinted concrete, stone, and glass—and a well-connected owner—that quickly made it a magnet for movie stars like Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood, who held their wedding reception here. But as the Hollywood crowd knows best, fame wanes, and the hotel eventually reached such a low point that it was nearly torn down. It was saved due to its historic significance, and after a massive renovation that preserved many original elements, it re-emerged in 2006 not only with its trendy reputation revived, but also as one of the country’s best examples of mid-century hotel architecture. (The seven-story tower block was part of the original design but not built until the renovation.) Guest rooms are bright with colors that wouldn’t be out of place on South Beach. And the pool is still the place to be.

It is not unusual to find an Arizona resort that looks like a water park with rooms attached, and this big Scottsdale luxury property certainly fits the description: 10 pools, 20 fountains, 45 waterfalls, and a three-story, high-speed waterslide. But what makes the Hyatt Regency unique is that guests can glide along its desert waterways aboard authentic Italian gondolas while being serenaded by professional gondoliers, who are classically trained singers. Beyond the water’s edge, there are the expected activities, such as the 27 holes of golf at the Gainey Ranch Golf Club, open only to club members and resort guests. And there are the unexpected, such as the Native American Learning Center, created to give guests insight into native Southwest culture through art, food, entertainment, and personal interaction with some of the resort’s staff. For hikers, the 24-hour Canyon Market serves up not only performance foods and gear, but also directions to the best trails.

You’d never know that this pueblo-luxe hotel was once the town penitentiary. It’s a credit to Rosewood Hotels & Resorts that the hotel group chose to renovate the existing structure rather than level it and start from scratch. And, if the rooms are on the smaller side, no one seems to mind, especially after the just-completed renovation by Jim Rimelspach, who originally designed the property when it opened nearly 25 years ago. Named after the lost tribe of the Anasazi, ancestors of the Pueblo, the hotel tastefully pays tribute to the Southwest. Adobe walls, kiva-style fireplaces, handwoven carpets, and throw pillows made from Pendleton blankets pair seamlessly with Italian linens by Rivolta Carmignani and toiletries by New York’s C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries. There’s also plenty of Native American art, including Arlo Namingha’s bronze sculpture Hano Mana and Ken Rosenthal’s silver gelatin print Seen and Not Seen, throughout the three-story hotel. The result: A vibe that is modern and sophisticated while still maintaining a sense of place.

Bear Mountain Lodge has had many lives since it was first built in 1928. Back then, it was a school for unruly boys from the East Coast; later it became a country club and hotel for the well-heeled; and before artist-turned-innkeeper Linda Brewer bought the property five years ago and turned it into a 10-room lodge, it was owned by the Nature Conservancy. It’s fitting, then, that nature is the main attraction at the lodge, which sits on 178 acres and has horses, cows, and chickens, plus birds and butterflies and a pond that’s home to the endangered Chiricahua Leopard Frog. The Gila National Forest—at 2.7 million acres, the largest wilderness area in the Southwest—is the lodge’s back yard. If you find yourself missing civilization, Silver City is just over three miles away, but escape is really the point here. And while there is Wi-Fi, there aren’t any televisions.

This landmark inn has been around since 1936, when it was known as the Hotel Martin—and the adobe homes that comprise the property date back even earlier. Originally built in the 1800s, the structures are clustered around a central plaza that, today, serves as the hotel lobby. The largest residence is now the restaurant Doc Martin’s, named after its onetime owner, Dr. Thomas Paul Martin, the county physician as well as an avid supporter of the arts. In fact, the Taos Society of Artists was founded in his dining room in 1912, and he later bought the neighboring houses to rent out to writers and artists. When the only hotel in town burned to the ground, Doc bought the Tartleton House (the last on the square and now home to the Adobe Bar) and he and his wife Helen opened for business. The property has been maintained and upgraded over the years (most recently in 2006), but the look (Spanish colonial antiques and brightly patterned bedspreads) hasn’t changed much since then—and that’s part of the charm.

Combining the service of the Four Seasons, which took over the property in 2012, with a Santa Fe vibe—albeit a contemporary take on Southwestern style—this hotel manages to feel luxurious without sacrificing authenticity. Its location, about 10 miles outside Santa Fe, also gives guests a true taste of the high desert—plus views of the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Rio Grande River valley—while still granting easy access to downtown (via a complimentary shuttle, if you so desire). The Four Seasons invested over $1.1 million in landscaping improvements, the Monte Vista Terrace, and other additional offerings like the Adventure Center and Chef’s Table. Originally a privately owned ranch, the property dates back to the early 1900s. Previous owners include Guestward Ho! authors Barbara and Bill Hooton (then, the estate was known as Rancho del Monte) and, between 1968 and 1992, Betty Egan, who gave the property its current name (a reflection of Santa Fe’s tagline: The Land of Enchantment). John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart are just two of its legendary guests.

John Gaw Meem is considered one of New Mexico’s most influential architects—and that fact alone makes this ranch, designed in 1932 by the so-called Father of Santa Fe style, worth a visit. But Meem isn’t the only big name associated with the property: Landscape architect Rose Greeley designed the gardens and artist Peter Hurd painted a mural on the property. The hotel is set on 25 acres of lavender fields, first planted in 1999 and now used for a line of in-house spa products. There are organic gardens, too, which provide the kitchen with Chimayo chilies, casaba melons, big cheese squash, and other seasonal produce. The look here tends toward clean lines, neutral hues, and quiet elegance over fussiness, though the historic rooms tend to have a bit more New Mexico flair—kiva fireplaces, exposed ceiling beams, local art—than the newer farm rooms. The latter are located in 1930s-style dairy buildings, carefully constructed to feel both of the era and of the place.

While many area hotels offer a subtle interpretation of Southwestern design (adobe walls, kiva fireplaces, local art), there’s nothing understated about the Inn at the Five Graces. The inn is a showcase for designers Ira and Sylvia Seret’s far-flung finds: Navajo bedspreads, Uzbek and Pakistani rugs and tapestries, iron and woodwork from Mexico, Peru, and India. It’s the epitome of East-meets-West. First opened in 1996 as Serets’ 1001 Nights, the hotel is located on one of the country’s oldest inhabited streets and is comprised of 17th- and 18th-century adobe buildings connected by a maze of courtyards. In 2002, the inn was renamed to reflect Afghan and Tibetan artifacts in its collection and the eastern idea of the five graces (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste). In 2009, it became a Relais & Chateau property.

As the camp’s name indicates, the main reason to stay here is to catch the Great Migration, the annual movement of more than one million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebra and gazelle making an 1,800-mile circuit through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Serengeti National Park, and into the Maasai Mara in Kenya. At the camp, large, tented chalets on stilts have wraparound decks with a 360-degree view of the landscape and its denizens. The lodgings blend into the surroundings on the bank of one of the great migration obstacles: the Grumeti River, with its many crocodiles, hippos, and boulders. Herds pass through the vicinity from August through November, and the Elewana’s northern Serengeti location miles from the main concentration of game lodges gives it a sense of privacy rarely achieved in the far more visited western and southern park corridors. One further advantage: The camp is within driving distance of the other great wildebeest crossing point, the Mara River, on the border region between the Serengeti and Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Park. The atmosphere at the lodge is cheerful and relaxed, and the huge tented suites, which are divided by canvas walls into bedroom and bathing areas, have comfortable queen or twin beds, wood floors, colonial-style leather chairs, African textile accents, and, unlike most mobile migration safaris, hot water and electricity 24/7.

Accessible only by boat, and with a daily rhythm determined by the tides, this beach resort co-founded by Scottish fashion and costume designer Ellis Flyte sits on the southwest part of Pemba Island, a 30-minute flight from Unguja, the main, more touristy island of the Zanzibar archipelago. The 18 thatched-roofed, canvas-walled rooms and suites are set directly on the white-sand beach, shaded by the surrounding mangrove forest, or perched on the hillside above, providing panoramic Indian Ocean views. A wooden jetty extends over a long, shallow drop-off, enabling guests to swim in front of the hotel at low tide. But the best beaches and snorkeling are 15 minutes away by speedboat off Misali Island, a conservation zone with more than 300 fish species, giant sponges, sea fans, and fields of old-growth cabbage corals. More sites reachable by boat offer a variety of reefs and drop-offs for experienced divers. Other activities include sunset dhow cruises, kayak trips through the mangroves to the ruins of an Omani fort, windsurfing, water skiing, wake- and knee-boarding, dolphin watching, and deep sea fishing. The resort’s informal vibe encourages guests to go barefoot even at the dinner table, but bring wading shoes to protect your feet against sharp coral and sea urchins.

The Spanish Meliá hotel chain took over management of this 40-acre, all-inclusive beach resort in Zanzibar from Kempinski in 2011. Airy, two-story blocks have rooms with huge baths and beach or garden views, and villas come with their own pools. Sheltered by a fringing reef on the northeastern coast of Unguja, Zanzibar’s main island, the resort’s calm white-sand beach has a long, shallow drop-off that makes swimming (as opposed to wading) impossible at low tide. However, the long jetty immediately in front of the hotel means swimming and snorkeling are always possible near the rooms: Golf carts departing every 20 minutes transport guests to the best all-day swimming area a kilometer from the hotel outbuildings. Here, the Gabi Beach Club offers Balinese-style loungers and a restaurant grill. Souvenir hawkers sometimes walk along the public-access tide line, but discreet security staff prevent unwanted solicitation.

Owned by the world-renowned art collector Dakis Joannou and smartly decorated by quirky Brazilian designers the Campana brothers, the New Hotel is the city’s coolest upscale design-centric property, with 79 rooms (including seven suites) and an intimate restaurant. Although centrally located, just a five-minute walk to Syntagma Square, it’s tucked back in a modernist building on a side street so it feels hidden and discreet. The interiors are both playful and smart; the Campanas created much of it with items recycled from the previous hotel. Imagine puzzlelike walls and chairs constructed of layered, repurposed wood intermingled with sculptural chairs of their own design. In the rooms, they had fun riffing on Greek cultural objects, like the Karagiozis, a shadow puppet, and multiple versions of the glass “evil eyes” used to protect against ill omen. Bottom line: stylish contemporary design, excellent location, and friendly service.

This top-of-the-line property of the San Vicente Hotel Group (which owns the nearby San Vicente and Hostal Villamil), is a three-level, all-white hotel that feels almost like a beach villa. It’s actually just a couple of blocks from Puerto Villamil’s two-mile-long stretch of municipal sand, and most of the surrounding sandy streets are filled with palm trees. The facilities here provide enough so that guests’ only real concern will be getting to other parts of the island. The restaurant stays open all day with a varied menu and drinks list. There are flat-screen TVs in the rooms and free Wi-Fi in common areas. Shaded by a few umbrellas and a cane canopy over the Jacuzzi, the rooftop terrace is the favorite hangout for most guests at this small hotel. In every direction comes another jaw-dropping view, such as the Pacific Ocean, the Sierra Negra Volcano, the highlands, or a saltwater lagoon filled with flamingos.

Sitting at the entrance to a secluded red-rock canyon eight miles outside Sedona, Enchantment Resort may be the Southwest’s most visually stunning accommodation. And while the indigenous people who originally inhabited the canyon had more elevated views—their cliffside dwellings are visible to anyone who can tilt their head far enough back—it’s doubtful that even they appreciated the scenery more than travelers arriving from worlds of gray skies and cacophonous congestion. There are numerous guest rooms and configurations, all done in a pueblo style and red-rock hue that blends so well with the surrounding canyon that guests who’ve given into the lunchtime temptation of a second prickly pear margarita at Tii Gavo would do well to carry a resort map (which is handy anyway for the many surrounding hiking options).

Put on your comfortable shoes and head to the many trails of Cayman Brac to see wildlife, as well as scenic and geological sights. There is a path for all skill sets. Listen to the mating calls of the parrots flying above at the National Trust Parrot Reserve Hiking Loop, or descend carefully into Peter’s Cave and move through the various layers to discover a truly breathtaking natural wonder. Most hotels have a brochure of all the hiking trails; this includes images, difficulty, and a brief description of each trail.