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After years of development, San Antonio’s revived Pearl Brewery district is now a hotbed of activity, with an array of restaurants, shops, and residential buildings, plus an outpost of the Culinary Institute of America housed in a former 19th-century brewery. At its core is the 146-room Hotel Emma, set in the complex’s former brew house, and named for the wife of the original brewer. Envisioned by noted design firm Roman and Williams, the décor melds salvaged items with lots of rich woods, buttery leathers, and handwoven textiles, resulting in spaces that are warm and cushy. Adding to that cozy feel are higher-level rooms that feature claw-foot tubs or fireplaces, a bi-level library stocked with over 3,700 tomes, and the clubby Sternewirth Bar, which serves potent cocktails in an old fermentation silo. Food is also a focus here—in addition to Chef John Brand’s Supper, serving farm-fresh New American fare, and Larder, a café and gourmet market set in the former fermentation cellars, the hotel offers a Culinary Concierge to help connect guests to the best of San Antonio’s booming food scene.

Like many Hudson Valley inns, Wm Farmer & Sons owes its existence to a young New York couple who decided to quit city life in favor of greener pastures. In this case, it was Kristan and William Kirby Farmer who moved to Hudson and transformed a 19th-century structure into a 13-room inn. Spread across two main buildings, rooms feature a mix of dark grays, browns, autumnal oranges, farmhouse reds, and the occasional plaid pattern on the chairs and sofas. A few annexed suites off to the side also include full kitchens with sleek appliances like ovens and stoves. The on-site restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday and offers a constantly changing menu of meat and seafood dishes, plus a daily happy hour with seasonal cocktails.

This two-level Cantonese palace—connected by an escalator—is lined with tanks of live fish, crustaceans, and bivalves, which the staff will stir-fry, steam, salt-and-pepper, and douse in XO sauce to your heart’s delight. There are many reasons the Chinatown establishment is beloved among in-the-know locals and hospitality veterans, and they extend from the warm, welcoming service all the way through the exquisite live abalone sashimi, mud crab hot pot, and private reserve range of wines. For a Chinese food adventure, arrive late (this place is open until 4 a.m.) and order straight from the live tanks. At least, that’s what the rock stars, politicians, and CBD chefs just getting off work do.

White Elephant has been a Nantucket landmark for nearly a century, with more rooms than a typical inn but without sacrificing the intimacy and personal service of a small property. Located on the waterfront a short walk from Brant Point Light, the inn has a sprawling lawn with chaises for relaxing, as well as shuttle service to the area’s beaches. Accommodations range from king-bedded guest rooms (each with a private balcony or patio) in the main inn building to spacious garden cottages (some with kitchens and fireplaces) and penthouse-like lofts in downtown Nantucket. A small spa offers therapeutic massages, facials, and body treatments. A luxury resort that is truly family-friendly, kids and babies can get fully kitted out for bath time, mealtime, or beach time with a wealth of amenities and toys. The Brant Point Grill is a local favorite for an al fresco lunch, lobster dinner, or Sunday brunch (complete with Bloody Mary bar). The White Elephant also provides regular transfers on the 21-passenger boat, Lady Wauwinet, to the Wauwinet Inn’s restaurant TOPPER’S, which cultivates its own oysters.

Situated in the historic West End—what some consider to be Portland’s prettiest area—this red-brick, Federal-style mansion has housed a Prohibition-era hideout, a boarding school and, for the past two decades, the intimate Danforth Inn. Today, its nine rooms are uniquely furnished with a mix of contemporary European pieces and Asian influences, as well as nearly a million dollars’ worth of modern art.


A small garden blooms with lilacs, fragrant herbs, and edible flowers in the spring and summer, while 13 working fireplaces—there’s one in each room and two in the West End Suite—make for cozy evenings come fall and winter. After a renovation completed in 2015, Tempo Dulu, a 36-seat Southeast Asian restaurant, opened with dishes like grilled lobster with spring onion cake, and dramatic design details such as a live-moss chandelier.


In 2017, the inn expanded on the Asian theme with its Opium bar; decor is meant to evoke a 1920s Shanghai speakeasy, and cocktails include the Danforth Swizzle, a rum-based drink accented with Chinese five spice–infused bitters.

Charleston’s four-block City Market is a historic landmark (one of the oldest in the country, rivaled only by Baltimore’s Lexington Market) and an essential stop for locally made souvenirs and snacks. Pack up your sweetgrass basket (a traditional Gullah handicraft) and check in for the night across the street at the Market Pavilion Hotel. The hotel has all the plush trappings—Italian marble bathrooms, Hermes toiletries, treats at turndown—one could ask for in the French Quarter, topped off by a rooftop bar and pool with enviable views of the harbor and bustling East Bay street. On a particularly hot Southern night, you might cool off with a nitrogen-infused cocktail before sitting down to a steak dinner at Grill 225, which serves only aged, USDA-Prime meat. The hotel is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World and the restaurant is one of a dozen Great Steakhouses of North America.

The 112-room Surfjack Hotel channels 1960’s Hawaii, with vintage upholstery on the headboards, reed ceilings, and midcentury modern furnishings. The onsite Swim Club, with its outdoor pool bar, hosts music events and movie nights. Don’t miss a meal at Mahina & Sun from celebrated Honolulu-born chef Ed Kenney, whose menu showcases island cuisine and ingredients, or a trip to the Olive & Oliver boutique, whose clothing and accessories line are inspired by Hawaiian culture.

Perched 300 feet above the Pacific on 15 verdant acres, Hotel Wailea is a former members’ club that still feels like a hidden enclave of cool. In 2014, new owners invested $15 million in a redesign that left 72 one-bedroom suites with white oak floors, Sub-Zero appliances, and Hawaii-inspired art. Still, it’s the pool that really wins over guests—it’s calm and quiet (thanks to the hotel’s no-kids policy); there are umbrella-shaded loungers and bungalows with fans for when you’ve had too much sun; and the beyond-gracious staff are always at the ready with water, cocktails, kombucha, and coconut water. The hotel lounge offers free wine and appetizers at 5 p.m. on Friday nights, while the farm-to-fork restaurant highlights produce grown in the resort’s own garden. Complimentary on-site activities include yoga, outrigger canoeing, and mixology classes, but guests can take the hotel’s Tesla Model X house vehicles anywhere in Wailea or rent an electric bike and cruise the South Maui coast if they want to get off property.

Bar Raval looks ordinary from the outside, but inside, the sinuous lines of the floor-to-ceiling mahogany woodwork—bar, walls, window frames—instantly bring Gaudí to mind. Created to mimic the spirit of Barcelona’s pintxos bars (in addition to the Catalonian influence of the decor, platters of food are laid out on the bar, as is the Basque pintxos tradition), the space is often packed. In the mornings, patrons sip lattes and enjoy doughnuts finished with a lick of chocolate and spiced hazelnut.

Suddenly, grub that is both Chinese and Jamaican is a thing. Chef Craig Wong, third generation Chinese-Jamaican himself, has taken over a Dundas West space and done quite the number on the local dining scene, turning out a cuisine of his own that manages to encapsulate all that is Toronto. Pick from eats like the Jamaican patty double down — chef’s take on the famed KFC number — and the dirty fried rice with red sausage and peas. For a small group, go with the so-called Whole Shebang and test out Wong’s take on jerk chicken. Dinner can be reserved, but if you’s aiming for brunch, be there when the place opens and tuck into the Hong Kong-style waffles and the luscious maple butter French toast.

Two blocks from Union Square, Hotel Adagio is a stylish retreat from the frenetic energy of downtown San Francisco. Built in 1927, the Spanish colonial revival building has a stunning cream facade with intricately carved arches that surround the entrance and windows. The interior also retains many of its original features, including rope crown molding and the top floor’s hand-painted ceilings. Conference-goers and event attendees will be impressed with the hotel venues’ city views, elaborate woodwork, and high ceilings.

Hotel Adagio is part of the Marriott’s Autograph Collection, and the recently renovated rooms are appropriately named Audition, Act One, Encore, Applause, and Actor’s Studio. The decor uses a contemporary palette that mixes warm burgundy and chocolate hues with lime green and white. Get ready for a night out as you jam to your own music, thanks to each room’s iHome docking station. Then, head down to the hotel bar, the Mortimer, to start the evening with a craft cocktail.

Chiseled from a sandstone-and-brick wool factory on the site of Sydney’s first hospital, the Harbour Rocks Hotel is one of the most historic accommodations in the Rocks—and maybe the most haunted. Hotel staff say part of the building, named Scarlett’s Cottages after a well-known lady of the night, is watched over by Eric, a man who once lived here and who still searches for Scarlett in the labyrinthine corridors after she swore her love to him and then disappeared. Ghosts aside, the hotel’s 59 rooms are peaceful, with high ceilings, Georgian arched windows, brick walls painted dark gray, Old West–style textiles, and wool carpeting that recalls the building’s former life. The place is filled with fun artifacts, too, from the ancient luggage lift to old maps and letters framed on the walls. The early-20th-century history that pervades the building is also found in every direction outside its doors.

Housed in a 19th-century French hospital, the Covent Garden Hotel is the oldest and most historic of Tim and Kit Kemp’s celebrated Firmdale hotels portfolio. Opened in 1996 by the husband-and-wife team, it bears a staid style that reflects its early position in the cannon of hotels, which have since become far more exuberant and quirky. The hotel’s muted, pared-back look will undoubtedly appeal to those who crave discretion. It’s not unusual to spot venerable British actors tucked away in a corner, quietly conducting a meeting. This is, after all, the heart of Theatreland—or London’s West End—where a recognizable clientele comes with the territory. However, the Covent Garden Hotel is by no means the see-and-be-seen spot of its media-magnet sister properties, including Charlotte Street Hotel, The Soho Hotel, and Ham Yard. Instead, go here to sequester yourself with a book in the upstairs drawing room, which, with its crackling stone fireplace and wood-paneled walls, resembles the traditional lounge of an English country house.

Visiting Beyt Design in Cambridge was inspirational. Their award winning social enterprise uses architectural salvage from conflict zones in the Near East destroyed by violence and up cycles them into one of a kind home decor. Tiles from 18th century mansions, reclaimed wrought iron gates, window frames & antique textiles make their way into tables, lamps and shades in this unique shop. In addition, the labor they employ is from diverse, disadvantaged backgrounds. When I visited, I spoke with a woman working on a lampshade, clearly proud of her project and the opportunity the owners had given her. Their mission to ‘Restore the Unseen Beauty of the Broken” resonates in each and every piece.

This popular Mexican-food mainstay in the heart of San Francisco‘s Mission District is one of two places in the city that claim to have invented the Mission-style burrito (the other is El Faro): a hefty, elephant-leg-size wrap distinguished from other burritos by its size and the inclusion of rice and other ingredients. The restaurant was first opened as a meat market in 1967 by Mexican immigrants Raul and Michaela Duran, who are said to have served their first burrito in 1969 after noticing that local workers needed a substantial yet portable meal. The Mission Burrito was born, containing most of the food groups: protein, vegetables, dairy, and grains. The Durans converted their meat market into a full-time restaurant in 1972. Taqueria la Cumbre offers a full menu of Mexican food, all made fresh. The burritos are made assembly-line style. (Fun fact: When the Durans first came to San Francisco, they hired a high school kid to make flour tortillas before school. The kid, Jorge Santana, would go on to be a popular musician, like his brother Carlos.)