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Once Istanbul’s notorious prison, a lavish conversion in 1996 transformed this site, set amid the squiggle of lanes behind the colossal competing domes of the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, into the city’s landmark Four Seasons Sultanahmet. Built in 1918, the hotel’s ornate neoclassical architecture has been finely restored, while the enclosed exercise yard is now a courtyard garden where guests can escape the hustle of the historic quarter. Classically designed rooms are awash with light blue and green hues and subtly scattered Turkish textiles and motifs.

On a hot summer’s day, cool off with cocktails overlooking the old city’s minarets on the rooftop A’Ya Lounge. Eagle-eyed history fans can hunt for the 1938 graffiti left by a former inmate on a pillar near the courtyard. Being neighbors with the Hagia Sophia has extra benefits. The Four Seasons’ Extraordinary Experiences service offers a privileged chance to explore Emperor Justinian’s greatest achievement without the crowds, on an after-dark tour of the Hagia Sophia.

“Dude” is a word that’s used a lot around Rancho Pescadero, a small hotel in the surfing town of Todos Santos, located in the Mexican state of Baja California. The rooms here, however, don’t reflect the dude aesthetic, which is to say they are clean and classy. Spacious suites offer comfortable spots to relax, with most having retractable glass doors that eliminate barriers between indoors and outdoors and open up onto terraces that have hammocks or lounge beds. Terra-cotta tile floors, rattan and wood furniture, and locally made accents—such as hand-embroidered throw pillows—are some of the decor elements found in rooms. Surfers won’t feel totally out of their element, though; world-famous breaks are less than 10 minutes away and staff can give pointers on the best spots to hang ten. Apart from surfing, the hotel encourages guests to spend a lot of time relaxing and immersing themselves in the laid-back Baja lifestyle.

Your introduction to Andaz Mayakoba begins with mangroves and a cenote, or at least an architectural tribute to these natural features of the Playa del Carmen landscape. The elegant pillars that support the towering porte cochere mimic the angled roots of the mangrove trees nearby. A tall passageway, lined with dark wood, leads to an open-sided lobby.

At the center of the lobby, aptly called El Sanctuario, a shallow circular pool reflects the sky through an opening in the ceiling above. The Andaz—which opened on the Mayakoba development in late 2016—has 214 guest rooms and suites, all in low buildings carefully placed on the delicate limestone crust of the peninsula. Some of the buildings surround pretty lagoons and offer easy access to the resort’s restaurants, Casa Amate, the fine-dining option, and Cocina Milagro, which serves three meals a day in a pavilionlike space overlooking the property’s pools.

A spa, fitness center, shop, and kids’ club are also an easy walk away. The balance of guest rooms are in a separate complex of buildings beside the beach. A clutch of umbrellas and lounge chairs on the white powdery sand before an impossibly blue sea presents a stunning picture. In the beachside portion of the resort, another pool and two casual restaurants, OllaTaco and OllaCeviche, add up to a slightly funkier vibe.

Guests are transported around the grounds by golf carts and are encouraged to use bikes parked everywhere. Lagoon boats make regular stops between the four resorts at Mayakoba, and guests are encouraged to take a daily cruise of the winding waterways with a naturalist guide. Andaz staff are young, attentive, and warm.

Colorful street-style murals, depicting animals and fish, splash across the buildings’ exterior walls. Inside the airy guest rooms, artfully tiled sections of floors and walls add fields of color and interest to an otherwise mild, sunny palette. Architect Ronald Zürcher has channeled the extraordinary local beauty—the light and darkness of the region’s beaches and jungles, the vivid pops of color of flowers and birds, the sacred hush of the cenote—and designed a gorgeous and intimate boutique resort.

Located close to the town hall, it’s known as the “Casa das Bifanas” (Bifana house) ever since it opened in 1978. In the menu you can find a lot of Porto’s and Portugal’s delicacies, but you have to try the house specialty: Bifana. It’s a pork meat sandwich, in which the meat is cooked in an incredibly spicy sauce. This sauce is the most important piece of the sandwich and its recipe a true hidden secret. I can imagine that it has tomato sauce, beer and ultra-powerful bell peppers. If you like spicy food then Conga is your place.

The moment you walk into Buba’s, you feel like family. It’s easy to understand why when you consider that surrounding this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hillside restaurant are Buba’s house, Buba’s sister’s house, and Buba’s Brother’s house across the street. Buba’s own two daughters, nephews, cousins, and other miscellaneous family either host, help in the kitchen, play dj, man the bar, or simply greet visitors from their porches with welcoming, West Indian waves. This homegrown approach extends beyond hospitality to deliciously impact the food as well. Nearly every fruit, vegetable, and herb used in the dishes at Buba’s are all grown on the sloping overgrown gardens surrounding the restaurant. The result is a quintessential island restaurant with no real set menu. Instead, expect the freshest ingredients of the day lovingly coaxed into a collection of authentic Caribbean fare like rice and peas, stew chicken, steamed veggies, salad, and more.

Opened in 1997, Jumeirah Beach Hotel is one of Dubai’s first modern resorts. The broad, wave-shaped tower sits next to a white-sand beach with a full flight of water sports, and it gets year-round traffic including many sun-seeking Russian package tourists and British families. Despite a capacity of more than 1,200 guests, the hotel has enough pools and restaurants to absorb the crowds. The guest rooms are still some of Dubai’s largest (that’s saying a lot), and the hotel is a convenient 20-minute taxi or free shuttle ride to the Gold Souk on Dubai Creek, or to the Mall of the Emirates, site of Dubai’s famous indoor ski slope. Kids will want to maximize their time at the Wild Wadi water park just up the beach, where Jumeirah Beach Hotel guests enjoy free entrance. Couples migrate to the 24th-floor Uptown Bar patio for cocktails and breezy views of the Persian Gulf and the lights of Dubai’s iconic skyscrapers, including the Burj al Arab and Burj Khalifa.

The four huge red cubes set amid the verdant mountains around Medellín will seize your attention and pique your curiosity—they are pavilions that architect Alejandro Echeverri designed to house Parque Explora, a science museum that is rather a monumental toy itself. The goal was to strike a proper balance between wonder and learning—and to avoid at all costs the sort of place that quickly grows obsolete. The result offers a nice sort of carnival or market feeling in its wide-open spaces. Inside, the pavilions, aquarium, planetarium, and cool science and tech exhibits keep both wee ones and grown-ups entertained and awed.

As the name suggests, you can shout your order from the sidewalk and by the time you get to the counter, they’ve already served up your empanadas. Try the time-tested caldo mayo, a house-specialty beef broth that’s a perfect hangover remedy, especially with spicy salsa de ají, or hot pepper salsa, on top. Members of the Chilean judiciary are often seen here having a tintito, a dainty glass of red wine, before beginning the day’s proceedings. El Rapido opened in the thirties and has been operating ever since—don’t miss this quaint and tasty bit of history.

Once a nondescript part of Stockholm’s center, Brunkebergstorg has been revitalized by the addition of two excellent new hotels (At Six and Hobo) and Tak, a rooftop bar with perhaps the best views you can see while enjoying an Aperol spritz or the house martini made with vodka, sake, and a touch of sherry. The panorama really is something special, taking in the whole of the city. One floor down is the restaurant where head chef Frida Ronge serves food that fuses Nordic ingredients and Japanese techniques, with dishes such as arctic char with daikon and grilled Swedish beef with yuzu kosho vinaigrette.

In 2016, Ace added another link to its chain of ultracool hotels when it opened an outpost in a renovated 1928 building in the Central Business District of New Orleans. While the Ace employees here are just as edgy as their counterparts elsewhere, they temper that cool with the warm ease of New Orleans’s locals.

Guests enter the hotel through a lobby of mismatched low-slung sofas and vintage coffee tables set in conversation-friendly groupings beside a lovely and ornate wooden bar. Most of the furnishings and artwork complement the hotel’s dominant forest green hue, which itself seems to have been inspired by the color of the streetcars that trundle past on Carondelet Street. Afternoon and evening and late at night, the lobby bar is kept busy by hotel guests as well as a stream of others drawn here by the stylish vibe.

Why we love it: A luxury resort with top-notch amenities in the heart of Malta

The Highlights:
- A variety of room types to accommodate all travelers
- Five on-site bars and restaurants, including the historic Villa Corinthia
- A regal pool surrounded by loungers and gardens

The Review:
In 1959, the Pisani family patriarch bought the historic Villa Refalo, intending for it to be a home for him, his wife, and their six children, as well as a restaurant. When he died unexpectedly, his children took over the property, first turning it into a wedding hall, and then a luxury hotel called Corinthia Palace. Even though the Pisanis have since expanded the Corinthia brand to 14 hotels around the world, they still own and operate the Malta original, running it with all the amenities required of a five-star stay. Here, guests find five bars and restaurants, a swanky outdoor pool and garden area, tennis courts, a deluxe spa and fitness center, and friendly, attentive service. The afternoon tea, served in your choice of British or Maltese style in the Orange Grove Brasserie, is a must, while the daily breakfast spread is generous and tasty.

Ranging from superior rooms to executive suites, accommodations feature comfy beds and private balconies or terraces. All come with complimentary access to the Athenaeum Spa, but higher category options also include entry to the Executive Lounge, where guests can enjoy a daily breakfast buffet and complimentary wine, spirits, and canapés each evening. Speaking of the spa, it’s currently being renovated and will be unveiled in April 2020 with a new design by Goddard Littlefair, a new parternship with ESPA for treatments, and new facilities including seven treatment rooms, a relaxation lounge, and a thermal area.

Often ranked as Maui’s top bed-and-breakfast, this adults-only sanctuary in Lahaina holds its own among Hawaii’s top accommodations. As its name implies, the inn boasts plantation-style architecture, but rooms feature modern conveniences like dual rain showers and whirlpool hot tubs. Guests can also expect hardwood floors, French doors, four-poster beds topped with Hawaiian quilts, and complimentary breakfasts at the award-winning on-site French restaurant Gerard’s. Set right in Lahaina, the property is close to shops, sights, and restaurants and just 10 minutes from the beach, but guests often find themselves lingering at the tranquil outdoor pool instead of venturing out.

This family-run hotel, originally opened in 1886, is steeped in history from its classic furnishings to its esteemed guests. Literary legends William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway have stayed here; Tennessee Williams wrote about the hotel in his play The Rose Tattoo, and Truman Capote was known to prop up the Carousel Bar & Lounge on many a night. The merry-go-round–like bar (which makes a complete revolution every 15 minutes) is probably the hotel’s most famous feature, and a Vieux Carre cocktail there is de rigueur. Guests will also want to visit on-site restaurant Criollo, which offers an updated take on traditional N’awlins fare.

Eagle View’s nine tented suites opened a year ago on a ridge that overlooks a broad swath of savannah in the Mara Naboisho Conservancy. The camp pays a guaranteed income to each of the approximately 500 families who own the conservancy.

Masai guides lead guests on night drives or walks and use animal-friendly spotlights to illuminate nocturnal creatures.

Suites overlook a salt lick that attracts one of the highest densities of lions in Africa. On occasion, guests may find a lion’s kill in the morning.


This appeared in the August/September 2013 issue. Image courtesy of Basecamp’s Eagle View

The fourth hotel from continually growing LA-based chain Palisociety, this 49-room boutique property celebrates its 1920s-era roots with a design that maintains original Art Deco details. Its location in Culver City also brings attention to a sleepy, untouristed enclave stepped in cinematic history. Rooms mix wood paneling with jewel tones, plaid, and comfy floral chairs, and some have French doors that open onto the hotel’s inner courtyard. Classic and contemporary art is carefully selected and intentionally placed, while retro details like rotary dial phones on the desks complete the Golden Age ambience. Amenities include oversized robes, a mini bar stocked with local snacks, and in-room tablets featuring curated neighborhood guides, room service, and more.