Search results for

Why we love it: An intimate retreat with an attentive staff that guarantees fuss-free tranquility

The Highlights:
- Personalized attention from a small, dedicated staff
- Guestrooms filled with Mexican antiques
- The all-day, oceanfront restaurant that serves local cuisine

The Review:
With just 12 guest rooms and a staff that’s smaller than a football team, NEST is more private home than resort. Owned by former music industry executive James Chippendale, the intimate property features simple, subdued rooms, individually appointed with antique and artisan furnishings sourced from San Miguel de Allende and throughout the Yucatán, as well as king-size beds, locally made bath products, and handcrafted French doors that fling open to welcome warm ocean breezes. Start your day with a probiotic smoothie and huevos rancheros at the beachside restaurant, then secure your spot on a palm-fringed daybed overlooking the powdery shoreline and azure waves. Your biggest decision may well be whether to watch the sun dip below the horizon from your plush perch or head back for complimentary happy hour at the bar.

Why we love it: A historic property with style to spare

The Highlights:
- Historic details like the marble lobby
- Thoughtful amenities like microfiber bathrobes, complimentary newspapers, and Gilchrist & Soames bath products
- A sophisticated on-site restaurant

The Review:
Housed in a former bank building from the 1920s, the Ambassador Hotel in downtown Kansas City is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the neoclassical property is updated with thoroughly modern amenities, but still features historic details like a showstopping lobby with marble columns, soaring ceilings, and sparkling chandeliers. Guest rooms are equally stylish, with custom furnishings, private label linens, and marble bathrooms with oversize walk-in showers, but for the ultimate luxury, book the 753-square-foot Loft Suite, which features two floors, one-and-a-half bathrooms, a wet bar, a living area, and original windows that bring in loads of natural light. When hunger strikes, head to the on-site Reserve Restaurant, where executive chef Jeremiah Lyman serves contemporary American cuisine and top-notch cocktails.

Founded in 1859, this 79-acre oasis is the nation’s oldest continuously operating botanical garden and a National Historic Landmark. Built by Henry Shaw, whose estate still sits on the grounds, the garden boasts one of the world’s largest collections of rare and endangered orchids, as well as more than 48,000 trees, including a few specimens that date back to the 19th century. Also on-site are Japanese, Chinese, English Woodland, and Ottoman gardens, plus a Victorian district with a labyrinthine maze. After touring the grounds, guests can get their hands dirty with cooking and gardening classes, while senior citizens and those with special needs can take part in a therapeutic horticultural program that provides stimulating nature-based activities.

Skip the tacky magnets this time around and instead visit Cosecha for a souvenir truly reflective of Aruban culture. The word ‘cosecha’ translates to ‘harvesting,’ and that’s just what the curators of this shop and design space have done, offering handicrafts such as jewelry, paintings on driftwood, textiles, sculptures, and more from a variety of Aruban artists. Everything for sale has been certified as locally produced with a national seal of craftsmanship, ensuring you’ll leave with something authentic. The store has two locations, Cosecha Oranjestad and Cosecha San Nicolas, the former of which is housed in the 100-year-old Zoutmanstraat 1. Built in 1910, the building emerged from a complete restoration in 2015, but once served as a government office and also housed Aruba’s archaeological museum for many years.

Good luck if you’ve come here to witness the eponymous monster—though, given the dark, brooding waters of Loch Ness, seemingly anything is possible. At the very least, you’re bound to enjoy some beautiful scenery, from verdant shores to snowcapped peaks. One of the best ways to experience the loch is by boat tour, several of which leave daily from the Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition in Inverness. Alternatively, you can drive up the A82 highway along the lake’s western shore, stopping at such spots as Castle Urquhart, a romantic stone ruin that’s some 1,000 years old.

Fancy trying to get a gander at the Loch Ness Monster? There’s only one way and that is on a boat trip out onto the deep and foreboding waters of Loch Ness. “Nessie” has certainly defied many a scientific attempt at location. The earliest mention of the serpentine beast with a snakelike head dates back to Adomnán’s account of the life of St. Columba, completed in the late 7th century. Cruises leave from just south of Inverness and feature interpretive guides who can tell much more than monster stories.

Hotel restaurants rarely garner culinary nods, but the Vendue Hotel took steps to differentiate its 2018 opening, Revival. The airy, white-tablecloth room, overseen by suspendered waitstaff, is framed by brick walls and windows out to East Bay Street—potential diners may be drawn in without ever knowing there are high-end hotel rooms just above them. Most importantly, the classic cuisine stands alone. She-crab soup rivals shrimp and grits for Charleston’s signature dish, and the kitchen offers exemplary versions of each, featuring black rice grits in the latter. Entrees are pricey but impressive, including a pirlou, a rice-based staple of Lowcountry cuisine, that adds butter poached lobster and uses Carolina Gold rice. In its efforts to showcase historic Charleston dishes in fine-dining atmosphere, Revival fills a void that Hominy Grill left when it shuttered dinner service. And don’t head straight out after dinner—the Vendue’s ground floor also doubles as an art gallery, presenting rotating exhibitions that rival the upscale art galleries in the surrounding French Quarter neighborhood.

Among Charleston’s two dozen thriving breweries, Revelry may have the best digs. It’s located in the peninsula’s NoMo neighborhood and sports a spacious, laid-back rooftop deck bar that’s perfect for viewing sunset over the Holy City skyline. The whole place is adorned with art—including on its cans’ labels—by recognizable local artist, Chris Kemp. Fortunately, what’s inside the cans is equally memorable. Brews like “Gullah Cream” and “Poke the Bear” (an American Pale) are among the city’s signature ales for any beer lover seeking the best of Charleston. Happy hour features live music Friday through Sunday, making Revelry a go-to gathering place.

Located at the end of the town pier in Fort William, on the historic Road to the Isles, Crannog Restaurant is purely of its place. Local fisherman Finlay Finlayson opened the restaurant after converting his bait shed—which served as a lookout point during World War II—into this beautiful, red-roofed building, choosing the name “Crannog” as a reference to his concept of catching, curing, and cooking the finest West Highland seafood. Over the past 26 years, the eatery has become synonymous with relaxed fine dining, drawing diners with a regularly changing menu of local catches like West Coast mussels, Loch Creran oysters, and hake, which comes crusted in herbs and topped with basil-walnut pesto.

Built in 1934 from a couple hundred pine boards, the Dürkheimer Fass is the world’s largest wine barrel, and often described as the heart of the German Wine Route. Constructed by barrel maker and vintner Fritz Keller, it could feasibly hold 449,092 gallons of wine, but has never actually contained any liquid. Instead, it functions as a unique wine bar and restaurant, conveniently located on Bad Dürkheim’s main square.

Surrounded by vineyards, the small town of Bad Dürkheim is of course famous for wine, but it’s also known for its annual sausage festival, which takes place over two long weekends in September and is said to be the largest wine-related festival in the world. Additionally, the “Bad” in the town’s name indicates local wellness facilities, including thermal baths, a spa park, and the old Kurhaus, a former sanatorium that now houses a hotel. If you’re feeling energetic, you can hike up to Limburg Monastery, which was built in the 11th century and today hosts concerts and theater performances.

These beloved baths are not just the site of a favorite swimming beach on Lake Geneva; they are a local institution. The baths are busiest in summer when the lake teems with swimmers and boats, but also stay active and open in winter months when local Polar Bear Club members plunge into the icy Alps-fed lake. After the bracing jump, it feels divine to warm up in the bath’s two mixed-sex saunas, and two hammams (one for women only). The facility is fully equipped with lockers, hot showers, and hair-dryers, as well as nooks in front of the large glass windows for soaking up the sun. Les Bains are also home to one of the city’s best fondue spots, La Buvette des Bains. Every September, after the summer season, some locker rooms are converted to a cozy dining room with wood stoves where diners dip bread into steamy melted cheese concoctions, and even take in a cultural performance or lecture on certain nights.

For many centuries, the Hohenzollerns were one of Germany’s most powerful families, their influence only diminishing with the end of the monarchy after World War I. During their dominance, they lived in this majestic neo-Gothic castle, visible from miles away thanks to its prime location on a conical hill. Inside, a series of opulent rooms remain resplendent with period furnishings and valuable oil paintings. The Treasury—which hosts personal items of Frederick the Great and Queen Louise, the Prussian Royal Crown, and a great deal of expensive porcelain and silverware—and the royal chambers can only be seen via a guided tour, but the grounds are free to explore. Also open to the public is the café-restaurant Burg Hohenzollern, with decent regional food and an outdoor beer garden in summer.

Few burger joints have a backstory as quintessentially L.A. as Monty’s Good Burger. Koreatown’s first all-vegan restaurant, the In-N-Out-style hole-in-the-wall serves Impossible burgers on vegan buns with lettuce, tomato, Follow Your Heart “cheese,” and a faux thousand island sauce, plus creamy shakes, loaded tots, and not-so-secret menu picks like Dog Pile loaded fries or tots (check their Instagram for the latest options). Before it was a bright blue exclamation point on the corner of Western and 5th, Monty’s was a Coachella food stall debut with a queue that gave founders Lexie Jiaras (USC class of 2017), Max Angles, and Dennis Gomez an idea. Now, Monty’s—named after Jiaras’ Maltese—is full steam ahead, with locations in Riverside and Echo Park and an Instagram following of over 100k. The food itself is especially tasty—if a bit pricey. But you pay for quality, and the locally sourced, organic ingredients deliver a cruelty-free burger that tastes pretty dang close to the real thing.

With its gold-hued, Egyptian pyramid-inspired exterior—topped by a glass peak that lights up like a beacon at night—it’s easy to recognize the 19-story Raffles hotel among Dubai’s glittering skyline. Inside, distinguishing features include the spacious rooms and suites—the 252 options are among the largest in town, and come with private terraces, Arabic design touches, tubs and walk-in showers, and service from a Raffles butler. The seven dining options draw a mix of in-house guests, expat locals, and business people. Choose from restaurants for Italian, Japanese, Arabic, and international buffet fare, a tea salon for refined sweet and savory creations, a cabana-ringed garden for shared plates and weekly barbecues, a bar and café adjacent to the well-sized pool, and a cocktail bar that pairs drinks with telecasts of the latest sports matches. Global influences can also be felt at the well-appointed spa, where the treatments are inspired by Asian, European, and Middle Eastern techniques.

Named for a Dominican-style fishing boat, this open-air restaurant and bar in Punta Cana’s elegant Marina Estates sits on a wooden deck built over the water. Whether you’re seated under the thatched palm roof or the open sky, you’ll have perfect views of the marina as you dine on fresh seafood like grouper ceviche and grilled Caribbean lobster. Also available are Mediterranean-inspired dishes such as caprese salad, spaghetti with pesto, and glazed lamb shank, as well as an extensive list of international wines.

The beef goes back centuries, and will never be entirely resolved: what are the true origins of pisco, a grape-based, aguardiente distillate that became a national symbol of Chile…and Peru. To end the conflict, the people behind this bar and restaurant invented a new, independent republic dedicated to Pisco that is known as Chipe Libre. Inside a vast Lastarria mansion, this imaginary state unites lands in southern Peru and northern Chile, in obeisance to a sole monarch, pisco. The bar features a good 100 labels and cocktails like “Pisco’s in the Air,” made with lime juice, raspberry, papaya and basil; plus a full range of what are among Santiago’s best traditional sours. Standout food include the crunchy-seafood saltado (marinated and grilled beef strips), with mango, served on a sizzling grill; the joint’s star sandwich, El Presidente, is a solid slice of roast beef, fried egg, and shoestring potatoes. To avoid any sovereignty disputes, Chipe Libre flies its red-and-black, center-starred flag as the republic’s national colors.