Search results for

Austin has established itself as a foodie destination on par with New York and Los Angeles. Now, it also has a hotel that’s worthy of its rebirth as a capital of cool. At The LINE, the setting is as pretty as the young things who stay there with their stylish pets. The midcentury building houses 428 rooms and suites inspired by the Lone Star landscape, with headboards that evoke desert canyons, blue linens and rugs that nod to Lady Bird Lake (which many of the rooms overlook through expansive floor-to-ceiling windows), and lighting that looks like fireflies in the night sky. The place to be seen is Arlo Grey, where Top Chef winner Kristen Kish serves a menu inspired by her childhood, travels, and Central Texas ingredients—that is until the rooftop bar debuts in fall 2018.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the BVI for beachgoers is the sheer array of sandy shores to explore. On Jost Van Dyke, the sand at White Bay skews more toward the white-gold end of the spectrum and gives way like piles of sugar beneath your bare feet. Hit the Soggy Dollar Bar to try the iconic Painkiller (a mix of rum, orange, and pineapple juices and cream of coconut, sprinkled with freshly grated nutmeg) in the place where it was invented. Just around the headland on the beach at Great Harbour, the sand skews slightly more golden, and the famed Foxy’s Tamarind Bar, another classic BVI watering hole, beckons. And for the most diamond bright, sugar-spun sands in the islands, make your way to Anegada, the northern and easternmost island in the BVI. Here, Cow Wreck Beach is a calm stretch with one mellow bar and a gentle slope of white sand leading to the water’s edge. On the far eastern end of Anegada, Loblolly Bay lures with an enticing crescent strand and a beach bar called Big Bamboo that serves up a mean piña colada, best enjoyed with a plate of conch fritters.

In the Caribbean’s Windward Islands, a string of some 600 islands and islets dot the sea between St. Lucia and Grenada. It’s a paradise for yachters, where you can drop anchor off an uninhabited island and live out your Robinson Crusoe fantasies. A handful of these islands are home to resorts, including the private Palm Island, first leased to an American couple in 1966 for $1 per year. They established the ten-room Palm Island Beach Club, which over the years has grown—though there are still only a total of 43 guest rooms on this single-resort island.

Founded in 1519, In’t Aepjen is one of the city’s oldest brown bars (the Dutch version of an English pub), and the cozy room regularly draws a large crowd given its proximity to the main train station. It’s also curiously decorated with monkeys—monkey statues, stuffed monkeys, monkey posters—a nod to its name, which translates to “In the Monkeys.” The legend goes that sailors returning from the Dutch colonies were cash-poor, so they settled their bill with exotic pets (namely monkeys) acquired on their journeys. You’ll have to pay with euro, but the beer selection is decent and you can also try the local spirit, jenever.

About an hour’s drive south of Barcelona, past scruffy beach towns along the Costa Dorada, Le Meridien Ra Resort and Spa stands out from its neighbors on a beautiful length of the Mediterranean. Inside the resort gates, an elegant central building, buffed out for the 21st century, does not fail to impress. Originally built as a tuberculosis hospital for children, the hotel has turned its focus from illness to wellness: A three-story modern addition contains the Explore spa, with treatments ranging from all sorts of massages and facials to ayurvedic experiences and thalasso body masks with iodine-rich algae. After treatment, clients are encouraged to prolong the self-care vibe with a visit to the roof, where an indoor-outdoor complex offers glamorous sun beds on a deck, steam and sauna rooms, as well as a pool with stations for bubble jets of varying intensities as well as shoulder-massaging water spouts and soothing currents. Guest rooms are spacious and cleanly modern with midcentury design touches (an angular sconce beside the bed, a curvy Hans Wegner-inspired chair and stool) and a mild color palette. Generous cabinet space speaks to the resort’s summer season—many repeat guests come for a week or two. (For additional space, families can opt to rent one of the on-site apartments.) The resort’s kitchen, which draws inspiration from Catalan traditions, is inventive and playful, employing some molecular gastronomy techniques without any fussiness. Small dishes—accompanied by tiny pearls filled with local vinegar or topped with foam or served in paper cones—are perfect for summer appetites (and can be augmented by more traditional seafood, fish, and ham dishes). The beach itself is a wide, sandy stretch planted with a few palm trees and several rows of beach loungers and umbrellas. Beach servers ferry food and drink from the airy dining pavilion, and a masseuse offers complimentary chair massages. The Mediterranean here, a vivid blue, contains 10% more iodine than elsewhere—a health benefit espoused both by the religious order who ran the sanitarium and by the resort now. As a brand, Le Meridien supports local arts and culture and this hotel is a bright example of that ethos: among many offerings, it hosts literary festivals, visits to the nearby studio of a ceramic artist, cooking lessons on the nuances of Catalan rice dishes, winery tours, live music in the gardens, and is home to four grand bronze sculptures by Salvador Dali. But for all these options, days can pass lazily, too, with a lunch under the grape arbor, or a round of backgammon on the shady terrace facing the beach, accompanied by a glass of rosé. ¡Salud!

Any hotel in San Francisco that has been operating for more than a century certainly has some stories to tell, and the Westin St. Francis is no exception. From socialites to celebrities to politicians, it seems every bold-faced name has slept (or attended late-night soirees) in its Bliss and Faville–designed towers. Today, guests to this distinctive 1,195-room property still enjoy top-notch service with some thoroughly modern touches: The 1904 landmark building recently underwent a $45 million renovation by Dallas-based interior design firm Forest Perkins, inspired by San Francisco’s moniker as “The Paris of the West.” Guest rooms are painted in Parisian blue, goldenrod yellow, and peony pink, and feature original crystal chandeliers. Downstairs, travelers can marvel at the lobby’s master clock—the first example in the western United States—and study a collection of photographs by Ansel Adams depicting the hotel’s long-lost Patent Leather Bar. Pro tip: Let the hotel’s resident historian bend your ear during a historical tour.

The Great Wall of China runs more than 21,000 kilometers (over 13,000 miles), not as one continuous wall but rather as fortified wall sections. Some of the sections date back more than 2,500 years, though only 8.2 percent of the existing wall is original. The Mutianyu Great Wall is one of the more accessible portions. Hike (because that is what you’ll be doing, even on the wall itself) up the Great Wall, then slide down the side of the mountain on a toboggan. Alternatively, explore the Simatai Great Wall, which retains a more authentic feel—save, of course, for the fake water town at the bottom. Even more remote is the Jiankou section, which is largely unrestored, so book with an experienced group like Beijing Hikers or Wild Great Wall.

A labor of love from local brother-and-sister owners Joe and Catherine Bartolomei, this six-acre, farmhouse-style resort in Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley underwent an $8 million renovation in 2015, adding nine light-filled rooms with four-poster beds and fireplaces. The Spa at Farmhouse, modeled after a vintage stable, has double-height ceilings and pine doors for each of its four treatment rooms. The thoughtful details will win you over: a glass of wine at check-in, an attentive staff at the Michelin-starred restaurant, and fresh-baked cookies at turndown.

After a five-year, $30 million renovation, The Adelphi is Saratoga’s grande dame once more. Housed in a stately building from 1877, the hotel takes its design cues from the Victorian era, featuring everything from ornate wall moldings to brass lighting fixtures and tufted-leather headboards. Modern conveniences also abound, including hidden storage cabinetry and marble bathrooms with freestanding tubs and glass showers. Downstairs, carved horseheads at Morrissey’s bar are the only reference to Saratoga’s racing heritage, but the area’s farmers get their due at the Blue Hen, the hotel’s farm-to-table brasserie, and Salt + Char, its rustic-chic steakhouse.

Over the past few years, the Catskills region has been heating up with boutique lodgings that make it easy to soak in fresh mountain air in style. One such spot is Eastwind, a 1920s bunkhouse with 16 cozy, Scandinavian-inspired rooms (think reclaimed-wood flooring, Turkish rugs, Frette linens, and en-suite baths with farmhouse sinks and walk-in showers). For those who prefer to commune more closely with nature, the hotel also offers three minimalist, A-frame glamping cabins with private fire pits, as well as a hot tub and sauna for soothing steams after a day spent hiking Kaaterskill Falls or swishing down the slopes of nearby Windham Mountain. Each morning, guests can enjoy an impressive breakfast spread of pastries, eggs, make-your-own crêpes, and more in the bar-cum-living-room, equipped with a communal table, velvet armchairs, and a wood-burning fireplace. Come evening, they can return to the same space for expertly made cocktails and games like chess and backgammon.

This rooftop bar has a refreshingly inclusive, come-as-you-are vibe. There’s no list at the door, no doorman sizing you up for anything beyond ensuring you’re of legal drinking age. For the prized sunset hour, arrive early—especially during summer—and grab a vintage table or booth by the pool with colorful mismatching chairs and tablecloths. Later in the evening, a bar stool is the place to be, watching the action and joining in when singalong-ready funk and disco tunes start playing. The overgrown garden that tops the circa 1924 Commercial Exchange building makes for a magical setting, softening the cityscape beyond. Atmosphere aside, the cocktails are what bring people here; masterminds Gabs Orta and Elad Zvi—who first started Broken Shaker as a pop-up in Miami—are known worldwide for their creative approach. It’s tempting to order drinks based on their clever names alone—not the worst idea—but be sure to try the Electro Lit, tequila with curry turmeric cordial, coconut water, fresh lime juice, and angostura bitters.

Amsterdam isn’t known for great service, but this casual restaurant inside the Kimpton De Witt hotel is a welcome exception. In the spacious, modern dining room, the friendly, attentive staff serves up an international menu that particularly excels at wood-fired dishes, including octopus, swordfish, and steaks. An American-style Sunday brunch includes chicken and waffles, avocado toast, and unlimited Bloody Marys and Mimosas.

Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort & Spa is located in one of the Philippines’ most popular vacation spots. And while it has all the musts—the turquoise waters, the powdered-sugar shores, the lush hills—what it doesn’t have is the crowds. And therein lies the resort’s beauty, or at least some of it. Tucked into an eco-reserve with its own shimmering beach, the Shangri-La is also home to a canopy-cloaked dining aerie, sunset-surveying clifftop cabanas, and a peninsular spa on a private bay. Accommodations are impeccably appointed with local touches (think woven abaca rugs and lamps bedecked with capiz shells), and several of the lodgings feel more like private vacation homes. Take the aptly named treehouse villa, for example, where the canopy-level second story commands stunning sea views (best enjoyed from the hot tub on the balcony), or the pool villas, where the lure of en suite swimming almost overpowers the sea just outside.

Gothic and Renaissance architecture meets modern design at Augustine, where 13th-century details like vaulted ceilings and 19th-century frescoes share space with Czech Cubist furniture and pottery. The seven buildings that make up the property—parts of which date back to 1284—formed some of the St. Thomas Church and Monastery, so you may even bed down in a room where Augustinian monks once slept (in fact, monks still have quarters here). The 101 rooms are a chic combination of old world charm and modern luxury, with generously sized marble bathrooms with heated floors and rain showers; suites have magnificent views of Prague Castle or an interior garden. The Refectory bar serves wickedly good “Archangel” cocktails, named for the subjects of the room’s Baroque frescoes, as well as St. Thomas Beer, brewed from the monk’s original 1352 recipe, but don’t let the spirits get to your head. There’s also a highly regarded fine-dining restaurant as well as a spa.

Prague’s centuries-old connection to music survived occupation by both the Germans and the Communists, so it’s fitting that those deep roots strike a chord at Aria Hotel Prague, where all of the rooms are named after famous composers or singers, from homegrown sons like Dvořák and Smetana to contemporary icons like the Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, and Elvis Presley. The hotel even has a music director who can point you to the city’s best performances, as well as assist with suggestions in the music library; guests borrow CDs or concert DVDs to watch in their rooms, which are all outfitted with hi-fi sound systems that include Marantz speakers, plus flat-screen TVs, Blue-Ray players, iPads, and Apple TVs. All 51 accommodations were given a head-to-toe makeover in early 2018, resulting in sumptuous rooms decorated in shades of soft peach, dusty rose, and sandy taupe, and combining a pleasing mix of antiques and modern furniture. During summer, the superb CODA restaurant commands stunning rooftop views, while the Winter Garden Atrium is cozy perfection in colder months with its piano recitals accompanying afternoon tea or wine.