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Close to Miami’s busy center, but set back from it, the Mandarin Oriental, Miami enjoys a quiet spot and the designation of the only hotel to sit on Brickell Key, a small island connected to Brickell Avenue by a bridge. This location gives the Mandarin Oriental a sense of both exclusivity and privacy; it also means that rooms offer some pretty incredible views of Biscayne Bay, the city, and one of Miami’s causeways. And what rooms they are; with 13 different types, expect a variety of choices with respect to layout and amenities. Standard in every room, though, are oversized tubs, large flat-screen televisions, Illy espresso machines, luxurious linens, and Carthusia toiletries. Turndown service is also included, as is the guest’s choice of newspapers, delivered to the room each morning. Mandarin Oriental, Miami does not have beachfront access, but it does have a pool. Finally, although the hotel doesn’t go out of its way to advertise the freebie, Wi-Fi is complimentary for guests who set up an account on the hotel website.

This Scottsdale megaresort opened in 1988 as an Americanized vision of European style, which explains the white marble in the lobby, the mother-of-pearl tiles lining one of the pools, and the 11 Steinway pianos (including one in each of the four presidential suites). Over the years, though, the Phoenician has melded with its surroundings to become one of the classic Arizona desert hotel experiences. The 27-hole golf course, the 11 tennis courts, the eight pools (one with a 165-foot waterslide), the spa, the hiking, and the alfresco dining all make it the kind of place people contemplate when they find themselves looking at a closet full of winter coats and scarves. The rooms are spacious, with large Italian marble bathrooms, and have a private terrace or balcony. The service is tip-top, and the kids’ club even features a Bunny Hoppy Hour. Recent renovations updated the hotel’s public spaces, including the lobby, restaurants, pool area, and spa.

This Romanesque Revival landmark has become Nashville’s crown jewel. The city’s main train station from 1900 until the 1970s, when railway service was discontinued, the building sat vacant for decades until it was restored to its former glory and reopened as a boutique hotel in 2016. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the hotel retains pieces of the past—including its iconic clock tower, an original arrivals and departures board, and the solid wood staircases—while providing all the comforts of the present. The 125 guest rooms skew contemporary, with soothing tones of gray and neutral walnut, as well as cowhide headboards and custom ironwork lights. By contrast, public spaces veer on the nostalgic: The atrium lobby has painted barrel-vaulted ceilings, 100-year-old stained-glass skylights, bas-relief moldings, and ornate crystal chandeliers. It’s an atmospheric backdrop for the hotel’s “Riffs on the Rails,” a weekly series of live music performances.

Formerly Las Alcobas, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Napa Valley.

Located just a short walk from the downtown area of the charming small town of St. Helena, Alila Napa Valley blends old and new in totally indulgent ways. The center of the 64-room property is a Victorian-style mansion that dates back to 1905. The house has been renovated and is now home to Violetto, an intimate, fine dining restaurant led by award-winning Executive Chef Thomas Lents. The nightly tasting menu, inspired by Northern Italy and Southern France, highlights local ingredients from Napa with items like homemade pastas, fresh salads, and duck confit. Guests can also join for a la carte snacks in the lounge and bar or on the beautiful, wrap-around veranda (don’t miss the chickpea panisse).

Behind the old mansion is the spa, whose building was designed to replicate an old barn with clapboard walls and high ceilings. The vibe is distinctive yet without pretense. Angled around these buildings are stand-alone, three-story structures that house the majority of the guest rooms. Featuring a warm, minimalist aesthetic that highlights, rather than distracts from, the beautiful vineyards it overlooks, each of the spacious guest rooms are decked out in natural materials such as oak, jute, and Carrara marble. Rooms come with cozy bathrobes, well-stocked mini-bars, and inviting balconies with fire pits that will make you want to lounge and linger.

All of this is centered around a large, open-air bar, event reception area, and swimming pool. Though compact, the pool is nestled in an exquisite setting with vineyard views. If you can manage to peel yourself away from the hotel, the property also has bicycles that guests can use to get around town or pedal around the newly built Napa Vine Trail. Or, simply walk a few hundred feet to the winery next door, Beringer, for a sampling of their world-renowned wines. Whatever you choose to do—be it lounge with a glass of wine at the new poolside bar, or retreat for a massage in the on-site spa—you can’t go wrong at this beautiful Napa wine country resort.

The Bellini was born in Venice at Harry’s Bar, which has been hopping since 1931. Declared a National Historic Monument by the Italian government in 2001, this San Marco bar and restaurant is a cultural institution. Even though it doesn’t do the best food in Venice, and prices are ridiculously expensive, it’s worth dining here once just for the experience. Over the decades it has served a global collection of writers and artists, including Ernest Hemingway, Charlie Chaplin, and Orson Welles, and today it’s still popular with Venetian movers and shakers.

The interior decor has not changed since Giuseppe Cipriani opened Harry’s on the eve of World War II (and during the war, Harry’s was one of only a handful of restaurants in Venice that would serve Jewish patrons). The food is classic Venetian. Try the baked sea bass with artichokes for a main, and make sure to save room for dessert. Harry’s is famed for crêpes flambées and also its Cipriani chocolate cake. Reservations are imperative; when booking ask for the ground floor because dining here is all about seeing and being seen, and the second floor is considered much less cool by Venice society (although it has much better views and more dining space).

Contrary to popular belief, most Denverites do not dress like cowboys. But those hipsters that do, do it right at Rockmount Ranch Wear. Some seriously cool fashion pieces have been flying off the racks here since 1946, when the shop opened in at this location in what is now called LoDo. Elvis rocked a gingham shirt from here, Jack White wore red fringe well on the cover of Elephant, even debonair Cary Grant donned one of their red chambray shirts with pearl-snap pockets. The costume designer for Brokeback Mountain made the men look like men in classic denim from Rockmount. Giddyap.

Situated off the eastern shore of Long Island, The Chequit is old school in an elegant way. The hotel occupies a big white building, surrounded by grassy lawns, impeccably maintained hedgerows, and towering deciduous trees, and features bright, homey rooms, complete with large windows that let in plenty of natural light. While all the rooms have been refurbished, those in the main house retain much of their original architecture, lending them a certain vintage charm. The Chequit operates on a bed-and-breakfast model, and guests can either take their morning meal in the lobby or opt to have a lighter option sent straight to their room. While the target audience here is weekenders seeking an escape from New York City, the hotel is also a popular spot for weddings and retreats, with two meeting rooms and full catering services available from on-site Red Maple Restaurant.

Opened in 2017, Hayes Street Hotel may occupy a modern building in Midtown, but the boutique lodging has made every effort to highlight the area’s historic past and the local makers who adhere to its traditions. A nod to the city’s former life as one of the country’s busiest printing centers, the lobby features poster art from famed letterpress studio Hatch Show Print, which has created musical renderings for the likes of Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley, and Loretta Lynn over its 140-year lifespan, while white porch swings invite you to sip a cup of joe from Bongo Java, Nashville’s oldest coffeehouse. Local bourbons, whiskeys, and microbrews make up the menu at the Hayes Street Bar, and guest rooms favor minimalism with hardwood floors and mint-green accent walls, their clean lines providing a serene backdrop for the city’s myriad pleasures.

Opened in April 2001, this Central Business District property, a converted dry-goods warehouse, is a departure from the typical New Orleans hotel. Instead of fleur-de-lis wallpaper and Louis XIV chairs, you’ll find Fortuny lamps, Herman Miller desk chairs, and Agape “Spoon” tubs in the palatial bathrooms. The 18 lofts (two are penthouses), with their white walls, concrete floors, and modern furnishings, feel straight out of the pages of Dwell.

The hotel doesn’t have the amenities of a larger hotel; the lobby is meant for checking in, not hanging out, and there’s no restaurant or bar to prop up, but guests have privileges at the sister hotel, International House. And, most significantly, the fact that there are just 18 rooms means that from the minute you check in, the front desk team knows you.

A buzz surrounds the Smyth, located smack in the heart of TriBeCa, with its recent reinvention: Chef Andrew Carmellini has revitalized the restaurant space, making it a destination for diners from across the city, and a redesign from Gachot Studios has brought a fresh feel to the decor. The new residential-feeling lobby is meant to be your TriBeCa living room, with all the neighborhood’s shopping, galleries, spas, Michelin-rated restaurants, and attractions right on the doorstep. One of downtown’s most poignant landmarks, the 9/11 Memorial, is a few short blocks away. Mirroring the neighborhood’s style, this hotel is understated and chic. Grab a stool next to TriBeCa’s designers, filmmakers, and photographers for a cocktail at the Evening Bar.

The largest luxury hotel in the city, the Charleston Place takes up a full city block with entrances on King and Meeting streets; the latter leads to the grand lobby, with its imperial open-arm staircase, 12-foot crystal chandelier, and Italian marble floors. Its 433 large guest rooms have old-fashioned Southern details like mahogany and damask furnishings. The hotel’s lower level houses fine-dining restaurant Charleston Grill, an attractive hotel bar, a large indoor saltwater pool with a retractable glass roof, and a shopping arcade with designer stores. The hotel recently began a $150 million renovation but will remain open as the property is upgraded from stem to stern.

Situated on 10 acres in the heart of downtown, this 24-story hotel lives up to its name with 775 elegant guest rooms, appointed with handcrafted cherrywood Richelieu furnishings, floor-to-ceiling windows, Italian marble bathrooms, and spacious balconies. Public outdoor spaces include an immaculately manicured courtyard garden with a central fountain, a pretty-as-can-be terrace café serving house-made breads, and an outsize pool lined with loungers, all against a backdrop of classic white granite. To top it off, the hotel also features a colorful toy store with costumes galore, a jewel box of a sweets shop with macarons and other divine confections, and a men’s haberdashery. The lobby lounge hosts a live jazz band on weekend nights, and the staff tends to a crackling open fire during cool weather.

Bordered on the south by its eponymous deep-red cliffs, the national monument is home to broad plateaus, endangered California condors, and some of the oldest petroglyphs in the United States. But the area’s greatest hit is the Wave, a dramatic, undulant orange rock formation. There are trailheads, maps, and minimally marked checkpoints along the trail leading to the famous spot, but unless you opt to hire an authorized guide, you’ll have to pick your way carefully across relatively untouched desert—that is, if you manage to snag one of the 20 daily hiking permits. Apply online four months in advance or enter the daily lottery at the visitor center in Kenab, Utah. Didn’t make it? Grab a map, make sure you have a spare tire, and explore the monument’s lesser-known slot canyons and gulches, or head to the Grand Canyon or Zion National Park; both are within a two-to-three-hour drive. You can always try again the next day. Permits are $6 and $7.

This hotel has changed ownership and is now the Ambassador Chicago.

In 2011, hotelier Ian Schrager reopened the iconic but faded Ambassador East Hotel as the Public, instantly infusing Chicago‘s Gold Coast with some flash. Its Pump Room restaurant was the city’s first posh, post-Prohibition, celebrity hangout (everyone from Fred Astaire to John Belushi has come). Keeping its name but little of the old decor, the revitalized Pump Room has a 24-foot bar with a 12-karat white gold–leaf ceiling and a changing menu by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The high-ceilinged, columned lobby feels both grand and intimate, and it’s now divided into a lounge with a computer-equipped workstation and an elegant library/coffee bar with deep couches and original art, including photos by Hendrik Kersten. Residential high-rises along Lake Shore Drive obscure views of Lake Michigan from the hotel, but drop-dead gorgeous rooms elegantly infuse the pre-WWII architecture with white stuffed couches, bronze textiles, and white sheepskin throws for an effect of lush minimalism befitting one of the city’s oldest and toniest neighborhoods.

Why we love it: A laidback but luxurious coastal retreat set in one of Southern California’s loveliest villages

The Highlights:
- Comfortable, light-filled rooms with private balconies
- Outdoor dining with ocean views
- A beautiful beach just a short walk down the hill

The Review:
Self-described as “your home by the sea,” L’Auberge Del Mar feels more like a mansion plucked from a Nancy Meyers movie. The immaculate property comprises 121 estate-style bedrooms set around a central pool and dining terrace just steps from a textbook SoCal beach. Rooms are full of welcoming touches—plush bedding, marble bathrooms, private balconies or patios, and carefully curated books on local topics—while facilities include several upscale dining and drinking options as well as two tennis courts, a 24-hour fitness center, and an award-winning spa. The hotel even welcomes dogs—and remembers them from previous visits—adding a personal touch to every stay.

Stop by the Living Room for cocktails and regular live music, savor fish tacos at the outdoor Shoreline restaurant as the sun dips into the Pacific, or end the night by the firepits at Bleu Bar. During the day, head to nearby Powerhouse Park and Beach for surfing, swimming and sunbathing, or Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve for hiking. Both Del Mar village and neighboring La Jolla offer upscale shopping and dining, and San Diego is less than 30 minutes on the freeway. Should you wish to stay closer to “home,” there are Electra Beach Cruisers available to rent as well as a village shuttle that covers a one-mile radius around town.