Search results for

In a city known for glamour, Waldorf Astoria managed to up the ante when it opened in 2017. Lalique crystal, Italian marble, hand-blown Murano glass, and custom-made art deco–inspired furniture fill the interiors, decorated by French interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon. All 170 rooms and suites have floor-to-ceiling windows and private balconies (the 3,215-square-foot Presidential Suite comes with its own spa and home theater). On the rooftop, a saltwater pool has unparalleled views of Beverly Hills and is busy both day and night, when warm mimosa eggs served with caviar emerge from the kitchen and ginger margaritas flow. Acclaimed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten opened his first Los Angeles restaurant at the hotel and handles all the room service, too. If you want to power lunch with the best of them, order his ahi tuna tartare and avocado carpaccio pizza. Pro tips: Hotel amenities encourage guests to go all in on the Beverly Hills lifestyle. Guests booking a Signature Suite get an option to reserve an Aston Martin to cruise around town. This is also home to the only La Prairie Spa in Southern California—the Rejuvenating Platinum Facial is a local favorite.

Ask someone who’s stayed at Number 31, a downtown Dublin house-hotel, what it’s like and he or she likely won’t get past the breakfast: the pears poached in vanilla syrup, Wexford strawberries, eggs scrambled with smoked salmon from the west coast, and slices of zesty cranberry loaf. Such homey food served in a sunlit dining room is part of what makes Number 31 feel less like a hotel and more like the pied-à-terre you’ve always dreamed of. Comfortable rooms and unobtrusive staff add to the urban townhouse vibe; the hotel owners, Noel and Deirdre Comer, manage to be warm and welcoming while also leaving guests to make themselves at home around the peat fire in the sunken lounge.

A wild garden separates the hotel’s two buildings, a Georgian terrace house and the coach house, and the overall modernist-meets-classic design owes to architect Sam Stephenson, who lived in the house as he renovated it in the 1950s. Number 31 is a favorite of Dublin insiders, from artists to architects to the designer John Rocha.

Located in downtown Santa Fe, this perfectly sized museum is dedicated to the artistic life of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) and houses the single largest collection of the artist’s work in the world. Rotating exhibits often include O’Keeffe’s iconic desert landscape paintings alongside lesser-known gems painted in Lake George and Hawaii (where she was commissioned by the Dole pineapple company). Often, notable pieces from established peers and contemporaries like Ansel Adams, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol join hers on the walls.

“Straight ahead for 42 Miles” said the automated, slightly pitchy, woman’s voice. My road trip buddy and I looked at each other as if to check what we’d just heard. Sure enough though, the GPS was right. Straight as a die, but much, much more interesting with stops on the way to check out a coyote crossing the road, a sign marking a public phone that wasn’t there, and the remnants of some poor animal carcass that didn’t quite beat the vehicles before us.

Though it sits squarely in Tel Aviv’s Lev Ha’ir (the heart of the city), Hotel Montefiore feels almost hidden away, not least because of the fact that greenery shrouds much of the restored 1922 mansion. Gaze out the window of the lobby restaurant (where you should, without fail, order the Tunisian eggs for breakfast) and you’re as likely to find yourself leaf-peeping as people-watching. The hotel feels all the more intimate with its grand total of 12 guestrooms, each cozily appointed with well-stocked book shelves and retro armchairs. The vibe here isn’t strictly old-timey, however. You’ll also find a striking modern art collection and a DVD library that (almost) rivals the book selection. As tempted as you may be to binge-watch or read in your down-draped bed, don’t skip a nightcap in the downstairs bar, which is the picture of international style, whether you’re talking about the crowd or the menu offerings.

Carmen lies at the crossroads where quality, creativity, and sustainability (plus every other big-city culinary trend) meet. The namesake proprietress, alongside musician husband Rob Pevitts (both San Francisco Cordon Bleu graduates), is the genius who imported the restaurant’s California-sybarite style to Cartagena. She also brought a passion for everything that comes from the sea, and even imported her father, who’s responsible for serving up crab, lobster, fish, and octopus in line with standards he picked up on his many travels in New York and Japan.

Dear, sweet, honey. Raw, unfiltered, unheated, made in Montana honey to be more precise. The Wustner Brothers keep their bees in the Sapphire Mountains outside of Missoula, where they can happily forage on Montana wildflowers and create delicious honey. The Wustner Brothers currently have several varieties of honey, including napweed, wildflower and clover honey. Creamed honey in a variety of flavors is also available. Wustner Brothers Honey can be found at grocery stores and in restaurant menus all over the state- don’t miss their creamed honey with local huckleberries for a double dose of Montana goodness.

With killer views of the waves crashing onto Ocean Beach, the Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant is one of the best places to grab a bite and watch the sunset in San Francisco. Before its current incarnation, the 1925 Spanish revival building served as a beach changing room, an Army outpost during WWII, and a VFW hall. The disused building was shuttered in 1970, but spared for its landmark WPA murals and mosaics. Come to see the murals, and stay for the food and Ocean Beach views. Upstairs, above the visitor center, the Beach Chalet Restaurant serves fresh fish and steaks. Downstairs, opening out to Golden Gate Park, the sunny and more casual Park Chalet offers burgers or fish and chips, and live music on weekends.

One of only two hotels right on Biscayne Bay (the other is the Standard), rooms at Mondrian South Beach are coveted by guests wanting a stellar view. Designed by Dutchman Marcel Wanders, the hotel’s decor is intended to evoke a sense that one is floating around in an underwater world, and the property is described as an homage to Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The slightly whimsical and slightly creepy mermaidlike woman whose face appears on walls throughout the hotel is the “keeper” of this “castle,” where incongruous elements—traditional blue-and-white Dutch porcelain juxtaposed with busy black-and-white patterned wallpaper, say—somehow work in odd, unexpected harmony. Everything about the hotel feels spacious, including oversized rooms, many of which are flooded with sunlight and enjoy bay views.

A contemporary take on a classic 1970s Adriatic resort, Hotel Lone is Croatia’s first and only member of the Design Hotels network. The gleaming-white, Y-shaped building may sit amid the forests of Zlatni Rt Park (a 10-minute seafront stroll from the Old Town of Rovinj), but its five-story lobby forgoes nature for flowing golden fabrics, rich murals, and a suspended steel sculpture. The Scandinavian-style accommodations are decidedly more minimalist, with lots of wood and natural light aplenty—plus plunge pools on park-facing terraces in the 16 Jazz rooms. Facilities include an 18,300-square-foot spa with an indoor pool, eight treatment rooms, and a unisex sauna complex, as well as the stellar ResoLution Signature Restaurant.

Why we love it: A seaside sanctuary that marries high design with local adventure

The Highlights:
- The mix of Mediterranean and mid-century California style
- Working record players and vintage vinyl libraries in place of TVs in guest rooms
- Complimentary morning yoga, plus an “Adventure Collection” full of bikes, kayaks, surfboards, and hiking and snorkeling gear

The Review:
Opened in 2018, Hotel Joaquin pairs downtown cool with coastal elegance. The property comes courtesy of Paul Makarechian, who grew up in Orange County and now owns Auric Road, a collection of “petite resorts” that also includes Korakia Pensione in Palm Springs and Sonoma Coast Villa Resort & Spa in Bodega, California. Once a roadside motel, Joaquin now blends elements of St. Bart’s, the Mediterranean, and mid-century SoCal beach culture for an exclusive yet relaxed feel, with curated artwork and vintage finds around every corner. Light floods the guest rooms, some of which have balconies and private patios (book La Vue for the hotel’s only picture window, framing views of the ocean and Catalina Island). Each room also includes a working record player and vinyl library, as well as Anichini linens, Le Labo bath products, and artisanal snacks curated by Farm to People. The bathrooms pull out all the design stops with imported marble, hand-painted tiles, and brass fixtures.

At on-site restaurant Saline, guests can enjoy smoothies and other light fare for breakfast, wholesome salads and sandwiches for lunch, and Mediterranean-inspired share plates for dinner, along with house spritzes and creative cocktails all day long. When not lounging at the pool, take advantage of the hotel’s Adventure Collection, which includes complimentary surfboards, diving gear, bicycles, and more for exploring Laguna Beach. Should you prefer to hang on the beach, hotel staff will even set up your chairs, pack you a picnic, and deliver water sport equipment to Shaw’s Cove, just a two-minute walk from the property’s garden gate.

Note: You must be over 21 to reserve a room and at least 18 to stay at Hotel Joaquin. Service animals only.

Famous since its 1998 opening as the place with the dancing fountains (further immortalized in the final scene of the 2001 film Ocean’s Eleven), the 3,933-room Italian-themed Bellagio is a Las Vegas icon. There is a fantasy feel about it, with its five courtyard pools, its indoor botanical garden and conservatory that change with the seasons, its lobby-dominating Dale Chihuly blown-glass flower sculpture, and its eight-acre lake, out of which rise the fountains. Yet following a 2015 upgrade, it also feels as modern as any hotel on the Strip. The Bellagio still does a few things the old-fashioned way: Along with the expected celebrity restaurants, there is a buffet (a long-cherished Las Vegas tradition) brought up to modern standards with an all-you-can-drink alcohol option. Throughout the hotel, service is tops, shopping is high-end, the Cirque du Soleil production O draws ’em in, and—another Las Vegas tradition—a casino with nearly the area of two football fields makes it all go ‘round, which is no doubt why everybody has to be out of the pools by 7 p.m.

The unofficial symbol of St. Louis, the Gateway Arch is the tallest man-made monument in the United States, rising 630 feet into the air. It sits at the center of Gateway Arch National Park, which was established in 1935 to commemorate Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a transcontinental America. In 2018, the park emerged from a five-year, $380 million renovation, which added a grassy pedestrian walkway over the interstate as well as a revamped museum with new exhibits about the construction of the arch and how the expansion of the United States affected Native American communities. Tour the new sites, then take the four-minute, vertigo-inducing tram to the top of the arch, where you can see up to 30 miles east and west on a clear day.

Restaurateur Brooks Reitz built his name with this chicken-and-oyster joint that feels old-school despite its carefully crafted ambiance. On a first visit, it’s sinful not to order the perfectly salted, crispy/juicy fried chicken amalgam shellacked with a glaze of Old Bay and cayenne suspended in melted lard. That necessitates a second visit to gorge on the poached char-grilled lobster and sausage, or the Leon’s Fish Fry, a platter of shrimp, oysters and catfish. Leon’s was the first to open way-Upper King, now the restaurant hotbed, and it’s held onto its cool status thanks to its thoughtful buildout in a restored auto body shop, retaining the exposed rafters and a rollup garage door that opens to a patio out front.

No trip to D.C. is complete without ordering the district’s signature dish, the half-smoke. And while many restaurants serve it, there’s only one worthy of your order: Ben’s Chili Bowl. The popular landmark diner has been feeding the community and cultural icons since the area’s “Black Broadway” days, when jazz greats such as Miles Davis enjoyed this comfort food classic. When riots broke out after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968, Ben’s remained open and served both police and protesters. While the U Street Corridor has undergone an urban makeover, Ben’s has remained the same, serving its quarter-pound of half-pork/half-beef smoked sausage on a bun with mustard and onions, all smothered in spicy homemade chili sauce. The prestigious James Beard Foundation even took notice, deeming it one of “America’s Classics.” Bring cash and come hungry.