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Why we love it: A boutique resort that perfectly merges relaxation with exploration

Highlights:
- Amenities like an infinity pool, spa, and outdoor fire pits to help you unwind
- Unique offerings like daily yoga classes and nightly social hours with wine
- Weekly stargazing sessions with local astronomy experts

The Review:
This eclectic 100-room property attracts adventurous extroverts ready to explore the surrounding red rocks, then swap tales over morning coffee or happy hour wine. Inside, decor honors the area’s Native American heritage, incorporating elements like grass-woven baskets, headboards crafted from local fallen trees, and desert flower hues against soothing neutrals. Pet-friendly rooms also feature luxurious touches like Italian linens, modern art, and Atelier Bloem toiletries, while suites up the ante with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the desert.

Outdoors, guests can gather around the heated pool and hot tub or several crackling fire pits and admire views of Sedona’s iconic Snoopy Rock. There’s also an award-winning spa for when you need respite from all the hiking, plus a signature restaurant, SaltRock, which serves Southwest favorites alongside creative mezcal cocktails. On Monday nights, local astronomy experts lead stargazing sessions to take in Sedona’s dark skies, and daily yoga classes are included in the resort fee. Other amenities include access to top-rated golf courses, a full-service fitness center, complimentary bikes, and a shuttle that ferries guests within a one-mile radius of the property.

When you first show up at Bodega, you could easily mistake it for a popular neighborhood taqueria. Between the Airstream trailer serving tacos and the picnic tables, it looks like a low-key spot. It is that, but as you see the Ubers full of models and clubgoers arriving and disappearing into the small taco joint, you get a sense there might be something more going on. Look around for a guy with an earpiece at the back of the room and tell him your friend sent you, and you might just get directed to a back door that looks like an entrance to a Porta Potti. Pass through here and you’ll enter a graffiti-filled men’s washroom. It’s only after passing through yet another door that you will enter one of South Beach’s hot hidden nightclubs....

With its thatched roof, bamboo bar, and surfboard decor, this beloved watering hole—often voted Maui’s best bar by locals—checks all the tiki boxes. Head here for live music, lanai seating, and late-night dancing, plus fun and fruity rum cocktails like mai tais, zombies, daiquiris, and piña coladas. Beyond its drinks, South Shore Tiki Lounge was recognized by the state of Hawaii as an outstanding business for its regular fund-raising efforts, which benefit local organizations like the Keiki Cupboard, Hawaii Wildlife Fund, Maui Humane Society, and Hawaii Animal Rescue Foundation. All that to say, you can feel good coming here to wash down a massive chili-cheese hot dog with a lychee-watermelon martini.

Tucked in a condo complex just north of the bridge, Coco Loco’s is a cozy little pool and beach bar. On hot days, take advantage of the swim-up bar stools or hang out on the picnic tables closer to the beach. What Coco Loco’s lacks in size, it definitely makes up for in personality. Owners Sue and Steve have done a wonderful job with fostering a community spirit, especially with many of the expats on the island. Look for a number of weekly activities like trivia and cribbage that keep the bar hoppin’ pretty much every day. Open daily noon to 10 p.m.

Ralph Brennan’s Red Fish Grill pairs eclectic, of-the-sea décor with some of the best seafood in town. Don’t miss the BBQ oysters with Crystal Hot Sauce and blue cheese dressing. Next door, Bourbon House is known for its towering plateaux de fruits de mer, which comes with oysters with caviar, boiled Gulf shrimp, mussels, crab fingers, and seafood salad, and its impressive bourbon selection. Donald Link’s latest endeavor, Peche, is to seafood what Cochon is to pork. On Magazine Street, Casamento’s is an institution for its oyster loaf and fried seafood platters, plus it’s fun to watch the hulking shuckers tackle piles of just-off-the-boat bivalves.

Voted one of the top restaurants in Lima, chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino’s modern Amazonian restaurant, Malabar, is worthy of the praise. From the à la carte menu, order the river snails with chorizo sausage and exotic, sweet-and-sour aguaje fruit, followed by the smoked duck with cacao sauce, avocado, and blue cheese. Or opt for the seasonal tasting menu featuring organic heart of palm salad with chestnut flour and paiche jungle fish with black hot peppers and nutty dale dale. In a city addicted to meat, Schiaffino’s vegetarian tasting menu is a delight. It includes black quinoa, Amazonian honey, and a starchy-sweet tuber dish translated as “seven textures of yucca.”

Another hot spot in Pigalle located in yet another former brothel. Dirty Dick, despite the name, isn’t a place of perdition but the city’s second tiki bar, where Polynesian folklore and the American fifties come to life in the details: lounge music that teeters between surf-rock and exotica, barmen in Hawaiian tops, bamboo stools, Maori sculptures, and a jungle-inspired smoking room. The cocktails, of course, are tropical and range from classic (mai tai) to homemade drinks like the Amazombie served for four people in a smoking crater. Should the bar be jammed, which is likely in the late hours of the night, head directly across the street to Glass, the other leading cocktail bar on the street.

Just minutes from PAMM, this festive downtown Miami marketplace is on Biscayne Bay. Take a stroll, rent a charter boat, or simply practice your photography skills, as the views along the bay are breathtaking, especially at sunset. Restaurants range from a Bavarian beer hall to a seafood bar and grill to a Cuban hot spot. To truly soak in the Miami music spirit, venture here in the evening for the free concerts. Expect crowds when there’s gorgeous weather (since this is Miami, that would be most days), but you will still be able to find some open space to take in the scene.

Barranco, one of the city’s most beautiful neighborhoods, awash in character, is known for an artsy vibe and gorgeous colonial buildings. Cross the Puente de los Suspiros (Spanish for “Bridge of Sighs”) and follow the Bajada de los Baños to the seaside. Explore the side streets and duck into cute cafés and art venues, including the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC). The gallery-shop Dédalo, in particular, is ideal for combining coffee, snacking, shopping, and art viewing. Visiting another Barranco landmark, the belle epoque Hotel B, provides a quick trip back to a time of elegant architecture. Splurge for a smart cocktail on the rooftop bar to linger a little longer.

Located in the charming Haidhausen district in the heart of Munich, with an in-house S-Bahn station providing direct connections to the central train station and the airport, Hilton Munich City offers an ideal balance between convenience and calm. Enjoy amenities like a 24-hour fitness center and onsite bike rentals, plus innovative signature cocktails at Juliet Rose Bar and delicious Italian fare at MONA, each an elevator ride away from a comfortable stay.

Housed in a refurbished building on a four-acre private peninsula, this all-inclusive luxury resort is far more expensive than most hotels on Lake Titicaca, but it’s well worth the splurge. Not only are all of your meals, cocktails, and most excursions included, but the lodge invests deeply in the local community—it hires more than three-quarters of its staff from the surrounding area, sources as many ingredients as possible from regional farmers, and turns to nearby artisans for its textiles and other crafts. Additionally, the on-site restaurant is one of the best in the area. If you’d prefer a more private dining experience, take your meal on one of the hotel’s wraparound terraces, or order 24-hour room service.

All 18 rooms face the lake and feature heated floors (it can get chilly at night at 12,500 feet of elevation), a banquette overlooking the water, a free mini-bar, and deep bathtubs. King rooms are the most economical, but the two corner rooms—with their spacious layouts and panoramic views of the lake—are the most requested. For the best sunrise or sunset vistas, choose either the “Dawn” or “Dusk” rooms.

An enviable location in the quietly upscale embassy quarter on the edge of sprawling Tiergarten Park is only part of SO Berlin Das Stue’s appeal. Occupying a graceful, gray-stone 1930s building that once housed the Danish embassy, the hotel features soothing, sophisticated interiors by Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola, who decorated the public areas with animal sculptures—a reference to the neighboring zoo—and colorful, comfortable furnishings. Two original travertine staircases lead up to the 78 rooms and suites, which offer a blend of modern conveniences (rain showers, HD entertainment systems, and iMacs in each room) and considered design touches (black-and-white fashion photographs, hardwood floors, sliding walls, handle-less cupboards), plus views of either the park or the zoo. Guests can enjoy the hotel’s glamorous work and relaxation areas—some with libraries of books on art and design, fashion, and architecture—as well as a spa offering holistic Susanne Kaufmann treatments, and a fitness center with an indoor swimming pool and Finnish sauna. The new staff uniforms come from Viktor & Rolf. Dining options include a chic bar serving light bites (and live music every other Friday); The Casual, offering all-day shareable plates both indoors and out; and the Michelin-starred, Mediterranean-accented Cinco from chef Paco Pérez. A newer wing, designed by Axthelm Architects, features rooms with more direct views of the zoo—which hotel guests can access via the terrace’s exclusive private entrance.

A landmark since the 1920s, this glamorous resort at Monaco’s easternmost border with France still evokes the glory days of Monte Carlo, when high-society scenesters were frequent guests. The rooms, airy and bright after a makeover by designer India Mahdavi, have an elevated Deco-meets-nautical vibe with porthole windows, Mediterranean stripes—in turquoise, white, brick red, and beige—tailored furnishings, and artsy line drawings on the walls that recall Matisse and Cocteau. The superb, all-organic restaurant Elsa (named after Elsa Maxwell, the American columnist and hostess who was instrumental in attracting the beau monde to the hotel) is another throwback, while the Olympic-size heated seawater pool—open to guests and Beach Club members who swan around on weekends with their children in tow—remains a draw now as it was then.

Housed in a 17th-century town house at the heart of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, this boutique hotel offers superior service, luxurious rooms, a secret garden with a swimming pool, and an art gallery, where pieces by local artists and designers hang alongside souvenirs from the owners’ extensive travels. Past the hotel’s monumental entrance with its 300-year-old locks, a staircase lined with 17th-century stained glass leads to four spacious rooms, each uniquely decorated with fine furniture, carefully selected fabrics, and objects from around the world. Guests can also look forward to a cozy lounge with a fireplace, and a bright kitchen, where cool-as-can-be owners Frédéric and Marie-Claude serve a mind-blowing breakfast spread each morning.

When Nashville natives Ann and Jack Waddey decided to open a hotel within walking distance of downtown, they went all out to make guests feel at home. In lieu of a traditional reception area, visitors check in using their mobile device at the virtual front desk, and though daily housekeeping services are available, staff goes off duty at night. The property’s 24 residence-style suites feature bedrooms with separate living areas, each decorated with dramatic tropical wallpaper offset by white furniture, as well as full kitchens with stainless-steel appliances and penny-tile backsplashes; naturally, they’re stocked with hyperlocal goods like Bongo Java coffee, or whatever you wish should you opt in to the hotel’s grocery program. Rounding out the list of homey amenities are C.O. Bigelow products and velvety robes in the bathrooms, plus dry cleaning services and free parking.