The Best New Hotels in North America and Europe, 2023
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You can encounter inspiration in many different forms at a great hotel. It might be as simple as a stunning view. Standing on a balcony at the Maybourne Riviera, on the Côte d’Azur, I took in an expanse of sea and sky unlike that of any other place in the world. There’s a reason that corner of the earth attracted painters such as Matisse and Bonnard. It’s an image to conjure when the meditation app tells you to think of a calming place. A moment that becomes a little souvenir of the soul.
Experiences like this may be tiny, but they can stick. In the kitchen at the Four Seasons Naviva, in Punta Mita, Mexico, the chef casually taught me how to prepare a salsa using a molcajete, a traditional pre-Hispanic mortar and pestle made from lava rock. It was so simple and revelatory and visceral—just charred tomatoes and jalapeños and salt—that I vowed to make it regularly with my salsa-loving children. New York’s Nine Orchard, our very first Hotel of the Year, is a place that embraces the analog, so inspiration came to me in the form of the excellent wooden speakers in my room (made by Ojas). They reminded me that good sound matters.
Experiential travel has been a buzzword for quite some time. The cynic in me always thought of it as redundant. To travel is to experience, no? But the more I travel, the more I realize that’s not always the case. Sometimes we’re just trying to get from point A to point B. It takes commitment to notice the world around you, to be open to the new. And the very best hotels have a way of putting you in that mode.
For this second edition of our Best New Hotels list, we traveled throughout North America and Europe to find places offering more than high thread counts and hot tubs. These are the spots that changed us in big and small ways. We hope you get to take some inspiration home from them, too. —Kevin Sintumuang
Check Out the Best New Hotels in:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
EUROPE
MEXICO, CANADA, + the CARIBBEAN
Nine Orchard
New York, New York
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On one end of the travel-fantasy spectrum, there is the blissed-out, blue-skies-and-beaches vacation. The stuff postcards are made of. Nothing wrong with seeking that. Toward the other end is the kind where you imagine yourself as a neighborhood local. You tap into the rhythm of the vibrant daily life in the blocks around you and feel as if you’ve merged with a hipper, alternate-universe version of yourself. That’s what Nine Orchard will do for you.
We know the “hotels for locals” shtick, where there’s a lobby filled with folks on laptops. This is not that. Nine Orchard is more about creating the fantasy of residence. It starts with your room number. 4L, 3G, 8A. You might think you’ve stepped into someone’s apartment: Each room has an appreciation for the analog—the handmade ceramic lamps, the paintings from local artists, the wooden Ojas speakers that tune in to stations curated by DJ Stretch Armstrong. You’ll want to hole up and write a memoir here.
Of course, the hotel’s unlikely location is what makes the neighborhood-local fantasy really work. Inhabiting the Jarmulowsky Bank building, a beaux arts landmark at the junction of the Lower East Side and Chinatown, Nine Orchard is at the heart of an area (often referred to as Dimes Square) that has become a hotbed for a certain type of fashion/media/art/skate cool kid. But you don’t need to subscribe to that ethos to take in the most breezily cool spots in N. Y. C.: wine bars like Parcelle and Le Dive, Scarr’s Pizza for quick eats, and the Chinatown BYOB classic Wu’s Wonton King. And Nine Orchard’s own Swan Room and Corner Bar, from chef and restaurateur Ignacio Mattos, are destinations in their own right, where everyone, no matter where they’re from, seems to have the look of a local celebrity who is chill about being a local celebrity. Maybe that’s the real fantasy that Nine Orchard delivers. Rooms from $525 —K.S.
Ritz Carlton Nomad
New York, New York
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Lying in a cloudlike king bed, facing downtown, with One World Trade Center glimmering in the distance, I watched the sunset, thirty-four stories in the sky, and thought, What a thing to experience in a city where you thought you’d seen it all. As a gleaming, fifty-story-tall glass tower, the Ritz-Carlton New York NoMad offers that Ritz-Carlton tranquility, but the bars and restaurants here have made it an unlikely nightlife destination in a decidedly non-touristy hood. You’ll have a sanctuary in your room with a tub—rare in N. Y. C.—but there’s also a buzzy lobby bar and the José Andrés rooftop lounge Nubeluz. It’s an uncommon New York hotel combo, where you can be serene or all-out energetic. Rooms from $1,000 —K.S.
The Hotel Chelsea
New York, New York
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You can’t talk about the Hotel Chelsea without checking off the names of its famous tenants and guests. The building, finished in 1884, was conceived as a kind of commune for musicians and novelists and has had a bohemian artistic energy since then. Mark Twain, Stanley Kubrick, Patti Smith, Andy Warhol, and Jimi Hendrix are just some of the notable folks who have graced this Queen Anne–style building over the past century. Today it might lack a raucous clientele, but that’s all for a better night’s sleep. Expect laid-back service, marble-and-brass bathrooms, animal-print furniture. From the pitch-perfect El Quijote, a Spanish restaurant that opened in 1930, to the iconic stained-glass windows and wrought-iron balconies, checking into the Chelsea feels like entering a time warp. Rooms from approx. $300 —K.S.
The Wall Street Hotel
New York, New York
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Want to see something beautiful? Come stand on the corner of Wall Street and Water in Lower Manhattan and stare at this gorgeous mass of concrete. The Paspaley family, Australians who were pioneers in the pearl industry, lovingly and painstakingly brought the beaux arts facade of the Wall Street Hotel to life over the course of several years. And what’s inside is even better. Spacious suites (for Manhattan!), oversized bathrooms (see previous parenthetical), a chic-meets-fun bar that draws locals and guests, plus an absolutely killer in-house French brasserie—this place doesn’t miss. Rooms from approx. $320 —Madison Vain
The Ned
New York, New York
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You’ll quickly lose track of how many food and beverage options there are at the iconic London brand’s NoMad location. Rooftop bar, lobby bar, library (with bar service), a trendy Italian spot, a private table in a water tower, and a formal dining room for tableside service. All have their own vibe and are worthy of inspection, but only some are available to hotel guests. The rest are reserved for Ned members. But worry not, there’s plenty of fun to be had for those who book here. Rooms from $600 —M.V.
Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s
New York, New York
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The committed traveler, it stands to reason, always looks for authentic local color. So a stay in New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood should naturally involve a few nights in a soaring, modernist hymn to the twenty-four-hour possibilities of twenty-first-century New York. Right? Non. Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s, which opened recently on Greenwich Street, whiffs unmistakably and quite charmingly of Paris. For more than one hundred years, Fouquet’s existed as one of the grandest of all Parisian café-restaurants. In 2006, it entered the hotel business when it was reopened with one-hundred-plus luxury rooms added by the Barrière Group above and around the original café. The New York hotel is the first U.S. venture of the group, which maintains properties in some of the most chichi resorts in Europe. Its inherent Frenchness is both obvious and lightly done. The staff offer a singsongy “Bonjour” when you pass them in the corridor. In the rooms, the furnishings are postmodern curvy takes on deco, and the toile-de-Jouy-style wallpaper is about as French as you can get in room decor, until you stand up close and realize it’s actually composed entirely of cartoony New York street scenes. With a relatively low room count—just ninety-seven in total, including a two-story Grand Appartement Terrasse—the hotel feels quiet and intimate. There’s just a single low-key bar, the Brasserie Fouquet’s New York, and the Par Ici Café, which doubles as the breakfast spot and where, reassuringly, the prices have been imported from Paris along with the style. Rooms from $900 —Nick Sullivan
The Moxy Lower East Side
New York, New York
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When it comes to budget N.Y.C. hotels, you’re lucky if you get a nice room let alone a desirable neighborhood. The Moxy Lower East Side has both, plus it’s a mini vacation in its own right, with five gorgeous dining and drinking venues, including Sake No Hana for sushi and Silver Lining, a piano bar that will make you believe in piano bars again. Rooms from $199 —Brady Langmann
Wildflower Farms
Gardiner, New York
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It’s hard to imagine a more perfect escape from the madness of Manhattan than Wildflower Farms. It’s luxe—lavish, actually—with sixty-five freestanding cabins, cottages, and suites dotting the property. Each has floor-to-ceiling windows and a patio that looks out at a sea of trees and, in some cases, the nearby Shawangunk Ridge. (Some also have outdoor showers.) Inside are comforting quilts splayed across big ol’ beds and welcoming chairs. And there’s a whole lot or little you can do on the property, depending on your mood. Plenty of ways to embrace farm life, with cooking, baking, and cocktail classes using produce from the grounds, plus muddier fare, like the daily farm sessions, which get visitors out into the rows of plants and the greenhouses. Or head out and feed the animals if you’d like! In the winter you can go ice climbing, and hiking is encouraged year-round. Of course, you can also do nothing. Lounge behind your cabin, or stroll over to the stunning main patio and . . . sit. It’s wonderful! You’ll get no judgment from us. Either way, the hotel’s main building has a spa, which, no matter your speed, is a must-visit, and same goes for Clay, the New American restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Come hungry. Rooms from $1,000 —M.V.
Pendry
Washington, D.C.
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The Wharf, a six-year-old real estate development that embraces the Potomac, might appear at first to be just for the tourists. But then you discover the music venues, the raucous Tiki TNT (an Esquire Best Bar in 2021), and places like Moon Rabbit and Del Mar (both Esquire Best New Restaurants) and you think, I’d like to be a tourist here. And now there is the Pendry, the capital’s most stylish new hotel. It’s a striking building, resembling an inverted pyramid, with a pool and hot tub at its pointy base. Along with four-poster beds and that trademark Euro-meets-Cali Pendry calm, many rooms have river views. But the best are from Moonraker, on the thirteenth floor, anchored by a stunner of a circular bar. Is the Wharf officially cool now? It appears so. Rooms from $395 —K.S.
The Morrow
Washington, D.C.
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The Morrow marks a new level of luxury for hotels in NoMa, an area that’s been on the verge since the nearby Union Market was revitalized into a thriving food hall, becoming a district in and of itself, spawning shops and even another market, La Cosecha, which celebrates Latin American culture. The hotel adds to the scene with several stunning venues from chef Nicholas Stefanelli: Le Clou, a modern French brasserie; the cocktail lounge Vesper; and a rooftop bar, Upstairs at the Morrow. The property strikes the balance of warm yet minimal and unfussy. Exactly what the neighborhood deserves. Rooms from $390 —K.S.
Arlo Wynwood
Miami, Florida
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If you’re a first-time visitor to Miami, you probably want the beach. We get it. But there are more places in the city worth experiencing than South Beach, and the Wynwood Arts District is one of them. Arlo Wynwood is the first major hotel in the area and brings with it sleek rooms and the kind of paintings and murals the neighborhood has become known for. And it still provides a dose of Miami glam with a rooftop pool, offering panoramic views of the city, and Higher Ground, a sprawling outdoor bar. Rooms from $199 —K.S.
Montage Big Sky
Big Sky, Montana
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I think we can all agree that Montana is having a moment. Just take a look at your Paramount+ app, where TV creator Taylor Sheridan is on his one trillionth Yellowstone spin-off. Luckily, you don’t have to rough it in the Dutton bunkhouse. With ski-in, ski-out access, this outpost from the über-luxe Montage is a winter sporting paradise. Hell, it’s a year-round paradise. Hiking’s right there. Mountain biking, too. Golf, if that’s your thing. The geysers of Yellowstone National Park are just about an hour away. Of course, some of us don’t like to work hard on vacation. No problem. Post up out back at La Grand Après, flute of Champagne in hand, and wait for your friends to finish their runs. Rooms from $1,395 —M.V.
Pendry
Park City, Utah
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Park City has been chugging along as a great mountain town for sixty years. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t firsts still to be had. The arrival of the Pendry marks the opening of the first luxury property on the lower-key, Canyons Village base side. Except Pendry didn’t just open a hotel—featuring 153 well-appointed guest rooms, some with kitchen and laundry, steps away from the lifts, as well as Après Pendry, the coziest après spot in the area—it brought along a handful of new family-friendly restaurants, plus the area’s first rooftop pool and lounge, which begs for a Champagne-fueled party, even in winter. Since Vail Resorts’ takeover of Park City Mountain Resort in 2014, the company has worked to blend the two bases into one bigger, more bustling community. The Pendry might help it get there. Rooms from $1,095 —M.V.
Thompson
Denver, Colorado
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For a historic mining town, downtown Denver sure looks like a soul suck of new buildings and mindless development. But there’s gold in them thar hills, specifically at 1616 Market Street, home of the new 216-room Thompson Denver. Small things worth mentioning: the Technogym erg in the sprawling gym (also, the kettlebells are in kilograms, the better unit); the D.S. & Durga Bowmakers bath products in the rooms (I’m obsessed); Ludo Lefebvre’s excellent smashburger at Chez Maggy, his first hotel restaurant; bison jerky in the rooms; Parts and Labor’s lightly midcentury design, warm but not show-offy; and the sixth-floor cocktail lounge Reynard Social, featuring a dedicated listening lounge with Victrola record players. Rooms from approx. $300 —Joshua David Stein
The Maybourne Beverly Hills
Los Angeles, California
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Maybourne just gets it. How to make its guests feel good, that is. Warm, impeccable service. Accessible menus. Beautiful rooms. Ridiculously good martinis. 2022 was a banner year for the luxury brand, with the opening of its remarkable property in the French Riviera (don’t worry, you’ll find it elsewhere on this list) and the unveiling of its renovated West Coast addition in Beverly Hills, Maybourne’s first U.S. property. The company took over what was formerly the Montage Beverly Hills, just steps from the best shopping in town, and has made it very much its own. The space feels stately—more European—as does the spa. But the real treat is the secret cigar bar. Make sure to inquire. Rooms from $1,095 —M.V.
The Conrad Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
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If you’re enamored of the Frank Gehry–designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, there’s no better place to appreciate its undulating surfaces than from across the street in the Conrad Los Angeles, which is housed in a tower that was also designed by Gehry. A bonus: You’ll also get great views of the Broad museum, the other architectural wonder in this corner of downtown L.A. The Conrad’s interiors, by Tara Bernerd & Partners, are gorgeously detailed: dark steel, glass, light-blond wood, marble, and leather pulls on drawers and cabinets. And the hotel features two restaurants from chef José Andrés—the open-air Aqua Viva and the Cali-meets-Spain vibe of San Laurel. But the highlight of the property is the rooftop terrace and swimming pool, which overlook the concert hall and the rest of the city. Sometimes downtown Los Angeles doesn’t feel like L.A. But when you’re in the Conrad’s pool and the California sun is shining down, you won’t have any doubts about where you are. Rooms from approx. $400 —K.S.
The Aster
Los Angeles, California
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When visiting the City of Angels, you either want to stay in Hollywood or you don’t. If you do, you won’t be disappointed in this new membership-club hotel. The Aster leans into the historic glam of its neighborhood (think dark woods and sumptuous textiles), and the rooftop lounge is an easy place to waste an afternoon. After dining at the signature restaurant, the Lemon Grove, you’ll be thinking of the lemon pasta for days. Rooms from $424 —M.V.
Auberge Stanly Ranch
Napa Valley, California
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My first blissful moment at Stanly Ranch? Stretching in a sauna with a giant floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at vineyards. I’d just finished a run on the trails around Auberge Resorts’ 712-acre property. Everywhere smells of lavender—there are four varieties throughout. The spa is reason enough to visit; post-sauna was a steam room, a salt room, and a cold-plunge pool. I savored a cup of bone broth by the adults-only pool. They do the wellness thing well here. After turndown service, I found the gift of a little wooden ball with instructions for working the myofascia of my feet—it reduces stress. So do the magic hours. The orange-purple sky stretches longer into the evening in this southern corner of Napa, only forty-five minutes outside San Francisco. The silhouettes of hundred-year-old eucalyptus trees add to the drama. Even by Napa standards, Stanly Ranch is a luxurious standout. The massive Provençal-style pool is the place to take a break from an afternoon of wine tasting with a frozen drink in a swinging egg chair. And there is Bear, a luxe barn of a restaurant. On our final evening, we ate a plate of crudités with vegetables my daughters had helped pick with the resort’s farm director. I can’t remember them loving vegetables as much. The last light of day streamed into the dining room, giving my chardonnay a golden sparkle. In fact, in that moment, everything felt pretty golden. Rooms from $1,300 —K.S.
Dr. Wilkinson’s Backyard Resort
Calistoga, California
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Before the starchitect-designed wineries arrived, small towns in Napa Valley were funky, weird little enclaves home to offbeat wellness centers. The weirdest might have been Dr. Wilkinson’s Hot Springs and Mud Baths, opened in 1952 by chiropractor (and onetime Calistoga mayor) John “Doc” Wilkinson, featuring mud baths (naturally) and mineral dips. The hotel and spa ran for almost seven decades before the pandemic nearly shuttered them. Then, after a lengthy renovation, the resort reopened and pulled off something of a magic trick: The rooms and spa have been modernized, but the original funky spirit remains intact. Dr. Wilkinson would no doubt approve. Rooms from $360 —Danny Dumas
The Madrona
Healdsburg, California
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California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys are food-and-wine heaven, and the only problem is that everyone knows it. Healdsburg, home to the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valley wine regions, is pretty much the last place to resist becoming what locals call “Wine Vegas.” It retains its personal touch while low-key attracting some of the valley’s best restaurants (and most reliable cabernets and zinfandels). Watching over the town is this nineteenth-century family home turned inn turned top-notch resort. The rooms are situated in the Victorian main mansion, the carriage house, and a handful of bungalows around the property, and they’re studded with refurbished antique pieces left over from the property’s original owners. Art curated by San Francisco’s Dolby Chadwick Gallery hangs over the common areas, which serve an all-day menu from Michelin-star chef Jesse Mallgren. Lounge by the pool, drink in the view from the wraparound porch, or borrow one of the property’s electric bikes for a self-guided tour of the local tasting rooms. The Madrona is a place that feels like home; go get a couple of days there before Wine Vegas gobbles up the whole town. Rooms from $695 —Dave Holmes
JW Marriott Anaheim
Anaheim, California
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Disneyland is smaller than Disney World, but trust me, it’s big enough to make the kids happy and thus for you to need some luxurious decompression afterward. Thank goodness for the JW Marriott Anaheim, because the land around Disneyland was in need of a touch of luxury. There’s a rooftop bar with views of Disney California Adventure Park, a pool, and apartmentlike suites with deep soaking tubs. You’ll be close enough to Disneyland but just far enough away to feel like you’re getting a bit of a grown-up vacation from the Mickey Mouse vacation. Rooms from approx. $300 —K.S.
Luma Hotel
San Francisco, California
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Luma San Francisco is the first hotel in the city’s burgeoning Mission Bay neighborhood, which makes it the place you want to be if you’d like to walk over to the Chase Center for a Warriors game or watch the Giants at Oracle Park. (Some rooms have views of the field.) But even if you’re not a sports fan, the modern Luma embraces San Francisco’s waterfront, and you can get a fairly large room with a view of the bay—rare qualities for a hotel in this city, especially at this price. The vibe is clean and techy—a robot can deliver snacks to your room—but there’s also a coffee shop on the ground floor that serves pastries from Craftsman and Wolves. (Get the classic Rebel Within, a soft-boiled egg inside a muffin.) If space to entertain is what you need, the penthouse suites are expansive gems with floor-to-ceiling windows. Rooms from $329 —K.S.
Villa Mara Carmel
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
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Ah, Carmel-by-the-Sea. A place known for stupefying beauty, proximity to Pebble Beach, and electing Dirty Harry as mayor in the mid-eighties. What is it not really known for? Carefully appointed, beautifully considered boutique hotels. Until now. Villa Mara Carmel is located roughly a hundred yards from the surf—the sound of crashing waves lulls you to sleep at night—and has the vibe of a very rich friend’s seaside house. Originally an eleven-room inn built in 1929, the hotel once catered to presidents (Gerald Ford) and architects (Frank Lloyd Wright). Today, after a lengthy overhaul, it feels more like a tastefully decorated European lodge and is the perfect jumping-off point for a California coastal adventure. Downtown Carmel is less than a mile away, while Big Sur is only a forty-minute drive. But you could just as easily stay hyperlocal and spend most of your time sipping local wine at the lobby bar and chatting with fellow guests. There’s historical precedent, after all: Frank Lloyd Wright loved this slice of the world so much, he built the Clinton Walker House across the street from where the hotel stands today. Rooms from $395 —D.D.
Sensei Porcupine Creek
Rancho Mirage, California
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When I asked where I could do my morning jog, a Sensei staffer suggested, “Run on the golf course. There’s nothing like running on grass!” A former private estate of Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, Sensei is home to one of the most exclusive courses in America. Rounds cost $950 and are only available to guests of the resort, where rates start at around $1,500 a night with a two-night minimum. You’ll see only a handful of golfers a day. It was hard to get used to this ultra-exclusivity, but, like everything here—from the menu at Sensei by Nobu, the resort’s restaurant, to the sculptures dotting the property to the groomed mountain trails—the experience is designed to be therapeutic and meditative. While a good time at Sensei could be unlimited golf, many come here for a deep dive into wellness. The most comprehensive offering is the five-day Optimal Wellbeing Program, which assigns you a set of guides to help you fine-tune. By taking a VO2-max test, I learned my upper and lower cardio limits; the evaluation gave me a sense of my body composition and where I needed help with strength. And I came away with tricks to control my breathing and lower my heart rate. On my last day, I decided to play nine holes after having not picked up a club in five years. Perhaps it was because the course had hardly any divots and there was no group ahead of me, but I rediscovered that golf can be pretty meditative if you treat it less as a game and more as a time to unplug. Rooms from approx. $1,500 —K.S.
Thompson/tommie
Austin, Texas
Even if you’re taking part in the boisterousness of the bars and music venues of East Sixth, you’ll find just the right amount of refinement to make you feel like a proper adult again when you enter the Thompson—or its younger cousin, the tommie—both housed in the same tower. The Thompson rooms have exposed concrete ceilings, wooden floors, and beds with green velvet headboards. The tommie rooms are cozy studies in maximizing style in a small space. No matter which you choose, you’ll want to spend some time at a bungalow by the rooftop pool and the adjacent bar and restaurant, Wax Myrtles. Downstairs, you’ll find Diner Bar and the Grey Market, outposts of the restaurants run by Mashama Bailey and her business partner Johno Morisano in Savannah. And if you need a break from the property’s hip serenity, you know where to head. Thompson rooms from $329; tommie rooms from $199 —K.S.
Four Seasons Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
The outdoor rooftop pool that overlooks the Cumberland River and the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge is enough for you to want to stay at the Four Seasons Nashville, housed in a gleaming tower at the end of Demonbruen Street. Then there’s the proximity to Broadway, the pedestrian bridge to Nissan Stadium, and the Ascend Amphitheater. And there are the ambitious cocktails and pastas at Mimo Restaurant and Bar on the ground floor. But the real reason you want to make this your home base in Nashville is its embrace of Music City. Sure, tables and lamps in some rooms very subtly look like a record and turntable needle, but you can also have private songwriter performances arranged for you in a nearby event space and a private tour of the Gibson Garage. Rooms from $600 —K.S.
The Joseph
Nashville, Tennessee
The Joseph, in downtown Nashville, is all about the arts. From the second you pull up to the handsome hotel’s porte cochere, you’ll see it: the sculptures that double as seating, the living green walls lined with draping plants, which contrast with the immersive digital backdrop against the adjacent wall—and this is just the beginning. Walk through the door, explore all the floors, and you’ll see it continues with hundreds of original pieces from artists both local and international—many from the Pizzuti family’s private collection of contemporary art. (They own the hotel, too.) The Yolan—the bottom-floor restaurant—excels in art you can eat, aka the culinary arts. Here the hotel has tapped Michelin-starred, James Beard Award–winning chef Tony Mantuano to create a stellar tasting menu of Italian fare with flair. Don’t miss it. Rooms from $499 —Omar Mamoon
Southall
Franklin, Tennessee
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Maybe you’ve heard that Nashville is exploding. New restaurant every second. Big-name bars moving in. Hotels! Everywhere! But maybe you’re searching for something quieter. Somewhere you can get outside, sit in a rocking chair, and enjoy one of those endless afternoons that seem to exist only in the South. You’re in luck. Forty-five minutes outside Music City, Southall Farm & Inn, from first-time hotelier Paul Mishkin, sits on 325 beautiful, rolling acres. There’s a pool with a pretty sick view over the pond, where loungers will spy other guests fishing or paddleboarding. A sprawling spa that’s worth its own trip. Two restaurants, both gorgeous and buzzing with locals come dinnertime. A ridiculous number of firepits. Can you feel your blood pressure dropping already? Rooms from $839; cottages from $1,699 —M.V.
Nicewonder
Bristol, Virginia
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If there’s a region in this country that’s still due to get its due, it’s Appalachia. Nicewonder just might help with that. The four-hundred-plus-acre working farm and vineyard offers an easy break—from life, from work, from the road trip you’re currently on—and is particularly well suited to groups. The on-property Yurt village, plus the neighboring golf course, the Virginian, beg for a bachelor party or guys’ group getaway. The Tasting Room is a must for wasting away an afternoon with new wines. But the jewel is Hickory, from chef Travis Milton, where some of the oldest, best-loved flavors this country has ever produced suddenly feel new. Rooms from $325 —M.V.
The Pinch
Charleston, South Carolina
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The past few years have seen an explosion of new hotels in Charleston. But especially deserving of a highlight this year is the Pinch. Nestled on a picturesque alley right off King Street—which is to say right where you want to be—you’ll find this even-more-attractive-than-its-surroundings boutique hotel. Rooms are huge and complete with kitchenettes (a boon to those traveling with children), and the attached oyster bar, the Quinte, is about as good a place to end a day of sightseeing as you’ll find. (A full-service French-Lowcountry fusion restaurant called Lowland opens later this spring.) Oh, before I go, don’t let the name fool you; this isn’t a place where you stay when the rest of the town is booked or your trip is thrown together last minute. The Pinch is a treat, through and through. Rooms from $595 —M.V.
Lotte Hotel Seattle
Seattle, Washington
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There’s a lot to like about the Lotte in downtown Seattle. The location is key, as the sleek sixteen-floor hotel is just a short walk from the necessary (albeit touristy) Pike Place Market, where you can find all the beautiful bounty of the Pacific Northwest (and dodge the flying fish). Also nearby is the ferry, which you hop on to visit one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America on Bainbridge Island. Beyond close proximity to deliciousness, what you’ll appreciate is the literal space—the suites in particular are massive, with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on the water. Bring the kids—there’s plenty of room for them. But if you need to escape, consider beelining to the spa for some downtime. Steam room? Sauna? Sixty-minute massage or ninety? Do the latter; you deserve it. Rooms from $350 —O.M.
The Maybourne Riviera
Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France
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There’s the feeling that you’re at the edge of the earth here. The hotel is carved into the side of a rock, high above the sea, all white and glass, with razorlike balconies on which to absorb the vast Mediterranean views. Depending on where you’re standing, you can see the coasts of Monaco, France, and Italy—all at once. You get a bit of villain’s-lair energy when you first arrive. Someone actually built a structure this audaciously clean and contemporary on one of the most incredible pieces of real estate in the Côte d’Azur? But you’ll feel a lot of welcoming Riviera warmth once you begin to settle in. Much of the cheery staff wear double-breasted blue blazers, striped nautical shirts, and white sneakers; it’s charmingly disarming. Almost every piece of furniture you encounter—from the chairs in any of the four restaurants, three by Mauro Colagreco and one by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, to the love seats in the sixty-nine bedrooms—has a gentle, plush curve. And all of those unobtrusive floor-to-ceiling windows that slide wide open give deference to what really matters here: the sky and sea. It’s a place where—with a glass of Champagne in your hand, naturally—you can contemplate how the blues of the horizon, and even the infinity pool you’re wading in, gently melt into one another throughout the day, like nature’s Rothko. Indeed, it’s easy to see why painters have long been drawn to this area—the light is astounding. Could they have imagined that this little rock on the side of the cliff would become one of the area’s great luxury hotels? Probably not. Most of the grand hotels in the vicinity, like the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc or the Mêtropole, lean more into their stately histories. Nothing wrong with that. It just makes this modern newcomer on the coast feel more like a breath of fresh sea air. Rooms from approx. $1,980 —K.S.
The Londoner
London, England
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The city of London is at once ancient and sparklingly new, and the Londoner is one of those bright and shiny things sprouting from deep foundations. An unapologetically modern, city-bound resort featuring a full-service spa, eight restaurants and bars—including a rooftop izakaya spot with breathtaking views and a very consumable jasmine-and-yuzu margarita—and 350 bedrooms, the space reaches an astonishing 102 feet down into the London clay abutting Leicester Square. First laid out in 1670, the square is at the center of the theater scene and a hop-skip from the shops of Covent Garden, the sights of Westminster, and the refined eats of Soho and Mayfair. The striking blue-tile lines of the exterior, mirrored in the elegant bathroom you’ll find in your room, are a means of incorporating aspects of the plot’s previous resident, the Odeon West End, one of the cinemas that has made Leicester Square a hot spot for film premieres and those who attend them. Accordingly, you might spy black-tie-adorned patrons taking tea or a drink in the lobby, a professional footballer blowing off steam with friends after a big match, or a powerbroker holding court in the fabulous Drawing Room, which feels suspended above the deep caverns of the lower building. Rooms from approx. $495 —Jack Holmes
The Twenty-Two
London, England
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Located in an Edwardian manor house in Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, this hotel has been outfitted with a glorious maximalism inspired by eighteenth-century French decor. Some rooms feature double-height ceilings, with the four-poster beds to match. The club below is a scene and a half from Thursday night to Saturday, and on the other side of things, you’re two blocks’ walk from Hyde Park. Rooms from approx. $710 —J.H.
The Ivens
Lisbon, Portugal
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Growling tigers and pensive primates greet you from the walls of the lobby of this hotel in the heart of the Portuguese capital. There’s an explorer’s theme here, and you’re not far from some of Lisbon’s famed elevadors, which will shoot you up a few stories to meet the city’s rolling hills. It’s a few blocks farther—lined, ubiquitously, by tile-and-pastel facades—to the sites of Castelo de São Jorge and Alfama to the east. The lobby is a thrilling experience of stage-lit maximalism, with the check-in desk tucked up on the mezzanine floor, away from the main foyer. Adjacent is a chic hotel bar with seating wrapped around the bartenders’ lair—negronis in many varieties are a specialty—and a vinyl DJ in the corner at night. And up in your room, you’ll find ceilings wrapped in a safari-modernist tarp and the whole place illuminated by towering Old World chapel windows looking out on wrought-iron balconies across the street. With the turndown service, you’ll get a daily tip for something to explore in Lisbon, like a tea emporium in a converted shoe factory. Off you go. Rooms from approx. $520 —J.H.
The Madrid Edition
Madrid, Spain
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You might not be able to touch the art and furniture at the Prado, a short walk away, but you can here. The Madrid Edition is like an interactive MoMA or Pompidou playground where you can lounge on all the fantastically shaped exhibits. There’s a blue pool table with a black-and-white nine-ball set and a white lamp, reminiscent of a kitchen vent, suspended over it in the lobby. There’s a sweeping spiral staircase to greet you at one lobby entrance and a trademark neon-red floor-lit hallway at the other. But then you arrive in your room, all minimalist whites and beiges, complemented by a colossal bathroom with beige marble tiles, wrought-iron faucets, and knobs engineered to mechanical perfection. It’ll put you on vacation even if you’re on business. Rooms from approx. $480 —J.H.
Pillows Maurits at the Park
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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In this corner of Amsterdam, adjacent to Ooster park, you might have college flashbacks as you climb the stairs of the brick building and encounter glazed yellow tiles on the walls, echoing early-1900s university style. But once you’ve been brought to the plush living room to check in, the energy switches—to elegant, boutique European luxury. The sumptuous rooms are as quiet as a vault. There’s a sauna room you can rent by the hour for yourself. For a treat, visit VanOost, on the top floor, one of the most ambitious new restaurants in the city. For something a bit breezier, stop by Fitz’s, a cozy, speakeasy-style bar that ranks among the city’s best. Ask for a martini made with a Dutch gin and enjoy it by the Picasso print, the crown jewel of the building’s art collection. Rooms from approx. $340 —K.S.
Park Hyatt Milan
Milan, Italy
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The Park Hyatt Milan is one of those hotels that bears regular repetition. Barely one hundred meters from the famous Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele and the Piazza Duomo, it is perfectly placed for a walkabout in this very walkable city. It has reemerged post-pandemic from an extensive refit, in which the somewhat harder modernist lines of its initial interior design (it opened in 2003) were replaced with a softer, more comfortable take on minimalism. Having stayed there a lot pre-Covid, I can say that one thing that hasn’t changed is the staff, who welcomed me at the door—by name—four years after I’d last visited. I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday, so I always regard this as either an amazing feat of memory or just damn good prep. Either way, for me, it signals a great hotel far better than could a reliable club sandwich. Rooms from $1,200 —K.S.
The Hoxton Rome
Rome, Italy
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The Eternal City is known for a great many things. Pasta alla carbonara. Singing in the street. Long lines at the Colosseum. There is no shortage of hotels—you’ll find something in any price range—but true quality budget stays are rare. Enter: the Hoxton. With two bars (both good!), one in the welcoming California-meets-Italy restaurant (it works!), and a location not far from the Spanish Steps, a stay at this price can’t be beat. Rooms from approx. $170 —M.V.
Hôtel Madame Rêve
Paris, France
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Tucked into the First Arrondissement, Hôtel Madame Rêve is all about the view—from your bed. Rêve means dream in English, after all. There are sixty-three bedrooms and nineteen suites; most wrap around the third floor of this former post office. If your room faces the neighborhood, it’ll feature large, sloped, skylightlike windows that stretch the entirety of the space, making you feel as if you’re on a Paris rooftop. Otherwise you’ll look out over the stunning garden. Done dreaming? Head to the rooftop bar and spot the Eiffel Tower and NotreDame over a drink. Despite the hotel’s residential vibe, it’s only steps from the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre. It’s the type of scene that gives you the sense you belong there, and by Parisian standards, that’s rare. Rooms from approx. $535 —Krista Jones
The Bulgari
Paris, France
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Even in a bustling city like Paris, from check-in to checkout this fully immersive hotel is the ultimate escape from reality. Sure, you’re in the French capital, but there are hints of Italian luxury around every corner. Like the large Bulgari luggage-style minibar that greets you upon entering your room. Or the 1,300-square-meter spa, complete with a twenty-five-meter gold-tiled pool that feels like an ancient Roman bath. The hotel’s restaurant, Il Ristorante by Niko Romito, is the real gem, though. It might be fitted in Parisian decor—right down to its custom plates—but taste the tiramisu or white truffle pasta. You’re in Italy now. Everywhere you turn, Bel Paese waits: Italian linens, robes, and Bulgari toiletries en masse. If you can bear to leave it, exit through the front and you’ll find yourself right in the Golden Triangle, where you can find the best shopping, a short walk to the Seine and the Champs-Élysées. All escapes from reality end eventually, right? From approx. $2,000 —K.J.
Cheval Blanc
Paris, France
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What the hell do you even say about a place this luxurious? Maybe we should focus on the reaction: Say the name “Cheval Blanc” in casual conversation and watch the heads turn. It’s for good reason, too. The long-awaited City of Lights oasis has redefined the high end in a city that already had plenty of it. Leave it to owner LVMH to deliver the design—as in designers—along with the stunning art; a team of around six hundred artists and craftsmen were commissioned to decorate the hotel. You’ll also find Europe’s longest indoor pool (with a mirror above the entirety), plus fishbowl-style windows that stare right out at the Seine. (Your balcony also makes a perfect spot for breakfast!) What else? A custom scent, plus candles and soaps, a Dior spa, and an in-room steam shower. Explore Paris or not; we won’t blame you for staying in. From approx. $2,000 —K.J.
The Reykjavík Edition
Reykjavík, Iceland
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I was told that when going to the baths in Iceland, one should wear an all-black bathing suit. Nothing with a print, as that would be seen as ostentatious. Showy luxury isn’t appreciated in Iceland, but style and creativity certainly are. And the Reykjavík Edition nails what is arguably the city’s first properly fancy hotel through the subtlety of its design and an embrace of the city’s harbor. Black accents are everywhere to contrast with the blond and gray woods and concrete walls. But sometimes black is boldly the main event—as it is with the subdued modern exterior, the sculpture of stacked stones in the lobby, the three black paintings flanking the reception desk, or down in the dark, serene hammam. And like the capital city itself, this place knows how to have fun: There are three bars to choose from, plus Tides, a restaurant from Chef Gunnar Karl Gíslason. It’s the low-key cool hotel that Reykjavík deserves. Rooms from approx. $395 —K.S.
Ace Hotel Toronto
Toronto, Canada
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There’s no real reason to venture outside the Ace Hotel Toronto once you’re there, especially if it’s cold outside. With a cozy, all-season rooftop bar, a lively lobby bar to rival any buzzy nighttime spot, and the restaurant Alder in its basement, everything you need is right in the building. Speaking of the building, it is a cavernous, industrial-inspired wonder, full of vintage furniture and warm natural light, with snug rooms to match. Most importantly: Don’t leave without tasting Alder’s coconut cream pie. Rooms from $299 —Lauren Kranc
Andaz Mexico City
Mexico City, Mexico
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The new Andaz Mexico City is a perfect reflection of its surroundings—the lush green, deeply cool Condesa neighborhood, with playing dogs and the savory smell of roasting al pastor. The hotel is adorned with a baby-pink and green matcha bar in the lobby, a sun-drenched courtyard, a revolving gallery of art in the hallways, and two rooftop bars: one Tulum-inspired, with sweeping city views and an infinity pool, and a separate green for dogs and their owners, aptly titled the Wooftop. It is both a chic, calming respite from the dense metropolis that is Mexico City and a celebration of it. Rooms from $269 —L.K.
Four Seasons Naviva
Punta Mita, Mexico
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The tray of drinks that was presented to me after I’d crossed a cocoonlike bridge was the first sign: This is not your typical Four Seasons. It’s the idea of a welcome drink, except you can really have anything you want. You don’t sign for anything at this point, as you do at practically every hotel, and you won’t sign for anything along the way. “What is here is for you,” they’ll repeat in different ways during your stay. There are only fifteen rooms over forty-eight acres. You don’t come for White Lotus–style socialization. You come to tune out. There are no TVs. The rooms are like private homes, with tent-style flourishes so you can imagine you’re glamping, even though a typical morning consists of jumping in your private pool and texting your guide/butler for huevos rancheros while you watch whales spouting in the Pacific and listen to the songs of jungle birds. You could do that all day, but what makes Naviva truly unique is being able to create a bespoke well-being adventure. That could mean a core workout with a trainer at an outdoor gym where the weights are made of stone, à la The Flintstones, or a sunset sound-bath meditation. But the signature experience is the temescal sweat lodge, guided by a shaman who chants and splashes water on hot stones in a womblike structure in complete darkness. At the end of it, you’re supposed to feel reborn. I did. At Naviva, there are several ways to leave feeling just like new. Villas from $3,950 —K.S.
Susurros del Corazón
Punta de Mita, Mexico
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Want to know what a sunset that stretches a million miles wide looks like? Plunk your ass down on a lounge chair at Susurros del Corazón, Auberge Resorts’ spectacular new offering in Punta de Mita, Mexico. The private beach, expansive and sparsely adorned, wedged between two jungled cliffs, plays host to no other hotels. It will be your home base, but don’t skip the whale-watching boat ride or custom-hat-making sessions. Few hotel brands do cuisine as well as Auberge, and there’s not a bad dish to be had here—from the crispy fish bites poolside to tacos al pastor at the open-air La Boquita to the grilled fish at the centerpiece next door, Casamilpa. Eat up, and chill out. Rooms from $999 —M.V.
Casa TO
Puerto Escondido, Mexico
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You just spent an entire week eating mole and memelas in Oaxaca City, and now you’re in need of some major beach time. You book a flight to the Oaxacan coast and head to Casa TO in Puerto Escondido. There’s only one problem: Once you check in, you don’t want to leave the hotel. The beautiful brutalist building comes care of the talented architect Ludwig Godefroy—it’s like you’re in a magical temple made of concrete and clay, with a serene pool in the center that cements the space together. With only nine suites, it’s a super-intimate vibe. If for some reason you do find yourself needing to lay out on the beach, don’t worry; it’s only a five-minute walk. Rooms from $300 —O.M.
Palm Heights
Grand Cayman
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Things the Cayman Islands are known for: lax tax laws, big ol’ resorts, beaches. Things the Cayman Islands are not known for: light-up dance floors, Lucite pianos, and culturally advanced dinner parties. Palm Heights is changing that. Started by the artistically minded Gabriella Khalil, the fifty-suite hotel is one of those places that looks good on Instagram—it is posted ad infinitum—but better IRL, a rarity. It’s sunny and seventies and I think what youngsters call “a vibe.” The piano is in the lounge; the dance floor is hidden in a secret nightclub, behind a velvet curtain from an exceedingly good cocktail bar. The dinner parties take place at the restaurant Tillie’s, curated evenings with both locals and multihyphenate visitors (model-influencer-DJ-ophthalmologist) fed by Jake Brodsky, a chef-boxer. A caftan-wearing director of mood named Bambi tells you you look amaaaazing in a swimsuit, even if you don’t. In a word, it’s heaven. Rooms from $500 —J.D.S.
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