Hendolfor

20/08/2022

Towering over the Central Business District and the snaking ribbon of the Waller Creek Greenbelt Trail, this 37-story hotel is a mammoth new addition to the Austin skyline, ranking as the capital’s third-tallest building. With 1,048 rooms and suites and five restaurants and bars, the hotel can give the appearance of a Vegas-style mega-hotel, nowhere more so than at the palm-studded, cabana-lined rooftop pool deck. But look closer and you’ll find plenty of reminders that you’re in the Lone Star State, including a spa that incorporates mesquite wood and Hill Country–grown herbs into treatments, and grill house Garrison, where proteins are grilled and smoked with post oak from nearby Bastrop.

20/08/2022

This grand Louisville landmark was designed to impress when it opened in 1923, with its Georgian Revival facade, hand-painted coffered ceilings, mahogany furnishings, and Botticino limestone floors. (Befitting such pomp and circumstance, David Lloyd George, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, was the first person to sign the guest register.) The 293 guest rooms and suites feature thoughtful touches, such as equestrian prints and racing-themed throw blankets. But to truly get a taste of Derby City, you’ll need to order a Hot Brown: The open-faced turkey sandwich, topped with bacon and Mornay sauce, debuted here in 1926.

20/08/2022

Housed in an 18th-century mansion surrounded by lavender and cypress trees, this Relais & Chateaux property is a draw for both its proximity to Aix-en-Provence (it's a 15-minute walk to Cours Mirabeau) and countryside seclusion. The 23 rooms and suites have either a private garden of views of the sprawling grounds, and each one is outfitted in toile, cream, and crimson Louis XV furnishings. The outdoor pool is, of course, a highlight, as is the on-site wine cellar and spa. Head to the restaurant for a seasonal menu that pairs Provençale, French, and Mediterranean dishes with Bordeaux, Burgundy, and local wines—all served on the terrace during the summer.

11/08/2022

This is a Four Seasons, so you can expect seamless service and a lot of greige carpeting. However, this particular outpost is somewhat unique in that so many big names were tapped for its creation: floral designer Jeff Leatham, composer Brian Eno, architect Norman Foster, and chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Greg Vernick. Their contributions along with expansive skyline views from every vantage point on the property and passionate, genuine service could make this the beginning of a transformation of Philadelphia's hotel scene.

11/08/2022

The staff at this hotel in Belgravia near Hyde Park “go out of their way to do anything and everything to make your stay terrific”—all while wearing uniforms designed by Giorgio Armani. The weathered brick and Portland stone building has interiors colored to evoke the five elements. Rooms, reached via a corridor of black corrugated wood paneling, are mostly in shades of white with accents of brown and purple, and have Sapele hardwood veneers and Egyptian cotton linens. Nahm offers contemporary Thai cuisine like quail salad with sour-plum leaves.

11/08/2022

Life isn’t perfect. That’s why we have places like Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, where the world’s most glamorous people descend every summer to live on what feels like an impeccably styled film set. The last day of my most recent stay here—the one I had reserved to spend entirely by its swimming pool, cut into rocks overlooking a glittering blue Mediterranean Sea—turned out to be gray and overcast. By this time, I had already experienced the other attractions: the rose garden, the tennis courts, the private cabanas where I enjoyed a massage, the restaurants that manage to feel casually chic in the day and all dressed up at night, and the Manolo Valdés exhibition on its perfectly manicured lawns, where pine trees are being carefully planted to eventually replace the imposing ones standing now. This is a place where nostalgia is kept alive, where corridors are filled with photographs of its most famous guests from the past 150 years, where golden sunshine infuses everyone and everything with an air of romance, so that your time here feels lengthened and expanded, and etched in memory no matter how short your visit actually is. You will leave so well taken care of, so well fed, so intoxicated by the heady, fragrant summer breeze that even a cold final day on the French Riviera will not taint your mood. Instead, it will seem like just a little twist in the plot, enough to make you believe that the rest of your life is pretty perfect after all. Doubles from $740. —Divia Thani

31/07/2022

Opened in 1910 as the Bellevue Hotel, the downtown Beaux-Arts building has a long history of welcoming visitors to San Francisco. But when it re-opened in 2018 with a fresh redesign by Perkins + Will, a new era began. The rooms are decorated with expressive pops of color, statement walls, and a collection of furniture that seems to know no decade. Active travelers will be glad to hear that each room comes with its own yoga mat, and free bike rentals help you cruise around and explore the city with ease.

31/07/2022

Surrounded by the most splendid gardens on the Amalfi Coast, this historic Ravello property can trace its origins back to the 11th century. The villa was largely rebuilt in the early 1900s by Lord Grimthorpe (an English co-designer of Big Ben), and it soon attracted the likes of Virginia Woolf, Greta Garbo, and E.M. Forster. The sumptuously decorated suites include vaulted ceilings, Majolica tile floors, and cheerful frescoes. Michelin-starred restaurant Il Flauto di Pan serves elegant twists on homestyle local dishes, such as white rabbit ragù and marinated Cetara anchovies. But the villa’s simplest delight is also its most spectacular: Gore Vidal once said that the view from the garden’s belvedere was the most beautiful place in the world.

31/07/2022

31/07/2022