Vernadot

15/09/2022

Walking into the W’s first Middle Eastern outpost is like entering a never-ending party: Chill-out music plays in the sleek lobby (even at 8 a.m.), and the handsome staff from Mexico, New Zealand, Tanzania, and Russia, among other countries, hand each arriving guest a mocktail. The hotel’s Sisley Paris Spa and restaurants (there's Papermoon Milan and Peruvian spot COYA) are attracting expats and locals eager for a more global experience. The 442 rooms are filled with curves: rounded frames for the desks and bed platforms, arabesques on walls and curtains, and circular chairs positioned to take in the seafront or the evolving skyline of starchitect skyscrapers. Business travelers will appreciate the convenient location in the West Bay financial district, the attentive service, and the lap pool with

15/09/2022

The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal is a grandiose, glistening example of Middle Eastern opulence. Case in point: the Ritz-Carlton Suite, which clocks in at 1,356 square feet, has a stylish four-poster bed, spacious powder room, full marble bathroom with a soaking tub, a color therapy shower, separate living and dining areas, a kitchen, and two terraces overlooking the Grand Canal. The 21,500-square-foot Bedouin spa, a short ride from the hotel, is a standalone oasis with a private beach, 16 treatment rooms, plunge pools, saunas, and a plethora of luxurious treatments. Families can make use of Ritz Kids, available daily for children ages four to 12. Those keen on visiting the mosque and learning more about the cultural landmark can catch the hotel shuttle, which runs every 30 minutes.

15/09/2022

If you walked into the Dolder Grand without knowing what it was, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking you’d stumbled into a fine art museum—the hotel’s collection includes pieces by Salvador Dalí, Takashi Murakami, and Andy Warhol. But the up-close access to paintings and sculptures is far from the only reason to stay at this Zurich hotel: there’s also a 43,000 square foot spa with sweeping views of the Alps, an eight-course tasting menu courtesy of Michelin-starred chef Heiko Neider, and, in warmer months, cocktails under crisp white umbrellas on the open-air panoramic terrace.

06/09/2022

There is nothing that does not dazzle at the Santa Caterina, hewn from a cliffside off the staggeringly stunning Amalfi Coast—and even on looks alone, we’d have to agree. Terraces cleaved from natural rock formations and sprinkled with citrus groves and assorted gardens appear with astonishing regularity around every turn, ready to lend themselves to a quiet moment. The interiors are vaguely reminiscent of one of the island’s little Catholic churches—white walls, white linens, vaulted ceilings, gold-hued curtains, little baroque wooden chairs, and tiled floors decked out in primary colors—pretty angelic, really, and not a bad vibe to gravitate toward when you're seeking a peaceful stay away (you could also try the spa!). Some rooms feature ceramic accents and charming family heirlooms, and all bathrooms benefit from Bvlgari toiletries.

06/09/2022

Spread across two buildings—20 suites in the beautifully restored 1911 Shanghai Club, 252 rooms and suites in the newly built tower—this hotel is a magnificent homage to Shanghai’s swank European past. In addition to opulent colonial-style suites (poster beds, walk-in closets, claw-foot tubs), the old building, now called the Waldorf Astoria Club, has a jaw-dropping 110-foot-long bar with Bund views. Rooms are neoclassical—pale-green linen wallpaper, matching silk bedcovers, and carpets with swirling flower motifs—but have all the mod cons, as well as a bathroom where a TV is embedded in the mirror and the Japanese-style toilet has water jets.

06/09/2022

Last autumn—desperate for a sanctuary from living in locked-down Brooklyn with a newborn—I found an Edenic combination of escapism and reconnection here. Unlike at some resorts, visitors here don’t block out the destination once they check in. The 300-acre estate is in Chiusdino, on the more rugged side of Tuscany, and feels like a microcosm of the region itself. The ricotta at dinner comes from the sheep you’ve spied on long walks through farms and forests; the fields of lavender and marigold provide ingredients for the face oils at the spa. None of this is to say that Borgo Santo Pietro isn’t sharp. Everything is done with a very Italian elegance: the manicured gardens and landscaped pool; the staff who appear with a Spritz and silver tray of truffled chips simply because they thought you needed it (and I did); the Trattoria sull’Albero, with its thick oak tree rising in the middle. During the harvest season, guests can pluck and stomp grapes at Borgo’s tumble of vineyards. There’s a six-foot-deep swimming hole in the middle of a rushing stream. It’s on the property but open to use by the 30 or so locals from a nearby village. Closer to the guest villas is a tall canopied wall beside the vegetable gardens, along which pilgrims in the Middle Ages trekked to the nearby Abbey of San Galgano. My stay was an opportunity to explore a pocket of wild southern Tuscany, thrillingly alone and free, without ever needing to backtrack through the great wide entrance gates. Doubles from $760. —Erin Florio

06/09/2022

Located in the Latin Quarter, this 118-room property comprises three townhouses. A playground for creative types who have a penchant for relaxed luxury, Hotel SP34 offers so much social stimulation that you never have to leave to find a good time. Guest rooms range from cozy solo accommodations and spacious doubles to skylit penthouse suites, all done with Nordic flair. There are regular Port tastings in the lobby bar, as well as a rooftop terrace, a private cinema, and free concerts and DJs on Friday nights.

01/09/2022

This 32-room hotel may appear traditional thanks to its colonial facade, but guests know that the sleek Hotel Matilda is anything but: there’s a crazy video installation installed behind the front desk, and the hallways are lined with contemporary artwork. Once you get to your room, you’ll discover crisp white beds dressed with Egyptian cotton linens and adorned slate gray accents, and marble-clad bathrooms stocked with Malin + Goetz products. The infinity pool and the rooftop bar, though, are the true standouts.

01/09/2022

Tucked away amid the quiet, tree-lined streets of Shanghai’s former French Concession, this is much more than a luxury hotel. It’s actually a cultural preservation zone—an innovative restoration of the Xuhui District’s last remaining cluster of 1930s-era shikumen townhouses, where traders and expats dwelled in the city’s golden era. In preserving this piece of Shanghai’s cultural heritage, Capella Hotels & Resorts has created its own gateway to the city’s cosmopolitan past. Under the auspices of Jaya International Design, the complex of over 200 townhouses, connected by tiny lanes, has been transformed into an urban resort of 55 luxurious villas and 40 private residences, still linked around shared courtyards and secret gardens, and now enclosing a transformative spa and wellness center (named Auriga, for the constellation in which the Capella star sits).

01/09/2022

Legend holds that on his pilgrimage across Asia, the Buddha stopped to rest where the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers merge, in the middle of what we now know as Luang Prabang. He prophesied that a rich and powerful metropolis would rise along these banks. Though that apex only lasted from the 14th to the 16th century, this Kingdom of a Million Elephants lived on for architect Bill Bensley, who celebrated this era at Rosewood’s low-slung riverside retreat. Minimalist it is not. Hilltop tents overflow with romantic touches—chubby camp beds, clawfoot tubs, silk and velvet accents. At riverfront villas, the rush of water somersaulting over time-smoothed boulders acts as nature’s alarm clock for an early morning meditation with monk-in-residence Sommaiy. Deep community ties mean guests take tea with Tiao Somsanith Nithakhong, a local royal turned patron of lost Lao arts, or join a procession of 800 saffron-clad novices gliding through rice fields and primary forests for a private blessing ceremony. Rosewood’s elephant figurine–festooned cocktail bar is a delightful aerie arched over the waterfall, and make sure to ask to see the secret boutique, stocked with finds like kaleidoscopic scarves woven by a cooperative of young disabled Laotians who are some of the town’s most promising artisans.

01/09/2022

01/09/2022