Hotels

In 1908 if you were a tired seadog taking a well-earned shore leave, you would stay in the Seaman's Relief Centre. Immature snickers aside, the building was built by the famous architect William A Boring and is a fine example of turn-of-the-century neoclassicism. It once housed the traumatized survivors of …

Built from 3000 tonnes of snow in different locations around Switzerland, Germany and Andorra the igloo hotels feature top-notch ice artistry and a variety of rooms all made from glistening ice and snow. There are family and romantic options. The romantic rooms come with ice-carved tables, champagne, and mood lighting. …

The paradise island is located off the Tanzanian coast within a marine wildlife conservation site. The hotel is eco friendly and takes advantage of every local resource. The two-floor treehouses are built from timber and thatch and have views of the sea. The food is caught that day and is …

Lounge on your luxury leather chair underneath a delicate chandelier that hangs from the roof of a room that has been tunneled out of pure rock, 509 feet (155 meters) below the surface. As if you were Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Except for the massively wealthy and less …

The Farm is a creative project by husband and wife, Surya and Ritu Singh. It resides on a 16-acre plot close to the cosmopolitan center of the region, Jaipur. The whole hotel is made from recycled materials and seeks to be original in design and concept. Each room is detached …

The Old Dungeon Ghyll is in England’s Lake District, a beautiful area that inspired some of the greatest poetry ever written. Indeed the air still resounds with Coleridge’s blessing: ‘Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee, Whether the summer clothe the general earth With greenness, or the redbreast sit …

Blow Up Hall 50/50 is a complex that includes a restaurant, art gallery, and hotel. It commissioned its hallmark installation to be designed by crucial artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, one of the world's top digital artists. He is a BAFTA prize winner, and his work has appeared in New York and …

Set on the mighty Mekong River in the hills of Thailand, you can see Myanmar and Laos from your balcony laying on your day bed. The incredible Golden Triangle location is steeped in history and natural beauty. There are landscaped gardens and your room features oversized terrazzo bathtubs, Thai textiles, …

For hundreds of years, The Medicis were one of the most powerful families in Europe. If anyone knew the most beautiful spot in Italy it was them. Their summer houses were legendary. Now you can stay in one of their great buildings located in the Val d'Orcia which is a …

Where the crystal crags of the Andes meet the Atacama Desert, there is a magical land where the skies are clear 300 days of the year. The annual melting of snow from the mountains feeds a valley more green against the pure blue skies. It is the home to many …

Ok, so you can enter this Venetian boutique hotel in a gondola, sailing in under the portcullis into the kind of mysterious tunnel you might expect to find Cardinal Richelieu doing something crafty in; but luckily for you, this is not revolutionary France, this is modern-day Venice and you are …

The Huilo-Huilo Biological Reserve is located right beside the entrance of the Chilean Patagonia and in the center of the Temperate Humid Forest in the south of Chile. This private project is located along the shores of Pirihueico Lake, near Panguipulli, and is around 60,000 hectares (144,000 acres) of land. …

The Son Gener hotel is an 18th Century farmhouse lovingly restored set in acres of private property in a very rural and quiet area of Majorca. Far from the madness of the tourist-thronged beach and thong-bottomed festivities of the south; the beaches nearby are as if you stepped back in …

‘Seekoo’ is Inuit for ‘mass of ice’. It is also Boudreaux’s only 4-star design hotel and the first hotel in the world to be made entirely from the architectural equivalent of George’s Marvelous Medicine, Corian. Corian is a material somewhere between plastic and metal that can be shaped easily without …

The Huilo Huilo Biological Reserve is 232 square miles of Chilean Rainforest. It was originally part of the Chilean state forestry commission, administered by the Pinochet regime. In the 1980s progressive economical thinkers known as the ‘Chicago Boys’ encouraged the state to sell off these assets, the Huilo Huilo reserve …

So this is like living in Lord of the Rings except without constant danger from the forces of evil. Here, the only forces that matter are those of your imagination (and American Express). The location is within a national park on the far eastern side of Germany. Many great outdoor …

In the grand Dolomites – a mountain range located in the North Italian Alps – there is an award-winning design hotel. Built by architect, Matteo Thun, his idea was to create a luxury eco-hotel that draws inspiration from nature and also blends with its natural surroundings so local woods and …

Deep in the rolling hilled wine regions of France, you can find a selection of beautifully restored traditional Gypsy Caravans. These are available for hire and are decorated in four different styles reflecting all kinds of Gypsy Heritage. You can be transported into a lifestyle that hasn’t changed for centuries …

It’s 1930 in Portugal’s Estoril Coast, popular with the rich and famous. A new grand hotel has just been opened. It will become home to Europe’s jet-setters for the next hundred years. Yes, even today it has a dedicated ‘Royal Wing’ for when their most aristocratic guests turn up for …

The Algarve is one of the most crowded tourist destinations in Europe, but this isn’t the Algarve. This is the Nespeira Estate, a secluded hideaway without commercial tourism in sight. It is still close enough to the gorgeous Alentejo coast, so you can enjoy the beautiful beaches that make this …