Best Hotels & Lodges

Italians call Umbria the Green Heart of Italy, and once you've wound your way through its olive-stuffed valleys and medieval hill towns, the nickname makes perfect sense. There are fewer tour buses than Tuscany, a wilder countryside (and food to match) and, 25 minutes southwest of Perugia, Borgo dei Conti Resort. A 13th-century fortified hamlet, it once belonged to the noble Raspanti family and was later reimagined as the neo-Gothic country residence of a 19th-century painter. Restored top to toe by Milanese studio Spagnulo & Partners and relaunched as Relais & Châteaux in 2024, it now combines Renaissance-hued interiors and terracotta floors with a serious spa, two restaurants and 16 hectares of olive groves and forests.

A port city with layers of Dutch, Portuguese and Chinese influence, Nagasaki has always been Japan's gateway to the outside world. Perched halfway up Mt. Inasa, Garden Terrace is a design-driven retreat by celebrated architect Kengo Kuma. With just 36 spacious rooms, four excellent restaurants and views that rank among the world's finest night-time panoramas, it's a hotel that rewards a slightly slower travel pace. Use it as a springboard for visiting the poignant Peace Park, the historic island of Dejima and the World Heritage-listed Oura Church, or simply stay put and watch the city lights flicker over the harbour below.

Tucked into the golden curve of Procchio Bay on Elba, the largest island jewel in the Tuscan Archipelago, this family-run hotel has been welcoming sun-seekers since 1955. Back then, it was the haunt of Nobel Prize-winning poets and Italian artists; today the De Ferrari family (four generations of hoteliers, no less) keep things polished but refreshing. With its private stretch of sand, seawater pool and Mediterranean gardens shaded by pines and oleanders, it's a proper Italian seaside retreat. Add two excellent restaurants, a clutch of bars, and an island small enough to explore in a day but interesting enough to fill a week, and you've got yourself a winner.

Views Boutique Hotel could not be more aptly named: the outlook from its hilltop setting are simply breathtaking. And the service here is as elevated as the location – pure luxury, with a dash of glamour. The hotel lies just outside Wilderness, a quiet, pretty town on the Garden Route, South Africa's best-loved road-trip destination. The property is enormous, with several tiers and balconies and a design that combines contemporary style with an emphasis on privacy. Book here to spend some time on this beautiful stretch of pristine coastline, where you'll find plenty of natural treasures, good eateries, and markets.

Fukuoka is one of Japan's great unsung cities — a place with possibly the best street food scene in the country and a location that makes it the perfect springboard for exploring Kyushu. Tucked into the Canal City Hakata complex, the Grand Hyatt brings a dose of calm to a city that thrives on its own buzz. Recently refreshed with 'Hakata Retreat' rooms that incorporate local craftsmanship into every detail (think in-room matcha bars and handwoven textiles), it's a hotel that takes its surroundings seriously. And its proximity to Fukuoka's famed yatai food stalls is the cherry on top.

Bang in the centre of Montecatini's fashion district, this 102-room Art Deco revival takes the whole spa hotel thing rather seriously - we're talking 400 square metres of wellness wizardry spread across two floors, including an honest-to-goodness salt cave. It's the kind of place where they've named their spa experience "Emotion Time" without a hint of irony, and somehow made it work. The property underwent a complete Art Deco makeover that gives it a distinct 1920s movie-set vibe - each room decorated differently, like someone went wild with a vintage furniture catalogue and a bottomless budget. But here's the kicker: they've also got a sister property, Collina Toscana Resort, tucked away in the Tuscan hills 8km away, where hotel guests can escape for the day with access to the outdoor pool and proper countryside views. It's like getting two holidays for the price of one, if you don't mind the short shuttle ride.

Perched above Beppu, Japan's undisputed hot spring capital, the sleek ANA Intercontinental was the first international luxury hotel to open in the region and it makes the most of its extraordinary setting. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame astonishing views of the bay, as well as the city's famous steam plumes and surrounding mountains. With beautifully designed onsen fed by Beppu's mineral-rich waters, a French-inspired chef's counter restaurant and local artisan touches woven throughout, this is a seriously polished base from which to explore Kyushu's geothermal heartland.

Driving the Garden Route between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth is normally all about exploring the coast, with a few stops in cute little dorpies (towns) en route. Now, Gondwana Game Reserve, just inland from Mossel Bay, offers travellers the chance to stop over and see some big game. Surrounded by the impressive Outeniqua and Langeberg ranges, and forming part of the world's richest plant kingdom (1000-plus species on the reserve alone), Gondwana is a nature-lover's treat. Ulubisi House is its newest and most exclusive offering. Booked on a sole-use basis, it has its own private guide, chef and butler.

Most visitors to Tuscany head for the well-trodden hills of Chianti or the honeypot towns further north. But those in the know make a beeline for the Maremma, a wild, sun-drenched stretch of southern coastline where cowboys still herd long-horned cattle and the beaches remain gloriously empty. It's here, on a 500-hectare estate of vineyards, olive groves and cypress-lined avenues, that you'll find the former summer residence of Grand Duke Leopold II, L'Andana. The Moretti family (of Bellavista and Petra wine fame) have turned it into a refined country retreat with a Michelin-starred restaurant, ESPA spa and the Tyrrhenian Sea just a few kilometres down the road.

Set at the foot of the 350-million-year-old Warmwaterberg Mountains in the heart of the Little Karoo, Sanbona Wildlife Reserve is a 54,000-hectare sprawl of dramatic rock formations and stark wilderness. San Bushmen once roamed this landscape, and their paintings can still be found in rocky fissures and shelters. Sanbona Dwyka Tented Lodge, one of various lodges here, lies in a particularly lovely setting on a horseshoe bend of a dry ravine dotted with thorn trees and surrounded by spectacular ancient rock formations. The service is splendid, the food is top-notch and the tranquil atmosphere is idyllic.

Atop Ischia's Monte Vico, just above the village of Lacco Ameno, sits the elegant San Montano Resort & Spa, revived by the De Siano family in 2008 and polished anew in 2025 alongside its induction into Relais & Châteaux — the first on the island. Seven acres of lemon groves, lavender and bay scatter down to a private cove, with eleven thermal pools dotted between them and sweeping views over the marina to Mount Vesuvius. Combined with inimitable hospitality and a location away from the crowds, it really does feel like its own little slice of heaven.

Follow a winding road up through Moscato vineyards to the hilltop village of Santo Stefano Belbo, and you'll find this handsome former monastery surrounded by centuries-old parkland and vine-striped hills. Cistercian monks founded the place back in 1619 on the old salt road from Liguria, and you can still feel that contemplative calm, even as you're sipping a Barolo in the candlelit cellars or soaking in a repurposed wine barrel at the spa. Firmly rooted in the UNESCO-listed Langhe region, it's a stone's throw from Barbaresco and Barolo country, with the truffle capital of Alba just fifteen minutes away. For food and wine lovers, this is the true epicentre.