Best Hotels & Lodges

Few corners of London do genteel quite like South Kensington, and The Kensington Hotel is quite at home in a row of white-stucco townhouses on a peaceful residential road. Inside, you'll feel as if you've stepped into a well-loved private home: high ceilings, heritage touches and pretty, handpicked furniture atop gorgeous hardwood floors. The atmosphere is charming and friendly, never stuffy, and the team is one of loveliest in the city. It helps that the neighbourhood is one of the city's most desirable, too, all garden squares, red-brick mansions and pavement cafés - and you're mere metres from the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and the V&A.

Etosha is one of Africa's great game parks but it can get busy and the facilities aren't what they could be. Ongava, which is a sizable private reserve on its southern border, capitalizes on its proximity and provides what the park cannot: exclusivity, luxury and flexibility, whilst maintaining an intimate camp feel. Ongava Tented Camp combines the best of Etosha with great service and the chance to benefit from a more personal guided experience in a less restrictive environment. Here you can combine comfortable accommodation with great game sightings and still experience Etosha Pan.

'Zil Pasyon' translates as 'Island of Passion' in Creole and it's a fitting name for this breathtaking private island retreat on Félicité, one of the Seychelles' most dramatic granitic islands. Once a coconut plantation, the island spent nine years being lovingly regenerated before the resort opened in 2016 – and it shows. Occupying just a third of Félicité's 652 acres, the 30 pool villas are tucked among lush tropical forest and towering granite boulders, with three powder-white beaches and Indian Ocean views that'll stop you in your tracks. A 20-minute helicopter ride from Mahé sets the tone for what follows: a seriously impressive spa carved into the rocks, Creole-inspired dining, and the kind of barefoot luxury that Six Senses does so well.

An Arabian mansion in the middle of buzzing Marrakesh, Les Jardins is a haven of leafy palms and orange trees and lazy moments by the pool. And nnowing that the bedlam of the city is just outside makes the hotel's breezy terraces, quiet lunches in the garden, and polished interiors all the more enjoyable! At the hotel, you'll be pampered in the stone hammam and sip cocktails on the rooftop terrace with its views over the Medina. Then, when you're ready, the city awaits, from the stunning gardens of the French quarter to the lantern-lit souk selling, perfume, silks and delicacies.

A luxe and shiny landmark along the River Nile, the Four Seasons lives up to its reputation of high-quality service, fine-as-silk suites, and one of the best locations in the city. Reaching high above the chic Cairo neighbourhood of Garden City, the hotel boasts panoramic views of all the city's highlights. Top of the list are the famous Pyramids of Giza and, after lifting your jaw off the ground, you'll also spot plenty of museums, tombs and temples to add to your sightseeing list. Back at the hotel, put your feet up at the spa and watch the city erupt with light from the swanky Upper Deck Lounge.

Tucked deep within the mist-shrouded canopy of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, this newly reimagined lodge sits at the epicentre of one of conservation's greatest success stories. With barely 1,000 mountain gorillas left on Earth, and more than half calling this ancient forest home, you're essentially bedding down in the world's most exclusive wildlife neighbourhood. Freshly reopened after a complete transformation, the 10-villa hideaway has shed any pretence of roughing it in favour of eco-conscious luxury that would make David Attenborough weep with joy. The location is so primo that gorillas occasionally pop by for impromptu garden visits – though the brilliant rangers guarantee you'll meet them on their own turf during every trek.

After a spectacular $40 million makeover, this riverside tower has reinvented itself as Singapore's most ambitious eco-luxury experiment. With an address along the historic Singapore River, it's far enough from the CBD's chaos to feel like a retreat, yet just a two minute stroll from the MRT (train). With fresh, reimagined rooms, complete with AI assistants and filtered water systems, the 30-storey sanctuary has become the unlikely darling of eco-conscious families and urban escapists. The real triumph? They've managed to make sustainability feel genuinely luxurious, pioneering everything from water filtration to biodegradable amenities without sacrificing one bit of comfort.

Scarcely pin-pricks on a globe, the scattered isles of Africa's Gulf of Guinea barely feature on a map, let alone a traveller’s radar. But as technology connects the remotest corners with the rest of the world and people hunger for roads-less travelled, things are changing—though, thankfully, not too quickly. Bom Bom Island Resort straddles jungle, beach and islet on the northern tip of Principe Island, one part of the archipelago nation of Sao Tome and Principe. This place is a boon for sojourners seeking solitude and pristine nature, both on land and by sea. The island's 136 square-kilometres are nearly all primary and secondary forest ringed by pale-sand beaches that just beg to be explored.

Forty-five minutes from Paris, in the folds of the Chevreuse Valley, sits a Cistercian abbey that's been standing since 1118. The monks left after the Revolution, the roofs fell in, and then Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild bought the ruin in the 1880s and spent decades coaxing it back. What you get now is more estate than hotel, with rooms spread between the abbey itself, the old stables and a working farm down the lane, plus a lake, a Tata Harper spa, half a dozen places to eat and a kids' club stocked with miniature Range Rovers. Cordélia de Castellane did the interiors. You'll want a bicycle.