Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World
Slide Nr 1The rarer a treat, the more perfect it has to be. That’s how we feel about many things these days, but none more so than travel. If we’re going to go through all the necessary safety measures and endure the uncertainty that comes with planning a trip these days, it had better be worth the effort. Luckily, hoteliers have been surprisingly busy, so exciting new lodgings are ready to welcome guests all over the world. Here are some of the best.
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 2Hotel Les Deux Gares is not your typical Paris pad. Conveniently yet unusually (for a boutique hotel) located between Gare de l’Est and Gare du Nord, it’s a short walk from the train for visitors arriving from the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg or France’s eastern departements. British designer Luke Edward Hall’s interiors embrace a “more is more” aesthetic. More colour, more patterns, more art, more decorative knick-knacks. Even the gym is decorated with clashing colours and eye-popping patterns. A fashionable stay in a not-yet-fashionable area. [Photo: Benoit Linero]
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Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 3Hotels don’t get more waterfront than Tuba Club, Marseille’s latest claim to cool city fame. On the rocks above the Mediterranean on the city’s outskirts sits a former diving club that has been transformed into a restaurant with just five rooms overlooking the ocean. From the moment you arrive – ideally on a ferry – you’re in a seaside state of mind. The old fishing village of Les Goudes lies just up the road, the pared-back interiors let the spectacular views do all the talking. [Photos: Florian Touzet]
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Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 4Kraków has long been considered the quaint, picturesque counterpart to the boomtown energy of Polish capital Warsaw, but in recent years, a confidently contemporary side of the city has become more visible. PURO Kraków Stare Miasto is the latest big venture to add a modern urban flair at the edge of the Old Town. Puro, a small Polish chain of boutique hotels, prides itself on tapping into local creative scenes to tie each new location into the neighbourhood.
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Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 530 minutes on a train from Waterloo Station, on the banks of the River Thames right next to Hampton Court Palace, lies The Mitre. Built in 1665 by King Charles II as a “hostel for visitors to the Palace”, today it is a boutique hotel that takes its royal-adjacent heritage seriously. The entire building is furnished with antiques embedded in a friendly, contemporary colour scheme to avoid any feeling of stuffiness. References (often tongue-in-cheek) to the Royals abound. Options include family-friendly bunk bed rooms and a dog-welcoming floor with outside terrace access.
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Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 6A similar distance from London, Birch set out last summer to offer even more outside -the-box hospitality. A 22-hectare, heritage-listed property in Sussex has been transformed into an “escape from urban living”. Conceived of primarily as a club, members receive an access-all-areas pass to work at the co-working hub, participate in workshops and events, or use the sports and wellness facilities. Non-members can book in for the night and enjoy all the same for the duration of their stay. On-site restaurants Valerie’s and Zebra Riding Club are named in honour of a colourful previous resident, Victorian socialite Lady Valerie Meux, whose carriage was reportedly drawn by zebras rather than horses.
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Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 7Tokyo won’t be seeing anything like the number of visitors originally expected for the 2020 Olympics, now taking place in 2021, but the hotels built to accommodate the crowds have still been opening. K5 Hotel, housed in a former bank, offers a sleek refuge from the city – and more specifically the up-and-coming Kabuto district outside. Scandinavian design and generous greenery create a contemporary cosiness. Should you feel enticed to stay in, there’s an in-house restaurant, coffee stand, bar and even a beer hall – the first international Brooklyn Brewery flagship store. [Photo: K5]
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 8When talking about The Johri, Wes Anderson references are impossible to avoid. The Jaipur hotel’s colourful interiors, all-pastel walls and antique furniture are like a cross between The Darjeeling Limited and Grand Budapest Hotel come to life. Located in a refurbished merchant’s townhouse within one of the city’s oldest bazaars, it places guests in the heart of the bustling action, at the same time as it offers soundproof windows and a serene courtyard for respite amidst the mayhem outside. Small, fashionable and local, it’s a contemporary interpretation of Indian style, filled with reverence for its heritage.
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 9Palm Hotel offers a blend of opposites setting it apart from the rest. It is located close enough to Sri Lanka’s surfer hotspot Ahangama to hit the beach in minutes, but far enough removed to escape the seaside bustle; set amidst lush nature, but designed with an urban sensibility; reduced, stylish accommodations, but luxuriously spacious facilities; offering peaceful open-air yoga, but also a fully equipped CrossFit gym. [Photo: Holly Farrier]
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 10Although Byron Bay’s Sunseeker opened in January 2021, it may yet be months before overseas travellers can visit. For now, it is mainly welcoming Australian guests, which happens to be a pretty good fit for a hospitality venture that wants to keep it local and sustainable. It was designed with help from local artists, designers and artisans, using reclaimed and upcycled materials, including those saved when the original 1980s motel was gutted. [First two photos from left: James Tolic]
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 11Hotel Britomart offers easy access to restaurants, shopping, culture and the city’s recently revived waterfront. Located in Auckland’s Britomart precinct, it doesn’t just take its name from the area, it is part of its reinvention and rediscovery. Sitting between heritage buildings and large-scale new urban construction, it nods to both the old and the new. One more thing that sets it apart from other design-led boutique offerings: Hotel Britomart is the first hotel to receive a 5 Green Star design rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council.
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Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 12Rwanda is a destination to watch – and Forest of Hope is the latest place to explore its verdant rainforests and fascinating fauna. To be more specific, the guesthouse opened at the end of 2020 by national NGO Forest of Hope Association, where visitors can experience community-based eco-tourism in the UNESCO biosphere reserve Gishwati-Mukura National Park. Idyllic nature walks provide excellent birding and the opportunity to see primates, including chimpanzees, in the wild. Guests are also invited to plant a tree and visit surrounding communities for a cultural exchange. [Photo: Andr96/Wikimedia Commons]
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 13If you want your African safari experience to make a significant contribution to wildlife conservation, Marataba Conservation Camps might just be the perfect place for you. Located in a 21,000-hectare privately managed section of Marakele National Park, it is significantly closer to Johannesburg than the more famous Kruger, about an hour from the border to Botswana. The luxury tented accommodation at Explorers Camp offers all the mod cons you would expect from a camp in this market segment (elevated wooden decks, king-sized beds, proper bathrooms and a private waterhole). For an extra contribution, guests can participate in rhino tagging expeditions, as well as other conservation activities.
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 15Hotel Sin Nombre is the epitome of cool. It features sleek minimalist design, a non-colour palette limited to earthy accents amongst mainly white interiors, and a literally cool breeze wafting through the spacious halls and airy courtyard of a 17th-century colonial mansion in Oaxaca. Located in the Mexican city’s UNESCO World Heritage historical centre, in an area known for its pre-Hispanic archaeological sites, colonial architecture and indigenous cultures, there’s plenty of heritage, art and crafts to go around. Despite its restrained contemporary look, the hotel is filled with the handiwork of local artists and artisans.
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Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 16In Mexico City, Octavia Casa isn’t just a smart new hotel in a fashionable neighbourhood. It is a fashion brand come to life. Inspired and founded by local brand OCTAVIA, it reflects the pared-back colour scheme and uses the same natural materials that the brand’s clothing is known for. The latticed façade and modest scale of the building help it blend into the charming La Condesa quarter with ease. Nearby, the tree-lined, walkable streets are filled with restaurants, bars and, yes, more fashion.
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 17Wander the Resort had barely opened when it was booked out for the entire year. Its ten spacious cabins on Lake Ontario were designed with effortless style and relaxed comfort in mind. Although the opening of some of the Canadian resort’s facilities (like the pool and hot tub) have been delayed due to COVID, there is plenty on offer already. The lakefront lies metres away from the cabins, and there are yoga classes, game days, outdoor cooking and tasting events featuring local beers and wines. [Photo: Patrick Biller]
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 18Colorado Springs is one of the smaller cities on the receiving end of mid-pandemic urban flight. At the foot of the Rocky Mountains, far from the densely populated coastal COVID epicentres, it promises to get you closer to the great outdoors and offer a sense of community. Kinship Landing, a new downtown hotel, invites visitors to “experience Colorado Springs like a local”. The design blends an urban sensibility with mountain lodge cosiness. Public spaces made for socialising take precedence over the relatively simple rooms – the better to encourage that sense of community.
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 19Urban Cowboy Lodge, the Upstate offshoot of a Brooklyn B&B, opened in the Catskills last year, just in time to welcome New Yorkers ready for an escape from the city. The rooms are very heavily (some may even say over-) decorated, but if you like a bit of Alpine kitsch with your mountain escape, you’ll enjoy the mix of wood and wool, Native American textiles and antlers. The individual cabins offer perfect privacy, but outdoor common areas allow for distanced socialising, should you be so inclined.
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 20Paso Robles, a short drive inland from the California coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles, is a perfect weekend destination. The wineries, breweries and restaurants of the area, paired with outdoor activities, make it a relaxing getaway. The Stables Inn leans into the rural flair, with a look that could be summed up as haute homestead. The motel features 19 rooms and a bunk house that sleeps six. [Photo: Stables Inn Sincerely, Eva Peck Operations Manager Hotel Cheval & Stables Inn]
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Travel
Stay Cool: The Top New Hotels Around The World.
Slide Nr 21Another opening that was foiled last year, Riggs Washington DC had to close shortly after first throwing open its doors. Now it’s back, with a new rooftop bar and a suite that can serve as a space for entertaining or meetings. The hotel is housed in a building that was constructed in 1891 to house the Riggs National Bank, known as the “bank of presidents”. Exactly half of all US presidents, as well as other notable figures, banked there. A nice touch of history for guests visiting a city defined by its role as the nation’s capital.
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