Reviews

Perched on the upper floors of the Otemachi Tower, Aman Tokyo delivers an experience that is impossible to fault.

Explora Patagonia sits at the edge of Torres del Paine National Park, designed by the Chilean architect Germán del Sol to make the landscape the total experience. It is, without reservation, the finest wilderness lodge I have visited.

The Mark sits on 77th Street, half a block from the Metropolitan Museum. It has been expertly repositioned as New York's most stylish residential-feeling hotel — which is quite a specific achievement in a city of extraordinary hotels.

The Burj Al Arab is either the most audacious or the most excessive hotel in the world, depending on your temperament. Having stayed there, I can confirm it is both simultaneously — and that it is absolutely worth doing once.

On the 33rd through 38th floors of the Otemachi Tower, Aman Tokyo occupies a position that seems physically impossible: a traditional Japanese inn floating above one of the most intense cities on earth. It is extraordinary.

The Belmond Monasterio occupies a 16th-century Jesuit seminary in the heart of Cusco's historic centre. At 3,400 metres above sea level, it is one of the world's most atmospheric — and most physiologically challenging — hotels.

The Hotel Sacher has anchored the corner of Philharmonikerstrasse and Kärntner Strasse since 1876. It occupies a position — beside the Vienna State Opera, across from the Albertina — that would be impossible to replicate. The hotel has been in the Gürtler family since 1934 and it shows, in the best sense.

The Augustine occupies seven historic buildings in Malá Strana — including a 13th-century Augustinian monastery. It is Prague's finest luxury hotel, a claim it earns through architecture, location, and the subtlety of a restoration that knows when to stop.

Tawaraya has operated in the same Kyoto courtyard since 1709. It is not simply the finest ryokan in Japan — it is one of the most complete hospitality experiences on earth. Every detail, from the arrangement of stones in the garden to the sequence of kaiseki courses, has been refined over three centuries.

The Shilla has been Seoul's premier luxury address since 1979. In recent years it has evolved beyond its origins to offer a form of Korean luxury that is genuinely distinct from Western equivalents — and is better for it.

Housed in the former Shell headquarters on the north bank of the IJ, Sir Adam is the coolest hotel in Amsterdam — a music-obsessed, design-forward property that makes you want to stay indoors as much as explore the city.

The Bairro Alto Hotel sits on a square in Lisbon's creative heartland, surrounded by fado houses, independent restaurants, and the city's best bookshops. It is a hotel that understands its neighbourhood — and has elevated itself to match it.

The Nacional has housed Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, and Meyer Lansky. It hosted a summit of American crime bosses in 1946. It is a genuinely fascinating building with a genuinely complicated history — and a hotel that has not fully kept pace with the mythology but remains the most interesting place to stay in Havana.

Perched above the cerulean waters of Positano, Le Sirenuse delivers a masterclass in Italian luxury. A stay here is not merely accommodation — it is the Amalfi Coast distilled into its purest form.

Canaves Oia Epitome is the finest of the several Canaves properties in Oia, and the finest hotel in Santorini — which is a serious claim on an island where luxury hotels have proliferated to excess. It earns the distinction through design, service, and an unbeatable view of the caldera.

Mnemba is a private island two kilometres off the northeast tip of Zanzibar, accessible only by traditional wooden boat and accessible only to guests of its ten-banda lodge. It is one of the most extraordinary places in the Indian Ocean.

Clinging to the cliffs south of the old town, Villa Dubrovnik offers the most seductive position in a city of spectacular positions — and pairs it with service and food that justify the considerable cost.

Converted from the grain elevator of the Royal Cape Yacht Club, The Silo sits atop the Zeitz MOCAA museum in the V&A Waterfront. It is, without qualification, one of the most extraordinary hotels in the world.

After a two-year, £120-million restoration completed in 2019, Raffles Singapore has returned to the standard its legend demands. It remains the most important hotel in Southeast Asia and, quite possibly, the finest colonial hotel in the world.

Gili Lankanfushi is the most ecologically committed luxury resort in the Maldives — and by a considerable distance, one of the most beautiful. The no-shoes, no-news policy turns out to be the wisest rule I have ever been asked to follow.