Asia Explore our selections.

Sowaka

Hotel

Asia, Japan

From $1,050

Sowaka is a 23-room luxury hotel in Gion, Kyoto’s historic geisha district, a two-minute walk from Yasaka Shrine. Its main building is a restored ryotei from the Taisho era, built in the sukiya style and more than a century old, joined by a modern annex added in 2019. The renovation kept the decorated ceilings and windows, patterned timber, clay walls and sliding paper screens, while each room is individually designed, some with tatami and garden views. Dining centers on seasonal kaiseki-inspired cooking at Gion Loka, and the hotel also has a bar and a courtyard garden lounge. The name comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “may happiness be with you.”

Maison Mystique

Hotel

Asia, Thailand

From $430

Maison Mystique is a 22-room boutique hotel in the green hills of Khao Yai, around two hours northeast of Bangkok and a ten-minute drive from Khao Yai National Park. Opened in 2025 by Fearn Kate and Bun Dhadasih, it borrows the look of an old European manor and fills it with fairy-tale detail: lantern-lit corridors, antique curiosities and botanical sculptures. The rooms are grouped into four themed worlds, from the plant-filled Botanical Obscura to the dreamy Celestial Lullaby. Guests gather in the dark green Bibliothèque Émeraude, at the restaurant, or at Bar Mystère for cocktails after dark, with gardens in bloom all around.

K5

Hotel

Asia, Japan

From $457

K5 is a 20-room hotel in Nihonbashi Kabutocho, Tokyo’s original financial district, set in a 1923 neoclassical building that once served as an annex to Japan’s first bank. Stockholm-based Claesson Koivisto Rune led the conversion, leaving the concrete structure exposed and pairing it with parquet floors, washi lamps, Kvadrat textiles and furniture designed specifically for the hotel. Most rooms measure around 40 square meters, with high ceilings, large windows and a central column veiled in indigo fabric. Downstairs, Caveman serves Nordic-Japanese cooking from the team behind Kabi, Switch Coffee doubles as a plant shop, Ao mixes tea-based cocktails in a red library, and the basement holds Brooklyn Brewery’s first beer hall outside New York.

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi

Hotel

Asia, Vietnam

From $385

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi opened in 1901 in the French Quarter, a short walk from Hoan Kiem Lake and the Hanoi Opera House. Over more than a century, it has welcomed writers, royalty and heads of state: Charlie Chaplin spent his honeymoon here, and Graham Greene stayed at the Metropole in 1951 while reporting for Paris Match. The rooms in the original Metropole wing are decorated in 1920s French colonial style, while the newer Opera Wing has a more contemporary feel and is quieter. One of the hotel's most memorable experiences is the Path of History tour, led by the Metropole's resident historians, which uncovers hidden chapters of the hotel and of Hanoi's past, including the bomb shelter where guests and staff took refuge during the Vietnam War. The courtyard pool, Le Spa du Metropole and restaurants serving French and Vietnamese cuisine complete the stay.

Park Hyatt Tokyo

Hotel

Asia, Japan

From $920

Park Hyatt Tokyo occupies the top floors of the Shinjuku Park Tower, designed by Kenzo Tange, and when it opened in 1994 it was the first Park Hyatt in Asia. Guests ride up to a lobby on the 41st floor, and the 171 rooms and suites look out over the city, with Yoyogi Park below and, on clear days, Mount Fuji in the distance. The hotel became famous worldwide through Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, and the New York Bar on the 52nd floor, with live jazz every night, is still its best-known room. After a renovation of 19 months, it reopened in December 2025, keeping the spirit of its original design. Days can end with a swim in the glass-roofed pool high above Shinjuku, a treatment at the spa or dinner at the New York Grill or Kozue, its Japanese restaurant.

The Peninsula Hong Kong

Hotel

Asia

From $555

The Peninsula opened in 1928 at the southern tip of the Kowloon peninsula, built to welcome travellers arriving on the Trans-Siberian Railway, and it is now Hong Kong's oldest hotel. Guests can be collected from the airport in one of its 14 Rolls-Royce Phantoms or by helicopter, landing on the rooftop. At the door, they are greeted by Peninsula Pages in white uniforms, and afternoon tea in the lobby is served to the sound of a live string quartet. The Roman-style pool and many of the rooms look out across Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island. Through the Peninsula Academy, guests can learn to make dim sum with the chef of Spring Moon, the hotel's Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant, or take mixology and pastry classes. Felix, the bar and restaurant on the 28th floor, was designed by Philippe Starck.

Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

Hotel

Asia, Thailand

From $680

Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok has stood on the banks of the Chao Phraya River since 1876, when it opened as Thailand's first luxury hotel. Its original Victorian building, now called the Authors' Wing, is the only surviving part of the first hotel, and its lounges are named after the writers who stayed here, including Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham. Afternoon tea at the Authors' Lounge has been a Bangkok tradition for more than a century. The hotel's teakwood boats cross the river to The Oriental Spa, set in a century-old teak building, to the Oriental Thai Cooking School, and to Sala Rim Naam, where dinner comes with traditional Thai dance and music each night. The same boats link the hotel to the Skytrain in minutes, avoiding Bangkok's traffic, and longtail boat tours explore the river and the city's old canals.

Zannier Bai Sai Hô

Villa

Asia, Vietnam

From $410

Zannier Bãi San Hô is a resort on a peninsula of Vietnam's south-central coast, about 35 kilometres south of Quy Nhơn, in one of the country's least developed stretches of shoreline, with long sandy beaches, rice fields and jungle-covered hills. Its name means "Coral Bay," and its villas draw on the architecture of the local fishing villages, set on the hills, among the rice paddies or right on the beach. Many have their own pool. Life centres on a long private crescent beach, where the Làng Chài restaurant and bar sits in thatched huts and serves dishes based on local recipes. A spa, a pool and a free kids' club round out the stay, and bike rides through the nearby villages are a good way to see how life runs in this part of Vietnam.

Taj Lake Palace

Hotel

Asia, India

From $400

Taj Lake Palace stands on an island in the middle of Lake Pichola, in Udaipur, and appears to float on the water. It was built in the 18th century as a summer palace for the Maharanas of Mewar and was first known as Jag Niwas. Today it is run by Taj, which has kept its marble courtyards, fountains, carved arches and royal suites, many with painted walls and stained glass. Guests arrive by boat, and the views stretch across the lake to the City Palace and the Aravalli hills. Meals can be taken by the lily pond, beside the pool or on the rooftop, and the Jiva Spa offers treatments rooted in Indian wellness traditions, including one on a boat moored on the lake. The palace also appeared in the James Bond film Octopussy.