Places to stay Explore our selections for design.
Sowaka
HotelAsia, 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.”
Casa Polanco
HotelNorth America, Mexico
From $600
Casa Polanco is a 19-room boutique hotel in Mexico City’s Polanco district, set directly across from Parque Lincoln and a short walk from Avenida Presidente Masaryk and the city’s best restaurants. It joins a restored 1940s Neocolonial mansion, recognized by Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts, with a contemporary building designed by architect Claudio Gantous. Rooms feature walnut floors, custom furniture and, in many cases, balconies over the park or the inner courtyard. Rates include breakfast at La Veranda, a guests-only restaurant, as well as daily afternoon tea and an honor bar in the library, and the hotel also has a spa, a fitness room and e-bikes for getting around.
La Valise Bacalar
HotelNorth America, Mexico
From $330
La Valise Bacalar, formerly known as Boca de Agua, is a design-led retreat on the shore of the Laguna de Bacalar, in Mexico’s Quintana Roo, around four hours south of Tulum. Created by architect Frida Escobedo and now part of the Design Hotels collection, it spreads across a wide stretch of jungle, with suites raised on stilts among the trees and built from natural materials to protect the lagoon’s fragile ecosystem. The lagoon is known for its seven shades of blue and for its ancient stromatolites, which guests can explore by paddleboard, snorkel or eco-tour. Days end at the outdoor pool, the spa or the lagoon-side beach club, with the colonial town of Bacalar a short drive away.
The Audo
HotelEurope, Denmark
From $340
Audo House is a 1910s neoclassical merchant house in Nordhavn, Copenhagen’s former free-port district, where small traders once resold goods shipped through the harbour. Norm Architects redesigned the interiors when it became the headquarters of the Danish design brand Audo Copenhagen, formerly Menu. About 10 rooms sit under the roof, with exposed beams and ceilings up to 4.5 metres high. They’re furnished with Dinesen floors, Dux beds, Aiayu organic cotton bedding and Audo pieces, all of which are sold in the concept store downstairs. The ground floor has a café-restaurant with amphitheatre-style seating and hosts design talks and workshops. Bikes are available to rent.
Hotel Neri – Relais & Châteaux
HotelEurope, Spain
From $458
Hotel Neri sits on Plaça Sant Felip Neri, a small, secluded square in the heart of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, a short walk from the cathedral and La Rambla. The building joins a 12th-century medieval palace with an 18th-century Gothic mansion, and the restoration keeps exposed stone, timber beams and arches alongside Mediterranean interiors in deep, warm tones. It is the only Relais & Châteaux hotel in Barcelona, with an intimate number of rooms and suites, a restaurant set beneath stone vaults and a rooftop terrace with a plunge pool overlooking the old city’s rooftops. Pets are welcome.
Cotton House Hotel, Autograph Collection
HotelEurope, Spain
From $400
Cotton House occupies an 1879 mansion on Gran Via, in Barcelona’s Eixample, built for a textile family and later home to the city’s Cotton Producers Guild. Designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán restored its marble staircase, ceiling frescoes and the guild’s library, now a reading room, and the 1957 spiral staircase that hangs from the ceiling still leads guests upstairs. The 83 rooms, five of them suites, pair tall windows and dark wood floors with crisp cotton linens, and books and ledgers rescued from the guild line one of the restaurant’s dining rooms. There is a rooftop pool and terrace, a cocktail bar, and an in-house atelier where Santa Eulalia tailors cotton shirts to measure.
Piaule Catskill
HotelNorth America, United States
From $499
Piaule Catskill is a landscape hotel set on 50 acres of forest in Catskill, New York, about two and a half hours from the city. Founded by Nolan McHugh and Trevor Briggs, creators of the homeware brand of the same name, and designed by Garrison Architects, it is made up of 24 freestanding cabins raised on stilts, each with a glass wall facing the Catskill Escarpment, white oak and cedar interiors, bluestone floors and furniture made by Piaule. Below the main house, a spa built into the hillside holds a hot pool, a cold mineral plunge, a sauna and a steam room. Meals are served at the restaurant in the main lodge, and trails lead from the cabins into the surrounding woods.
TWA Hotel
HotelNorth America, United States
From $260
The TWA Hotel occupies Eero Saarinen's TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in New York, a 1962 landmark of mid-century design that sat abandoned for nearly two decades before reopening as a hotel in 2019. The original terminal now holds restaurants, bars and the famous Sunken Lounge, while 512 rooms sit in two new wings behind it, with views of the runways or the historic building. The restoration followed Saarinen's original plans, using the same materials wherever possible. On the roof, an infinity pool and bar look out over arriving and departing planes, and below ground, the 24-hour gym is one of the largest of any hotel. Retro furniture, vintage uniforms and a restored Lockheed Constellation plane complete the trip back to the golden age of air travel.
Taj Lake Palace
HotelAsia, 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.
