Places to stay Explore our selections for offbeat.
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.”
Southern Ocean Lodge
HotelOceania, Australia
From $2,200
Southern Ocean Lodge sits on the limestone cliffs above Hanson Bay, on the wild south-west coast of Kangaroo Island, a short flight from Adelaide. Destroyed by bushfire in 2020, it reopened in late 2023 under its original architect, Max Pritchard, with 23 suites strung along the coastline, a central Great Room and a new four-bedroom Ocean Pavilion. The lodge runs almost entirely off-grid, powered by solar and battery systems and supplied by rainwater and an aquifer, while works by island and South Australian artists fill the interiors. Stays are all-inclusive, with menus built around local growers and fishermen, an open bar, signature island experiences, a spa and transfers included.
Tu Tu’ Tun Lodge
HotelNorth America, United States
From $290
Tu Tu’ Tun Lodge is an adults-only retreat on the north bank of the Rogue River, seven miles upriver from Gold Beach on the southern Oregon coast. A family-owned lodge since the 1970s, it is surrounded by dense forest a few miles from the Siskiyou National Forest, far from the busier stretches of the Pacific Northwest. Rooms, suites and riverside houses open onto the water, with stone fireplaces and wood interiors throughout. Days are spent kayaking, fishing, hiking or taking jet boat trips upriver, with an outdoor pool, a sauna and massages back at the lodge, and dinner is served family-style each evening.
Hotel Humano
HotelNorth America, Mexico
From $320
Hotel Humano is a 39-room hotel by Grupo Habita in La Punta Zicatela, the surf neighborhood of Puerto Escondido on Mexico’s Oaxacan coast, set on a pedestrian-only street a short walk from Playa Zicatela. Architect Jorge Hernández de la Garza designed a cluster of buildings in concrete, clay tiles, brick and tropical wood, while Plantea Estudio shaped interiors furnished by local artisans. Rooms flow between sleeping, bathing and lounging areas divided by freestanding walls and curtains, each one decorated with drawings by artist Lucio Muniain. A garden restaurant serves Oaxacan cooking, and the rooftop, with its sunset pool and fire pits, opens every late afternoon.
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.
Albergo Diffuso Ca’ Spiga
HotelEurope, Italy
From $172
Ca’ Spiga is a small albergo diffuso in Laglio, on the western shore of Lake Como, set within the old stone hamlet of Torriggia Alta, around 200 meters above the water and twenty minutes by car from Como. Its eight rooms are spread across restored village houses, with tiled floors, wooden furnishings and, in many cases, balconies facing the lake. There is no restaurant, but breakfast is a highlight, a generous spread of local products served on a panoramic terrace, and the hosts are known for welcoming guests like old friends. One of the lake’s few beaches, Riva del Tenciu, is a two-minute walk away, and Villa del Balbianello and Bellagio are within easy reach.
Maison Mystique
HotelAsia, 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.
Hotel Palazzo Guadagni
HotelEurope, Italy
From $262
Hotel Palazzo Guadagni occupies the upper floors of a palazzo built in the early 16th century by architect Il Cronaca, on Piazza Santo Spirito in Florence’s Oltrarno, a few minutes’ walk from Palazzo Pitti and the Ponte Vecchio. Its loggia was the first in Renaissance Florence to face Brunelleschi’s Basilica of Santo Spirito, and has hosted artists and scholars since the building became a guesthouse in 1912. The 15 rooms are individually furnished, some with frescoed ceilings, antique fireplaces or views of the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio. Today the loggia is a rooftop bar serving Tuscan wines at sunset, above one of the city’s most lived-in neighborhoods, known for its artisans and antique shops.
Primero Primera
HotelEurope, Spain
From $297
Primero Primera is a 30-room hotel in a family home built in 1955 on Carrer Doctor Carulla, in Tres Torres, a leafy residential corner of Sant Gervasi above the Diagonal. The owners’ family has lived on the first floor since the beginning, and the 2011 conversion kept the house’s spacious rooms, parquet floors and original materials, now paired with dark wood furniture and strong-colored rugs. Guests can swim in the seasonal outdoor pool surrounded by gardens, eat Mediterranean dishes at El Comedor, and join the daily manager’s reception. The metro is a five-minute walk away, with Plaça de Catalunya about fifteen minutes by train.
