TOO HOT?

TOO HOT?
••
SAUDI
IN DIA
Glasshouse,
North
Continentale,
Florence
Una Hotel Vittoria, Florence
Villa La Vedetta,
Le Meridien, Vienna
Palais Coburg, Vienna
BAHAMAS
Four Seasons Resort Great
Exuma,
Emerald Bay
Fasano Hotel, Sao Paulo
Florence
Park Hyatt, Milan
3 Rooms, Milan
Methis Hotel, Padua
II Palazzetto,
Rome
Singita LebombolSingita
Kruger National Park
SPAIN
Toronto
Carlisle Bay, Carlisle Bay,Antigua
Sofitel Nicolas De Ovando, Santo
THAILAND
Metropolitan,
Bangkok
Costa Lanta, Koh Lanta
The Racha, Koh Racha
JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa,
Phuket
Domingo, Dominican Republic
CHI LE
Ritz-Carlton,
Santiago
CHINA
Commune
UNITED
by the Great Wall, Yanqing
ARAB
Mina A'Salam,
County
Residence
COSTA
RICA
Four Seasons Resort at Peninsula
Papagayo,
Guanacaste Province
Hotel Skt. Petri, Copenhagen
ENGLAND
Barnsley House, Barnsley
Hotel Felix, Cambridge
The Grove, Chandler's Cross
Malmaison, London
JAPAN
Grand Hyatt, Tokyo
London
ESTONIA
Four Seasons
Three Sisters Hotel, Tallinn
LATVIA
des Andeols, Apt
The Maritime, New York, New York
Inn at Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Hotel Icon, Houston. Texas
MALDIVES
Hotel Le A, Paris
Plaza Paris Vendome,
Palmilla,
Los Cabos
W, Mexico City
MOROCCO
Paris
Villa Marie, Ramatuelle
Les Jardins de la Koutoubia,
Marrakech
MOZAMBIQUE
POLYNESIA
Quilalea,
Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa, Bora Bora
GERMANY
NEW
Watermark
Hotel and Spa,
San Antonio, Texas
Four Seasons Resort,
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
URUGUAY
Cipriani
Lodge, Tai Tapu
Delamore Lodge, Waiheke Island
Glass House, Waiheke Island
2S Hours, Hamburg
The Magnolia, Houston. Texas
Hotel Valencia Riverwalk,
San Antonio. Texas
Quilalea Island
ZEALAND
Otahuna
Ku'Damm 101, Berlin
Ritz-Carlton, Berlin
Punta del Este Resort, La Barra
WORLDWIDE
Queen Mary' 2
POLAND
GREECE
Hotel Grande
MEXICO
One&Only
The Raleigh, Miami Beach, Florida
Le Meridien, Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Alluvian, Greenwood, Mississippi
The Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
Wentworth
by the Sea,
EI Monte Sagrado, Taos. New Mexico
Mandarin Oriental, New York, New York
Cocoa Island, Cocoa Island
L'Hermitage
Gantois, Lille
Hi Hotel, Nice
Palais de la Mediterranee,
Nice
STATES
New Castle, New Hampshire
Inn ofthe Five Graces,
Santa Fe, New Mexico
JORDAN
Hotel, Amman
Hotel Bergs, Riga
FRANCE
Royal
Montage Resort & Spa,
Laguna Beach, California
Ledson Hotel, Sonoma, California
Four Seasons Hotel, Miami, Florida
Aria Hotel, Prague
Sixteen,
& Spa at One&Only
UNITED
REPUBLIC
Whatley Manor, Malmesbury
Hart's Hotel, Nottingham
EMIRATES
Dubai
Mirage, Dubai
Chedi Muscat, Muscat, Oman
DENMARK
FRENCH
Gran Hotel La Florida, Barcelona
Hotel Omm, Barcelona
Convent de la Missi6,
Palma de Mallorca
La Reserve, Geneva
Greulich Hotel, Zurich
CARIBBEAN
Domaine
Sweni,
SWITZERLAND
Hotel Le Germain,
Number
AFRICA
Kwandwe Ecca Lodge, Eastern Cape
The Outpost, Kruger National Park
CANADA
CZECH
Island, North Island
SOUTH
Residenza Napoleone,
Rome
Vigilius Mountain Resort, South Tyrol
San Clemente Palace, Venice
BRAZIL
Edinburgh
SEYCHELLES
I TAL Y
Moog Hotel, Sydney
Centre,
SCOTLAND
Kayumanis, Bali
The Mansion, Bali
AUSTRIA
Hotel at Kingdom
Riyadh
INDONESIA
AUSTRALIA
ARABIA
Four Seasons
Park Hyatt, Goa
Aman-i-Khas,
Rajasthan
Hotel Rialto, Warsaw
Bretagne,
ICELAND
Hotel Budir, Budir
101 Hotel, Reykjavik
200
Athens
KEY
PORTUGAL
Hotel Olissippo
Castelo,
Lisbon
e
TO
SYMBOLS
0= Bar/lounge ~ = Beach ~ = Gym
= Pool 0= Spa ,,= 24-hour room service
soul food is the talk of Vienna and-fair
(Continued from page 211 )
AUSTRIA
Le Meridien, Vienna
Four landmark palaces were combined at a
cost of $150 million to create this 295-room
hotel, which one-ups its similarly sized competition with top-notch facilities that other
contenders can't touch: a state-of-the-art fitness center with a resort-sized
pool, a
whirlpool, a steam room, a sauna-you
name it. More impressive still is the service,
which was lickety-split just a month after the
opening. Blond-wood furniture, poplar paneling, and sheets of aquamarine glass dominate the well-thought-out rooms, each with a
giant flat-screen TV, superb lighting, a minibar stocked with complimentary beer, juice,
and water, and free high-speed Internet access (although, alas, no CD player). Bathrooms are fabulous, with big retro claw-foot
tubs and multijet showers. Shambala, the
hotel's restaurant, serves just okay Eurasian
fare; better is the Shambala Bar, where a DJ
spins house music and the city's brigh t young
things toss back cosmopolitans and Austrian pear brandy on the rocks. When to go:
Year-round, but May and June and September and October are especially lovely. Which
room to book: A top-floor deluxe double
with a view of the opera house (43-1-588900; www.lemeridien-vienna.com;
doubles,
<:> ~
$380-$445; ~).
0
Palais Coburg, Vienna
In a city truffied with palaces, the Palais
Coburg, built between 1840 and 1845, is in a
league of its own. Now it's been transformed
into a sort of baby grand hotel, with just 34
suites and a refreshing lack of pomp but all
the circumstance. The semi-subterranean
entryway allows glimpses of the spectacular
banqueting rooms and wine cellars created
from the surviving barrel-vaulted medieval
brick cellars. This earthy approach softens
the aristocratic grandeur that awaits upstairs, where rooms have been decorated
with impeccable if restrained good taste.
Furnishings vary according to the type of
room: The top-drawer Coburg and Palais
suites are done in Biedermeier and Louis
Philippe furniture, while the less expensive
City and Modem rooms feature comfortable
contemporary Italian pieces. The spa has a
pool, a whirlpool, a sauna, a steam room, a
big sun terrace, and a small workout area. Le
Coburg restaurant's modem riff on Austrian
KEY
0=
~ = Pool
254
TO
Bar/lounge
*
SYMBOLS
G = Beach
= Spa ,,=
24-hour
~
= Gym
room service
warning-books
up weeks in advance.
When to go: Aside from August-hot
and
quiet-Vienna
is a year-round destination.
Which room to book: One of the suites overlooking the Ringstrasse, swish digs with fully
equipped kitchens (43-1-518-180;
www
.palaiscoburg.com; suites, $550-$2,400; ~).
O~OO
BAHAMAS
Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma,
Emerald Bay
Baretto, is an altogether different scene:
After frequenting the designer stores on the
nearby Rua Haddock Lobo, tanned young
things sip caipirinhas and listen to live music.
Staff are knowledgeable
and charming,
without a whiff of attitude. When to go: The
mugginess of the megalopolis eases from
May through September. Which room to
book: Comers offer the best views and the
biggest bang for your buck (55-11-38964000; www.fasano.com.br;
doubles, $255<:> ~
$425; ~).
0
0"
Question: When is an Out Island no longer
an Out Island? Answer: When the Four Sea-
CANADA
sons comes to town. Follow the private jets
to the Exumas-a
barely developed archipelago known mostly to sailors and divers
and as a location for multiple James Bond
movies-where
the luxury chain has opened
its first Bahamas outpost. Quiet, friendly
Great Exuma and its supremely blue bay are
an apt setting for the typically sumptuous
Four Seasons treatment. Nearly all of the
183 sizable, terraced rooms and suites face
the white sand and the water. Service-not
11_
II
always polished in the Bahamas-approaches the standards of other Four Seasons resorts. The Greg Norman golf course
has some of the best views and play in the region. The place often feels like a hermetically
sealed city unto itself-but that's okay. Entire
days can be happily spent alternating between the spa, the poolside grill, the beach,
and two free-form pools. When to go: The Bahamas is known as the land of eternal June,
but to avoid the high-season crowds, visit between Thanksgiving and Christmas or after
New Year's. (For more on the islands, see
"Bahamas Rising," page 224.) Which room
to book: Any of the beachfront suites (242336-6800; fourseasons.com/greatexuma;
G <:> ~
CI
doubles, $375-$600; ~).
0
0
Hotel Le Germain, Toronto
debut as hoteliers in 1988 with QueThe
Germain
family fashionable
made their
bec City's
refreshingly
Hotel Germain des Pres; a decade later they
opened the Hotel Le Germain, in Montreal,
which quickly garnered a cult following.
Their latest effort is a modern addition to
Toronto's gentrified downtown theater district, where old brick buildings line the narrow streets. An II-story brick-and-glass facade conceals a lobby outfitted with rich
South American woods. A fireplace separates the lobby from the library, a cozy yet
contemporary lounge with floor-to-ceiling
plate glass windows. But the 122 rooms are
the real allure-from
the sexy glass wall that
divides the oversized shower from the bedroom to the Frette linens and hypoallergenic
down comforters and pillows. The staff are
friendly and efficient enough to satisfy even
high-maintenance business travelers, and the
complimentary continental breakfast stands
out with trays of smoked salmon, crusty
croissants,
and fresh fruit. When to go:
Spring and fall, to beat the crowds. Which
room to book: One facing south to view the
CN Tower and the SkyDome, north to see
the city (416-345-9500; www.hotelboutique
<:>
.com; doubles, $184-$206; ~).
0
BRAZIL
Fasano Hotel, Sao Paulo
The Fasano is the sum of its pitch-perfect
parts, from the Trussardi linens in the 64 accommodations to the manager's handwritten welcome letter and the bricks imported
from England that lend the facade its distinctive finish. Rooms overlook the fashionable
Jardins district and have a warm palette of
dark woods and '30s minimalist furniture.
Best of all is the pool, a marble aerie on the
twenty-first floor, where you can contemplate an overwrought skyline swarming with
helicopters.
It's nO"surprise that a hotel
owned by Sao Paulo's premier restaurateurs
has two Italian eateries, three bars, and 24hour room service. Its principal restaurant is
a theatrical cavern packed nightly with a cast
of moneyed Paulistas, while its jazz bar,
CARIBBEAN
Carlisle Bay, Cal'llsle Bay, Antigua
This 88-suite retreat will leave even the testiest traveler with little room to complain. All
accommodations-think
clean-lined mahogany furniture, contemporary photos of
local flora, and subtle splashes of blue,
green, and gray-face
the sea and include
sizable terraces with low-slung daybeds, the
better to enjoy the views of nearby Montserrat. There' are two exceptionally tasty
restaurants:
East, a pan-Asian winner in
both menu and design, and Indigo on the
Beach, with a simple, healthy selection of
grilled fish, pastas, and colorful salads.
Although the 17,000-square-foot
spa was
still under construction during our visit, up
and running were a fitness facility, a 45-seat
CONDE
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