Those who want to escape 21st-century stresses and be immersed in nature should consider Na Praia, embedded in 850 acres near Comporta on Portugal’s wildest coastline. Or head for Here in the Maldives. It’s the smallest resort in the archipelago, with nine villas and more palm trees than people.

If you prefer your peace served with yoga poses, Shanti-Som, one of Europe’s best affordable spas, opens a second base near Faro in Portugal this summer. And if money is no object Kerala has a sparkling new wellness sanctuary, bankrolled by a billionaire and philanthropist who has kitted it out with the latest medical equipment.

Europe won’t disappoint for urban excitement either. The Mercer Madrid is close to the Spanish capital’s brilliant museums and promises to serve the city’s most moreish cocktails. Conrad Athens The Ilisian may just take the title for the world’s most memorable rooftop, with its views over the Parthenon.

Get your diaries out and start planning.

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1. Airelles Paladio Venezia, Italy

Stephane Courbit was the Simon Cowell of French entertainment TV before he defected to hospitality and created the much admired Airelles collection. His Venetian property, which opens in April, shows Courbit has not lost his love of showmanship. Expect theatrical silk-and-swagger interiors to match the renaissance splendour of this trio of buildings wrapped in two and a half acres of Italianate gardens on the island of Giudecca. There will be 45 lavish bedrooms, a Guerlain spa, three pools (two outdoors), a cicchetti bar paying tribute to Venetian tradition, and three fine-dining venues. St Mark’s Basilica is a five-minute hotel shuttle away, if you get bored.
Details B&B doubles from £1,200 (airelles.com). Fly or take the train to Venice

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2. Château la Commaraine, Beaune, France

Considering Burgundy produces some of the world’s best wines, its cup does not exactly runneth over with suitably intoxicating hotels. This 12th-century château, in the rolling premier cru vineyards of Pommard, should add the right notes of earthy depth when it opens in February. The 37 bedrooms are duck-egg and pastel-peach contemporary havens complemented by the patina of its centuries-old stone walls. It’s wise to eat as well as drink, and to encourage guests to do so there are two restaurants by Christophe Raoux, who trained with Alain Ducasse, as well as a spa and an 18m heated outdoor pool with views of the vines.
Details B&B doubles from £700 (chateaulacommaraine.com). Fly to Lyon

3. Gran Hotel Taoro, Tenerife, Spain

This neoclassical landmark was Spain’s first luxury hotel when it opened in 1890, but it had been shuttered for 50 years until a three-year, £44 million renovation put it firmly back on the five-star map last November. Its location is as good as it ever was: in the pretty northern town of Puerto de la Cruz, with views up to moody Mount Teide and down to an energetic Atlantic Ocean. Past guests such as Agatha Christie wouldn’t recognise the 199 bedrooms. These days they’re uncluttered and contemporary with calming cream and caramel fabrics and dark wood furniture.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £1,480pp, including flights and transfers (elegantresorts.co.uk)

• After a 50-year closure, Spain’s first luxury hotel is reborn

4. Four Seasons Resort Mykonos, Greece

Spoiler alert: it’s still possible to find pockets of peace on Mykonos, including this cliffside resort on a secluded stretch of Kalo Livadi Bay. Designed by 101-year-old Nicos Valsamakis, one of Greece’s most respected architects, it feels more traditional Myconian village than typical holiday resort. Its 94 white-on-white bedroom sanctuaries rise up the hillside, ensuring everyone wakes to the sight of a shimmering Aegean. And, unlike most Mykonos beaches where sun loungers are closer than the Kardashians, this resort’s beaches are effectively private and uncrowded, so sunbathers can be as antisocial as they like. If you miss that sardine feeling, Mykonos Town’s packed bars are a 15-minute drive away.
Details B&B doubles from TBC (fourseasons.com). Fly to Mykonos

• 21 of the best hotels in Mykonos

5. Faena New York, USA

Alan Faena’s West Chelsea hotel is the ultimate argument in favour of more-is-more maximalism. The Cathedral (aka the lobby) features a gilded spiral staircase surrounded by a giant site-specific mural on the meaning of life, and the La Boca restaurant has a huge painting of a blue-eyed panther on a bed of pink roses. All that is upstaged by the celebrity chef Francis Mallmann’s Argentinian street food and the Living Room bar’s nightly live music sets. Rooms dial down the drama, with monochrome palettes that allow the skyline views to take centre stage. The pièce de résistance, its South American-inspired Tierra Santa Healing House, opens in spring, promising to be a game-changer for the Big Apple’s wellbeing scene.
Details Room-only doubles from £750, faena.com. Fly to New York City

6. Conrad Athens The Ilisian, Greece

The Hilton in Athens was so loved by Greeks that the area became known as the Hilton neighbourhood. The hotel closed in 2022 and is being readied for a summer reinvention as a Conrad resort (Mr Hilton’s first name was Conrad and it’s the group’s hipper brand). Interiors for the 307 rooms will riff off the original Fifties style, with mid-century furniture and fabrics. Four of the nine restaurants and bars will be on the rooftop, which like many of the bedrooms will go eye to eye with the Acropolis. At night, when the world’s most famous monument is lit up, it’s difficult to imagine a more romantic spot.
Details B&B doubles from £625 (hilton.com). Fly to Athens

7. Casa Bonavita, Attard, Malta

Malta is having a moment — quite right too, considering how much it packs into its 246 sq km on the main island, from the baroque splendour of Valletta to some of the Med’s best diving, temples that predate the Pyramids and Michelin-starred dining. In May it gets the chic boutique hotel it so richly deserves. Suzanne Sharp, who founded The Rug Company with her husband, Christopher, was born on the island, and the couple are turning their family home, an 18th-century palazzo in Attard, in the island’s middle, into a 17-room hideaway. They’ve used their little black book of local artisans to create exquisite interiors (with help from top Italian craftsmen) and accessorised family furniture and paintings with Sicilian tiles and handpainted de Gournay wallpaper.
Details B&B doubles from £250 (casabonavita.com). Fly to Valletta

8. Oku Andalusia, Sotogrande, Spain

This corner of the Costa del Sol still has soul. Marbella may be less than an hour’s drive away, but in terms of ambience it may as well be on another planet. From Oku’s peachy beach the Rock of Gibraltar and Morocco’s Rif Mountains appear, mirage-like, across the sultry Mediterranean; nearby there’s the Los Alcornocales nature reserve for hikes and horse rides. The 255 understated rooms and suites are draped across 25 acres. There’s a space for a kids’ adventure playground and splash zone, and a glamorous spa for grown-ups, with a meditation court and state-of-the-art fitness studio. You won’t see a Towie-wannabe until the airport duty-free.
Details B&B doubles from £310 (okuhotels.com). Fly to Malaga

9. Tulah Clinical Wellness Sanctuary, Kerala, India

If you want cutting-edge diagnostics with your spa break, this opening in north Kerala has the perfect prescription. The brainchild of the billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Faizal Kottikollon, it offers microbiome mapping, MRI scans, metabolic detoxes and access to more than 200 doctors at the nearby Meitra Hospital. You can opt for time-honoured ayurvedic treatments, gentle iyengar yoga, breathwork and dosha analysis. The 65 suites keep both feet in the 21st century, with urban mid-century styling and spacious marble bathrooms, although they are given a timeless spin by the surrounding 30 acres of medicinal gardens and rewilded forests.
Details Full-board doubles from £1,190 a night including treatments. Four-night minimum stay (tulah.life). Fly to Calicut

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10. Le Particulier, Miami, USA

Miami’s art deco beauties are back. Its Nineties and Noughties powerhouse hotels, including the Raleigh and the Delano on Miami Beach, are preparing to reopen after total renovations. The emphasis is on fitness rather than excess now — there’s a 22-person sauna at the Delano. We have our eye on another newly restored art deco gem though. Le Particulier is personality-packed, with 54 eminently affordable bedrooms that exude retro-chic attitude, with in-your-face palm and pink wallpapers, mint and vanilla terrazzo tiled floors and vintage chandeliers. Dining is on trend with a vegan-friendly healthy bowls concept. There’s no pool, but the beach is easily walkable.
Details Room-only doubles from £110 (leparticuliermiami.com). Fly to Miami

• 12 of the best hotels in Miami

11. Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, Florence, Italy

After a meticulous 18-month renovation, the finest address in Florence reopens in April. The 15th-century former monastery’s chapel, frescoes, loggias and cloister are as enchanting as ever, while the 39 bedrooms have been imbued with a subtle modernity. The new look mixes contemporary textures and fabrics with antique furniture, handmade tapestries and botanical artworks that nod to the surrounding woodlands where Leonardo da Vinci tested his flying machine in 1506. Continuing the nature theme, the hotel will open its first spa, the Secret Garden, with treatments inspired by the monks who once called the hotel home.
Details B&B doubles from TBC (belmond.com). Fly to Florence

12. Na Praia, Comporta, Portugal

Comporta, a 90-minute drive south of Lisbon, has been compared with laidback St Tropez in its Fifties heyday and the Hamptons. In other words, it’s A-list cool, and although it’s not quite under the radar any more there are no plans for an Irish bar just yet. Na Praia, which opens in May in 850 acres of nature reserve, will propel it up your travel to-do list. It has taken ten years to inveigle this hideaway of more than 100 rooms, suites and villas into the wispy dunes of this wild stretch of coast. Expect design as pure and pristine as the two kilometres of white sand beach that greet you when you open your curtains.
Details B&B doubles from £1,320 (napraia.com). Fly to Lisbon

13. Como Le Beauvallon, St Tropez, France

The French Riviera has no shortage of glamorous hotels but there’s still a distinct buzz among the locals about the revival of this belle époque beauty by the queen of discreet good taste, Christina Ong, owner of Como Hotels. Ong, who owns celebrity magnets such as Como Parrot Cay in the Caribbean and the Como Metropolitan in London, will introduce contemporary lightness to Le Beauvallon’s 42 rooms, all of which face St Tropez bay. Dinner will be by Yannick Alléno, whose modern French cuisine has earned his kitchens 17 Michelin stars. Distractions will include a branch of Ong’s excellent Como Shambhala spa, whose holistic therapies are loved by Julia Roberts and Daniel Craig.
Details B&B doubles TBC (comohotels.com). Fly to Nice

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14. Matemwe Attitude, Zanzibar, Tanzania

Zanzibar has the same sugar-white beaches and tropical backdrops of the Maldives and Seychelles but not their eye-watering room rates. Sounds good to us, as does this new adults-only retreat on its northeastern tip. It’s a muslin-draped dream, the 74 villas furnished with dark-wood pieces by local artisans and windows that frame an impossibly turquoise Indian Ocean. This place is a persuasive argument for the Swahili philosophy of “pole, pole” (slowly and gently), but do muster the energy for a snorkel. This is one of the best spots off east Africa, and you’ll swim with dolphins, turtles, clownfish and stingrays.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £1,475pp, including flights (kuoni.co.uk)

• 12 best hotels in Zanzibar for an idyllic getaway

15. Claremont Boutique Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa

The family-owned Sabi Sabi Collection has been one of South Africa’s best safari operators for more than 40 years, with four lodges in the Greater Kruger area. It has finally opened a base in Cape Town, where guests can add on a Sabi-style urban adventure. The 1920s Cape Dutch manor house is in the upmarket district of Claremont in the shadow of Table Mountain, with 15 elegantly layered bedrooms dotted between the main house, pool and gardens. Dining is a treat — the farm-to-fork menu at its Veld & Vine Bistro is established as a neighbourhood hangout.
Details B&B doubles from £400 (claremontboutiquehotel.com). Fly to Cape Town

16. Shanti-Som Wellbeing Retreat, Olhao, Portugal

It’s affordable and is designed to look like a Balinese spa but it comes without the jet lag, a clever concept that has made the Marbella mothership a resounding success since it opened in 2011. This summer the team exports the winning formula to Portugal, opening a second base on a ten-acre estate in Moncarapacho, a sleepy village 20 minutes from Faro, with mountain hikes and beach dips within easy reach. Apart from 22 Bali-lite bedrooms there will be a purpose-built wellness centre with a yoga studio, reformer Pilates, a well-equipped gym, treatment rooms, a sauna and an ice bath.
Details B&B doubles from £160 (shantisom.com). Fly to Faro

17. Rah Gili, South Malé Atoll, Maldives

This secluded island a 40-minute boat ride from the capital Malé is the latest venture from Laith Pharaon, who has worked with trendsetting groups such as Soho House and Six Senses. His new 74-room resort is surrounded by spinner dolphins, guaranteeing you’ll go home with endless snaps of cute cetaceans. You may also have some blurred shots of your kids (young and old) splashing into the ocean from the 18m slide on the top deck of each overwater villa, one of the fun design touches. Dining ranges from Indian to Italian, there’s padel (of course) and an art gallery for yet more pretty pictures.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £5,012pp, including flights and transfers (byjodie.travel)

• 16 of the best all-inclusive hotels in the Maldives

18. Uga Ghiri, Ella, Sri Lanka

Uga Resorts uses its insider knowledge as a Sri Lankan company to scout out the island’s very best locations. It has certainly hit the sweet spot with Uga Ghiri, its eighth property, opening in June on the historic ten-acre Sutherland tea estate in Ella. The 15 villas are private and understated, except for their outstanding views. Their outdoor hot tubs overlook the Hill Country’s famous Nine Arch Bridge, emerald-green tea plantations and Ella’s hypnotic mist-covered mountains. The estate’s restored colonial manor is an atmospheric restaurant with dishes that focus on regional cooking.
Details All-inclusive doubles from £900 (ugaresorts.com). Fly to Colombo

19. Mercer Madrid, Spain

An influx of South Americans after Covid has brought a fresh energy and sense of fun to the Spanish capital. The reinvention of the former headquarters of Spain’s General Sugar Society as a hotel will add to the social sparkle in March. The neoclassical landmark, close to the Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza and Reina Sofia museums, will have 61 bedrooms and dining by the Basque chef Eneko Atxa, whose restaurants hold five Michelin stars. Its crowning glory will be the rooftop bar, overseen by the mixology maestro Javier de Las Muelas, whose Dry Martini bar in Barcelona regularly tops lists for Spain’s best cocktails.
Details B&B doubles from £750 (mercermadrid.com). Fly to Madrid

20. Skyra Retreat, Rovaniemi, Finland

The Danish specialise in hygge, meaning cosy interior design, whereas the Finns prefer the concept of kalsarikannit or pantsdrunk, which means contentedly drinking at home. This new resort near Rovaniemi is the perfect place at which to unpack your onesie, crack open a bottle and make like a local. The 14 rooms are snuggle-down cute and eight of them have private saunas that overlook Lake Norvajarvi and ancient forests — and there are champagne buttons for ordering extra fizz. Dinner celebrates Nordic simplicity and seasonality while the spa focuses on hot saunas, cold dips and traditional practices such as a beating with birch twigs to improve circulation.
Details B&B doubles from £1,110 (skyraretreat.com). Fly to Rovaniemi

21. Esh Hotel & Spa, Nosara, Costa Rica

Nosara is not only a charming surfer-dude destination, it’s in one of the world’s five Blue Zones — places where the locals live exceptionally long and healthy lives. It’s easy to see how Nosara’s luscious rainforest and seven kilometres of Guiones Beach have a positive impact on wellbeing. Cranking up the happy vibes further from January is the adults-only sanctuary Esh, which means “fire” in Hebrew. Decor in the 29 suites is suitably fired up, with blackened wood furniture, volcanic stone sinks and soaking tubs, and striking monochrome artwork. The restaurant gets a big Blue Zone tick, featuring produce from neighbouring farms and fishermen. The charcoal margaritas and three-tiered main pool do their bit to brighten the mood too.
Details B&B doubles from £200 (eshhotel.com). Fly to Liberia

22. Chesa Marchetta, Sils Maria, Switzerland

The art dealers Iwan and Manuela Wirth are behind the phenomenally successful Fife Arms in Braemar, the Scottish country inn that thinks it’s an art gallery. The couple have returned to their Swiss roots for their latest venture, spending four years renovating this 16th-century guesthouse in Sils Maria in the glitzy Engadin Valley, 20 minutes’ drive from St Moritz. The 13 bedrooms open in January with wood-panelled walls, traditional Engadin furniture and work by local artists and artisans, while the kitchen is in the capable hands of Davide Degiovanni, formerly at Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street Café.
Details B&B doubles from £540 (chesamarquetta.ch). Fly to Zurich

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23. Ikos Kissamos, Crete, Greece

Demand for luxury all-inclusive resorts is booming, with upmarket brands such as Ikos offering sleek suites, Michelin-worthy menus, first-class childcare and car hire as part of the deal. In April Ikos opens its first property on Crete, with 420 contemporary rooms strung along 53 beachfront acres in easy reach of Chania. The seven restaurants include Peruvian, Asian and an Italian overseen by Ettore Botrini, who runs the Michelin-starred Botrini’s in Athens. There are complimentary padel courts and paddleboards, fitness classes and spa treatments. All that and no nasty surprises at check-out.
Details All-inclusive doubles from £412 (ikosresorts.com). Fly to Chania

24. Here, Baa Atoll, Maldives

This super-exclusive resort within the Baa Atoll’s reef-rich Unesco biosphere reserve is the ultimate crowd-pleaser for multigenerational groups. Its nine exclusive villas, with between three and five bedrooms, resolve the beachfront or overwater accommodation dilemma — each has one end in the sand while the other stands above the sea. And each villa has its own 45m pool. Lotus-eaters can own a sun lounger and let their dedicated butler iron their Speedos and the private chef peel their grapes. Buzzy Finolhu, a neighbouring resort, has kids’ and teens’ clubs, tennis and padel courts and an inflatable assault course in the lagoon.
Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £15,990pp including flights and transfers (turquoiseholidays.com)

25. Casa J.K. Place Roma, Italy

JK Place already owns some of Europe’s chicest hotels but its next property, which opens in the spring, promises to be next-level dazzling. An 18th-century palazzo on Rome’s Via dei Prefetti, close to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, is being converted into 15 spacious one- and two-bedroom residences. It’s all original stucco work and grand coffered ceilings, incredible art, indulgent marble and mirrored bathrooms, plus guests have access to a state-of-the-art gym. Your butler can organise a slap-up meal in your private dining room but it would be a shame to miss out on the people watching downstairs. If its siblings’ restaurants are anything to go by, the Casa will become the hangout for the city’s most stylish crowd.
Details Two nights’ B&B for two from £4,360, two-night minimum stay (jkplaces.com)

Which hotels are you most excited about for this year? Let us know in the comments below