With just five rooms, Casa Cat Ba is a nifty little hideaway. All
guests are treated just the same – with an ocean-view balcony, a
kaleidoscopic breakfast of taste-bud-bamboozling local fare and
intimate kayak tours in and around the island, that is. It’s one of
those hotels that’s almost painfully idyllic, as beautiful inside
as it is out – a pocket of stylish, bohemian design (think luxe
beanbags and macramé wall hangings) with a sugary-fine beach on one
side, the laid-back village of Holbox on the other and a thicket of
emerald-green wilderness to explore beyond.

There were times when places like Cuyama Buckhorn would have been dismissed as
run-of-the-mill highway pit stops. Now, this gloriously retro
roadside inn is the stuff of quarantine dreams. Why? For starters,
it’s deep in the heart of California‘s high desert, cradled by gaping
golden mountains and swathed in dusky-pink sunsets. It’s decked out
in the kind of mid-century furniture that makes interior design
buffs weak at the knees and is the launchpad for a bevvy of
accessible outdoorsy day trips. There’s Mount Pinos (a great spot
for astrotourism), the ancient cave paintings of Carrizo Plain
National Monument and Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, or you
can simply strap on a pair of hiking boots and make tracks.

Fifty thousand hectares of wildlife reserve. Does that sound
like enough to you? If so, how about joining us on a return visit
to Habitas Namibia. This tented safari camp is
part of a new wave of businesses paving the path for sustainable
safari trips. The camp itself is a barely-there kink in the
savannah which has been designed to be as low impact as possible,
while the safari experience itself is all about positive
integration with the local tribespeople. We particularly like the
fact you can opt to roam the parks by mountain bike, rather than
Jeep – a real boon for go-getting adventurers. The open-air pool
which looks out over the desolate landscape and makes a great spot
for star-spangled late-night digestifs.

Wine lovers, listen up. This luxurious getaway sits in a frothy
meshwork of curly Malbec vines, slap bang in the middle of Argentina‘s wine region. We’re booking the Suite Loft, a space-age cabin on stilts which
hovers over the vineyard. Of course, we’re going to spend plenty of
time nosing about the city of Mendoza and the sun-seared
countryside, but we’ll also book a bumper session in the hotel’s
hammam spa, where traditional Turkish treatments are combined with modern
vinotherapy (yep, you guessed it). 2020’s been quite the ride,
after all.

Anyone who describes Marrakech as a weekend destination needs to check in to
Jnane Tamsna. A far cry from the noisy, compact
Riads of the city centre (but just slightly
north of the city centre), Jnane Tamsna is a magnificent sprawl of
opulent gardens and interior design showpieces. Camel ride through
the date palms? Sidecar tour of the Medina? Cookery class with the
hotel’s in-house chef? Take your pick. The hotel has made a name
for itself in recent years as a magnet for creative movers and
shakers, as well as curious epicureans eager for a slice of the
hotel’s devilishly irresistible cuisine.

The art-deco framework of Noelle dates back to 1930, though you’ll be
hard-pressed to find anything fusty about this hotel. It prides
itself on its elegant clientele – a mixture of local arty types and
international visitors hankering for an authentic piece of this
city’s notorious creative scene. In recent years Nashville has proven its offering to extend far
beyond the country-western jingles of which it’s famed. The
National Museum of African American Music is within walking
distance, the Fatherland District’s paint-splattered streets are a
few blocks east and there is a litany of fine, modern restaurants
nearby. Not that you’ll find it easy to tear yourself away; this
place is pretty easy on the eye.

If it was good enough for Spain’s chief politicians, it’s good
enough for us. As its name suggests, this retreat in the centre of
historic Ávila was built as a summer house the behest of Spain‘s first democratically elected prime minister,
Adolfo Suárez, and has welcomed many political heavyweights in its
time. It’s a full-on hotel these days, though its
magisterial history lives on in its timeless, no-fuss design. It’s
the only five-star offering within the thick-hewed walls of Ávila
and the most chic place to bed down while visiting the city.