Hotel Reviews

Just over two hours’ drive from Athens, this marble-columned hilltop hotel is the ideal base for lazy, poolside days and sunset tipples overlooking the Aegean Sea. Like any Aman property, Amanzoe has a wealth of restaurant offerings, a state-of-the-art spa and exceptional service – oh, and the Beach Club is within easy reach.

A Venetian institution, The Gritti Palace draws discerning travellers with its 15th-century charm and views across the Grand Canal. Thanks to its state-of-the-art spa and Italian menus, it’s the perfect base for exploring La Serenissima – so long as you finish the day with cocktails on Bar Longhi’s famed terrace.

Clinging to the cliffside about a hundred steps from Positano's heaving seafront, legendary Le Sirenuse offers a beguiling escape from the holidaymaker humdrum that is the Amalfi Coast during summer months.

Away from Italy’s tourist hotspots of Bari, Ostuni and Alberobello, this revamped 17th-century castle (and family home) immerses guests in southern Italian culture with its world-class cookery school, Puglian tasting menus, artistic flair and surprisingly green eco-credentials.

Reminiscent of an ancient Omani fort, Alila Jabal Akhdar clings to the side of its namesake mountain. Beyond its spectacular infinity pool, you can indulge in an array of wellness activities including yoga, and meditation before evenings spent beneath the stars. Its locavore fare and eco-conscious initiatives attract those looking to harmonise themselves with the impressive natural surrounds.

If Gordes is the darling of Provence, then we’ve fallen head over heels for its most romantic hotel, Airelles Gordes, La Bastide. Gazing across the Luberon Valley from medieval ramparts, its lavender-strewn terraced gardens, clubby bar and vaulted spa draw bon vivants summering in the South of France.

As perfect for outdoor enthusiasts as it is for those who want to go off-grid without forgoing modern luxuries, The Duncombe Arms, a Michelin-accredited pub with rooms, brings together country-chic design and a great Sunday roast on the southern fringe of the Peak District.

A polished-concrete symbol of Stratford’s urban regeneration, The Stratford hotel is a Scandi-style rule breaker that draws city-break guests and those after long-term loft apartments with world-class design credentials, a spectacular sky terrace, a fine-dining farm-to-table restaurant and easy access to central London and beyond.

Floating pools. Technicolour design. Gardens overflowing with flowers. Gazing out over Lake Como, Italy’s most famous body of water, Grand Hotel Tremezzo deserves cult status. Expect an award-winning spa and a pizza-cocktail combo that’s hard to refuse.

Offering a laid-back, contemporary stay and a whole host of watersports beside one of Cornwall’s much-loved surfing beaches, the Watergate Bay Hotel is the benchmark in coastal retreats for city dwellers.

Framed by the rolling slopes and untamed landscape of the Scottish Highlands, this Victorian hotel in Wester Ross is a fairy-tale love nest where hiking, hearty fare and hot, hot baths are the order of the day.

Home to a welcome-all speakeasy, top-notch restaurant, nightly live music and East-meets-West aesthetics, this boutique hotel set in the former Oranienpalast Café is fast becoming an institution in edgy Kreuzberg

Monastic yet modern, irreverent yet elegant, this Parisian pied-à-terre makes for an intoxicating stay at the heart of Le Marais. Don’t be fooled by the ecclesiastical atmosphere, Sinner hotel lives up to its name.

Bon vivants congregate at this Upper Marais hotel where designer Dorothée Meilichzon has fashioned an art-deco pied-à-terre for the Instagram generation. Guests here revel in the bistro-style restaurant, velvet-clad bar and plenty of oh là là.

On the border of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, Ian Schrager's sleek Sunset Strip hotel draws a crowd of cool creatives and under-the-radar A-listers with its loft-like rooms, rooftop bar and sustainable credentials.