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.