1. Palm Beach, Florida: The Colony Hotel
Entering the Colony Hotel is like entering a scene from a Wes Anderson movie or a storybook; it’s a whimsical blend of the modern and the vintage. Inside its pink stucco walls, the glitzy but relaxed Palm Beach of bygone eras replaces reality. The hotel’s guest rooms and villas have been restored throughout the years since Andrew and Sarah Wetenhall bought it in 2016, revitalizing the historic establishment while preserving its distinctive tropical eclecticism. If you can ever escape its fantastical attractions, it’s the ideal starting point for exploring the island, situated just between the beach and Worth Avenue’s stores. starting at $499. —Hannah Towey
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Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts hotel
2. Four Seasons Hotel Montreal $$$
| Readers’ Choice Awards 2023, 2024
Perhaps a metaphor for the emotional journey you’ll take as you breeze past an artsy ground-floor lounge and up an elevator to the third-floor lobby, a bellhop whisks away your luggage as your taxi (or, more likely, chauffeured limo) pulls up to the iconic black-glass tower that houses the sparkling new Four Seasons Hotel Montreal. Despite being distinctly upscale without being overt, this hotel is one of the most opulent in the area. Imagine gorgeous bespoke furniture, herringbone wood flooring, and truly massive marble bathrooms with wonderful Byredo amenities. It’s worth calling out the truly fantastic, spacious closets; they are beautifully lit, feature well-constructed built-in drawers, and have enough space to hide your luggage away, lending each room and suite a residential feel where you’ll almost forget you’re staying in a hotel.
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The image can include The pool Swimming Pool Water Outdoor Waterfront Nature Sea Boat Transportation Vehicle and Person
The Belmond/Mattia Aquila hotel
3. Italy’s Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, Portofino
$$$ | 2018 Gold List, 2020, 2022, and 2025 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards
A hotel of very high quality is necessary to ease the pain of the culmination of a lifetime trip fantasy. Disembarking from the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express at Portofino, Italy, this past summer was a gut-wrenching event for me. However, Splendido really does provide such a relief. Originally constructed as a Benedictine monastery, this palatial albergo on the Ligurian coast is today covered with pink azaleas on almost every balcony, allowing visitors to enjoy picture-perfect views of the glistening, viridian Portofino Bay. The setting remains just as it was in the 1960s, when celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner first visited this beachside retreat. For the 2025 season, however, Splendido will reopen with the main building completely renovated, following a multi-year, floor-by-floor update headed by designer Martin Brudnizki, whose signature maximalism takes on a gentler, subtler play—more perfume than syrup—by painting the interiors with a pleasingly soft handsomeness using lavenders, celadons, and Alice blues. Outside, the restored saltwater pool shimmers with new tiles color-matched to the sea, and the open-air café La Terazza is as ideal a place as ever, offering trofie al pesto and spritzes on its perch high on the hill. All things considered, Splendido’s sensibility is tastefully subtle, letting its inhabitants and surroundings take center stage. Nature permeates the apartments so effortlessly that birdsong and sunlight became my morning alarms, and the staff is made up of charming good-time ragazzi. Take the free shuttle provided by the hotel or stroll 15 minutes downhill to Portofino’s piazzetta to see the local culture. Nonnos encourage all challengers to play backgammon there. One evening, I did, and the pain of loss hit me once again. Then, with its windows glowing after sunset and music resonating through its gardens, I climbed up the hill to Splendido, my favorite salve. Although it’s not Olympus, it’s sufficiently near. starting at $2,050. —Ortile, Matt
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George V. Paris Four Seasons Hotel courtesy of Four Seasons hotel
4. Paris’s Four Seasons Hotel George V
Readers’ Choice Awards Gold List 2018: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
This hotel is a true Parisian icon, having opened in 1928 in a prime location in the always stylish eighth. However, as soon as you walk in, you realize that everything is not as traditional as it may seem. The entrance is opulent and ornate, and the personnel