Every May, Condé Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Seviche is the draw at this airy spot in Mexico City's upscale Polanco district. Chef Richard Sandoval returns home after making his mark north of the border to offer up fish prepared with the same herbs and chilies piled up in local markets. Among the appetizers, the seared scallops with pungent papalo seeds served on watermelon slivers are as good as the seviche. Entrées can be uneven, but the tuna marinated in raw brown sugar and ancho chilies picks up the slack. This is a prime place to observe the social practices of Polanco's business elite, who often ignore dinner companions while taking cell phone calls (entrées, $11-$19).

Address: 42 Moliere
Tel: 52-55-5281-2010

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* The Mexico City guide

Corral del Rey's bedrooms feature wood
beams dating back to the 17th-century
home's first incarnation, Casa Palacio.

Every May, Condé Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

The stylish Corral del Rey proves that small is beautiful, with its six rooms in a seventeenth-century house just a five-minute walk from the Giralda. Though beautifully designed and decorated, the rooms here are snug--in fact, the standard double, delightful for a single traveler, would be tight quarters for two. However, the hotel makes up for its diminutive floor space in a variety of ways--all rooms are well equipped, and there's a roof garden with a Jacuzzi plunge pool and sun loungers. Spanish interior designer Kuky Mora-Figueroa has created rooms with almond-colored walls, bleached-oak floors, battleship-gray window shutters, and beds covered with quilted white cotton coverlets. Rounding out the room amenities are a gratis bottle of La Gitana sherry, an iPod dock, and a DVD player. Best of all, the smiling young staff here takes its hospitality personally, and is quick on the draw with restaurant recommendations and sightseeing tips.

Address: 12 Corral del Rey, Seville, Spain
Tel: 34 954 227 116

When to go: With the city's orange trees flowering, springtime in Seville is bliss.
Which room to book: Splurge, if you can, on the charming junior suite.

Further reading:
* Corral del Rey Web site
* Hot List 2008
* The Seville guide

For body scrubs, not cocktails.
Photo: Oberoizahra.com

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

The first Nile cruise ship spa, the Oberoi Zahra's, offers succor from the heat of temple trekking. Four treatment rooms have steam baths, incense menus, and picture windows. Thai, Balinese, Ayurvedic, Shiro Abhyangam, and yoga massages relax, as do the ever-changing views of the ancient river, pink striated cliffs, and ruins. Thai staff offer facials with Guerlain products ($74) and whip up body scrubs using banana, oatmeal, orange, honey, turmeric, and coffee beans. Book ahead, and specify a starboard room when in Aswan or Luxor to avoid views of the dock (massages, $95).

Tel: 20-2-3377-3222

Further reading:
* The Cairo guide
* Hot List 2008

The hotel's sculpture park, Yuzu Paradise,
houses over 200 large-scale outdoor
art projects.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

The first Relais & Châteaux hotel in China, the 46-room Hotel of Modern Art-HOMA Libre is nestled among unearthly karst mountains in the heart of the 1,350-acre Yuzi Paradise Sculpture Park, which is dotted with more than 200 contemporary works by artists such as Eberhard Eckerle and Allen Jones. This pyramidal hotel (sister to the larger, similarly art-oriented HOMA Sutra, also in the park area) feels light and airy, each room designed with futuristic furniture and objets d'art produced by artists in residence, while providing the modern necessities of flat-screen TVs, DVD players, and free Internet--some suites even have wine fridges. The service is exceptional: An English-speaking concierge greets you at Guilin airport, offering a complimentary cell phone so that he may be at your beck and call during your stay. A swanky spa stays open until 1 am, and staff are happy to arrange a private dinner inside one of the park's magnificent caves, complete with candles, musicians, and a man-made waterfall. Guests can enjoy a nightcap in the Moon Lounge and breakfast outside at the Woods Café as well as fine dining at its soon-to-open Asian-fusion restaurant, Lotus.

Address: Yuzi Paradise, Dabu Town, Guilin, China
Tel: 86 773 386 7888

When to go: Autumn is the best time to enjoy Guilin's stunning karst peaks and rice terraces.
Which room to book:The Guilin cave-inspired rooms are surprisingly light and airy, with views of the park. Choose No. 2303, a Deluxe Double; No. 2305, a HOMA Deluxe; No. 2501, a Family Suite; or No. 2311, a Deluxe Twin.

Further reading:
* Hotel of Modern Art's Web site
* Hot List 2008
* China's latest music export

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

HVN's extravagant setting--nineteenth-century Italian floor mosaics, ornate metallic ceiling, an intricate fresco of bejeweled swamis floating on clouds--feels a bit unreal given Colombo's tumultuous political climate. But then again, gastronomic escapism is nothing new, and the innovative menu at this restaurant inside the swank CASA Colombo offers plenty of distractions. Begin with the signature Ceylonese Triple Shot, made with indigenous ingredients such as kola kanda and rasam, and follow with clever variations on Western dishes such as spicy tuna pol sambal tortillas or jaggery-and-chili-rubbed pork tenderloin. Portions are generous, but it would be a shame to skip the baked chocolate-cappuccino mousse bombe (entrées, $9-$28).

Address: 231 Galle Rd., Colombo 4, Sri Lanka
Tel: 94-11-452-0130

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008

Fern Tree's healing treatments
are concocted from natural ingredients.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Despite its gargantuan size (68,000 square feet), Fern Tree Spa in Montego Bay has the feel of a much smaller place. Many treatments were designed by "spa elders," a term that evokes gray-haired soothsayers but really just means those steeped in Jamaican remedies, traditions, and indigenous ingredients. Elders prescribe a wellness plan of therapies in private consults--or guests can create their own: Our correspondent eased into a soothing Jamaican Bush Bath ($55), then revved up with the Jamaican Green Coffee Envelopment ($195), which uses Blue Mountain coffee to perk up fatigued skin. You could literally get lost on the spa grounds, with its labyrinth that includes a yoga studio, a pool, and a sculpture garden (massages, $115).

Tel: 866-648-6951

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* The Jamaica Guide

Sky Lodge's prime location
on Main Street.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

When the Sky Lodge opened in December on a choice lot on the corner of Main Street and Heber Avenue, it laid claim to being the most luxurious digs in this former mining outpost. The six-story, 33-suite property rises above its Victorian neighbors, and its "mountain loft" aesthetic turns the archetypal ski lodge on its head, starting in the reception lounge with its expansive concrete fireplace. When you come in off the slope, attendants sweep your skis into the locker room, and glass elevators zip you up to your floor. The one-, two-, and three-bedroom suites are drenched in natural light, while sleek furniture in red-orange hues highlights hand-planed wood floors, and abstract paintings hang above in-wall fireplaces framed by rusted steel girders. DVD players and Bose sound systems are standard, and sliding wall panels open to the master bath, the centerpiece of which is a soaking tub that's filled by a ceiling-mounted faucet. The concierge can stock the pantry of your state-of-the-art kitchen, though there are many reasons to eat out: Sunset hors d'oeuvres and drinks are served in the SkyClub, which opens to a heated deck with fire pit, ten-person hot tub, and 360-degree views. Three of Park City's most popular restaurants, including Robert Redford's Zoom, are here, and Main Street's abundant dining and shopping scenes are steps away. Don't stay up too late--early-morning avalanche blasting is your wake-up call, and shuttles to all three Park City-area resorts will whisk you away for first tracks.

Address: 201 Heber Avenue, Park City
Tel: 435 658 2500, 888 876 2525

When to go: Wintertime is tops--Park City averages 355 inches of snow annually.
Which room to book: Odd-numbered rooms on the fourth floor overlook Main Street and the mountains, views made all the more enjoyable by decks with two-person hot tubs.

Further reading:
* Sky Lodge Web site
* Hot List 2008
* The Park City guide

Cool contrasts at Black Pearl.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Anchored on a hushed brick-paved street in Eilandje, Antwerp's up-and-coming harbor-edged neighborhood, this converted warehouse is worth the game of hide-and-seek required to locate it. Owned by a former male model, the rectangular space is a seductive antidote to the city's heaving techno clubs: backlit abstract blond-wood sculptures, black walls, and gold twig chandeliers that glitter above an African wenge-wood bar. Local fashionistas and savvy Europeans nosh on tasty finger food such as crunchy homemade loempias and move to a DJ-spun mix of house and jazz. Try the Crack Daddy, a champagne, vodka, and grenadine concoction topped with strawberry seeds.

Address: Braziliëstrat 12A
Tel: 32-3-232-2669

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Black Pearl's Web site

Solage's Solbar restaurant.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

After populating Napa Valley with a series of romantic retreats, Auberge Resorts lets loose with an eco-luxe escape for the stylish, hybrid-driving, biodynamic wine-swilling set. This 89-room resort underwhelms at first glance simply because the stand-alone studios are surrounded by scrubby young plantings instead of more mature vegetation. But that is the one weak point of this otherwise polished property. After settling in for a few hours, you feel as though you are ensconced in a sweet utopia, where guests bicycle to morning yoga, nibble on fruit and granola at the open-air Solbar restaurant, and lounge by the long pool lined with sago palms. The homey, light-filled guesthouses are done in cooling taupe and sage tones and have huge slate-floor bathrooms, spare dark-wood furniture, complimentary bicycles, and shaded patios (which will be infinitely more appealing once the trees grow in to afford more privacy). The service is helpful and practiced, and there are fun details such as welcoming cupcakes and full-sized coffeepots and bathroom amenities.

When to go: Early fall, for the grape harvest and perfect 70-degree sunny days.
Which room to book: The Capella Suite has a private patio with a hot tub, and its massive living room is anchored by a fireplace.

Address: 755 Silverado Trail, Calistoga, CA
Tel: 866-942-7442

Further reading:
* Solage Web site
* Hot List 2008
* How about a San Francisco Great Drive while you're at it?

Homey dishes lie behind
Angel's doors.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

For years, Prague gourmets have enjoyed the special events of chef Sofia Smith, whose pan-Asian dinners at various city venues were partially inspired by her childhood in Malaysia. At Angel, an Old Town restaurant decorated in soothing earth tones, these sporadic happenings have become an everyday treat. Smith's fare is both homey and refined: coconut-laksa scallops with pineapple sambal, lacquered duck breast with honey and ginger, and Javanese lamb shank with black rice and curried jackfruit. The service is attentive but unstuffy, echoing the spot's cozy feel (entrées, $20-$30).

Address: 7 V Kolkovne
Tel: 420-773-222-422

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Angel's Web site
* The Prague guide

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

The Cliff at Cupecoy Beach, a luxe condo-hotel tower, is home to the Caribbean's first Dior Spa, a gleaming white and mirrored salon that attracts a who's who crowd for body-contouring treatments. Padded lavender rooms are a clinical but calming setting for marine bath treatments involving some 220 jets that aid in lymphatic drainage (from $65) and thermal body masks during which you lay in a podlike vessel while your therapist massages your scalp ($95). If the beauty jargon is a bit overwhelming, well-trained therapists will explain it all. Plan ahead and ask to have a meal afterward on the ocean-view terrace (massages, $135).

Tel: 599-546-6620

Further reading:
* Dior Spa Web site
* Hot List 2008

Cliffside golf course at Hawke's Bay.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

This golfers' magnet provides plenty for those who think golf a good walk spoiled. A five-mile road winds through farmland and bush to the property, on a 6,000-acre peninsula abutting the Pacific, and from the moment of arrival every whim is catered to. The main lodge features soaring ceilings and rustic artifacts such as old farm tools, and while the 22 suites and a cottage are broadly based on farm dwellings, bathrooms have underfloor heating; the gym, a personal trainer; and the wine cellar, master tastings. Diversions beyond golf include ATVs and guided nature tours. The verdict? Well above par.

When to go: December through February, the warmer summer months.
Which room to book: Ridge Suite 20 for its privacy and views.

Address: 448 Clifton Road, Te Awanga, Hawke's Bay, North Island, New Zealand
Tel: 64-6-875-1900

Further reading:
* Farm at Cape Kidnappers' Web site
* Hot List 2008
* Check out this year's top 100 golf resorts from our 2008 Golf Poll

The restaurant looks out onto
one of Israel's many beaches.
Photo: concierge.com

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

With a prime beachfront location, modern interiors, and a celeb chef, Herbert Samuel is Israel's most successfully realized restaurant in decades. It marks the return of Yonatan Roshfeld, who almost single-handedly launched the country's haute cuisine movement nearly 20 years ago. The main room of the split-level space is anchored by an angular bar, and there are slim wooden shutters dividing the various dining nooks. Italian meats--from prosciutto aged for 24 months to garlicky lunga spessa sausage--warrant their own category on the menu, followed by hearty dishes like slow-braised lamb served in a hollowed onion or thinly sliced pork loin in a smoky bacon and lentil stew. Poppy seed ice cream is layered with pastry cream and almond crunch for a fun take on mille-feuille (entrées, $5-$22).

Address: Beit Gibor, 6 Koifman Street
Tel: 972-3-516-6516

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* The Israel guide
* The Middle East: Traveling Outside the Comfort Zone

One of Gordon's many
cozy rooms at Hotel Claude.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

With only seven rooms in a handsome seventeenth-century house in the heart of the Casco Antiguo (Old Town), the intimate and friendly Hotel Claude is one of the glitzier resorts on Spain's Costa del Sol. Rooms decorated by Angell Gordon, one of Spain's top interior designers, are cozy and comfortable, with leather headboards, oak parquet floors, iPod docks, and flat-screen TVs. Baths in some guest rooms contain carved round stone sinks, and all are kitted out with Molton Brown toiletries. Public spaces impress with wrought iron railings, stacks of books and magazines in several languages, and plush sofas. Best of all, there's a quiet terrace built into the terracotta tile roof where you can sip an espresso from the complimentary tea and coffee station on the first floor or catch some rays while reading. The hotel's small restaurant has a contemporary Mediterranean menu, and weather permitting, the excellent breakfast is served alfresco.

When to go: February and March are often rainy on the Costa del Sol; the rest of the year, it's a reliably sunny destination.
Which room to book: Splurge on the Suite Francesa, with its small private balcony, or book Savannah or Marroquí, deluxe doubles, each with its own terrific décor.

Address: 5 San Francisco, Marbella, Spain 29601
Tel: 34 952 900 840

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Hote Claude's Web site
* Ondine Cohane's eating tour of Spain, parts one and two

The spirited glory behind
the Violet Hour's gatekeeper.
Photo: chicagomag.com

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

At this hushed, stylized speakeasy opened by veteran mixologist Toby Maloney (of Manhattan's Pegu Club and Freeman's), the emphasis is on esoteric liqueurs, homemade bitters, and eight (count 'em) kinds of ice. A signless door guarded by a decorous, costumed gatekeeper opens to reveal three high-ceilinged, crystal-chandeliered ballrooms painted an intoxicating cerulean. The bar stops admitting people once all the high-backed blue leather seats are claimed, so there's breathing room for the patrons savoring re-imagined classics such as the Maloney Negroni, a Herbsaint-anointed Sazerac, and the Iron Cross, a pisco sour with splashes of orange flower water and homemade summer bitters.

Address: 1520 N. Damen Avenue
Tel: 773-252-1500

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* The Violet Hour Web site
* Chicago's Hotel Sax

The gorgeous rooftop pool
above E'Space 1898.
Photo: About.com

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Sybaritic self-indulgence has always been the cornerstone of Venice, so it's surprising that many of the city's finest hotels lack spas. Until now, that is. The brand-new Hilton Molino Stucky, a swank property inside a nineteenth-century flour mill, has E'Space 1898, a sleek six-treatment-room operation. Here, the emphasis is on top-notch service, not fluff: There is little to soften the stark white aesthetic, not even potted plants. The treatment menu is full of cult spa brands such as Decléor and Carita, plus homegrown services like the Molino Flour Scrub ($137), a European riff on an Asian rice rub that uses grano saraceno, or Indian corn, to buff away dead skin. Save room for a soul-cleansing (or just detoxifying) session in the luxe steam room (massages, $137-$199).

Tel: 39-041-272-3414

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* An Italian company coming to the U.S.

Hotel Sax: Loud and proud.
Photo: hotels.com

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

More is more at Chicago's new music industry hot spot (formerly the House of Blues hotel), extroverted both stylistically and socially. A neighbor to the iconic 1964 Marina City (a.k.a. The Corncobs), Sax banishes the minimalism that has given design hotels a cold name, substituting a rococo sense of style in its 353 rooms: snakeskin wingback chairs, paisley-embossed leather headboards, and painted silhouettes of phantom chandeliers. Though the service is uniformly helpful and frequently enthusiastic, the Sax is not a place to cosset yourself away in your room. The House of Blues club next door ensures a steady stream of performers, as well as roadies and managers, creating a high-energy scene in the lobby, with its glass columns and check-in desks. Club patrons and hotel guests congregate in the lounge, Crimson, perching on a tufted red leather couch under a deer-antler sconce. For guests only, there is also a groovy technology lounge stocked with laptops, video games like Guitar Hero, downloadable music, movies, and HDTV screens, which are wired together so that Xbox players can face off from across the room.

Address: 333 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60610
Tel: 312-245-0333

When to go: Year-round, with Thursday through Saturday nights best for party people.
Which room to book: South-facing one-bedroom suites that overlook Marina City.

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Green Chicago

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Tourists should be forgiven for crying out the name of this tapas spot as if in a moment of inspired gastronomic discovery. Inside the stylish new Hotel Be Angkor, on a pedestrian-only stretch nicknamed Bar Street, it is so named for the Khmer word for food. Inside, there are cool stone floors and comfortable leather chairs surrounding a central kitchen where local talent Oeng Ratan turns out small plates of regional favorites. Try the green mango and dried snake salad, an addictive combination of sweet, salty, and sour; the super-spicy stir-fried prawns; or the eel sautéed with capsicum and holy basil. International options, especially the delicate tuna seared in tarragon, are equally good. The 400-bottle wine wall makes it a cinch to pair a wide variety of tapas ($2-$12).

Address: The Passage, Old Market Area
Tel: 855-63-965-501 

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* The Angkor guide

Wide open indoor spaces
at the Bowery

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Undeterred by the nearby flophouse and Salvation Army shelter, rock band managers, film directors, and other entertainment industry folk have been flocking to the Bowery Hotel since its opening last spring. And it's no wonder: With the influx of Whole Foods, luxe condo developments, and the flashy New Museum of Contemporary Art, this stretch of the Lower East Side is quickly shedding its infamous grit. Inside the 17-story faux-factory building, the look is stylish Jekyll-and-Hyde, with the dark lobby's faded old-world tapestries and mounted deer antlers standing in stark contrast to the 135 guest rooms' floor-to-ceiling window and knockout views, and to the obliging staff (not a mad scientist in sight). Strategically positioned mirrors mask the smallness of some rooms, and large marble baths with brass fixtures make up for the lack of space. The Lobby Bar can get crowded with trendy young things, but the outdoor lounge is a welcome refuge--as long as you aren't squeamish about the adjacent cemetery. Italian restaurant Gemma has a rustic atmosphere and serves well-made dishes like roasted branzino and traditional pizzas that complement the hotel's cozy disposition.

When to go: Year-round.
Which room to book: The upper-floor one-bedroom suites have the best views and sizable patios.

Address: 335 Bowery, New York City, New York 10003
Tel: 212 505 9100

Further reading:
* Check out the hotel's website
* Hot List 2008
* Watch our Hot List video, New York-style
* Louise Bourgeois is in New York now, too

A Tibetan-style dreamland

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

This showpiece of the Shangri-La Beijing's new $50 million wing is like a Zen gentlemen's club--one with 11 split-level spa suites featuring Tibetan-style ornamentation, including traditional latticed accordion doors. It uses an online questionnaire to discover spa-goers' element sign: Guests are deemed metal, water, wood, fire, or earth based on their personal preferences (sweet versus salty, morning versus night, etc.) so that therapists can customize treatments. The system isn't foolproof, however: The two-and-a-half-hour Enchanted Journey ($207; three treatments designed to invigorate jet-lagged limbs) sent our reporter into dreamland instead (massages, $88-$95).

Tel: 86-106-841-2211

Further reading:
* Chi Spa's website
* Hot List 2008

Kamehameha's dramatic
staircase

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

In the late '90s, when Madjid Djamegari opened the massive King Kamehameha Club in the Frankfurt's industrial east, he was crowned the city's king of nightlife. After much anticipation, Djamegari has finally launched a spot for grown-ups, the King Kamehameha Suite, in a stunning historic building across from the Opera House. A wide, winding staircase leads to the second-floor dining room, overseen by American chef Alan Ogden. His hearty creations give German high cuisine an international twist: dorade on mashed potatoes with apple juice-infused blood sausages, or wild boar stew with hazelnut spaetzle. After dinner, guests relax in the compound's bars and lounges to talk euros over serious cocktails--this is, after all, the capital of banking (entrées, $29-$35).

Address: 20 Taunusanlage
Tel: 49-69-710-35277

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* If you're flying to nearby Berlin, please remember to board the plane

Fasano's sexy rooftop pool
Photo: Hotelchatter.com

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

It's one of the great mysteries of life: Why has Rio, a city whose inhabitants have set the standard for chic in music, fashion, art, and design, never had the stylish hotel it deserves? (The wedding-cake pile Copacabana Hotel is, after all, more than 80 years old.) That long injustice is finally righted in the 94-room Fasano Hotel, where true taste and ingenuity--the meager lobby is broken into restaurant, lounge, and reception areas with flowing, richly textured floor-to-ceiling curtains--is accompanied by genuinely friendly service. Efficiency with élan seems to be the hotel's modus operandi, from the small lounge and rooftop pool (which, unlike the airy, mod ground-floor restaurant, is accessible only to guests) to the relatively tight but thoughtfully designed rooms, whose beds face a private balcony with views across the street to Ipanema Beach and which, courtesy of designer Philippe Starck, have been outfitted in masculine leathers and lustrous tropical hardwoods. The only drawbacks are the street noise and the skimpy porte cochere, which can quickly grow clogged, but consider these small prices to pay for having the best people-watching and wave-catching perch in Rio.

Address: 80 Avenida Viera Souto
Tel: 55 21 3202 4200

When to go: December through February is high season, but May and June mean lower temperatures and fewer crowds.
Which room to book: Any one on a high floor facing the ocean.

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* See why the Brazilian government rocks.
* Check out Conde Nast Traveler's May 2008 story on Northeast Brazil.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Behind an unmarked door on a dimly lit street in the middle of town, the Danish capital's best bar is busy six nights a week. Two utterly beguiling rooms in an eighteenth-century building have high ceilings and gray wainscoting. It all looks traditionally Scandinavian, but the cocktail menu ranges from the classic to the contemporary. Try a Burnt Fig (caramelized fig syrup with cognac and cream) or a Thai'ed Up Martini (Plymouth gin with Thai basil). All of Scandinavia is in the grip of a cocktail boom right now, but thanks to the charm of the premises and the expertise of the bartenders, Ruby shines the brightest.

Address: Nybrogade 10
Tel: 45-3393-1203

Further reading:
* Ruby's website
* Hot List 2008
* The Copenhagen guide

Indoor comfort by the shore.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Aquamare melds the best aspects of a villa rental and a posh hotel. A house for celebration is the idea behind this trio of glass-enclosed, shingle-roofed five-bedroom villas fronting a half mile of beach on Mahoe Bay. And though Hollywood A-listers cherishing their privacy and space (8,000 square feet per villa) have been the first to avail themselves of the enclave's concierge (who will arrange spa treatments or an excursion aboard the property's 62-foot yacht), those who will feel most at home are families or other small groups gathering for a special occasion. In addition to identical master suites in each villa (along with one double and one junior), there is an open kitchen off a high-ceiling great room that allows everyone to help stir the soup or observe the art of the personal chef, as well as a private infinity-edge pool. Furnishings are stylishly oversized, and as much thought has been given to the texture of the decor as to the (subdued) color, something you notice while standing on the pebbled floor of your master bath's private outdoor shower, wondering--despite the double latticework--how private it really is.                

One of Goa's many beaches to
explore before dinner.

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Casa Sarita, in the Park Hyatt Goa, is unusual in several ways, starting with its self-taught female chef. Rather than wear traditional whites, Sarita Carvalho rules her open kitchen in a floral dress and head scarf, and turns out dishes of nuanced simplicity. Black and white tiles, hanging lamps, and simple furniture underscore the homey vibe. As is typical of Goa, seafood and pork dishes are the highlights. The difference is that spices are used judiciously: Kingfish curry isn't doused with coconut and red chilies, while pork vindalho is spicy and tangy, just as it should be. Beer or feni, a local spirit made with cashews or coconut, stands up to the robust regional flavors (entrées, $12-$60).

Address: Arossim Beach, Cansaulim
Tel: 91-832-272-1234

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Goa Guide

Nearly nude in Voda's dry banya

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Step off Santa Monica Boulevard and onto the steppes of Russia in this sleek, contemporary bathhouse under a soaring 20-foot ceiling with exposed beams. This section of West Hollywood has long been a Russian enclave, but at Voda a hip mash-up of trendy spa services, such as the Siberian Wild Berry Scrub ($120), is proffered along with the traditional. The Russian banya treatment ($25) is a circuit of saunas, cold showers, and a platza session (the brisk massage with a venik, a bundle of hot-water-soaked oak branches and leaves). Don't forget your bathing suit so you can linger with a smoothie while lolling in the whirlpools and swimming pool (massages, $95-$250).

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Check out what's new in LA from Chef Jose Andres
* Nearby Malibu makes it onto this year's Word's Sexiest Beaches
* An insider's guide to LA

Lavender locks in Provence

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Run by a delightful English-Scottish couple, this hôtel de charme will set more than one nine-to-fiver to dreaming of following in their footsteps. Right in the heart of tiny Le Paradou, the old stone house offers five rooms that have been individually decorated in such rich Provençal colors as apricot, poppy, and olive and furnished with large beds, televisions with movies on-demand and CD/DVD players, and objects from the owners' travels in Morocco, India, and Asia. An upholstered lounger under one of the shade trees next to the small heated pool in the garden is an ideal place to spend an afternoon dozing or reading, and a sitting room in the main building, a seventeenth-century coaching inn, is perfect for tea or an honor-bar drink. Though the rooms are a luxurious step up from the region's usual B&Bs--few of which have the Etro toiletries, bathrobes and slippers, or great contemporary art found at this hotel--the best part of staying here is the warm hospitality.

When to go: Provence is a year-round destination but particularly beautiful in May, June, September, and October.
Which room to book: Violette for its pretty moss-green color scheme, or Le Jardin Secret for total privacy.

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Something else to take note of when in France
* Here's another couple entertaining abroad

A room at the Posada de
Mike Rapu

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Tiny and naturalistic, Rapa Nui's first spa is part of the Posada de Mike Rapu. Its diminutive two-room, black-and-blond-wood treatment cabin sits in a field of volcanic rock below a eucalyptus-ringed pool and alfresco whirlpool bath. Picture windows reveal a panorama of soaring volcanic cones, uninhabited grassland, and crashing Pacific breakers. You can have any treatment you want as long as it's a massage--including one with essences of the boldo shrub, long used in Chile as both a spice and a medicinal herb (massages, $140).

Tel: 56-2-206-6060 in Santiago

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Easter Island's More Than Just a Pretty Face

 

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

In the heart of Budapest, Dió is a stylish showcase for New Magyar cooking--traditional Hungarian dishes deliciously reinterpreted to reflect a growing local taste for lighter, healthier fare. The intimate vaulted space has a long bar with a backlit glass wall, lovely chandeliers, and plenty of mirrors. Istvan Szur's menu follows the seasons, and dishes such as guinea fowl soup with vegetable strudel, roasted goose liver with cinnamon rolls and sour cherry sauce, and venison steak with sunflower seeds and garnishes of fried quail eggs, truffles, and noodles show his talent for mixing earthy and elegant ingredients. The cheesecake with apples, dates, and medlar puree is superb, and there's an outstanding list of Hungarian wines (entrées, $23-$48).

Address: 4 Sas utca
Tel: 36-1-328-0360

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* Guy Martin rolls through Budapest on the EuroCity 179

 

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

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