Avalon Coastal Retreat

Avalon Coastal Retreat, Swansea, Tasmania, Australia; 61-1300-36-11-36; avaloncoastalretreat.com.au. The property, which has three bedrooms, rents for $370 to $487 per night.

This stylish aerie is not your grandfather's nature lodge. A studied composition in glass, timber, and steel that sits solo on a promontory on Tasmania's craggy east coast, the three-bedroom Avalon Coastal Retreat exploits its floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing the shifting colors of sky, sea, and shoreline to remain in full view. Here in the uncluttered lounge, the wide panes frame Great Oyster Bay and the sandy coastline of the Freycinet Peninsula (high-powered binoculars are provided). Seemingly incongruous in this raw wilderness—you might even meet a Tasmanian devil on the path to the secluded beach below—the sleek Avalon is more in tune with the environment than its high design might suggest. Like Philip Johnson's Glass House, it expertly plays second fiddle to the surroundings. (For more on the Avalon, see "Hot List.")