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Our selection of the 90 best hotels around the globe

Inspiring getaways from California to Zanzibar

The second installment of Angelika Taschen's round-up of the world's most exceptional hotels and retreats is packed with awe-inspiring photos and tantalizing descriptions of the world's greatest getaways. While few will visit them all, this collection provides a dizzying array of exotic destinations for the armchair traveller.

Highlights include a California inn where Liberace would have felt right at home, and shabby-chic bungalows on Highway 1 in Big Sur. Choose from luxurious residences nestled on the Ubud hillside overlooking the Ayung River in Bali, or oceanside bungalows on a Brazilian archipelago. Go camping in "royal style" in the Indian desert, or opt for a luxury tented camp on an island in the best game-viewing location in Botswana. Relax in a hand-woven banda on Zanzibar, a hotel-museum full of contemporary art on the Sicilian coast, or a sumptuous Provençal spa retreat in the south of France.

Spices and Spas. The finest sanctuaries across Asia

This revised and updated edition of Great Escapes Asia gathers the most gorgeous getaways across the continent into one dependable catalogue of calm, stylish, and breathtakingly beautiful getaways. Each featured hotel is presented with interior and exterior photographs, practical information, and the perfect novel to read while you’re there.

Asia promises multisensory marvels. Whether it’s a scorching hot curry, the vivid sounds of a local market or an expert massage in a haven of feng-shui calm, the world’s largest continent offer abundant opportunities to invigorate mind and body.

From the futuristic urban metropolis to the pristine island shore, from your own piece of paradise in Bali to palatial splendour in India, this revised and updated TASCHEN collection gathers the finest Asian getaways. Each featured hotel is presented with interior and exterior photographs; pricing, service, and contact information; as well as an atmospheric reading recommendation.

The editor:

Angelika Taschen studied art history and German literature in Heidelberg, gaining her doctorate in 1986. Working for TASCHEN from 1987, she has published numerous titles on art, architecture, photography, design, travel, and lifestyle.

Texts by:

Christiane Reiter is a freelance author based in Brussels. She studied journalism at the University of Eichstätt and worked as a travel editor for Ringier Publishing in Munich and Zurich. Later, she established the travel section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

Europe-Bound. The top spots for absolute escapism

Through ancient wonders, world capitals, and tiny places with infectious personalities, Europe packs some serious travel punches. The world’s second-smallest continent makes up for size with its intricate cultures and abundant charms, boasting artistic masterpieces and architectural marvels as much as natural splendor.

This revised and updated edition brings you a curated selection of the most unique hotels and atmospheric guesthouses across the European continent. Selected for their breathtaking locations and interiors, each haven offers the surroundings of style and the serenity in which everyday life can melt away. Angelika Taschen reveals such gems as Der Seehof, an idyllic site on an Austrian lake where guests can fish for their dinner; a 150-year old Portuguese estate refurbished by Pritzker Prize-winner Eduardo Souto De Moura, which remains a working farm to this day; and Budsjord, last stop on one of the loneliest pilgrimage routes in the world, situated at the edge of the Dovrefjell National Park in Norway — to name just a few.

A treasure trove of travel inspiration, this must-have guide profiles each hotel through postcard-ready photography as well as key information like directions, contact details, and reading inspiration for each destination.

The editor:

Angelika Taschen studied art history and German literature in Heidelberg, gaining her doctorate in 1986. Working for TASCHEN from 1987, she has published numerous titles on art, architecture, photography, design, travel, and lifestyle.

Texts by:

Shelley-Maree Cassidy is a writer and marketing specialist who has written two books on hotels around the world and has contributed travel articles to magazines and journals. Her particular interest in hotels stems from her family background - as her great-grandparents owned several of the first hotels in New Zealand, where she lives.

Christiane Reiter is a freelance author based in Brussels. She studied journalism at the University of Eichstätt and worked as a travel editor for Ringier Publishing in Munich and Zurich. Later, she established the travel section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

To travel through Italy is as close as one gets to being in paradise. For centuries, writers, artists, architects and merchants have been drawn here, inspired by the beauty of Venice, Florence, Naples and Rome. Countless books, paintings, poems and sculptures are evidence of its undying appeal, and over the past 60 years, the country has become one of the world's top travel and holiday destinations. The loveliness of Italy - its architecture, landscapes, culture and food (some of the world’s finest!)  -  if not eternal, is certainly enduring, and the easy-going and relaxed Italian lifestyle, il dolce far niente, is still unrivaled.

Here, some of Italy's most amazing landscapes are brought to life, like Lake Como (residence of George Clooney), Venice, Florence and Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast, and no less magical, the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily. In these mythical surroundings are legendary hotels full of atmosphere, where novels are set, movies are made, weddings are celebrated and famous love stories consummated: Villa d'Este on Lake Como, the Hotel Splendido in Portofino, the Il San Pietro on the Amalfi Coast and the Villa Cimbrone in Ravello - to name just a few. But in Great Escapes Italy, Angelika Taschen also reveals where to find more secret and hidden jewels - from the Locanda Cipriani, a romantic hideaway on the island of Torcello, to the atmospheric Castello di Vicarello in Tuscany.

La bell’Italia è per sempre. Legendary hotels and secret hideaways full of atmosphere

In Italy, art and life are entwined. This visual journey offers glimpses of rural landscapes, high culture, and divine food, all spied through the doorways and windows of the country’s most stunning hotels. Gorgeous photographs of hideaways and homesteads from Venice to Sicily offer fabulous accommodation suggestions for your next dolce vita getaway.

To travel through Italy is as close as one gets to being in paradise. For centuries, writers, artists, architects, and merchants have been drawn here, inspired by the beauty of Venice, Florence, Naples, and Rome. Countless books, paintings, poems, and sculptures are evidence of its undying appeal, and over the past 60 years, the country has become one of the world’s top travel and holiday destinations. The loveliness of Italy is, if not eternal, certainly enduring, and the easygoing and relaxed Italian lifestyle is still unrivaled.

Here, some of Italy’s most amazing landscapes and diverse regions are brought to life, like Tuscany, Umbria, the Amalfi Coast, and, no less magical, the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily. In these mythical surroundings are legendary hotels full of atmosphere, where novels are set, movies are made, weddings are celebrated, and famous love stories consummated: Villa d’Este on Lake Como, the Pellicano Hotel in Porto Ercole, the Il San Pietro on the Amalfi Coast, and the Palazzo Margherita in Basilicata — o name just a few. Angelika Taschen also reveals where to find more secret and hidden jewels — from the Locanda Cipriani, a destination for food lovers on the island of Torcello, to the romantic Castello di Vicarello in Tuscany and the atmospheric Masseria Moroseta in Puglia.

The editor:

Angelika Taschen studied art history and German literature in Heidelberg, gaining her doctorate in 1986. Working for TASCHEN from 1987, she has published numerous titles on art, architecture, photography, design, travel, and lifestyle.

Texts by

Christiane Reiter is a freelance author based in Brussels. She studied journalism at the University of Eichstätt and worked as a travel editor for Ringier Publishing in Munich and Zurich. Later, she established the travel section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

The mythical Mediterranean. Where to get lost — in style and comfort

The Mediterranean is a mythical place, with three continents – Europe, Africa and Asia – and 21 countries sharing its coastline. These disparate cultures are all blessed with its fine climate, luxuriant fauna and flora, and the intense blues of its sea. Angelika Taschen has discovered the very best of this legendary region. Included here are the glamorous Eden-Roc on the Côte d’Azur, the stylish Monte Carlo Beach created by India Mahdavi, the hotel Stella Maris north of Portofino – accessible only by boat or trekking – and of course the famous Amalfi Coast with its numerous beautiful hotels. Add to these the tiny hotel on the small Croatian island of Lopud, the exclusive Perivolas in Santorini, and last but not least, the new branch of the Hôtel Nord-Pinus in Tangier, looking out at the Straits of Gibraltar.

Highlights include the Hôtel Le Corbusier in the "Cité Radieuse", a Le Corbusier building in the residential district of Marseille, built in 1952; Casadelmar on Corsica, set in beautiful gardens overlooking Porto Vecchio, where every room has a sea view; and the enchanting private rocky beach Cala Piccola of the remote hotel Torre di Cala Piccola on the little-known Tuscan island of Argentario, which takes you back to 1960s Italy. Other gems include the charming La Locanda del Barbablù (with only six rooms) on the mythical island of Stromboli, set in the shadow of its active volcano; the amazing hotels in the "masserie" of Apulia, such as the Borgo San Marco in Fasano; and the beautifully designed Orloff Resort near the Old Harbour of Spetses, a small Greek Island which relaxes the eyes and calms the mind.

Texts by:
Christiane Reiter is a freelance author based in Hamburg. She studied journalism at the University of Eichstätt and worked as a travel editor for Ringier Publishing in Munich and Zurich. She then established the travel section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

The editor:
Angelika Taschen studied art history and German literature in Heidelberg, gaining her doctorate in 1986. Working for TASCHEN from 1987 to 2010, she has published numerous titles on art, architecture, photography, design, travel, and lifestyle.

Rest on the road trip. North America’s most extraordinary and elegant accommodation

This revised and updated edition scours the North American continent for the most extraordinary, elegant, and inspiring places to rest your head. From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters, be inspired by the hotels, inns, guesthouses, ranches, wigwams, and more.

From dazzling cities to eccentric small towns, from vast mountains to plains as far as the eye can see, Canada and the United States offer an awe-inspiring abundance of travel adventures. In this revised and updated hotel guide, Taschen scours the North American continent for the most extraordinary, elegant, and inspiring places to rest your head.

Coast to coast, from North to south, spanning the rustic, the boutique, the period-piece and the architectural gem, this is the ultimate directory in tasteful accommodation. Special highlights include raised safari tents in California’s El Capitan Canyon, a historic ranch nestled in a Death Valley oasis, a Frank Lloyd Wright house overlooking Mirror Lake, Wisconsin, and a 1930s hotel in Texas where James Dean once stayed.

The editor:

Angelika Taschen studied art history and German literature in Heidelberg, gaining her doctorate in 1986. Working for TASCHEN from 1987, she has published numerous titles on art, architecture, photography, design, travel, and lifestyle.

Texts by:

Daisann McLane writes for National Geographic Traveler Magazine, The New York Times, New York Times Magazine and International Herald Tribune. She is the author of TASCHEN's Cheap Hotels and lives in New York City and Hong Kong. (www.daisann.com)

The photographer:

Don Freeman is a New York-based photographer whose work appears regularly in Vogue, The World of Interiors, AD France and Architektur & Wohnen. Recently, he photographed Ted Muehling`s collaborations with Nymphenburg porcelain and Stuben glass. His work appears in galleries in the United States and in the collections of the Victoria Albert Museum in London, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and others.

Namaste. These restorative retreats have it all

Looking for a vacation that leaves you relaxed, restored, and uplifted? In this gorgeous updated guide, Angelika Taschen gathers the most exquisite and inspirational yoga retreats around the world, from an exotic luxury hotel in Bhutan to a spiritual ashram in India, a beach resort in Mexico to a tucked-away treasure in Brazil’s tropical forests.

Highlights include the Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh — one of the holy cities of the Ganges and a renowned pilgrimage site where the Beatles attended the Maharishi’s ashram in 1968; and Santani, a 48-acre former tea plantation in Sri Lanka where restorative bliss meets the highest sustainable and eco-standards. Italy is not just a destination for the cultural and culinary traveller but also for the dedicated yogi: Santa Maria del Sole in Puglia strike a balance between yoga and the sensual Italian lifestyle. A hidden gem in the high planes of Brazil, Alto Paraíso is nestled in lush tropical forest, home to some of the world’s most diverse flora and fauna. The Esalen Institute in Big Sur is a legendary New Age destination, offering yoga and much more, with over 500 spiritual and physical workshops; Kretashala, one of Europe’s most popular sites for Vinyasa Yoga, offers authentic Cretan cuisine and breathtaking views of the endless expanse of the Libyan sea; while Amansala’s Bikini Boot Camp in Tulum, Mexico, combines beach life with yoga classes.

The editor:

Angelika Taschen studied art history and German literature in Heidelberg, gaining her doctorate in 1986. Working for TASCHEN from 1987, she has published numerous titles on art, architecture, photography, design, travel, and lifestyle.

Texts by:

Kristin Rübesamen is a certified senior Yoga teacher and writer based in Berlin. She is the editor-in-chief of Yoga Easy, one of Europe’s foremost online yoga platforms. A former journalist, she is the author of Everyone Is Enlightened. Confessions of a Yoga Teacher, the first memoir on how to become a yoga teacher, as well as the book Das Yoga ABC and the novel Außer Atem (2019), a psychological thriller set in the world of yoga.

A beautifully illustrated book offering unrivalled access to the magnificent homes at the heart of this country’s age-old wine industry

An intimate visual journey inspired by the internationally renowned photographer Solvi dos Santos, this book allows the reader unparalleled access to the private homes at the heart of the revered French wine industry. Throughout France, each major wine business is rooted in an estate that has been occupied for generations. Until now, though, we have had little idea of the lives and sumptuous lifestyles behind some of the world’s best-known wine labels. These photographs, taken with grace and sensitivity, reveal both grand formality and the distinctive domesticity of the time-honoured estates of the families to whom we owe the finest wine traditions on the planet.

This magnificent volume encompasses all the wine-producing regions of France, from the Taittinger champagne cellars housed in 4th-century Roman chalk caves in Reims, to Château de Pennautier, the ‘Versailles of Languedoc’. The wide variety of grapes means an extensive range of wine is produced, from champagne in the north to the highly prized and complex reds of Bordeaux. Wine expert Florence Brutton brings the unique character of each estate to life, explaining the idea of terroir (the idiosyncratic growing conditions that define and distinguish each area of cultivation) and the importance of local wine-related customs. Her informed texts offer us personal insights and anecdotes from the winemakers themselves.

With details on the wines produced by each estate and information for the would-be visitor, this book will appeal to wine lovers, Francophiles, travellers and anyone in search of a wide range of interiors, sanctified by lifestyles that have passed the test of time.

Contents List:

Champagne • Alsace • Burgundy • Juira • Savoie • The Rhône Valley • Provence • Corsica • Languedoc-Roussillon • The South West • Bordeaux • The Loire Valley

About the Author:

Florence Brutton has worked with many wine organizations in France, including the Comité interprofessionel du vin de Champagne and Louis Roederer Champagne.

The first book to take readers inside the mansions and estates of Champagne today. Champagne, the king of wines, opens the doors to its most legendary homes. Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, Krug, Moet & Chandon, Perrier Jouèt, and so on; all the most famous Champagne makers, together with the homes of some discreet neighbors, for the first time invite us to discover an art of living that has never before been revealed. A preserved style in which daily refinement blends with the splendor of history, in which the winemaking soul strives unceasingly to honor an exquisite style worthy of the Enlightenment. Brought together into a single volume, more than twenty prestigious buildings and other lesser-known ones are presented. Châteaux and manors listed in the registry of Historic Monuments, known hitherto only for their cellars and the names of their vintages.

In this chronological selection of 32 of the most notable houses of England and Wales, the authors present a panoramic history of the evolution of the 'great house'. The selection tours acknowledged architectural masterpieces, such as Tredegar - one of a number of house in this book that were closed to the public for many years. It is also a history of great families, seen as part of the houses they created, where their descendants, in many cases, still live today. Full of memorable characters and anecdotal insight, this book is a glorious tribute to what Evelyn Waugh called our chief national artistic achievement. The original photographs show the unexpected as well as the familiar - the private rooms and servants' quarters as well as the grand exteriors and staterooms, the gardens and noble landscapes. They include some of the most splendid examples of English art and architecture, from awe-inspiring medieval stone to the beauties of the English Renaissance, the classical grandeur of the 18th century and the highest excesses of High Victorian taste, illustrating the work of Inigo Jones, Sir John Vanbrugh, Nicholas Hawksmoor, Thomas Chippendale, William Kent, Robert Adam and Capability' Brown.

Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd has been writing about country houses and their owners since the 1960s. He was the instigator and editor of an acclaimed four volume Guide to Country Houses and wrote a weekly Heritage column for over 20 years, first for The Field and then for the Weekend section of The Daily Telegraph. His many other books on heritage subjects include Great Houses of England & Wales; Great Houses of Scotland and Great Houses of Ireland.

Christopher Simon Sykes specialises in the photography of architecture and interiors, and is also the author of numerous books including English Country, Scottish Country and Living with Books. His photographs appear regularly in periodicals, including The World of Interiors, House & Garden, Town & Country, Vogue, Vanity Fair and The Sunday Telegraph magazine.

Never will you see English countryside and architecture more amorously photographed, nor the eccentricities of their owners more forgivingly celebrated.  Ferdinand Mount

Illustrations: 100 colour & 100 b&w images

For over 100 years,  Country Life  magazine has been recording the country houses of the British Isles and Europe. From the start, its weekly articles on the subject were illustrated with specially commissioned photographs by some of the century's pre-eminent architectural photographers. Photography remains the lifeblood of the magazine, and it has built up an unrivalled archive of architectural photographs of some of the finest houses in Western Europe.   Great Houses of Europe  brings together a collection of over 200 colour and black-and-white photographs by the master of natural-light photography,  Country Life  photographer Alex Starkey. And the distinguished architectural writer and historian Marcus Binney contributes an illuminating text, providing an essential historical background to some of Europe's most remarkable houses and their magnificent interiors. The book covers a wide range both geographically - there are houses in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden - and in terms of architectural style - from Dutch Classical architecture (Het Loo) to spectacular Gothic revival (Kastel de Harr).  There are astonishing interiors: the stunning stucco ceilings of the Venetian Palazzo Abruzzi, and the beautiful mirror rooms done by the ladies of the Court for the enchanting  lust schloss . Schloss Favourite near Baden; the magnificent Baroque interiors of Schloss Bruhl, built for the Elector of Cologne, and the early 18th-century Baroque Castello Guarane in Piedmont with its fine frescoes; the early 20th-century Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, built for a diamond tycoon with its fantasy gardens, half underground; the palatial Chateau de Roquetaillade near Bordeaux, gothicised in the 19th century by Villet-le-Duc, and the quintessential medieval extravaganza, the Chateau de Meillant in Burgundy; and, finally, the dramatic Swedish post-Renaissance Castle Stokloster, arguably the finest house in Europe.