Editors of Condé Nast Traveller UK have released their picks for the best hotels of 2013, choosing properties across categories such as best beach, wilderness, design, city and country hotels.
From cocktail bars that hang dramatically over the edge of a Balinese cliff, to a Kenyan wilderness lodge embedded high within African conservation lands, and a quintessentially French countryside inn carved out of village rock and set in the heart of Provence, CN Traveller’s list of 25 best hotels for 2013 strays from the usual suspects of opulent, five-star locales in favor of roads less traveled.
Meanwhile, readers of Travel + Leisure helped the magazine curate their own list of top 500 hotels of 2013 which was released last month.
For the second year in a row, safari lodge Singita Grumeti Reserves in Tanzania was ranked No. 1 in the world. It features a cliff-top plunge pool, tennis courts, spa, a yoga center, and offers sightings of elephants, wildebeest, zebras and gazelles.
Here’s the full list of Condé Nast Traveller’s 25 Best Hotels for 2013:
Best beach hotels:
Alila Villas Uluwatu, Bali
Uxua Casa Hotel, Trancoso, Brazil
Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort & Spa, Maldives
Soho Beach House, Miami
La Sirenuse, Positano, Italy
Best wilderness hotels:
The Walig Hut, Gsteig, Switzerland
Four Seasons Tented Camp, Golden Triangle, Thailand
Adrère Amellal, Siwa, Egypt
Tassia Lodge, Lekurruki Community Ranch, Kenya
Shakti 360° Leti, Uttarakhand, India
Best city hotels:
Hotel Sofitel Legend Metropole, Hanoi
Dwarika’s Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal
Le Pavillon de la Reine, Paris
Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, Thailand
The Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Best country hotels:
Oustau de Baumanière, France
Hambleton Hall, Rutland, England
The Point, New York State
Otahuna Lodge, South Island, New Zealand
Miyamasou, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Best design hotels:
Conservatorium Hotel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Playa Vik José Ignacio, Uruguay
Hegia, Hazparne, France
Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island, Australia
The Upper House, Hong Kong