Behold! ✚ New Tablet Plus Hotels

El Dorado Hotel

Sonoma, CA, USA

Not every worthwhile hotel in the California wine country is a luxury compound with a vineyard view. El Dorado is as urban as it gets, at least in tranquil Sonoma — this 27-room boutique hotel stands right on the town’s central square, surrounded by art galleries, tasting rooms, and excellent restaurants (including its own).

Ca’ Pisani Hotel

Venice, Italy

In a city like Venice, we might expect a hotel to lean toward the classic, to play up its connection with Venice’s unique architecture and history. Hotel Ca’ Pisani, then, is a surprise, in design terms. Though the exterior is classic enough, a five-hundred-year-old merchant townhouse, the interiors show a strong Futurist influence.

Villa Saint-Ange

Aix-en-Provence, France

Like many of the best hotels in Aix-en-Provence, Villa Saint-Ange is modest in size — but that might be the only modest thing about it. This 18th-century villa is a splendid piece of architecture, and while it’s surrounded by the city’s townhouses, the estate itself is spacious enough to provide a taste of country living.

Brach Madrid

Madrid, Spain

Staying anywhere on Madrid’s Gran Vía is a treat, but the new Brach Madrid, a five-star hotel designed by Philippe Starck, offers next-level luxury. The building itself, of course, isn’t new: part of the avenue’s dazzling architectural showcase, it was completed in 1922 — rich material for Starck’s artistic reimaginings.

The Nai Harn Phuket

Phuket, Thailand

Not every beach resort has to be on its own far-flung private island. But in a destination as heavily traveled as Phuket, it’s essential to offer a measure of seclusion. The Nai Harn offers more than a measure; it cascades down a hillside overlooking Nai Harn beach, near the island’s distant southernmost point.

Alexander

Mexico City, Mexico

Torre Virreyes, by celebrated architect Teodoro González de León, looks like the tallest building in Mexico City. It isn’t, but looming high over the Bosque de Chapultepec, one of the largest urban parks in the Americas, this trapezoid-shaped skyscraper — home to the Alexander Hotel — dwarfs everything around it.

Almaria da Corte Apartments

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon has no shortage of full-featured boutique hotels as an alternative to traditional, large-scale luxury hotels. But the best way to see the Portuguese capital might be from a lodging that’s even a bit more intimate, like Almaria da Corte — just 15 apartments in a picturesque building a few streets up from the riverside.

Villa Samadhi

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It seems impossible, but smack in the middle of Kuala Lumpur is a serene, luxe little hideaway called Villa Samadhi. Plenty of hip hotels seek to put their patrons in the metropolis’s glittering, garish nerve center. Here’s where to stay if you’d rather see trees than towers, hear coos rather than honks, be sedate rather than stimulated.

Sofitel Lafayette Square

Washington DC, USA

It’s fitting, given Washington D.C.’s French heritage, that one of its top hotels would be a Sofitel. This fine 1920s Art Deco building is just off Lafayette Square, which is also bordered by the White House; it’s hard to imagine a more prestigious location, or one that’s more photogenically typical of the District of Columbia.

The Sebastian

Vail, CO, USA

When it opened, the Sebastian brought some youthful energy to this classic ski town. The Vail Village location is prime real estate, and with a dedicated slopeside ski concierge, and some of Vail’s top dining and nightlife options — plus close proximity to a bunch more — The Sebastian remains a worthy contender.

Hotel FRANQ

Antwerp, Belgium

Hotel FRANQ is housed in a converted historic bank, its old vaults turned into a modern wine cellar. Most visually striking is the regal, light-filled atrium encircled by marble pillars; in this cathedral-like space where bankers once conducted business, guests lounge on velvet sofas, planning excursions on the hotel’s bicycles.

La Nauve, Hôtel et Jardin

Cognac, France

La Nauve, located on the grounds of a former cognac distillery, is a welcome addition to Cognac’s luxury hotel scene. No spirits are produced on site these days, but they flow freely at the hotel’s lively brasserie and cocktail bar, and on the picturesque terrace that overlooks the estate’s carefully landscaped gardens.