the sweetest stays of 2025

Go off-radar and remote at Finland’s coolest new opening. Kotona Manor runs rings around the idea of a typical boxy hotel. The 11-room circular hideout loops through the forest pines next to Europe’s largest lake area. Tuning in with the far-reaching panoramas and the seasons is the message here – fitting for the circle theme, and the carefully thought-out contemporary design means the building doesn’t distract from the landscapes too much. Days should be spent slowly discovering the outdoors: snowshoeing, lake swimming, sauna sweating and field foraging.

One of the world’s flashiest trains debuts in hotel form a mere hop, skip and jump from the honeyed light of the Pantheon. This spring, 93-key La Minerva opens in a 17th-century palazzo, and the building is as gilded and grand as ever under Hugo Toro’s old-world vision: Murano chandeliers, soulful jewel tones, marble statues and a see-and-be-seen rooftop that will undoubtedly have queues this spring. The rail renaissance is picking up speed for the Accor-backed brand, which is launching its latest routes – with train interiors inspired by Sixties and Seventies Italian glamour – from Venice to Portofino, through Tuscany, south to Matera and even on to Sicily from Rome. 

The northern end of the Bahamas’ Exuma chain has had a tumultuous past: its airstrip was extended by the Medellín cartel and it became a major hotspot for rum smuggling and drug trafficking. This is also where the Fyre Festival promo was filmed (yikes). But it’s shifting away from that narrative and is now home to Norman's Cay hotel, a bungalow-dotted estate that’s been decked out in playful prints, retro tiles and ocean-flecked terrazzo flooring under the eye of Parisian architect Joseph Dirand. A fitness centre and spa are in the works too. There has also been a sophisticated renovation of one of the Bahamas’ Sixties classics, The Potlatch Club. The site of Paul and Linda McCartney’s honeymoon, the hotel became unloved later in the 20th century but was spruced up in time to reopen towards the end of 2024. Expect to see lots of light blues and creams, rattan armchairs, frilly palm-like lights and sailors merch dotted around. 

California-based hotel pro – and wellness-obsessed – Auberge Resorts Collection opens its first Italian property in the hills surrounding Florence. Collegio alla Querce is spread across three buildings of a 16th-century university-turned-villa, where it took years to restore and preserve almost all existing features including original frescoes. In a city already crowded with smart spots to stay, the brand has jumped on the idea of ‘near but far’, with guests escaping the throngs of tourists (it’s about a 15-minute taxi ride or 40-minute walk) but going in for pappa al pomodoro, and being encouraged to stay longer in more private quarters. The Auberge collection is on a roll – from The Dunlin in South Carolina to the takeover of Geneva’s The Woodward and now, Cambridge House in London. 

Our ears perked up when we heard that fashion powerhouse LVMH had taken over the old Islay Hotel in Port Ellen on Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, along with the island’s Ardbeg distillery. Russell Sage Studio – also behind the much-loved and ever-booked Fife Arms in the Cairngorms – brought its creative eye to the renamed Ardbeg House, with 12 sea-facing rooms, a restaurant and whisky bar. Details about the design are light for now but we can likely expect tartans and stag heads with some art to boot. A boost for single-malt fans looking for a whisky house with rooms. 

Fans of wabi-sabi will be pleased to see the philosophy’s minimal design and soft palette become the focus of Capella’s expansion into Japan (the brand is also opening Patina Osaka in 2025). Welcoming travellers by the end of the year, the Kyoto launch will be a lesson in cultural preservation and design through the collaboration of Kengo Kuma and Brewin Design Office. The welcoming 89-key hotel will land in the historic Miyagawa-chō district in an effort to blend in with the pace of the city while also honouring traditional aesthetics. There will be nods to nearby Kenninji Temple and traditional culture through wabi-sabi aesthetics (lots of beiges and browns) and classic architectural elements such as tatami and a Zen garden. 

Hamilton Island – a sweeping stretch amid the Great Barrier Reef that claims the white-sand scoop of Catseye Beach – will see its first new hotel opening since 2007. The Oatley family, who also run the show at Qualia on the island, will swing open the doors of The Sundays this autumn, and it’s got the people Down Under talking. The aim of the game here is to enjoy time away with kids in tow – travelling with little ones involves trials and tribulations, but the family-friendly team is out to change the script. Rooms are lofty and loose, set up with prams, cribs and cots, each with ocean views, plus movie nights and ice cream happy hours are on the agenda too. A win-win. 

It’s natural to plan a trip to Rwanda to see mountain gorillas but, beyond these curious creatures, there’s a long list of wild animals to spot. The newest lodge in the Wilderness fold, Magashi Peninsula is an eight-bedroom stilted expansion of the existing Magashi Camp in Akagera National Park, Central Africa’s largest protected wetland. Game viewing – across 11 different habitats of open plains, woodland, swamps, lakes and grassy low mountains – will be front and centre, alongside the brand’s crucial conservation efforts. A special spot for switching off in privacy, amid the rhythm of the plains.

For a long time, Huka Lodge has been a favourite retreat of rockstars and fly-fishing fanatics (its founder, Irishman Alan Pye, first set out to create a sophisticated camp for the sport on the Waikato river in 1924). More recently, it’s been taken over by Aussie group Baillie Lodges which, after seven months of renovations, will reopen the New Zealand lodge in March. Interiors will have a whole new look and feel – nothing compromising those floor-to-ceiling views over the lake, but a bit lighter, tighter and breezier. While this change might have ruffled a few feathers, we have no doubt it will live up to the legend. 

The smart hotels in Stockholm are usually found on the shores of Norrström and on the grander streets of Östermalm. That is before the news of the upcoming opening of the Stockholm Stadshotell. Located on the somewhat hipper side of Södermalm is the 1873-built landmark for King Oscar I within wandering distance of some of the top wine bars, restaurants and coffee spots in Sweden's capital. Expect a bistro-style kitchen, a curated fine-dining indulgence within the former chapel and 32 rooms and suites kitted in head-to-toe Scandi brilliance. All eyes peeled for its February debut... and for our upcoming Pillow Talk.  

Can Ash – the NYC-based studio – do no wrong? We swooned over Hotel Peter and Paul in NOLA and admired them for their courage in opening Ulysses in Baltimore.  In Richmond, Virginia, they’re tuning into the buzz with Shenandoah Mansions. This will be the group's fifth site and they’re going big on gemstone colours and block-printed quilts plus bathrooms decked out in multi-colour handpainted tiles, pine wood floors, and American folk art motifs. Plus there will be a very see-and-be-seen bar and all-day restaurant for all the college town kids to take their visiting-from-out-of-town parents to.

Amanjunkies will be happy to hear that the zen-seeking group – much-loved for their high-flying hotels – will open up three spots in Mexico, the Dolomites and Bangkok this year. They’re making big moves to claim strong corners of the world with slick spaces and tip-top experiences (a superyacht is also in the works) for their well-heeled guests. Plus, let’s not forget about that stellar service that’s there to match any need or query from big or small. Amanvari in Mexico will look to sling open its doors by spring, while in the summer the Dolomites will see a takeover of the much-loved Rosa Alpina. But it’s the Aman Nai Lert in Bangkok that’s up first. Namaste.

Fans of this fun-loving, good-times brand knew something exciting was going on when the French founders set up a chalet in Verbier in 2019. It was a pretty instant hit. So they’re hopping on the snow train with a high-up hotel at 1850m in Val d’Isere (dare we say this snow-sure spot is having a moment?). You can expect all the same flair so loved by the Experimental Group: colour pop pow-wows from interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon, food to stuff yourself silly with and now, slopes you can slip right on down, 300km to be exact. Swapping snow for spaghetti, they’re also opening a new property in Rome, near the Piazza di Spagna, equipped with a rooftop pool with a view of the Colosseum. 

We like this more small-town shift away from bigger cities to equally thrumming but less trod on parts of the United States, like the Albert Hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas from Austin-based architecture firm Clayton Korte and hospitality group New Waterloo. A good mix of old and new – the buildings date from the 19th century –  this property will see cute bunk rooms and a sunken pool become the city’s only place to be. The same group are also opening up a 97-key hotel in Cleveland, a city not totally the first choice for a smart spot to sleep but that’s warmly welcoming The Fidelity with open arms. 

Not strictly a hotel, but rather an 18th-century manor house set on a 40-acre estate in Putignano (possibly this part of Italy’s best-kept secret). Neapolitan and Nigerian owners Thelma West – a jewellery designer – and her partner Stefano Liotta have teamed up to bring this lost home back to life. The ten-bedroom manor can sleep up to 24 guests – so group happenings make for a good opportunity to take the coastal Italian home over as your own. Keep an eye on their artist residency programme, plus, they’re bottling up their own rose for long and lazy summer sipping. 

With all eyes on the western frontier, not France, but rather the wild plains of America’s west, the cowboy-slinging, saloon-sipping scenes of Wyoming and Montana, One&Only is riding the Yellowstone tv-obsession and opening up their first US outpost in Big Sky, Montana. An adventurer's playground, serious skiers and outdoorsy folks like this part of, well, yes, Big Sky country, for all its amazing landscapes and open ground, and now there’s a thrill-seeking stay to bed down. Skiers will be happy to know that the hotel will have direct gondola access to the slopes, so ski-in and ski-out will have a whole new meaning. 

Oberoi is on a mission. Ever since announcing they’d open up in London’s Mayfair by the end of 2027, they also announced two more openings in India and a super-luxe boat to chug along the Nile. Kicking things off with a roar in January, on the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, will be The Oberoi Vindhyavilas Wildlife Resort. In the Spring, The Oberoi Rajgarh Palace will open its royal doors – constructed by Maharaja Hinu Pat Shah of the Bundela Dynasty in the late 1800s, it will be an opulent, grand overnighter with a backdrop of Panna National Park and the tiger reserve. 

When Audrey Gelman opened up the doors to her girls-only members club The Wing in 2016, she probably didn’t have an opening of a cute country inn in Upstate New York in her sights yet. Two separate timelines, but two good stories. The latter is a product of her cult-followed Cobble Hill shop and namesake that’s a tight edit of cottage core knick-knacks and fabulous finds (enamelware, pot holders, fruity totes). The same aesthetic will be splashed across 11 rooms in the Hudson Valley next summer. Fall into the swing of Gelman’s fantastical made-up English village (she calls it Barrow’s Green), and if you love the designs enough (the pillows, quilts, plates, platters or lamps) you can ask to buy them.

This is not one, but two hotels (well, fincas) on one beautifully wild estate in Menorca. The name behind the opening? Vestige. A group who know a thing or two about taking over faded farmhouses and turning them into beautiful intentional, subtle and smart spots to sleep. It’s tough to know where to spend the night though: at Binidufá, which sits within the valley or Son Ermitá, offering far-out views from its hilltop position. If the success of Son Vell – the group's first Menorcan property – is any indication, this will be one of the hottest openings the island will see next year.

The small-batch boutique hotel brand Casetta (the artsy brand that made wavecatching The Surfrider in Malibu so cool) has a lot on the books for 2025. Kicking it off in LA is Hotel Lucile, which is in budding Silver Lake (the wannabe neighbourhood filled with wine bars and unbookable restaurants). Next up is Hotel Willa, once a motel in the 40s but now an art-filled hotel meets gallery in the very small Southwestern town of Taos. Is this the new Marfa? Lastly, they’re heading to the East Coast, to hip-happening Hudson. The group are currently shaking up a historic 19th-century mansion turned elk lodge in the 1930s. No doubt it will be filled with Manhattan’s young things who are in town for antiquing and apple cider doughnuts.

Big guns group Rosewood has brought in Netherlands-based designers Studio Piet Boon to do up their first hotel in Amsterdam. Taking over the former Palace of Justice, the 134-room space will overlook the Prinsengracht, one of the most beautiful waterways in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Amsterdam Canal District. You can expect all the usual bells and whistles: a sweeping lobby library, dimly lit bars (we’re big fans of Scarfes in London), a pool for lapping and restaurants worth staying put for. The Hong Kong-based group will also see Rosewood Miyakojima in Japan, The Chancery Rosewood in London and Rosewood Mandarina, Mexico, join the fold. Big moves for the big brand. 

Airelles is synonymous with seriously good hospitality. The French-based hotel group have claimed their spaces (or as they like to call it, maisons) from Versailles to Provence and Courchevel too, luring in a smart set of travellers and big spenders. In a little shift, they’re turning to the floating city, the group’s first property out of their home country in Italy – and in the old Bauer Palladio. They’ll be tying in their gilded interiors, soft French linens and smiley staff to Giudecca, a locals-only island that brings in the best of La Serenissima too. This will be a splashy addition – with terrazzo and marble floors, Murano glass and Rubelli wallcoverings – and the ninth property from the group, joining in on the city's already golden grand dames. Loyal regulars of Airelles will know very well how to appreciate the Cicchetti bar and the swimming pools, there will be three.

The big guns behind the South of France’s see-and-be-seen Hotel du Cap Eden Roc and the Amalfi Coast's biggest opening in 2023 Hotel La Palma are crossing the seas to bring their European hospitality to Palm Beach. It’s the very first opening in the US for the Oetker Collection but fans of the brand can expect the same high-flying service, gold-encrusted guest lists and poolside hangouts inside a 100-year-old landmark building. No doubt their gilded age nostalgia will be splashed all over the place, especially when Paris-based interior designer, Tino Zervudachi gets his hands on it. Do also keep eyes peeled for the grand reopening of Brenners Park-Hotel in Baden-Baden. In line with its aim of healing mind, body and soul, the hotel has undergone a pretty fancy facelift and will welcome guests back in June.