Acclaimed Accommodations

What types of hotels spur your wanderlust?


Do they offer fabulous spas or interiors reflecting regional artisans?  Perhaps the gastronomic innovation of their chef or stunning vistas or a rich history invite you to rest your head on their pillows.


Here are several acclaimed accommodations to consider:

Hotel 101/Reykjavik, Iceland

Steps from vibrantly colored traditional houses, and the city’s famed shopping street – Laugavegur, this 38-room hotel’s public spaces showcase over a dozen contemporary Icelandic artists’ work.  Many pieces are influenced by the country’s natural “fire and ice” beauty as illustrated in the icicle sculpture behind the reception desk.  The library, with varied reading material, an ever-present fire and comfortable leather chairs, offers elegant tranquility.   Queen or king bedded rooms have a minimalist Nordic décor. Delicate textured accents of hand knit Icelandic woolen throws soften the stark look of glossy black floor to ceiling cabinets and white linens and duvets. Billowing window curtains frame harbor or center city views. Vintage-style, white-clawed bathtubs and black marbled shower stalls are found in door free bathrooms and dressing areas with heated wooden floors.

The Lake Austin Spa Resort/Austin, Texas

Close to Austin’s city limits, the LASR’s 40 lushly furnished rustic guest cottages face a sparkling lake. Here flocks of geese paddle between canoes, kayaks, and hydrobikes. Granite gravel crunches underfoot on the path to the LakeHouse Spa. The slate-blue barn shelters a lap pool and 20 indoor/outdoor treatment rooms. On a screened-in porch, therapists administer massages and body treatments often using products, like rosemary, prickly pear, and pecans created from the resort’s own garden or regionally grown. The garden’s produce and local organic partners provide culinary inspiration for every meal. Personal discovery comes from through live music from local Austin musicians, nighttime astronomy classes and other encounters.  The Lady Bird Suite’s hand-woven rugs, stone fireplace, and a private garden reflect former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson’s love of nature - especially the Texas Hill Country where she lived for decades .

The Hotel St. Francis/Santa Fe, New Mexico

Though this 81-room hotel is set just one block from Santa Fe’s main plaza, it’s as if the calming spirit of St. Francis, the hotel’s namesake and the patron saint of the city, has cast a serene spell on this historic hideaway. While a spicy secret, the Secreto Bar’s signature cocktail of Cabana Cachaca, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, cucumber, and jalapeno exists, the mood throughout the Mission-style property is decidedly quiet, thanks to tiered chandeliers and cast-iron wall scones that create a dim and romantic feel. Understated guest rooms are done in muted white and gray, with rough-hewn floors and weathered wood furnishings by Sante Fe artisans—many of which are exhibited in the top galleries and shops just beyond the hotel entrance. Do not miss the daily high tea, when Chef Estevan, a former Franciscan monk, serves up goat milk flan and pastelles de tres leches (a moist Mexican cake).

The Leela Goa/Goa, India 

The hotel celebrates a mélange of colonial Portuguese architecture with ancient and contemporary Indian design. Enter the lavishly embellished 14^th century Vijayanagara Empire styled open-air lobby and find towering stone-carved Yalis supported by royal elephants. Pink sandstone columns holding the Yalis form a corridor leading down to an oversized image of the dancing god, Natraj. The environment softens with paisley patterned jamavars (shawls), silken sheers, and lit candles floating amount lush floral arrangements in the Jamavar restaurant. The genteel ambiance of a Portuguese villa prevails in the Lagoon suites where dark wood floors lead out to private balconies overlooking the River Sal. Lush tropical gardens lead out to a golf course, the spa and white sand beach where the Arabian Sea laps against the shoreline.