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Finding cheap, nice hotels can feel difficult. With new, luxury openings coming regularly, it can sometimes seem as though affordable hotel options are few and far between, or in some cases, non-existent. But we're here to tell you that you can experience beautiful, unique hotels without spending hundreds of pounds a night – and we've made it easy by selecting the very best cheap(er) hotels. Garden Light Decoration Ideas
Of course, the concept of affordability is subjective and depends on lots of factors – including the destination you're travelling to. Here, we're not rounding up the cheapest hotels in the world – rather our favourite places to stay where you won't compromise on style, design and facilities but don't need deep pockets to check-in.
From South America to South-East Asia and even the USA, these are our favourite cheap, nice hotels from around the world. Or, check out our favourite affordable hotels in Europe.
With so many Parisian hotels done in fiercely good taste, there’s something refreshing about one with a loose Eighties theme and a colour scheme heavy on hot pink. It starts with the words ‘Forever Young’ on a rug beside the entrance, but goes further. The lyrics from the 1984 hit by German synth band Alphaville are woven into the design of two custom-made wallpapers; and when you pop a cassette into the USB-port-enabled boomboxes – there’s one in every room – the Jay-Z version of the song comes on. Yes, this is that place – where green neon signs above beds implore guests to ‘Scream’, possibly into a retro bedside phone, which is just about doable given that soundproofing foam lines the walls.
Thanks to Saar Zafrir Designs, exiting the lift into the hallway feels like stepping into a scene from Star Wars or Pac-Man: ceilings and carpets are covered in a black-and-white-check pattern, while blinding white lights outline room doors. Then there are the artworks, including a Super Mario character made of Lego above a stack of Rubik’s cubes that spell out R-E-M-I-X. Guests who are here to work can access nine hi-tech meeting rooms named Madonna, INXS, Elton, Freddie, Cyndi, Prince, Tina, Blondie and Bowie. Non-residents are invited to use the spaces, too, and communal areas on three floors are often booked for events. Channelling Van Halen’s ‘Hot for Teacher’, there are even old-school lockers in which to leave any work accoutrements or luggage. There are pool and table-football tables, arcade games and a tile-walled restaurant that, slightly incongruously, serves American soul food inspired by Marvin Gaye. In this Remix, almost anything goes. Sara Lieberman
Price: Double rooms from about £87 per night.
Paris has its Haussmann townhouses, New York its skyscrapers, but riads are what set Marrakech apart. There are more of these celebrated mansions in the heritage-listed medina than in any other city in North Africa, and architect Quentin Wilbaux has done much to contribute to their preservation, working with UNESCO to classify the historic buildings. In Kaat Ben Nahid, on the eastern edge of the souks, Wilbaux's own property, Le Riad Berbère, is in an area where the medina's social fabric remains intact. Bakers, barbershops and food stalls crowd the alleys, generating an intense atmosphere. But push through the heavy-set wooden door into the incense-scented house for an immediate sensory shift.
The metre-thick walls cut off the hawking hubbub before you're hit with the dramatic reveal of the courtyard and its delightful garden. The double-storey space draws the eyes up to a lofty roof terrace where once housewives would have gossiped over parapet walls and now magical candlelit dinners are served. Pared back to its essentials, the building's handsome, 17th-century bones are on show in the sculpted arches, hand-painted cedarwood ceilings and simple bejmat floor tiles. Just five rooms, three of them with balconies, run the length of the property, but staying here isn't just about sleeping in smart digs. The riad is managed by Ingrid Debertry who, along with four Marrakshi women, orchestrates home-cooked Moroccan meals, yoga lessons, manicures and massages, and gives an insight into a culture shaped by the unique architecture of its surroundings.
Address: Le Riad Berbère, 23 Derb Sidi Ahmed Ben Nasser Kaat Benahid, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco Price: Doubles from about £48 per night
As Sri Lanka’s popularity as a surfing destination grows, so too do the number of guest houses and hostels bubbling up along the shoreline between Galle and Weligama, a walk or scooter ride away from the hotly contested breaks at Midigama and Kabalana. At the centre of it all is The Kip, a mellow village-home-turned-bed-and-breakfast. Around a minute’s walk from the coast and surrounded by Ahangama’s fretwork-fringed villas, The Kip’s fresh style and affordability has already grabbed the attention of a steady stream of young, socially conscious travellers. And while the engaging hands-on owners, Phoebe Taylor and Seddy Di Francesco, who left their Australian home two years ago in search of a more leisurely life, aren’t surfers themselves (yet), many of their guests are. Others come for the homely vibe.
The couple’s sustainable design ethos is clear throughout. Three fan-cooled bedrooms have reclaimed timber furniture, potted palms and local basketry. They lead onto a dusky-pink courtyard – the venue of occasional supper clubs, pop-ups and workshops. The shop stocks ethical Sri Lankan products, such as hand-woven, plant-dyed fabrics, string bags made from banana fibres and natural skincare products. Last year, the couple opened The Kiosk, an airy garden hangout, serving tapas-style vegetable boards and vegan-friendly brunches of nut butter, soaked oats and smoothie bowls. Given the number of scooters parked in the garden, the café is already making waves in the local community, meaning a stay here is a surefire way to truly get under the skin of the neighbourhood.
Price: Doubles from about £97 per night
Swiss owner Caroline Groszer has transformed this whitewashed masseria, creating a handful of absurdly well-priced apartments, perfect boltholes for summer stays. Inside, Groszer’s aesthetic is considered and crisp – wishbone chairs and retro lights, bespoke glass art and private terraces with Acapulco chairs for catching the last of the afternoon sun. Rooms come with kitchenettes (pastel coloured Smeg toasters, a proper coffee pot, with fresh ground beans ready to use, a little hob) so that you can whip up the spoils from the farm into a light supper. Gardens include rows of plum trees, a wall of tumbling cacti, a towering palm - the emblem of the Masseria - and a sweet set of swings and a slide. Come for a night or two on your way north or south, or, like lots of the guests, stay for a fortnight (there's plenty of cupboard space and hangers) and use the apartments as a base to dip into nearby Puglian hits Poligno al Mare, Monopoli and Alverobello. There's also a townhouse in nearby Fasano and a penthouse apartment overlooking Ostuni’s cathedral spires. And if you like Groszer’s style, you can check out her ski chalet in Andermatt too. Lee Marshall
Price: Doubles from about £96 per night
It might take time for dusty, chaotic Phnom Penh to grow on you, but that's not the case at lovely Plantation. On Street 184, a five-minute walk from the Royal Palace, National Museum and riverfront, this sanctuary of whirring fans and tropical plants has the most inviting pool in the city. It's quite something – 20 metres long, guests-only – and surrounded by foliage, cabanas and a bar-restaurant serving pizzas, green-mango salad, and a signature cocktails that pack a zesty punch The spa also offers fabulously affordable massages. There's history here too. The Thirties buildings were French administrative quarters during colonial rule, and the Ministry of Labour after independence. They were saved from demolition by hotelier Alexis de Suremain's Maads group and it took two years of restoration work before Plantation opened in 2011.
Rooms are calm, neutral and stylish, with four-poster beds, colourful Khmer silk cushions and warm wooden furniture, while open bathrooms make rooms even brighter and airier (the loo is private, thankfully, and twin rooms have enclosed bathrooms). At dinner-only La Pergola restaurant, chef Olivier Guillon mixes French, Khmer and global flavours in his cardamom chocolate mousse, ricotta ravioli and duck with Kampot-pepper sauce, and the Lotus Pond Gallery and Red Pool Lounge courtyard often host art exhibitions. Sitting on half a hectare, it may feel less intimate than other boutique hotels, but staff are incredibly friendly, and for the price, there's nothing quite this lush and spacious. Amid the motorbike-honking chorus of the Cambodian capital, havens such as this are like gold dust.
Address: Plantation Urban Resort & Spa, រាជធានី, 28 Samdach Preah Thoamak Lekhet Ouk St. (184), Phnom Penh 12206, Cambodia Price: Doubles from about £74 per night
Berlin is an exuberant capital full of bewildering contradictions, and Sir Savigny, is no exception. Don't be fooled by its formal title and schicki-micki (German for fancy-schmansy) location in upscale Charlottenburg. This 44-room property, designed to resemble the suave dwellings of a well-travelled modern-day aristocrat, knows how to let its hair down. A quirky layout awaits through the brick archway decked out in murals by street artist Dome. Forget about the usual lobby and reception desk. Here the ground floor has a well-stocked library, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a large communal table, that spills into a winter garden with a 360-degree fireplace. And in haute fast-food burger bar The Butcher, a life-size stuffed cow hangs on display in one of the windows. Take a seat and while you're sipping a glass of complimentary wine, the efficient and bubbly staff will soon have you checked in. Spread throughout the slightly over-scented public spaces and rooms are bits and bobs that tell the tale of the hotel's fictional master: a grand chessboard, a retro dial telephone and a large cast-iron sculpture of a golden retriever. The rooms are layered with masculine pieces - mustard velvet armchairs, moss-green leather headboards, sage bedspreads, collages by local artist Katharina Musick and an abundance of brass and mirrors. Sir Savigny is a great base from which to check out the neighbourhood's Art Nouveau architecture, jazz clubs, galleries, grand cinemas and prime Asian restaurants, but a rare truffle burger, available by pressing the dial-a-burger button in your room, might just suffice. Fiona Kerr
Price: Doubles from about £96 per night
Playa del Carmen, with its tequila happy hours and all-inclusive wristbands, is not quite where you'd expect to find the supremely soothing haven of Hotel La Semilla, conjured up by Alexis Schärer, a fifth-generation Swiss hotelier, and his Mexican wife, Angie Rodriquez. The pair met while working at the Plaza Athénée hotel in New York, but their dream was to create one of their own, which they did in 2014, just off the quiet, far northern end of Playa del Carmen's buzzy 'Fifth Avenue'. The couple spent a year combing Mexico City's La Lagunilla flea market for furniture and curios, as well as picking up old hacienda finds from around the Yucatán.
A little booklet in each bedroom details where the furniture has come from: an old pirate chest discovered in a house in Mérida; a lamp made from a showerhead used in public pools in the mid 1900s. But it's far from style over substance. The couple's hotel background shines through with handmade gifts at nightly turndown (freshly baked cookies; a pretty dreamcatcher fashioned from twigs and shells), the willingness to source a favourite spirit and add it to the bar, or an offer to send clothes out to be washed with the hotel laundry (no charge). Breakfast is served in the lush garden, where Alexis hovers between wicker peacock chairs and wrought-iron tables, dispensing tips for the day alongside the house juice: orange and cactus, spiced with cinnamon and honey.
Price: Doubles from about £139 per night
Affordable hotels in New York are practically unheard of – which makes this Midtown bolthole, which has sister outposts in Chicago, LA and Miami, even more of a steal for its exceptionally smart spaces and walkable-to-everything location. The buzzy first-floor restaurant is the spot for brunch surrounded by locals chatting over sourdough croissants and giant cups of coffee. The rooftop bar, Broken Shaker, with views of the Chrysler Building, is the place for pre-supper cocktails – order a decadent Coco Puff Old Fashioned, infused with chocolatey breakfast cereal and topped with Demerara sugar.
Address: Freehand New York, 23 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10010, United States Price: Doubles from about £87 per night
The quirky Praktik Hotels group has given each of its five Barcelona hotels a different theme: there's Praktik Bakery on Carrer Provença; Praktik Vinoteca and in this case a garden. Reception is manned by staff wearing stripy red aprons, and surrounded by tin buckets overflowing with spiky dragon trees, huge Swiss cheese plants and curvaceous calla lillies. The first-floor bedrooms have dark parquet floors and bathrooms with sleek, marble showers and navy hexagonal mosaics; two feature balconies overlooking one of Eixample’s most emblematic streets, Diputació. The halls are papered with eye-boggling vintage circus posters and there's a cosy, open-plan living/dining room with a large table, oak-and- leather armchairs and stacks of glossy magazines. The small kitchen produces simple breakfasts of freshly squeezed juices, artisan pastries and small bocatas (traditional Spanish sandwiches). Best of all is the large AstroTurf garden - classier than it sounds - which has smart sun-loungers and dining areas enclosed by Washington palms and thick stands of bamboo, and is scented by planters brimming with herbs and mature orange trees. Jennifer Ceaser
Price: Doubles from about £77 per night per night
Jostling alongside artisan coffee shops, independent boutiques and hot pop-up restaurants is exactly where you'd expect to find the newest hotel from Mexico's Grupo Habita. In the creative enclave between the original hipster neighbourhoods of Bucktown and Wicker Park, The Robey has made itself at home in Northwest Tower, a slender, triangular-shaped Art Deco gem that slots like a slice of pie right into the junction where Milwaukee, North and Damen Avenues meet. The hotel is certainly turning heads, not least for its thrumming street-level restaurant which serves up tasty New American dishes, from early-morning scrambled eggs and crispy hash browns to juicy steak frites in the evening. Afterwards, guests meander to The Up Room, the rooftop bar, for a nightcap and to look out at the bright lights of Chicago's sprawling cityscape. Here, low-slung, custom-made seats are interspersed with mid-century-modern finds that don't detract from the building's original features: swathes of terrazzo flooring, brass details and marble wall panels. Clever Coyote, the hotel's newest cocktail bar, can be found on the second floor – complete with a psychedelic light installation, '80s and '90s pop culture nostalgia and interactive games such as Street Fighter and shuffleboard. In the 89 bedrooms, there's a viridescent palette and tactile hardwood floors, as well as masses of natural light pouring in; book the corner suite and get eight vast windows wrapping around the space.
Address: The Robey, 2018 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States Price: Doubles from about £150
Puerto Rican hotel-and-restaurant designer Sylvia de Marco has been collecting vintage finds for decades. Her personal touches fill the open-air spaces and tucked-away rooms at her lovely guesthouse. Mid-century side tables and rotary phones find their place alongside macramé wall hangings and botanical prints. Removed from the tourist hum of Old San Juan, this bohemian bed and breakfast sits close to the beachfront in more chilled-out Ocean Park. Each of the 12 quirky rooms is individually named and decorated with crochet bed covers, Berber rugs, retro wallpaper and Seventies light fixtures. In the garden there are swinging hammocks, Buddha statues, tropical-plant-lined walkways and outdoor showers in hidden corners.
The vibe is new-agey and relaxed, with public spaces and shared kitchens (stocked daily with coconut water), where fellow guests gather to swap travelling tips and anecdotes. Join in one of the sunset yoga sessions on the outdoor terrace or ask the front-desk manager Alex to arrange a rainforest tour or a paddle-boarding session down at the beach. Explore the neighbourhood's cafés, farmers' market and surf shops with de Marco's hand-drawn map of the area, which pinpoints her favourite haunts. Don't skip out too early without having breakfast first though. Chef Jerome Valencia serves up three courses of vegetarian and vegan delights – fresh hibiscus juice, chia pudding and chocolate-avocado mousse – that takes healthy island food to a whole new level.
Price: Doubles from about £186 per night
A stay at The Larwill Studio might just unleash the artist (or even child) in you. Guests are invited to jump on the beds, draw in sketchbooks or roll a rubber dice to choose the day's activity. Built within the precinct of the Royal Children's Hospital, the hotel pays homage to the late, great David Larwill, one of Australia's leading figurative expressionists. Giclée prints of his naïve paintings are hung on bedroom walls and in public spaces; three originals decorate the multifunctional lobby space, including his signature Remember Me. Half of the 96 bedrooms overlook peaceful parklands; the prized corner ones have bonus city views. Everything is playfully art-themed, with 'Artist at Work' and 'Out Feeding the Birds' on door signs for privacy, large paint-brushed room numbers and stacks of art books. Neutral wall colours allow the artworks to sing, and the beds are so comfortable you will want to order one for your own home. There's also an emphasis on wellbeing, with yoga mats in rooms and running maps for exploring, access to Sweat Gym and Lekker bikes for hire. Smartcars are available for discovering Melbourne, while there are lots of charming cafes within walking distance for people watching and craft coffees.
Price: Doubles from about £100 per night
George Town, the capital of Penang island, is a city of sticky layers, where old craftsmen trade alongside new cafés and hawker stalls dish up char koay teow (stir-fried rice noodles) in front of heritage buildings. It's a place that is both deeply historic and relentlessly inventive, and the 35-room Edison George Town is a fine example of this, housed in a villa with a lively past dating back to 1906. Originally built for Hokkien tycoon Yeoh Wee Gark, the site later became an opium den, then a Japanese wartime office, and more recently a backpackers' hostel. In 2014, Singaporean hotelier Eddie Tan decided to restore the vacant house to its former glory. The work has been elegantly done, highlighting the original details while bringing it up-to-date, adding Art Deco furnishings and simple accents of colour.
Guests walk down sweeping wooden stairs and over century-old marble-tiled floors, but can also enjoy a very good espresso from the Franke coffee machine in the sitting room, which is stocked with help-yourself snacks 24 hours a day. Upstairs, there's a library with deep squishy sofas and rocking chairs; outside, the covered garden is a sunny spot for breakfast. It may feel steeped in romance and nostalgia, but the Edison is relaxed rather than stuffy. For more culture, head across the street for a guided tour of the Blue Mansion, a Chinese-style museum. Most of George Town's other attractions, including some of the world's best street food, are within a few minutes' walk.
Price: Doubles from about £107 per night
As planes descend into Siem Reap, passengers can’t help but notice the trees. Clumps of skinny coconut palms sprout from rice paddies. Fruit varieties – papaya, pomelo, mango, jackfruit and tamarind – are strewn across the earth-covered yards of old-school timber houses. Frangipanis fill pagoda grounds. Tuk-tuks to Angkor Wat trundle through towering forest, where temples are strangled by the tangled roots of banyan, fig and cotton. Back in town, everything from rosewood to rain trunks shade the banks of the Siem Reap River, which meanders through the French-colonial centre.
Guests at Treeline look out upon their leafy canopy from sun loungers beside the second-floor infinity pool. At sunset, they gather at the adjacent Canopy Bar, G&T mixed with local Seekers Mekong Dry Gin and kaffir lime in hand. The green theme continues within the white stone walls of designer and owner Hok Kang’s eco-friendly hotel, where his love of nature resonates through every corner. They also adorn the bedrooms, which are decked out in handcrafted modernist furniture, textiles from zero-waste brand Tonlé and ceramics by local artisans. Next up, Kang plans to start an art foundation and protect the riverside with clean-up campaigns and a tree-planting programme. It’s a celebration of nature that distinguishes this boutique hotel from the rest in the temple town.
Price: Doubles from about £150 per night
With the opening of this hip and stylish hotel, the heart of New York State's creative community (aka Brooklyn North) is at last ready for overnight guests. Co-owner Ray Birkle made a name for himself consulting on Condesa Hotel in Mexico City and New York's Gramercy Park Hotel before taking the plunge with this 27-room property, a former motel built as a cinema in the 1920s. At the top of Hudson's historic main thoroughfare, Warren Street, near many of the top shops and restaurants (Zak Pelaccio's Fish & Game is excellent), Rivertown Lodge takes its inspiration from the trendsetting Bunkhouse hotel group of Austin, Texas, and the always hip Ace. The public spaces are filled with vintage and custom-made furniture such as the rolled-bronze bar, and there are a pair of potbelly wood stoves in the sitting room.
Bedrooms are modern and simple, with cherry-wood beds and raw brass light fixtures by Brooklyn-based Workstead. Perhaps surprisingly the smallest rooms, with alcove double beds surrounded by books, are some of the best. And after a long day out antiquing, raid the pantry for Pecan Bars and Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies from Hawthorne Valley Farm, and ask the bartender to mix an old flannel cocktail.
Price: Doubles from about £135 per night
There’s more to the Galle area than buzzy beaches, a historic fort and the famous cricket ground. At Kaju Green, a slick, contemporary eco-lodge set on a jungly inland island just off the beaten track, you can enjoy the relaxed pace of a leafy hideout and still be within 10 minutes of the Dutch-colonial town (tuk-tuks are on hand to whisk guests to the shallow waters of nearby barefoot hotspot Wijaya Beach, too). Kaju is simple but stylish – the minimalist cabins, cooled by fans, have bamboo walls and are partially open to the elements, meaning that guests are woken by birdsong and melodious temple chanting. The wooded grounds, rich in wildlife, feel deliberately untouched, yet certain corners are tamed, decked and scattered with sun loungers for quiet stealing away.
At its centre is an open-plan cement-and-timber restaurant – its clean, modern design a far cry from the island’s more traditional aesthetic – with a rooftop yoga platform and a pool that juts out onto the only clear stretch of lawn. The atmosphere is sociable yet contemplative. The staff, led by open-armed manager Nuwani Dias, always smartly dressed in a jewel-coloured sari, are attentive, and the food alone is worth staying for: rainbow breakfasts of tropical fruit, rice porridge, buffalo curd, pancakes topped with treacled coconut, and curry dishes to be mopped up with rice, string hoppers and roti. As finding a space that offers total tranquility in this honeypot area becomes more and more difficult, here’s a retreat that allows you to dip in and out of the action.
Address: Kaju Green, Moraduwawatta, Mataramba, Unawatuna, Galle, Sri Lanka Price: Doubles from about £105 per night
Here is a place that exemplifies that next-generation knack of not just looking good, but having an interesting backstory, too. Creatives who flit between Brooklyn, Dalston, Biarritz and Venice Beach are adding Canggu to their circuits – and more specifically The Slow, a tropical-brutalist mash-up of a building just minutes away from moped-clogged Batu Bolong. With its polished concrete, mid-century-modern rattan and wooden slats, this 12-room hangout – without expansive grounds or any hotel extras to speak of – lives up to the hype by nailing the basics brilliantly: large beds, sultry bathrooms and minibars stocked with bottles of arrack-based cocktails.
The on-point aesthetic comes as no surprise with George Gorrow, co-creator of Australian fashion label Ksubi, at the helm. Meanwhile, the walls of this eat-drink-sleep address moonlight as gallery space, and against clean lines in stone, wood and brick, custom-made furniture shines through. There’s a Seventies playlist to enhance the ambience, and musicians drop by the open-walled restaurant to spin vinyl for exhibition launches, while hipster holidaymakers and expats meet over ever-inventive small plates and local brews. The restaurant’s original chef has relocated to New York, but with the baton now passed on, expect healthy, delicious flavours served on pretty ceramics that are even more compelling.
Price: Doubles from about £180 per night
Tbilisi sits in a valley basin, framed by snow-capped mountains, with a river running through it past dilapidated buildings from different centuries. If it feels as old as the hills, that's because it was first inhabited in 479AD. Rooms Hotel, though, is something quite new for the city, tucked down a quiet side street in the Vera neighbourhood. Around the corner is Petre Melikishvili Street with its many shops and grandmothers selling churchkhela (walnuts covered in thick grape juice). Right across the street is Lolita for beers and sweet-potato fries. It has a nightclub too, which won't disturb you unless you want it to. The area feels like a mix of bohemian Paris, Vienna or Budapest but with post-Soviet faded charm.
The hotel is set in the impressive steel and wooden block of a former publishing house. Its eclectic interior design is inspired by the travels of owner Temur Ugulava, who cites Soho House and the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn as inspiration. The crackling of the open fire in the library is accompanied by electronic club-beats. Bedrooms have silk wallpaper and subway-tiled bathrooms. Downstairs, velvet curtains and Chesterfield sofas are matched to kilims and Scandinavian chairs. But the art on the walls is all Georgian. In the restaurant, huge windows face onto a leafy courtyard, so it feels as if you are munching the homemade breakfast granola in a giant greenhouse. Later on, peer at chefs serving up great steaks from the open kitchen. But for local food such as khinkali (dumplings filled with broth and meat), sweet talk the charming staff and they will rustle up a plate just for you.
Price: Doubles from about £110 per night
The almost-mile-long beach at Kabalana in southern Sri Lanka has come into its own in recent years. Pristine sand, ringside views of spectacular sunsets and a consistent swell has nurtured a laid-back scene where surfers, families and couples quietly coexist. Traditional pitched-roofed guest houses are a mainstay on this coast, so The Sandhya breaks new ground with its clean lines, boxy silhouette and contemporary minimalist aesthetic. Singapore-born owner Alan Tan built the hotel from scratch, and brought in Sebastian Conran-taught Linden Davies to craft the mid-century-modern-inspired interiors. There are just nine rooms, and instead of TVs they have widescreen west-facing views of the sea through floor-to-ceiling glass windows. In the double-height lobby and out on the slim, tiled terrace, the mood is low-key and slow-paced – guests swim in the lap pool or the ocean and rent boards from the surf outfits lining the beach, before jumping on a tuk-tuk into Galle to shop or explore its 17th-century fort. But The Sandhya isn’t just for luxe-loving break chasers. The hotel’s overwhelming sense of calm, its welcoming staff and its nourishing farm-to-table menu – DIY poké bowls; spaghetti made with coconut milk; and salads of little-known local produce such as snake gourd and the herb gotu kola – are drawing in intrepid design-keen travellers. The result is a surprisingly sleek beach house with soul.
Price: Doubles from about £200 per night
The cultural capital of southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Can Tho feels like a bit of a metropolis if you come here after a few days spent in the gentle rhythm of the backwaters. Traditionally, it’s been a spot for day-trippers from Saigon, who rise early for dawn excursions to the floating markets where conical-hatted traders hustle for business above the rat-a-tat-tat of spluttering boat engines. But now, there’s a reason to linger: a new hotel on its own private islet that’s accessible only by cruising across the water in a boat. It takes its name from the end of the word caravanserai (derived from the Persian for roadside inn), and the initials of owner Adrian Zecha, who founded hotel brand Aman.
This is one of his two forays into luxe-for-less, and the colonial-style pavilions along the lotus-flecked lake borrow from his winning formula of understated design rather than flashiness. Mangrove and banyan trees line the glassy jade pool and one-bedroom villas are filled with warm wood and bamboo – a look that’s echoed in the café, restaurant and bar. Shady gardens provide respite from the organised chaos across the water – of which not even a whisper can be heard as the sunset turns the sky pink. You’re just as likely to find families seeking downtime here as you are well-heeled Aman junkies – a sign that Zecha is on to a very good thing indeed.
Price: Doubles from about £200 per night
This hotel is connected to Ischia by a narrow causeway and overlooks the rest of the island from its vantage point inside a 16th-century castle. The bedrooms – previously monks’ cells – are pretty basic, but the hallways are lined with blue-and-white tiles hand-painted by the artist owner, the spritz terrace has views across Ischia and the menu is made up of ingredients from the organic rooftop garden.
Address: Albergo Il Monastero, Ponte Aragonese, 80077 Ischia NA, Italy Price: Doubles from about £135 per night
This friendly, unassuming hotel is set among the busy restaurants and bars of foodie neighbourhood Dreta de l’Eixample. Rooms are mostly pared back and simple but jazzed up with elaborate mosaic tiling. The Libertine bar downstairs is always packed with locals snacking on tapas and sipping sangria, and serves the best Spanish-style breakfasts come morning. My favourite part: the mini second-hand bookshop Lino, perfect for nabbing a well-thumbed classic to get lost in on the plant-packed rooftop terrace.
Address: Casa Bonay, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 700, 08010 Barcelona, Spain Price: Doubles from about £170 per night
Maru Maru is a winning mish-mash of intricately carved Omani-style doors, a central fountain, dreamy Indian Ocean views from the large rooftop bar and pool, simple four-poster beds shrouded in billowing nets reminiscent of the sort you’d find in a Maldivian overwater villa, and a fresh white-and-turquoise design palette. It’s also even better than the sum of its boutique-hotel parts thanks to its surprise location, squeezed down one of Stone Town’s tight streets. Ideal for spending a few days recovering from camping on safari and exploring this old, artsy part of Zanzibar’s capital.
Garden Lights Karachi Address: Maru Maru Hotel, TZ, Gizenga St, 4043, Tanzania Price: Doubles from about £110 per night