Where to stay in Autumn and Winter 2024

After a spell of summer breaks, it’s all change, into perhaps sweaters, scarves and boots; or salopettes and goggles for Euro romps and Christmas market hops. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere and equator-skimming spots in the Caribbean, US’s south, north Africa and the Indian Ocean are just slipping into their swimwear and sunglasses.

You might run hot or cold, but wherever you go, we’ve got hotels that hit the Goldilocks level of just right-ness. Read on to find out where to stay in autumn and winter 2024.

GEORGIA

Georgia’s curious wine culture, its photogenic villages couched in the Caucasus, and the capital’s thriving counter-culture scene means Georgia is no longer the secret it once was. Indeed, now is the time for an even closer inspection, made easy thanks to the Communal, a hotel group with openings in Tbilisi (Sololaki and Plekhanovi), as well as in lesser-known cities: Telavi in the heart of the Kakheti wine region and Kutaisi, a fascinating cultural outpost all of its own. We’d only be mentioning this, of course, if the hotels were up to scratch — and triumphantly they are, with well-curated blends of art deco and mid-century furniture, vintage curios, a community-focused approach and several amphorae’s worth of cool.

NEW YORK

It takes a seismic cultural event to get New Yorkers excited, and this autumn two openings will be shaking up the city’s nighttime scene. A duo of hip hotel groups — the Standard and the Twenty Two — are each launching a new outpost, giving guests access to exclusive hang-out spots, daring dining concepts and their signature styling.

The Manner in Soho is a more grown-up take on the Standard’s usual stays, with a just-for-guests apartment that’s less party-hard, more put your feet up with a cocktail; but there’s no putting its dynamism to bed, thanks to go-big styling by Milanese designer Hannes Peer. And the Twenty Two New York on Union Square — sibling to the Mayfair hideout — will have a members’ club, fine Lebanese dining and an international feel.

AUSTRIA

Eriro goes heavy with its back-to-nature, mountain-living philosophy; and yes, we dig all the gorgeously angular Alpine timber and hard-wearing woollen fabrics, but it already had us hooked with the view from our vast suite, the spruce sauna and the panoramic pool. Other plusses: meals, drinks and cable-car tickets or ski passes (depending on the season) are all included in the price. And on your way into the mountains, why not make a stopover that’ll blow your cable-knitted calf-warmers clean off? Rosewood Schloss Fuschl in the Salzburg hinterland has the most impressive lakeside vantage in all of Austria.

ITALY

Pizza, pasta, Prada: the bel paese has many things to celebrate. But Italy’s true USP lies in its diversity. The boot stretches some 801 miles across Europe, comprising ice-capped mountains, cosmopolitan cities and sun-baked beaches — and capital Rome, where we’ve two new grande bellezze to obsess over, is itself a mash-up of old and new. First up, the restored Renaissance residence Palazzo Talìa. Set almost within splash range of the Trevi Fountain, this historic building has a juicy past and even juicier future thanks to a team of Italian tastemakers (including indie-film darling Luca Guadagnino) who have blended sensuous details with cool, contemporary touches.

Across town, in its namesake neighbourhood, Casa Monti is an ode to Italian craftsmanship where every corner tells a story. Marble moulds showcase the early stages of Roman sculpting, tiles denote scenes from ancient Rome, muted frescoes recall the umbrella pines outside, and in-room artwork depicts the city’s flocking swallows. And, after you inevitably eat yourself into a carbonara-induced stupor (when in Rome…), head north to South Tyrol’s Saltus, a good-for-you stay in the region’s ‘green riviera’ where lungfuls of fresh mountain air, a body-boosting forest spa and a rooftop infinity pool surveying the Dolomites will pretty much cure all.

BELGIUM

Antwerp’s design nous is so deeply ingrained that its cutting edge could have been snipped by Belgian fashion powerhouse Martin Margiela himself. Here, the ‘Antwerp Six’ (Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten et al.) emerged, Zaha Hadid updated its port, its art scene thunders ahead… But guildhalls crowded round cobbled squares and a pointy Gothic cathedral show a peaceful co-existence with the past. August Antwerp follows suit — this former monastery has been respectfully updated around reaching-to-God ceilings and intricate stonework; while sister property Hotel Julien lounges across two 16th-century townhouses, replete with a curlicue staircase and thick wooden beams. Together they make an elegant outfit for a city break.

MOROCCO

After a summer as hot as a hammam, Marrakech becomes balmier, serendipitously coinciding with four new stays landing on Smith. Izza calms the chaos of the nearby Medina with its leafy pool terraces and tailored spa treatments. Its decor is inspired by louche designer Bill Willis (who hung with Burroughs back in the day) and can be seen in both fine traditional crafts and a cache of modern art. Villa des Orangers is equally lavish and richly outfitted, but lo-fi in attitude, asking you to simply sit back and enjoy a mint tea or Franco-Moroccan meal wherever you please.

This Time Tomorrow sits in a riad whose original name means ‘house of shadows’, but it’s really quite a bright spot in the oldest part of the Medina, where rooms are tech-free for added peace, there’s a pantry to raid at will and musicians play on the view-blessed roof terrace. The palatial, more modern Park Hyatt Marrakech gives you a glimpse of Atlas Mountains and is impressively family-friendly with a vibrant kids’ club.

MEXICO

Mexico’s Distrito Federal was already pretty great, especially for fans of tacos and tequila, but it keeps getting better with new hotels popping up all over the place. Naturally, many of these are located in leafy Condesa, one of CDMX’s smartest neighbourhoods. Arty Casa Altata is in Colonia Hipódromo, which was once home to an actual horse-racing track, now just somewhere for stylish locals and their dogs to stroll around — weekend mornings here are peak time for people-watching. Nearby, Octavia Casa is the hotel edition of the owner’s namesake fashion brand, with catwalk-style corridors allowing guests to shamelessly strut their stuff and a rooftop for cocktails with the cool crowd.

Over in upscale Polanco, the art deco Campos is the perfect base for shopping and dropping after hitting the neighbourhood’s designer boutiques. And if you want an antidote to urbanity, stay at Alexander, on the edge of megapark Bosque de Chapultepec, affectionately known as Mexico City’s green lung (unsurprisingly, given it spans a staggering 1,695 verdant acres).

INDIA

Autumn is the sweet spot for Kerala’s sultry heat, languid backwater living and sunsets that use the whole paintbox. Set waterfront by Vembanad Lake, Coconut Lagoon hotel’s name hints at the palm-studded landscape and top-tier tropical cuisine you’ll experience here. But it’s not the whole story: the wooden cottages you’ll stay in are the reconfigured remnants of antique mansions, there’s a club to introduce you to the surrounding biodiversity and activities interweave you into local life.

NEW ORLEANS

You may be tempted to say New Orleans like the locals do (‘Nawlins’), but there are better ways to fit yourself into this Louisiana belle of a city. Say, by checking into Hotel Henrietta (sister stay to the Columns) — the first new building on leafy St Charles Avenue in decades — set among vintage mansions you can admire from your room’s balcony or a fire pit-warmed porch.

You’re in one of the city’s most strollable spots, but also in prime position for cruising down the Mississippi, following your morbid curiosity to mausoleums, listening to live performers on Frenchmen Street and getting tipsy on Bourbon. Top off your Big Easy adventures with happy-hour spritzes in the hotel’s lobby cocktail bar, and a collab with local bagel shop Flour Moon brings the breakfast goods if you go too hard.

BULGARIA

Bulgarian capital Sofia has had a complicated past. As such, its architecture could be called eclectic: gilded Eastern Orthodox domes, neoclassical pediments, Soviet blocks… But Dot Sofia hotel looks to a dynamic future. Its Brutalist building — all sharp angles and concrete planes, wrapped in oxidised sheet metal — is the perfect display case for vital new art talents, bold new takes on Bulgarian cuisine and cultural gatherings. It’s also drawing focus to the nascently cool Women’s Market neighbourhood and — with the country (partially) joining the Schengen Zone this year — looks set to grab the attention of those wanting to see the city afresh.

JAPAN

‘House’ is too humble a name for Shishi-Iwa House. To start with, it’s actually three houses, each worthy of ‘monumental’ status, designed by Pritzker Prize-holding architects Shigeru Ban and Ryue Nishizawa. Each is a unique thing of beauty amid the cedar trees of resort town Karuizawa (just an hour from Tokyo by bullet train), one laid out like a traditional samurai house, others sustainable as can be using cardboard furnishings, and all worshipful of the nature surrounding them. But they’re not just built to admire: with a bath and tea house, a serious art collection, sense-of-place dining and pastimes such as fireside art talks, visits to breweries and farms, and onigiri making, it feels like a home, too.

FRANCE

Though summer’s Olympic dust has settled, Paris still wins big in autumn. Swap gold medals for the Golden Triangle, a dripping-in-designer district where you’ll find the chicest of crashpads Grand Powers. Sports fans may have filed out of the city, but there’s still an athletic edge to days: flânant down boutique-lined boulevards, wielding weighty shopping bags and slaloming through art-appreciating crowds. Luckily soigné Grand Powers is deft at aiding recovery, with a holistic spa and a plant-based bistro helmed by chef Maxime Raab. Just remember: it’s a marathon not a sprint at Sunday’s champagne brunch.

DENMARK

Christmas — and its long lead in — is especially the most wonderful time of the year in Copenhagen, where the hygge horde is gearing up for winter with liberal ladles of warm gløgg, pickle-piled smørrebrøds and closets full of Ganni puffer jackets. Join them at pretty-in-pink newcomer Grand Joanne, which occupies a prime position in Vesterbro, the Nordic capital’s coolest ‘hood. Here, classic hospitality meets contemporary Danish design.

In rooms, sculptural furnishings mingle with custom artworks, while down at the sprawling bar-slash-restaurant, well-turned-out locals gather around pop-song-inspired cocktails and Mediterranean small plates. Joanne herself is actually an imagined amalgamation of multiple women who have made this city great. Raise a grappa-laced espresso martini or glass of red wine with a dash of amaretto to them on the leafy rooftop terrace, where DJs set the mood.

ARIZONA

The sun doesn’t take much of a break in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, but it does mellow out throughout autumn and winter. As will you amid the saguaro cacti and prickly pear at deeply mindful resort Miraval. ‘Intention’ and ‘gratitude’ are words you’ll hear a lot — in calm reverent tones — because they set the course of your stay and possibly your life beyond check-out. Here, issues ranging from reconnection with a partner to grief and confidence building are dealt with at a deeper level.

Your days will look diverse, perhaps kicking off with belly-dancing, slack-lining or astrology reading; getting tips from a ‘sensuality educator’ at lunch; and ending with past-life regression and spiritual drumming. All of which will open your mind as wide as the starkly beautiful plateau and send you home with the same suitcase, but less baggage.

SAVANNAH

‘Life is like a box of chocolates’, as Tom Hanks once famously claimed on a bench in Savannah’s Chippewa Square. A little further down the road and 30 years later, Hotel Bardo has cropped up as one of this city’s sweetest picks. The interiors’ pastel palette references Georgia’s abundant florals, revered restaurant Saint Bibiana brings Italian flair to this otherwise all-Southern spot, and out by the parasol-edged pool, uplifting beats are your cheerful summer soundtrack. We may not know what we’re gonna get when it comes to the sweeter things in life, but here things are just peachy.

YORKSHIRE

Wellies by the door, hearty meals with ingredients from the walled garden, a cuppa tea or a pint of stout in hand…this is the Yorkshire countryside of our flatcap-sporting dreams, come to life in the shape of the Penny Bun. This contemporary coaching inn is named after a local mushroom, and is part of the Denton Reserve at the edge of the drywall-clad village of Askwith, near Otley. If the names don’t ring a bell, all the better, for this is the place from which to escape the metropolis, or the Internet, or whatever. Expect freshly-picked flowers and homemade flapjacks in your room, restorative hikes through the Dales, an acute focus on sustainable travel and the warmest of Yorkshire welcomes.

INDONESIA

In autumn Bali deftly walks the temperature tightrope: balmy days and less crowded temple-dotted streets make it a top time to visit. Balance is the ruling principle, too, at the Ridge Bali, an adults-only hillside hideaway in Ubud. The town’s gamelan-scored thrum is close at hand, but these five villas are palm-swathed and peaceful. Each has a terrace and plunge pool enveloped in tropical greenery — with the castaway effect tempered by sensational Indonesian cuisine and a butler on speed dial — and wabi-sabi-inspired interiors work in harmony with views of the jungle-blanketed valley.

BRAZIL

Beachfront Janeiro Hotel is a scorcher of a stay, but slightly less so from September onwards, when the city heads into spring. But you’ll still find bronzed bodies, spirited games of volleyball and colourful parasols dotting the sand on locally loved Leblon and ever-iconic Ipanema, which are best surveyed from this boutique basecamp’s rooftop terrace. From your covetable perch (or the Master Suite’s view-blessed bathtub), you can scope out your Rio de Janeiro bucket-list: picturesque praias, Christ the Redeemer, Two Brothers Mountain… All that’s left is to toast to these storied sights with a cachaça-laced sundowner.

SRI LANKA

Teardrop-shaped Sri Lanka shines ever brighter come winter, as the island’s rainy season comes to a close. Head for the green folds of the Hill Country and the Cultural Triangle — where three new palm-fringed Smith abodes await. Handsome Uga Riva is just 30 minutes by car from Colombo airport, yet somehow retains a secluded stillness, making it the ideal springboard stay. Kickstart your trip (gently, mind) with a free-spirited yoga class, authentic Negombo curry, or a cooling dip in the emerald green pool.

The thatched roofs of low-tempo Tekanda Lodge speckle an otherwise unblemished landscape of rewilded paddy fields. You’re close to Lake Koggala where you can fish for your dinner; just minutes from local markets where you can shop with the lodge’s chef; and a short drive from Ahangama where the surf is almost always up. Finish, as always, with something sweet: Kandy and Aarunya Nature Resort & Spa — a bucolic estate comprising just eight villas, each with their own private pool, outdoor bathtub and spectacular setting. It’s hard to put a finger on what makes this place so special — perhaps it’s the farm-to-table feasts, the extensive gardens and walking trails, or the expansive views of the Unesco-listed Knuckles mountain range.

AUSTRALIA

If summer has all been a bit much, then we know of few places more away-from-it-all than Southern Ocean Lodge, on the tip of Australia’s wildlife-teeming Kangaroo Island. The sun-lit suites frame soft-focus views of the craggy coastline, affording that edge-of-the-world feeling. Days here are strikingly wholesome thanks to the thrice daily nature excursions: you’ve made it to Australia’s Galapagos, so expect sightings of sea lions and kangaroos during the day, and koala’s come nightfall. Impeccably prepared sustainable fare (and sommelier-selected local bottles) help to fuel days spent exploring, served up in the soothing oak-accented restaurant, or alfresco on the deck — again, with those views…

ISLA HOLBOX

Hammocks, holism, hot sauce, hedonism: all can be found on Isla Holbox and at Smith stay Nomade Holbox. Sitting pretty on the western side of the island, it’s a carefully layered calibration of nature: rooms reflect elements of earth, water and sky (we love the sustainable treehouse structures made out of latticed local wood). Down at the restaurant, vaulted arches are woven out of natural materials, and the emerald and cyan-hued ocean is right there. Wellness offerings such as cacao ceremonies and sound baths are plentiful, but life is all about balance, so there’s also mezcal, live music and DJ sets in the mix to offer equally transcendental, if slightly less wholesome, experiences.

BAHAMAS

Picture a serene shoreline of topaz waters and silk-soft sands and much of the Bahamas aligns with this tropical ideal. A Caribbean archipelago of 16 islands that enjoys long, sunny days through our cooler seasons, the Bahamas is a winter tonic for anyone missing summer’s warmth and light.

Fresh jetsam to tempt sun-seekers has arrived on Smith’s shores in the shape of two pristine coastal resorts that embody barefoot luxury. On Andros, Caerula Mar Club is a honeymoon moodboard of veranda-edged villas and contemporary suites. Near its rosy-hued namesake beach on Harbour Island, Pink Sands Resort dots upscale cottages across its sandy expanse. Both stays lend themselves to flying and flopping, although your options for high-octane thrills and marine adventures are enticing, too. And while they both provide the restaurants and pools that all beach worshippers need, each resort is still boutique in size, meaning there’s a more intimate feel to the setup here.

SOUTH AFRICA

Spring warms to summer in the African Continent’s southerly tip, attracting nature lovers to its sun-warmed plains, hopeful of an eventful safari to remember. Make a beeline for one of the more southerly reserves, and suddenly a multi-centre trip taking in Cape Town, the Garden Route and a dose of game spotting becomes much less challenging.

Smith has recently added a brood of upscale lodgings set in a private game reserve in the Eastern Cape. Kwandwe Game Reserve, outside Mashatu, is a fertile landscape of bush-dotted riverine plains. Never mind the Big Five that roam this back-to-nature estate, all binoculars are trained on Kwandwe’s upscale lodgings. There’s a choice of serviced villas — game drives and all food included, naturally: we’re giving Uplands Homestead top billing, nostalgia fiends that we are, for its storied romance; although contemporary, pool-toting stays Fort House and Melton Manor are noteworthy family pleasers, too. If you’re travelling à deux, the reserve’s two lodges, Ecca and Great Fish River, offer standalone suites with private pools, and are largely differentiated by their settings, although if you have little Smiths in tow, it’s Ecca you’ll want.

And see more one-to-watch stays we hailed for where to stay in 2024