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Three Perfect Days: Quito
Day 1:
Exploring gold-dipped churches and trying on misnamed hats
Tucked as they are into a volcanic valley, the cobblestone streets of Quito rise and fall like stock charts. Having caffeinated with Ecuador-grown coffee at Café Galletti—an industrial-chic hipster haunt inside a former Art Nouveau theater—I tramp up a steep avenue to the Basílica del Voto Nacional for one of the city's best views. If you squint, you might think you're looking at a buttressed behemoth from France or Germany. But look closer at those gargoyles flanking the facade. They're marine iguanas, crocodiles, howler monkeys, armadillos, pumas, tortoises…
Construction began in 1892, but the church is still technically unfinished; I can't help but feel this menagerie trapped in stone is God's way of saying, “Why go on an expensive cruise to the Galápagos when you can donate to the building fund instead?" But be warned: According to local legend, the world will end when the church is finally completed.
From inside the church tower I can see the whole historic center, clear to El Panecillo (“bread roll") hill and its 135-foot-tall Virgin of Quito, an aluminum-winged Madonna meant to represent the biblical Woman of the Apocalypse. Despite these doom-and-gloom bookends, the city between is full of life, perhaps nowhere more than at the Mercado Central. A sleek 1950s Art Deco building with abundant sunlight, the market sticks out amid its Baroque-heavy surroundings.
Inside, as elderly quiteña women dance to a folk band, I meet Miguel Xavier Monar, an Ecuadorian chef who has been spreading the gospel of his native cuisine at restaurants in Madrid and Shanghai. It's early, but we grab plastic cups of fortifying canelazo, a hot and dangerously delicious concoction of aguardiente (sugar cane liquor), cinnamon, and naranjilla (a tart fruit related to the tomato). “This drink," says Monar, “is the party of Quito."
"Tucked as they are into a volcanic valley, the cobblestone streets of Quito rise and fall like stock charts."
While alta cocina is on the rise in cities like Lima and Bogotá, Monar says people in Quito are resistant to changing tastes. “We've been eating the same foods for maybe 500 years," he quips. “The problem of Ecuadorian gastronomy is that we are a very, very, very traditional country. Ecuadorians don't like new tastes. If a recipe has oregano and I put in parsley, people say, 'This is not Ecuadorian food.'"
We wander, chatting with vendors and scooping up dishes that may have been eaten in these parts back when Francisco Pizarro and his conquistador pals lived down the block: llapingachos, cheese-stuffed potato cakes; offal-filled menudo soup; and fritada, fried pork belly with mote (hominy). Monar tells me about la yapa, an Andean practice that comes from the Quechua word for “a little extra." So, for instance, when we order our fritada, it comes with la yapa: a plastic baggie full of extra pork.
At a rickety table, we top our fritada with little spoonfuls from a bowl of ají, a hot sauce as ubiquitous as salt and pepper. “If you don't have ají on the table, it's a disaster," says Monar. “You'll have a civil war." We wash everything down with a fresh-pressed juice that contains a kitchen sink assortment of alfalfa, naranjilla, malt beer, quail eggs, raspberries, and coconut—though this juice-mad city's most fashionable option, according to Monar, is energizing, antioxidant-rich guanabana. (The juice, of course, comes with a Dixie cup–size yapa.)
We stroll past Lincoln Log piles of cow femurs and creamy mounds of mapahuira, pork lard studded with crisp bits from the bottom of the roasting pan. Next up are heaps of what Monar calls “ancestral magic herbs," many grown in the Amazon, that the vendor can prescribe based on your needs. “If you need a husband, if you hate your boyfriend, if you're opening a new business, if you have a bad stomach, if you have a pain in your head," he rattles off. “Maybe it's not real, but all of the Ecuadorians believe it."
I say goodbye to Monar and duck into the green-domed La Compañía de Jesús church, a Baroque-Moorish masterpiece slathered with more than 100 pounds of gold leaf. For Baroque-inspired ornamentation on a smaller scale, I head to the handicrafts workshops on curving Calle La Ronda. In one crowded nook, José Luis Jiménez is carving bargueños, which look like chests of drawers reimagined by M.C. Escher. Dating back to the colonial era, these boxes contain hidden doors inside hidden doors inside hidden doors; an unassuming, shoebox-size piece of furniture can hide dozens of compartments. Next, I grab a cone of canelazo ice cream—I want to sneak this drink into every meal now—at the sunny Dulce Placer Heladería, which serves locally inspired flavors, such as morocho (drinkable corn pudding) and Zhumir Pink (essentially a watermelon wine cooler that's popular among Ecuadorian teens).
"I duck into La Compañía de Jesús church, which is slathered with more than 100 pounds of gold leaf."
I continue to Humacatama Sombrería, where artisan Luis López shows me how to craft Ecuador's most famous—and misunderstood—export: the misnamed Panama (or toquilla) hat. Teddy Roosevelt was photographed wearing one of these wide-brimmed straw hats while visiting the canal construction site, which boosted their popularity, but make no mistake: These hats are an Ecuadorian creation, with a spot on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List to show for it.
López strips the fibers of a jipijapa palm frond with his fingernails. The thinner the strands and tighter the weave, the finer the hat. “You don't get any light through the hat," he says in Spanish, holding one of his creations up to the window. “It takes a year to make the finest hats. But we need to start calling them Ecuador hats!" The highest-quality ones, he tells me, can go for $25,000. It should be noted that these popular souvenirs aren't often seen around town. The preferred head covering, especially among the indigenous women selling fruit and textiles on street corners, are felt fedoras, often decorated with a jaunty plume.
Quito's historic center seems delightfully trapped in time, but there's a vibrant modern city beyond the cobblestones. I hop a cab to Quitu Identidad Culinaria, where chef Juan Sebastián Pérez's tasting menu takes me to the far reaches of this biodiverse country: from the Amazon, paiche, a man-size, air-breathing fish, served with hearts of palm and passion-fruit juice; from the coast, cassava with shrimp and sweet crab; from the Andes—or the petting zoo?—a 72-hour sous-vide llama, an indigenous meat source that's not especially common here in the capital. (For the record, it's very lean and lamb-like.) My three dessert courses include, among other flavors, 72-hour cold brew coffee, a 70 percent chocolate terrine, and both a meringue and a carbonated drink made from guayusa, the highly caffeinated leaf of an Amazonian holly tree…
Which means that, despite the long day, I have plenty of energy for a nightcap on the roof of the Hotel Carlota, a sustainably designed property in a 1905 mansion that was the former HQ of Ecuador's conservative party. After a couple of cocktails, however, I don't even need to count llamas before nodding off.
Day 2:
Straddling the Earth, stalking hummingbirds, and sipping cervezas
Ecuador's star attraction is right there in the name. This is the middle of the world, and Quito practically shouts its location from the rooftops. My goal for the morning is the nation's most obligatory tourist stop: the photo op at the Equator, about 15 miles north of the Old Town, where every grinning backpacker must, by law, bestride the narrow yellow line like a selfie-ing Colossus. I've hired a driver for the day, Jairo Lobo, who whisks us out of town, past miles of pastel houses tumbling Tetris-like down hillsides, to the roadside restaurant Rincón Quevedeño #2, where we have tigrillo, a coastal breakfast of mashed green plantains with stewed pork, queso blanco, and a fried egg, along with frothy blackberry juice.
Fully carbo-loaded, I pay the $2 entry fee to the Mitad del Mundo monument, a 98-foot-tall obelisk topped with a globe that looks a bit like the Daily Planet building. The monument was built in 1982 to commemorate an 18th-century French mission to find the true Equator, but it hides a dirty little secret: The honest-to-goodness 0 degrees latitude is 787.4 feet away.
Down the road sits the scrappy Intiñan Solar Museum. I join a tour that's already in progress, as the guide shows off a case holding a 180-year-old shrunken witch doctor's head that looks like a ham hock in a wig. “They stopped the practice around the 1980s and '90s, because it was turning into a mafia," he says. “They used to sell the heads for $80,000. If it was a shaman, you could pay even more." As we shuffle on to the next exhibit, a Chinese priest in a robe and white collar next to me whispers, with concern in his voice, “But why has it gotten so small?"
The museum's centerpiece is, naturally, the centerpiece of the world. Here, on the magnetic Equator, which was calculated by army GPS 17 years ago, reality operates slightly differently. To prove it, the museum has set up a series of experiments that feel like a school science fair but still earn their oohs and aahs. Water pours straight down a drain without spinning! I can't heel-toe walk along the line with my eyes closed without tipping over! I can balance a raw egg on the head of a nail! Whether these demonstrations are real or show—the mythbusting Snopes.com has some strong opinions on the matter—I leave with a smile and a handwritten egg-balancing certificate.
Lunch is 15 minutes away, at Hotel El Cráter, a pumice stone building perched on the lip of the Pululahua volcanic crater, one of only two populated calderas on the planet. I grab a seat by the window and watch fluffy clouds barrel like freight trains through the valley below. We're (very) close to the Equator, but that doesn't mean it feels like the tropics. High up here in the Andes, the food skews hearty. I order locro de papa, an achiote-dyed potato soup served with shredded cheese, hunks of buttery avocado, and maíz tostada—corn kernels that crunch like the ones you find at the bottom of a bag of microwavable popcorn.
"Here, on the magnetic Equator, reality operates slightly differently. I leave with a handwritten egg-balancing certificate."
Past Hotel El Cráter, the road shifts; mist envelops the shoulders as we descend into the Mindo Cloudforest, a high-altitude jungle that attracts whitewater rafters and zipliners. We pull into the Alambi Reserve, a sanctuary for more than a dozen hummingbird species. I grab a seat on the porch and look out on a yard lined with feeders and flowers that—there's only one word for it—swarms with birds. They come in droves, buzzing, dive-bombing, darting, slurping sugar water. I practice my wildcat-stalking skills as I slink like a moving statue to within inches of the feeders to snap photos. Nectar-drunk, the birds barely react.
Down a hill, I meet Brian Krohnke, an American expat who runs Cloud Coffees. Here, on five acres of the reserve, he's growing seedlings that will help to reforest this area. “We're one of the highest growers in the world," he says, as he sorts beans drying in the sun. “These come from 1,800 meters." I buy a bag of his shade-grown coffee from a makeshift wooden structure. Krohnke tells me to expect citrus, lilac, and vanilla notes, but the biggest selling point for me is the label: a dreamy-eyed sloth holding a mug of joe.
I get back into town in time for dinner at Urko Cocina Local, in the buzzing La Floresta district. I order a frozen canelazo (of course) and then dig into a tasting menu that sees chef Daniel Maldonado remixing Andean staples. An octopus ceviche dotted with roasted peanuts is followed by lamb croquettes in a naranjilla beer sauce and spoon-tender suckling pig with cheese foam. I finish my meal with an ode to the nation's beloved corn, a deconstructed dessert of corn mousse, corn with cheese, and purple corn biscuits.
Back in the historic center, I seek out a different staple grain at Santa Rosa Cerveza Artesanal, one of a growing roster of craft breweries in the city. I order a peach sour beer and grab a seat in the Scandi-chic taproom, by a window that looks out on the illuminated Baroque church of St. Augustine. I'm confident that the patron saint of brewers would have enjoyed this next chapter in Quito's development.
Day 3:
Scaling a volcano and playing cowboy for a day
“You feel OK?" I'm in the TelefériQo, a glass gondola that's rapidly ascending the side of the Pichincha volcano. It's only natural that my tour guide for the day, Gaby Cifuentes, is checking on me. Within 18 minutes we'll be gliding up, over eucalyptus forests and cattle pastures, to a preposterous 12,943 feet. This is prime altitude sickness territory, but I assure her that, save for a few ear pops and some slightly shallow breathing, I will survive.
We hop out at the summit, where we can see our breath in the cold morning air. From here, we hike, slowly, up a scruffy hillside to 13,287 feet, where we have a clear view of the city's contained sprawl, which snakes for 25 miles through the volcanic valley below. We keep our pace glacial to fight, you know, passing out, as more adventurous types surround us on all sides: above, hikers follow a trail that tops out at 15,406 feet, while below us hang gliders catch the wind.
“We feel OK now, but we have to remember to drink water," says Cifuentes. At the summit café, next to a seemingly empty oxygen bar where you can inhale flavored air, we rehydrate with coca tea and munch on melcochas, a sugarcane candy that's said to help with altitude sickness.
"We drive out of town, past miles of pastel houses tumbling Tetris-like down hillsides."
Now that we've gotten our sea legs—sky legs?—Cifuentes wants to show me an even more impressive landscape. We head south on the Pan-American Highway, which stretches nearly uninterrupted for 19,000 miles from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. This part, which is perfumed by Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus trees and skirts seven mountains, is called the Avenue of the Volcanoes. As we continue along, Cifuentes and my trusty driver, Lobo, tell me about their side gigs (her family has been making guitar strings since 1906; he works for a line of infused spirits named, appropriately, Los Volcanes). We pass fields of black-and-white Holsteins. “The beef from here is tough," says Cifuentes. “It's the Andes, so our cows have to be athletic."
We turn off the highway and onto an exceedingly bumpy road—staying upright in the back seat is an intense core workout—which opens up into an alpine tundra grassland, or páramo, where we find the thatch-roofed Hacienda el Porvenir, on the sprawling ranch and eco-resort operated by the tour company Tierra del Volcán. Inside, we warm up with empanadas and mugs of—what else?—canelazos in front of the fireplace. I'm here to hit the trails on horseback. But before I do, I refuel in the hacienda dining room with owner Jorge Pérez.
“This hacienda was bought by my great-great-grandmother," says Pérez. “Porvenir translates to 'what's to come.'" This plot was first settled in the 17th century by Jesuits who raised sheep and llamas. When indigenous people started stealing their livestock, they brought in sleek black fighting bulls from Spain to ward off intruders. “They taught their most trusted employees to ride horses to handle the bulls," says Pérez. Thus, the high-Andean cowboy, or chagra, was born. “They became the first indigenous peoples to be allowed to ride horses in all of the colonies. Being a chagra became a status symbol."
After a lunch of Andean ceviche (marinated lupini beans and hearts of palm) and beef tenderloin with Andean huckleberry sauce and ishpingo (a dried flower that tastes like cinnamon), I'm ready to hit the trails. Laura, a volunteer who moved here from Seattle to escape American politics, looks me over as I head toward the paddock. “We have to get you to look like a chagra," she says. I step into a pair of chaps and slip on a wool poncho that's as heavy as one of those lead vests at the dentist. In place of a cowboy hat, I'm fitted (thankfully) with a helmet.
“What's his name?" I ask, stepping up to a criollo horse, a breed known for being compact but strong.
“Piquero," says my guide.
“What's that mean?"
“Booby."
“Booby?"
“Not that kind of booby." (Oh right, I think: the blue-footed kind.)
We trot out into the resort's nearly 2,500 acres of grassland in the shadow of Cotopaxi, a snowcapped active volcano.
As we pass through fields of llamas and fighting bulls, I look down to make sure my striped poncho doesn't have any bright red to antagonize them. Safe. My eyes are peeled for ultra-rare condors, but I keep getting tricked by carunculated caracaras, black birds of prey that, while beautiful, don't rank as high on my birdwatching bucket list. Piquero, unimpressed and docile, keeps stopping to munch the grass, the same scruffy brush that makes up the hacienda roof.
Horseback riding sounds like a mosey in the park, but it's surprisingly tiring. (My poor thighs!) Back in Quito by sundown, I've more than earned my dinner at the impossibly lavish La Belle Epoque. This French-Ecuadorian restaurant, dripping with red velvet curtains and towering candelabras, sits on the second floor of the Hotel Plaza Grande, which occupies Pizarro's old digs on the Plaza de la Independencia. While the setting is Continental, the menu offers perfect takes on Andean classics. I order a sangria-like rosero, made with orange-blossom water, pineapple, lemongrass, strawberries, and hominy that's been sliced with a razor blade, Goodfellas-style. After a creamy locro de papa and roast pork with peanut salsa, the lights suddenly go out, and music starts blasting through the dining room.
From the kitchen emerges a cucurucho, a purple-robed figure in the cone-shaped hood that gives him his name (an outfit that would certainly not fly in America) . These penitent sinners usually walk through Quito's Old Town during Holy Week, carrying cripplingly heavy crosses, some whipping their own backs, some bleeding from the barbed wire they've wrapped around their bare chests. This cucurucho, however, is carrying a copper pan, foggy with dry ice, that holds three little scoops of ice cream: blackberry, guanabana, and fig and cheese. Should we repent for the sin of gluttony?
It feels like an oddly blasphemous interlude for a place with this much reverence for history and tradition and faith. But in a city with nearly a half millennium of history under its belt, it's not uncommon to see the old butt up against the new, the sacred against the profane, the Baroque against the bargain basement. I pull out my phone to try to capture the scene, but the lighting is all wrong and the music doesn't translate. This, I realize, is the kind of off-kilter experience you just have to sit back and enjoy, in a place where even the dessert course comes with a little something extra—la yapa.
Escape to Cape Town: Waves, wines and lions at the "bottom of the world"
Cape Town becomes more accessible beginning in December 2019, when United is due to become the first U.S. airline to offer nonstop flights to Cape Town, subject to government approval. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flights will depart New York/Newark on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and return from Cape Town on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. They will reduce travel time by at least four hours and allow one-stop service to Cape Town from more than 80 U.S. cities.
Settling in
Every accommodation type can be found, from quiet B&Bs; to chic urban hotels. Central Cape Town and waterfront hotels are ideal if you want the convenience of being close to restaurants and shopping. Simon's Town district guesthouses bring you within waddling distance of penguins and False Bay beaches. Table Mountain views are relished at Gardens district hotels. Then there are coastal hideaways like Monkey Valley Resort, wedged between a milkwood forest and a beach, and The Twelve Apostles, a seaside hotel named for the mountains that tower above it.
Under the Table
Table Mountain National Park is as diverse as the flora and fauna that populate its 85 square miles. The piece of the park within city limits is a stunning swath of evergreens that soar up to the flat-topped, 3,500-foot namesake peak. The day hike or cable car ride to the summit is an exhilarating use of a few hours to shake off your jet lag. The two other main sections of the national park are Tokai Park, filled with birds and baboons, and Cape Peninsula, which extends along the Atlantic Ocean (including the Boulders Beach Penguin Colony) all the way to the Cape of Good Hope at the "bottom of the world."
On the waterfront
It's hard to beat simple pleasures like hiking up Table Mountain or Lion's Head, lazing on Cape Town's beaches or visiting the world-class Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. But, visitors should also spend time on Cape Town's Table Bay waterfront, home to a dizzying array of restaurants, shops, museums, galleries and attractions. Zeitz MOCAA houses the world's largest collection of contemporary African art in a 10-story former grain silo that was repurposed in 2017. Also on the waterfront are the Two Oceans Aquarium and ferries that whisk you to Robben Island, where the museum tells the inspiring story of Nelson Mandela's journey from prisoner to president.
Wining and dining
The Cape Winelands, among the world's leading wine regions, is within 40 miles of Cape Town, centered around the 17th-century towns of Stellenbosch and Paarl. Excellent restaurants are found at many Winelands wineries (as well as in Cape Town), but perhaps the best spot to wine and dine is even closer to the city — Groot Constantia, where wines have been produced since 1685. Visitors can enjoy tastings or food pairings of the award-winning wines; tour the Manor House, wine museum and history museum; and dine at one of two restaurants.
Lions, leopards and rhinos
Several game reserves within a three-hour drive of Cape Town allow visitors to see African wildlife in their native habitat. The 25,000-acre Inverdoorn and Aquila reserves each offer half-day safaris on which you may spot all of the "big five" — lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalo — as well as cheetahs, giraffes and wildebeests, from open-air vehicles. The Sanbona Reserve is even larger (but a bit farther out), while the Grootbros Reserve specializes in boating safaris that deliver sightings of southern right whales, great white sharks, bottlenose dolphins, African penguins and Cape fur seals.
When to go and how to get around
The first United nonstop flights and South Africa's summer both begin in December. Rain is rare from December to March, when high temperatures are typically in the high seventies, so Cape Town is a perfect warm-weather escape. Once you arrive, Uber, taxis, rental cars (driven on the left side), sightseeing buses and trains and are all convenient transportation options. And oh yeah, South Africans speak English.
If you go
You can purchase tickets now at united.com or on the United app for three weekly nonstop flights from New York/Newark to Cape Town beginning December 15, subject to government approval. Redeem MileagePlus® Rewards points to cover your hotel and car.
Chicago's 10 best outdoor bars and restaurants
Cabra
Located on the roof of the Hoxton hotel, Cabra is one of Chicago's newest rooftop bars and restaurants that is sure to be a busy summer hangout spot. This Peruvian restaurant is colorful and vibrant with a menu filled with reinvented and traditional Peruvian dishes. The open designed dining room is filled with plush seating, bright colors and plants hanging over the bar, giving the restaurant a lively yet relaxing atmosphere.
Raised
Offering an elevated view of the Chicago River, this stylish rooftop bar more than lives up to its name. Located on the third floor of the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel, Raised combines a modern industrial aesthetic with all the comforts of a sophisticated hotel bar. The beverage menu includes a wide variety of local microbrews, plus seasonal cocktails served by the glass or decanter for larger groups.
Cerise Rooftop
Fun is on tap at Cerise, the playful rooftop bar on the 26th floor of Chicago's Virgin Hotel. Inspired by Japan's popular izakaya gastropubs, this hip lounge features a colorful cocktail menu filled with sparkling spritzers and fruity fizzes. Famed designer Paola Navone helped craft the whimsical decor, making Cerise one of the most Instagrammable bars in the city.
The J. Parker
It's difficult to decide what's most impressive about The J. Parker. From the signature mixed drinks inspired by the flavors of Mexico, Cuba and Spain, to the sharing menu created by award-winning chef Paul Vivant, every aspect of this rooftop bar is worth experiencing. Above all, the bird's eye view of Lake Michigan and Lincoln Park make it truly spectacular.
Cindy's
Located on the 13th floor of the historic Chicago Athletic Association building, Cindy's is one of the most popular spots in the city, and for very good reason. Sporting incredible views of Lake Michigan and Millennium Park, this gorgeous rooftop bar and restaurant welcomes patrons with a constantly evolving food and drink menu, including summery treats like boozy popsicles and amaretto ice cream pops.
Parlor
Can't decide whether to try a rooftop beer garden or a street-level patio? Parlor has you covered either way. With two locations in Chicago, this comfortable pizza bar offers multiple outdoor dining options. On the menu, Parlor has some of the most creative pizzas you'll ever try, like Eggs Benedict (Canadian ham, three eggs, and lemon Hollandaise sauce) and Pork-Q Pie (cherry peppers, BBQ pork, pineapple and smoked mozzarella).
El Cid
Combining traditional and modern Mexican food with killer margaritas that you can order by the pitcher, El Cid has been a mainstay of Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood for more than 15 years. Their outdoor front patio is great for people-watching, while their discrete back patio provides an intimate atmosphere that's perfect for a romantic dinner.
Gather
Open on three sides at the back of the restaurant, the private terrace at Gather is a relaxing alternative to the elegant inner dining room. Seating on the terrace is first come, first served, so you might run into an occasional wait. But rest assured, it's well worth it. To help distinguish the space, Executive Chef Ken Carter has crafted a separate menu designed to be shared outdoors.
Chop Shop
Chicago carnivores, rejoice! You're in for a treat at this restaurant, bar and butcher shop in the city's Wicker Park neighborhood. The menu is loaded with steaks, chops, burgers and charcuterie, all of which are available to order on the upstairs patio. For a full night's entertainment, check out a live concert in Chop Shop's popular event space after your meal.
The Dawson
With its lush outdoor patio and upscale menu, The Dawson is a place you'll want to return to repeatedly. Tucked away in the River West neighborhood, it's an ideal spot for large groups of friends looking to unwind after a day of exploring the city. The patio includes a full outdoor bar and a fireplace for cooler nights.
If you go
Get the most from your next trip to Chicago by booking your tickets at united.com or by using the convenient United app.
An insiders’ tour of Fishtown, Philadelphia
Cheu Fishtown chef and co-owner Ben Puchowitz recommends…
“Suraya has great healthy lunch options that don't drag you down the rest of the day. It's a beautiful space, and the food is ambitious."
Suraya executive chef and co-owner Nick Kennedy recommends…
“Riverwards Produce is a go-to when my family is planning dinner. I love their produce and cheese—they have what I find myself needing."
Riverwards Produce owner Vincent Finazzo recommends…
“I send people to Vestige to experience a boutique that feels like it's from the desert in California. With jewelry, candles, and a curated body-care section, Vestige transports you to a better place."
Vestige owner Ashley Gleason recommends…
“I like La Colombe [the coffee brand's flagship café] for people-watching and spending a few hours staring into my laptop. They also have the best bread in the city."
La Colombe president and cofounder JP Iberti recommends…
“Wm. Mulherin's Sons is a great place to grab a drink, mostly because a drink always turns into dinner, and Mulherin's offers one of the best meals in Philly. Their hotel is always booked, much like the restaurant."
Wm. Mulherin's Sons co-owner Randall Cook recommends…
“Cheu is great when I'm in the mood for a midday treat. A counter seat at the bar lets you see all the action, the ramen is killer, and the draft beer is ice cold."
The 2019 Hemispheres hotel top 20
Hotel Amparo San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
For Social Media Influencers
Just in time for its designation as the 2019 American Capital of Culture, San Miguel de Allende—which is practically an artists' colony unto itself—welcomed this five-room hideaway in the 300-year-old former mayor's residence. Thanks to co-owner Mariana Barran Goodall, who grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, and runs Houston-based Hibiscus Linens, every tiny detail here is ready for its close-up. It won't take long for you to fill up your Instagram grid with shots of gold room keys, hand-stitched napkins, custom bathroom tiles made by local artisans, and even the coasters.
WE LOVE the flower-filled courtyard, a great place to take a selfie or sit with an espresso from the on-site café, which sources Mexican beans from Buna roasters. From $250, hotelamparo.com
Eastwind Hotel & Bar Windham, New York
For Hip Hikers
For many vacationers, the Catskills conjure images of 1950s summer camp resorts and Dirty Dancing. The Eastwind provides a sleek, Scandinavian-style counterpoint to those Borscht Belt spots of old. Opened last June on the site of a 1920s bunkhouse about 150 miles north of New York City, the 19-room retreat is a perfect jumping-off point for hiking, fly-fishing, and snowshoeing excursions. If you're feeling creative, write a few jokes—these are the stomping grounds of Joan Rivers and Henny Youngman, after all—on a vintage typewriter in one of the writer's studio suites. Or take a load off under a Faribault Woolen Mills plaid throw in one of the spartan-chic A-frame Lushna cabins.
WE LOVE the barrel sauna, which is even more amazing when you have to run through the snow to get there. From $219, eastwindny.com
Six Senses Maxwell Singapore
For Environmentalists
The second of two Six Senses urban resorts to open in the Lion City last year doesn't immediately scream “eco-friendly." The posh 138-room property across from the Maxwell Food Centre occupies a 1929 Art Deco heritage building and exudes Old World opulence with fixtures such as brocade headboards, silk lampshades, and damask velvet chairs. However, befitting its home in Asia's greenest city, the hotel is also home to a series of sustainable touches: reusable glass water bottles, biodegradable cornstarch toothbrushes, locally sourced minibar items, and a restaurant that serves responsibly caught fish.
WE LOVE the traditional ice cream tricycle, from which guests can order free organic ice cream sandwiches (in flavors like durian, red bean, and sweet corn) on soft, colorful bread, kept cold by a solar-powered refrigerator. From $240, sixsenses.com
The Middle House Shanghai
For Fashionistas
Set just off Shanghai's main shopping street, West Nanjing Road, the newest member of Swire Hotels' House Collective is a polished den of understated glamour, courtesy of Milan-based interior designer Piero Lissoni. The entryway is as heart-stoppingly dramatic as any couture runway show: A 3,760-piece Venetian glass chandelier hangs surrounded by emerald-green, bamboo-patterned tiles. The 111-room hotel, which opened last spring, boasts a nearly 700-work art collection—over half of which is Chinese—loosely inspired by the curatorial theme “I Dream of China."
WE LOVE Caroline Cheng's lobby installation, Prosperity, a black robe covered with 12,000 tiny butterfly figurines crafted in China's porcelain-making capital, Jingdezhen. From $268, themiddlehousehotel.com
Palihotel Seattle Seattle
For Stylish Seafarers
Guests arriving at the check-in desk at the first Palisociety hotel outside of Los Angeles are greeted by a portrait of a raincoat-clad, pipe-smoking sailor—a perfect introduction to the subtly nautical vibe that permeates Seattle's newest hotel, which opened in November one block from the bustling Pike Place Market. The prime location means the seafood (sweet-and-spicy salmon jerky, littleneck clams, local oysters) at the on-site restaurant, The Hart and the Hunter, is always as fresh and invigorating as the Puget Sound views from the landmark 1895 building's upper floors.
WE LOVE The Hart and the Hunter's briny Elliott Bay Gibson, which includes oyster-shell-infused gin, Maldon sea salt, bay leaf olive oil, and a pickled onion. From $175, palisociety.com
Perry Lane Hotel Savannah, Georgia
For Aspiring Southern Belles
Few American cities are better preserved than Savannah, with its centuries-old squares and statues and hanging Spanish moss. Last June, the city's Historic District got a rare new addition, the 167-room Perry Lane Hotel. The Luxury Collection property pays such deep homage to the Hostess City of the South that— aside from a loaner jazz guitar from local luthier Benedetto and an art collection that includes works by 81 artists with ties to the Savannah College of Art and Design—it invented a fictional grande dame named Adelaide Harcourt to help define its aesthetic. (Look for her portrait above the lobby fireplace.)
WE LOVE the polka-dotted Gargoyle Artillery statues at the rooftop bar, Peregrin; you'll keep turning away from the views of the Historic District to consider their Gothic-psychedelic visages. From $187, perrylanehotel.com
Hôtel de Berri Paris
For Art Connoisseurs
The City of Light isn't short on artful luxury accommodations, but how many Parisian palaces look like they were born in a Rodin fever dream? The lobby at this Luxury Collection property, which opened last May just steps from the Champs-Élysées, is scattered with sculpted figures and busts, many of them reproductions from the Louvre's molding workshop. Designer Philippe Renaud gave each of the 40 rooms and 35 suites a unique color scheme and art theme; one might have red-and-yellow-striped walls hung with simple figurative line drawings, while another's matte olive-green walls boast Cubist paintings. No matter the decor, reserve a room with a view of the lush garden.
WE LOVE the Bemelmans Bar–meets–Ralph Steadman mural of Parisian street scenes that wraps around the Michelin-recommended Italian restaurant Le Schiap (named for couturier Elsa Schiaparelli, who once lived at this address). From $445, marriott.com
The Ramble Hotel Denver
For Barflies
Most travelers are happy if their hotel has one great bar; at this new 50-room boutique property, there are four, all of them run by the team behind New York's award-winning cocktail den Death & Co. By night, the grand lobby's sunny café transforms into a swanky lounge with velvet curtains and spangly chandeliers. Hidden upstairs is Suite 6A, an intimate 21-seat bar. A ballroom/venue/theater, Vauxhall, is aimed directly at the surrounding River North Art District's culturati. Finally, outside, under the glow of artist Scott Young's neon Wish You Were Her(e) sign, The Garden serves up patio classics such as Aperol spritzes and mojitos.
WE LOVE that the bartenders are so willing to chat about their favorite unsung ingredients, like a French fortified wine called Pineau des Charentes that's featured in the Black Poodle alongside Irish whiskey, amaro, aloe, and sparkling mineral water. From $209, theramblehotel.com
Skylark Negril Beach Resort Negril, Jamaica
For Boho Beach Bums
In Jamaican slang, to skylark is to goof off, mess around, or make mischief. Ironically, that's an activity that the designers at the impeccable Skylark Negril Beach Resort seem not to have pursued. The sister property to the nearby Rockhouse Hotel opened in June on Seven Mile Beach and pairs modernist touches—geometric breeze-block, whitewashed concrete—with pops of color from retro travel posters and throw pillows emblazoned with a print of the island's favorite fruit, bright-red ackee.
WE LOVE the outpost of NYC restaurant Miss Lily's, which serves up Caribbean rums and jerk favorites smoked over pimento wood to a soundtrack of reggae and dancehall hits. From $95, skylarknegril.com
The Hoxton, Williamsburg Brooklyn
For Digital Nomads
The London-based Hoxton chain brought its trademark combination of high design and low rates to the States last fall, with the debut of this 175-room outpost—a perfect spot for freelancers and creative types who aren't chained to a cubicle (i.e., Brooklynites). You and your laptop will feel at home in your cheerily appointed room, which features a smart wall-mounted desk and a retro Roberts Radio. If you're more productive surrounded by others, head down to the beehive-busy sunken lobby, which is done up in eclectic, sherbet-hued furniture.
WE LOVE procrastinating by perusing the Best of Brooklyn line of locally made products—such as Pintrill pizza slice pins, Brins strawberry vanilla jam, and Sesame Letterpress notecards—for sale in the lobby. From $159, thehoxton.com
Woodlark Hotel Portland, Oregon
For Plant Lovers
It's fitting that the latest hip lodging in a town known as the Rose City would be aimed at green thumbs. Opened in December in side-by-side landmark buildings downtown, the 150-room Woodlark Hotel is decorated with moody black-and-white botanical photos by Imogen Cunningham, while the conservatory-like foyer teems with a greenhouse's worth of potted trees. In this pattern-obsessed city—remember the famous PDX airport carpet?—the guest rooms' custom wallpaper, featuring the sort of native Pacific Northwest flora you'd find in nearby Forest Park, is sure to become iconic.
WE LOVE the artfully composed bouquets for sale at the lobby outpost of Colibri, an elegant flower shop co-owned by James Beard Award–winning chef Naomi Pomeroy. From $125, woodlarkhotel.com
Janeiro Rio de Janeiro
For Sun Seekers
This 53-room hotel in beachside Leblon was opened last fall by fashion designer and Osklen founder Oskar Metsavaht, but its stark, sun-bleached, minimalist aesthetic owes a great deal to another Brazilian Oscar: architect Oscar Niemeyer, the Rio-born genius best known for New York City's UN headquarters and Brasília's space-age government buildings. In a city beloved for the ostentatious vibrancy of Carnaval, the Janeiro's sandy earth tones, blond freijo wood, travertine limestone, and sculptural rattan pieces offer an oasis of calm.
WE LOVE the 18th-floor infinity pool, which overlooks the white cliffs of the Cagarras Islands and the Morro Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers Hill). From $288, janeirohotel.rio
United Places Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Australia
For Homebodies
Many new hotels tout their live-like-a-local bona fides, but few feel as much like a posh apartment block as this 12-suite bolthole, which opened last June in Melbourne's gallery-filled South Yarra neighborhood. If location is everything, you can't do much better than a property overlooking the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, while suites include all the trappings of a dream flat: rain showers with Le Labo products, oak parquet floors, sleek furnishings from Patricia Urquiola and Grant Featherston, and a bar cart stocked with Tasmania's award-winning Sullivans Cove whiskey. Best of all, each suite comes with personalized concierge service.
WE LOVE the in-room breakfasts from the team downstairs at Matilda 159, an open-fire restaurant serving such creative dishes as sea bream tartare and spanner crab with prawn butter. From $461, unitedplaces.com.au
Shinola Hotel Detroit
For American Artisans
A lot is riding on the shoulders of Shinola, the Detroit-based watchmaker that has become synonymous with the Rust Belt's renaissance. In January, the company got into the hotel game with a 129-room space that sprawls across three new buildings and two downtown landmarks—the former Singer Sewing Machine shop and the T.B. Rayl Co. hardware store. Throughout the property, you'll find products made exclusively for the hotel, such as scented candles with notes of cherry blossom, leather, and smoke, and Shinola-branded cola in the Michigan-centric minibar.
WE LOVE the in-room Runwell desk clocks, scaled-up versions of the first watch the company ever produced. From $255, shinolahotel.com
Belmond Cadogan Hotel London
For Bookworms
You'll be inspired to put pen to paper at this reimagined Chelsea property, which opened in February after a flawless $48 million renovation of the 1887 Cadogan Hotel. Oscar Wilde's former pied-à-terre is now part of the Royal Suite, in-room libraries are curated by family-owned John Sandoe Books, and an installation of 600 bronze-cast hardbacks encases the lobby elevator bank. Guests of the 54 rooms and suites are granted a key to Cadogan Place Gardens across the street, where they can sit under a mulberry tree with a notebook and sketch their own picture of Dorian Gray. Need inspiration? One taste of the decadent chicken butter at chef Adam Handling's eponymous restaurant will do the trick.
WE LOVE that reading in the bath is encouraged: The deep Victoria + Albert soaking tubs feature a bamboo bathtub tray complete with a book stand—and a holder for your Champagne flute. From $620, belmond.com
Eaton DC Washington, D.C.
For Social Activists
K Street may be synonymous with D.C. lobbyists, but, as of last September, it's also home to a new hub for budding activists. Katherine Lo—the daughter of the Langham hotel group's chairman—designed her 209-room Eaton DC to inspire the next RBG or AOC at every turn. Tune in to the house radio station, grab a book from the Radical Library (which features works by Roxane Gay and Langston Hughes), or brainstorm with fellow progressives over turmeric lattes at the Kintsugi café. You can even call down to the front desk for a nightstand copy of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
WE LOVE Erik Thor Sandberg's Wonderland-themed lobby mural, Allegory, which replaces Alice with civil rights icon Ruby Bridges, the first black child to desegregate an all-white elementary school. From $199, eatonworkshop.com
Noah Surf House Santa Cruz, Portugal
For Surfers
You'll want to learn the Portuguese word for “to chill" (relaxar) before you set foot in this surf-bum paradise, which opened on the Silver Coast, 50 minutes from Lisbon, last July. Its 21 rooms are divided between a central surfhouse that features hostel-style bunk accommodations and 13 boxy bungalows that dot the hilly dunes. There's an inescapably '70s SoCal vibe here, from the beanbag chairs and rope swings to a skate park and an organic garden filled with a small brood of hens.
WE LOVE the upcycled decor, which incorporates traffic signs, old boats, octopus traps, and fishing nets. From $182, noahsurfhouseportugal.com
KAI Sengokuhara Kanagawa, Japan
For Zen Seekers
It's impossible not to relax at Japan's newest onsen (hot spring) resort, which opened last July in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, two hours by train from Tokyo. The art-themed ryokan invites you to slip into a yukata (cotton robe) and then do absolutely nothing—except soak in the milky, mineral-rich water piped from the Owakudani volcanic valley into a communal bathhouse and private guest room soaking tubs. Equally invigorating are 24-year-old chef Akari Sash's inspired kaiseki dinners; with dishes like abalone grilled over nearly 400-degree stones, she'll have you forgetting all about Western-style spa meals.
WE LOVE the tenugui (cotton towel) decorating workshop, which feels like a sophisticated answer to the adult coloring book trend. From $332 per person, including breakfasts and dinners, kai-ryokan.jp
The Carpenter Hotel Austin, Texas
For Foodies
You'll wish you could sign up for a meal plan at this millennially minded hotel, just steps from Zilker Park. Food-world power couple Christina Skogly Knowlton and Andrew Knowlton (the host of Netflix's The Final Table) are behind the offerings at Hot L Coffee and Carpenters Hall, a restaurant located in, yes, a former union hall. Start with huckleberry butter–topped waffles, snack poolside on the best chocolate chip cookies ever, then sip a pear brandy–based Kind Eyes cocktail before a dinner of big-as-your-head chicken schnitzel. The 93 rooms are just as delectable, with custom-designed striped cotton blankets, blue-and-terracotta-tiled bathrooms, and thoughtful, vintage-inspired over-bed lights.
WE LOVE that each room has a terrace, outfitted simply with two folding chairs—the perfect place to sip a surprisingly inexpensive minibar Lone Star at the end of the evening.From $175, carpenterhotel.com
7Pines Resort Ibiza Ibiza, Spain
For Swanky Swimmers
Forget Ibiza's party-hearty reputation: At 7Pines, on the Mediterranean island's quieter west coast, relaxation is key. Guests at the 186-suite property from The Leading Hotels of the World don't need to pack much more than a bathing suit (and a dinner-appropriate outfit or two) because they'll want to spend all day snapping mermaid-inspired Instagram shots along the infinity pool's glass wall. Need a change of scenery? A five-minute walk down a stone staircase leads to secluded Cala Codolar beach, where all the sunbathers look like they stepped out of an Antonioni film. Finish the day with a massage at the Pure Seven Spa, which, of course, has its own pool.
WE LOVE that no matter where you dine—on modern Asian cuisine at The View, prawn tartare at the Cone Club, or piña coladas at the Pershing Yacht Terrace—the Balearic Sea is always in sight. From $448, 7pines.com
Photo Credits: Marcus Jolly (Hotel Amparos); Jordan Layon (Eastwind Hotel); © E Leong (The Middle House);Eric Laignet/Paris Images (Hotel de Berri); Adam Szafranski (The Ramble Hotel) Nicole Franzen (Shinola Hotel); Courtesy of Belmond Cadogen Hotel (Belmond Cadogen Hotel); Adrian Gaut (Eaton DC); Noah Surf House Portugal (Noah Surf House); Akifumi Yamabe (KAI Sengokuhara); Alex Lau (Carpenter Hotel); Tomas Alonso Salvador (7Pines)
The day off: Nashville
9 a.m.
Cafe Roze chef Julia Jaksic named her East Nashville eatery after the Croatian word for “pink," a color that dominates the sunny space. Grab a bar seat and order a cardamom-rose latte and a country ham toast—a slab of sourdough heaped with soft-scrambled eggs, paper-thin Benton's ham, and snowdrifts of parmesan.
11 a.m.
Cross the Cumberland River and head to the Tennessee State Museum, which moved into its new $160 million digs last fall. The collection, which covers 13,000 years of area history, features such objects as Andrew Jackson's inauguration hat and a spangly Dolly Parton outfit and guitar.
1 p.m.
Hot chicken is a staple here, but Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint makes the case that Nashville is an unsung BBQ town, too. Pitmaster Pat Martin got his start in nearby Nolensville, but his downtown location is a 13,000-square-foot ode to hickory-smoked, Western Tennessee–style whole hog.
3 p.m.
Let's face it: You're going to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Once you're there, don't skip Hatch Show Print, which moved into the same building in 2013. America's oldest letterpress print shop, which turns 140 this year, has churned out bold concert posters for everyone from Elvis Presley to Kacey Musgraves. Try pressing your own on one of the store's guided tours.
5 p.m.
Stroll over to historic Printers Alley to freshen up in your room at the new Bobby Hotel. Stop to greet the staff—in particular, the hotel's mascot, Sasha the rescue dog—and check out lyricist Bernie Taupin's mixed-media artworks in the lobby before heading up to the rooftop lounge, which offers seating in a 1956 Scenicruiser tour bus.
7:30 p.m.
Dinner is at Bastion, former Catbird Seat chef Josh Habiger's 24-seat spot, which is hidden, speakeasy-style, in a cocktail bar/nacho joint in the Wedgewood-Houston warehouse district. Go for the “Let's Try Everything" tasting menu option, offering a flurry of small plates with deceptively simple names, such as Raw Lamb + Sunflower, Mackerel + Barley, and Apple + Foie Gras.
10 p.m.
Back on the east side, duck into a different sort of speakeasy, the Southern outpost of NYC cocktail den Attaboy. There's no menu, so your server will ask you a series of questions, and then, in the words of Grand Ole Opry member Carrie Underwood, let Jesus—or whoever's behind the bar—take the wheel to craft you a perfectly bespoke drink.
Photo Credit: Lisa Diederich Photography (Cafe Roze); courtesy of the Tennessee State Museum (guitar); courtesy of Martin's BBQ (sign); Andrea Behrends (Bastion); CK Photo/courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (vintage posters); Aaron Ingrao (Attaboy)
