Some Favorite Hotels
A Worldwide List
A good hotel is hard to find. Well a good hotel at an earthbound price, anyway. We all love the Aman Tokyo, but that’s in the stratosphere and you go once in your life, if you’re lucky. Back on Earth we need places we can return to.
There are many reasons to fall in love with hotels. There’s a good lobby where you feel part of a favorite city. Maybe the hotel is in a great neighborhood, while you’re in residence you feel like you’re leading a wonderful secret life. A great hotel can be close to something you love to do, like, I don’t know, fly fishing.
Here are some places I love to revisit (all places I’ve paid to stay at) that are near and far and worth having on your list.
-Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch. Stanley. I’ve praised this wonderful hotel that’s an hour north of Ketchum (one the great drives you can make). The log cabins are excellent—hickory furniture and stone fireplaces. The main building has an incredible porch (photo above) with views across the Sawtooth Mountains. If you want to fish you can float the Salmon River with my man Verlon or wade with my man Taite. But there’s plenty to do—hiking, horseback riding, soaking in the hot spring pool, that make the Ranch perfect for families.
-Durrants Hotel. London. Modest rooms in an ideal location in Marylebone, very close to the shops on Chiltern Street and the new St. John. This is a friendly, old hotel with wonderful public spaces—a small delightful bar with four tables and a fireplace and an elegant all-day restaurant.