The former Grand Hotel du Montenvers was built in 1880 to cater for the first mountaineers who had come to see the spectacular glacier known as the Mer de Glace. In 2016 the historic building was snapped up by the family-owned hospitality outfit Maisons et Hôtels Sibuet. It reopens the space in spring 2017 as the Refuge du Montenvers; its restaurant (with panoramic terrace) is already open.

The only way to get here is to hike or take the mountain train from the resort of Chamonix. The historic inn has been carefully renovated, leaving a sober granite façade peppered with clusters of red-and-white painted windows. Guests can sleep in individual rooms, or there are six-person rooms for larger parties.
refuge.terminal-neige.com

Opened in late 2016, this three-room guesthouse may be teeny but it’s big on personal touches: think home-baked cakes on arrival and the invitation to wander the flea market with owner Juan de Mayoralgo. The green-tiled façade gives way to a neutral interior with wooden floors, period details and a spare mid-century spread of tasteful furniture. “The house is so beautiful that I didn’t want to fill it with too many things that might distract from it,” says De Mayoralgo.

The upstairs garden room is the pick of the bunch: although bijou it boasts a capacious bathtub and views over a lush canopy of trees. There’s also a garden out back in which to breakfast on Portuguese cheese, seasonal fruit and crusty bread.
myhomeinporto.com

Three years ago, the only thing that you would have been swimming in at this former garage in the Tenderloin District would have been motor oil. Now artfully transformed by builder Sunny Simmons and wife Caroline Smith – an artist and acupuncturist respectively – Onsen is a riff on Japan’s hot-spring resorts. The fee of $30 (€28) will get you two hours of soaking time in the 40C 13-person pool (bathing costume optional) that once served as the mechanic’s pit. This is usually followed by a turn in the redwood-and-cedar sauna and steam room or a rubdown in one of the spa’s six treatment rooms. To round off the experience head to the 23-seat restaurant for seasonal dishes such as rice porridge with house kimchi.
onsensf.com

Founder Tom Broughton’s vision of creating a good-looking optical brand has extended to the opening of the brand’s fourth space, this time in King’s Cross – and in a nod to its neighbourhood, it’s decked out in racing green as a nod to the Flying Scotsman locomotive that once came through the nearby station. As well as being a great stop-in for specs or shades, the artful new office doubles as an on-the-go optician.
cubitts.co.uk

This retreat, founded by Norwegian composer and musician Håvard Lund, is on a lonely archipelago north of the Arctic Circle. The project consists of nine houses clad in hardwood, which together accommodate 15 guests and have views over Fleinvaer Bay and its remote islands.

The rocky landscape provides each building – consisting of a sauna, kitchen house, studio, bathhouse and private sleeping houses – with an individual style. The retreat is available at a cost but if an artist wants to be considered for a residence, the committee of musician Nora Taksdal, director Katrine Strøm and general manager Lund have been known to accept an artwork as payment.
fordypningsrommet.no

Highflying entrepreneur João Rodrigues has already shaken up the Portuguese hotel scene with four trendsetting projects, including holiday rentals Casa Na Areia and Cabanas No Rio near beach hot-spot Comporta. Now this pilot-turned-hotelier has collaborated with Portuguese architect Manuel Aires Mateus to create another holiday rental in the Portuguese capital.

The brief was to turn an 18th-century apartment in the heart of the city into a contemporary holiday space with six suites spread over two roomy floors. They are available to rent separately or as a complete house, with a private chef available on demand.
santaclara1728.com

With a prime trackside berth at the bustling Gare du Nord, L’Etoile du Nord is the latest project from chef Thierry Marx. Inspired by the “buffets de le gare” (French train-station cafés) of yore, this large white-concrete and Bavarian-wood structure has seating for more than 100 in the downstairs brasserie and an upstairs wine and tapas bar (not to mention a takeaway bakery for those with connections to make).

Far from the delicate victuals he conjures up at his fine dining Sur Mesure at Mandarin Oriental, Paris, Marx’s food here is of the easy, old-school French variety – more steak frites than foamy squiggles. A fine new arrival amid the station’s otherwise average food offerings.
letoiledunord.fr