Lucky escapes

Scorpios
Bodrum

Soho House & Co’s Scorpios beach club has opened an outpost on Turkey’s Bodrum peninsula. Alongside Med classics including lemon and courgette linguine, the menu features local favourites such as cig kofte (meatballs) and ariani (a yoghurt drink). For extended stays, there are 12 stone bungalows that riff on traditional Aegean residences, with terracotta interiors and floor-to-ceiling windows. The terrace hosts a mix of musicians, DJs and emerging artists. “This blend makes for unexpected connections,” says Scorpios’s co-CEO Thomas Heyne. “We want our guests to feel inspired.”
scorpios.com

La Roqqa
Porto Ercole

Dubbed the Portofino of Maremma, the Tuscan town of Porto Ercole on the Monte Argentario peninsula draws a discerning crowd. Here, you’ll find the 55-room La Roqqa hotel, a cliffside retreat owned by Swedish entrepreneur Conni Jonsson with floor-to-ceiling windows, an outdoor terrace and a rooftop bar. Milan-based Palomba Serafini Associati has transformed the property into an unexpected sanctuary. The interiors are fitted out with Italian design classics such as Gaetano Pesce’s Up chair, while contemporary furnishings match the sage-green and Tuscan terracotta colour scheme. The standout dish at the hotel’s Scirocco restaurant is the spaghetto otto pomodori. The Isolotto Beach Club invites patrons to linger by the sea and dip their toes in the waters of the Tyrrhenian.
laroqqa.com

Basq House
Byron Bay

Basq House, a 32-key hotel in southeastern Australia’s coastal idyll of Byron Bay, is just a five-minute walk from the beach and a short trek inland from the area’s waterfalls and forested trails. The property is brimming with Moroccan-inspired design and lush greenery, and its guest rooms are arranged around a heated pool in the courtyard. Every room’s light-filled interiors feature warm tiling, sleek wood furniture, paintings by regional artists and a minibar stocked with Australian wines.

The hotel also offers a library with an open fireplace, a living room and a lounge with snacks, cocktails and board games, which encourage guests to mingle. “We wanted the property to feel as though it was a luxury home,” says Basq House’s co-founder Matt Walsh. “The rooms are for sleeping in and the common areas are for socialising”.
basqhouse.com.au

Deos
Mykonos

Deos, The Myconian Collection’s latest opening, sits on a hill overlooking Mykonos’s old harbour. Crafted by Galal Mahmoud of Beirut-based GM Architects, the 60-key hotel blends indoor and outdoor spaces using contemporary Cycladic design and natural elements such as rocks and native plants. The whitewashed buildings sit among gardens with silver olive trees and large terracotta amphorae. “My favourite spot is the terrace by the pool,” says Vangelis Daktylides, a member of the family who runs the hospitality group. “It offers views of Mykonos Town on one side and the Aegean on the other.”
deosmykonos.gr

Dunas de Formentera
Formentera

The smallest of Spain’s Balearic islands, Formentera offers visitors a more relaxing ambience than neighbouring Ibiza, which is rightly famous for its heaving nightlife. Those seeking serenity have a new property to explore: Dunas de Formentera, a 45-key hideout that occupies a picturesque strip of land next to Migjorn beach. The hotel’s modernist-inspired interiors are decorated in a soothing palette of beige, terracotta and off-white. Patrons can choose between suites with sea views and rooms immersed in nature. The unfussy beauty of the surroundings is complemented by a casual, Mediterranean-inspired kitchen that specialises in grilled fish and pizzas prepared in a Neapolitan-style wood-fired oven. To soak up the sun, guests can stretch out on a lounger next to the hotel’s infinity pool or take a short stroll to the white-sand dunes.
dunasdeformentera.com

Hôtel Balzac
Paris

Novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac lived in a handsome neoclassical residence off Paris’s Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Some 25 years after his death in 1850, the townhouse became a hotel celebrating his life and work. Design duo Charlotte de Tonnac and Hugo Sauzay of Festen Architecture completed a thoughtful revamp of the building this summer, updating it with neutral fabrics, subtle décor and bespoke wooden furniture.

The 58-key hotel’s subdued interior belies the grandeur of the city’s eighth arrondissement. The address is also home to the Ikoi spa, which offers ancient Japanese treatments, as well as chef Pierre Gagnaire’s traditional French restaurant.
hotelbalzac.paris