The red rock of outback Utah is something get lost have covered in depth. Why? Coz we’re addicted to the otherworldly feeling of this special part of the planet.
ULUM®Moab might be the best place to situate yourself in this ethereality. White, glamping style tents are dotted throughout the Moab Desert, and their interiors provide a luxurious refuge from what can be a harsh and unforgiving environment.
During the day you can go canyoneering, hit the trails or charge the Colorado River in a kayak, Christopher McCandless-style. ULUM® Moab is a solid place to base yourself for outdoor adventure.
This is not some over-built monolithic mega-complex; ULUM® Moab does what great accommodations in great landscapes—blend into the environment, and bask in it.
Cenotes—naturally formed, slightly shaded swimming holes—are an enduring image of Mexico.
Otro Oaxaca has built an homage to cenotes in this stunning new hotel. Light filters through a porthole in the roof of a heated, 20-foot plunge pool, offering a tranquil escape from the rest of the world. It’s stunning, and it still might not even be the best pool at the hotel—the rooftop pool that overlooks the 16th century Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán is hard to beat.
The rest of the place is beautiful too: 16 rooms of exquisitely designed Mexican goodness, and a restaurant of yet more delicious Mexican goodness. This is one of the best hotels to open this year, absolutely no doubt about it.
When the legends at Soneva sound the conch horn to announce they’ve built another stay, you listen.
The luxury chain makes accommodation so damn dreamy you’ll think it’s been dreamt up by AI. But it’s not. This place is real. Soneva Secret is the incredible, not-so-secret collection of 14 beach and over-water villas located in Haa Dhaalu Atoll, the Maldives’ most remote atoll.
The resort’s star attraction? Probably the Castaway Villa, the Maldives’ first floating villa. Floating on water, not a euphemism, this incredible master suite even boasts a roof that slides open to reveal star-strewn skies.
Transport around the resort is also done in style; going for a swim? Take the water slide. Heading to dinner? Enjoy the zipline.
Kangaroo Island is continuing its stirring comeback after being razed by the 2020 fires. And one of the best things travellers can do to help is visit, stay and contribute to the local economy.
CABN is one of the best places you can stay on the island. Making their name as specialists in off-grid sustainable accommodation, CABN at Cape St Albans, is a simple but striking black box set on a 162-hectare private property (which should be enough, you’d imagine).
This might just be the ideal place for an outdoor bathtub. After you’ve gone and gotten sweaty on a hike or a surf, fill the tub (perched on your private balcony) and take in the surrounding wilderness, ocean and kangaroos. Preferably with a beverage in hand.
There’s a king-size bed and other luxuries inside, but it’s really the extraordinary location you come for. Well, that and the tub.
The perspicuously named Sun Ranch, in Byron Bay’s hinterland, is 55 acres of California meets Australia. 1970s meets today.
Retro furnishings seemingly taken from the Californian ranch homes of 1970s movie stars sit inside plush wood panelled rooms. There’s record players, tiger-print wraparound sofas. And probably a martini making station, we bet.
There are also massages and yoga, kayaking and Zooz e-bikes. Oh, and horse riding. There’s a pool overlooking the famed hinterland, and a restaurant boasting ridiculously succulent open-fire meals from famed chef, Pip Sumbak. Parts of the ranch are totally off-grid, but the whole ranch is pretty light on when it comes to eco footprint. This really is the best of both worlds.
This national park isn’t like all the other national parks.
Why? Because you can find elephants swimming the waters here. Then there’s the local Vedda community, the earliest known inhabitants of Sri Lanka, who still stroll the forests as they have for thousands of years, climbing trees for food and living in harmony with crocodiles, turtles, monkeys and other animals.
There’s only nine humble bungalows at Gal Oya, so you’re not jostling with hordes of tourists in an attempt to get ‘the shot’.
Wildlife geeks will rejoice at the wildlife research centre on-site, and people who eat food will rejoice at the local dishes served up on banana leaves every day. Living.
Between us, the get lost team has stayed at a lot of hotels. Like, a lot.
But you know what The Twelve Apostles has going for it (besides its ridiculous sea view terrace, swimming pool, fine dining and pillow menu)? Arguably, the world’s best hotel robe. Gosh, it was luxe. Heavy and comforting, the perfect lounge robe.
The Apostles is the very definition of 5-star luxury. Perched above the Atlantic Ocean and with a backdrop to Table Mountain, this boutique hotel offers up breathtaking sunsets, access to incredible cape beaches and an award-winning spa.
Not to mention you can choose your soap/ skincare. We went with rooibos, hbu?
Honestly, this place is heaven. In fact, all of Mauritius is heaven, but SALT of Palmar is the cherry on top. Why? Firstly, look at it. It’s a colourful pastel wonderland, an aesthetic feast for the eyes. It’s also adults-only, now don’t get us wrong we love kids and babies and small humans, but trying to relax by the resort pool while there’s a game of Marco Polo in progress isn’t… well… relaxing.
At SALT, it’s grown-up time, all the time. Whether you’re doing sundowners on the resort rooftop, laying by the private beach, getting a (literal) salt treatment at the spa or eating your way through their locally-sourced menu.
The ethos here is all about creating a sustainable, welcoming vibe for their guests and they’ve nailed it. On a recent stay, we were invited into the kitchen to learn how to make Mauritian curry—now if that’s not bloody welcoming, what is? The curry was perfection, FYI. We ate two servings and rolled into our ocean-side bed slightly sunburnt and satisfied.
Glamprook Hotel is a strange patchwork of things that shouldn’t really work together and yet inexplicably absolutely do.
Take the glamping domes for example, where ‘camping’ is made to feel super luxurious thanks to some incredibly comfy beds and armchairs made for kicking back and gazing at the starry night skies next to a roaring (if fake) fire.
get lost has never had access to an onsen while camping before, but we’re going to demand it from now on. Soaking, completely starkers, with people you’ve never met before, is a lot more relaxing than it sounds.
Then there’s the 10-course dinner, which is actually quite a tidy menu length for Japan. We’re not sure what cuisine to call this: traditional sashimi matched with pasta matched with an outrageous sorbet-honeycomb-brownie thing for dessert. The only common thread between the dishes is that they’re all super colourful, in complete contrast to the snow that falls here in the winter. None of this should work, but it does.
When you think of Greece, it’s usually the white of Santorini and the blue of the ocean. You think of destroying gyros after gyros, day after day. You think of paying five euro to sit in a beach lounge on Ios because your hangover cannot deal with the blazing Greek sun.
But the home of the Olympics is actually quite a mountainous place too; 80% of it in fact, is considered mountainous, with the famed Mount Olympus, in the country’s far north. Down the other end is Manna, nestled above the village of Arcadia.
This is a hotel which was once a sanatorium for people with chronic illness. It’s now a luxury mountain sanctuary, but it’s easy to see why this was considered a good place to heal what ails ya. Really, really old trees surround you at all times, whether you’re chowing down gourmet gyros or taking a bath. Maybe you’re doing both at the same time. There’s no room to be bored: hike, ski, cycle, hunt for mushrooms in the forest, hunt for gyros in the forest, or just chill with a gyros.
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