YOU CAN ENCOUNTER INSPIRATION IN MANY DIFFERENT FORMS at a great hotel. It might be as simple as a stunning view. Standing on a balcony at the Maybourne Riviera, on the Côte d'Azur, I took in an expanse of sea and sky unlike that of any other place in the world. There's a reason that corner of the earth attracted painters such as Matisse and Bonnard. It's an image to conjure when the meditation app tells you to think of a calming place. A moment that becomes a little souvenir of the soul.
Experiences like this may be tiny, but they can stick. In the kitchen at the Four Seasons Naviva, in Punta Mita, Mexico, the chef casually taught me how to prepare a salsa using a molcajete, a traditional pre-Hispanic mortar and pestle made from lava rock. It was so simple and revelatory and visceral-just charred tomatoes and jalapeños and salt-that I vowed to make it regularly with my salsa-loving children. New York's Nine Orchard, our very first Hotel of the Year, is a place that embraces the analog, so inspiration came to me in the form of the excellent wooden speakers in my room (made by Ojas). They reminded me that good sound matters.
Experiential travel has been a buzzword for quite some time. The cynic in me always thought of it as redundant. To travel is to experience, no? But the more I travel, the more I realize that's not always the case. Sometimes we're just trying to get from point A to point B. It takes commitment to notice the world around you, to be open to the new. And the very best hotels have a way of putting you in that mode.
For this second edition of our Best New Hotels list, we traveled throughout North America and Europe to find places offering more than high thread counts and hot tubs. These are the spots that changed us in big and small ways. We hope you get to take some inspiration home from them, too. -Kevin Sintumuang
I Spy France, Italy, and Monaco
This story is from the April - May 2023 edition of Esquire US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April - May 2023 edition of Esquire US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
IN JUDGMENT OF DONALD TRUMP
He may never face justice for his most serious offenses. But the everyday prosecutors who've won clear verdicts against him have exposed Trump as the unfit citizen he truly is.
TRAVEL GETS LIT
Book butlers! Curated libraries! Custom cruises! Literary-themed vacations are the hot new trend in tourism.
RED ALERT
Dior’s asymmetrical, angular Chiffre Rouge watch is back and as bold as ever
The Undeniable Joel Kim Booster
The actor, comedian, and writer has hit his career sweet spot: not \"widely reviled on the Internet yet\" but high on the authentic power of making people laugh.
Angling for the Big Fish That Breaks Hearts
People fall in love with Patagonia for many reasons. The breathtaking landscape. The gauchos. The Malbec For me it was the thrill of fly-fishing in a mountain stream near the bottom the world. On my latest trip would I finally hook that elusive trout worthy of my majestic surroundings? By David Coggins
SHOES FOR GETTING WEIRD
The Rick Owens sneakers that remind Christopher Fenimore, the photographer behind the popular Five Fits series on Esquire.com, of a stranger time in his life
MAC DADDY
You need the simple, streamlined mackintosh coat in your spring rotation
Shawn Fain Is Done Making Nice
The combative new president of the United Auto Workers has emerged as the strongest voice in a resurgent labor movement in America
Game Time for Grown-ups
My most meaningful form of self-help right now involves an afternoon of Skee-Ball, Super Shot, Pac-Man, and a double-pepperoni flatbread from the Shareables menu—all punched into my Dave Buster’s Power Card
EVERY THING MEANS SOME THING WHAT IT'S LIKE BEING ROBERT DOWNEY JR.
Last night he came downstairs around bedtime and didn't see either of them.