Portugal’s south coast is awash in the most fabulous beaches, and the eastern side of it is the country’s best-kept secret. Right in the thick of all this bliss sits the 77-room Ozadi Tavira Hotel, which was built in the 1970s and renovated to the nines in 2014. It manages to maintain the original character of that swingin’ decade, blending on-trend colours, cork design details and local traditional homewares into its hyper-mod space.

Vibe: The crowd is a leisurely one, primarily special-occasion celebrants, wee families, retirees and honeymooners. Everyone seems to fit in here and everyone has come specifically to relax and enjoy the scenery.

Rooms: A modern mix of local craftwork and retro embellishments dress up the public areas and the rooms. Finishing touches like cork end tables, colourful ceramic light fixtures and headboard artwork add a local link, fusing the hotel with the surrounding region. Rooms come equipped with a mini bar, free Wi-Fi, air conditioning and a room safe, plus natural, marine-based bathroom amenities. Furnished balconies with views of the gardens, the hotel pool or the countryside amp up the luxe factor.

F&B: Two restaurants here: The Ozadi Terrace, serving buffets with a view of the sea, and the Orangea Bistro overlooking the pool. Both offer Mediterranean and regional cuisine heavy on the seafood (naturally) and both have outdoor patios that are open at different times of the day. A third-floor cocktail bar and a pool bar are often home to live music and sunset get-togethers.

THINGS TO DO: IN THE EASTERN ALGARVE

Extras: The Ozadi’s wellness offerings are considerable considering the hotel’s smallish size, with massages and facials, detox and weight-loss programmes, and personal trainers. A Padel court come with equipment and classes. The pool is superb—beautifully designed, quiet yet glamorous—like you’re an extra in a spicy European movie. Shaded areas, grassy expanses and the restaurant patio are all steps away.

Off-Site: The Ozadi is mere minutes from the region’s iconic beaches, world-class year-round golf and quaint seaside villages. Tavira itself dates back to 2000 BC, so there’s plenty of history to sink your teeth into, including 37 churches. Cacela Velha, a small fishing village overlooking the Ria Formosa, is a great spot to wander through before or after a nice, three-hour lunch. Medieval castle ruins at Castro Marim date from 5000 BC. Visitors also take advantage of loads of nature tourism, horseback riding, cultural tours, kitesurfing and windsurfing.

Rate: $$
Book Now

The post Portugal: Ozadi Tavira appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

The Robey took over a 1929 Art Deco office building in Wicker Park, a one-minute walk from the L Blue Line (the one to and from O’Hare). The rooms are modern and sparse, still carrying a torch for the building’s former life. Cocktails in the UP Room on the 13^th floor will net you a 180-degree view of downtown—and a mean Old Fashioned. $ therobey.com

READ MORE ABOUT: THE ROBEY

Hotel Zachary is across the street from Wrigley Field. Rooms are a mix of contemporary and traditional, modern lighting and local art mixed with pinstripes and wingback chairs. The Zachary is a great home base for sports fans, comedy fans (all the top clubs are here) and gay-bar fans—Boystown is a convenient, five-minute walk away. $$ hotelzachary.com

THINGS TO DO: IN THE WINDY CITY

Moxy Chicago Downtown does form and function extremely well in the River North area, a short walk from Magnificent Mile. This is a sink-by-the-bed, pegs-for-your-clothes kind of place, but extremely well designed. The lobby is like a colourful clubhouse, filled with art, games, a 24-hour taco counter, a coffee bar and a bar bar. $ moxychicago.com

The Hotel at Midtown in Bucktown is a fitness oasis, a “sports resort,” part of the Midtown Athletic Club. Rooms are minimal and masculine, all hardwood flooring, toffee leather chairs and dark wood headboards. Guests get in on the tennis, boxing, spinning, aquatics, golf simulators, even yoga on the roof at sunrise. There’s a spa, too. $$$ midtownhotelchicago.com

Found Chicago is also in the River North area, part of a chain whose charm lies in its budget-friendly quirkiness. Both private and dorm-style rooms are simple and sparse, but fun and snug. Public spaces are a blaze of colour, the furnishings and objets culminating in a 1970s rumpus-room look. Be sure to check out the Asian-inspired bar and lounge. $ chicago.foundhotels.com

F&B: TIKI BAR ACTION

St. Jane Chicago opened in what was a Hard Rock Hotel in the Carbide & Carbon Building, another Art Deco landmark. Rooms have a feel for the past, with a pink and taupe colour palette, black leather chairs, gold accents, marble bathrooms, all very 1930s. $$$ stjanehotel.com-en.com

Hotel Julian, located in what was once the Atlantic Bank Building, this spot was named for the patron saint of travellers. You’ll find high ceilings, nice linens, leather headboards, elegant armoires and black-and-white bathrooms. Public areas are playful and cozy. The steak-forward gastropub About Last Knife is worth it just for the name. $$ hoteljulianchicago.com

CHOOSECHICAGO.COM

The post Chicago: Hotel Roundup appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Vibe: A very social atmosphere is promoted at the UNICO, with guests are encouraged to mix, not for anything as mundane as volleyball or aquafitness, but at live music events, mixology classes and cool off-property excursions that take you into the real Mexico.

Rooms: The 448 rooms have a glamorous but low-key hacienda feel, all rustic and homey, with natural materials, handmade décor elements and local art. Main-floor rooms feature a semi-private swim-up pool, while those on the floor above sport massive spa tubs right on the patio. (Wear your swimsuit!) The resort even offers hypoallergenic rooms put through a multitude of air-purifying paces, going so far as to employ a type of shock-treatment method to kill bacteria.

F&B: When the breakfast buffet has a carpaccio station—beef, salmon, tomato, cucumber, octopus!—you know you’re in for a fancy week of good eating. Lavish culinary offerings from UNICO’s five restaurants are culturally varied, each with its own spin, from simple to splendiferous. At Cueva Siete restaurant, one of four on the property, traditional Mexican dishes are given a modern twist by a rotating lineup of award-winning Mexican chefs.

ALSO EXPLORE: PLAYA DEL CARMEN

Extras: Traditional butler service has been replaced at UNICO by a local host, available 24/7 via smartphone app, where you can also find the daily schedule and connect with resort services. I’m simply too Canadian to ring someone to come over and draw my bath. I can manage the plug and the tap and a squirt of soap. At the Esencia Spa, I worked the water circuit like a pro, moving from the sauna to the cold room, where a large pipe from the ceiling spat fresh crushed ice into a bowl all day long. From there, I donned those funny paper underpants before being scrubbed down and wrapped in chocolate. Yes, chocolate.

Off-Site: UNICO has also joined the ranks of resorts taking guests off the property on local excursions to meet the people. My morning spent cliff-diving into the deep, fresh-water cenotes was followed by a barbecue lunch in an indigenous village, where I practically inhaled the best chicken I’ve ever tasted.

Rate: $$$

Book Now

The post Mexico: UNICO 20º 87º appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Tucked away near the bottom of Miami’s fabled Ocean Drive, past the pastel-painted strip of Art Deco hotels and their raucous sidewalk eateries, sits SoFi, the soothing South Beach neighbourhood south of 5th Street. Here, a quaint and quiet combo of condos and small resorts delivers a peaceful beach vibe, one that’s happily echoed by the Marriott Stanton South Beach.

Vibe: A retro cottage feel greets you in the lobby: tons of blonde wood punctuated by colourful, quirky artwork, low-slung leather sofas, terrazzo flooring, mid-century-style wooden sideboards propping up cool lamps.

Rooms: The beach cottage character continues up in the rooms, with their creamy white walls, even more wood and herringbone-patterned ceramic floors. A leather headboard, curved work station, velvet arm chair and ample bathroom complete this comfort zone. Everything is modern and airy, right down to the little vermilion chairs on the balcony.

F&B: Tuck into the carnitas, then a platter of ribs with grilled spring onions and fresh avocado at Lolo’s Surf Cantina, the Stanton’s Baja-inspired parkside café, where the mezcal margaritas have me at “hola.” Sure I could live here, but I’d have to get bigger pants. This certainty is underlined later on at Azabu Miami Beach, the resort’s Zen, izakaya-style restaurant, complete with a wall of Japanese whisky.

Extras: Spend the extra dollars for a value-added package that nets you faster internet, welcome margaritas, free bottles of water, beach chairs, bike rentals and one fitness class per day—things like cardio kickboxing, high intensity interval training and mat Pilates.

Off-Site: The fact that SoFi is within walking distance of a lot of good food—dozens of restaurants and bars, including the iconic News Cafe, the legendary Joe’s Stone Crab, celebrity chef Justin Smillie’s Upmarket and more—gives the Stanton an even greater edge.

Rate: $$

BOOK NOW

The post Miami: The Stanton appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

Now that every single hotel in the world has a rainfall shower head, the folly of a quick dunk in an al fresco tub on the terrace really ups the game. Here are a few of the newer favourites on our radar.

RIVIERA MAYA, MEXICO: UNICO 20°N 87°W Hotel. Second-floor rooms in the Alcoba Ocean View category of this all-exclusive, all-inclusive, adults-only resort come with an outdoor spa tub right on the patio, looking out onto the whole resort and the ocean beyond. The upscale hacienda-style rooms are so beautifully designed, you won’t want to leave. As the tubs are on the balcony, you’ll have to dress appropriately for this hydra-therapy experience—unless the lights are out. $$$
UnicoHotelRivieraMaya.com

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA: Rambutan Hotel & Resort. This quaint gem on the quieter side of Siem Reap comes in three parts: a main hotel with 16 rooms, a 10-room resort wing, and a few luxury apartments. On the resort side of things, the Deluxe Terrace and Deluxe Rooftop Terrace rooms have their own private patio with an outdoor bathtub and splash shower. When you tire of traipsing through the nearby temple ruins, you can relax in a cool bath after a nice massage at the lobby spa. $
RambutanSiemReap.com

LONDON, UK: The Zetter Hotel. This Clerkenwell mainstay has been wowing the hip and happening crowd with its 59 boutique hotel rooms since 2004, with the nearby Zetter Townhouse joining the party in 2011. The art and design, the attention to detail, and the state-of-the art tech amenities keep people coming back. But the hotel’s recent refurbishment of its Deluxe Rooftop rooms on the fifth floor will garner even more fans thanks to private al fresco tubs on the terrace. A gin in the bathtub, anyone? $$$
TheZetter.com

BIG SUR, CALIFORNIA: Glen Oaks. Things are big in Big Sur, Al Fresco tub included. At the Big Sur Cabin at the magnificent Glen Oaks lodge, you and your significant other can embark on a romantic double-soak adventure in the outdoor tubs, witnessed only by the nearby redwoods and the cozy wood fire pit. $$$
GlenOaksBigSur.com

The post Al Fresco Tubs appeared first on TravelRight.Today.

The mid-century Modern Standard Hollywood makes an excellent home base for checking out the various neighbourhoods both trashy and ritzy, people-watching around the blue AstroTurf-lined pool deck or checking out the view from your semi-circular, retro-style balcony.

Vibe: The Standard is tops with the art crowd, smartly dressed millennials, starry-eyed tourists, film business creatives, young actors waiting to be discovered, and people like me who just want to have a good Hollywood sighting or at least think I might have seen someone recognizable. I saw a total of one celebrity the whole time: Juan Guzman from Narcos. The Box is a celebrated, glass cupboard behind the front desk big enough to fit a person and a few pillows. This art installation is a tableau vivant, sporting a model relaxing or a guest artist making art.

Rooms: Rooms are spartan but comfortable, minimal but warm. Millennials love their creature comforts, so there are plenty: Egyptian cotton sheets, down pillows, floor-to-ceiling windows, decadent mini bars and Bluetooth speakers. Breathing space runs from 300 to 500 square feet; more than you would expect. Bold patterns, blue headboards, little work stations, cute bathrooms and a silver vinyl beanbag chair round out the room.

F&B: The restaurant Croft Alley is open around the clock, its menu doting on the Cali cuisine. It also does an amazing breakfast. The Cactus Lounge with its desert mural and round rattan chairs leads out to the Pool Deck, where Hollywood hopefuls have their power lunches and mineral waters. I didn’t come all this way to watch Juan Guzman eat a cheeseburger, but there you go.

Extras: One very cool thing about The Standard Hollywood is that you get to choose your own check-in and check-out times. The pool is really the most fun, very relaxing with great service and terrific view of the hillside—you could spend all afternoon here and many do. Have fun eavesdropping to get the gist of the callbacks or at least play spot the accent to guess where people are from. Juan Guzman is from Puerto Rico, but I think he lives in Vermont.

Off-Site: In the heart of arty West Hollywood on legendary Sunset Boulevard, The Standard is walking distance from all the cool Hollywood haunts—Chateau Marmont, The Griddle Café, The Comedy Store, Whisky a Go Go, The Viper Room and more. As well, it’s an easy cab to the Hollywood tourist traps like Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive, and the retail therapy of Robertson Boulevard, are also within easy reach.

Rate: $$$

Book Now

The post LA: The Standard Hollywood appeared first on TravelRight.Today.