(轉貼) World's Best Hotels 2012

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Catch a water taxi to the Peninsula Bangkok, and the chaos of the Thai capital slips away as you enter your serene guest room, done in silks and teakwood, overlooking the Chao Phraya River and glittering cityscape. The hotel, a longtime favorite, makes such an impression that it’s now ranked No. 11 in the world.

Everyone wants to know where to stay, and for 17 years running, we’ve asked T+L readers, who are passionate about travel, to vote on the hotels they love the most. The resulting World’s Best Awards are a collection of the properties that go above and beyond. The voting categories stay the same—rooms, location, service, food, and value—but this year’s results showcase the hotels and destinations that are important now.

One noticeable trend: Istanbul is on the rise. The city’s Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul on the Bosphorus ranked No. 24 (it’s also the No. 1 Large City Hotel in Europe); readers love the riverfront location and the 19th-century building’s refined elegance. Elsewhere in Europe, readers are heading to Italy’s Amalfi Coast, where the family-run Hotel Santa Caterina offers antique-filled rooms and the seclusion of a private beach, terraced gardens, and citrus orchards.  

Some surprising newcomers also made the ranks of the T+L 2012 World’s Best Awards: the romantic Nayara Hotel, Spa & Gardens, near Costa Rica’s Arenal volcano, debuts at No. 6 (it’s the first Costa Rican hotel to break into the Top 10); Australia’s Southern Ocean Lodge, the country’s first wilderness luxury retreat, surged to the top of the list at No. 3.

But the top 50 hotels aren’t exclusively found in far-flung destinations. In 2012, almost 20 percent of the winners are right here in the United States. That includes No. 12, Charleston’s genteel Wentworth Mansion, with its romantic restaurant and rooftop cupola’s views, and No. 21, the Osprey at Beaver Creek, CO, a recently renovated ski-in, ski-out hotel near the slopes.

Safari lodges are tough to beat, however, especially Singita Grumeti Reserves, in Tanzania. Two lodges and two camps (including one mobile camp, set up in various locations around the Serengeti) make up this exotic winner, which has ranked No. 1 in the world for two years running. For all the World’s Best Hotel winners, read on—and then hit the road to experience them yourself.

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No. 1 Singita Grumeti Reserves, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Score: 98.25

Pioneering Singita has done it again with the new Singita Explore, a mobile safari camp that's the latest addition to the company's 340,000-acre concession in Tanzania's majestic Serengeti. Other lodges include tented (and stationary) Sabora, with mahogany chests, worn-leather campaign chairs, and thick Persian rugs. Faru Faru, with six chalets overlooking the Grumeti River, channels a Swahili beach resort; a swimming pool curves in front of an open-air lounge, where guests sip sunset cocktails as elephants gather at the watering hole below. The reserve's flagship is Sasakwa, an East African ranch house on a plateau. There are seven cottage residences, each with a garden and cliff-top plunge pool. Tennis courts, a spa, and a yoga center occupy guests between twice-daily game drives, where sightings include elephants, wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles. Active travelers can take in the scenery via horseback or mountain bike.

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No. 2 Triple Creek Ranch, Darby, MT

Score: 98.22

Triple Creek is a service-driven, adults-only property in Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains. The 40-acre landscape has 23 plush log cabins, each outfitted with wood-burning fireplaces, hot tubs, original oil paintings and sculptures, and fit-for-a-rancher feather beds topped with locally woven woolens. Itineraries are tailored to guests’ interests and can include fly-fishing, dinners at the chef’s table, and helicopter tours. The Baker and Boulder cabins are the least expensive, but still have a sitting area and fireplace and offer access to a hot tub. In winter, don’t miss a snowshoe excursion across the Chief Joseph Pass—explored by Lewis and Clark in 1805—or the chocolate chip cookies served by cowboy-booted staffers on your return.

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No. 3 Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island, Australia

Score: 97.87

On a sparsely populated island 30 minutes by plane from Adelaide sits this lodge, which is contemporary in design and green in attitude. The 21 spacious suites have limestone floors, locals' artwork, and outdoor terraces. Air-conditioning is unnecessary: the property was constructed to take advantage of natural weather patterns. Owners James and Hayley Baillie developed only one percent of their total acreage on the wildlife-filled isle, leaving the rest of the land in a preservation trust. Guests learn about the resort’s sustainability policy upon check-in, underscoring the Baillies’ appreciation of the area’s natural beauty.

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No. 4 Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, India

Score: 97.50

This palatial, 30-acre property, located in central Rajasthan, presides over the banks of Lake Pichola, preserving the enchantment of a bygone era through a distinctly Mewari lens. Royal service is ensured from your arrival as a private boat ferries you across Udaipur's domed palaces. You're also provided with a personal butler who guides you to your room, situated in a private courtyard with silken parasols and views over the jagged Aravalli Mountains. It's hard to believe you're less than 3 miles from the city center and its landmarks like the 16th-century City Palace; the resort can arrange for an English-speaking expert to guide you through its countless corridors and gardens.

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No. 5 Discovery Shores, Boracay, Philippines

Score: 96.77

Barefoot elegance is undoubtedly the vibe on this tiny island, where the 2 and a half-mile stretch known as White Beach is often singled out for being the softest in the world. The 88 spacious suites all have large glass walls that look towards a scenic rock garden, but chances are you'll spend more time by the water. Take a dip in the infinity pool, or jet-ski on the crystalline sea. For people-watching, head to The Sandbar, where they stir up delicious mojitos, infused with local flavors like lychee and mango. Once you're sufficiently refueled, karaoke your heart out, with over 1,000 songs (mostly in English) to choose from at the resort's recreation lounge.

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No. 6 Nayara Hotel, Spa & Gardens, La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica

Score: 96.36

Tucked away towards the base of the still-active Arenal Volcano, Nayara could very well be considered the definition of oasis. The resort has views of the volcano, surrounded by a rainforest that bursts with Costa Rica’s trademark bright colors, whether it’s tropical flowers or vibrant creatures (like a blood red dragonfly). With a focus on romance and seclusion, the 50 casitas include private outdoor Jacuzzis and sheer curtains surrounding the four-poster beds. Explore the surrounding wilderness by guided hike, zipline, horseback ride, river rafting, or wildlife tour. Then unwind with cocktails at the swim-up bar or a rose petal-adorned massage.

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No. 7 Singita Kruger National Park, South Africa

Score: 96.33

Singita has become the gold standard of the safari industry, and it's easy to see why at these two lodges in a 33,000-acre concession in Kruger National Park. Every need is anticipated (hot water bottles and blankets for warm morning game drives), staff remember your preferences, and every day brings a surprise, whether candlelit bush dinners to surprise fireside performances. The treehouse-cum-urban-loft aesthetic affords dramatic views of the N'wanetsi River and Lebombo Mountain foothills. Lebombo's 15 glass-fronted suites have roughly hewn wood ceilings and pillars mimicking the surrounding trees. The all-glass front allows for game-viewing from bed, or you can laze on the elevated deck. Neighboring Sweni's six suites have a similar design. Both have access to a gym, a spa, an art gallery, a boutique and a wine cellar specializing in innovative African vintages.

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No. 8 Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt, Buenos Aires

Score: 96.13

This Park Hyatt feels like two hotels in one. The original 23-room mansion, built in 1934 by French architect Leon Dourge, defines Belle Epoque elegance: elaborate ironwork, glass chandeliers, and Persian rugs. Next door is the 142-room Posadas building, a sleek, minimalist tower that opened in 2006. What unites the two spaces—in addition to an underground art gallery—is impeccable service. And while the rooms' appearances vary according to their era (hardwood floors and silk curtains in the Palacio, a natural palate and contemporary furniture in Posadas), all have the highest-end technology, rain showers, soaking tubs, and bathrooms bedecked in Travertino marble. At the Vinoteca, a sommelier and maitre fromager pair wines from among 3,500 bottles of Argentine vintages with regional cheeses and chutneys.

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No. 9 Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania

Score: 95.85

Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge's perch on the eastern rim of the crater offers some of the best access to game viewing on the crater floor. They even have their own access road in, a serious perk allowing you to beat the traffic-jam crowds of jeeps heading out on game drives each morning from other lodges.  The location makes up for the uninspiring design of the 96 rooms with dated 80s-ish cream and burgundy bedspreads and souvenir-shop tchotchke-style accents. Still they're cozy, and with the big five spread out like a theatre below you, you'll likely spend more of your time on the quaint rocking chairs in your glass-enclosed balcony.  

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No. 10 Singita Sabi Sand, Kruger National Park Area, South Africa

Score: 95.74

South Africa's most luxe safari experience awaits in the Sabi Sands reserve bordering Kruger National Park. Service could not be more friendly or personalized—butlers remember your coffee preferences, pre-preparing mugs for your morning gamedrives. Equally impressive? The design. Ebony's 12 suites, fresh off a 2011 renovation, have a Ralph-Lauren-goes-bush elegance with weathered leather club chairs, stone fireplaces, and massive four-poster mahogany beds. Each villa overlooking the Sand River has an outdoor shower, private plunge pool and bathroom with a romantic clawfoot tub. Neighboring Boulders embraces a more contemporary aesthetic with burl wood tables and natural accents like cream hide rugs and baskets of ostrich eggs. Both have gyms, spas and access to the lodge's wine program, which includes limited-release vintages not available elsewhere. You can purchase these bottles to ship home as well as African jewelry and homegoods. Families and groups should consider booking the exclusive-use Castleton Camp, which comes with its own pool, staff and chef.

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No. 11 The Peninsula, Bangkok

Score: 95.72

An ingenious W-shaped design gives all 370 rooms in this 37-story tower views of the Chao Phraya River and the city beyond. Though located on the Thonburi side across the water from most of the tourist attractions, the complimentary water taxis offer an atmospheric and convenient way to skip the notorious Bangkok traffic. The patrician elegance of the rooms, all raw silk, teak and marble, never sacrifices function for form. Intuitive bedside panels control temperature, lighting, sound and entertainment systems, and even the phone. The riverside Thipthara has some of the city's most ambient dining in candlelit open-air salas, which the restaurant brought from the ancient capital of Ayutthaya and reassembled on the riverbank. Equally impressive is the 21,000 square-foot ESPA spa's Thai massages and the Peninsula Academy, which offers everything from Thai cooking to dance to floral arrangement classes.

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No. 12 Wentworth Mansion, Charleston, SC

Score: 95.47

Built as a private residence in 1886, the Wentworth is a Second Empire-style mansion turned hotel with 21 rooms, each with its own marble fireplace and inlaid wood floors. Pride in the area’s history is captured in design details, such as original Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass light fixtures in social parlors and original plaster moldings in guestrooms and lobbies. A historic carriage house is now home to Circa 1886 restaurant, serving farm-fresh Lowcountry fare, and the stables were recently converted into a lovely, intimate three-treatment room spa. The Wentworth certainly knows how to dress up for the holidays: Come November, look for subdued Victorian finery with magnolia wreaths, old-world Santas, and two grand Christmas trees in the foyer.

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No. 13 Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve Lodges, Kruger National Park Area, South Africa

Score: 95.40

The flagship of Sabi Sabi's collection of lodges on a more than 160,000-acre reserve bordering Kruger National Park, Bush Lodge's understated elegance highlights its collection of original African artwork. Courtyards surround sculptures created from uprooted trees and wood salvaged from the reserve. In the 25 thatched suites, earthy color schemes of cinnamon, cream and sienna draw inspiration from the original paintings and basketwork hanging on the walls. Twice-daily game drives, firelight boma dinners, and spa treatments using marula tree, African potato and aloe vera extracts keep parents occupied, while kids can enroll in the new-for-2011 EleFun Centre, an innovative kids' program offering a mix of age-appropriate conservation activities and outdoor fun.

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No. 14 One&Only, Cape Town

Score: 95.33

The latest property from One&Only features a waterfront resort with 131 large, high-tech rooms. The knockout first impression as you walk in the door is the hotel's 40-foot-tall picture window framing Table Mountain. But then outsize luxury is trumpeted everywhere, from the tri-level "wine loft" at Rueben's, and an outpost of sushi master Nobuyuki Matsuhisa's Nobu, to the spa's French manicure clinic by Bastien Gonzalez. The cream-colored, Adam D. Tihany-designed rooms are slick and vast; baths have a wow factor, too, though with a notable style-over-substance lapse (the freestanding tubs are huge, beautiful—and a bit uncomfortable).

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No. 15 Kirawira Luxury Tented Camp, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Score: 95.27

Get a front seat for the annual wildebeest migration at this camp adjacent to the western corridor of Serengeti National Park. Inspired by turn-of-the-century hunting camps, the 25 tents speak to bygone colonial grandeur with antique steamer trunks, wooden writing desks and four-poster beds covered in patchwork quilts, attended to by personal valets. Evenings start with sundowner cocktails around a fire pit and proceed to elegant dining tents where roasts and Yorkshire pudding are served on delicate blue and white china, and staff in flowing Swahili robes pour champagne into cut crystal stemware.

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No. 16 Lodge at Kauri Cliffs, Matauri Bay, New Zealand

Score: 95.25

Set in 6,000 acres of rolling North Island countryside and bushland beside the Pacific Ocean, the 22-suite Lodge of Kauri Cliffs is one of three properties owned by the New York-based Robertson family (the other two being Cape Kidnappers at Hawke’s Bay and Matakauri Lodge near Queenstown). Despite its American antecedents, Kauri Cliffs is, lodge-wise, 100 per cent Kiwi. While golf is the main event, you can also take advantage of two Astroturf-surface tennis courts, an infinity pool, and a trio of secluded swimming beaches. In summer, barbeque suppers are held at Pink Beach. In addition to the spacious suites, there's a 4,200-square-foot two-bedroom Owner’s Cottage. The spa, regarded as one of the best in New Zealand, is in a native totara rainforest with indoor and outdoor fireplaces for those chilly Kiwi days.

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No. 17 Mombo Camp and Little Mombo Camp, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana

Score: 95.17

Within the Moremi Game Reserve, these two groups of tents linked by raised walkways feature plunge pools and unshaded decks for prime bird-watching. Scores of rhinoceros, hyena, buffalo, baboons, elephants, and even lions can be seen grazing past guests' tents during the day. Dinner at the boma (traditional fire pit dining area) after a day of game viewing in the property's fleet of Range Rovers is a relaxing experience. The chef can arrange for breakfast or lunch in the bush to be truly at one with nature. The tents are decked out in colonial appointments featuring mosquito netting on four-poster beds and baths with above-counter bowl sinks and private outdoor showers. Little Mombo is more exclusive with fewer guests making it perfect for a family or couples traveling together.

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No. 18 Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

Score: 95.04

In this legendary 1887 hotel and modern tower, many of the 393 rooms now have floor-to-ceiling windows, with spectacular views of the busy Chao Phraya River. Book one of the split-level Garden Wing Rooms, for traditional sophistication or Authors' Suites, for opulent Thai style. The hotel has rich literary history; Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, Noel Coward, James Michener all stayed at the Oriental. Take a moment for dim sum in the 1930's-inspired China House, one of the hotel's nine restaurants. The hotel also has a garden pool and a spa located across the water and reachable by ferry. Guests can attend a cooking school or troll the lobby for celebrity sightings. Wander into the Bamboo Bar for perfectly mixed cocktails like the Singapore Sling.

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No. 19 Tu Tu'tun Lodge, Gold Beach, OR

Score: 95.00

Fronting the Rogue River and flanked by old-growth rain forests, the Tu Tu’tun is characterized by a genial service. Lodging options are varied, with 16 traditional rooms, 2 suites, and 3 houses, with unassuming furnishings that don’t detract from the magnificent views. Don’t miss the traditional Oregonian adventures: fishing, golfing, kayaking, and hiking. The property’s playful approach is evident in their categories of difficulty for hikes—level one is “hearts a beatin’”; level two “bods a heatin’”; and level three “two desserts you’ll be eatin.’” Chances are those desserts will be mighty delicious; meals  focus on fresh, local ingredients. Once you’re done, head to the lodge’s garden, where you can feed the deer their own meal of crunchy apples.