Three buildings people travel to look at, then decide to sleep in.
No. 01
Villa Igiea
Palermo, Italy
It was meant to be a sanatorium. Ignazio Florio, head of Palermo's great shipping and wine dynasty, bought the neo-Gothic villa at Acquasanta with that plan, then changed course. By 1900 it had opened as a grand hotel, named after his young daughter.
Ernesto Basile reworked the interiors in the Sicilian Liberty style. The dining hall he left behind, painted wall to wall with dreamy female figures and garlands, remains the showpiece. Rocco Forte Hotels now runs the property. Terraced gardens fall toward a small harbour, and Monte Pellegrino rises right behind the roofline.
Sicilian Liberty style
Basile interiors
Harbour gardens
Florio history
No. 02
Hôtel Château du Grand-Lucé
Loire Valley, France
Built in the 1760s for a royal official, this château is pure Enlightenment symmetry. Pale stone. A long façade of tall windows. A garden drawn with a ruler.
Restoration took years, and it shows in the detail. The salons are furnished with French antiques and period paintings that guests are free to sit beside, not just admire. Room count is low, so the place never feels crowded. Outside, clipped lawns and allées lead off into the quiet Sarthe countryside, a short drive from Le Mans.
1760s château
Period collection
Clipped allées
Few rooms
No. 03
The Opposite House
Beijing, China
Kengo Kuma clad the building in glass tinted the colour of young bamboo. By day it glows softly; at night it reads as a lantern over Sanlitun's busy streets. Swire Hotels opened it in 2008.
The atrium does the heavy lifting. It rises the full height of the building and hosts rotating exhibitions of contemporary work, so the lobby changes with every show. Guest rooms favour oak floors and deep soaking tubs. Downstairs, a stainless-steel pool runs under a skylit ceiling.