Best Hotels in India

Picture your arrival: you're met at the airport by a car and driver, guided onto a private boat, then ferried across Lake Pichola—past Udaipur's domed lakefront palaces—into the gardens and fountains of the Udaivilas estate. You're led to your suite, tempered with earth tones. From your window, Udaipur, the city of lakes, carved into the desert landscape by Mewari royals in the 16th century, sparkles in the sun. When sensory overload subsides, wind your way through sprawling courtyards to a traditional Kashmiri gondola, where champagne and canapés for two await. Come back to the 30-acre lakeside property another time to receive traditional Meenakari jewelry boxes lined with deep-red velvet and adorned with enamel flowers, departure gifts given to repeat visitors.

Best Hotels in Chicago

Architect Lucien Lagrange created this 60-story skyscraper (formerly the Elysian) in the style of a 1920s Parisian grand hotel, complete with a brick porte-cochere for elegant arrivals and departures. The lobby, with dark swirls running through the white marble floor, is gleaming and elegant, as are the 188 guest rooms. Occupying the first 27 floors, they’re done up with platinum and champagne color schemes and luxe furnishings, including tufted headboards and fireplaces—not to mention the Rivolta Carmignani Italian bed linens. From the pin-tucked curtains to the jewelry design–influenced lighting fixtures, it’s all très Chanel and Dior (you’ll find coffee-table books on these designers in some of the rooms). The 14,000-square-foot spa and health club is situated above the hotel’s courtyard and offers Gyrotonic and Pilates as well as Lava Shell massages.

Best Hotels in New York City

There are a dizzying number of hotel options in Manhattan, ranging from midtown’s grande dame hotels to chic boutique properties in Tribeca. Let T+L simplify your search with this indispensable guide to the best New York City hotels and their notable amenities.

While some of these properties are already well known, we love them for their hidden charms, such as under-the-radar movie screenings or courtyard tea service. Get the scoop on the top hotels in New York City, based on readers’ votes in our annual World’s Best Awards survey.

Best Hotels in Italy

With its sweeping vineyards, pantheon of historical sites, and beloved cuisine, Italy offers something for everyone. Not surprisingly, its urban retreats and coastal resorts are just as diverse as the guests who visit.

You might sample award-winning gelato in a Byzantine tower in Florence, or take an afternoon swim in a terraced saltwater pool on a secreted corner of the Amalfi Coast. Gratify your inner chef as Nonna teaches you the art of hand-cut pastas, or get pampered like Roman royalty with a massage using rosemary and olive oil from groves at your Tuscan hideaway. In Italy’s best hotels, every detail is bellissimo.

Whether conjuring visions of Venetian opulence or rolling-hill retreats and dips in the clear-blue Mediterranean, Italy is an eternal fixture on our list of must-do Europe as well as yours. Let readers’ votes in T+L’s annual World’s Best Awards survey uncover the cobbled paths and meandering canals to the best hotels in Italy

World's Best Hotels

You’re lounging in an airy villa—with rain showers and a plunge pool fed by natural hot springs—in the Costa Rican rainforest. A personal host tends to your every need, whether arranging a wildlife-spotting hike or a private yoga lesson in the open-air studio. It’s just another unforgettable day at Nayara Springs, one of the top-rated hotels.

For 19 years and counting, we’ve asked T+L readers to vote for their favorite hotels and resorts, evaluating them in categories like value, food, service, rooms, and location. More than just a list of the best properties, the World’s Best Awards results also highlight bigger travel trends—including where you, as a community, are going.

A significant number of this year’s winners are close to home, with the share of U.S. properties growing by more than 19 percent over last year. Three of the top 10 hotels overall are in the U.S.—in 2013, there were none. Triple Creek Ranch, in Darby, MT, holds the No. 1 spot; Ocean House, in Watch Hill, RI, is No. 5, followed by the Langham Chicago at No. 6.

Chicago has a prominent place among large urban hotels (100 rooms or more) in the U.S., with four of the top 10, while Charleston, SC, dominates the category of urban hotels with fewer than 100 rooms.

The total number of Caribbean properties also doubled over last year, yet readers are still finding time to visit far-flung places. A third of the top 50 hotels are in Australia, Africa, and Asia. Notably, Southern Ocean Lodge, on Australia’s Kangaroo Island, comes in at No. 4 overall. South Africa and Udaipur, India, each have two top-10 properties, including, respectively, Singita Sabi Sand (up to No. 7 from last year’s No. 10 spot) and Taj Lake Palace (No. 10, up from No. 29).

Of course, you’ll also find plenty of world-class options in European destinations—Paris, Budapest, Florence, you name it—plus dream-worthy resorts in Mexico and Hawaii.

We dare you to read about the World’s Best Hotel winners and not immediately start planning your next getaway.

World's Best Hotels 2

How does a hotel brand renowned for service and tradition remain relevant with business travelers who prioritize savvy design and digital tools as much as grand cru Darjeeling tea?

For Ritz-Carlton, it begins with a new design ethos that puts an emphasis on chic, modern aesthetics with a strong sense of place. Take, for example, the recently opened Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto, which combines panoramic views of the Kamagawa river and Higashiyama mountains with a Meiji-style minimalism in the natural-wood interiors.

At the same time, new club floors in cities such as Tianjin, China, are offering apartment-like ambience and amenities (residential kitchens; TV rooms; reading salons) to help business travelers feel rooted while abroad.

These features helped Ritz-Carlton secure the No. 1 ranking among hotel brands in the Best in Business Travel survey conducted by Travel + Leisure and Fortune. Kimpton, lauded for its customer service, and Fairmont were also among the top-scoring brands.

Respondents generally noted that the cost and speed of Wi-Fi is one of the most frustrating parts of staying at a hotel, while late checkout and early check-in are some of the most valuable amenities a hotel can offer.

On the digital front, Ritz-Carlton has relaunched its app, which now handles mobile check-in/checkout as well as housekeeping and valet service requests at properties throughout the Americas.

The company is also testing ordering in-room and poolside dining via the app—an attractive option for today’s DIY-minded business traveler

America's Best Coffee Cities

When they took a train trip along the West Coast a few years ago, Stephanie Mantello and her husband got off at Portland on a mission.

It was for coffee.

“We sprinted off the train with only a 45-minute stop to get a coffee at Stumptown,” says the Sydney-based travel blogger. “It was well worth the potential of missing the train.”

Like many travelers, Mantello loves to try local java in a new place. And no surprise, Portland, OR—home of famed roaster Stumptown—was yet again in the running this year for the top city for coffee among Travel +Leisurereaders. In the America’s Favorite Places survey, readers voted on the most magnetic features of major metro areas, from the quality of local coffee to the live-music scene.

Among the top-rated coffee cities, it’s easy to explore the growing trend toward highly customized—and often very creative—cups of joe. In Nashville, you can take short classes to discern the differences between a cup made by a pour-over or AeroPress. In Providence, you can learn to appreciate the finer points of coffee milk, Rhode Island’s official state drink. And in Atlanta, one of the most popular iced coffees blends espresso with another traditional local drink—Coca-Cola.

Such nuances in the coffee experience means that coffee lovers can savor their Slayer-brewed espresso the way wine lovers might sniff and swirl a Cabernet. Jeremy Applebaum, a real estate broker from Overland, KS, admits to being a purist when he samples coffee. “I find that if a black coffee is stellar—sans milk or sugar—then it’s truly a great place for coffee.” And, he adds, “you know it’s a great cup of coffee when you think about it all day.”

Find out where to get your fix in the best coffee cities across the country—and make your opinions heard by voting in the America’s Favorite Places survey.