In the kingdom of Bhutan, &Beyond Punakha River Lodge amps up the nation’s happiness index. The pioneering conservation safari company known for some of Africa’s most admired camps and lodges (Sandibe, Tengile, Grumeti Serengeti) chose the Land of the Thunder Dragon for its first foray into Asia and now confidently stakes its place in the region.

The property

Once the holiday home of a Bhutanese royal, the property has been transformed into an 18-guest sanctuary with 52 staff. The lodge is nestled among the rice paddies and mountains and offers six tented suites, a two-bedroom villa and duplex riverside house. The bulk of its 20 hectares has been handed over to its village neighbours to grow rice and vegetables for lodge guests and for themselves.

Staying here feels thoroughly authentic, from the traditional architecture of rough stone and ornate timber lintels to the lush setting and deep valley views of the Himalaya, best appreciated from a poolside sun lounge, the yoga pavilion or the terrace of the three-room spa. Interiors are unmistakably Bhutanese in their embrace of indigenous textiles, brass work and bamboo matting – with blue poppies, the national flower, embroidered liberally throughout. Spaces are also five-star comfortable, with daybeds and balcony sofas, deep baths, outdoor showers and extensive minibars. 

Lodge cuisine balances international and local fare. At breakfast, try the ultimate comfort food of kewa datshi – stewed potato and cheese. Dinner could be jasha maru chicken stew or ema datshi, the national dish of braised chilli and melted cheese. At other equally delicious times there’ll be spiced beef tagine, chicken mole and chocolate mousse, always served by South African executive chef Rudolf van der Westhuizen as share plates so that everyone has a taste of everything.

With its views over the Ara Coeli church and Piazza del Campidoglio – for centuries Rome’s geographical and political centre – The Terraces at the Capitoline tempts those who might daydream about starring in their own Italian film. 

The Service

The Terraces – a multi-level, two-bedroom penthouse in the heart of the city – comes with a private concierge and a personal chef who slips in to make you breakfast each morning (any worries about letting a stranger into your private sanctuary disappear once you’ve tasted chef Paolo’s homemade apricot jam).

Lined with busts of emperors, the property’s rooftop dining room is made for sybaritic feasts. With its marble floor and antique Japanese lacquered cabinets, the lounge could have hosted a cocktail party in La Grande Bellezza, the ultimate movie about Roman decadence (the mirrored bar that opens to reveal a bathroom would definitely have featured). And as for the master bedroom, with its silk-draped four-poster bed and huge oil paintings of nymphs and courtesans – well, you don’t need much imagination to write your own script there.

The American sustainable-luxury brand’s first foray into Europe occupies one of London’s most deluxe addresses: right in the middle of Piccadilly – the terrace off Room 710 overlooks the famous thoroughfare – and a stroll to Buckingham Palace.

 The décor

There are some 1300 plants throughout the property, including Rainforest, a living “chandelier” of Spanish moss that hangs in the lobby. Despite its location, surrounded by the noise and hustle of the capital, there’s a hushed, soothing calmness to the property and not just because almost every flat surface in the lobby is dressed in neutral-hued soft furnishings. Even the café, where you can pick up a matcha latte on your way out, feels more like a zen yoga studio than a bustling takeaway coffee shop, with its artful mosaic installation fashioned from rubbish fished out of the ocean off Kent.

Tucked away near bustling Orchard Road, the latest addition to Edition’s global portfolio has recruited a star chef to helm its in-house restaurant.

The dining

Getting a scale-to-tail menu noticed in food-obsessed Singapore, where fish head curry is something of a national dish, is no mean feat. But if anyone is up to the challenge, it’s no-to-low-waste seafood pioneer Josh Niland. The Sydneysider’s first international restaurant, Fysh, sits under fluted ceilings, ensconced in a jungle of potted palms. Niland’s menu retains his signature restraint; what follows a sambal-slathered Abrolhos Island scallop is a parade of subtly delicious dishes, from fish bone noodles in a rich crab soup to a dry-aged yellowfin tuna steak, served with a dab of Café de Paris butter. Even the creamy yellowfin tuna eye ice-cream and Valrhona macaron arrives as is, no theatrics in sight.

Much like Niland’s dishes, few elements shout in this Safdie Architects-designed hotel. Apart from the conservatory of more than 300 palms and ferns and the transparent oculus above the courtyard that gives a glimpse into the rooftop pool, the property’s interiors speak in a whisper. The guestrooms are monastically white and there’s no art on the ground floor, only the curves of Venetian plaster walls and occasional pops of energetic pink and celestial gold.

The Edition’s signature Le Labo scent is gently smokey, gently sweet and gently diffused throughout. The cream-coloured passages of the spa are labyrinthine – in the dim, hazy light, you’ll find spaces to dissolve into, from relaxation rooms to saunas and hydrotherapy areas.

Any New Yorker who’s ever veered upstate knows that there’s no shortage of picturesque country stays in the area. But Wildflower Farms, part of the Auberge Hotel Collection and a 90-minute drive from Manhattan in the Hudson Valley, is more than a pretty picture.

The service

During check-in, a front-desk attendant is likely to ask if you’d like to participate in a ritual hand-washing ceremony over at the farm sink in the lobby. As the eucalyptus scrub and lavender soap suds up and swirls down the drain, the simple act seems significant: washing away the grime of the city and starting anew. Each night at turndown, guests can expect a surprise on the nightstand, be it a piece of eucalyptus paired with a printed card of breathing exercises or a stress-relieving salve. Service is an art form here – you’ll never have to wait for a drink, dish, piece of luggage or for your car to be driven up. Yes, the limewashed Ward + Gray-designed cottages and the sight of Shawangunk Ridge rising behind the property are picturesque. But it’s what you can’t see that makes Wildflower Farms so special.

The sprawling resort is divided into 65 standalone wood-and-steel-beam cabins and suites – not uncommon in the district, though few have as many – but it’s also a working farm. When you’re not lazing on your velvet window seat you can mingle with the farm’s donkeys and sheep, or wake up early to gather eggs from the chicken coop (bring your harvest to the restaurant for breakfast and the chef will cook them for you). The spoils of an afternoon spent wandering through the wildflower meadow will reappear at that night’s botanical-cocktail-making class, where you’ll discover that native rosemary makes a fragrant base for a sundowner sipped by the open-air lobby’s firepit.

Attached to the main building is Clay restaurant, where you can devour a cinnamon roll slathered in cream cheese icing before enjoying a freshly made kale, cucumber, lemon and apple juice to start your day. At night, drink orange wine by the open kitchen, dunking pieces of warm milk bread into brie fondue. From the peppery bucatini to the bavette steak, dishes here are uncomplicated yet refined, especially the brûléed banana drizzled with caramel and served with fior di latte.

This intimate tented stay in southern Peru offers a hotel experience quite unlike any other. It’s located at an altitude of 3400 metres above sea level (more than 1000 metres higher than anywhere in Australia) and you’re likely to spot more alpacas than humans on your journey from Lima.

The property

There are just four individually appointed safari tents (carpas) and four circular adobe villas (pircas), each overlooking terraced fields of corn and potato that appear to plunge into Colca Canyon, the deepest chasm in the Americas. The lavish lodgings at Puqio evoke a past era of Andean exploration when adventurers, such as American archaeologist Hiram Bingham, went in search of The Lost City of the Incas. Other mood-setting touches include chic canvas camp chairs on every private deck, a hand-drawn canyon map on the desk and a tin mug and thermos for afternoon tea. Decorated with antique Peruvian carpets and safari-style closets and with views across the canyon to the distant Sabancaya Volcano, the tents also boast outdoor tubs where a night-time soak lets you search the skies, as the Incas did, for the starry cobwebs of the Milky Way.

Staff outnumber the maximum of 18 guests and anticipate every need. For example, should a cold front blow through the area, it’s expertly managed by the delivery of an alpaca wool beanie (on the house) and logs crackling in the fireplace as night sets in. When the sun plunges behind the Andes each evening, staff appear on the boardwalks, candle lanterns aloft, lighting the way to and from the restaurant. “We want guests to feel like they’re at home,” chef Roli Jara Antaurco explains. “In the restaurant, that means sharing plates.” He prepares family-style dishes in cast-iron skillets, using fire and a traditional clay oven to whip up elaborate five-course tasting menus with themes such as “Andean lake fish” and “An homage to quinoa”. These indulgent meals – along with the paired wines from Chile and Argentina – are all included in the rate, as is the transfer from Arequipa, which is just over three hours away via a high-altitude mountain pass (and a 90-minute flight from Lima).

Explore pre-Inca ruins, geothermal baths and hair-raising Colca cliffs where condors surf thermal waves up canyon walls. You’ll have a knowledgeable guide and affable driver at your side – all included in the price of your stay.

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