City Breaks from Your Holiday City
Whether you’re looking for a whistle-stop weekend hop or a more languid, leisurely stay, breaking away from the annual city holiday. There are the old favourites, of course - Napa, Amsterdam, Rome—but there’s a clutch of more offbeat places, too, with a fresh dynamism and a new wave of hotels. Some of the best city breaks around the world are packed with cultural splendour, others are known for their smart boutiques and world-class fashion scenes, while the rest come with a sweep of golden sand. They’re all quick to get to from London, Paris, New York, wherever you’ll be put up; so, here’s our pick of the best city breaks around the globe.
If you're in London, you can visit Estelle Manor in the Cotswolds
Hospitality titan Sharan Pasricha’s acquisition of this Jacobethan hall with parkland on the cusp of the Cotswolds has heralded a glamorous new dawn – and created an outpost for Mayfair members’ club Maison Estelle. The 108 rooms and suites are split between the main house, kitchen-garden blocks, Scandinavian-styled woodland cottages and handsome private homes. In spite of the upholstered silk furniture, Persian rugs, and antiques, accommodations feel pared down and modern. Everything here celebrates the good life.
If you're in Paris, you can visit Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes
Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc has welcomed cultural and literary elite—and the fashionable set more generally—since 1870. Picasso, Chagall, Elizabeth Taylor, the Kennedys—they’ve all called this secluded retreat their temporary abode. For today’s traveler, hotel highlights include restaurants led by Executive Chef Sébastien Broda, the Dior Spa Eden Roc, and private villa rentals. Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc holds a certain allure, hearkening back to another golden age of the French Riviera, while staying relevant and ever-chic for its future.
If you're in New York, you can visit The Reform Club in Amagansett
Take a break from the hustle and bustle of New York City and drive up to the Hamptons where The Reform Club creates the space for change through peaceful rest and time to read and walk; time to see the ocean, breathe the sea air, clear your mind and build memories. With three renovated cottages and the four-bedroom 21 House, The Reform Club also has verdant gardens, s’mores over a firepit in the evenings, and access to Louis Vuitton’s summery white Moke, should you need to pick up a tote on the way to the beach.
If you're in Madrid, you can visit Hotel Cezar Lanzarote in Las Palmas
On the slopes of Los Volcanoes Natural Park and La Geria, an area known for its volcanic landscapes, César Lanzarote sits alongside the coast near Puerto Calero. Now, naming a hotel after Lanzarote’s greatest art and design icon – then building it in his father’s former home – is a bold move. But this property is an unapologetic love letter to César Manrique, the architect and activist who art-directed Lanzarote with his style of whitewashed volcanic modernism. The hotel houses 20 rooms amid an estate of vineyards, all different. While all have views of the ocean or the volcanoes (or both); 13 of them have private terraces - each with its distinct personality. This is art and nature in an immaculate union: Manrique would surely approve.
If you're in San Francisco, you can visit Dawn Ranch in Guerneville
Over the past few years, long-bohemian Sonoma has seen a handful of splashy, big hotel openings that make the area feel like it’s headed in the same way as ritzy neighbouring Napa. Dawn Ranch is not one of those openings – in the best, most magical way possible. The cabins, cottages and glamping-style tents are spread out across the retreat’s 22 riverside acres punctuated by ancient giant redwoods, grassy meadows and a century-old apple orchard. From the minute you step on site, there’s a clear invitation to slow down and take in the surrounding nature. Dawn Ranch is the rare property that makes it easy to relax, truly befitting its idyllic setting.
