The Best New Sustainable Hotels in the World: 2021 Hot List
This year’s annual Hot List of the best new hotels from around the world is a story of resilience. Despite enormous hardship in the travel industry, exceptional properties have continued to open across the globe (nearly a thousand last year in the U.S. alone). As always with this endeavor, each of the 69 picks on this year’s list was safely vetted by our international network of correspondents. But as we’ve learned in the past year, everything is connected, which is why we’ve also expanded the scope of hot to include restaurants, transportation, and destinations, as well as more news we’re excited about set for later this year. In spite of it all, these 16 sustainable hotels represent a success story all their own. We think they’re a pretty great way to mark the 25th anniversary of this list.
Clear here to see the entire Hot List for 2021.
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Kyle Knodell/Courtesy The Rockaway HotelhotelThe Rockaway Hotel
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Hot List 2021The Rockaway, when it was announced, seemed to be a tall order: a hip, boutique hotel in the heart of a community beach enclave (the Irish pub across the street is family-run and full of regulars). The community was skeptical; do we need to be bringing in weekenders from the city and farther afield? For them, The Rockaways has everything they need. But the owners—local boys done good in Manhattan—knew they could bring a cool hotel to the area that would both serve visitors and the community. The result? Sunny, blonde wood rooms and a chic poolside bistro all a few blocks from the beach. Indeed, judging from the number of locals who come in for breakfast, a bite, to say hi, or grab a coffee throughout the day, they've pulled it off. And the beleaguered guests coming in for short- or long-term stays, ready to plotz by the pool with a book, hit the rooftop bar for a drink, and join those locals with regular fitness classes, not to mention walk the boardwalk one block over, too. The Rockaway Hotel is bringing something new to the community—without replacing anything it already has. From $300 per night. —Corina Quinn
- Tomohiro Sakashitahotel
Azumi Setoda
$$$ | Hot List 2021A sliding door in a jigsaw of dark timber beneath waves of gray roof tiles is the quiet arrival to Azumi Setoda. Located on an island famed for its lemons in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, it’s as understated and exquisitely executed as you’d expect from Adrian Zecha, original Aman founder and godfather of hotel minimalism. The first opening for his new Azumi brand, co-created with Naru Developments, it aims to reinvent Japan’s traditional ryokan for contemporary times. Azumi Setoda has taken over a 140-year-old residence with a pared back modern renovation by Kyoto-based architect Shiro Miura. Doors open onto an intimate lobby, with exposed timber and a wall of sea blue plasterwork. The loosely communal restaurant is a central hub—citrus fruits piled high in ceramic dishes—surrounded by wooden tables, where chefs serve modern Japanese dishes with a Silk Road edge (from octopus sashimi to coriander and tofu), tapping into the island’s shipping route heritage. An inner garden is wrapped in 20-foot tall fences known as kakine— a signature design feature of interlocked cedar wood—showcasing a cherry tree and curved pines. Nearby is Azumaya—a meditative space on the site of the family’s teahouse, glass walls overlooking a fenced garden of exotic foliage. The 22 guest rooms are no less serene with light cypress and paper screens; low white beds; and hinoki bathtubs. But it’s no bubble: Azumi is rooted in community, reflected not only in activities (from lemon picking to Zen temple meditations) and local projects (the hotel repaved the main street). It’s perhaps best embodied by Yubune, its sleek new sento bathhouse, just opposite, where guests and locals can soak together in steaming pools, lemons bobbing on the surface. Rooms from $640. —Danielle Demetriou
- Courtesy Xigera Safari Lodgehotel
Xigera Safari Lodge
$$$ | Hot List 2021 
Readers' Choice Awards 2022Sustainable, sophisticated safari camps in the Okavango Delta are nothing new, and then along came Xigera ticking boxes nobody had ever imagined. Take the triple-story, off-grid treehouse with an open-air rooftop bed, 33 feet high. It’s a star bed that doubles as a monumental baobab sculpture, one of many flights of fancy brought to life in the biggest, most ambitious African art collection ever commissioned in one hit for a single property. Toni Tollman, design custodian for her family’s collection of boutique hotels, collaborated with Southern Guild, the contemporary design gallery in Cape Town, to commission 80 artists, artisans, crafters, and designers from across Africa to produce a living gallery in the remote Moremi Game Reserve. It includes furniture sculpted on site from fallen trees and bespoke crockery collections by some of the continent’s edgiest ceramicists. Inspirational cues for everything from the bird-in-flight shape of the tented camp’s roofs to the lily pad design of the bronze-cast shower floors came from the bristling-with-life surroundings. Beyond its disruptive design, there’s no doubt that Xigera is the work of experienced, worldly hoteliers. The fastidious eye that tweaked every last detail in the 12 guest suites; the rosy glow emanating from the extravagantly embellished Ardmore bedside lamps; the deep-buttoned glamour of the clubby bar; menus that include lamb rogan josh but also plant-slant wholesomeness; and the first spa in Africa to offer organic, farm-to-face Tata Harper remedies. Xigera is a triumph not because it delivers on all fronts, including all-day, up-close animal sightings, or because it has the latest in Tesla solar-hybrid energy technology. What you’ll remember long after you’ve been delivered back to the airstrip by your private guide in a matte-cream vehicle is the largely Batswana staff, their warmth and enthusiasm more valuable than any of the heirloom art. From about $2,647 per person. —Jane Broughton
- Courtesy Es Racó D’artàhotel
Es Racó D’artà
$$$ | Hot List 2021Architect and designer Antoni Esteva and his long-time builder and associate Jaume Dalmau are behind some of Mallorca’s most fascinating hotel projects, but this is their best yet. The traditional possessió, or estate, sprawls over 568 acres of glorious countryside in the island’s pristine, out-of-the-way northeast corner, with elements of monastic refuge, farm stay, nature reserve, and exclusive rural hideaway. The property’s core building, a fine Mallorcan mansion whose foundations date from the 13th century, has a fortress-like air. “Rustic minimalism” is Esteva’s stock-in-trade. This strikes first in the whitewashed interior, the predominant use of wood and natural fibers, and the total absence of clutter. Fine contemporary art hangs on the walls and locally-made craft objects are artfully positioned (a hat on a hook, a basket in a corner)—but the rest is silence. All-around wellness is the root of a stay. There is no computer screen on the plain wooden slab that serves as a reception desk, and, perhaps controversially, the mobile phone signal is deliberately blocked in all public spaces. Esteva knows that lip-service to green values simply won’t do anymore—the commitment to sustainability is across the board, and almost everything is biodegradable, locally-sourced, and organic, while the estate has its own biomass plant, solar and geothermal energy, and ecological water-treatment system. Fruit and vegetables, honey, olive oil, and wine comes from its vineyard. Commercial fizzy drinks are banned from the property; natural infusions and kombuchas are offered instead. If all this might sound too worthy and austere to be truly comfortable, the effect of a few days here is one of deep, transformative relaxation. Es Racó is somewhere, hopes its creator, from which you’ll emerge a changed person. From $630 per night. —Paul Richardson
- Courtesy Marataba Conservation Campshotel
Marataba Conservation Camps
$$ | Hot List 2021This private-public collaboration with state-owned Marakele National Park is South Africa’s biodiversity hotspot you’ve never heard of, yet Marataba’s sustainable conservation model, since replicated across Africa, was endorsed by the late, visionary Nelson Mandela. Rhino, large elephant herds, big cats, pangolin, and prolific birdlife—it’s all here along with the hypnotic beauty of the 2.5 billion-year-old Waterberg escarpment. Water seeps from ancient aquifers deep within its sedimentary rock, spilling into gorges and converging into rivers with deep Coke-colored pools. Wild swimming, hiking, and overnight fly camping, all led by seasoned guides, will make any post-lockdown spirit soar. With the opening of Founders and Explorers camps in this 56,834-acre private concession, the idea of a conventional safari (twice-daily game drives) sounds old hat. While each booking with Marataba Conservation Camps comes with a private 4x4 and guide for guaranteed animal viewing, it’s when you get off the vehicle to participate in rhino notching, game counts, camera trap monitoring, snare patrols, or learn to use telemetry to locate a collared cheetah, that the fun begins. How you spend your time in camp depends on which one you book and the time of year. The four suites at Founders are right on the river, while the six-tented Explorers overlooks a very busy waterhole. Either way, you’ll feel part of the gang rubbing shoulders with the conservation team over lunch, from the vet to the head of anti-poaching, while tucking into venison pie and Ottolenghi-style salads from the community garden outside the park gate. From about $374 per person per night. —Jane Broughton
- Courtesy Habitas Namibiahotel
Habitas Namibia
$$$ | Hot List 2021 Readers' Choice Awards 2022On this 120,000-acre private estate, 15 tented solar-powered suites are scattered across a kopje (a small hill) that overlooks plains of camel-thorn acacias and twisted shepherd trees. Habitas, known for its community-minded retreat in Tulum, effortlessly moves guests’ focus among culture, well-being, and breathtaking natural surroundings. Head ranger Matheus Amunyela and guide Paulus Kambathi sit together in the jeep, taking turns discussing the wildlife, trees, herbs and their traditional uses. Safaris can include stories from Kambathi, a Khwe guide, and Perry Uatokuja, a Himba ranger, as well as healing experiences like a sound bath by a watering hole or yoga where a curious giraffe may wander by. You’ll also find white rhinos, hippos, and zebras; leopards and cheetahs are hard, but not impossible, to spot. The day might end with a bush braai, or cookout, and a drumming circle, or a tranquil new-moon meditation after the sun goes down.
- Courtesy One&Only Mandarinahotel
One&Only Mandarina
$$$ | Hot List 2021 Readers' Choice Awards 2022, 2023This glossy, globetrotting hotel group might pick up new destinations as if they were passport stamps, but each is uniquely rooted in place. Here, along the Riviera Nayarit on the wild Pacific coast, that means drawing deeply on Mexico’s magic, with considered references to the Indigenous Cora and Huichol people. Bedrooms, whether oversized treehouses or ocean-facing villas, are a celebration of local culture, from the traditional textiles and pottery to the robes by contemporary Mexico-based label Candor. The spa, set in a natural volcanic-rock garden, is based on ancient healing practices and offers treatments including temazcal sweat-lodge rituals. The hotel has also tapped the country’s top chef, Enrique Olvera—of Mexico City’s Pujol—for Carao, where feasts begin with fresh ceviche and end on homemade cinnamon buñuelos. Meanwhile Alma, an open-air, garden-to-plate spot helmed by French-Mexican Olivier Deboise, is centered around wood-fired, Pan-American-meets-Mediterranean dishes. It might be a step up from the surf hotels down the road, but one that still feels very much in step with Nayarit’s spirit.
- Richard Seldomridge/Courtesy Kinship Landinghotel
Kinship Landing
$ | Hot List 2021“The people make the place.” It’s a sentiment a hotelier would usually express about a beloved, attentive staff. When Kinship Landing founder Bobby Mikulas says it though, that’s not what he’s talking about at all. Within its first months of opening, Kinship is already a true meeting place for both members of its Colorado Springs community and hotel guests, and it is facilitating the kinds of serendipitous moments between strangers that all but disappeared from hotel lobbies during 2020. At any given time, the population of the first floor is evenly split between guests and locals, more likely to be chatting over a hand pie than facedown in a laptop. The rooms embrace an everything-you-need-nothing-you-don’t ethos that Mikulas fell in love with during travels through Europe—built-in blond wood cubbies and shelves for stowing luggage and gear, sliding glass doors that open out toward the Garden of the Gods, and fiber optic internet that may be the fastest of any hotel in the country. And while the beds (including the bunks in the six hostel-style rooms) envelop you in a way that you might want to sleep until noon, the rest of the spartan private spaces nudge you downstairs to the greenhouse or outside to explore the nearby mountains. Kinship is a welcome addition to an increasingly energetic Colorado Springs, a city that has quietly amassed the largest growth of Millennials anywhere in the country over the last couple years. And the young families and adventurers you’ll meet milling around the hotel are a perfect encapsulation of a visit to the city. Rooms from $160. —Noah Kaufman
- Courtesy Villa Copenhagenhotel
Villa Copenhagen
$ | Hot List 2021 Readers' Choice Awards 2021, 2023Undoubtedly the most significant opening in Denmark, if not all of Scandinavia, within the past year. Even pre-pandemic it was a bold move by owner Petter Stordalen, nicknamed the king of hotels, to spend four years and $275 million transforming the country’s former post-office headquarters. Adjacent to the Tivoli Gardens and Central Station, it is a 390-room statement property with a rooftop pool, in-house bakery, restaurants and bars. The redesign preserved the hefty marble columns, stucco ceilings and oak staircases of the original neo-baroque structure, and combined a sedate palette with quirky contemporary happenings, such as a pop-up piercing parlor in the lobby. Perhaps its greatest trick is to conjure such an exclusive atmosphere at a relatively reasonable price point, which has helped to turn the glass-ceilinged atrium into a destination in its own right. As Stordalen says, it could never have been created from scratch—it is rather the glorious rebirth of a forgotten landmark. From $220 per night. —Michael Booth
- Courtesy Gravity Haus Vailhotel
Gravity Haus Vail
$ | Hot List 2021The second property from hotel-meets-membership club Gravity Haus is an elevated adventure base camp for the work-hard, play-hard crowd that has outgrown van life or packing into a seasonal rental home. The hotel took over the former Vail Mountain Lodge in the heart of Vail Village; an enviable location year-round that puts skiers and boarders, hikers and mountain bikers steps from the mountain’s Golden Peak base area. You do not need to be a member to stay here, but members have access to the gym and co-working space as well as rate breaks on gear rentals, ski lockers, and the 20 guest rooms, which have a mountain vibe without falling into the predictable alpine tropes (think glossy landscape photographs against sage green walls instead of faux fur and antlers). The club component means that out-of-towners are always mingling with locals, and the unparalleled access to the slopes means that there’s always an interesting cross-section of guests. Especially come happy hour at the Slope Room, the hotel’s sexy bar-restaurant, where the late 20s to early 50s crowd is a mix of local ski bums, Denver techies working remotely, and vacationers all kicking back on the blue-velvet banquettes with old fashioneds and bottles of small-batch Oregon pinot while snacking on Korean fried chicken wings and charcuterie boards. Rooms from $209. —Jen Murphy
- Cremerius/Courtesy Forestishotel
Forestis
$$ | Hot List 2021Over a century ago, some hale and hearty Austro-Hungarian doctors realized that the south-facing slope of South Tyrol's Plose mountain was a particularly pleasant place to be. They didn’t delay in planning a sturdy wooden sanatorium for ailing people to come and soak up the sunshine and pure spring water. But as maps were redrawn and national allegiances shifted, it was almost forgotten. Until 2000, when hill-walking hotelier Alois Hinteregger spotted the building’s moss-covered roof hidden among the conifers. Now under the direction of his son Stefan and his partner Teresa Unterthiner, it has become a slick spa hotel. What’s most striking is the freshness of the property, fitted out in pine and larch, glass and stone: the air has the lung-clearing quality of a sauna; every gaze is directed to the snow-ringed fangs of the surrounding peaks. The wellness side of things is also nature-focused, with massages using evergreen wood and guided forest walks for barefoot meditation. “People are no longer looking for marble bathrooms and gold-plated taps,” says Unterthiner. “Instead they are seeking the simple, the original. It might just be a campfire where we sit and chat.” This turns out to be a fire-pit that’s lit every night for herb-spiked cocktails under the stars, rounding off a feast of beef tartare, nettle dumplings, and cured river trout in the peachy light of the amphitheater-style restaurant—that view is forever giving curtain calls. Doubles from about $470. —Grainne McBride
- Courtesy Paradero Todos Santoshotel
Paradero Todos Santos
$$$ | Hot List 2021 Readers' Choice Awards 2023Though experience-based lodgings are old news in countries throughout South America and Africa, Paradero claims to be the first hotel brand to introduce the model to Mexico. Located on a previously unused 5.5-acre plot within a farming community in Baja California Sur’s Todos Santos, it’s become the mission of Mexico City-based founders Pablo Carmona and Joshua Kremer to preserve the over 160 acres of family-owned farms that surround the property. The resort, set in front of a palm tree oasis about 20 minutes from the beach, is made up of a series of brutalist-inspired structures designed by architects Ruben Valdez and Yashar Yektajo. They took note of the landscape’s sunbaked hues and designed the property in golden shades to blend into the sandy natural surrounds. The buildings’ desert tones also allow the plants in the resort’s 100,000-square-foot botanical garden to pop: red sand verbena, Mojave yucca, and Shaw’s agave. Though the resort’s outdoor spa and half-moon shaped infinity pool make it hard to leave the grounds, it would be a shame to miss out on guided hikes through cactus fields to reach the deserted Las Palmas beach, taco tours of the best local spots in Todos Santos, or private surf lessons. The hotel has custom boards positioned in the open-air living room, an airy sanctuary where guests kick back and relax post-adventure in anticipation of seafood-centric meals prepared by chef Eduardo Ríos, an alum of Enrique Olvera’s Mexico City restaurant, Pujol. Rooms from $550. —Michaela Trimble
- Damir Fabijanić/Courtesy Maslina Resorthotel
Maslina Resort
$$ | Hot List 2021The glitzy town of Hvar, on the Croatian island of the same name, isn’t exactly a new discovery as far as Euro hot spots go. But the UNESCO-protected Stari Grad (Old Town) is still low-key; just a short walk from the Maslina Resort, it’s a classy antidote to its high-wattage sibling, now overrun by yachters. Blend quietly polished design with a laid-back Mediterranean attitude and you get this 52-room hideout, distinguished by the larch-wood façade of its main pavilion that rises from one of the Aleppo pine forests that edge the Adriatic. Rooms highlight local stone from nearby Brač island, and tawny iroko wood and brushed-brass fixtures pop against a mellow palette of grays and greens, bringing the tones and textures of the surrounding rocky coastline, olive trees, and sage bushes indoors. The spa pulls from the surroundings, too, with gardento- skin treatments, as does the restaurant where chef Patricia Yeo (previously spotted on Iron Chef and Top Chef Masters) plucks sun-drunk tomatoes and edible flowers from the organic garden and taps local cheesemongers and fishermen for the Med-inspired dishes on her rotating menu. This is a new direction for party-hard Hvar, one that seems to channel just what everyone is craving. From $350 per night. —Anja Mutic
- Christian Horan Photographyhotel
Montage Healdsburg
$$$ | Hot List 2021 Readers' Choice Awards 2021, 2022, 2023Northern California’s wine country retreats often model themselves on faraway places; destinations with longer traditions and more Old World gravitas. This is too bad, because their location, between the Pacific and the Mayacamas Mountains, is pure magic, and by this point on the domestic-wine timeline, there’s no need to apologize for who you are. This is why the arrival of Montage’s first property in the region, and Sonoma’s first large-scale luxury resort, is so exciting. It celebrates its own landscape, leaving the 22,000 live oaks in place and pulling a palette of dun and moss from the surrounding sun-soaked vineyards. The resort acknowledges that, as recent wildfires have shown, this is fragile terrain: Its 130 Cali-modern rooms are raised, to disturb the land as little as possible. The restaurant offers a bounty of Sonoma’s best, with everything—from the Pliny the Elder IPA to the lamb shank—sourced from within miles. And the local sixth-generation vintners who frequent the sprawling patio bar are happy to remind you that there is, in fact, plenty of history in these parts. Rooms from $995. —Rebecca Misner
- Courtesy Cielo Lodgehotel
Cielo Lodge
$$ | Hot List 2021The first thing you’ll notice from this 1,600-foot-high eco-lodge emerging from thick Costa Rican jungles are the views. They stretch over neighboring Corcovado National Park, the country's largest, and out to the Pacific. It means there's always something to catch your eye from the open-air terrace of its six suites (and reason to order pots of hot local coffee for breakfast each morning to your room). But the whole point of being down here is to get into the thick of it all, and the team here can assemble whale watching tours, hiking trips, and private surf lessons down the hill at Pavones. You’ll find inspiration on what to do each night at Sunset Bar, where guests chit-chat about their day over piña coladas while the sun disappears into the ocean; good luck not booking the excursion to the tiny island of Puntarenitas when you hear all about its barefoot restaurants and swimming coves. Though the real draw may be the mission of the lodge itself. Dedicated to preserving Costa Rica’s rainforests, Cielo’s owners have already planted over 4,000 hardwood and fruit trees, bringing birds and mammals back to the area in a larger way. Along with the birdsong from the jungle, such knowledge can help each guest sleep just a little more soundly. From $486 per night. —Caryn Davis
- Courtesy The Lake House on Canandaiguahotel
The Lake House on Canandaigua
$ | Hot List 2021Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region, a nine-county sweep of state parks and small towns, forests and farmland, has pulled vacationing families and nature lovers to its 11 slender, digit-like lakes for more than a century. But it's really only over the past decade that the area has come into its own as one of the country’s top wine regions, pulling a new crew of savvy visitors who come as much for the local vintages as for the Walden-esque natural setting. The newly reimagined Lake House resort on the north end of Lake Canandaigua, one of the loveliest (and toniest) corners of upstate, sits at the intersection of old guard and new. The expansive compound of recently built white gabled structures on the site of a former roadside motel retains some of the old local flavor but is casually upscale enough for well-heeled weekenders from Toronto and New York City. Rooms have a New England resort feel—plenty of white painted wood and four poster beds—and the food is excellent: the lively The Sands turns out the perfect lobster roll alongside potent classic cocktails while the more upscale Rose Tavern taps into the area’s local bounty. But, truth be told, you’re there for the lake: To watch it go from blue to pink-gold from the Adirondack chair on your balcony, to head out for the afternoon in a canoe with a picnic lunch, and to listen to it settle for the night from a shorefront fire pit as you toast marshmallows or sip a local off-dry Riesling—or, better yet, do both. Rooms from $250. —Jesse Ashlock