1 Lion Sands, South Africa
Africa abounds with safari camps that offer open-air sleeping, but this one at Lion Sands Game Reserve, part of the Kruger National Park in South Africa, has to be one of the best. Climb up the treehouse, built around a 500-year-old leadwood tree, to a large, open-air platform at the top, where you’ll find a five-star bedroom — minus the walls and ceiling. You can enjoy sundowners and dinner up there too. The treehouse was built on the spot where Guy Aubrey Chalkley, a safari-lodge pioneer (and reformed big-game hunter) built his own treehouse to observe wildlife in safety.
Details Six nights’ full board, with flights, from £4,495pp (020-8682 5070, scottdunn.com).
2 Tugu Bali, Bali
Looking for a romantic place to spend the night and gaze at the stars together? Tugu Bali in Canggu, on the southwest coast of the island, offers a “picnic in a bed”: an 18th-century four-poster bed, draped in mosquito nets, set up on the private beach. A gourmet “picnic” is provided, so you can dine by moonlight and watch the waves. Instead of a bedside light you get flickering oil lamps placed in the sand.
Details A week’s B&B at Tugu Bali with Cazenove and Loyd (020-7384 2332, cazloyd.com) costs from £1,420pp, including flights.
3 Maitraya, Australia
For a more conventional experience of the stars, head for Maitraya, a villa perched on a clifftop overlooking the ocean in Albany, a five-hour drive south of Perth, Western Australia. The house, which sleeps up to 16, has a master bedroom with a retractable roof — it’s remote here and there’s no light pollution. Maitraya is an eco-house — it is self-sufficient in solar energy and uses filtered rainwater — set in magnificent natural surroundings, packed with flowers and wildlife (between May and October you can see dolphins, humpback and Southern Right whales from the house).
Details From AUS $2,300 (£1,467) per night for ten people (maitraya.com).
4 Jade Mountain, St Lucia
The suites at the Jade Mountain resort have a startling design: there is no fourth wall, which means that they are permanently open to the balmy summer elements and enjoy enormous views across the Caribbean and the Pitons. By day you can lounge in your own private infinity pool; at night you can retire to bed, with the sea and sky as wallpaper.
Details Prestbury Worldwide Resorts has seven nights’ B&B in a Sky Suite at Jade Mountain from £2,585pp, including flights (in World Traveller with BA) and transfers (01625 858158, prestburyworldwideresorts.co.uk).
5 Soneva Gili, Maldives
When the Maldivian heat gets a bit too much, you can opt to have a bed made up on the open-air roof terrace of your villa at Soneva Gili. The resort, built from wood and thatch in the water, has 45 villas, four restaurants, and a Six Senses Spa. Some villas are reached via jetties, others are standalone and reached by boat.
Details Carrier (0161-492 1358, carrier.co.uk) has seven nights’ B&B departing June 10 from £2,275pp, including flights, a saving of £2,750 per couple.
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6 Baines Camp, Botswana
This camp, which has only five suites, is in the beautiful Okavango Delta, next to the Boro River and the Moremi Game Reserve. It’s relaxed and eco-friendly, with thatched roofs, walls made from recycled drinks cans — and even the plaster made from elephant dung. All the bedrooms have four-poster beds that can be wheeled on to your private deck — complete with mosquito nets. Wake up to the sound of the hippos in the morning.
Details Expert Africa has a six-nights’ full board at Baboon Safari, including three nights at Baines Camp from £4,649pp (020-8232 9777, expertafrica.com).
7 Elqui Valley, Chile
For some serious star watching, head for the Elqui Valley in Chile and the Elqui Domos Astro Hotel. Here you can stay in one of its dome-shaped rooms , which have telescopes and detachable ceilings. There is a guide on hand to show you how to use the telescopes and map the skies.
Details Last Frontiers offers a ten-day trip to Chile, with three nights at the Elqui Domos Astro Hotel, from £2,075pp, including flights (01296 653000, lastfrontiers.com).
8 Flinders Ranges, Australia
Impress your Aussie mates by sleeping outside in a bushman’s “swag” during a walking safari in the beautiful Flinders Ranges, South Australia. The four-day (three-night) guided walk gives you an unrivalled opportunity to see the bush in the raw, learn about its way of life for indigenous people and early settlers and admire its wildlife. A swag is traditionally a bedroll, but your hosts will ensure yours are a little comfier — the swags comprise cotton sheets, pillows, mattresses and duvets, and are set up on wooden decks in permanent camps.
Details Arkaba (www.arkabastation.com) offers a three-night walking safari from £1,279pp including transfers to and from Hawker airport, all meals and drinks, guides and camp gear.
9 Amangiri, US
Rugged desert beauty and sleek, pared-down luxury makes a stay at Amangiri an experience you won’t forget. This 34-room resort, which has a modern design that blends in beautifully with its surroundings, sits in 600 private acres in Canyon Point, Southern Utah, and offers incredible views of the area’s canyons. Two suites have huge private terraces and pools. You can have a bed made up here to spend the night under the desert stars and have breakfast delivered as the sun rises.
Details A pool suite starts at £929pp (00 800 2255 2626, amanresorts.com)
10 Makanyane Lodge, South Africa
Makanyane Lodge, a luxury safari retreat, has several rustic lookouts and hides built in the bush, great spots for observing animals. You can have a bed made up on one of these lookouts, next to a waterhole, so that you can sleep with the sound of the animals around you.
Details Cazenove and Loyd (0207-384 2332, www.cazloyd.com) has five nights at Makanyane, full board, from £2,480 per adult and £1,750 per child, including flight and transfers.
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11 L’Albereta, Italy
Is it ever wise to pay a lot of money to have no roof over your head? Yes, in the case of the Cabriolet Suite at L’Albereta, a Relais & Châteaux property with 57 rooms near Lake Iseo, in northern Italy. At first glance, it looks like any luxury hotel room: there’s a four-poster bed, parquet flooring and top-quality furnishings, but flick a switch and the roof rolls back, revealing the night sky. L’Albereta is home to the two- Michelin star restaurant of the renowned chef Gualtiero Marchesi, as well as a Henri Chenot spa — a favourite with politicians and footballers.
Details Exsus (020-7337 9000, exsus.com) offers a three night B&B stay in the Cabriolet Suite at L’Albereta from £1,190pp. The price includes flights with BA and transfers.
12 Camping, Namibia There is possibly nowhere else on Earth that gives better “big sky” than Namibia — its beauty heightened all the more by the strange, desiccated nature of the landscape. Experience the best of both by bedding down among the boulders of Spitzkoppe in the Namib Desert.
Details Acacia Africa (020-7706 4700, acacia-africa.com) has a 19-day overland tour of Namibia from £575pp, plus local payment from £294pp. It includes camping, most meals and transport, but not flights.
13 Cowboy break, Montana, US
Ever fancied getting off your horse, cooking a simple meal under the stars and swapping stories by a fire before falling asleep by the embers, just like a cowboy? On this horse triding trip in Montana you can swap the tepee for the night sky on a “camp and cook-out” evening with Native Americans on reservation land.
Details A seven-night break with Ranch Rider (01509 618811, ranchrider.com) costs from £939pp. There is a payment of £150pp for the night camp and cook-out. Flights are extra.
14 Pension Kamerichs, Germany
You might feel rather cheated if your B&B turfed you out to sleep in the back garden. In the case of the eccentric Pension Kamerichs, in the suburbs of Bad Laasphe, Westphalia, it’s what you’re there for. During a particularly hot summer in 2001 the landlady Marie-Luise hit on the idea of setting up a bed for her guests in her pretty garden. It proved to be a hit. You sleep in a proper metal-framed bed and there’s a white washbowl on a stand to freshen up in the morning. You get your own nightcap and nightwear — and a chamber pot if you don’t fancy dashing inside at 3am.
Details Pension Kamerichs (00 49 2752 6120, pensionkamerichs.de) has beds outside for €49pp (£43), which includes a champagne breakfast.
15 Luxury villa, Corfu
This getaway on the north east coast of the island has magnificent views and is great for a larger group (it sleeps up to eight). It need not feel crowded, however — there are two master suites at either end of the house; one of them opens on to a private terrace where a large Indonesian four-poster bed is made up. It has curtains to shade you from the sun during the day, and is a lovely place to sleep at night if it gets too hot inside.
Details From £16,000 a week, which includes a chef, housekeepers, concierge and estate manager. The villa is part of CV Travel’s private collection (020-7401 1031, cvprivatecollection.com), and is known by its reference number only: GC1002. Flights are not included.
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16 Igloo village, Finland
See the northern lights without having to stand outside shivering. The Kakslauttanen Hotel and Igloo Village in Saariselkä, Finland, has 20 ingenious glass igloos, from which you can see the full glory of the colourful night sky from the comfort of your bed. The igloos are always warm — the glass is thermally heated, preventing frost from obstructing the view. Inside, the igloos are simply furnished but comfortable. There is also a sauna on the site.
Details Inghams offers breaks to Finland with excursions to the Kakslautten Igloo Village from €170 pp (£150) (020-8780 4447, inghams.co.uk). Or book direct (00 358 16 66 7 100, kakslauttanen.fi).
17 Human nest, California
Discover your inner hippie by sleeping in perhaps the strangest accommodation ever to feature in Times Travel — a “human nest”. This bizarre but beautiful structure is a giant nest woven from slender tree branches that was created by the artist Jayson Fann. It forms part of the accommodation on offer at the Treebones Resort on the the Big Sur coast, California, a beautiful eco-retreat overlooking the Pacific. The nest has a futon, but you need to bring your own sleeping bag. Watch the moonlight spill through the gaps in your nest and admire the sea through its huge round opening.
Details The nest costs $95 (£58) for two guests, and there is a minimum two-night stay (001 877 424 4787, treebonesresort.com).
18 Carré d’étoiles, France
Teach your children about astronomy in stargazing cabins in the Loire Valley and the Dordogne. These unusual cube-like cabins have a rooftop porthole and come equipped with telescopes and a stellar chart. They sleep two adults and two children and are super comfy, with living area, flatscreen TVs and kitchens.
Details Canvas Holidays (0845 2680857, canvasholidays.co.uk) has seven nights in a stargazing cabin from £615 per family of four (including return Channel crossings for a car and passengers).
19 Las Ventanas Al Paraiso, Mexico
Grab some serious romance under the stars by sleeping in a private outdoor love nest at the luxurious Las Ventanas Al Paraiso resort in Mexico. A king-size bed is made up for you on a rooftop terrace, where you can admire the Sea of Cortez in the moonlight. A telescope is provided for stargazing, along with a fan, washbasin, phone, alarm clock, coffee machine, candles and a night lamp.
Details A rooftop terrace suite is from £644 per night; sleeping outside is £61 extra (00 800 8767 3966, rosewoodhotels.com).
20 Killa Bhawan, India
Jaisalmer is one of Rajasthan’s most beautiful places — an ancient walled city that rises dramatically out of the desert. Killa Bhawan is a modest boutique hotel set in the ramparts, with six romantic rooms decorated in rich, traditional colours and fabrics. In the heat of summer, ask to sleep out on the roof terrace, where you can view the town and the desert stretching beyond the city walls.
Details Air-conditioned doubles from €35 (£31) a night (killabhawan.com).