Four places to get away from it all (2024)

Haute style in deepest Switzerland

Adelboden, in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland, is immersed in a Sound of Music landscape, replete with the seasonal bells and whistles that attract outdoorswomen and -men, from winter pistes to more than 300km of summer tramping and cycling trails, and a lovely 15th-century clock tower in the village for good measure. The Brecon has just opened here, with 18 rooms and four suites (the latter good for families andprivacy-seekers) designed, like the common rooms, restaurant and sauna, byAmsterdam-based Nicemakers.

The interiors bring some quiet Wow Factor, with beautiful coffered-timber ceilings, natural slate floors, hand-woven wool blankets and rugs, and carved-stone basins and baths. Deep leather chairs are arranged around low marble coffee tables by the fire; the all-day menu features simple organic dishes, from fig and ricotta salad to lemon polenta cake (with plenty of fare for the vegetarians). Those in the market for a #cabinp*rn pastiche should look elsewhere: this is gemutlichkeit filtered through a Scandi-Japanese lens, with sleek and very chic results.

Bikini-ready on Mallorca’s south coast

The Bikini Island & Mountain Hotel Es Trenc has a new proposition for Mallorca’s southern coast: youthful fun of all sorts, with very few actual children around. Thesecond Mallorcan outpost of the German-based Bikini hotel group has commandeered andrenovated three adjacent buildings, surrounded by gardens at the south end of Es Trenc beach. The 130rooms exude colour and cheer, with ebullient murals, custom-made bamboo furniture and beaded wall curtains – Balearic cool with a littledose of ’60s Tiki shack.

The pool room – formerly a public poolhouse – was created in collaboration with German DJ and hip-hop artist Clueso; along with a set of turntables and vinyl collection and an actual recording studio, the (now drained) pool doubles as a sunken event space. The fitness centre has indoor-outdoor yoga studios; the on-site shop stocks picnic supplies and DIY aperitivo ones; and you can cliff-dive directly from the hotel’s own gardens into the sea.

Puerto Escondido’s nueva casa

Puerto Escondido, long the Pacific-coast escape of choice for many Mexicans, has lately found itself in the sights of travellers from much further afield; they come for its combination of considered, sustainable architecture and culture (Casa Wabi has its residency based here, and art galleries are springing up all around) and, naturally, for the superlative beaches and food.

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The most recent addition to the already lively hotel scene is Casa Yuma, opened by three expats at the south end of Ventanilla Los Naranjos, just behind the beach. The low buildings are in a palm grove, with the ocean beyond and mountains behind. The 25 rooms are simple andcontemporary, withlots ofrosy brick and limewash, carved-wood furniture and sisal; some have rooftop terraces. Elsewhere there’s plenty of sand underfoot, from the open-air bar to the long lap pool and sunken conversation pit. The restaurant is open to the public, so beach strollers can wander in and enjoy theall-day menu.

Midnight fun in far-north Norway

Time to head north: Nusfjord, strung along the far-west edge of Lofoten archipelago, high up in the Arctic Circle, is a clutch of fisherman’s cabins – 25 of them, on 26,000 acres – that were recently given a complete overhaul of the highest hygge order: wood-panelled walls, down-swathed beds, simple painted furniture, rough timber ceilings, a few enormous bathtubs set next topicture windows with Valhalla-esque views.

The outdoor spa was created by recent graduates of the Oslo School of Architecture and Design; you can bounce from spring-fed hot tubs straight into the sea, a few yards away. The general store in the village – where about 20 people still live full-time, most of them employed at Nusfjord – has high-end provisions aplenty; an old whisky depot is now a gourmet pizzeria; the village salting house has been converted into an art gallery. A further two cabins, which promise a more “elevated” version of Nordic comforts, are currently being added, and Oslo-based star chef Björn Svensson is consulting on a soon-to-open restaurant.

@mariashollenbarger