The Best New Affordable Hotels in the World: 2025 Hot List
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We've spent the last 12 months sleeping, eating, and sailing our way around the globe in order to bring you the 29th edition of the Hot List, our carefully curated annual collection of the best new (and reborn) hotels, restaurants, and cruise ships in the world, and we had a ton of fun doing it. How could we not when it involved activities like zip-lining to dinner in the Maldives, sleeping in an actual tree house in Kenya, and eating a truly memorable meal in a converted auto body shop in Mexico City? The through line of this year’s list is joy—something we could all use a little more of in our lives. These are the 2025 Hot List winners for the best new affordable hotels in the world, with options starting at under-$300 per night in low season.
See the entire Hot List for 2025 here.
MarugalhotelDunas de Formentera — Balearic Islands
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Hot List 2025I was barefoot the first time I checked into what was then known as Las Dunas Playa, a sandy-floored, bare-bones beach resort with a crescent slip of a swimming pool. My now husband and I sipped cañas at an open-air bar and slept in a pared-back beach bungalow among scrubby sand dunes, the crash of waves just meters from our bed. I’d never seen stars so bright. Las Dunas became our offshore escape when Ibiza hit peak midsummer mercury. Sixteen years on, it is smartening up, and though Formentera fiercely protects its dunes, forbidding new constructions, hotelier turned sustainability pioneer Pablo Carrington and his peerless Marugal group are experts at treading lightly. Today, the hotel has been restored and renamed Dunas de Formentera, retaining the stripped-down vibes but in more salubrious surroundings, with service that is discreet and chatty. In the capacious bedrooms—some of the island’s largest—daybeds and limewashed Balearic walls are the perfect foil to sabina-pine-framed Mediterranean views. Split-level outdoor terraces are shaded by banana plants and lavender, while meandering walkways lead back to that same crescent pool and soaring bar. Restaurant tables and raffia chairs cluster beneath resinous evergreens. As we wander down the silvery boardwalk that links the beach bungalows with the hotel itself, we stumble across our first-night casita. Despite a creamy micro-cement makeover, elegant terra-cotta styling, and a smart terrace, it still echoed with the crash of the waves. And by night, those stars shine just as bright as the first time I saw them. From $425. —Maya Boyd
Michelle ChaplowhotelFairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol — Cádiz, Spain
Hot List 2025Fairmont aims for La Hacienda Costa del Sol to be the top golf and beach resort in southern Europe. The resort spans over 990,000 square feet and includes an award-winning golf club and direct access to a two-and-a-half-mile beach. With beautiful views of Morocco and Gibraltar, it sits in a less-traveled area of the Costa del Sol, near Sotogrande, ideal for those seeking relaxation, water sports, gastronomy, and culture. Guests can enjoy golf, dolphin watching, and visits to cozy small villages and verdant forests. The resort’s design by Daar Studio features tiered buildings and independent villas, maximizing sea views and blending with the landscape. The decor, by Studio Ibu, includes natural materials and earthy tones for intimacy. The 153 rooms and suites, plus 47 villas, vary in size and come with private gardens (the luxury ones with pools). The Spanish chef Benito Gomez oversees the Dalmar restaurant, focusing on relaxed dining with shareable high-quality dishes. From $445. —David Moralejo
Giulio Ghirardi/Hôtel du CouventhotelHôtel du Couvent — Nice, France
$$ | Hot List 2025There’s a deep sense of contemplation about this former nunnery turned hotel in Nice’s Old Town. In 2014, Valéry Grégo began collaborating with Studio Mumbai and Studio Méditerranée for the architecture, and Festen Architecture for the interior design to transform the abandoned shell (deconsecrated in the 1980s) into the South of France’s most soulful place to stay. The result is movingly beautiful: The 88 bedrooms include carefully conjoined nuns’ cells, airy conversions of chapter rooms, and those in a sensitively added new wing—all lime plaster, muted linens, and antique finds. The subterranean circuit of thermal pools is inspired by the ruins of Roman baths nearby; a herbalist dispenses custom-blended teas from his apothecary tucked along one the cloisters. In the three restaurants, many of the ingredients come straight from an organic farm in the Var valley. This restorative refuge is a heavenly study in simplicity and a slower side to the oft-glitzy Côte d’Azur. From $410. —Fiona Kerr
Amit Pasricha/Ran BaashotelRan Baas The Palace — Patiala, India
$$ | Hot List 2025Luxury in India comes in a thousand notes and combinations, but even so, Ran Baas stands out as something special. Once a guesthouse of the royal family of the kingdom of Patiala, this 35-suite hotel nestled in a 10-acre fort complex is now a suave orchestration of vintage and modernist, austere and extravagant. Statement chandeliers, hand-painted de Gournay wallpapers, and quirky interiors add a wash of 21st-century luxe to the stately courtyards, high-ceilinged halls burnished with Belgian stained glass, and the white stucco façade crowned by cupolas. Breakfast in a hall decorated with old frescoes and cocktails by candlelight reflecting off floor-to-ceiling mirror-work are both surreal and decadent, and morning walks around the old fort are steeped in a monumental solitude and peace. From $460. —Chandrahas Choudhury
hotelBanyan Tree Veya Valle de Guadalupe — Mexico
$$$ | Hot List 2025The Meliá Collection has opened its first hotel in Madrid, called Casa de las Artes, with the aim of redefining luxury through a focus on modernity, art, and culture. Located in the Barrio de las Letras, the hotel is in a Beaux Arts–style building that once housed the General Association of Railway Employees. Inside, original Dalí lithographs decorate the walls, and a midcentury corridor leads to an indoor swimming pool and creatively designed meeting rooms. The 137 rooms include unique illustrations of Don Quixote, warm furnishings, Nespresso machines, and luxury bath products by Carner. The hotel's restaurant, Maché, serves classic Madrid tapas alongside a variety of fish and meats, while a cozy cinema named Miró pays tribute to the private projection rooms of the golden age of Hollywood. From $335. —David Moralejo
Mr. TRIPPERhotelCasa de Las Artes, Member of Meliá Collection — Madrid
$$$ | Hot List 2025The Experimental modus operandi—playful design, serious food, deadly serious cocktails—may be familiar, but there’s still a frisson when the brand brings its signature hedonism to fresh locales. Ever-smarter Val d’Isère is Experimental’s 11th location, and second in the Alps after Verbier opened in late 2018. Brand-darling interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon has brought her straight-line-phobic haute whimsy to this 113-key property in what used to be L’Aigle de Neiges, a tired wood-and-stone four-star. Stucco walls and features like the old Savoyard-stone fireplace add a touch of Alpine nostalgia, but the bon vivant lifestyle remains central: from the ’70s-inspired Experimental Cocktail Club to the airy neo-bistro L’Aigle d’Or and the cozier, more trad L’Aiglon, where slabs of Comté and Gruyère are melted for unctuous fondues by a bulbous open-fire oven. With a subterranean spa and ski-hire place, it’s instantly Val’s most fun setting to stay. From $340. —Toby Skinner
Natural SelectionhotelGweGwe Beach Lodge — Eastern Cape, South Africa
$$ | Hot List 2025Set within a private concession of the Mkambati Nature Reserve, this intimate lodge provides a front-row seat to one of the most unspoiled stretches of the Wild Coast. Guests are miles from civilization yet cosseted with comforts such as wood-burning fires and South Africa’s top wines. A biodiversity hot spot, the area gives guests endless opportunities for adventure, including treks to dramatic waterfalls and kayak excursions to remote gorges. Nine rooms feature deep soaking tubs and private 16-foot pools, both of which afford views of the crashing waves and surfing dolphins. The lodge sits on land owned by local villages, and every stay benefits the community. From $385. —Jen Murphy
Mattia Aquila/Hotel Le Dune PiscinashotelHotel Le Dune Piscinas — Costa Verde, Italy
$$Those familiar with Costa Smeralda will find Sardinia’s southwest coast a surprise. But then again, everyone will find it a surprise. It’s one of Europe’s last wildernesses, where crooked juniper bushes jut from billowing dunes. The hotel was once a warehouse for the nearby ironworks, which was inherited by an Italian colonel who made it into a simple hotel before the current owners spent three years transforming it. Lined by an art installation of LED candles that flicker as you pass, a stone-hewn tunnel used by mine carts now leads to the spa. In the bar Negronis are mixed beneath wooden beams taken decades ago from a medieval tower, while behind an aquarium-like window, chefs prepare octopus and polenta. The surrounding hillsides and eerie mining relics can be explored by e-bike or quad bike, but mainly guests walk down the boardwalk to the empty sands or slouch by the pool with a glass of Vermentino, later gathering on the piazza for the sunset show. A total original. From $365. —Rick Jordan
Stefano Scatà/Palazzo DurazzohotelPalazzo Durazzo — Genoa, Italy
$ | Hot List 2025More than a hotel, Palazzo Durazzo is the signature project of Emanuela Brignone Cattaneo and her husband Giacomo Cattaneo Adorno, whose family own the Palazzo. It’s aligned with a larger citywide regeneration effort that aims to return Genoa to its status as one of Europe’s great capitals. In the same family for 400 years, this Baroque pile on the waterfront has been rescued and elegantly adapted into a lavish boutique hotel that sets a new standard for luxury in a city that was in dire need of a refresh. With 12 suites furnished with museum-quality antiques, a number of which are adorned with knockout Baroque frescoes, Palazzo Durazzo is more than sumptuous accommodations—it tells the history of a city that was once a maritime and banking power rivaled in grandeur only by Venice. From $398. —Brendan Shanahan
Jiri LizlerhotelW Prague
$$$ | Hot List 2025Prague’s been having something of a hotel moment recently, with Andaz landing in a former sugar-insurance HQ and Fairmont moving into the old InterContinental digs. Arguably, though, this new opening has the best setting of all: behind the gold-embossed façade of the Grand Hotel Europa, whose winsome Art Nouveau details would doubtless thrill a certain pastel-jacketed film director. Some may be surprised to see the W logo above such a landmark building, but the group has matured of late (see its palatial Budapest outpost), and the careful restoration here—chandeliers replaced, mahogany panels repaired—is impressive. It’s not just a period piece, though: The Grand Café now hosts the steak-savvy Le Petit Beef Bar, the spa fizzes with hydrotherapy experiences, and in the new wing the lounge revels in futuristic surrealism with mushrooming columns and a fixture above the bar that resembles eyelashes. The W may be more grown-up but still knows how to have fun. From $335. —Rick Jordan
Anna Batchelor/The Cavendish HotelhotelThe Cavendish Hotel at Baslow — United Kingdom
$$$ | Hot List 2025A jaunt through sylvan parkland to Britain’s most aesthetic stately home, Chatsworth House, this Peak District coaching inn owned by Chatsworth’s Devonshire family has had a glow-up. Interiors maestra Nicola Harding, Beaverbrook’s secret weapon, worked alongside Laura Burlington, the estate’s current custodian. Paintings from the family collection line the walls, from American portrait artist Elizabeth Peyton to Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller. Almost all 28 bedrooms and suites have bucolic views framed by sash windows. Deep, comfortable coral pink corduroy armchairs and stout feather-stuffed cushions invite you to sink into them and delve into memoirs and books on art, gardening, and local lore. Quiet good taste is the order of the day, with block-printed wallpaper, whipped-cream ceilings, wainscots, framed botanicals, and emerald green felt-upholstered doors. The eau-de-nil-hued Gallery Restaurant is filled with estate drawings, gilt-framed etchings, and sumptuous landscapes, including two by Irish painter Oliver Comerford. It’s the perfect setting for executive chef Adam Harper’s upmarket menu of oysters, mackerel parfait, shellfish bisque, ham hock, and beef Wellington. The Garden Room opens onto a terrace and has a breezy decor of pinks and magentas with rattan chairs and brick floors. It offers relaxed brunch choices too, like garden soups, prawn cocktails, English asparagus, and farm roasts. Produce hails from the beehives, mushroom emporiums, kitchen gardens, and game on the estate and from suppliers within a 10-mile radius. From $250. —Lydia Bell
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The HensonhotelThe Henson — Hensonville, New York
$$ | Hot List 2025In such close proximity to Manhattan, the Hudson Valley provides a necessary haven from the constant buzz of city life—one such haven is The Henson thanks to its elegance-meets-cozy-inn vibe and an atmosphere that’s at once quiet and chic. The rooms feature design-forward touches, and common areas are straight out of a design magazine, with a chunky bouclé sofa, only the coolest coffee-table books, and a crackling fireplace. The property’s restaurant, Matilda—from two notable New York City chefs—is a destination in and of itself too. While The Henson is well within driving distance to other pockets of the Catskills, you probably won’t feel any urge to stray far. From $279. —Emily Adler
Julius HirtzbergerhotelThe Hoxton Vienna
$ | Hot List 2025The Hoxton group used to be about cool-hunting the most happening neighborhoods, but these days it’s more about finding the right building and then creating a scene-stealing buzz around it. In Vienna, that meant a mid-century classic by Bauhaus-trained architect Carl Appel and formerly the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. It’s a lot sexier than it sounds. The entrance where homburg-wearing businessmen once gathered is now a café terrace that twirls with parasols and spritzes in the summer; the terrazzo-floored lobby is draped with greenery and embellished with lipstick-red Fifties sofas, while the Cuban-inspired rooftop bar has locals queueing by the lifts for rum cocktails while guests cool off in the adjoining pool. In a city a little too in thrall to Lobmeyr chandeliers and Viennese classicism, this is a hotel that thinks outside the box. From $210. —Rick Jordan
Anson Smart/Melbourne PlacehotelMelbourne Placa — Australia
$ | Hot List 2025This striking rust-colored 191-room hotel built from local bricks, concrete, and hardwood is a distillation of what makes this thrumming city tick. The debut hotel by sought-after Melbourne-based architecture and design studio Kennedy Nolan, is chock-full of head-turning details, which start at the linen-draped check-in desk with its supersized video-art installation by Australian artists and continue upward to the guest lounge blanketed in a retina-popping fuchsia carpet. The suites are light-flooded showstoppers tricked out in timber, burnt orange, and terrazzo with triple-height floor-to-ceiling windows and outdoor terraces with immense views of the cloud-busting peaks of skyscrapers. The rooftop, with its bar and retractable-rooftop restaurant Mid Air, is encased by a soaring brick wall and feels like a floating fortress with dramatic portholes that look like giant eyes watching over the city. It's here where everyone from guests to locals gather, casually lounging on sofas and seated at tables, with some of the best views across the city. From $205. —Chloe Sachdev
JAKE EASTHAMhotelThe Pig – in the Cotswolds — Barnsley, United Kingdom
$$$ | Hot List 2025Romance is definitely rose-tinted at this 17th-century Cotswolds country house near Cirencester that’s enveloped in world-famous gardens and has recently been spruced into shape by UK’s much-loved Pig Hotel group. Its designers have cleverly recalibrated the interiors and conjured up small but decadent sitting rooms. A tour of the Arts and Crafts gardens’ flower beds and follies is essential, as is time in the small spa Fieldhouse, hidden beyond its wildflower meadow. The conservatory restaurant delivers simple rustic fare with flair, while the 20 bedrooms are fabulously floral, with vintage furniture and quirky curios. The place is perfect for a celebration. From $262. —Susan D’Arcy
Yota SampasneethumronghotelThe Standard, Singapore
$ | Hot List 2025Tucked off buzzy Orchard Road, the Standard, Singapore, gives midcentury modern a tropical twist by setting the scene with bold colors, retro-inspired decor, and lush greenery. Art pops everywhere, from Eric Tobua’s surreal reception-desk diorama to Samuel Xun’s larger-than-life floral courtyard sculpture. The 143 rooms keep it playful with bright yellow tiled bathrooms, timber-ribbed canopies, and fun, personalized touches like handwritten messages on your mirror. Nicholas Cheng, the chef of Kaya, a modern izakaya, spotlights low-waste cuisine with a punchy menu built around pickling and fermentation, while Kaya Bar serves Asian-inspired cocktails. With its planned cultural talks, fashion takeovers, and poolside parties, the Standard, Singapore, is a stylish playground for the country’s cool crowd. From $202. —Shamilee Vellu