From ryokans overlooking rice fields to resorts on private islands, there’s no shortage of inviting places to stay in Asia.
Here are 10 noteworthy newcomers – a modest selection given the hundreds of tantalising properties that have opened since the beginning of the pandemic.
Yet, taken together, this handful of hotels spans countries, tastes and budgets, from less than US$100 (S$143) a night to thousands of dollars a night (all the properties below provided their rates in US dollars).
Individually, each has some quality that makes it stand out: Its architecture, unconventional location, creative social spaces, debut as a new brand, intimate size or sheer opulence.
Whether you’re considering a trip to the pine forests of Bhutan or the bustling capital of Vietnam, let these hotels be a departure point for your imagination.
The Six Senses Bumthang in Bhutan overlooks a Himalayan pine forest. (Photo: Six Senses Bhutan via The New York Times)
There are just eight suites at Six Senses Bumthang, a graceful hideaway in a Himalayan pine forest. Some trees grow through the stone flooring of the terrace used for al fresco dining. Others rise from the open-air vestibules of the suites. (There’s also a two-bedroom villa to accommodate families or friends traveling together.) Sitting atop a hillside, amid farmland and ancient monasteries, it’s a plum spot for forest bathing, and a bucolic base from which guests can set off for a Buddhist pilgrimage site, bike through fields dotted with prayer flags or spend an afternoon foraging for mushrooms.
Such activities seem fitting in a kingdom known for its environmental consciousness and pioneering quality of life indicator, Gross National Happiness. Speaking of quality of life, guests can partake of different types of massages as well as rituals like the traditional dotsho, a hot stone bath that uses mineral-rich stones from riverbeds.
Bumthang is the most recent of five lodges from Six Senses to open in Bhutan’s western and central valleys, forming a collection of properties called Six Senses Bhutan – the others are known as Thimphu, Punakha, Gangtey and Paro – that enable visitors with the time and money to valley-hop through the kingdom.
