November isn’t a waiting room for end-of-year festivities. It’s last-hurrah territory, a wide-open winter-sun window, and the chance to feel Christmas anticipation before the crowds descend. Europe strings up lights, India kicks off safari season, and Mexico enters the month with Día de los Muertos before rounding it off with the mezcal harvest. This November, our editors go from cool to sizzling, spooky to serene, and frosted city breaks to cosy country retreats with a new batch of hotels.
Cocolia Hotel
Oaxaca, Mexico
I need a recharge, and at Cocolia Hotel, on Oaxaca‘s coast, the sun does all the work for you, both juicing you up with doses of vitamin D and solar-powering the hotel. At this time of year, post-rainy season, jungly Mazunte’s landscape goes through a growth spurt, looking especially green. This hideaway has the spirit to match, whether by initiative (conserving rainwater, sourcing ingredients from local farms and fishermen, and working with the community to protect the region’s biodiversity) or by design. All activities, from swimming to yoga to dancing under the full moon, are carried out within a leafy buffer, and your stilted bungalow peeks out from the treetops. So, like the copal trees and mangroves here, I plan to turn towards the sun and spread out my roots with a trip out Mexico way.
Why we love it: It’s a chance to do sweet nothing in a place of extravagant tropical beauty. Do you need more of a reason than that? OK, here are a few more: tucking into ancestral recipes while marvelling at the Punta Cometa peninsula, enjoying the dedicated mezcalería, and relaxing on Playa Mermejita close by.
Kate Weir, Deputy Editor
Borgo dei Conti
Umbria, Italy
We have mediaeval counts to thank for Borgo dei Conti’s hilltop perch just outside Montepetriolo. The architecture may have changed, but the timeless rolling views over Umbria‘s countryside would still prompt recognition. In the 19th century, the estate was transformed by its noble owners into a romantic Gothic Revival residence, which is the brooding castello you see today. But its reinvention as an upscale rural retreat is the vision of the Babini family.
Frills such as a tree-shaded pool, consummate spa and culinary polish initially drew me in. But look closer and there’s a quieter allure at play, too: I like to imagine myself wandering the 40-acre parkland, passing ancient cedars; and I’ve heard the peace you find here is wonderfully meditative.
Why we love it: With scenery this sweeping and romantic, you’d think the owners would downplay the decor. But frescoed bedroom ceilings, hand-painted murals and crest-embellished fireplaces suggest otherwise. And did I mention that white-truffle season is now in full flow? The perfect epicurean excuse (if ever you needed one) to book your autumn minibreak.
Kate Pettifer, Curation Content Lead
Outpost 12
Kanha Tiger Reserve, India
I’ve safari-ed all over the African bush, but there’s one big cat still prowling around the top of my wildlife wish list: the Royal Bengal tiger. November has me setting my sights on Outpost 12, on the fringes of India‘s Kanha National Park, where tiger territory stretches through sal forest and open grassland. The park has shaken off its monsoon closure by now, leaving the landscape lush and newly green, and resident naturalists lead twice-daily drives in search of tigers, leopards, sloth bears, dholes and gaur. Back at camp, the safari doesn’t so much stop as change pace: I’d trade tiger tracks for bird hides, forest walks and sundowners beside the Banjar River, before turning my binoculars skywards at the lodge’s observatory. And should the wildlife still leave you wide-eyed come bedtime, there’s a star-bed above the treetops where you can marvel at the jungle scenery and celestial beauty of the Milky Way before sleep.
Why we love it: The team behind Outpost 12 know there’s more to Kanha than earning your tiger stripes. Naturalist founders DK Singh and Sunny Saxena have created a lodge where curiosity trumps a sightings checklist, from learning how the rare barasingha became a conservation success story to discovering how the local Baiga community has read these forests for generations.
Chloe Frost-Smith, Senior Content Writer & Editor
Faubourg 21
Brussels, Belgium
Autumn makes a convincing case for a Brussels culture break, particularly in Sablon, a neighbourhood I’ve long loved for its winning combination of Old Masters on show, contemporary galleries, antiques dealers and seriously good chocolate. Faubourg 21 puts you within gallery-hopping distance of it all, in a 19th-century townhouse that’s something of a collector’s piece itself. Original carved panelling, marble fireplaces and a suitably sweeping staircase meet Maison Sarah Lavoine’s raspberry velvets, forest greens and sculptural furniture, while Magritte, Bruegel and Rubens hang just down the street. Once you’ve exhausted the exhibition circuit, there’s Belgian-meets-Japanese fine dining at Chaga, negronis beneath the painted panels of Bar 21, and a Valmont spa secreted away in the former kitchens.
Why we love it: It’s mastered the art of mixing old and new. Maison Sarah Lavoine treats the listed townhouse like a particularly handsome canvas, painting over its château-inspired bones with bold colour and contemporary design — without covering up the original flourishes that make it one of a kind.
CFS
Ergon House Ermou
Athens, Greece
It’s no secret that the Greeks love their food. Sharing meals together plays an outsize role in their ancient art of hospitality, philoxenia, in which a full table is seen as an expression of love and generosity. One homegrown, gastronomy-focused hotel group that’s taken this to heart is Ergon, whose latest outpost, Ergon House Ermou, sits above a charmingly old-school Athenian taverna and artisanal produce store. Right in the heart of Athens, tucked away off Plaka’s main drag, the hotel has preserved the best elements of its formerly residential life, with blush-hued frescoes, broody wooden panelling and high ceilings typical of old Athenian homes.
This visual feast pairs perfectly with the fare in Taverna Ermou, where the dishes draw on prime Mediterranean produce and time-worn cooking traditions. The resulting atmosphere is almost as classic as the Acropolis views on show at the rooftop Veranda Bar, where local wines and carefully chosen Greek spirits flow until long after sunset.
Why we love it: In lieu of a lobby, you enter the hotel through the Ergon Originals Store, laden with covetable consumables like small-batch olive oils from family-owned groves, tins of Aegean sardines, fine Greek wines and organic honeys. In other words, it’s the perfect place to pick up keepsakes and gifts before you head home.
Hamish Roy, Senior Associate Editor
Habitat Lago Maggiore
Switzerland
If, like me, your chakras feel like the pieces of a toppled Jenga tower, you could benefit from a stay that has its own in order. So much so at Habitat Lago Maggiore — on Switzerland‘s side of the glorious body of water — that its Japanese-minimalist bungalows are laid out according to the body’s chakra pattern, from the ‘crown’ at the highest point of the retreat to the ‘root’ near the entrance. It’s a strong footing for other body- and mood-boosting activities, which include sailing along the shoreline, hiking into the Alps for cheese-tasting at altitude, walking with llamas and trekking through a landscape said to be infused with healing energy. After glimpsing the blue-green-blue scene from my terrace, it’s hard to deny the hotel’s feelgood powers.
Why we love it: Yes, yes, healing rocks and plants, and all that — nature nurtures you here. However, I’ll happily accept one man-made interjection: the alfresco whirlpool bath tub sunk into most of the suite terraces, which enhances Mother Nature’s gifts further still.
KW
Keep some space in your calendar for our other new arrivals
