Places to Stay

Room With a View: The Best Hotel Views Around the World

We've stayed in some spectacularly designed hotels, resorts, and villas over the years. But sometimes, even the decor can't distract from a breathtaking view out the window. Whether in Amsterdam's city center or on safari in South Africa's Kruger National Park, these hotel room views have us asking how we can book that room, and that room only, every single time. Want to get one of your photos featured here? Share your best favorites on Instagram by tagging #RoomWithaView and @cntraveler. And don't forget to tell us the room number so we can stay there, too!
Cond Nast Traveler Magazine December 2018 Volume VOL. VIII Go Room with a View
Tim Castle
  • Cond Nast Traveler Magazine December 2018 Volume VOL. VIII Go Room with a View
    Tim Castle

    Room 2207, Santhiya Resort

    Koh Yah Yai, Thailand

    "During our stay, I was writing my second book and spent whole afternoons in the privacy of our room sitting on this terrace. Occasionally, a speedboat would jet by, and I’d watch it cross over to deposit guests at the pier that extends from the hotel’s beach. In the evenings, my wife and I would order green curry and pad thai to the room and eat as our baby slept inside. We’d time dinner for sunset, which streaked the sky with brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. It was so nice to have the time to just sit and chat together, getting lost in the colors."–Tim Castle

  • Paola & Murray

    Room 14A, The Lowell

    New York City

    "It was early morning, we were having coffee on the terrace, and it just felt so completely luxurious to have that kind of city view. We were peering into the lives of people who have balconies above the east side of Central Park, into homes and roof gardens, and you normally don’t get that perspective, especially if most of your life is spent on street level. To me, it felt like that quintessential New York City experience—not having an Upper East Side terraced apartment, but imagining that this was mine. It’s charming and glamorous and the kind of thing that makes even jaded New Yorkers fall in love with the city all over again."–Matt Hranek

  • Kate Cunningham

    Rooster's Comb, Sheldon Chalet

    Denali National Park, Alaska

    "We took a 45-minute helicopter ride from Talkeetna through the Alaska Range before setting down by a tiny hexagonal chalet on a nunatak, or glacial outcropping. This new property is so remote, the owners say only 60 people have been so far. Its five rooms are intentionally simple to emphasize what’s outside: Denali, the highest peak in North America, which I would watch from my window. In summer, the sky doesn’t really get dark; the pinks intensify, and then, as it approaches midnight, it just shifts into beautiful magentas and purples." –Kate Cunningham

  • Photo by Nathalie Belloir

    Herodutus Cabin, S.S. Sudan

    The Nile, Egypt

    "The view from a cruise cabin is constantly changing. In the morning on the Nile, you might see fishermen on the tiny islets outside of Luxor; at lunch, you’ll pass villagers and donkeys in Edfu; and before sunset, the temple of Kom Ombo, north of Aswân. The color of the water changes, too, from silver to pink to royal blue. Here in the Herodutus cabin, where I spent five nights, I never closed the curtains because I knew I’d see something new as soon as I opened my eyes." –Nathalie Belloir

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  • Photo by Janice Joostema

    Room 408, Hotel Eden

    Rome, Italy

    "Staying in a former mansion with views of the Spanish Steps on my first trip to Rome was surreal. Jet lag meant my boyfriend and I were up early, so we’d walk five minutes to get to the steps by 7:30 a.m., before anyone else. I swear that the air in Rome is scented with basil. We kept our window open at all hours just so we could smell it. We weren’t even bothered that a few Italians seemed to always be talking loudly below." –Janice Joostema

  • Photo by Mattias Nutt

    Room 9, Fluhalp

    Zermatt, Switzerland

    "The only way to reach this simple, quintessentially Swiss timber mountain hut is by taking the Blauherd cable car near Lake Stellisee, and then hiking the last mile. Its single beds and spare furnishings make you feel like you’ve stepped into the past, and the view of the Matterhorn is amazing. I’m Swiss—I’ve seen this peak countless times. But when the mountain is visible through that window, early on a summer evening with soft light, it compels even me to sit down and look at it." –Mattias Nutt

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  • Photo by Olia Hercules

    Tonnara di Scopello

    Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily

    "The Tonnara is a former manor house and collection of old stone fishing lodges that are now a simple inn with incredible views of Sicily’s northwest coast. In the mornings, I’d swim out to the gorgeous rock stacks, called faraglioni. At night, my husband, friends, and I sipped wine under a citrus tree and stared at these rocks, nature’s lighthouses, thinking about how the waves had gently sculpted them over millennia." –Olia Hercules

  • Photo by Darren McDonald

    Room 320, Hacienda Na Xamena

    Ibiza, Spain

    “The clifftop views from this whitewashed spa hotel capture Ibiza’s tranquil north shore. My room overlooked a small blue bay and, beyond that, the headlands near San Miguel. One afternoon a group of fishermen moored their boat close to shore and lay down, shirts off, on the bow. I watched as the water lulled them into a post-lunch nap. Quite a life they have.” –Darren McDonald

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  • Photo by Sivan Askayo

    Fernão Mendes Pinto Suite, Palácio Belmonte

    Lisbon, Portugal

    "Lisbon has a special kind of light. It is so strong and bright early in the day,as though the sunlight is washing the air. Mornings there are my favorite time of day because everything is still. From the window of this 15th-century former palace, all you can hear are the birds and church bells. I took this photo over the Alfama district at 7:30 a.m., before the city woke up. Past the dome of the National Pantheon is the Tagus River. But the sun is so intense, you can’t even see it." –Sivan Askayo

  • Photo by Andrea Tamburrini

    Room 310, Cristallo Resort & Spa

    Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy

    "This view of the Dolomites over­looking the Valle d’Ampezzo drew me onto my balcony for long stretches each day—I’d order up scrambled eggs and berries for breakfast and prosecco before dinner and gaze out over the valley. Sitting in the summer breeze, I started imagining what the mountains look like in winter—I’m sure they’re even more magical dusted with snow." –Andrea Tamburrini

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  • Photo by Alfredo Gildemeister

    Chalet C7, Hotel Portillo

    Portillo, Chile

    "By the time I got to my chalet, which was about 200 feet from the hotel’s main building, it was dark. But I knew if I kept my curtains open, I’d wake up to views of the lagoon. At dawn, the water became illuminated with shades of blue that changed as the sun made its way across the Andes." –Alfredo Gildemeister

  • Room 8, Albergo Barbara

    Vernazza, Italy

    "I arrived in Cinque Terre in July without a booking and spent hours knocking on doors, desperate for a vacancy. I was about to give up when the signora behind the sixth door I tried said she had one spot left. The room was spare, but that view of the Ligurian mountains, with the sounds from the aperitivo carrying up to the window, was magic. It turned what should have been a one night stay into five—and I never once closed those shutters." –Lucy Laucht

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  • Coach House Villa, Good Hope

    Montego Bay, Jamaica

    "Good Hope is a 2,000-acre, 18th-century sugar plantation-turned-citrus farm by the Martha Brae River. The six-room villa is staffed by one of my favorite Jamaican cooks, Barbara Murray (ask her to cook her curry chicken with shredded beets and carrots), and its beautiful new pool overlooks the valley." And look at that valley... —Lucinda Scala Quinn

  • Photo by Matthieu Salvaing

    Bungalow, Bahia Vik

    José Ignacio, Uruguay

    "The Bahia Vik hotel, located on the sparsely populated eastern coast of Uruguay, draws design inspiration from the area’s ramshackle cabanas—and throws in a modernist twist. Though it has ten suites, 11 stand-alone villas, and a cool luxury, its greatest feature is the surf right on your doorstep. Definitely ran over these dunes for a post-breakfast swim in the Atlantic." —Paul Brady

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  • Photo by Georgia Hopkins

    Loft Room, Maison Rika

    Amsterdam, Netherlands

    "Maison Rika is a tiny guesthouse with only two rooms. We were in the ‘Loft Room’ located on the top floor, with high ceilings and original beams of the old Dutch house, and beautiful views over the 9 Streets neighborhood below and the historic Herengracht canal. Designed by Ulrika Lundgren, a former fashion and interior stylist, the room was a heaven full of perfectly curated finds from her travels and Scandi-style interiors." -Georgia Hopkins

  • Photo by Rachel Coleman

    Room 4, Singita Boulders Lodge

    Kruger National Park, South Africa

    "This place is truly one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. If you're planning a trip to South Africa I highly recommend a stop here. It will change your life." —Rachel Coleman

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  • Photo by Matt Hranek

    Villa Josephine

    Tangier, Morocco

    Beyond the palms and balcony fit for happy hour, Villa Josephine is "also home to another one of my new favorite bars." —Matt Hranek

  • Photo by Benjamin Kemper

    Second-floor stairs, Rooms Kazbegi

    Stepantsminda, Georgia

    "From the second floor of Rooms Kazbegi in the Republic of Georgia, a massive window frames the snow-dusted town of Stepantsminda and its architectural treasure, Gergeti Trinity Church, built on a 7,100-foot mountaintop in the 14th century. –Benjamin Kemper