Art Hotels

The house stands in the middle of Hanoi, near the city opera house, and its interiors were drawn as one project rather than assembled room by room. A theatrical theme runs through the public rooms and the corridors, and the same designer's hand shows in the furniture and the wall treatments. Guest rooms follow that drawing rather than departing from it.

The building sits on a corner in the French quarter, a short walk from the opera house and the streets around it. Public rooms occupy the lower levels and hold a restaurant, a bar and a pool within the plan. Guest floors rise above them and look out over the surrounding roofs.

Write ahead about which rooms face the street, since the quarter stays active in the evening. Ask about pool hours, about whether the restaurant keeps a set menu on the dates you plan to stay, and about transfer from the airport, which is arranged rather than fixed.

This is a city house in the Vracar quarter of Belgrade, built in the earlier part of the last century and later converted for hotel use. The older structure remains legible in the stair, the window openings and the room proportions, while the fittings inside it are recent. Work by artists hangs through the corridors and the ground-floor rooms.

Vracar is a residential quarter set back from the main commercial streets, and the hotel stands among apartment houses rather than on a thoroughfare. A garden lies behind the building. The temple of Saint Sava is within walking distance, and the streets around it grow quiet after dark.

Ask about parking, which is limited in the quarter and arranged through the hotel. It is worth writing about which rooms open onto the garden, about the breakfast arrangement, and about whether the ground-floor rooms are given over to events on the dates you have in mind.

The house sits on Dugi Otok among olive terraces that are worked as a grove rather than kept for decoration. The building is set into the slope, so parts of it lie below the level of the ground outside. Rooms are few in number, and the same stone and plaster run through the public rooms and the sleeping floors alike.

Terraces step down from the house toward the sea and are planted with olives. The island is reached by ferry from Zadar, and the roads across it are narrow. A pool sits on the terrace level, and the restaurant looks out over the grove rather than inward toward the house.

Ask about the ferry timetable in the season you plan to travel, since crossings thin out beyond the summer. Write about whether the restaurant and the pool are open on your dates, about transfer from the ferry port, and about the olive harvest, which shapes what happens on the terraces.

The house stands opposite the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, and the accommodation is arranged as separate apartments rather than as hotel rooms. Each apartment has its own living space and kitchen, and the building holds a small number of them. A restaurant occupies the ground level and is open to people who are not staying in the house.

Domain Road runs along the front of the building, with the gardens directly across it. South Yarra lies behind, and the streets there carry shops and cafes. Apartments face either the gardens or the rear of the site, and the upper levels sit above the tree line.

Ask which apartments look toward the gardens, since the outlook differs across the building. It is worth writing about whether the kitchen is stocked on arrival, about restaurant hours, and about parking, which is on the street and governed by council signs.

The building was a medieval watchtower before its conversion, and that conversion kept the tower standing rather than replacing it. Rooms are set inside the old walls, and the new work is plainly new: glass, steel and smooth plaster against rough stone. The house lies in the hills of Umbria, above the village of Montone.

The tower stands on high ground with the valley below it, reached by a track that leaves the road toward Montone. Terraces have been cut around the base and a pool sits on one of them. The village itself is a short drive away and holds the nearest shops.

Ask about the access track and what vehicle suits it, since the last stretch is unsealed. Write about the opening season, which does not run through the whole year, about dinner arrangements, and about whether children can be accommodated in the rooms you are considering.

The hotel is made from houses in the village of Castiglioncello del Trinoro, restored and brought together rather than built as a single block. Rooms and suites are spread across those buildings, so guests move along village lanes between them. A spa, a restaurant and a small hall used for concerts belong to the same group of houses.

The village sits on a ridge in the Val d'Orcia, with open country falling away on either side. Lanes are narrow and paved in stone, and cars are left outside them. The buildings the hotel uses stand among houses that remain in ordinary residential use.

Ask which building your room is in and how far it stands from the restaurant, since those distances are walked. It is worth writing about the season, about whether the concert programme is running, and about transfer, because the approach roads are unsealed in places.