If your travel wishlist is starting to look a little bit predictable, ’s global team of editors and writers has just dropped the cure. We’ve compiled our guide to the world’s 33 most beautiful hotels, and five jaw-dropping properties in Africa feature on the list.
We aren’t just ticking the standard five-star luxury boxes, either. These hotels span everything from an earthen desert castle to a safari lodge where you can eyeball an elephant from an underground bunker.
In Morocco, Le Jardin des Douars near Essaouira took eighth place on the global ranking. You get the chance to stay in a ksar, which is a traditional North African castle made up of earthen buildings enclosed by a high wall, tucked into a river valley and surrounded by palm, olive and bougainvillea trees. Inside, expect Maghrebin colours, zellige tiling, tadelakt plasterwork and Berber rugs, plus two pools (one strictly adults-only) and a proper hammam for when the desert heat gets too much and you need to relax.
If you want to feel like you’ve reached the edge of the Earth, head to Tunisia, where Résidence Douz sits at the gateway to the Grand Erg Oriental sand sea. The property is a village of 50 private villas scattered across a massive palm grove. It’s created for desert immersion, meaning you can easily swap the pool deck for a sunset camel trek, dinner under a Berber tent or a day trip out to the Ksar Ghilane oasis.
South Africa claimed three of the five spots. In Cape Town, the pink-hued Mount Nelson has been a Table Mountain landmark since 1899, with its colonial-era grandeur, manicured gardens and afternoon tea on the lawn. Just outside Franschhoek, La Residence takes maximalism to another level as an eclectic, art-filled manor house set among the vineyards of the Cape Winelands. And in wild territory, Mhondoro Safari Lodge and Villa near the Welgevonden Game Reserve includes an underground viewing tunnel, letting guests watch elephants and rhinos from below ground level.
Africa’s five most beautiful hotels
- Le Jardin des Douars, Morocco
- Mount Nelson, Cape Town
- Résidence Douz, Tunisia
- La Residence, Franschhoek
- Mhondoro Safari Lodge and Villa, South Africa
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