TOP 10s
TOP 10s
by: ashley

1-  Elsewhere; Goa, India

Price: $100

What it’s like: In 2003, Mumbai-based fashion photographer Denzil Sequeira opened up his ancestral compound, Elsewhere, to paying guests. Four colonial beach houses and three candy-colored tents sit at the water’s edge; for the most affordable option, book one of the latter, outfitted with a muslin-draped four-poster bed, a fully modern bathroom, private lanai, and your own wooden pier.

2-  Bellavista Bed & Breakfast; St. Thomas

 Price: $175

What it’s like: Bellavista Bed & Breakfast, a 1930’s West Indian–style villa overlooking Charlotte Amalie harbor. The four rooms are done up in floral prints and bright hues, some with a canopy bed.

3-  Awaroa Lodge; New Zealand

Price: $230

What it’s like: Set deep within the Abel Tasman National Park, the 26-room eco-lodge is in harmony with the great outdoors: earth-toned interiors, recycled-driftwood banisters, balconies that overlook wetlands teeming with native birds (including rare white herons).

4-  Azul del Mar; Key Largo, Florida

Price: $189

What it’s like: Just past the Everglades is the six-room Azul del Mar, Art Deco villa. The property is decidedly quiet, thanks to its small adjacent private beach and an adults-only policy.

5-  Whale Sanctuary Lodge; South Africa

Price: $240

What it’s like: It’s all about whales in this sleepy hamlet 90 minutes up the coast from Cape Town. To offer guests the best vantage point, Whale Sanctuary Lodge is set on a cliff above Walker Bay, where you can spot orcas, southern rights, and humpbacks out at sea.

6-  Breakwater Inn & Spa; Kennebunkport, Maine

Price: $159

What it’s like: The recently revamped Breakwater Inn & Spa feels like a traditional Maine cottage, though its 34 cozy rooms are totally up-to-speed: free Wi-Fi, pillow-top mattresses. The pebbly beach is lined with Adirondack chairs that overlook the mouth of the Kennebunk River.

7-  Puako Bed & Breakfast; Big Island, Hawaii

Price: $98

What it’s like: Tucked among the pricey resorts of Hawaii’s southern Kohala Coast is one of the big island’s best-kept secrets: a tiny village with access to prime snorkeling and surfing beaches. Puako Bed & Breakfast is as low-key as its location; host and hula performer-instructor Punahele Andrade has outfitted the four guest rooms with tropical furniture and bright Hawaiian quilts.

8-  Sol é Luna Inn; St. Martin

Price: $125

What it’s like: Between Grand Case and Orient Bay on the French half of this multicultural island, the cliffside Sol é Luna Inn delivers a modern twist on rustic Provençal style—an ocher-hued stucco exterior covered in bougainvillea, washbasins reminiscent of the Danish designer Verner Panton, colorfully tiled plunge pools.

9-  Pousada Sage Point; Brazil

Price: $108

What it’s like: You’ll feel like you’re on the set of The Blue Lagoon at the Pousada Sage Point, on the palm-studded Tiririca Beach in Bahia. The two-story, secluded tree-house property is made entirely from Brazilian noble wood.

10-  Sea View Inn; Carmel, California

Price: $135

What it’s like: The floral prints and canopy beds are a little frilly, but the real draw here is the hospitality—a fireside breakfast, tea in the garden. The eight-room Victorian bungalow Sea View Inn lives up to its name; it’s only steps from a broad beach on the Monterey Peninsula.

According to Travel Leisure  on www.msn.com