The most design-forward hotels to book now in London, the Dolomites, and Milan.
With summer travel season bleeding into fall getaways and beyond, the idea of choosing where to stay involves the task of filtering through recommendations, Instagram saves and articles all promising the best options. For a Euro escape where the hotels are just as memorable as the destination, the five below are your design-forward guide for where to book now. In London, where an art collection is at the forefront of a converted townhouse, to the Dolomites in Italy, where an infinity pool is suspended in midair, to Milan, where historic frescoes in a converted convent coexist with contemporary design, these are more than just places to sleep — they’re destinations in their own right.
Photography Courtesy of: St. James’s Hotel & Club
Althoff St. James’s Hotel & Club, Mayfair, London
Just around the corner from London’s famed historic gallery district on Cork Street in Mayfair (which turned 100 last year!), the Althoff St. James’s Hotel boasts an impressive collection of its own: home to the Rosenstein Art Collection, containing over 400 works of art from the 1920s to the 1950s and featuring pieces from the Cubist, Impressionist and Expressionist movements. The 60-room-and-suite hotel was originally founded in 1857 by Earl Granville as a private member’s club for aristocratic gentlemen and diplomats with everyone from Winston Churchill to Sean Connery and Liza Minnelli having stayed there. Since then, the five-star boutique hotel in the heart of London, located steps from the iconic Fortnum & Mason department store, has transformed into a well-appointed hideaway. With cozy yet luxurious suites designed by the Berlin-based firm AMJ Design, it feels more like staying in the guest bedrooms of a chic English townhouse than an urban city hotel.
Photography Courtesy of: Bertrand’s Townhouse
Bertrand’s Townhouse
In Bloomsbury, Bertrand’s Townhouse, which opened in December 2025, takes the idea of a house-hotel a step further. Transforming three Georgian townhouses just steps away from the British Museum, it’s an eclectic, art collector’s paradise. Named for Bertrand Russell, a British mathematician, philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, the boutique 43-room guest house nods to the eccentricities of both Russell and the Bloomsbury Group, the early 20th century intellectuals who inhabited the area. Bedecked in the hotel’s signature jewel tones of indigo and dark green, as well as a salon-style constellation of artwork in the main lobby and bar area, rooms are plush and luxurious, with Diptyque amenities and a spacious Philosopher’s Quarters suite that will inspire intellectual greatness worthy of the hotel’s namesake.
Photography Courtesy of: Hotel Hubertus
Hotel Hubertus
For a mountainous sojourn (or, quite literally, a breath of fresh air), the Alpine-specific airline SkyAlps has a direct flight from London Gatwick to the Bolzano airport in Italy, landing you directly in the heart of the Italian Dolomites in a mere two hours and thirty minutes. From there, one destination worth of your time is the five-star luxury wellness resort Hotel Hubertus. Located in the South Tyrol village of Valdaora, a rectangular vision jutting into the sky greets you upon entrance. It’s the hotel’s breathtaking Sky Pool, a feature that’s impossibly cantilevered over the mountainside below, blurring the lines between design and landscape. With over 7,000-square-meters its wellness world, Alpenreych Park, includes five outdoor pools, indoor and outdoor saunas, as well as yet another feat of architectural engineering: the Heaven & Hell Sky Spa, a two-story contrast spa with jacuzzis and glass-walled saunas that seemingly dangle in mid-air. With contemporary design, rooms have panoramic views that look out onto the verdant valley of Olang down below, and a daily breakfast buffet that uses the best of local ingredients for an elevated approach to Alpine cuisine.
Photography Courtesy of: Chalet Mirabell
Chalet Mirabell
On the other side of South Tyrol, Chalet Mirabell, nestled in the mountains above Merano, utilizes a quiet approach to wellness and luxury. The hotel’s Instagram-famous natural swimming pool (at 25 meters, it’s the longest natural swimming pond in the area) and its expansive 6000-square-meter spa with a variety of Finnish saunas, steam rooms and pools are reasons enough not to leave. Its sleek, modern design feels like the kind of stay that appeals to both holistic nature-lovers as well as those tech-forward longevity enthusiasts seeking cryotherapy treatments. Using a variety of local ingredients, breakfast and dinner at the indulgent buffet are a gourmand’s paradise: herbs from their garden and regional butchers are used in the most delicious meals.
Photography Courtesy of: Four Seasons Milan
Four Seasons Milan
The Four Seasons Hotel Milano, a sprawling 118-room palazzo, housed in a former 15th-century convent just underwent a major renovation. Located in the central, stylish Quadrilatero della Moda fashion district, the hotel is a prime example of an architectural marvel that blends historic elements with ultra-luxurious surrounds done at the highest level. Designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon, the refresh gives rooms an elegant upgrade and debuts new suites that nod to Milanese heritage with a minimalist-chic restrained palette. Old and new deftly intermingle, as historical frescoes and columns coexist alongside Rochon’s vision: cushy Poliform furniture and Rubelli fabrics, drawn together with a contemporary Milanese design sensibility (and some of the lushest hotel beds in the world.) Even during the heat of the summer months, the stunning, subterranean indoor pool framed by a 19th-century vaulted ceiling (which feels like being inside an ancient cistern), is perfect for cooling off in-between shopping sprees.
Photography Courtesy of: Rocco Forte House Milan
Rocco Forte House Milan
When in Milan, it would be advantageous to do as the Milanese do. In the case of hotel stays, it would be to live like the chic, elegant older women known as sciuras do — in a fabulous converted apartment on the edge of the Quadrilatero della Moda district. Opened in 2024, Rocco Forte House located on Via della Spiga takes the idea of “living like a local” to the next level: 11 private serviced apartments housed in a 19th-century palazzo, surrounding a tranquil courtyard. Designed by Paolo Moschino, each apartment comes with a “house concierge,” available to take care of your heart’s every desire like procuring a brioche stuffed with cream from Pasticceria Siss or providing grocery shopping service. With an eclectic pairing of elegant, classic design mixed with more contemporary elements, the luxurious apartments are decorated with subtle-yet-stylish furnishings featuring muted palettes in contrast to historic architectural elements such as original ceiling frescoes and moulding.
