Now Open: The Best New Hotels of Spring 2025 — Asia, Africa, Australia
Yes, we’re writing about even more hotel openings — this time, with our eyes on our eastern and southernmost continents. Spring is in the air, and we’re flirting with:
rich, manicured grand dames in India
an artsy arrival in Marrakech
a down-to-earth, Cambodian island beauty
Cairo’s urban sophisticate
a bronzed babe near the Great Barrier Reef
There is plenty to look at in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Dubai, South Africa, and Tanzania, too. Today’s post is free for all subscribers and links to the rest of the world’s openings are below. If you like what you see, please take a minute to hit the heart button or share below.
ASIA
JAPAN
Funky foodie city of Osaka welcomes Patina Osaka in a new, 21-story building across from Osaka Castle. The look is contemporary and masculine, with lots of wood tones and expansive windows overlooking picturesque Naniwa No Miya park (where you can walk off last night’s yakitori). Waldorf Astoria Osaka makes its Japan debut 31 floors above verdant Umekita Park.
In Kyoto, Pan Pacific’s The Hotel Higashiyama Kyoto Tokyu opened a ryokan-style accommodation with 143 rooms.
Rosewood Miyakojima opened its small (55 villas) and luxurious island beach resort off the coast of Okinawa. This is not the Japan of misty temples but of turquoise water, vivid coral, and local connections to Okinawan uchinanchu (“sea people'').
CHINA
Anji County is a popular eco-tourism destination 2.5 hours from Shanghai by car, and the new, beautiful Salt of Anji is a high-design retreat from the city. Get your fix of Gaudi-inspired contemporaneity (realized by South African architect Peter Rich) among serene mountains, bamboo forests, and rivers. There are stone villas, hotel guest rooms, and studios (108 in all). Food is a sensory experience from the bakery and cafe, a farm-to-table restaurant, a casual kitchen serving street food, and a “honey and tea lab” with unique infusions and harvests from the on-site hive. A wellness center gives guests the chance to swim, bathe, sweat, plunge, and stretch.
SINGAPORE
Mandai Rainforest Resort’s biophilic design principles, an architecture and design system aligned with nature, were used in the making of Banyan Tree’s 100th resort, thankfully; if you’re going for volume (338 rooms), it’s imperative that sustainability is top of mind. Nestled within the Mandai Wildlife Reserve, it has been designated Singapore's first-ever Super Low Energy (SLE) resort. The 24 treehouses feel like the accommodations to book and allow native wildlife to move freely beneath their canopy.
Raffles Sentosa, the O.G. Raffles Hotel that opened in the late 19th century, became a Singapore landmark and, in some very fancy circles, a world-wide destination. It evokes elegant, heritage, and, let’s face it, colonialist nostalgia, which could use a little injection of modernity. Enter Raffles Sentosa, a 62-villa resort on lush Sentosa Island overlooking the South China Sea. It’s only 15 minutes from central Singapore, but you’ll hardly remember that when you’re lost in a stack of botanical books or drinking a Sentosa Sling by the pool.
Capella Taipei
Taipei, Taiwan
Taiwan had put a hiatus on luxury hotel openings for nearly a decade, so all eyes are on this 86-room newcomer, an urban respite in the Songshan District. André Fu Studio is behind the design, a “modern mansion” with a personal, homey touch, plus five sophisticated dining rooms and an elegant spa.
CAMBODIA
Located near Cambodia’s Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, the new Shangri-La Phnom Penh has a whopping 303 rooms in a French Art Deco-meets-local-Khmer aesthetic with massive windows overlooking the Mekong River.
If taking a speedboat from a private jetty to a private island would be your kind of thing if only the prices weren’t so high, take note of Jati Koh Russey, a family-oriented, affordably priced vacation spot that, according to its executive director, “reflects the natural warmth of the Cambodian people in a relaxed, unpretentious, and friendly atmosphere.”
THAILAND
New in Bangkok: The Ritz-Carlton, Bangkok in the One Bangkok District and Aman Nai Lert Bangkok in the diplomatic quarter, a 52-suite retreat by architect Jean-Michel Gathy with wraparound terraces, tropical gardens, omakase restaurant, jazz bar, and spa.
INDIA
The Oberoi Vindhyavilas Wildlife Resort, Bandhavgarh consists of ten ridiculously well appointed luxury tents just outside Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, where guests can track Royal Bengal tigers all day and retreat to opulent tents inspired by royal caravans and an infinity edge swimming pool that blends into a calm lake.
Anantara Jewel Bagh Jaipur is giving Wes Anderson hotel vibes in Rajasthan. Rich, manicured, symmetrical, and visually striking, it has 150 suites, courtyards, a jewel-box restaurant adorned with mirrored mosaics, and plenty of excursions (tiger safari, cooking class, royal heritage art walk) to explode the senses.
DUBAI
It feels like it should be illegal to build a boring building in the Middle East, doesn’t it? Especially in look-at-me Dubai. Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab — with 386 rooms and suites, 82 residences, and a 82-berth marina — looks like a skinny yacht and fits right in next to its aquatically-themed neighbors Burj Al-Arab (a sailboat) and Jumeirah Beach Hotel (a wave).
AFRICA
J’nane Rumi
Marrakech, Morocco
Oh my, it’s here and it’s gorgeous. Round up your shopping companions for a stay at the 11-room bohemian beauty, with its full-length swimming pool, vivid colors, surprising design details, and beautiful collection of art in the Palmeraie, a ten-minute drive from the Medina. (Here’s a little something for your mood board.)
After a partial closure and post-quake restorations, Virgin Limited Edition unveils brand new, three-bedroom riads at Richard Branson’s magical Kasbah Tamadot in the Atlas Mountains.
Giza Palace
Cairo, Egypt
It’s not every day that a sophisticated contemporary urban retreat opens in the cradle of civilization. Giza Palace, a member of Leading Hotels of the World, has elegant Egyptian design details, fine Egyptian linens in the bedroom (of course), butler service, several dining rooms, a beautiful spa, dedicated kids club, and connections to excursions (Egyptian coffee tastings, sunset sails on the Nile).
Spier Hotel
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Ethical, regenerative agriculture is at the heart of the Spier compound, a lively wine farm (circa 1692) in the Cape Floral Kingdom — a great name for one of the most special places for plants in the world in terms of density, diversity, and number of endemic floral species. And to think it’s just 20 minutes from Cape Town International Airport. The beautifully renovated hotel has a sunny Cape country look and feel. New restaurants serve Spier’s vintages and South African farm-to-table cuisine, and 80 refurbished rooms and suites are filled with art, lovely textiles, and private terraces. From the Cape Herbal Bath House treatments to the Buzz Club activities for kids, the point is clear: This is a full farm immersion.
Few & Far Luvhondo
Limpopo, South Africa
Nature lovers looking for a new point of view will appreciate arriving at Luvhondo by Rovos Rail Train. If that isn’t enough, guests can hop onto a beautiful, solar-powered cable car for a unique aerial safari through the mountains, dense forests, and plains to spot wildlife and nature’s largest baobab trees. Back at the lodge, a contemporary mix of cliffside suite lounging, foraging excursions, cultural dance performances, and farm-to-table dining experiences await.
Masiya’s Camp at Royal Malewane
Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa
The new tented retreat — the latest from The Royal Portfolio — offers six canvas-draped suites with indoor and outdoor lounge areas, a heated pool, and an indoor/outdoor shower overlooking the bush.
TANZANIA
Relative newbie Envi Lodges finds remote, unchartered territory in which to lightly place their eco-sensitive tents, modular cabins, and biophilic pods. Two of three new lodges have opened in Tanzania this year and focus on adventure, culture, wellness, environment, and agriculture. Envi Kili is a 20-tent lodge with a raw connection to nature in Arusha. In Northern Serengeti, Envi Sisini Mara is an elevated tented camp with a restaurant, spa, stylish lounge, and access to the Great Migration path.
AUSTRALIA
The Sundays
Hamilton Island, Queensland
How about a laid back boutique retreat in Australia’s Whitsundays, an island group located in the Great Barrier Reef? The 59-room family-friendly hotel (created by the owners of qualia, one of the Luxury Lodges of Australia) goes well with Hamilton Island’s tropical surroundings (beachside picnics, chill brunches, mid-day dips). Direct flights from Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, and easy boat transfers from Queensland make it doable for a weekend city break.
Melbourne Place
Melbourne, Victoria
A new build in the CBD is home to a new hotel with 191 handsomely designed rooms classified as Everyday, Urban, and Horizon. Award-winning chef Nick Deligiannis oversees MidAir, the Mediterranean restaurant on the 12th floor; Ross and Sunny Lusted are behind Portuguese restaurant Marmelo on the ground floor and Spanish small plates lounge Mr. Mills in the basement.
The Eve Hotel
Sydney, New South Wales
This one doesn’t just want to be a hotel. It wants to be “a canvas for your next great adventure.” Well. Sign us up for a stint on Wunderlich Lane in Surry Hills Village. We’ll start on the rooftop by the pool, then have cocktails and bistro fare at the restaurant, and happily crash in our handsome and cozy room. We’ll take a balcony too. Thanks, mate.