Sometimes you get inspired to be one with nature. You know, to unplug from city slicker life and dial it back with an ancient desert. Maybe take a gorilla trek in a remote jungle in Rwanda. Or channel your inner cave man in a lodge built into a boulder. But of course, you’re not willing to rough it, and with these hotels, you don’t have to. Because connecting to nature and staying in a luxe abode are luckily not mutually exclusive.
Hotel: Bisate Lodge
Location: Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
On the edge of Volcanoes National Park in northwest Rwanda, think of Bisate as the OG of luxury hotels in the region. In recent years, Bisate has been joined by Singita and One&Only. However, there’s nothing like seeing the architecture of Bisate’s huts nestled into the mountainside. As stunning as the accommodations are, the main draw of the area is gorilla trekking. Volcanoes is home to roughly half the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. Humans and gorillas share 98% of common DNA. The chance to see these magnificent creatures in their natural environment is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The setting is intimate at Bisate, with six forest villas perched in an eroded volcanic cone. Each one a circular cocoon of thatch and reclaimed wood designed to disappear into the hillside. Wilderness, the company behind Bisate, built the lodge with a sense of purpose for conversation. They even run a reforestation program on the surrounding land that has planted tens of thousands of indigenous trees since opening. In Wilderness style, the interiors are lavish without being loud. Think handwoven textiles, carved wood screens, and fireplaces for cool mountain nights. But the design never competes with the view, which is the Virunga volcanoes in every direction.
Hotel: Banyan Tree AlUla
Location: AlUla, Saudi Arabia
AlUla is one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions on earth. The area is ringed by 200,000-year-old rock formations and the Nabataean tombs of Hegra. The region is easily Saudi Arabia’s most compelling landscape by a significant margin.
Banyan Tree has tented pavilions tucked into the rose-red sandstone canyons of AlUla. But this is nothing like your childhood camp. The tents are generous and well-appointed, all with views of AlUla’s claim to fame. Six Senses also leans into the natural environment. The spa uses local mineral-rich clay and has treatments inspired by the local environment. For meals, dinner is an affair under the canyon walls. This is one of the top nature hotels because of the vast silence — you’re as one with nature as it gets.
Hotel: Desert Rock
Location: Asir region, Saudi Arabia
Saudi happens to have two of the top nature hotels in the world because it’s one of the most unspoiled places. The Asir highlands in southwestern Saudi Arabia is a mountainous region of juniper forests. It’s an area with ancient villages that most travelers haven’t reached yet, so now is the time to explore.
Desert Rock earns its name. The resort is literally carved into and cantilevered over a basalt cliff face in the Asir mountains. The altitude gives you cool air, mist in the mornings, and the vertiginous sensation of sleeping inside geology. The architecture of Desert Rock has raw stone, minimal intervention, and rooms that open to sheer drops. Desert Rock’s claim to fame is some of the most committed environmental design. There is no competing with this landscape, and to their credit, nobody has tried.
Hotel: Zannier Hotels Sonop
Location: Karas region, Namibia
Zannier Sonop is located in a remote private concession in southern Namibia, one of the least-populated countries on earth. The night sky alone justifies the journey. This one of those cases when you should bring a wide-angle lens and clear your schedule.
Sonop has ten tented suites, spread across a private concession in the Namibian desert. The lodge is perched on and around the enormous granite boulders that make this corner of the Karas region look like another planet.
Zannier has channeled the colonial safari aesthetic here with intent. Think Karen Blixen, if Karen Blixen had access to a proper wine cellar and a plunge pool. But the real triumph is how the camp disappears into the rock formations from the distance. The silence at Sonop is the kind that has profound weight to it.
Hotel: Six Senses Zil Pasyon
Location: Félicité Island, Seychelles
Its location alone on Félicité makes the Six Senses Zil Pasyon one of the top nature hotels in the world. Félicité is a 268-acre island in the Inner Islands of the Seychelles. This is a place with some of the clearest water in the world, along with natural rock formations. With its isolation, this is what the Indian Ocean was before anyone built anything on it.
Six Senses occupies the entirety of Félicité Island. It has 30 villas built into a granite-boulder landscape. Many of the villas and rooms are set above one of the most intact coral reef systems in the Indian Ocean. The brand’s commitment to sustainability here is not window dressing. The resort runs its own coral nursery, desalinates its own water, and generates a meaningful percentage of its energy on-site. The villas are spectacular in the way that only private-island villas can be. Think infinity pools that flow toward reef views and interiors that manage to feel both edited and lush.
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FAQs
Q: Why is Bisate one of the top nature hotels in the world?
A: Bisate is one of the top nature hotels in the world because it’s set near Volacanos National Park in Rwanda. Rwanda is one of the few places in the world to see gorillas in their natural habitat.
Q: Why is the Six Senses Zil Pasyon considered one of the top nature hotels int he world?
A: Six Senses Zil Pasyon is one of the top nature hotels in the world because part of the hotel is built into natural rock formations.
Q: Why is Zannier Sonop considered one of the top nature hotels in the world?
A: Zannier Sonop is considered one of the top nature hotels in the world because it’s set in a remote, totally unspoiled part of Namibia. At this top nature hotel, it’s just you and the Namibian desert. And some of the most beautiful star dunes in the world.
