This year’s annual Hot List of the best new hotels from around the world is a story of resilience. Despite enormous hardship in the travel industry, exceptional properties have continued to open across the globe (nearly a thousand last year, in the U.S. alone).

 

As always with this endeavor, each of the 69 picks on this year’s list was safely vetted by CN Traveler’s international network of correspondents. But as they’ve learned in the past year, everything is connected, which is why they’re also expanded the scope of hot to include restaurants, transportation, and destinations, as well as more news they’re excited about set for later this year.

 

In spite of it all, these eight properties represent a success story all their own. Read on for the best new hotels in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America—CN Traveler thinks they’re a pretty great way to mark the 25th anniversary of this list.

 

Clear here to see the entire 2021 Hot List.

 

Circulo Mexicano

Mexican hotelier Grupo Habita has made delivering the country’s coolest boutique spots into an art form. Their latest opening is no different and deftly switches up the tempo from the buzzing marketplace-style ground floor, through the quiet austerity of the Shaker-simple bedrooms, to the chilled-out rooftop with its infinity pool, Japanese soaking tub, and views of Centro Histórico sights: the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Palace, and the Templo Mayor. It shrewdly tapped renowned chef Gabriela Cámara (of the capital city’s beloved Contramar) for the courtyard Itacate del Mar restaurant, where the menu features street snacks, the standout of which are the tostadas with tangy tuna or fried calamari topped with shitake mushrooms.

 

Courtesy Circulo Mexicano

 

The dining area is circled by a handful of interestingly curated shops such Templo, stocking Oaxacan ceramics, and Atlawa, an interiors studio featuring resin-based kitchenware. On the second and third floors, the property’s utilitarian aesthetic takes form in the 25 bedrooms, fitted out with custom oak pieces by the Mexico City-based furniture design studio, La Metropolitana, and most of which have their own contemplative terrace or balcony. It’s all housed in the former home of Manuel Álvarez Bravo, one of Mexico’s most celebrated 20th-century photographers, whose black-and-white images line the exposed brick walls in public spaces. A calm, considered hub amid the thrum of the historical heart of Mexico City. Rooms from $150. —Michaela Trimble

 

Hôtel Barrière Le Carl Gustaf

Those who knew and loved Le Carl Gustaf the first time around will have even more reason to fall for it now that the Barriere group has taken over. The hotelier company—known for reviving particularly beloved but withering properties—has made sure to keep the spirit of Le Carl, as it's known, chic and easy. The raw wood and petite terraces still makes it feel like the beach house of a fabulous French friend, yet the hotel’s reimagined approach to the environment gives it a 21st century edge. Paris design firm Gilles and Boissier gussied up the 21 rooms with creams, stone, and linen, as well as a profusion of palms separating various spaces with a curtain of greenery.

 

Fabrice Rambert

 

 

Suites have been reconfigured to catch sea breezes, providing natural air conditioning. And a fleet of electric bikes brings guests down the hill upon which the hotel stands like a lookout, over the town and coastline, to nearby Shell Beach, the perfect place for a picnic prepared by the hotel’s staff that feels, appropriately simple and chic—much like Le Carl itself. From $1,085 per night. —Dan Koday

 

Octavia Casa

In chi-chi Condesa, fashion designer Roberta Maceda has crafted a seven-room retreat that is a minimalist extension of her Octavia clothing line. On the ground floor, next to a breezy seating area with a concrete table by the interior firm Habitación 116, there's a shoppable bronze rack of Maceda's pieces, like crisp white button-up shirts. Upstairs, suites are dressed in neutral palettes, and named after things in the natural world, from walnut (nogal) and linen (lino) to earth (tierra) and bronze (bronce). The softest cotton-satin bedding comes, of course, from Octavia’s new homeware line, while the rest of the studied interiors showcase other Mexican designers: blown-glass cups by Onora Casa, cream-colored vases from ceramics studio Encrudo filled with dried magnolia leaves.

 

Courtesy Octavia Casa

 

There’s no restaurant, but breakfast is brought in from the local bakery, with sweet Mexican pastries such as conchas served with homemade hibiscus-and-ginger jam, to be eaten in the meditative pebble-floored garden. In the evenings, it’s a short stroll to city favorites including Italian restaurant Lardo and the new natural wine bar Caiman from the owners of the smart furniture design firm La Metropolitana. This is a meticulously designed gateway to Mexico City’s coolest scenes. Rooms from $145. —Michaela Trimble

 

One&Only Mandarina

This glossy, globetrotting hotel group might pick up new destinations as if they were passport stamps, but each is uniquely rooted in place. Here, along the Riviera Nayarit on the wild Pacific coast, that means drawing deeply on Mexico’s magic, with considered references to the Indigenous Cora and Huichol people. Bedrooms, whether oversized treehouses or ocean-facing villas, are a celebration of local culture, from the traditional textiles and pottery to the robes by contemporary Mexico-based label Candor. The spa, set in a natural volcanic-rock garden, is based on ancient healing practices and offers treatments including temazcal sweat-lodge rituals.

 

Courtesy One&Only Mandarina

 

The hotel has also tapped the country’s top chef, Enrique Olvera—of Mexico City’s Pujol—for Carao, where feasts begin with fresh ceviche and end on homemade cinnamon buñuelos. Meanwhile Alma, an open-air, garden-to-plate spot helmed by French-Mexican Olivier Deboise, is centered around wood-fired, Pan-American-meets-Mediterranean dishes. It might be a step up from the surf hotels down the road, but one that still feels very much in step with Nayarit’s spirit. Rooms from $900. —Michaela Trimble

 

Escondido Oaxaca

The city of Oaxaca has long been celebrated for its ancestral artistry and gastronomy, which homegrown hoteliers Grupo Habita have drawn on for their latest opening here. Fusing old and new, behind an unassuming russet red facade downtown, architect Alberto Kalach has added a surprising Brutalist addition to this colonial-era home. Minimalist-looking rooms, four in the original building and eight in the new tower, are dedicated to elevated Mexican craftsmanship. Each features a majority of furniture produced from ahuehuete wood (a type of Mexican cypress that is sacred to the local Zapotec culture and even featured in their creation story), while locally-made olive bedspreads match the elemental interiors.

 

Sergio Alejandro Lopez Jimenez/Courtesy Escondido Oaxaca

 

Another surprise is dished up in the restaurant where chef Mario Petterino turns out classic dishes from his home region of Piedmont, Italy, such as homemade ravioli and gelato. Afterwards, enjoy a mezcal nightcap in the library-like ‘Culture Room’. The hotel is in walking distance of all the city’s attractions, from the famed restaurant Criollo by chef Enrique Olvera to the main plaza, home to the Templo Santo Domingo church and the Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca, that connects Oaxaca’s cultures of past and present; much like the hotel itself. Rooms from $210. —Michaela Trimble

 

Paradero Todos Santos

Though experience-based lodgings are old news in countries throughout South America and Africa, Paradero claims to be the first hotel brand to introduce the model to Mexico. Located on a previously unused 5.5-acre plot within a farming community in Baja California Sur’s Todos Santos, it’s become the mission of Mexico City-based founders Pablo Carmona and Joshua Kremer to preserve the over 160 acres of family-owned farms that surround the property.

 

Courtesy Paradero Todos Santos

 

The resort, set in front of a palm tree oasis about 20 minutes from the beach, is made up of a series of brutalist-inspired structures designed by architects Ruben Valdez and Yashar Yektajo. They took note of the landscape’s sunbaked hues and designed the property in golden shades to blend into the sandy natural surrounds. The buildings’ desert tones also allow the plants in the resort’s 100,000-square-foot botanical garden to pop: red sand verbena, Mojave yucca, and Shaw’s agave. Though the resort’s outdoor spa and half-moon shaped infinity pool make it hard to leave the grounds, it would be a shame to miss out on guided hikes through cactus fields to reach the deserted Las Palmas beach, taco tours of the best local spots in Todos Santos, or private surf lessons. The hotel has custom boards positioned in the open-air living room, an airy sanctuary where guests kick back and relax post-adventure in anticipation of seafood-centric meals prepared by chef Eduardo Ríos, an alum of Enrique Olvera’s Mexico City restaurant, Pujol. Rooms from $550. —Michaela Trimble

 

Estancia La Madrugada

Rural Argentina, an hour and a half from Buenos Aires and deep into the endless pampas is not where you’d expect to find a British travel writer-turned cowgirl and her very pretty little estancia. Cinders Paxton single-handedly restored the century-old estate in San Antonio de Areco into a two-suite boutique ranch, a first in the area. While an eclectic treasure trove of restored furniture and collectibles such as Nepalese place mats and Bolivian ponchos gathered from her world travels create a whimsical look, the real charm is in the free-spirited and unobtrusive approach to service forged by the on-hands hostess and her three-strong team.

 

Nahuel Alfonso/Courtesy Estancia La Madruga

 

The soothing suites—Green and Pink—inspired by elegant English farmhouses and the simplicity of gaucho lifestyle, plus 20 acres surrounded by wheat fields and stud farms to play in and a 65-foot pool, mean guests easily slip into laid-back Areco time. With a farm-to-table approach sourcing vegetables from the organic garden, Areco-born chefs Feli Condesse Stanga and Dámaso Rivas Pinal create four meals a day including high tea and on-demand cocktails. The candle-lit asado, under the magnolia tree or in the converted train wagon, was a hit amongst her first wave of guests—Buenos Aires’ hip creative crowd and high-flying expats. This magical escape nails a personalized countryside adventure—in Paxton’s words, “it’s the lovechild of my favorite Argentine experiences with a huge dose of fantasy and flower power.” From $694 per night. —Sorrel Moseley-Williams

 

Cielo Lodge

The first thing you’ll notice from this 1,600-foot-high eco-lodge emerging from thick Costa Rican jungles are the views. They stretch over neighboring Corcovado National Park, the country's largest, and out to the Pacific. It means there's always something to catch your eye from the open-air terrace of its six suites (and reason to order pots of hot local coffee for breakfast each morning to your room). But the whole point of being down here is to get into the thick of it all, and the team here can assemble whale watching tours, hiking trips, and private surf lessons down the hill at Pavones.

 

Courtesy Cielo Lodge

 

You’ll find inspiration on what to do each night at Sunset Bar, where guests chit-chat about their day over piña coladas while the sun disappears into the ocean; good luck not booking the excursion to the tiny island of Puntarenitas when you hear all about its barefoot restaurants and swimming coves. Though the real draw may be the mission of the lodge itself. Dedicated to preserving Costa Rica’s rainforests, Cielo’s owners have already planted over 4,000 hardwood and fruit trees, bringing birds and mammals back to the area in a larger way. Along with the birdsong from the jungle, such knowledge can help each guest sleep just a little more soundly. From $486 per night. —Caryn Davis

 

 

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