Favorite Hotels and Airbnbs 2025

We stayed in some pretty fantastic accommodations this year. Last year, we posted about our Favorite Hotels and Favorite Airbnbs we’d stayed in (to-date). This year, we’ll add some to those lists.

Our main criterion is it has to be memorable. Arguably, there are a couple of hotels we put on our list last year that don’t quite meet this criterion, but going forward the list will only include memorable places. Secondly, we have to always think that we’d want to go back, maybe even yearn to go back. For hotels, they need to feel welcoming, have outstanding service, preferably have a bar and/or restaurant and if they serve food it’s got to be great. They have to have comfortable areas to relax both in and outside of the room and those outside the room can’t be so loud and crowded you want to get up and leave as soon as you sit down. And as we leave, we have to be sad that we are doing so.

For Airbnbs the criteria are similar. In addition to being memorable, a place we are sad to leave and a place we look forward to returning if given the chance, the property has to embody the place where we are. It has to be well equipped. It has to be cozy and welcoming. The host has to be really strong with great responsiveness and good tips for seeing the local area. All of the Airbnbs we put on our first list meet these criteria.

MANNA, Arcadia Greece. This year, one hotel made the list. That hotel is MANNA in Arcadia in the Greek Peloponnese. Set in the mountains, it has the feel of an intimate mountain lodge with grand fireplaces, great common sitting areas, cozy rooms you can melt into and a fantastic restaurant. It isn’t cheap, but we found it worth every penny and wished we were staying longer. MANNA’s website is here.

The Mona Lisa House, Palm Springs California, USA. We rented this expansive wrap-around ranch home in the Movie Colony of Palm Springs last February with family. It lived well, with a large kitchen and living room, three bedrooms which were all well separated for privacy and a lovely outdoor area with a pool and outdoor kitchen underneath towering palm trees. Right next to Frank Sinatra’s old house, it made us feel like glamorous movie stars from a bygone era. Here is a link to the listing on Airbnb.

The Castle Loft, Santa Maria Rezzonico, Lake Como Italy. Lake Como made our favorite places we visited in 2025 list and part of the reason was our wonderful Airbnb apartment. Set in a quiet village away from the hustle and bustle of Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio, we were fortunate enough to return home here each day after exploring the lake to enjoy beautiful views from both terraces watch the sun go down, moon come up and storms approach and cross the lake. Our host, Gabriele, was amazing, welcoming and over-the-top helpful. The apartment is converted from his boyhood home. Just fantastic. Here is a link to the listing on Airbnb.

Rosina’s Painting Studio, Oppède, Provence France. We were fortunate enough to spend a whole week in this lovely apartment and it, in part, was why Provence also made our 2025 favorite places list. The pictures on Airbnb don’t quite do it justice. It is a little rustic, but in a luxurious sort of way. After a day of exploring Provence’s vineyards, village markets and lavender fields, we got to return home here, each day to swim in the pool, sit on our terrace, and watch the sun setting over a small olive grove while our hosts’ dog, Banina, sat at our feet (sometimes impatiently waiting for me to toss her ball again). Our hosts Corinne and Alain shared their home, their company and (on two nights) their table while we enjoyed delicious meals prepared on Alain’s plancha over an open wood fire grill. See why we liked it? A link to the Airbnb is listing is here.

After a year which took us to California and Arizona, Boston and New York, northern Italy, Provence and Bordeaux, Paris, Greece and Venice and several places in Portugal, it is difficult to choose. But these were the cream of a very well cultivated crop. Happy traveling and Happy New Year!