Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

If you’re the kind of traveller who prefers to gaze at great views rather than be part of them, try this wonderful boutique hotel on the outskirts of Udaipur, which surveys the whitewashed palaces of the lake city from a distant hilltop wrapped in a patchwork of mustard fields. The vistas are loveliest from the hotel’s infinity pool, which is presided over by a trio of garlanded Buddhas. Antique materials salvaged from abandoned havelis were used to construct the main building, where the rooms are in contemporary minimalist style, with contrasting dark woods and pale marbles, Kashmiri rugs and silk upholstery.