Great escapes

Find your inner Zen

Much more than a travel or holiday guide, Great Escapes Asia is first and foremost a paradisiacal photo album. Featuring opulent photographs of places that seem too perfect to be real, some of which look like James Bond movie sets or National Geographic subjects, this book will quickly convince you that an Asian sojourn is crucial to your mental and physical wellbeing. The icing on the cake is that not only do these hotels really exist, but—thanks to the pricing and contact information provided—you can succumb to their mysterious charms and book yourself a room (or houseboat, hut, or tree house, whatever the case may be).

Among the gems waiting for you in Great Escapes Asia:

• In Kerala, India, choose between luxurious tree houses suspended 25 meters off the ground or futuristic-looking, Star Wars-style houseboats made of bamboo poles, palm leaves, and coconut fibers
• Are you more the resplendent-resort or budget-bungalow type? Find the best of both in Bali
• The best place for a delectable cup of joe: a luxury lodge and spa on a java plantation in (you guessed it) Java
• In the Philippines, an organic resort composed of superimposed huts whose every room affords instant access to the beach via rope ladder
• Tadao Ando’s sprawling minimalist concrete-and-steel hotel attached to the contemporary art museum in Naoshima, Japan—the perfect place to contemplate on the relationship between humans and nature
• An exclusive hotel on a private island in Sri Lanka, once owned by Paul Bowles and frequented by Arthur C. Clarke and Peggy Guggenheim
• Thatched-roof cottages in India whose gardens overflow with mangos, nutmeg, and cardamom
• An Ayurvedic spa in the Himalayas where nothing matters but peace and relaxation
• In Myanmar, an elegant river cruise boat and a hotel on a breathtaking archeological site
• Chairman Mao’s former getaway in Beijing, where you can rent his lavish, traditionally-decorated suite complete with adjoining concubine rooms