With all these fashionable boutique hotels popping up everywhere, I must admit I kinda’ miss the feeling of unpretentiousness. A relaxing atmosphere can be achieved in many ways, however for me nothing compares to the experience of hanging out with friends and family at a special place where stylish design meets bohemian rustic, and where a sense of nostalgia can be restored.

If you’re like me, you better check out The Surf Lodge and Ruschmeyer, both operated by a new lifestyle hotel brand, by the name of King & Grove, dedicated to creating intriguing hotels that are sophisticated and eclectic yet honest and accessible.

Just 45 minutes drive from the city of Cape Town, South Africa, in the beautiful Drakenstein Valley, lies Babylonstoren – a 200 hectares Cape Dutch farm with vineyards and orchards. Guests staying at this exclusive farm hotel enjoy its unique accommodation and fine food and most importantly, a sense of well being.

Just a few blocks from New York’s Madison Square Garden lies the Ace Hotel. It’s located at 20W 29th Street, where the successful Hotel Breslin stood in 1904. The Ace is a 12-story boutique hotel with 269 rooms and a passion for classic vintage; interiors were designed by Roman & Williams, mixing objects, lighting and finishes from different eras to reflect a sense of unconventionality, simple elegance and freedom.

The Almdorf Seinerzeit is a charming mountain retreat close to the Austrian Nockberge National Park. It looks as if it was taken out of a children’s fairytale, with its charming, chocolate-box village, 20 traditional mountain huts, bathing house, two ponds, and all the fresh air you can imagine.

For this item you have to imagine background music of soft drum beats and jungle sounds, the smell of campfires, fresh foliage and scented candles and Meryl Streep dressed for “Out of Africa” walking towards you. Or you can just look at the pictures to see that the tents at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort are a perfect setting for discerning grown-ups with an adventurous side.

The Homestead is located in the Phinda Game Reserve, an award-winning ecotourism destination in the lush KwaZulu-Natal region in northern South Africa. This luxurious African villa embraces the surrounding bush and invites it in through the use of glass, openness, a lateral plan form with courtyards, ponds and narrow decks.

I love the city of Amsterdam, and when a new attraction presents itself in the area, what better excuse to take a few days off and go check it out. Located just 12 minutes by train from the center of Amsterdam, the new Inntel hotel is literally a temporary home for traveling guests. Inspired by the traditional green wooden houses of the Zaan region, this extraordinary boutique hotel is build up from almost 70 individual small houses, perfectly stacked, one on top of the other in four shades of green.

The Pearl is a boutique hotel near downtown San Diego with a vintage-modern style, offering 23 guestrooms, fresh California Coastal cuisine, and an outdoor lounge and theater featuring weekly ‘Dive-In Movies’ projected onto a 10′ x 13′ foot projection screen with full sound, overlooking an oyster-shaped swimming pool.

Designed by Tokyo-based company Design Studio S, the Nine Hours (9h) is a unique boutique hotel in Kyoto, Japan. The hotel offers luxury and minimalist aesthetics in a tiny living space, featuring 125 rooms (hmmm… capsule units), personal lockers, showers, and a lounge.

Within a three hour flight from LA, accompanied by a quick drive and a boat ride, the beautiful hillside boutique resort of Verana awaits you in Yelapa’s lush Mexican jungle. This remote and secluded resort has a wonderful location, overlooking the ocean with a panoramic view of the mountains deep in the Valle del Sierra Madre Occidental.

Here’s another affordable boutique hotel for you to check out, only this time we’re in the fabulous district of south Kensington, London. Just a short walk from Earls Court or Gloucester Road tube stations lies base2stay – London’s alternative to boutique and budget hotels.

Surrounded by a breathtaking landscape of mountains, deserts, canyons and forests, the Habita Monterrey hotel is located in the San Pedro neighborhood in Monterrey, Mexico. In my opinion, the most prominent, dramatic feature of this boutique hotel is its hyper-modern interior design by Parisian Joseph Dirand.