Glistening fjords. Tawny vineyards. A pristine lake at the foot of snow-capped mountains.
If any of those settings appeals to you, you’re in good company. Natural beauty is a big reason travelers visit South America — they want to experience the cloud-shrouded Andes, the enormous skies above Patagonia, the idyllic vineyards. And the best resorts in the region help visitors do just that.
Every year for our World’s Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise lines, spas, airlines, and more. In the hotels category, readers rated properties on their rooms and facilities, location, service, food and drink, and overall value. Hotels were categorized as city or resort properties based on their locations.
All of South America’s top resorts were in just three locations: Chilean Patagonia, Peru’s Sacred Valley, and Argentina’s wine country. Sol y Luna, a colorful all-casita property that is a newcomer to the World’s Best Awards, joins Tambo del Inka in Urubamba. Sol y Luna has “lots of charm and a soul,” one respondent wrote. “It’s not just a hotel, but a home away from home.”
In Argentina’s Mendoza region, Cavas Wine Lodge is “like being in heaven, here in the vineyards and out of the everyday world,” reports another reader and recent guest of the hotel, located in the town of Luján de Cuyo.
Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa, whose curvaceous wooden structure looks out onto Chile’s famed Torres del Paine Park, makes the list. And this year’s winner, the Singular Patagonia, wowed World’s Best voters with its location on the banks of the Last Hope Sound, with access to all manner of outdoor adventures, including exploring nearby caves and sailing around fjords and glaciers.
No. 1: Singular Patagonia, Patagonia, Chile
Score: 97.14
A cold storage plant from 1915 is now The Singular Patagonia, a striking LEED-certified hotel complex close to the southern tip of Chile. Architect Pedro Kovacic encased the lobby and 57 guest rooms in glass, allowing for cinematic views of Last Hope Sound and snow-capped mountainss. Guests can choose from a wide range of daily excursions, then return to the hotel for a spa treatment and dinner of Patagonian lamb and white strawberries. “From the scenery to the excursions to the food and friendliness of the staff,” wrote one reader, “the hotel was perfection.”
