The Best New Hotels in Africa and the Middle East: 2025 Hot List
We've spent the last 12 months sleeping, eating, and sailing our way around the globe in order to bring you the 29th edition of the Hot List, our carefully curated annual collection of the best new (and reborn) hotels, restaurants, and cruise ships in the world, and we had a ton of fun doing it. How could we not when it involved activities like zip-lining to dinner in the Maldives, sleeping in an actual tree house in Kenya, and eating a truly memorable meal in a converted auto body shop in Mexico City? The through line of this year’s list is joy—something we could all use a little more of in our lives. These are the 2025 Hot List winners.
Click here to see the entire Hot List for 2025.
This story appears in Condé Nast Traveler's Hot List issue. Never miss out when you subscribe to Condé Nast Traveler.
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hotelAtzaró Okavango — Botswana
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Hot List 2025Victor Guasch and Philip Gonda, who own properties in Ibiza and Indonesia, among others, are no strangers to tourism. Last year their dream of adding a safari camp was realized by partnering with Beks Ndlovu of African Bush Camps. Like their other Atzaró properties, the 12-suite camp bordering the Moremi Game Reserve is theatrical and lavish: an ultra-luxurious bush lodge where you can hang out by the 66-foot lap pool, stretch in the outdoor gym, indulge in marula-oil massages—or just stay in the cavernous tented rooms. The founders' love of travel is on display in the camp's interior decor: shell necklaces from Indonesia alongside wildlife prints, Zimbabwean baskets, and West African masks. Their chef’s inspiration is just as multicultural: There’s traditional sweet chicken and Eastern-style soups, Mediterranean salads, and English afternoon tea. The nearest village is a 50-minute drive away and the closest airstrip two hours, so heli-transfers are popular. A colorful, reasonably priced spot for a bush holiday. From $690. —Lisa Grainger
Roman Réglade / Courtesy Cheval Blanc SeychelleshotelCheval Blanc Seychelles — Quatre Bornes
$$$ | Hot List 2025LVMH’s much-anticipated sixth property, Cheval Blanc Seychelles, sits on the southwest coast of the Indian Ocean archipelago’s largest island, Mahé. Its 52 private-pool villas, designed by architect Jean-Michel Gathy, are scattered along Anse Intendance beach and up into the thickly forested hillside that hides its Guerlain Spa. Inspired by Creole architecture, villas have high vaulted ceilings and sliding glass doors, designed to pull the outdoor deck and infinity pool into sharper focus. Palatial beds sit on a dais for no-need-to-move ocean or treetop views, while a palette of textured artworks, fabrics, and ceramics balances the vivid natural landscape. An intuitive butler–slash–personal assistant or majordomo is on call 24/7, and wait staff are relaxed, thoughtful, and discreet. Five restaurants serve myriad cuisines from Japanese to French haute cuisine to Italian classics to Creole dishes. Many guests will be happy dialing room service, however, determined to enjoy Cheval Blanc’s triple promise: exclusivity, exceptional service, and privacy. From $1,945. —Clare Dight
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Natelee CockshotelDelano Dubai
$$$ | Hot List 2025Delano’s Middle Eastern debut on Bluewaters Dubai, a man-made island also home to the world’s largest observation wheel, has the potential to be as disruptive as the original Delano in Miami. An antidote to the city’s marble and chandelier-laden five-star hotels, the interiors here are pared back, the scale reassuring. Forget your run-of-the-mill “standard” and “sea view”—rooms here have romantic-sounding monikers like Rising Light and Waking Eclipse, references to the sweeping horizon and vistas of the water, more of a rarity in Dubai than you might think. Rose Bar may not offer the same Hollywood A-list-spotting opportunities as its Miami counterpart, but it does a good job of capturing its decadent speakeasy vibes, and homegrown hospitality group Rikas Hospitality Group is behind the resort’s intriguing restaurant concepts, which include coastal Anatolian cuisine at Blue Door and French Slavic at Maison Revka. From $750. —Selina Denman
Buluu PoppyhotelGreat Plains Mara Toto Tree Camp — Masai Mara, Kenya
$$$ | Hot List 2025Toto means “baby” in Swahili, and this camp is small and intimate, just four suites suspended amid the foliage in a patch of forest along the Ntiakiatiak River in Kenya’s Masai Mara. Mara Toto Tree Camp is the 15th lodge from Great Plains, a pioneer in conservation-led luxury tourism in some of Africa’s most critical wilderness areas, launched by famed filmmaker-explorer duo Dereck and Beverly Joubert. Mara Toto’s suites were built at the same level as the tree line, in order to cause minimal disruption to the natural environment. Hours spent out on the plains are interspersed with massage treatments back at camp—in the room or on a private deck—followed by languid meals centered on seasonal, local, and organic produce sourced in the Masai Mara and Nairobi. Mara Toto is the place for conservation-conscious travelers wanting to explore the African wilderness with a lighter touch. From $1,606. —Selina Denman
Natural SelectionhotelGweGwe Beach Lodge — Eastern Cape, South Africa
$$ | Hot List 2025Set within a private concession of the Mkambati Nature Reserve, this intimate lodge provides a front-row seat to one of the most unspoiled stretches of the Wild Coast. Guests are miles from civilization yet cosseted with comforts such as wood-burning fires and South Africa’s top wines. A biodiversity hot spot, the area gives guests endless opportunities for adventure, including treks to dramatic waterfalls and kayak excursions to remote gorges. Nine rooms feature deep soaking tubs and private 16-foot pools, both of which afford views of the crashing waves and surfing dolphins. The lodge sits on land owned by local villages, and every stay benefits the community. From $385. —Jen Murphy
Shaun S RitchiehotelKibale Lodge — Uganda
$$$ | Hot List 2025Standing on a ridge in Uganda's Western Region, with views over the Rwenzori Mountains and the Queen Elizabeth plains on a clear day, it’s a half hour from Kibale National Park and its world-renowned chimpanzee trekking. It’s the vision of Volcanoes founder Praveen Moman, whose childhood memories inspired him to return after the 1972 Ugandan Asian exile. Built from scratch, the eight wood-and-papyrus bandas (thatched rooms) have a lounge and outdoor (and indoor) bathrooms, while Afro-chic interiors and local fabrics add color. Local chefs Loice Acom and Gad Hafashimana experiment with regional produce like matoke (green banana) and dodo (greens); the local traditional dish called Firinda, made with slow-cooked beans and eaten with steamed kalo (millet bread) or matoke and served with groundnut sauce. It’s easy to relax here with complimentary massages, a sauna, and an outdoor pool overlooking the lush landscape. Meanwhile, community initiatives through Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust include Roots and Shoots, a Jane Goodall Institute program empowering youth in wildlife conservation. From $990. —Meera Dattani
Jack JohnshotelNujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve — Ummahat Islands, Saudi Arabia
Hot List 2025Saudi Arabia’s Ummahat Islands are one of the most unvisited archipelagos on earth—the perfect setting, then, for the first ever Ritz-Carlton Reserve in the Middle East. Nujuma (inspired by the word nujum, which means “stars” in Arabic) opened here last year and is giving the Maldives a run for their money. Its spheroid Foster + Partners–designed overwater villas are secluded and connected by an eye-catching circular walkway elevated above a Red Sea that teems with dugongs, giant stingrays, hawksbill turtles, spinner dolphins, and pristine coral. Saudi heritage is infused into many aspects of this resort, from the cuisine inspired by Arabian traditions to balmy stargazing sessions led by an astronomer who recounts traditional tales of the constellations. From $2,200. —Noo Saro-Wiwa
Cyrille Robin/Royal Mansour CasablancahotelRoyal Mansour Casablanca — Morocco
$$$ | Hot List 2025 
Readers' Choice Awards 2024, 2025In the city Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart made famous to many Americans, the Royal Mansour Casablanca brings a distinct brand of glitz and glamour to this seaside destination. Though Royal Mansour is best known for its slow-paced, rose-toned Marrakech outpost, this location, which opened in April 2024, changed that tune. Picture a high-gloss, shiny marble entryway filled with florals fit for a royal wedding; a glittering restaurant where mirrors and gold decor glow during sunset, and tagines cover tabletops; a spa in which hammam treatments will renew and refresh even the most jet-lagged of visitors. (You won’t be surprised to learn that this 149-key hotel belongs to the Moroccan royal family itself.) Of course this gleaming tower is merely a launchpad for exploring an overlooked city, whose gargantuan mosques, sprawling medinas, and even Art Deco architecture beckon you outside. Ask the front desk to set you up with local guide Nyema, who will show you the ins and outs of this destination. From $605. —Megan Spurrell
hotelVoaara Madagascar — Ambatorao
$$$ | Hot List 2025As a professional traveler Philippe Kjellgren has visited 150 countries and more than 2,000 hotels. So when he opened his first hotel, seasoned globe-trotters took note. The resort, on 100 acres of Nosy Boraha, off Madagascar’s east coast, fulfills every island cliché, from its tropical forests to its pale aquamarine bays. The seven buttermilk-colored thatched bungalows and a three-bedroom beach and pool villa are simple but filled with life-affirming treats: a cooling Naturalmat bed, bottles of rich coconut oils, and driftwood tables and pillars. The Med-meets-Asian meals conceived by Spanish chef Aleixandre Sarrion include fresh prawns and fish with well-dressed salads and wicked flans, and are enjoyed beachside atop a starlit top-deck “Bird’s Nest” or in the veg garden. Two thatched bandas serve as massage rooms; one of two boats can be chartered for expeditions, and bikes are available to explore the island, whose fabric-adorned cemeteries are a reminder of the Malagasy’s unique culture. From $1,095. —Lisa Grainger
hotelWilderness Bisate Reserve — Ruhengeri, Rwanda
$$$ | Hot List 2025Seeing Africa’s great apes has become a bucket-list travel experience. Which is why, last year, Wilderness launched the super-luxe Bisate Reserve on a hill adjoining its original Rwandan camp. The four capacious nest-shaped villas—which can be booked individually or together for exclusive use—are even more cosseting. Within palatial walls and beneath shaggy-style fiber thatch made from recycled plastic, the designers have combined expert local craftsmanship to create standout pieces, from hand-hewn furniture to embroidered linens, alongside treats such as wood-fired outdoor tubs, elegant walk-in wardrobes, and original African art. Friendly local staff deliver fabulous fresh food and imaginative drinks at a sinuous bar lit by a fabulous green recycled-glass chandelier. Every detail has been thought through: the wet-weather gear that guests can borrow; the design inspired by Rwandan royal palaces; the walks and talks with Rwandan guides; and the gift of a tree for every guest to plant. From $6,284. —Lisa Grainger
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