The best off-the-beaten-path stays
The most loved places in our collection are often the ones hardest to find on a map. Not the famous resorts — a lake hotel in the Austrian Salzkammergut, a boutique house in Colombia's coffee country, a converted monastery in a Tuscan village no tour bus reaches.
Getting there takes a little more intention. What guests report back, in hundreds of verified reviews, is that the intention is the point: quieter seasons, warmer welcomes, and the feeling of having found something rather than followed everyone to it.
Each destination below lists its best months from real climate data — because travelling off-season, when the weather is just right and the crowds are gone, is its own kind of luxury.
How we chose
Hand-picked by our editors: places in destinations most travellers never reach — a lake in the Salzkammergut, a coffee-country town in Colombia, a village in inland Mallorca — where verified guest scores are exceptional. Only properties already in the Places You Will Love collection appear here, ranked by verified guest score.
The best off-the-beaten-path stays, ranked
- Hotel Villa Flavia — Plovdiv, Bulgaria · 9.9/10 from 1505 verified reviews
- Hotel Supetar — Cavtat, Croatia · 9.9/10 from 275 verified reviews
- Can Joan Capó - Adults Only — Sineu, Mallorca, Spain · 9.8/10 from 411 verified reviews
- TAUROA Seehotel Grundlsee — Grundlsee, Salzkammergut, Austria · 9.8/10 from 368 verified reviews
- Four Seasons Resort Lanai — Lanai, Hawaii, USA · 9.8/10 from 257 verified reviews
- La Monastica Resort & Spa — Borgo a Buggiano, Tuscany, Italy · 9.8/10 from 194 verified reviews
- Casa Jacaranda Hotel Boutique — Cauca Viejo, Jericó, Colombia · 9.8/10 from 140 verified reviews
- Armerun Heritage Hotel & Residences — Šibenik, Croatia · 9.7/10 from 1151 verified reviews
- Maison Albar Hotels L'Amoure — Lousada, Portugal · 9.7/10 from 354 verified reviews
- ADLER Spa Resort Sicilia — Sicily, Italy · 9.7/10 from 328 verified reviews
- Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape — Bangli, Bali, Indonesia · 9.7/10 from 153 verified reviews
- La Nauve, Hôtel & Jardin — Cognac, France · 9.7/10 from 125 verified reviews
Frequently asked questions
What counts as an off-the-beaten-path destination?
Places outside the classic resort circuit — inland villages, lesser-known lakes and islands, small towns in wine or coffee country — where tourism hasn't flattened the place into a product. Every destination here is one our editors chose deliberately, and every hotel is in the collection on verified guest scores alone.
Is travelling off-season really worth it?
Guests consistently say yes. Shoulder season — May, June, September, October in most of Europe — brings the same weather with a fraction of the crowds, and the best months listed for each destination come from ten-year climate averages, not guesswork.
Are these places difficult to reach?
Most are one to two hours from a major airport — far enough to filter out the crowds, close enough for a long weekend. Each property page includes a map and the practical details guests mention.
How were these hotels chosen?
No hotel pays to appear. Each entered the collection on consistently exceptional verified guest scores, and our editors selected this list for destinations where the place itself — not just the hotel — is the discovery.
© Places You Will Love — www.placesyoulllove.com