conde nast traveller nashville

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The best restaurants in Nashville

By Condé Nast Traveller

In September, the air is so thick and humid that a stroll becomes a struggle, and an easy potter is transformed into a sweat-soaked expedition. Not that Nashville is a walking sort of town. Sure, the cool, leafy avenues of Vanderbilt, lined with pristine clapboard lodges, offer welcome relief. And the Centennial Park, with its incongruous, full-size replica of the Parthenon (in better shape than the original, it has to be said, albeit with a two-and-a-half-thousand-year head start) is as fine a public space as you'll find anywhere. This is a city known, after all, as the Athens of the South, thanks to the number of universities and colleges that still thrive.

As for Dylan's Nashville Skyline , I'm not sure which direction he was looking, but it's hardly the equal of New York or Hong Kong . Or even Blackpool. Save a small eruption of gleaming high-rises, the surrounding country makes better viewing than the city. The AT&T skyscraper, known as the Batman Building because of its two ear-shaped towers, is seen from every approach, and there's a smattering of grand old buildings, evidence of a post-Civil War boom. But if it's magnificent architecture you're after, look elsewhere.

Pictured: a restaurant sign and the AT&T 'Batman Building' in Nashville, Tennessee

Everything moves at a languid pace. Not only those ever-present freight trains, but the traffic, clouds, even the accent. Music drips from every pore, leaking out of tourist traps on Lower Broadway, floating on the breeze, and flying out of open car windows. This is the home of Opryland and Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and the Ryman Auditorium. Even the buskers are a cut above the norm. 'Get down to those tourist traps at night,' says RB Quinn, friend, food writer and long-term resident. We're sitting at Urban Grub, in the trendy 12 South neighbourhood. The beer's good, locally brewed, the food less so. 'Seriously, you'll hear incredible talent at the likes of Tootsies and BB King's.' He takes a bite of rib. 'Nobody's a bad player in Nashville. Most of them are in backing bands for the biggest names in the business. Nashville isn't just the centre of country music, it's also a serious talent hub.'

Pictured: a customer at Fido coffee shop

This is my fourth visit to Nashville. I've been out before, to eat, drink and judge barbecue competitions in rural counties a few miles out. It's not a flashy city, lacking even the merest flutter of pretension. Which is why you have to take the time to tramp its byways and back streets, to dig beneath the clichés of the ever-strumming, ahh-shucks, yee-haw surface.

Then there's the food. Nashville doesn't immediately spring to mind as a great American culinary destination. But look closer. Because here, scattered across town, tucked away in residential areas, and hugging the side of country roads, is some of America's best eating. This is the South, after all, a place where pork fat and frying rule supreme. Southern food might not work wonders for the heart, but it certainly does fine things to the soul. I ask Quinn, over yet another beer, how he defines Nashville's food. 'The short answer is there's a divide between rich and poor, black and white. Rich white food is historically country-club cuisine, because that's where you could get a cocktail in the dry South. Nashville didn't get liquor by the drink [alcohol sold in bars and restaurants] until the 1960s.' He pauses and looks deep into his frosted glass. 'It's French-style food with a little soul thrown in, as it was all prepared by black folks. Ladies' food is another category: chicken salady, lots of colourful gelatins.'

Pictured: pinball machine at Mas Tacos Por Favor; customer at Rolf & Daughters

I think back to lunch at the Capitol Grille the day before. Granny's devilled eggs, open-face biscuits (a sort of small, very fluffy scone), fried green tomatoes, chicken and dumplings, buttermilk mashed potatoes and truffled mac-and-cheese. Country comfort, no question about that. The menu mixes beautifully cooked Southern staples (buttermilk, biscuits, greens, cornbread, pork) with updates of the beloved 'meat and three', another Nashville classic. 'It's really just an extension of the big midday dinner that was the main meal at home,' says Quinn, draining the last of his beer. 'Restaurants served it up to office workers who could no longer go home for lunch. So you'd have meat loaf, pork chop, fried chicken or country ham as the meat, alongside creamed corn, green beans, even Jell-O.' He grimaces. 'All washed down with iced tea. But the Nashville food tradition, at least for the rich whites, is very bland. White foods. Soft foods. We didn't get any ethnic groups like Italians or Greeks to pass on their traditions. Birmingham, Alabama, has Greeks and good food. Louisville has Italians and good food. For a long time, we didn't have that.'

Pictured: steak at the Capitol Grille

The poor black food, though, is anything but bland. Only the truly leaden of palate can fail to be thrilled by hot chicken, a local twist on the Southern classic. A few blocks off Lower Broadway, 400 Degrees is equally pared-back on the comfort front, set in a tiny food court. But its chicken has the all-important combination of crunch and juice. Good heat, too.

As for barbecue, in the South it's more religion than mere lunch. Nashville isn't famed for its barbecue in the way that Memphis is (there, dry-rub ribs rule). But head out into the country and the thin curls of blue smoke are as regular a feature as the endless American oaks. It's all about the slow and low cooking of tough cuts of meat - pork shoulder, ribs or beef brisket - over indirect smoke. Around these parts, hickory is king, being naturally abundant. Barbecue, writes Lolis Eric Elie in Smokestack Lightning , a lyrical journey through the South, 'is a metaphor for American culture in a broad sense… Barbecue alone encompasses the high- and low-brows, the sacred and the profane, the urban and the rural, the learned and the unlettered, the blacks, the browns, the yellows, the reds, and the whites.'

Pictured: Imogene+Willie shop in 12 South; a taco truck in Nashville

And at the Loveless Café , 20 or so minutes' drive south-west of Nashville, you'll find some of the best. Seemingly torn from a Norman Rockwell canvas, this is a whitewashed, porched and shutterboarded slice of Americana, right down to the neon sign advertising 'Hot biscuits, country ham' and 'Air conditioned'. It's the last bastion of a Southern past long gone, where hams were smoked in barns, and biscuits made by hand.

'We used to come here as children, driving from quite a way away,' says co-owner Tom Morales. One of the most respected movie caterers in the country, he also owns The Southern restaurant in Nashville, a place to lose yourself in double-cut fried pork chops, 'chicken fried chicken', country-ham gravy and fried fish and grits. 'Traditional Southern cooking involves frying whatever you've slaughtered, and serving it with some greens or seasonal bread. Pork fat is used to season pretty much everything round here. The older generation couldn't cook without it.'

Pictured: Loveless Café's wall of fame

At the Loveless one morning, Tom and I sit down under the gaze of the country firmament. Everyone has eaten here, from Cash to Carter (President and June). We order coffee, biscuits and a plate of fried eggs, potatoes and barbecue pulled pork that seems more suited to scaling than actually eating. It's sweet, silken and subtly smoky, the best fate that could ever befall a pig. 'You have to love what you do to make good 'cue,' says Tom 'You're never rewarded for the amount of time it takes to do properly.'

Nashville takes breakfast to a high art: at the Loveless, and also at the Pancake Pantry , close to the Vanderbilt campus back in town. Here, among the well-scrubbed students and white-teethed nuclear families, is another wedge of Americana so clichéd, so perfect, it seems built on a Burbank lot. Waitresses with a pencil behind their ear call you 'honey', tell you what to eat (fluffy pancakes, crisp bacon, lashing of maple syrup), and tell you how much they love your accent. Unlike in Los Angeles, this Southern charm rings true, the welcome warmer than a late-summer water hole.

Pictured: Pancake Pantry

'Sure, you hear about Southern hospitality all the time,' says Tom as I lean back and loosen my belt. 'There are many problems in the South. But this is genuine. Every community has a place to gather and eat. A restaurant or barbecue place. Family-owned and operated, passed down the generations. It's a Southern thing.' He takes a sip of coffee. 'But this tradition is dying. Interstates mean that people are more interested in speed and getting there. The journey was once part of the fun. The Loveless is about an era when people took their time to do things - drive, take 12 hours to cook a pig. Take time to eat, to live.'

That's what Nashville is all about: taking it slow, no hassle or hurry. It's about no-nonsense succour and pleasure, in a city as hospitable and charming as its inhabitants, and entirely secure in its own skin. It's a creeper, too. One moment you're shrugging, the next, smitten. 'Nashville ain't showy, y'all,' says another local friend. 'But it's a proper sort of place.' Too true. Nashville, Music City. A place that hits the right note, time after time.

Pictured: watermelon ribs with creamed corn and cucumber at the Loveless Café

Kimberly Grant

Olivia Morelli

Connor Sturges

GETTING TO NASHVILLE

American Airlines ( www.aa.com ) and United Airlines ( www.united.com ) fly from Heathrow to Nashville on a variety of routes (via New York, Chicago, etc). The Union Station Hotel ( unionstationhotelnashville.com ) has doubles from about £150

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Pictured: a hot-dog stand in East Nashville; breakfast at the Pancake Pantry

• Destinations

Thompson Nashville, #4 Hotel in the South - Condé Nast Traveler’s 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards

Thompson Nashville Referral Promo

Meet in Style at Thompson Nashville

• 05/03/2024 – 12/31/2024

ACCOLADES Condé Nast Readers' Choice Awards 2023 "#4 Hotel in the South" Condé Nast Readers' Choice Awards 2022 "#1 Hotel in the South" Condé Nast Readers' Choice Awards 2021 "#1 Hotel in Nashville" Included in “Best Hotels in the World” Garden & Gun Included in “Best New Hotels in the South” USA TODAY Included in “A Look At Tennessee’s Best Luxury Hotels” The Tennessean LA Jackson named “Best Rooftop Bar in Nashville” Nashville Scene Named #1 Best Hotel -Best of Nashville Cvent Top 25 US Hotels under 10,000 sq. ft. of event space

Venue Highlights

Room features and guest services

• Calls (local)
• Calls (toll-free)
• Concierge services
• Internet access
• Luggage storage
• Room service
• View (urban)
• Voicemail box
• Onsite catering
• Onsite gift shop
• Onsite restaurant
• Onsite security
• Pet friendly
• Space (outdoor)
• Space (private)
• Wheelchair accessible

Business services

AV capabilities

• Business center
• Video conference
• VIP services
• High speed internet (10Mbps)
• Onsite AV staff

Recreational activities

• Health club

Venue accessibility

• Airport shuttle
• Dance floor
• Loading dock
• Staging area

Getting Here

Just 8 miles - 15 minutes from BNA Airport.

• Valet parking $60.00 / day
• Bus parking

Distance from airport

8 mi. from venue

Thompson Nashville, #4 Hotel in the South - Condé Nast Traveler’s 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards Meeting Space

Guest rooms, local attractions, hi-wire brewing, killebrew coffee, pins mechanical, marsh house, rustler hat company, l.a. jackson, country music hall of fame.

Thompson Nashville is the place where Nashville cool meets casual luxury, mixed with exceptional service - celebrating the creative spirit with a hand-crafted experience that’s both nostalgic and up-to-the-minute. Featuring 224 sleek and welcoming guest rooms, including 17 suites and a Penthouse. Approximately 5,000 square feet of event space featuring modern design elements and natural light throughout. Join us at one of Nashville's hottest venues - our very own L.A. Jackson, an indoor/outdoor rooftop with spectacular views of downtown Nashville. Then head down to Marsh House for a seafood-focused, Gulf-to-Gulch take on Southern cooking, driven by the bounty of our local farmers. Killebrew coffee shop features fresh baked delights and grab & go items. Just steps outside our doors you will find dozens of uniquely Nashville dining, shopping, and cultural attractions. Come see what the buzz is all about!

Additional Information

ACCOLADES 2023 #4 Hotel in the South - Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards 2022 #1 Hotel in the South - Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards 2021 #1 Hotel in Nashville - Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards Condé Nast Hot List & 2021 #1 Hotel in Nashville Readers' Choice Awards “Best Hotels in the World” Garden & Gun “Best New Hotels in the South” USA TODAY “Tennessee’s Best Luxury Hotels” The Tennessean LA Jackson named “Best Rooftop Bar in Nashville” - Nashville Scene Named #1 Best Hotel - Nashville Scene Cvent - Top 25 US hotels under 10K Sq. Ft.

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As part of their annual Readers’ Choice Awards Condé Nast Traveler recognized Thompson Nashville as the #1 Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

More than 800,000 Condé Nast Traveler readers submitted responses rating their travel experiences across the globe to provide a full snapshot about the places they can’t wait to return to next. The Readers’ Choice Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition of excellence in the travel industry. The full list of winners can be found here .

Conceived as an urban-scaled vitrine – a gracefully curved display of curated space – the 224-key boutique hotel has become the gathering place and heart of The Gulch. From arrival to check-out, the architectural design choreographs a unique visitor experience. Situated on a highly irregular and challenging site, public and private circulation routes have been woven throughout the building to provide a welcome, open arrival, carefully separating service and three kitchens from the guest experience.

Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, and Sustainability

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A First-Timer's Guide to Nashville

By CNT Editors and The Bon Appétit Editors

In the last few years, Nashville has experienced the kind of growth spurt mayors of second cities pray for (it’s growing at double the national average). Which is why you’ve probably heard about Music City’s embarrassment of riches when it comes to memorable restaurants, pilgrimage-worthy coffee, and new-school bars all opened by innovative entrepreneurs who know a thing or two about Southern hospitality. Yes, you could build a whole weekend around a food and drink crawl, but you can’t come to this enterprising city without geeking out over the country music tradition here just a little (or a lot). We’d be lying if we told you could do it all in one weekend (nobody’s liver is that miraculous) but that’s okay—you’re going to come back again. Trust us. Below, every answer any Nashville first-timer could want.

What are my options for Nashville hot chicken?

The two everyone talks about are Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack , which has been making hot chicken for over 70 years, and Hattie B’s , which serves beer and always has some preposterously good soundtrack playing that usually involves at least one Tribe Called Quest song. You can’t go wrong at either place but expect lines at both and know that the “damn hot” option at Hattie B’s is just that and then some.

Ryman Auditorium

Where am I making reservations for dinner?

Rolf and Daughters for its patio, delicious cocktails, and preposterously good service. City House for its wood-fire oven pizzas, great overall energy and its smart Italian wine list. Bastion for its casual bar up front that serves some of the best nachos we’ve ever had.

Little Octopus for its super fresh Hamachi and other small, Japanese-minded plates Husk for its only-from-the-south overarching ethos and its standout cheeseburger that we’d also gladly have for brunch too.

What’s the best way to see the Ryman Auditorium ?

The backstage tour can be a little hokey in spots (there’s a movie involving Darius Rucker) but it also gives you access to the Carter Cash dressing room and you’ll get chills when god light streams through those stained glass windows in the auditorium onto the stage where Hank Williams made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 1949. The other options is to see a show, which everyone who has a pulse should do at some point in their life, as the Mother Church has the second best acoustics in the world (next to the home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir).

What about the Country Music Hall of Fame ?

The $25 entry fee is worth it if you dig Merle Haggard-era country music memorabilia—think Wanda Jackson’s guitar, Cindy Walker’s decoupage typewriter, Johnny Cash’s all-black suit, and Elvis' gold cadillac complete with a TV in the back.

Barista Parlor

All this sightseeing is wearing me out. Where should I get coffee?

We love the “flash chilled coffee” and over all laid-back vibe at Steadfast in Germantown. Also in that hood, Barista Parlor , which has one of the best looking audio set ups we’ve ever seen. Crema in East Nashville is the longtime favorite and has particularly in-the-know baristas who are generous with their intel.

Where can I go for non-touristy souvenirs?

Hatch Show Print , an iconic letterpress shop that’s been around since 1879 but is best known for making vibrant wood block print posters for Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris and other musicians during the golden age of country. If you’re not feeling nostalgic, they also make stunning bills for present day acts like TV on The Radio and Roseanne Cash that look just as cool.

I’ve heard a lot about this “meat and three.” Where should I get that? Arnold's Country Kitchen is where everyone goes. It’s closed on the weekends and is only opened for lunch from 10:30 to 2:45. Plan on skipping dinner if you really go for it.

Antique Flyers at Hatch Show Print

Which Honky Tonks should I hit up?

Robert’s Western World is where the locals go because this is where some of the best musicians in town play (use the backdoor next to the Ryman just like country legends have for years). Acme Feed & Seed has more room and communal tables (also good local micro brews on tap).

Caitlin Morton

CNT Editors

Jessica Puckett

Pinewood Social

Where else am I drinking? Pinewood is practically engineered for millennials—it has bowling lanes, an outdoor courtyard, bocce and some of the most inventive cocktails in town. If you’re looking for something more old-school, try The Oak Bar or if you want more of a modern vibe and a few snacks head to the bar at foodie darling Rolf and Daughters . The 404 Kitchen only has a half dozen seats but the cocktails and the standout wine by the glass menu makes it worth trying to snag one. Santa’s Pub , which is actually a trailer masquerading as a karaoke bar, is where you’ll want to end the night as do a lot of famous musicians who roll through town. A PBR will only cost you $2 but make sure to bring cash—this isn’t a “settle up my tab at the end of the evening” kind of place.

Navigate Nashville with ease with Audi’s available virtual cockpit—an innovative and modern interface that conveniently puts navigation and audio as well as classic and infotainment modes in the driver’s line of sight.

Recommended

Bobby Hotel

The Union Station Nashville Yards, Autograph Collection

Nashville Travel Guide

Nashville named top 20 global destination by Condé Nast Traveler

Travel publication Condé Nast Traveler named Nashville as one of the top 20 places in the world  to visit in 2020, recognizing the city for its dining and music culture and highlighting the summer opening of the National Museum of African American Music. 

Nashville was included alongside Armenia, Copenhagen, Okinawa, Japan; Tangier, Morocco; Metz, France and Southwest Michigan, among other areas. “These are the destinations we’re most excited about in the new decade," the publication said.

The recognition marks the city's eighth consecutive year to be named a top destination by a national or international publication, according to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. 

“We are honored to represent this city,” said Butch Spyridon, CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “To be included on this list is a validation of our place among top destinations. Our food, creative culture and the National Museum of African American Music are truly world class.”

In the article, Condé Nast Traveler describes  museum  features, with attention paid to Otis Redding, Alicia Keys, Ella Fitzgerald and Sam Cooke. It also mentions restaurants Folk and Lou, along with Sean Brock's Audrey.

"Nashville may be nearly synonymous with country music, but it’s no one-note town," Condé Nast Traveler's Allison Weiss Entrekin wrote. "The long-awaited National Museum of African American Music will open this summer on Broadway, home of Honky Tonk Row, and will showcase the history and impact of black music from the slave era to the present."

As the city has been celebrated during the past decade for its tourism strength, hotel demand has increased dramatically. The number of hotel rooms sold grew faster than any other top U.S. city in the past five year, according to the visitors corp. Nashville welcomed 15.8 million visitors in fiscal year 2019, and tourists spent a record $7 billion in 2018.

Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_.

The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

The mission of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp is to maximize the economic contribution of the convention and tourism industry to the community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier destination. Visit the NCVC’s website at www.visitmusiccity.com and follow us on social media:

Bonna Delacruz Johnson | Vice President, Corporate Communications

Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite G-250 | Nashville, TN 37219

E: [email protected] | P: 615-259-4706 | M: 615-519-5468

Connect with Music City [visitmusiccity.com]. | visitmusiccity.com [visitmusiccity.com]

Condé Nast Traveler’s & SmarterTravel’s Best U.S. Cities | Home of the 2019 NFL Draft

Nashville Named One of the 20 Best Places to Go in the World in 2020 by Condé Nast Traveler

Esteemed travel publication Condé Nast Traveler has designated Nashville as one of the 20 best places to go in the world in 2020 , saying: “These are the destinations we’re most excited about in the new decade.”

NASHVILLE – Esteemed travel publication Condé Nast Traveler has designated Nashville as one of the 20 best places to go in the world in 2020 , saying: “These are the destinations we’re most excited about in the new decade.” This is the eighth consecutive year that Nashville has been named a top destination by national and/or international publications.

“We are honored to represent this city,” said Butch Spyridon, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp . “The overall development across the city has been recognized globally for eight straight years. To be included on this list is a validation of our place among top destinations. Our food, creative culture and the National Museum of African American Music are truly world-class.”

Condé Nast Traveler spotlights Nashville’s vibrant dining scene and the city’s diversity of music genres, particularly noting the summer opening of the National Museum of African American Music located downtown in the Fifth + Broad development. It namechecks everyone from Bobby Jones to Alicia Keys and throws in Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Ella Fitzgerald as it describes the museum’s exhibits. The piece also spotlights East Nashville restaurants Folk and Lou and acclaimed chef Sean Brock’s soon-to-open Audrey and Red Bird.

Nashville’s hospitality industry continues to boom. In the past five years, the number of hotel rooms sold in Nashville has grown faster than any other top U.S. city. A record 15.8 million visitors came in FY 2019, and Nashville generated a record $7 billion in direct visitor spending in 2018, a third of the visitor spending generated in Tennessee. The industry employs 71,140 in Davidson County and generates $522 million in state and local taxes.

Other destinations included in the list were Armenia; Bahia, Brazil; Botswana’s Salt Pans; Canadian Arctic; Canary Islands, Spain; Copenhagen; Dominica; Dubai; El Chaltén, Argentina; Guyana; Metz, France; Mokpo, South Korea; Okinawa, Japan; Rwanda; Slovenia; Sri Lanka’s Southern Coast; Southeastern Australia; Southwest Michigan; and Tangier, Morocco.

The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

The mission of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp is to maximize the economic contribution of the convention and tourism industry to the community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier destination. Visit the NCVC’s website at www.visitmusiccity.com and follow us on social media:

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August 22, 2022

Condé nast traveler names the union station nashville yards “one of the best hotel lobbies in the world”.

At The Union Station Nashville Yards, we know that curb appeal matters and first impressions count. That’s why we so carefully and lovingly preserve our landmark home – the former Union Station, an architectural marvel of its day – and why we are so honored to have been named by Condé Nast Traveler as one of best hotel lobbies in the world .

Marvel at Nashville’s Historic Cool

With a nod to “one of the city’s coolest hotels” (that’s us!), Condé Nast marveled that our “65-foot vaulted lobby ceilings are punctuated by historic Tiffany-style stained glass…”

And we have to say – we get it. Because in the world of hospitality, a great lobby says “Welcome. You’re going to have a great time here!” And oh, will you.

But at The Union Station Nashville Yards, our lobby says a lot more than that. This is a historic landmark and a former train station – a Gothic masterpiece and epicenter of American travel during the 20 th century. Today, over 100 years later, that same train station now stands as the epicenter of your travel: an awe-inspiring reminder of bygone grandeur and a welcome to downtown Nashville and The Gulch.

A “Spirited” History

Our lobby’s history dates back to 1900, when Irish-American architect and engineer Richard Montfort designed the station in the late-Victorian Romanesque Revival architectural style – all towers and turrets, chandeliers and marble floors, limestone fireplaces and stained glass, reminiscent of a Gothic castle.

Over the years, Union Station evolved into a Nashville landmark and historic site. It was here that eight railroads connected the country and, come WWII, where thousands of troops departed for overseas deployment. Rumor has it that the hotel’s resident spirit, Abigail, here said goodbye to her lover, who never returned from the French front. (Listen for her in Room 711!)

Today, we are proud to have fully restored this former train station – now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a member of the Historic Hotels of America – to her former glories, including those of her towering, chandelier-draped, stained glass-crowned lobby that says, “Welcome, time travelers, to a slice of history, a dose of grandeur, and a true Nashville experience. You’re going to have a great time!”

Now just wait until you see your room…

Step into History at The Union Station Nashville Yards Getaway

When you stay at our historic landmark and Marriott Autograph Collection hotel in the Nashville Yards business and entertainment district, you’re just a hop, skip, and a jump from The Gulch. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to stay surrounded by twentieth century grandeur, in one of Nashville’s most vibrant neighborhoods, and crowned by one of the world’s best hotel lobbies!

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Announcing the Hot List Winners of 2024

By CNT Editors

It’s inevitable: Every spring when we pull together the Hot List , our annual collection of the world’s best new hotels, restaurants , and cruise ships , a staffer remarks that this latest iteration has got to be the best one ever. After a year’s worth of traveling the globe—to stay the night at a converted farmhouse in the middle of an olive grove outside Marrakech, or sail aboard a beloved cruise line’s inaugural Antarctic voyage—it’s easy to see why we get attached. But this year’s Hot List, our 28th edition, might really be the best one ever. It’s certainly our most diverse, featuring not only a hotel suite that was once Winston Churchill’s office, but also the world’s largest cruise ship and restaurants from Cape Town to Bali. We were surprised and inspired by this year’s honorees, and we know you will be too. These are the Hot List hotel winners for 2024.

Click here to see the entire Hot List for 2024 .

All listings featured in this story are independently selected by our editors. However, when you book something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

North Island Okavango

Angama Amboseli

Jannah Lamu

Farasha Farmhouse , Marrakech

Kozo Kigali

Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island — Seychelles

SOUTH AFRICA

Nikkei Cape Town

Molori Mashuma , Mana Pools National Park

Pemako Punakha

Regent Hong Kong

Mementos by ITC Hotels, Ekaaya Udaipur

Naar , Darwa

Papa's , Mumbai

Cap Karoso , Sumba

Further , Bali

Locavore NXT Bali

Le Pristine Tokyo

The Tokyo EDITION, Ginza

Trunk(Hotel) Yoyogi Park , Tokyo

Shinta Mani Mustang - A Bensley Collection , Jomsom

SOUTH KOREA

JW Marriott Jeju Resort & Spa

Pot Au Phở , Ho Chi Minh

Le Foote , Sydney

Southern Ocean Lodge , Kangaroo Island

Sun Ranch , Byron Bay

MIDDLE EAST

Raffles Al Areen Palace Bahrain

SAUDI ARABIA

Six Senses Southern Dunes , Umluj

The St. Regis Riyadh

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Guild , Dubai

SIRO One Za'abeel, Dubai

Soul Kitchen , Dubai

The Lana, Dorchester Collection , Dubai

Koan , Copenhagen

Hotel Maria , Helsinki

1 Place Vendôme , Paris

The Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel , Cannes

Datil , Paris

Hôtel Le Grand Mazarin , Paris

La Nauve Hôtel & Jardin , Cognac

Rosewood Munich

Mandarin Oriental, Costa Navarino

Monument , Athens

One&Only Aesthesis , Athens

Highland Base Kerlingarfjöll

Bulgari Hotel Roma , Rome

Trattoria del Ciumbia , Milan

Hotel La Palma , Capri

La Roqqa , Porto Ercole

Nolinski Venezia , Venice

Palazzo Roma , Rome

Saporium , Florence

Hotel Violino d’Oro , Venice

Mamula Island

NETHERLANDS

De Durgerdam , Amsterdam

Canalha , Lisbon

Andreu Genestra , Mallorca

Barro , Ávila

César Lanzarote , Lanzarote

Hotel Corazón , Mallorca

Grand Hotel Son Net , Mallorca

Palacio Arriluce , Getxo

Son Vell Menorca , Menorca

The Peninsula Istanbul

UNITED KINGDOM

Broadwick Soho , London

Chishuru , London

The Devonshire , London

Chelsea Townhouse, London

Estelle Manor , Cotswolds

Fish Shop , Ballater

Raffles London at The OWO

Colima 71 , Mexico City

Maizajo Mexico City

Maroma, A Belmond Hotel , Riviera Maya

Riviera Maya EDITION

The St. Regis Kanai Resort , Riviera Maya

SOUTH AMERICA

Casa Lucía , Buenos Aires

Trescha , Buenos Aires

Oseille , Rio de Janiero

99 Restaurante, Santiago

Our Habitas Atacama , San Pedro de Atacama

Puqio , Arequipa

THE CARIBBEAN

Silversands Beach House

UNITED STATES

The Celestine , New Orleans

Dawn Ranch , Sonoma, California

The Fifth Avenue Hotel , New York

Fontainebleau Las Vegas

The Georgian , Santa Monica, California

The Global Ambassador , Phoenix

Hotel Bardo, Savannah

Ilis , New York

Kiln , San Francisco

Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort , Kona, Hawaii

Maty's , Miami

Warren Street Hotel , New York

Yess , Los Angeles

World Voyager, Atlas Ocean Voyages

CRUISE SHIPS

Silver Nova , Silversea

Norwegian Viva

Seven Seas Grandeur , Regent Seven Seas Grandeur

Oceania Vista

World Voyager , Atlas Ocean Voyages

Scenic Eclipse II

Emerald Sakara

Celebrity Ascent

Seabourn Pursuit

Icon of the Seas , Royal Caribbean

MSC Euribia

Viking Aton

Resilient Lady , Virgin Voyages

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After Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Ignited a Conversation Around Race and Genre, Looking Back at the Spaces Where Black Country Music Thrived

By Shayla Martin

No other song on Cowboy Carter , Beyoncé’s latest country music album, transports me to another place and time like “Ya Ya.”

The rhythmic snapping, clapping, boot stomping, and call and response from the theoretical ladies and fellas in the audience evokes a period in Black American history (particularly in the Deep South) that I can visualize in my mind, but as a child of the post–Jim Crow era, have never experienced myself. On one hand, I’m grateful for the sacrifices of my parents and grandparents that allowed certain freedoms and safety they never had, but on another, I’ve wondered what it would be like to spend most of my time in spaces that centered Blackness.

It’s the scene in What’s Love Got to Do with It , the Tina Turner biopic, where Angela Bassett as Anna Mae Bullock takes the stage for the first time at a St. Louis nightclub, or in the 2023 version of The Color Purple when Taraji P. Henson tears down the house in a southern juke joint as dynamo singer Shug Avery. And though these moments take place in a legally segregated America when Black Americans were denied necessary civil rights, it’s clear that the people dancing, drinking, and singing are in their own safe space. A space of unadulterated Black joy.

The Chitlin’ Circuit

My mother is from a tiny town in southwest Louisiana and grew up during the height of segregation. She attended schools for “colored” children, her family mostly patronized Black-owned businesses, and even to this day her town has an invisible yet distinct line that divides it into the Black and white sides of town. I’ll never forget when she said to me, as we strolled around the downtown area (and I use that word very lightly), “Besides access to education, integration was the worst thing to happen to Black people.” My head snapped up and I looked at her like she was crazy.

Then she pointed out the buildings around town that were former Black-owned barbershops, grocery stores, boutiques, and bars, and I started to see her point: Although they weren’t allowed to patronize white-owned establishments, there was a time when the Black community was its own self-sustaining economy. Later, we pulled out 1950s snapshots of my grandparents dressed to the nines heading to Ball’s Auditorium in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where they saw Ray Charles, B.B. King, and other famous Black musicians performing on what was known as the Chitlin’ Circuit : an informal network of Black-centered venues where musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, and Little Richard honed their crafts in front of Black audiences when they weren’t allowed in white-owned establishments. The Chitlin’ Circuit (which also gets a Beyoncé shout out in “Ya Ya”) represented yet another time when Black Americans lived in the shadow of white America, carving out physical spaces for themselves to celebrate their talents with a shared sense of dignity.

Po’Monkey’s in Merigold, Mississippi, photographed in 2006. This juke joint was operational until the death of Willie "Po’ Monkey" Seaberry in 2016.

Juke joints—informal dive bars usually with live music scattered through the South—emerged as safe spaces for Black people to dance, drink, and draw deeper into their humanity during slavery and reconstruction, but they exploded in popularity from the 1920s until the 1970s. There was Marion’s Place Cafe in Belle Glade, Florida; Po’Monkey’s in Merigold, Mississippi; and Teddy’s Juke Joint in Zachary, Louisiana—a rare example of one of these establishments that is still operating today. Sometimes they were ramshackle shacks along a rural back road in Alabama; other times there were tiny spaces down alleys in the heart of Nashville.

Jefferson Street Sound museum curator Lorenzo Washington

“Every Friday night my grandmother would starch and iron my granddaddy’s white shirt so hard it looked like it could stand on its own!” Lorenzo Washington, founder of the Jefferson Street Sound Museum in Nashville, tells AD with a laugh. “He’d have on his black striped pants and his black Stetson hat that we’d brush down to get it ready for him to go out to the juke joint. When he left we’d follow to peep in the windows to watch the older folks having a ball.”

A lifelong Nashville resident now in his 80s, Washington vividly remembers when Jefferson Street, the main thoroughfare of Nashville’s Black community, pulsed with shops, restaurants, juke joints, and nightclubs. When he was old enough to patronize the establishments on his own, Washington went to shows at Club Del Morocco, Club Baron, and Club Stealaway, all spaces that no longer exist in their original form. Occasionally, after the club, it was time to head to a juke joint where a hot plate of soul food awaited. “They always had good food in juke joints and great stories,” says Washington. “It was a lot of laughter, loud talking, and just about everybody that came in there knew each other. It was a place where it felt like you belonged.”

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The Jefferson Street Sound museum on Jefferson Street in Nashville

Although the music scene was electric on Jefferson Street, it was largely ignored by the predominantly white country music genre that Music City is known for. Racist “urban renewal” policies and the construction of Interstate 40 in the late 1960s decimated Jefferson Street, but Washington is determined to ensure its legacy lives on. He converted his home into the Jefferson Street Sound Museum in 2011, complete with a music production studio, rehearsal hall, memorabilia room, and photos of both local and internationally known musicians.

Juke joints give rise to honky tonks

Sadly, you could probably count the number of original remaining juke joints in the United States on one hand. Like many rural Black-owned establishments, they fell victim to integration and were eventually abandoned when Black Americans could legally patronize whatever bars they wanted. (Though legally did not always mean safely.) Urban renewal policies and gentrification during the 1950s and ’60s also razed predominantly Black neighborhoods, oftentimes destroying juke joints in larger cities like Memphis and Nashville.

Today, most people associate juke joints with the blues and honky tonks with country music, but the reality is that there isn’t much of a difference between the two physical spaces. Both are known for nearly the same things: live music (oftentimes these places are where big-name artists get their start), stick-to-your-ribs food, dancing, drinking, and a vibrant history. One important distinction, however, is the audience. When I ask Washington for the difference between juke joints and honky tonks, his answer is simple: “The color of the people.”

Broadway in downtown Nashville in 2024

Nashville being branded as Music City yet being primarily associated with a specific type of music (read: country music sung by white musicians) is no accident. In the early 1920s, record companies and radio stations, particularly in Nashville, marketed genres of music by race, usually classifying gospel and blues by Black singers as “ race records ,” while “hillbilly music,” later called “country music,” was marketed to white audiences. The hillbilly music sounded a lot like the blues and gospel music that came first, especially the melodic sounds of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a vocal group from Nashville’s Fisk University composed entirely of freed black slaves who began performing globally in the 1870s.

In a reflection of the times, the music and its marketing remained divided by race no matter the melodic and thematic similarities. There was a similar divide when it came to the physical spaces where people enjoyed this music. I find it interesting that unlike the juke joint, the honky tonk survives today, in the form of country-music-branded bars—some even owned by celebrities—dotted across Nashville. Today, country music is associated with honky tonks and whiteness—I wonder what the reaction would be to a new Nashville juke joint dedicated to its original purpose: a celebration of Black joy through music, laughter, cold drinks, and hot food.

This brings me back to Beyoncé. From the moment she announced Cowboy Carter , there was vitriol and backlash from white country music fans who claim she’s not an authentic country music artist. And though she spells out her southern roots in the track “American Requiem” (“The grandbaby of a moonshine man / Gadsden, Alabama / Got folk down Gavelston, rooted in Louisiana / They used to say I spoke too country / Then the rejection came, said I wasn’t country enough…But if that ain’t country, tell me, what is?”), maybe what’s causing the most discomfort is her full-throated reclamation of country music as Black music. As a southern-raised Black woman myself, I’ll be forever grateful that this body of work is reminding everyone who listens where country music truly came from.

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