Best Hotel in New Zealand: Treetops Lodge and Wilderness Experience, Rotorua

Props to Treetops Lodge for being recognized on the Travel + Leisure "World's Best List" as the top hotel in New Zealand. Occupying a 2,500-acre natural wonderland in Rotorua (New Zealand's therapeutic thermal region, Maori cultural center, and the trout fishing capital of the world), Treetops offers only 14 luxurious rooms surrounded by 800-year-old forests and cascading springs. Crafted from natural materials, the lodge is the ultimate luxury eco-experience, and is a model for environmentally sustainable hospitality. Praising its "impressive array of outdoor activities," T + L also gives an insider tip, suggesting that guests "hear a local Maori chief tell stories and legends by the fire in the library."