The Best New Hotels in Africa and the Middle East: 2024 Hot List

"Imagine opening the floor-to-ceiling doors of your villa and strolling to the back of your garden to see baby hawksbill turtles emerging from the soil and waddling across the beach towards the sea. This is a reality for guests at the new Waldorf Astoria on Platte Island, a quarter-of-a-square-mile speck in the Indian Ocean. Lying 80 miles south of Mahé, the Seychelles’ biggest island, this sand cay has been transformed into a solar-powered Eden, reachable only by 14-seater aircraft for an eco-conscious blend of nature and cosseting. Platte’s naturally protected reef teems with marine life, including the largest hawksbill population in the Seychelles. To protect the turtles’ egg-laying, all 50 villas are built slightly back from the shoreline. Snorkeling sessions led by the on-site marine biologist allow for joyful face-to-face encounters with the adult turtles, baby reef sharks, and stingrays that glide in crystal-clear shallows. Personal 24-hour concierges can organize whale watching, scuba diving, in-villa treatments, and more. In this far-flung setting, the restaurants must bring their A game—and they do, including Creole-Latin fusion dishes at Maison des Epices and Moulin’s plant-focused plates sourced from the resort’s garden. The Milky Way is splashed across the sky on clear nights, adding a celestial note to a place of happy nature worship. From $2,780. —Noo Saro-Wiwa" - CNT Editors