If you want wild solitude, scenery built for big adventures and nights teeming with stars, then we have some hot — very hot indeed — properties for you. These luxury camps and hotels in the desert offer escapist drama and the sort of landscapes that epics spring forth from, but with the odd four-poster bed, mango coladas and live music after dark thrown in, with a side of floating pavilions for mesa- gazing mindfulness.
From kite-surfing hangouts to surprisingly green boutique retreats, the best desert hotels in the world give you an all new kind of toes-in-the-sand joy…
Amangiri
Utah, United States
We see you, Amangiri , trying to camouflage into the Colorado Plateau in Utah ‘s red-rock country. With a buttress of desert mesa cleaving into its pool and near-Brutalist architecture like baguette-cut buttes, the hotel fits seamlessly into its surrounds, but certainly won’t be overlooked, thanks to its 25,000-square-foot spa, bank of elegantly minimalist suites and breakaway private camp Sarika.
Days here look like action-film montages: horseback and helicopter rides, striding through canyons, literal cliff-hanging on via ferrata , with calming endings of prickly-pear daisies and jackrabbit-spotting amid the dunes. The kind of fantasy-driven hideaway that turns any regular guest into one of the ‘Amanjunkie’ crowd.
Magic Camps Oman
Muscat, Oman
You don’t need flying carpets and genie-filled lamps to make Arabian nights magical — Magic Camps Oman promises it right there in the name and this luxury desert camp delivers. Even on arrival there is a thrill, as a four-wheel drive ignores gravity, clattering across Wahiba Sands’ towering dune slopes. From then on, it’s pure fairy tale, whether you’re sharing stories of sandboard-sashaying and camel trains over barbecue dinners, clinking champagne under pink-purple sunsets, or cuddling up under canvas in an oil-lamp-lit tent.
Underpinning the romance is an eco-consciousness inspired by Bedouin nomads, and a culture deeply embedded into the surroundings (you can take calligraphy classes, watch falconry shows and dine with locals). Luxury touches in decor and dining make a repeat of this truly magical experience worth splurging all three wishes on.
Awasi Atacama
Atacama Desert, Chile
The Atacama Desert ‘s desolate beauty, with valleys and salt flats so otherworldly they’ve been used for NASA mission training, needs to be appreciated by more than a lonely llama. Let Awasi Atacama awaken you to the desert’s charms, be them haute meals crafted from the multi-hued corn and purple potatoes that grow here; cuddling an alpaca; or sipping Pisco sours by the fire pit.
You don’t even need to exert effort on seeking a spirit guide — the hotel will assign you one with good knowledge of the land and culture — plus a four-wheel drive, so you can seek out pre-Inca petroglyphs and fuming geysers, tackle Andean peaks, or get the lay of the land from a hot-air balloon. Or roll like a tumbleweed and nap in a cabana until it’s Chilean wine o’clock.
La Tour d’Eole
Dakhla, Western Sahara
Life’s easy-breezy at laidback desert hotel La Tour d’Eole. It’s set by Dakhla Lagoon, at the edge of the Western Sahara, which is buffeted by Atlantic winds nearly year-round, making it a sweet spot for kitesurfing and other dizzying highs. And by (sun-baked, rustic) design, the all-inclusive hotel has been optimised for full-throttle fun. It has its own private beach and the first watersports centre in the region; handy whether you want to ride the waves or be swept off your feet.
More down-to-earth pastimes include massages and yoga sessions in the spa, soaks in the pool’s mineral-rich waters, and rounds of mojitos at the beach club as you admire the velvety draping of the russet landscape. Pay heed to which way the wind’s blowing — La Tour’s rising popularity is a barometer of the lesser-known region’s ascent.
Caravan by Habitas Dakhla
Dakhla, Western Sahara
Don’t say we didn’t tip you off — the Western Sahara also called out to cult hotel brand Our Habitas, whose knack for holistic experiences and passion for fostering connection has made it the creative souls’ choice (as you’d expect when the founders became friends at Burning Man). In Dakhla, Caravan by Habitas has set up by the lagoon, with its own school for kitesurfing, wing-foiling and aerial tricks; or you can drink a marg if you don’t want to do sports.
Of course, the landscape (where sand replenishes daily in snow-like drifts) will catch your eye too, and the Berber-style design adds to the genial warmth built-in with jawi resin-burning ceremonies to welcome you, gatherings round a bonfire for stories and songs, and Levantine meals with mix-and-match eats.
Pioneertown Motel
California, United States
Pioneertown is where burnt-out A-listers or those who’d like to sidle in on a ‘hoss’ (inadvisable if you’re taking State Route 60) will be equally happy. It hasn’t been a destination for all that long, springing up in 1946 when a band of movie stars — headed up by Western legend Dick Curtis — wanted to build a ‘living, breathing movie set’. But as part of film history, the saloons and vintage stores have earnt a sort of authenticity, and the restored Pioneertown Motel gets star billing.
Its kitsch frontage has often been a backdrop; and set dressing includes Navajo-print Pendleton blankets, sturdy wood furnishings, cowboy prints and cacti. The real Old West is more than a flicker here, though: there’s some overlap with Joshua Tree National Park, and the Morongo Basin’s scattering of yucca plants, mesquite and juniper trees. After scoping out which — possibly very famous — musician is playing biker bar Pappy & Harriet’s, take a moment to capture the scene and watch the distant mountains get fainter, almost a mirage, like a strip of degrading celluloid.
Kaner Retreat
Thar Desert, India
Rajasthan’s Thar Desert is a golden Zen garden a God could tinker with when they’re stressed, with requisite tropes: camels, hardy succulents, a parched look. So it’s surprising to find an olive farm and pioneering ‘botanical resort’ here. The story begins with Satbiri Devi, who planted 6,000 olive trees and tenaciously grew them in supposedly barren land, before entrusting the farm to Sapna Bhatia, journalist and founder of Kaner Retreat.
Bhatia was driven by nostalgia for foraging in the desert vegetation and mingling with local shepherds during her childhood, but the retreat she’s created with her family (one a horse-rider and drummer who’s put her passions into guest therapies) looks forward too. Each perfumed villa is as stylish as any city pad, meals in a desert-gazing atrium are plant-based in imaginative ways, and activities are designed with environmental education in mind.
Zannier Sonop
Karas Region, Namibia
We’ll take our luxury desert hotel ‘on the rocks’ in Namibia, thanks. Zannier Sonop’s stilted tents — which feel more like villas with their four-poster, freestanding bath tub, writing bureau and telescope — stud a tumble of giant granite boulders in the middle of nowhere. This contrast of opulence and wild oblivion will make you feel like a turn-of-the-century explorer as you venture out on a custom-designed day of horse-riding and dune-busting, following in the footsteps of San Bushmen, and tiptoeing up razorbacks amid the surreal Sossusvlei salt pans.
Then it’s back to camp for a massage and a candlelit dinner — perhaps privately, on top of a boulder — cocktails in the cigar lounge and genteel parlour games or billiards.
Casa Silencio
Oaxaca, Mexico
It’s advised to bring water to the desert, but we say bring on the mezcal — after all, the spirit’s the landscape distillate, wrung from agave succulents. You won’t be parched at Oaxacan stay Casa Silencio, which is part distillery, part design-led dreamhouse, where the time-honoured is seen through a new eco-minded perspective. Rammed-earth walls meet concrete floors, repurposed wood is wrought into strong sculptural joinery and even tequila-bottle bases are used in mosaics as intricate as Huichol beading.
The overall effect is moodily industrial but far from gloomy; the mezcal tasting included in your stay seems to be that. You’ll also get a buzz from meandering around the waterfalls and rock formations in nearby Hierve el Agua reserve, hiking out to ancient cave paintings or clearing your head in a local temazcal . Don’t forget to thank the ancestral spirits — and pack some to take home.
Anantara Qasr al Sarab Desert Resort
Liwa Desert, United Arab Emirates
We’re calling trading standards on the so-called ‘Empty Quarter’ — part of which is in Abu Dhabi — because here’s where you’ll find Anantara Qasr al Sarab Desert Resort , which actually packs a lot in between its crenellated walls. Various dining options, some under the stars; a Thai-style spa with hammam; an open-air cinema; tennis and padel courts; an enormous freeform pool… It’s a pleasure palace that’ll keep everyone comfortable even in extreme heat; large private-pool villas house families, vegetarians and vegans will be well-fed, and alcohol-free drinks are legion.
It lets you explore the Liwa Desert at leisure too, on breathless buggy rides or camel treks; or trips out to learn archery, watch falconry displays and discover desert fauna at farm-turned-cultural-centre Ezba.
Find more faraway stays here , and for sand and shore see our collection of beach hotels