Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake

Seventeen acres of gardens, lily ponds, and black-tiled pavilions arranged around a UNESCO-listed lake, and the whole thing still manages to feel like it simply grew here. This small luxury hotel, holding a Michelin 2 Keys distinction, keeps only 78 rooms, from traditional doubles up to three-story villas. The restaurants run Chinese and Western, with eleven private dining rooms, each one opening onto the gardens, which is a lot of rooms for a hotel that already feels like a retreat.

Four honors, in evidence: