Boutique hotels in Australia

Australia is a continent-sized country, and its boutique hotels reflect that range. In Sydney and Melbourne they are converted warehouses, pubs and heritage buildings with strong design; in the wine regions they are low-slung lodges set among vines; and in the outback and rainforest they are a handful of suites or tents placed where the view is the point.

The cities

Sydney and Melbourne lead our ranking. Sydney's small hotels cluster around the harbor, Woolloomooloo and Bondi, while Melbourne's sit in laneway-rich neighborhoods such as the CBD, South Yarra and St Kilda. Hobart, across the water in Tasmania, has a waterfront of old sandstone warehouses turned into art-led hotels, with the Museum of Old and New Art nearby.

Wine country

The Barossa Valley, Margaret River, the Yarra Valley, the Hunter Valley and the Mornington Peninsula each have estates with only a few suites, often a short walk from the cellar door. Daylesford, the Adelaide Hills and Mudgee add spa towns, hillside manors and country-town guesthouses.

Coast, reef and bush

Byron Bay and Noosa offer beach-house hotels and surf-town retreats, Port Douglas and the Whitsundays open onto the Great Barrier Reef, and Broome has pearl-town charm on the Indian Ocean. Kangaroo Island, Cradle Mountain and the Blue Mountains reward travelers with wildlife and walking, while Uluru has one of the country's most remote luxury camps.

When to go

Australia's seasons are reversed: summer runs from December to February and winter from June to August. The south is best from October to April, the tropical north (Port Douglas, Broome, the Whitsundays) is driest and most pleasant from May to October, and the Red Centre is at its most comfortable in the cooler months. Book early for school holidays and the Christmas period.