Hotels With The Most Beautiful Views

Photo by: Salto Chico Lodge
The Most Unforgettable Views-
By Jane Levere

One of the greatest pleasures of travel is taking in gorgeous scenery not normally encountered in daily life. The icing on this cake: Staying at a hotel that lets you savor these views even longer.

There are a number of properties around the world universally considered to have drop-dead, beautiful vistas, whether in top urban destinations like Paris or Hong Kong, or in island or mountain getaways like St. Lucia or the Canadian Rockies. We searched the globe for hotels with more stunning views than the rest, drawing on expert insights from Jack Ezon, president of luxury travel company Ovation Vacations and TheMostPerfectView.com founder Paulo Palha.

Urban hotels with spectacular views can be found all over the world, but two new properties in particular have upped the ante. One, the Shangri-La in Paris, in the City of Light's 16th arrondissement, opened in late 2010 and offers breathtaking panoramas of legendary landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Montmartre. The other, Hong Kong's Ritz-Carlton, opened in March as the world's tallest hotel, and offers unrivaled views of this city's famous Victoria Harbor.

For those in search of mountain scenery-majestic peaks, stretches of horizon and towering forests- there's a wide variety of properties to choose from. Among these is the Chateau Lake Louise, the grande dame property in the majestic Rockies of Alberta, Canada. It overlooks the spect less