More Cozy Places to Curl Up with a Good Book

Within Palma, the Santa Monica Proper hotel’s lobby lounge bar, designer Kelly Wearstler created special nooks throughout for more intimate gatherings. If you prefer more pictures than words, chose the four-seater framed in by a bookshelf of interiors books, or have your book club meet here to collectively finish the last chapter then launch into discussion over craft cocktails.

French countryside. Vineyard surrounds. Roaring fireplace. Les Sources de Cheverny is one seriously romantic setting for book reading—Madame Bovery, perhaps, or Anaïs Nin and Henry Millers letters. If you start to blush too much in the company of others, return to your suite with its own living area of velvety soft reading chairs.

Once you’ve peeled your eyes off the blue horizon—Fogo Island Inn fronts the Atlantic Ocean, rising from a rocky shore of its eponymous isle—lie back on the chaise and see how deep you can get into Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea without stealing another look at the mesmerizing waves on the other side of your suite’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

Nothing like crisp mountain air to keep you from falling asleep whilst trying to finally finish War and Peace. In the heart of Teton Village, Caldera House keeps you cozy if you look to turn a few pages during après with fur throws, a firepit and no shortage of red wines to order.

With the Swiss Alps as backdrop, make John Krakauer’s Into Thin Air feel real for you, albeit without risking life and limb on Everest. Zip up your puffy jacket and fall into either a hammock or bean bag chair slopeside at The Cambrian.

When you need to wind down from all the sightseeing, Pestana Plaza Mayor Madrid has lots of cozy spots to perch. There’s the brick-walled library with a marble fireplace, big black leather chairs to sink into and a special snack menu, or for more natural light, take your book up to the Salón de Columnas—there’s two fireplaces there, plus fabulous views of the plaza.

Turning our eye to warmer October through March climes, South Africa is heading into its spring and this reading chair fronting the Madikwe Game Reserve with an infinity pool just a tip-toe away is peaceful perfection. Molori Safari Lodge is just five all-inclusive suites, each with its own private pool, spacious deck and outdoor shower. Between books, enjoy twice daily game drives to spot lions, leopards and rhinos.

When you aren’t out and about Instagramming this most sustainable city in Asia, kick back with Sharlene Teo’s Ponti, an acclaimed novel set in Singapore, in your room above it all at Andaz Singapore. Large suites offer the sweetest reading setups—curl up in chair or sprawl out on a corner sofa.

If you forget to bring books with you on your Maldivian holiday, Sonevi Jani has you covered. In the Medhufaru Lagoon, the resort has its own bookshop and dedicated Barefoot Bookseller—for the first time, a Maldivian, Malsa Maaz, takes up the mantle. Comprising five islands, there’s plenty of idyllic spots to post up with a recommended novel, such as Folk Tales of the Maldives by Xavier Romero-Frias and Ocean of Life by Callum Roberts.

Arrive by boat to the laidback island of Koh Yao Noi, and pick your chair: breezy balcony hammock, above-pool hanging pod (spa adjacent) or big bean bag lounger—Cape Kudu Hotel knows book lovers like to change up their seating setup.

There’s no need to scour this Riviera Maya resort looking for a good reading spot—at adults-only La Casa De La Playa they’re all on your own terrace. There’s a handcrafted hammock (some hang right above the heated hydromassage pool), chair to slink into or lounge bed to sprawl out on.

Hotel XCaret Arte is another Playa del Carmen property with reading chair variety. We’re partial to the above-water mesh loungers with pillows for propping behind your head and Swim Up Suites’ lounge chairs right in the water to make between chapter dips extra easy.