CROWN TOWER SYDNEY

A six-story lobby chandelier of crystalclad “blades,” 14 restaurants and bars, a design-driven spa, and Sydney’s sexiest infinity pool … small wonder it took four years and US$1.6 billion to craft the sky-scraping 275-meter spire the Crown Towers calls home. British firm Wilkinson Eyre (behind Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay) was charged with the architecture, creating a curved geometric high-rise clad with 8,000 floor-to-ceiling reflective panels. From the inside, this equates to unbroken views over Australia’s largest city, whether toward the Harbour Bridge and Opera House or across the buzzy Barangaroo precinct the hotel calls home. Glam interiors by New York–based design studio Meyer Davis complement the exterior eyecandy with mirrored balustrades, eggshaped tubs, and plush fabrics—check in to one of the villas for additional perks like butler service and a private terrace. The only reason to leave your room is food: Peruvian-Japanese at Nobu, refined Italian at a’Mare (try the tableside pesto), or mod-European at Michelin-starred chef Clare Smyth’s soon-to-open eatery, Oncore, her first foray outside the UK. crownhotels .com.au; doubles from US$360