Germany

Orania is in Berlin's very cool Kreuzberg neighborhood. The building itself is an impressive sight. From 1913 to 1924, the ground floor was home to iconic café Oranienpalast, concerts, and caberets. In 1934, the Jewish owners at the time had to sell the property below market value in order to be able to emigrate. The building changed ownership several times. In 1995 it was registered as a national monument. In 2014, Sattler Architects and Dietmar Mueller-Elmau began turning the space into a hotel with forty-one rooms and suites, a small restaurant, literary salon, bar, and concert stage. The hotel opened in 2017. In place of a standard lobby, there's an inviting living room (with two fireplaces) that spills into the open kitchen, bar, and mini stage that features local Berlin musicians. The design is a bit ecletic, with materials coming from around Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. One of the best parts about staying here: Breakfast is served every day from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The rooms range in size. A goop editor stayed on the second floor in the very lovely and spacious "Orania.50," which has…

This gorgeous villa in the picturesque spa town of Baden-Baden has only fifteen suites and is the ultimate place to detox in private. The nine-day program starts with a medical examination, followed by a custom regimen of ninety-one treatments created by Dr. Harry Konig that range from bracing lymphatic massages and fitness classes to relaxing mud baths and meditations. If you’re interested in a less-immersive path, you can stay in town and instead purchase a day pass for spa treatments and, if you prefer, simply lounging on the perfectly manicured lawns.

World-famous dermatologist Barbara Sturm’s work is incredibly high-tech—her endogenic blood therapy, for example, takes dermal fillers like hyaluronic acid and enriches them with regenerative elements taken from a patient’s own blood. At the same time, she’s passionately clean and nontoxic in her approach—a rarity among dermatologists. After researching both techniques and skin-care ingredients at her clinic, she’s come out with a line that manages to be super effective, luxuriously textured, and chic as hell all at once. Treatments at her clinic run the gamut from low-tech to super advanced, from lymphatic drainage and microdermabrasion to hyaluronic-based mesotherapy, nonsurgical face-lifts, and microneedling.

This new space in Berlin for post-war German modernism sparks interest mainly for the building’s checkered past—before WWII it was constructed as a studio for one of the Nazi party’s predilect artists, Arno Breker. Under the watchful eye of architects Petra and Paul Kahlfeldt, who are charged with its restoration, the studio has been re-cast as a cultural institution. The opening show and subsequent exhibitions will feature both East and West German art in tandem, as an attempt to reconcile these two streams of German modernism which were segregated for many years after the war. Photo: Robert Conrad. Courtesy Kunsthaus Dahlem

The Porcelain Manufactory at Nymphenburg (the German Palace that was home to the Bavarian royal family) has been making the world's finest porcelain since 1747, each piece sculpted and painted by hand. In a remarkable blending of new ideas with a historic practice, they workshop with contemporary artists—the list includes Kiki Smith and Karen Kilimnik, plus a long list of industrial and fashion designers—to push the limits of the craft with modern designs. While their contemporary program produces gorgeous sculpture, Nymphenburg is still the world's best source for fine porcelain plates and teacups. Their pieces are available in boutiques worldwide, but their two flagships are at the Nymphenburg Palace and in Munich opposite the Hofgarten.