Forbes Travel Guide's six elite five-star venues

By Startle.com | Forbes – Tue, 26 Feb, 2013 4:10 PM EST

The results of the 55th annual Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards are in, and this year we have more luxury hotels, restaurants and spas on our list than ever.

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After checking in and checking out properties around the world, Forbes Travel Guide’s professional inspectors uncovered Five-Star hotels, restaurants and spas you’ll want to add to your must-travel list.

This year’s full list of Forbes Travel Guide Star Award winners includes 76 Five-Star hotels, 28 Five-Star restaurants and 35 Five-Star spas. But only six places earned five stars for all three categories at once. Read on to find out who had the ultimate mix of shelter, food and revitalization.

Mandarin Oriental, Miami

(Photo: <span class="credit">Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group)</span>Mandarin Oriental, Miami became one of Miami's first Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star hotels in more than 15 years when it earned the coveted Five-Star status this year. This East-meets-tropics paradise on exclusive Brickell Key features 326 rooms sporting the latest technology and balconies to soak up the views of the Miami skyline or Biscayne Bay. And the private Oasis Beach Club's 20,000-square-foot white-sand beach makes it one of Florida's most exclusive ocean retreats.

One of two new Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star restaurants in Miami—the city's first such winners since 1987—Azul features floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides of the 120-seat, Tony Chi-designed dining room. Chef Jacob Anaya sprinkles European and Asian flavors into his new American cuisine. The lobster pot pie is delicious, but the service is what elevates this restaurant; pashminas are offered in a variety of colors in case you get cold, and reading glasses are at the ready when you peruse the menu.

The three-level, 15,000-square-foot spa takes advantage of its waterfront Brickell Key location: The six VIP spa suites have floor-to-ceiling windows. The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Miami blends Eastern and Western philosophies to create highly personalized treatments inspired by the ancient cultures of the Balinese, Thai, Europeans and Chinese, as well as ayurvedic medicine.

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Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go.
—Jack Kerouac, On the Road, 1951
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