As a passionate traveler who likes to spend prolonged periods exploring new cities, towns, and villages, Airbnb provided an easy, affordable, and accessible new way to travel when it launched in 2009. While I didn’t begin using the app until 2014—when I booked a tiny studio apartment for my best friend and I in the then up-and-coming area of Lisbon’s Bairro Alto—I’ve since gone on to stay in 67 Airbnb-listed homes in places like Hyderabad, Montréal, Bogotá and Sri Lanka’s cultural capital, Kandy.
I choose my lodgings based on the design of the listing and the previous reviews, staying for as little as a night or two, up to multiple months at a time (my longest stay to date was a three-month stint in a quaint cottage in England’s Peak District, complete with roaring log fire and dreamy kitchen).
And since I travel solo most of the time, safety is my biggest concern. It’s for that reason, as well as unclean apartments, that I’ve had to leave some of my bookings early. I’d like to see Airbnb do more to ensure the safety of their solo female guests, like enforcing bolted doors and offering more guidance to male hosts, especially since solo travel is gaining popularity each year.
But let’s get back to the good stuff. During my 67 Airbnb stays, I’ve come across some real delights, including homes with super stylish interiors, locally hand-crafted furnishings, sweet personal touches, and in locations that truly afford me the ability to live like a local or become part of the community. Here are my design-focused favorite listings—the homes I can’t wait to re-book.
Casa Etéra, San Miguel de Allende, México
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
Much like the world’s best hotels, this mirrored off-grid cabin, nestled in the foothills of an extinct volcano in Mexico’s Highlands, wows at every turn. I’d been dreaming of staying in this bucolic home for years after stumbling across it on Instagram, and so I booked a solo two-night stay on a whim when an opening popped up (it’s typically booked out for months on end). Around a 30-minute drive from the gorgeous, if overly-touristed, town of San Miguel de Allende, the listing is only accessible by unpaved road, but the complimentary 4×4 ride with the home’s caretakers, Oscar and Maria, ensured I arrived without worry.
Encircled by rugged scrubland filled with silvery-blue nopal cacti and all manner of birdlife, the landscape and location of this listing appeals to lovers of nature, silence, and solitude—my idea of heaven. Carefully curated by Prashant Ashoka, the home’s owner, Casa Etéra’s interior is an open-plan affair featuring a bespoke copper bathtub, polished concrete walls, and a king bed flanked by low-hanging wicker pendant lights that face the slopes of Palo Huérfano, the aforementioned extinct volcano. During my stay, I delighted in the surroundings, inside and out, with only Tony Cohan’s On Mexican Time and the home’s bespoke playlist as companions—life really doesn’t get much better.
Cozy Beamed Stone Cottage, Youlgreave, England
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
Much of what makes an Airbnb stay memorable is the home’s surroundings, and nowhere was that more evident than in the tiny Peak District village of Youlgreave, where this quaint cottage sits. During my three-month stay, I took hour-long walks each day, taking in the subtle changes that unfurl as winter transforms into spring. I swam in icy cold rivers, photographed ancient and mysterious stone circles, made roaring log fires, observed hundreds of frogs and toads somersaulting through nearby lakes, and watched as herds of sheep passed right by the cottage’s front door—it truly doesn’t get much more magical.
Inside, the cottage has been transformed by its owners with quality rugs, sumptuous woolen throws, and a stunning bespoke kitchen featuring wooden beams and exposed brickwork. As a true home away from home, yet without the clutter, I adored touches like the sage green Anglepoise bedroom lamp and Bodum French press, but there’s also an expansive garden filled with bay trees and lavender bushes, making it the ideal lunch spot on sunny days.
Meraki, Polhena, Sri Lanka
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
Meraki’s eight bedrooms are so well designed and thoughtful that I’ve stayed twice now on account of the complimentary breakfast, chilled vibes, salt-water swimming pool, and rooftop yoga classes. Everything is flawless here, from the Airbnb’s location, tucked down tropical village lanes just a short stroll from Polhena Beach, to the hand-woven teak and rattan headboards that showcase the traditional craftsmanship of Sri Lanka beautifully. Encompassed by banana trees, hanging vines, and palm trees dancing in the breeze, Meraki won me over as soon as I entered, and although I’ve stayed twice, I’m already planning my third trip back.
Apartment Piotrkowska, Łódź, Poland
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
With a flawless five-star rating, I booked this compact studio in Poland’s curious, arty city, Łódź, for eight nights, one cold but bright spring. Intrigued by the city’s industrial aesthetic, its history as a textile manufacturing hub, and the abundance of street art—including large-scale designs by Paulina Kwietniewska and Paulina Nawrot—I wanted to see the place director David Lynch described as having “beautiful winter light” for myself, and Apartment Piotrkowska provided the ideal resting place.
Designed to utilize every bit of space with hidden drawers and storage, the inviting studio comes with a Smeg espresso machine, a selection of herbal teas from hip store Kiwi Garden, pretty vases of eucalyptus and blush-colored pampas grass, and views out towards another of the city’s large-scale murals; Michelangelo by the contemporary Polish artist Karolina Treler. But for me, the highlight was the home’s pleasing-on-the-eye color palette and luxury wallpaper detailing, including Bois de Rose palm tree wallpaper from the luxury French brand Casamance and Gucci’s gorgeous hand-painted heron print wallpaper that lined the bathroom walls.
Lumière Studio, Lyon, France
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
As France’s culinary capital, Lyon should be on every foodie’s wishlist, which is why I headed there one summer to catch up with old friends and enjoy some of the city’s most impressive restaurants (I like Le Kitchen, FYI). Looking for an affordable yet cute place to crash, I stumbled across this light-filled studio owned by Bruno and Jean-François, and it quickly became one of my favorite stays.
While its diminutive size is best suited to solo travelers like me, I was impressed by Lumière Studio’s full kitchen, which had everything I needed to prepare delicious meals with the local seasonal produce I’d picked up from Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse (one of Lyon’s most fabulous food markets). Equally captivating is the apartment’s serene bedroom, which is decked out with fun film memorabilia, a tribute to the city’s Lumière Festival that takes place every year.
Old Tbilisi Solo, Tbilisi, Georgia
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
I adore Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, and having spent over a month in the city, I’ve had the chance to stay in five Airbnbs so far, but this creative sanctuary remains my firm favorite. After traversing two flights of wooden wonky stairs, with plaster and paint crumbling off the walls to either side I was slightly nervous to see what I’d booked when I arrived one chilly autumn evening, but upon turning the thick metal key in the apartment’s lock I was met by a unique, design-focused idyll that wouldn’t look out of place in Architectural Digest. Rothko art bibles, one-off golden hand-crafted crockery, half-burned stubs of Palo Santo, rattan furniture, blue agate bookends, and a friendly cat to boot. It’s a yes from me.
Lordi 6, Vomero, Naples, Italy
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
For a hyper-local Italian experience in the joyful city of Naples, this self-contained, design-focused suite is my top pick. After arriving supremely late, thanks to a delayed flight, I was mortified when the taxi driver who had whizzed me over the town’s cobbled streets, at the speed of light, told me that his card machine wasn’t working and I had to wake the Airbnb’s host at a horrifying 3.15 a.m. to ask to borrow 20 euros.
Welcoming and friendly, Ombretta graciously placed a note into my hand before showing me to the studio, which is made up of just two rooms and an entryway. Designed to perfection with gold steel dome bedside lamps and pleasing flamingo print wallpaper in the bathroom, Ombretta’s place is ideal for solos or couples. But even more charming is the local knowledge that comes with the stay, including insider intel on the city’s best cafes and restaurants—I still think about the pasta dishes and pizza from that trip to this day.
Can Bullo y Burro, Mallorca, Spain
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
Visiting coastal Mallorca in the height of summer can be especially taxing, thanks to the abundance of holidaymakers. Yet in rural Porreres, a sleepy town packed with pastel-colored shuttered buildings in the center of the island’s agricultural region, there are no crowds and a sublime townhouse with its own paradisiacal plunge pool. Looking deceptively small from the single-laned street out front, the three-bedroomed historical home is in fact a sprawling idyll, spacious enough for families or groups of friends.
On the day I entered, wandering through the large family-style kitchen, I gasped in awe when I saw the idyllic garden; the images on Airbnb just don’t do the place justice. Pots of intense blue flowering plumbago, lemon trees, and leafy parlor palms surround the tropical turquoise pool, while masses of flowering vines provide a lush canopy over the outdoor dining table. This whimsical oasis ensured I spent most of my time reading and enjoying the sun by the pool’s edge.
Apartment with the craziest moments, Yerevan, Armenia
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
Located just moments from Yerevan’s Cascade Complex and overlooked by the mesmerizing and otherworldly Mount Ararat, the location of this “crazy moments” apartment was ideal for my four-night flying visit to Armenia’s capital. Once past the nondescript entrance, and the hard-to-open lockbox, I adored the wildly chintzy interiors that featured color-pop walls, kitsch chandeliers, huge gold-rimmed mirrors, colored glassware, and some funny art that included a pop-art portrait of Abraham Lincoln with crosses for eyes, and a vibrant wall hanging of a mallard wearing a Tudor-style neck collar—don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Downtown Memo, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
(Image credit: Lydia Swinscoe/Airbnb)
There aren’t a lot of choices when it comes to well-designed lodgings in the little-visited city of Cluj-Napoca in northern Romania, which is why I was delighted to find “Downtown Memo,” a two double bedroom apartment housed in a historic building. The large open-plan lounge and kitchen has dual modern pendant lighting and a slick petrol-gray kitchen, yet it is cozy and inviting. Bedrooms are much simpler affairs but feature the comfiest of beds and light-up globes, plus Mihai, the listing’s host, is always around for local recommendations.
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