Luxury Life Design: GOLD LIST 2013 - World's Top Ten Places to Stay

List of top Luxury hotels & Spa's by the Readers' Choice according to Conde Nest Traveler.

Qualia, Hamilton Island, Australia

Exclusive and award-winning, Qualia nestles on the quiet northern tip of Hamilton Island, with amazing views over the Whitsunday Passage and within close reach of the Great Barrier Reef.

Find sanctuary in spa Qualia with its sunken Roman baths and indigenous Australian treatments, swim in one of two pools and dine royally in the Long Pavilion.

The Pebble Beach restaurant serves casual Australian lunches, while the more formal Long Pavilion is all about seven-course meals that include dishes such as the organic chicken with autumn vegetables and the Tasmanian salmon with whiting and enoki.

Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, Maldives

It is perfect for anyone who craves peace and quiet." The "heavenly villas" have palm-thatched roofs and wood finishes on the exteriors and floors, and all come with panoramic Indian Ocean views.

The bathrooms are spacious and one wall is glass so you look at the glinting ocean while having a shower or bath.

Hotel Caesar Augustus, Capri, Italy

On a cliff 1000 feet above the sea, the luxury Hotel Caesar Augustus offers one of the most spectacular vistas to be found on the isle of Capri!

Palazzo Avino (formerly Palazzo Sasso), Ravellom Italy

This twelfth-century medieval and Baroque palace in the town’s former aristocratic quarter gets three perfect scores. Rooms are outfitted in handcrafted Vietri tiles, eighteenth-century Italian antiques, brass accessories, and Frette linens.

Peninsula House, Dominican Republic

Within this lovely Victorian house, a central courtyard leads to cozy parlors, a library, the dining room, the bar, the superb accommodations and the veranda, which looks out on private gardens that extend to the swimming pool area.

Four Seasons, Bora Bora,French Polynesia

Sunrise views over the Pacific and sunsets over the lagoon and Mount Otemanu make this Polynesian village resort with a perfect-scoring location "the most beautiful place on earth."

Perivolas, Santorini Greece

A dream place for the soul! You feel whole again after staying at this paradisiacal sanctuary.” On a cliff above the island’s famous caldera—a perfect-scoring location—this resort “embodies simplicity, elegance, and tranquillity.”