Raes on Wategos

Raes is proof that scale has nothing to do with stature. A whitewashed, faintly Moorish villa perched above the palm-fringed crescent of Wategos Beach, it has only a handful of suites, yet since 1994 it has been the address that defines Byron Bay for a certain kind of traveller. The building's curves, arches and tiled fountains would look at home on a Mediterranean headland; set against subtropical rainforest and the Pacific, they feel gloriously out of time.

Suites are individually designed in a soft, collected style—linen, rattan, antiques, and terraces angled at the sea—with the penthouse's outdoor bath among the most romantic perches on the east coast. Mornings begin with surfers paddling out at Wategos below and, in season, humpback whales passing the Cape Byron headland a short walk away, home of Australia's most easterly lighthouse.

The Dining Room, its cellar and bar have long drawn non-residents up the hill for coastal Mediterranean cooking and long lunches, while the small cellar-level spa handles massages after beach days. Raes offers no gym circuit, kids' club or conference space, and that is precisely its appeal: an intimate, grown-up hideout on one of Australia's loveliest beaches.