The Ritz-Carlton, Astana

Astana's skyline is one of Asia's strangest and most compelling—a planned capital of golden towers, glass pyramids and the great tent of the Khan Shatyr rising from the open steppe—and The Ritz-Carlton, in the sculptural Talan Towers on the left bank, offers the best seats. The hotel occupies the complex's upper reaches, and rooms look out over the Nurzhol Boulevard axis, from the Bayterek tower's golden orb to the presidential palace's blue dome.

Interiors are among the brand's more contemporary: pale stone, bronze detailing and Kazakh-inspired patterning, with a soaring lobby lounge and rooms whose window walls make the most of the city's light show after dark. Service carries the polish expected of the capital's diplomatic and energy-industry clientele, and the club lounge is a genuine asset during Astana's brutal winters, when temperatures can sink below minus thirty and the hotel's indoor pleasures earn their keep.

Those pleasures are considerable: an indoor pool under a decorative ceiling, a substantial spa with thermal cabins, and dining from an ambitious grill to Kazakh-influenced menus. The boulevard's sights, the opera house and the Expo district are short taxi hops. Astana rewards curiosity about the new Central Asia, and this is unquestionably its most refined vantage point.