Luxurious stays: Nashville-area hotels make Travel + Leisure new hotel "It List" for 2023

A chic downtown Nashville high rise and a rustic Franklin farm and inn have both been named among the world's best new hotels according to Travel + Leisure's "It list" for 2023.

The Four Seasons Nashville and Southall Farm and Inn both opened last year, and, although they are very different in their respective approaches to luxury, both received nods from the luxury travel magazine. Whether a vacation calls for an urban high rise or something a little more rural, Middle Tennessee has the best of both.

The Four Seasons

The Four Seasons in Nashville opened in November 2022, ushering in an unprecedented level of luxury in the downtown area. The "Travel + Leisure" review coins it "the height of contemporary luxury in town," adding with the spa and industrial-chic guest rooms, the hotel is a quiet retreat when it needs to be.

Backstory: Here's how everything aligned to make the Four Seasons click in Nashville

Most expensive room in town: Just Askin': What's the most expensive hotel room in Nashville?

The review also mentions Mimo, the hotel's restaurant and bar as well as the "French Riviera-inspired rooftop pool deck.

"I found the hotel to be sincerely rooted in a sense of place — with special touches like the musical-themed decor (a table and lamp in my room were styled like a record player), and an overall casual approach that speaks to Nashville's spirited personality," writer Stefanie Waldek says.

Southall Farm & Inn

Southall Farm & Inn had been growing, literally, for upwards of eight years. Owners planted orchards and worked the active farms for years before the inn became a reality.

Now, after opening in December 2022, the 62-room inn and adjoining 400-some acres are hosting everything from elegant dinners to adventure programs.

History: First Look: Southall farm, inn and spa in Franklin

Falconing?: The new golf course? Tennessee, U.S. adventure programs woo travelers with the exotic

"Travel + Leisure" points out that Southall, situated in Franklin about 30 miles south of Nashville, "perfectly strikes a balance of serious agrarian cred and total luxury."

"Go deep with farm programming by learning harvest participation, apiary management, and watching seed-saving demos, then reward yourself with a snack of house-aged country ham, a pour of whiskey sweetened with last autumn’s apples, and a long soak in the smoking mineral pool at the spa, where even the loofahs are grown on-site," writes Adam Erace.

Melonee Hurt covers growth and development at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at mhurt@tennessean.com

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Which Nashville-area hotels made Travel + Leisure's "It List" for 2023