Getting away from it all is as much a part of modern life as late nights at the office and rush-hour traffic. We can all use an escape to exotic destinations, but free time is scarce and the choice of where to go is more important than ever. Paradise is the aim--perfect weather, great food, and breathtaking surroundings--and Hip Hotels: Escape features an extraordinary collection of Highly Individual Places in idyllic locations around the globe. Mexico, Morocco, India, South Africa, Tahiti, Jamaica, Cuba, Colombia, Chile, Bali, Portugal, Spain, the Australian outback--Hip Hotels: Escape covers the full range of potential escape experiences. From the Renaissance beauty of J. P. Getty's villa on the shores of Italy to a handful of luxurious tents on a remote jungle island in the China Sea, from the unique mud-hut architecture of the Mandawa Desert Camp in Rajasthan to the lush surroundings of the famous Marrakesh palm grove, escape hotels combine the impact of extraordinary geography with architectural ingenuity. Simple yet sophisticated, rugged yet refined, these hotels cater to both our instinct for escape and our city-bred taste for comfort and luxury. Like the hotels featured in Hip Hotels: City, some of the most famous names in contemporary architecture, design, decoration, and gastronomy have had a hand in creating these seductive retreats. From Jean Nouvel's design of the Hotel St. James outside Bordeaux to Renzo Mongiardino's classic renovation of a thirteenth-century monastery near Siena, from Ralph Lauren's styling of Nelson Rockefeller's former lakeside lodge in the Adirondacks to French superchef Alain Ducasse's conversion of a Provencal farmhouse, these hotels offer paradise exactly the way we want it: perfect.