Images: Sequoia Lodge/Provided.
A tiny 14-suite retreat in the Adelaide Hills has been ranked among the most beautiful hotels on the planet, with Sequoia Lodge taking out 16th place in Time Out’s new list of the world’s 33 most beautiful hotels.
The adults-only lodge, carved into the escarpment of Mount Lofty Estate at Crafers, was one of just two Australian properties to make the 2026 list, alongside Victoria’s Jackalope Hotel.
Rather than focusing on size or grandeur, Time Out’s global editors, writers and hotel experts selected properties they had personally visited, looking at elements including scenery, interiors, architecture and grounds.
For Sequoia, the surrounding Piccadilly Valley was central to its inclusion. Time Out highlighted the panoramic outlook from each of the lodge’s 14 suites, along with its stone fireplaces, freestanding baths, private artesian hot pools and infinity pool overlooking the valley.
The Sequoia team says the international recognition is particularly significant for a small, privately owned South Australian property.
“To be named among the 33 most beautiful hotels in the world is a remarkable thing for a fourteen-suite lodge in the Adelaide Hills,” the team said.
“Sequoia was carved into the escarpment so it would sit quietly in the landscape rather than compete with it, and much of the beauty people respond to is really the Piccadilly Valley doing the work.”
That relationship with the landscape runs throughout the property. Every suite has 180-degree views across the valley, with the outlook considered from the bed, bath, sunken lounge and fireplace.
The lodge sits within Mount Lofty Estate, close to Mount Lofty Botanic Garden and surrounding national parkland, giving guests easy access to the Heysen Trail and the wider Adelaide Hills. Despite the secluded setting, it is around 20 minutes from Adelaide’s CBD.
The design also draws heavily on the region, with natural materials including stone and timber used throughout to complement the landscape rather than distract from it. Even the lodge’s name is tied to the estate: a giant sequoia planted by Mount Lofty House founder Arthur Hardy in 1852 remains a centrepiece of the property more than 170 years later.
But the team says Sequoia was never designed to be simply a place to stay.
“We do not really think of Sequoia as a hotel, and that may be part of the answer. A hotel sells a room to sleep in. Sequoia sells the days around it,” the team said.
The Time Out recognition follows a growing list of national and international accolades for the lodge. Sequoia was named Australia and the South Pacific’s number one small and boutique hotel by Tripadvisor in 2025, and has won Best 5-Star Luxury Accommodation at the South Australian Tourism Awards in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
It has also taken out Best Luxury Hotel Accommodation at the Australian Hotels Association awards for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025, and Australian Lodge at the HM Awards four times.
More recently, Sequoia was invited to join Relais & Châteaux, the international collection of independently owned luxury hotels and restaurants. According to the lodge, it is one of only two Australian members and the only one on the mainland.
For the team, however, the global attention ultimately comes back to the South Australian location.
“The Hills are not the backdrop, they are the product,” the team said.
“We want guests to experience the destination, not simply stay in it.”
Sequoia Lodge
Where: 1 Mawson Dr, Crafers
To find out more, click here.
