The beach at Infinity Bay, Honduras

A couple times a year I like to highlight which pages of Luxury Latin America travelers are clicking on the most. It changes a lot from one quarter to the next depending on where our readers are headed and who’s in the news (good or bad), and usually it’s a bit surprising who makes it up to the top.

The most popular pages are the portal ones, like the main luxury tours page or luxury travel in Costa Rica, but here are the individual ones people planning a vacation landed on the most so far this year.

Luxury hotel and resort reviews:

5) Infinity Bay in Roatan, Honduras
4) Cayo Espanto near Ambergris Caye, Belize
3) Jicaro Island Ecolodge near Granada, Nicaragua
2) Azul in Ambergris Caye, Belize
1) Hotel Garzon in Uruguay

Mendoza wine country, Argentina

Luxury tours in Latin America:

5) Getting Pampered in the Spas of Argentina
4) Touring the Wine Districts of Chile Near Santiago
3) Touring the Best of Mendoza Wine Country, Argentina
2) Trekking From Lodge to Lodge to Machu Picchu, Peru
1) The Coffee Triangle of Colombia

So from all this I’ll conclude you want to head to a beach, get pampered, or drink some wine. Except for that hardy bunch going trekking through the Andes Mountains…

We’ve long had a review of Chilean tour company Explora’s Salto Chico Lodge in the Torres del Paine national park, also listed sometimes as Explora Patagonia. It’s got one of the most fantastic mountain views in the world and is on the doorstep of one of the planet’s greatest hiking destinations.

You can cover a lot more ground on horseback than by foot, however, and Explora has formally launched a new equestrian tour program. One of our contributors was fortunate enough to be one of the first to experience it. Here’s one half day in a four-day program:

Before lunch my fate is an 11-mile ride. We begin by crossing the deep Chinas River, climbing up and down hillsides and passing the Laguna Jara Cruce.

Our destination is the remote Estancia 2 de Enero, a farm belonging to the owner of Explora. We stop here for mate (a typical herbal tea favored by gauchos on both the Argentinian and Chilean sides of the border) before cantering back along the high ridges following the scent of lunch. Guanacos (Patagonian llamas) disperse as we pass, some jumping over a fence in perfect line.

The rides cross pampas to icebergs and glaciers, alpine lakes and rivers, with expert guides customizing the itinerary depending on the skill and experience of the riders. As with the equestrian excursions the company runs in the Atacama desert, guests are assured of getting the best equipment and healthy horses used to carrying strangers.

See our full feature story (with gorgeous photos) on touring Patagonia by horseback with Explora.

There are plenty of luxurious boutique hotels in Cartagena de Indias of Colombia as this is clearly the top destination in the country for upscale travelers. There’s a new kid on the historic blocks of the center now that’s a clear contender: Casa San Agustin Boutique Hotel.

Located in a prime spot in the UNESCO World Heritage walled old city of Cartagena, this 24-room hotel is easy walking distance to all the plazas, bars, shops, and restaurants, as well as the stone walls facing the beach and water.

It’s a conversion of three houses into a hotel, with a cohesive design that pulls them all together in lots of cremes, whites, and earth tones blended with plenty of Colombian touches. It’s all aesthetically spot-on and chic, design-savvy without being ostentatious or uncomfortable. Original walls are blended into the design—one supporting the arches from a centuries-0ld aqueduct—and some exposed frescoes in the library room.

Meal times are a delight here and even if you stay elsewhere, get the hotel’s restaurant on your itinerary sometime.

“The beautifully designed Alma Restaurant lives up to its custom hardwood furniture and Colombian handicrafts with a menu that features local seafood, beef aged on the premises, and delightful desserts using the wealthy of fruits and cacao grown in the country. Presented with international flair and confidence, yet drawing on the homeland for inspiration, the menu here is getting a reputation as one of the best in the city. A fine wine list and inventive cocktails round out the experience here or at the equally attractive bar with tapas menu.”

In a city with stiff competition already, this is nevertheless a great addition to the Cartagena boutique hotel scene. See our full review of Casa San Agustin.

With the opening of new Palacio Astoreca, luxury travelers have another luxury hotel option in Chile’s port city near several wine-producing regions.

Valparaiso has long been a popular destination for those traveling in Chile, but it’s also been lacking in high-end places to spend the night. Astoreca changes all that and let’s hope it’s the start of a trend. (The city could certainly use an influx of visitors to fund the work that needs to be done to keep the remaining aging funiculars running.)

You’ve probably read about this hotel already if you subscribe to any glossy travel magazines. The thing is, they were probably going off a press release and had never stepped inside. We’ve got a person on the scene in Chile, however, so our detailed review is from someone who has stayed there and eaten there.

The “stayed” part is all about the building: a restored 1920′s fairy tale house that looks like it came out of a children’s book drawing. Perched on a hillside—as most of the houses are here—it has terrific views over the rooftops to the harbor.

This is no frumpy B&B, however, as some original elements like parquet floors are combined with sleek interiors worthy of a design magazine shoot.

The “eaten” part is what is bringing curious diners from Santiago in: the chef’s previous posting was at Spain’s famous El Bulli restaurant. How’s that for pedigree? Our reviewer found the presentation and cuisine lived up to the hype.

The pool here is inside, giving our long-running featured Valparaiso hotel Casa Higueras an edge in the outdoor lounging category, but this one does have an outdoor hot tub.

See our full review of Palacio Astoreca boutique hotel in Chile.

One of the first batches of hotel reviews we posted on Luxury Latin America when we launched half a decade ago was for Ambergris Caye, Belize. This included what many consider the top resort on the island, Victoria House.

Hotels evolve, expand, and upgrade over the years and it was time to get a new set of eyes (and a new camera lens) trained on Victoria House. So when one of our contributors was researching the Ambergris Caye Luxury Real Estate story we posted recently, he checked into both their ownership options and what it was like for hotel guests.

We’re happy to say little has changed on the service side, with the staffers—many of them here since before we posted the first review—still delivering personalized, friendly service with a smile. While the resort evokes the time of “British Honduras” when Belize was a colony of the queen, we’re facing the Caribbean after all, so stuffiness can only go so far.

What has changed on the physical side is the addition of several new villas, so if you’ve got a big family or a group wanting some space and a kitchen, you’ll be set here. This was partly driven by destination wedding demand: there are a lot of weddings in this tropical paradise. Dive on the reef, then dive into marriage.

For more information, see our updated review of Victoria House in Belize.