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…

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.

If the opening of new luxury hotels is an indicator of a healthy economy, Chile is certainly doing much better than more-hyped Brazil. We’ve noted several times lately that most of the new and notable hotels opening or about to open in South America are located in Chile and the newest addition to the scene is Lastarria Boutique Hotel in Santiago.

Following in the footsteps of Hotel Aubrey not far away, Lastarria is a 14-room inn that nevertheless has a restaurant, lounge, and swimming pool. It also features spacious rooms that are certainly no B&B step down.

Here you have high quality linens, huge beds, classic antique-looking furniture, big windows, flat screen televisions, iPod docks, and 5-star bathrooms. In some rooms you get your own private balcony with sofas and lounge chairs or a Jacuzzi.

The location is attractive and convenient, close to a big park, the metro, and the nightlife neighborhood of Bellavista—a ten-minute walk away.

If you want a big business chain hotel, there are plenty of those in Santiago like you find in most any capital city. But if two instances is the start of a trend, then Santiago is on its way to  more personality in its upscale lodgings—fitting for a country that boasts so many of them elsewhere. It’ll be a while before this capital is anything close to Buenos Aires in terms of style, but the opening of Lastarria is a positive sign for those who like their hotel to feel intimate and attentive.

See our full review of Lastarria Boutique Hotel.

See other luxury hotels in Chile.

Panama is known as the Miami of Central America, full of skyscrapers, international banks, and lots of wheeling and dealing. It’s a thriving business center that has shrugged off the worldwide recession and kept growing at a frantic pace.

If you’re a tourist, however, this pace—on top of the heat and humidity—can be a bit daunting. Your main impressions if you stay where most Panama City luxury hotels are located may end up being of construction noise and traffic.

For leisure travelers who like to stroll to dinner instead of hail a cab, the historic Casco Viejo area might be a better bet. There are no big hotels in this area of architecture on a more human scale. We’ve just reviewed three upscale boutique hotels in Casco Viejo though: Las Clemantinas, Canal House, and Casa del Horno.

These are small buildings with limited amenities, so don’t book here expecting giant gyms and meeting rooms. What you do get at these is an interesting place to sleep, personal service, and often a kitchen or living room. Hey, one of them was good enough for Daniel Craig when he was shooting a James Bond film and Panama’s equivalent of the White House is in this area (and also white–easy to spot).

Casco Viejo is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so many tourists come here for a quick stop on some kind of bus tour. If you stay here, however, you can visit the local cafes and bars after they’ve all left. Plus instead of seeing the Panama skyline from the middle of it, you see it from afar, lit up and beautiful at night.

See the full round-up of luxury boutique hotels in old Panama City.