Winner: Fogo Island Inn, Newfoundland
This 35,000-square-foot, year-old inn looks like a wooden space cruiser, with sleek rows of windows cantilevered above 420-million-year-old rock. The 29 modern suites were built with the goal of keeping the region’s economy alive (most of the wares inside are locally made). You can hike nearby trails, or the hotel can hook you up with locals to fish for cod or trout, learn to plane a wooden ship hull, or go searching for whales, caribou, or icebergs. From US$600 per night; fogoislandinn.ca
Runner-Up: Juvet Landscape Hotel, Norway
The digs here are spectacular enough—nine detached cabins with glass walls anchored to a steep hillside in the fjordlands of western Norway’s Valldal region. Then there’s the area’s abundant adventure: hiking in the Tafjord mountains, fishing or rafting the Class III–IV Valldøla River, trekking glaciers, and skiing the Trollstigen Plateau, just 15 minutes away from your home base. From $240; juvet.com