FOGO ISLAND INN – NEWFOUNDLAND

This white monolith on stilts stands at the very edge of the raging North Atlantic. The astonishing brainchild of Zita Cobb, a local fisherman’s daughter who left the island and came back a technology multimillionaire, it is otherworldly and homespun, pampering and austere. All 29 rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the ocean, where icebergs, some as big as cities, float in the distance. International designers worked with local artisans and craftspeople to create the rugs, whimsical chairs and long benches in each room, and locals take guests for walks over the rocks to artists’ studios.

The double-height restaurant, fronted by great sheets of glass, is a sensational setting for chef Murray McDonald’s home-churned butter, exquisite snow crab and sea-salt meringue. Cocktails are prepared with foraged berries and cooled with cubes of 10,000-year-old iceberg. Sipped in the warmth of a wood-fired sauna, they make a wonderful addition to the green and blue dance of the aurora borealis outside.