The Tat Guide to Airbnb, November 2025

For years we’ve been devotees of Airbnb, though not, I should stress, of the company itself. The corporation leaves me cold. What I admire are the homes—the good ones. Not the hollow-eyed investment shells you can spot from a mile off: leathery bar stools, chesterfield sofas, karate-chopped cushions.

What I love are the true homes, the ones that belong to someone with taste, or at least eccentricity. A place with old sofas, books, a fire that smokes a little, and good crockery, and low lightings. A home where the character of the walls matters as much as the view beyond them. Add a decent walk and a meal cooked by anyone but me, and I’m yours.

Over the years, we’ve compiled hundreds of Airbnb lists—for weekends, birthdays, heartbreaks, and the general escape of living. But this one is the master list. The best of what we’ve found and loved. Whether you’re sneaking off at short notice or plotting months ahead, we hope this becomes your go-to for getting away. We’ll keep it alive, pruning the lost ones, adding the new, and chasing that rarest of things—a house with a soul.

I’m an equal opportunist, so if Airbnb isn’t your thing, I wrote this article last year ' Beyond Airbnb The Joys Of Booking Elsewhere' & 'Twenty (Or So) Rentals With No Middle Man In Sight'

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