"San Miguel de Allende has built a reputation as the quintessential colonial Mexican town -- and it's on its way to becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008. With this change around the corner, the city is sprucing up its look, and the four-bedroom Oasis is the gold standard. Two years ago, when New York expat Nancy Hooper stumbled upon a collapsed 17th-century ruin downtown, she envisioned a tiny retreat that would introduce a sophisticated fusion of east meets west to San Miguel's more traditional architecture. To revamp the interior, she turned to local design firm Mitu Atelier. In the four suites, you'll find massive four-poster beds with 1,000 thread-count sheets, towels as thick as Berber carpets, and the thoughtful details like terra-cotta exfoliants in the bathrooms. "