Cosy cabins, space-age exteriors and dazzling views – the architecturally minded holiday lets built to impress.

Before the invention of that prefix “boutique”, hotels tended to be dogged by a pseudo-aristocratic aesthetic – think overstuffed sofas, lots of gold, essentially nostalgic and old-fashioned. Then you had holiday lets – from country cottages to salty seaside snugs – which also lagged behind, insisting that comfortable and cosy meant chintz. Both offered a retreat from the hard edges of the 20th and 21st centuries, architecturally at least. But over the past few years, our tastes have changed. The idea that contemporary means cold and difficult, rather than warm and welcoming, has been overturned. And the travel industry is waking up to the fact that its switched-on customers want a little more “design” in their destinations. The age of the architectural getaway is upon us.

There are some notable leaders in this field. Five years ago, Mr Alain de Botton, public intellectual and author of The Architecture Of Happiness, launched Living Architecture, a not-for-profit operation determined on building architecturally adventurous holiday homes designed by young and established architects and, most famously, the artist Mr Grayson Perry. Then there’s The Modern House, founded in 2005, which specialises in selling modern and contemporary architecture, and has always run a sideline in holiday lets of similar vintage and aesthetics. The Modern House cofounder Mr Matt Gibberd says this latter side of the business is on the up. “We have seen a huge increase in demand for architecturally engaging holiday homes in recent years, in line with the public’s increasing acceptance of modernism generally,” he says. “When you’re on holiday, you want to be in an environment that embraces the landscape and raises the spirits. This is what modern houses do, with their expanses of glass and open-plan spaces.”

Of course, Airbnb and upscale alternatives such as Onefinestay offer ample opportunity for sampling modernist and contemporary architecture, too. Like the sound of this? Then look no further than the following list, which features seven architecturally remarkable contemporary houses in places that are well and truly worth unpacking in.

Just down the way from Venice’s achingly cool Abbot Kinney Boulevard is 2420 McKinley Avenue, also known as the “Californication House” (it was home to the on-off girlfriend of Mr David Duchovny’s libidinous middle-aged writer in the TV series and developed a cult following all of its own).

Designed by Mr David Hertz – a former employee of Mr John Lautner and Venice favourite Mr Frank Gehry – the house is essentially four separate two-storey buildings set around a courtyard and lap pool.

In a recent interview, Mr Hertz described the building’s open and airy style as “Bali modern meets Venice craftsmen meets Schindler”. (Mr Rudolph Schindler was one of the founding fathers of LA modernism and an early advocate of free love.) The house has impeccable eco-credentials, too: it was built using sustainable ipe, mahogany and fir and Hertz’s patented part-recycled concrete. It also uses solar power and natural ventilation. Rent it, via Onefinestay, and feel really good about yourself.

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The Balancing Barn is the work of Dutch architects MVRDV, one of the most innovative young European practices. As the name suggests, the house is dramatically, counterintuitively cantilevered over a steep dip. As if that weren’t high-impact enough, the outer shell is entirely clad in space-age silver tiles. By contrast, the interior, the work of the Dutch designer Mr Jurgen Bey, is all calming bare wood. In a more explosive touch, Mr Bey has covered areas of the walls and floors in pixelated samples of works by Messrs John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough, who both painted the surrounding countryside.

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Designed by Chilean architects Pezo Von Ellrichshausen and completed in 2013, Casa Solo Pezo was lauded as one of the most dramatic and accomplished new houses of recent years, receiving coverage and plaudits in Wallpaper*, Architectural Digest and Vanity Fair.

Built entirely in concrete and starkly symmetrical, this is another house that cantilevers dramatically over its landscape, this time a valley in the Puertos de Beceite national park. The house’s main living spaces, with floor-to-ceiling windows, are two storeys above the ground, supported by a central column and two identical entrance staircases, and set around a courtyard and swimming pool. The column is hidden by trees and the house appears to float above the canopy. The developer behind the house, Mr Christian Bourdais, plans to add 11 more homes in the area, all designed by leading international architects.

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Cape Cod is blessed with a wealth of classic mid-century beach homes, many of them designed by the architectural staff of Harvard and Yale universities. The House on Duck Harbor Beach is a relatively modest example, but it’s big on charm and period detail. It was designed by Mr Jack Hall for Mr Robert Hatch, editor of The Nation magazine, and his wife Ms Ruth Hall, a painter. Experimental in form, the house is essentially a series of cubes connected by wooden decks, laid on edge. Mr Hall built a number of houses on Cape Cod and this is one of his finest, listed on the US National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

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If the Balancing Barn balances, then Ty Hedfan or “The Hovering House”, designed by architects Featherstone Young, hovers over the Afon Ysgir river in the Brecon Beacons. A Riba award winner, the house is at once a direct response to its location, using local slate and timber, and a homage to Mr Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Mr Pierre Koenig’s Case Study houses in California. Its focal point is the main living room, which floats above the river, while external terraces provide for (weather-allowing) barbecues and sun-lounging. The house has three double bedrooms and one single with doors opening on to the garden.

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This grand but lean, low-lying villa in Marrakech was designed by French-Algerian architect Mr Imaad Rahmouni, who formerly worked with Mr Philippe Starck in Paris. It is dominated by a 1,000 sq m living space, which includes a bar, library and dining area and floor-to-ceiling glass doors with views across the Atlas Mountains. But the real selling point is the pool, complete with island and palm tree, which starts in the living room before moving outside. The villa has five bedrooms – all with en-suite bathrooms – a fitness room, massage room and hammam.

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Set beside the River Ant in the Norfolk Broads, Mill House was designed by London-based architects Acme and picked up the Riba Best New House award in 2010. It is a striking extension to the millkeeper’s cottage, essentially its charred-wood repeating shadow (the mill, itself a listed local landmark, is set just behind the house). The interior, meanwhile, comprises three dramatic double-height spaces punched with large windows that look out on to the surrounding wetlands. The Riba judges described Mill House as “more akin to a piece of art than a piece of rural domestic architecture”. Now you can judge it for yourself.

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