Welcome to Opulist
Welcome to Opulist! * cue sparkle sound *
The site that gives you a simple way to search by vibes and design. Opulist was created for the people who prioritize aesthetics and ambiance for their travels and nights out, who want a simple way to find the places near them most aligned to their mood, and who get a thrill from discovering the most beautiful places to eat, drink, and stay that each city has to offer them.
The idea for Opulist was born in founder Sara Bacon’s brain after too many hours spent googling haphazard search phrases yielding messy results, and from the desperate desire for a site like this to exist in the world. She and her team have spent months researching and scouting locations by city, profiling each business, and creating the start of what will someday soon be an abundantly stocked database of the most beautiful locations this world has to offer.
We’re so excited to finally share Opulist publicly and can’t wait for you to start using it. As we continue to build out the site and work towards future versions and an app, here are some basics on what you can expect from Opulist now and still to come:
What is Opulist?
Opulist is a directory of beautiful and aesthetically appealing restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and hotels within your city of choice. Based on design and “vibes,” Opulist allows you to find the best of the best wherever you are or where you’d like to go.
How are locations chosen?
The factors taken into consideration when choosing locations for Opulist are as follows:
- Does it fall under the category of restaurant, bar, coffee shop, or hotel?
- Does it have overall good aesthetics: beautiful design, good lighting, stunning, unique or artistic features, a photogenic environment, and pretty surroundings or compelling views?
- Does it have good vibes? Does it have a good energy, is it an inspiring place to work from, is it calming and peaceful or energizing and exciting, does it make you feel generally sparkly inside?
- Compared to other places in that city, does it stand out? Meaning, based on relativity, the search for New York locations is going to look different than the search for Lake Arrowhead’s. The goal is to help you find the best and the brightest spots wherever you find yourself.
What won’t opulist have?
If you’re looking for food or menu reviews, long form location descriptions, or itemized travel guides, you won’t find those here. We believe enough resources for these services already exist, and also are confident Opulist will still help you discover delicious gems and help direct your travels with beauty as your guide.
How do you use it?
Simply head to Opulist’s main search page, type in the city you’re looking for, and filter further by choosing your Category and Features of choice. See us search for cute bars in Palm Springs below.
How else can I use it?
Traveling to a new city? Type in the city name and leave the categories and features off to browse all the best designed places it has to offer.
Going out on a Friday and want to remember all the vibey bars your city has to offer? Choose your city, pick the “Bar” category, and scan all the pretty pics to help you make your choice.
Need an inspiring place to work wherever you are? Choose your city, pick the “Work Remote” feature (or “Coffee Shop” category), and choose your office for the day that way. Reminder that sometimes pretty bars make the best afternoon work spot!
Have fun playing with the different filter options to find new places. For instance, scroll through all of Opulist’s locations that include gorgeous views (with the “View” feature), rooftop locations, adult-only hotels/pools, Tiki bars, outdoor patios, and more.
Lastly, check back every day and see the newest additions featured at the top. Scroll with no city or category selected if you want to browse beautiful locations and add places to your travel wishlist.
Above locations: The Madrona Hotel | Bar Cala | Milligram Coffee and Kitchen
What if I don’t see the city I’m looking for?
While Opulist is still in beta - meaning this site has future, more advanced iterations to come and is not fully populated with every city that we’d like yet - we’re working hard to add as many new cities and locations every week that we can. And the more places you request or suggest, the faster we can get Opulist to the glorious vision we have for it. Head to our Submit page to let us know what you’d like to see, and thank you for your patience while we go city by city and build our beautiful database out.
Does Opulist have an app?
Not yet! For now we’re web-based only, but to DIY an app for your iPhone, go to Opulist’s search page on Safari from your phone, click the Share button at the bottom, choose “Add to Home Screen,” rename to “Opulist” and voilá! You’ll have created an icon for your phone that takes you right to that page so you can use it on the go.
What features are still to come?
While we’re taking any and all suggestions to make this the best possible user experience for you all, know that future iterations are coming with upgraded features and abilities that just aren’t possible yet. To name a few:
- A map view
- Ability to “star” your favorite spots
- User ratings and reviews for each location
- Expanded Category and Filter options
- International locations once the U.S. is more populated
- An app that is equal parts easy and beautiful to use
Like what you’re seeing?
We love words of affirmation around here, specifically in the form of shares on social media, newsletter subscribers, and telling your friends about Opulist! To a growing site, it means the world to have you spread the word about us, and one of the fastest ways for us to keep bringing you new locations and offerings is by having you follow our social channels [find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest for now] and share our content as much as possible.
Thank you for being here. We hope this site fills a fun and sparkly desire in your heart to chase after beauty wherever you go, and allows you to enjoy your days and this life just that much more. Stick around for all that’s still to come.
