This place — and others surrounding — is heavenly (8)
I believe the answer is:
ethereal
'heavenly' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'this place and others surrounding' is the wordplay.
'this place' becomes 'here' (I've seen this before).
'and others' becomes 'etal' (synonyms).
'surrounding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'here' put within 'etal' is 'ETHEREAL'.
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for ethereal that I've seen before include "'Extremely delicate, almost not of this world (8)'" , "Celestial; insubstantial" , "Delicate - airy" , "Airy; heavenly" , "Ultra-refined" .)