The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
SPAIN ITALY
Continued from Page 13
CA’N GAIÀ, MALLORCA
The quintessential Mallorquin hideaway: a dreamy, ochre-stone agriturismo in native gardens, a couple of miles from the sandy coves of the south-east coast. Inside is cool and high-beamed; 12 rooms and suites, some with greenshuttered windows, others with private terraces. In the morning, breakfast comes courtesy of the vegetable garden, served on the sun-dappled terrace beneath the pines.
Doubles from £85 (00 34 97116 2021; cangaia.com)
LOS JARDINES DE PALERM, IBIZA Ibiza is an island full of secrets, and Los Jardines de Palerm is one of them: a reimagined finca hidden amid the most glorious, jungly gardens, outside the village of San José. The 17th-century building has had a fresh, smart makeover, with cool, white, uncluttered rooms and wooden furniture, each opening onto a private terrace. Outside are two infinity pools and all manner of shady nooks and suntraps, and a path leading straight up to Ibiza’s highest point.
Doubles from £192, including breakfast (00 34 9718 00318; jardinesdepalerm.com)
CHIC&BASIC HABANA HOOSE, BARCELONA
Imagine Vivienne Westwood let loose in a colonial Cuban casa and you’ll have some idea of Chic&Basic Habana Hoose, in Barcelona’s El Born neighbourhood. It’s Scottish meets punk meets Cuba; it’s young and hip and chic, though hardly basic – rooms are bonkers-bold and fabulous, bathrooms dark and inviting, beds large and well dressed. There’s a restaurant, too. Doubles from £72 (chicandbasic.com)
CORRAL DEL REY, SEVILLE Through a pair of those iron-studded doors that so intrigue in Seville, the Corral del Rey is a sophisticated boutique hotel, one of the city’s best, created from a 300-year-old house. Interiors are Architectural Digest-exquisite, from the white hand-stitched quilts to original carved shutters. Bag the room with a tiny pool terrace, like your own private corner of the Real Alcázar. Doubles from £236, including breakfast (00 34 9542 27116; corraldelrey.com)
HOTEL CLAUDE, MARBELLA
It’s easy to forget that Marbs, with all its glitzy five-star resorts, is in Spain’s most fiery, passionate region of Andalucia.
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ii Shades of blue: Ca’n Gaia, also pictured on Page 13, is surrounded by pine forests
Hotel Claude is a reminder of where you are – it’s a classic 17th-century Andalucian house, once home to Eugénie, Empress of France, with a colonnaded Moorish courtyard at its heart, and galleried upper floors leading to seven rooms, decorated with contemporary furnishings and irreverent art.
Doubles from £177, including breakfast (00 34 952 900 840; hotelclaudemarbella.com)
HACIENDA DE SAN RAFAEL, ANDALUCIA
This handsome hacienda, bougainvillaea clambering all over its lemon and white facade, still feels like a grand family home, though it took a 10-year restoration from neglected olive farmhouse to get there. There are inviting spaces indoor and out – cane chairs in a shady corner, dining tables in the courtyard, squishy sofas beside a fireplace, books, paintings, heirlooms and antique beds in the 14 rooms and casitas. Gardens are glorious: paths through towering oleander, arbours strewn with cushions, a mosaictiled pool. The kitchen serves simple, seasonal dishes beautifully cooked. Seville and Jerez de la Frontera aren’t far, but it’s tempting not to leave at all. Doubles from £343, including breakfast (00 34 9542 27116; haciendadesanrafael.com)
LA SERENA, ALICANTE
La Serena’s rooftop, with its pool, terrace and bar, is an eyrie above the cobbled backstreets of Altea’s old town, with long-reaching views over tiled church domes and terracotta rooftops and, beyond, the Mediterranean Sea – the beach is just a few minutes’ walk. There are 12 neutral rooms, some with private terraces, plus a small spa. Doubles from £137, including breakfast (hoteleslaserena.com)
HOTEL CORTIJO DEL MARQUÉS, ANDALUCIA
There’s a great sense of space at this thoughtfully restored Andalucian country estate. A pool terrace overlooks olive groves; rooms, set around the central courtyard, are large and lofty with the kind of bed you don’t want to leave – though the location, outside Grenada and the Sierra Nevada, will do its best to lure you, whether that’s for walking, Alhambra-touring, or riding through the mountains on bicycle or horse. Doubles from £119 (00 34 9583 40077; cortijodelmarques.com)
LA CASONA DE AMANDI, ASTURIAS Beside the Rio Villaviciosa nature reserve, La Casona de Amandi is a dreamy white 19th-century country house with glorious gardens. The surrounding Asturias countryside makes for great walking (the Camino de Santiago runs past) – or cycling or horse riding, which the hotel can arrange. Each of the 11 rooms differs wildly; most romantic is the Indiana, while others can accommodate families of four.
Doubles from £68 (00 34 9858 93411; lacasonadeamandi.com)
CASA MORISCA, GRENADA
If you are in Grenada for the Alhambra – and who isn’t? – you will love 14-room Hotel Casa Morisca. The 15th-century building is rich with scalloped arches, carved doors, a galleried and tiled courtyard – all giving the place a Moorish romance.
Doubles from £98, including breakfast (00 34 9582 21100; hotelcasamorisca.com)
ADASTRA, FLORENCE
An eclectic mix of modern and historic come together at AdAstra, a characterful 14-room hotel set within expansive gardens in the groovy Oltrarno neighbourhood. Design is bold and beautifully curated: mid-century flea market finds offset frescoed ceilings and antique chandeliers; books and fireplaces give it the feel of a new-generation aristo’s apartment. Ineffably romantic in a wholly original way. Doubles from £119, including breakfast (00 39 055 075 0602; adastraflorence.it)
CASA OLEA, LAKE COMO
Superstars have been taking dips in Como’s green-blue waters since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Italian nobility far longer, and its waterside villas tend to be five-star fancy. So three-star Casa Olea is quite the find – a 19th-century rectory, with 13 sophisticated, modern rooms, a pool and a garden, all overlooking the lake.
Doubles from £179 (00 39 0344 87352; casaoleahotel.com)
HOTEL GUTKOWSKI, SICILY
On the seafront of Syracuse, Sicily’s ancient isle where Archimedes had his bath-time Eureka moment, sky-blue Hotel Gutowski has been formed from two fishermen’s houses. The 25 rooms are spartan-simple, decorated with bits of vintage furniture and, when you open the shutters in the morning, filled with dazzling light. After sundowners at its waterfront terrace bar, once the day trippers have departed, staying here feels like the real deal.
Doubles from £64, including breakfast (guthotel.it)
CONDOMINIO MONTI, ROME Youthful spirit in the Eternal City? Converted from an early 1900s apartment block in Rome’s boho Monti neighbourhood, whippersnapper Condominio Monti is refreshingly modern – velvet headboards, bold wallpapers, art-deco lighting – designed by two young locals, and there is an airy rooftop restaurant.
Doubles from £83, including breakfast (00 39 32049 44124; condominiomonti.it)
HOTEL FLORA, VENICE
Venetian palazzo hotels without the palatial price tag do exist – if you know where to find them. Italy expert Merrion Charles has a tip: three-star Hotel Flora, a 17th-century palazzo near St Mark’s Square, run by the Romanelli family since the 1960s, whose passion for their city led them to create their Inside Venice guide for guests. The hotel’s 40 rooms are Venice-ornate, with Canaletto-era beds and windows overlooking the rooftops or enchanting courtyard garden – where breakfast, drinks and lunch are served – hidden at Hotel Flora’s heart.
Doubles from £171, including breakfast, via Merrion Charles (00 39 0585 92098; merrioncharles.com)
HOTEL BRIOL, SOUTH TYROL
Back in the 1930s, the owner of this mountain refuge eschewed the trad chalet detailing in favour of clean-lined modernism, and today Hotel Brio cuts a sharp silhouette against the pineforested slopes. Rooms are alpine-adorable – lots of hefty scrubbed pine and white linen, windows opening onto truly uplifting views, and air so clean you’ll break into song.
Rooms from £102, half-board
(00 39 4716 50125; briol.it)
HOTEL PALAZZO VANNONI, LEVANTO, ITALIAN RIVIERA
The ceilings steal the show at Palazzo Vannoni, in the old heart of Levanto on the Italian Riviera. The seaside town is just outside the Cinque Terre, making it a good base for exploring the candy-coloured coast on foot or by car. Levanto has its own smattering of pink and yellow houses, churches and castles, piazzas and restaurants – plus the only sandy beach on this stretch of coast. Doubles from £137, including breakfast (hotelpalazzovannoni.it)
LOGGIATO DEI SERVITI, FLORENCE A 16th-century monastery on one of Florence’s most splendid Renaissance piazzas is the setting for Loggiato Dei Serviti. A loggia sweeps across the front, while inside are vaulted ceilings, stone columns, beamed ceilings, with interiors to match, antique paintings, heavy wooden furniture, canopied and fourposter beds.
Doubles from £74 (00 39 0552 89592; loggiatodeiservitihotel.it)
AL VECCHIO CONVENTO, APENNINES
Marisa and Gianni moved from Milan to the medieval village of Portico di Romagna in 1975, to run a 19th-century inn. Over the years they have renovated two more historic buildings, and turned the lot into a friendly, family albergo, with a restaurant that has a verdant summer terrace outside and, in winter months, roaring fires inside.
Doubles from £73, including breakfast (vecchioconvento.it )
HOTEL CINCOTTA, PANAREA, AEOLIAN ISLANDS
Car-free Panarea is a gem of an island: unspoilt, beautiful, uncrowded – yet
despite its rusticity, also rather stylish, thanks to the island’s top address, Hotel Raya, with the only nightclub in the Aeolians. Hotel Cincotta, meanwhile, is altogether more low-key and laidback, but still has a lovely pool, rooftop restaurant terrace, and knock-out views of the sea, with Stromboli smouldering on the horizon.
Doubles from £150
(00 39 0909 83014; hotelcincotta.it)
TEKU BOUTIQUE HOTEL, SARDINIA In a village near the south-east coast, far from the swish golf resorts of the Costa Smeralda, Teku Boutique Hotel is small, stylish and independent, with 14 cool and contemporary rooms, and a sunny little garden out the back.
Rooms from £94, including breakfast (00 39 0782 29439; tekuhotel.com)
LA SETTIMA LUNA HOTEL, LIPARI, AEOLIAN ISLANDS
The action at La Settima Luna is all on the rooftop – bar, restaurant, pool and view – at this gleaming little hotel on Lipari, the largest of the Aeolian islands, with its extraordinarily turquoise bays. Bedrooms are slick and all-white, and the hotel offers a menu of spa treatments.
Doubles from £68 (lasettimalunahotel.it)
within, with the kind of soul-stirring grounds that are de rigueur round here. Less de rigueur is the price: rooms start at around £100. There is a formal restaurant and, in the delightful kitchen garden, a tomato bar. Ah, oui – they are very proud of their tomatoes; come in September for the Tomato Festival (not to be confused with Spain’s fruit-flinging La Tomatina – in the Loire, that kind of behaviour will have you chucked out on your ear). Doubles from £94, including breakfast (00 33 2474 51631; labourdaisiere.com)
TY MAD, BRITTANY
This seaside, creeper-clad, 15-room villa is a harmonious mix of old and new. Interiors retain their 19th-century charm – exposed stone walls, long windows, wooden floors, classic furniture – but have been elegantly updated. There’s an indoor pool, a garden and, best of all, cracking beaches directly outside. There’s also an excellent restaurant serving colourful, organic dishes; while on the doorstep, Douarnenez port teems with places to eat fish.
Doubles from £85, breakfast included (00 33 2987 40053; hoteltymad.com)
LES FLORÊTS, PROVENCE
All the trademarks of Provence are found at family-run Les Florêts: a sun-dappled stone terrace set with wrought-iron chairs; views over the painterly Vaucluse landscapes and forested slopes of the Dentelles, surrounding villages of absurd prettiness. Rooms are unfussy and easy on the eye, while the pool is swisher than you might expect, the restaurant smart but jolly, and the wine list 350 vintages long.
Doubles from £66, including breakfast (00 33 4906 58501; hotel-lesflorets.com)
FLEUR DE SEL, L’ÎLE DE NOIRMOUTIER
Stretching out to sea from the Vendée coast, the L’Île de Noirmoutier has a laid-back attitude, terrific beaches, and low-key, family-friendly places to stay. You’ll find one of these between the town and long sandy Plage des Sableaux: the Fleur de Sel, with 35 coastalbreezy rooms, a garden with pool, and a restaurant which, like everywhere on Noirmoutier, celebrates the catch of the day.
Doubles from £99
(00 33 2513 90907; fleurdesel.fr)
LA ROSERAIE, DORDOGNE Unapologetically flowery, as the name suggests, La Roseraie has the most magical gardens – lawns and trees, pool and pergola rose walk – stretching down to the Vézère river, flowing serenely and greenly through the Dordogne (you can take canoes out). The 14 rooms are equally floral, dressed up French Country-style. White tablecloths in the restaurant, naturally – but it welcomes children too.
Doubles from £72 (laroseraie-hotel.com)