A little treasure of a hotel. Situated centrally within just a few 100 years of the harbor, down a cobbled lane, this friendly and welcoming small establishment is a pure delight.
It’s more of a traditional French residence, and is the height of French chic.
If there’s a finer hotel in France, please tell us. Bagnols, a 13th-century castle rising above the vineyards of Beaujolais, is sheer, unadulterated sophistication. With only 21 rooms and suites, all decked out in sumptuous period furniture, manicured lawns and a fabulous Michelin-starred restaurant, it’s worth every one of the quite considerable number of pennies you need to stay here.
The de Vanssay family have been in this stupendous chateau since the 15th century — and they’ve apparently spent all that time building up to your arrival. The welcome from the French count and his Anglo-American countess couldn’t be more cultivated or enthusiastic. They’ve infused castle and bedrooms with warmth and bright colour, and the gardens and 100 acre grounds seem to go on for ever. The chateau has just 4 double rooms, 1 twin and 2 singles all en suite.
Hotel du Petit Moulin, Paris – small and intimate
A playful 17-room former bakery, the Petit Moulin is well situated (in the Haut-Marais) for shopping at some of Paris’s more interesting boutiques. The interiors are by the never knowingly understated Christian Lacroix. Some rooms are lush and baroque, others startlingly geometric and bold, all a seductive riot of colour and contrasting styles. Small, quirky, crepuscular and flirtatious, it’s a perfect Parisian hideaway.
The Park Hotel, Bangalore – hip and stylish
The Park Hotel is Bangalore’s only boutique hotel. It is a stylish Terence Conran designed bolt hole. Decor in the sleek bedrooms is bold and bright, with pops of indigo and ochre and glass and high gloss surfaces. The I-Bar is a cool hangout for Bangalore’s media set, while celebs can opt for discreet dining at the hotel’s i-t-ALIA restaurant.
The Park Hotel, 14/7 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore
Axel Hotel – cool pool & gay friendly
Cool boutique hotel in Barcelona from the gay friendly Axel hotel chain. The roof top pool at the Axel is small, but then so is much of the swimwear. Looking great is de rigueur. Weekend pool parties heat things up with killer cocktails and DJs spinning tunes.
Photogenic Finca Malvasia is probably the best boutique guesthouse in the Canary Islands. Four lava-stone apartments around a cool-kitschy pool and cactus-strewn gardens, each in bright colours, with fully equipped kitchens.
Finca Malvasia provides stylish, self-catering apartments with optional bed and breakfast. Originally, designed by a close friend of the acclaimed artist César Manrique, Finca Malvasia features many of the unique design and architectural elements which César Manrique developed through his work.
Located in the the centre of the island, Finca Malvasia sits amongst an unspoilt vineyard, beautifully backed by La Geria volcanoes and uninterrupted countryside views. An oasis of calm.
Gorgeous, boutique, yet affordable, York House is up a flight of tatty stone steps, but at the top is a romantic converted Carmelite convent; some rooms still even have the grilles over the door’s peephole. Flagstone floors, vaulted ceilings and arched windows make for a divine dirty weekend.
Hotel Le Silve sits atop an Umbrian hill and boasts an eye-watering, knee-trembling 360-degree views of a Renaissance landscape of mist-cloaked valleys, honey-coloured hill towns and watercolour groves of ancient oak? There’s been a hotel here since the 10th century — 1,100 years later, only the luxury levels have changed. You know what to expect: gorgeous rooms, soul-stirring cuisine and the tragic realisation that all good things must come to an end.
The super-stylish Dionysos Estate has everything at its fingertips – a private beach club with an array of water sports, a Decléor spa with open-air hot tubs and an organic farm supplying the hotel’s three gourmet restaurants. Yet it is the stunning location alone that will take your breath away…
Built on top of a jaw-dropping canyon overlooking the Bay of Kumlubük, there are panoramic sea views from virtually every perspective. The golden coloured escarpment which rises from the sea forms a mountainside peppered with pine and incense trees, which gives way to a dense forest that reaches up to the sky.
This ridiculously hip Turkish sanctuary is so sexy, it bans children in high season. A five-minute transfer takes you down to the private beach club and watersports centre, but with three gourmet restaurants, an excellent spa and a horizon pool overlooking the bay, few venture that far.
