 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
Top Ten Hotel BedroomsHopefully, since we choose hotels in areas where there is a lot to see and do, you won’t spend much time in your hotel bedroom. Nevertheless, an attractive bedroom can make a holiday truly special. We work with hundreds of hotels across Europe, so compiling this Top Ten was no easy task, but below are the bedrooms that have really impressed us during our visits.
La Casona d’Alevia, Alevia, Asturias. It took the Sánchez Benito family almost three years to convert their village house into a hotel-cum-guesthouse, which is not surprising given the attention to detail that they have paid to the décor and furnishings. Lots of small touches – handcrafted, individually designed bedspreads, hand-painted coat hangers, a carefully chosen novel placed on the bedside table – combine to make bedrooms where you could happily stay for weeks at a time. A recommended spot for extra nights on our From the Picos to the Sea Walk.
Il Cenobio dei Dogi, Camogli, Liguria. The setting of this hotel on our Along the Ligurian Coast Walk is unequalled – it perches just above the sea in the colourful fishing port of Camogli. It is well worth upgrading to a superior sea view room so as to be greeted with the sight of the rugged coastline and blue-green waters of the Mediterranean when you open your curtains each morning. Miralluna, Peratallada, Catalonia. Lovingly converted from a handsome old stone building, this small hotel oozes character and charm. The bedrooms are all prettily decorated, and although no two rooms are the same, the attractive fabrics, rustic furniture and original features lend them all a Provençal farmhouse feel. This theme works well, even though the hotel is in the gastronomic mecca of Peratallada in Catalonia, many miles from Provence! A real highlight of the Catalan Coast & Villages Cycle and the Catalan Castles & Coves Walk.
Hotel Miramare, Naples. If you are looking for a room with a view, we can definitely recommend the Miramare. The deluxe rooms at this attractive Art Nouveau hotel boast breathtaking views of the sweeping Bay of Naples. Le Grand Hotel, Les Rasses, Jura. This hotel is a fitting climax to our Lake Geneva to Lake Neuchâtel Walk. The rooms are very spacious, with suitably large beds and bathrooms, but the real icing on the cake is the view: standing on your small private balcony, you can look across the plain towards the high Alps, including Mont Blanc itself, a view that is particularly special at sunset.
Parada del Compte, Aragón. Probably the most original hotel that we work with, the Parada del Compte on our Timeless Southern Catalonia Cycle is converted from the village's old railway station. Owner José María Naranjo has cleverly continued the railway theme throughout the hotel: each bedroom has been given the name of a different station and decorated in a style that reflects the character of that city. One of the suites, for example, is called Seville, and is decorated in bright colours, with large lamps to symbolise the southern sun. |
|
||
Hostellerie
le Castellas, Collias, Roman Provence. The rooms at this highly-praised
hotel were designed by local artists and range from the pretty (typically
Provençal bedrooms attractively decorated in blues and yellows
with terracotta floor tiles) to the unusual (the bathroom floor of one
suite is set with patterned cobbles!). A much-praised stop on our 
Parador de Zafra, Extremadura. At a four-star hotel you expect a spacious,
well-appointed room, and the bedrooms at the Parador de Zafra are just that.
However, this is not just any four-star hotel, but one that has been converted from a former palace of the Dukes of Feria (complete with nine towers) and the bedrooms are fittingly grand-feeling, with rich fabrics, canopied beds and, in some rooms such as the one pictured here, ornate ceilings. A great base from which to discover the region's links with the conquistadors on our 