London - Aoife O’Riordain lists her top five hotels with killer cove views.
San Giorgio Mykonos, Greece
What started as temporary hotel collaboration between owners Thomas Heyne, Mario Hertel and Design Hotels, soon went from pop-up to permanent.
A short stroll from the 32-room San Giorgio hotel is the trio's latest venture, Scorpios Beach Club, set on a rocky promontory between two bays on the fashionable south coast. The epitome of rustic chic, there are sun loungers, a restaurant and scene-making sounds from a host of flown-in DJs daily for its daily, Sunset Rituals.
San Giorgio Mykonos, Paraga Beach, Mykonos, Greece (00 30 228 90 274 74; designhotels.com). Doubles from €190 (about R2 800) including breakfast.
Chateau Saint Martin & Spa, France
You can have the best of both worlds at Chateau Saint-Martin. Set in a historic castle once occupied by the Knights Templar in Vence, the 46-room hotel has teamed up with the Plage Joseph Keller to offer its guests exclusive access to one of the French Riviera’s smartest beach clubs on Cap d’Antibes. By day you can top up your tan in one of the Cote d’Azur’s chicest spots and retreat to the Provencal hills when they sun goes down.
Chateau Saint-Martin & Spa, 2490 avenue des Templiers, Vence, France (00 33 4 93 58 02 02; chateau-st-martin-com). Doubles from €290 room-only.
Gecko Hotel & Beach Club, Spain
Reached by boat from neighbouring Ibiza, Formentera is a laid-back, pretty-as-a-picture Balearic island, with gin clear waters and fine sand beaches reminiscent of the Caribbean. This summer one of its few places to stay, the 30-room Gecko Hotel & Beach Club, has unveiled a new look for its Beach Club. Overlooking one of the island’s best stretches of sand, Migjorn Beach, this is where to go for large dishes of freshly made paella and local lobster for lunch and evenings spent chilling to the sounds of resident DJ Joao Ribeiro as the sun begins to sink
Gecko Hotel & Beach Club, Playa de Migjorn, Can Mari, Formentera, Spain (00 34 971 382 024; geckobeachclub.com). Doubles from €235 including breakfast.
Il San Pietro, Italy
Nowhere says summer quite like Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Il San Pietro clings to a cliff high above the sea just outside Positano, but guests of the hotel also get whisked by elevator to its private beach far below, a sapphire-hued cove lined with jaunty orange sun loungers, a bar and restaurant. Very much the classic dolce vita experience, the rooms at this luxurious, family-run hotel are done in classic Italian style with Neapolitan ceramic tiles and dreamy views.
Il San Pietro, via Laurito 2, Positano, Italy (00 39 089 812 080; ilsanpietro.it). Doubles from €450 including breakfast.
Adriana Hvar Spa Hotel, Croatia
The lavender blanketed island of Hvar, on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, is one of the country’s high-summer hot-spots. The Amfora Hvar Grand Beach Resort is 10 minutes’ walk from the town’s pretty Venetian harbour, with views out over the Paklinski Islands and edged by the inviting waters of the Adriatic. Guests can spend their days sun worshipping at the Bonj “les bains” beach club, which first opened in the 1927, when Hvar was considered the St Tropez of Croatia. Set on the eastern part of the bay, the club consists of a series of terraces carved out of the rocky shoreline and pontoons set over the aquamarine water.
Amfora, Hvar Grand Beach Resort, Ulica Biskupa, Jurja Dubokvica, Hvar, Croatia (00 38 521 750 300; suncanihvar.com). Doubles from €120 including breakfast.
A photo posted by Griselda Gonzalez Brizuela (@thedesignercat) on Jul 25, 2015 at 10:11pm PDT
The Independent