The cheapest nicest hotels in Europe for 2023
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When our editors look to choose the best places to stay in a destination, it's not just about featuring the shiniest five-star addresses. Granted, these are often the easiest to find, but we also always look to highlight the secret gems of a place – the charming little boltholes that are often family-run, with pretty interiors and a great-value price tag. This edit features some of the highlights of this ‘cheapest nicest’ category, from a guest house in Venice for an unheard of £139 per night, to family-owned half hotel, half gallery in Madrid.
Praktik Garden, Barcelona
Price: Rooms from £77 per night
The quirky Praktik Hotels group has given each of its five Barcelona hotels a different theme: there's Praktik Bakery on Carrer Provença; Praktik Vinoteca and in this case a garden. Reception is manned by staff wearing stripy red aprons, and surrounded by tin buckets overflowing with spiky dragon trees, huge Swiss cheese plants and curvaceous calla lillies. The first-floor bedrooms have dark parquet floors and bathrooms with sleek, marble showers and navy hexagonal mosaics; two feature balconies overlooking one of Eixample’s most emblematic streets, Diputació. The halls are papered with eye-boggling vintage circus posters and there's a cosy, open-plan living/dining room with a large table, oak-and- leather armchairs and stacks of glossy magazines. The small kitchen produces simple breakfasts of freshly squeezed juices, artisan pastries and small bocatas (traditional Spanish sandwiches). Best of all is the large AstroTurf garden - classier than it sounds - which has smart sun-loungers and dining areas enclosed by Washington palms and thick stands of bamboo, and is scented by planters brimming with herbs and mature orange trees. Jennifer Ceaser
7 Islas, Madrid, Spain
Price: Rooms from about £85 per night
Family-owned 7 Islas is a half Madrid hotel, half gallery, just off Gran Vía, one of the best places to shop in the city. Its industrial lobby, with polished concrete floors and whitewashed walls, displays works by emerging Spanish and international artists and is open to both guests and passers-by. Designed with Bauhaus minimalism in mind, the place is punctuated with furniture reminiscent of Picasso sculptures, made from natural materials such as wood and upcycled aeroplane parts. Ramsey Qubein
Lea DominguezMaison Acacia, La Ciotat, Provence, France
Price: Rooms from about £86 per night
When photographer Léa Dominguez and interior designer Thomas Lecointe fled Paris for the south coast, they first landed in Marseilles where they ran bohemian hideout La Pinède for three years. Now they’ve settled in the smaller town of La Ciotat, considered the birthplace of both cinema and pétanque. Like La Pinède, Maison Acacia is more than just a guesthouse: it is Dominguez and Lecointe’s home – a four-storey 18th-century building set around a courtyard and the titular acacia tree – and it tells the story of their travels with plenty of vintage textiles, wicker and flea-market finds. Unusually for somewhere so small and curated, it’s extremely family-friendly: children will love sleeping in the cabin-like mezzanine of La Tribu (a cot can be added to two of the other three rooms).
Parents will also be impressed that high chairs, toys, books, baby baths, beach parasols and games are all provided, saving luggage space to take home some of the all-for-sale interiors – perhaps a Mexican fan, a local candle or one of Dominguez’s photographs. No meals are offered (three of the rooms have kitchenettes) but this being France, there’s a superb boulangerie a short hop away, as well as a small deli selling Provençal honey, pestos and tapenades, and an open kitchen on the ground floor for whipping up something more elaborate. The couple also give each guest a smartphone loaded with their local tips – the perfect inside-track address book. Fiona Kerr
Steve HerudSir Savigny, Berlin, Germany
Price: Rooms from about £88 per night
Berlin is an exuberant capital full of bewildering contradictions, and Sir Savigny, is no exception. Don't be fooled by its formal title and schicki-micki (German for fancy-schmansy) location in upscale Charlottenburg. This 44-room property, designed to resemble the suave dwellings of a well-travelled modern-day aristocrat, knows how to let its hair down. A quirky layout awaits through the brick archway decked out in murals by street artist Dome. Forget about the usual lobby and reception desk. Here the ground floor has a well-stocked library, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a large communal table, that spills into a winter garden with a 360-degree fireplace. And in haute fast-food burger bar The Butcher, a life-size stuffed cow hangs on display in one of the windows. Take a seat and while you're sipping a glass of complimentary wine, the efficient and bubbly staff will soon have you checked in. Spread throughout the slightly over-scented public spaces and rooms are bits and bobs that tell the tale of the hotel's fictional master: a grand chessboard, a retro dial telephone and a large cast-iron sculpture of a golden retriever. The rooms are layered with masculine pieces - mustard velvet armchairs, moss-green leather headboards, sage bedspreads, collages by local artist Katharina Musick and an abundance of brass and mirrors. Sir Savigny is a great base from which to check out the neighbourhood's Art Nouveau architecture, jazz clubs, galleries, grand cinemas and prime Asian restaurants, but a rare truffle burger, available by pressing the dial-a-burger button in your room, might just suffice. Fiona Kerr
The Melegran, Rovinj, Croatia
Price: Rooms from about £94 per night
Croatia’s horizons stretch a whole lot further than Dubrovnik and the hands-in-the-air beach-party season. The north-western peninsula of Istria is now regarded as a Tuscan-style sensation stocked with fresh seafood, snuffled truffles and quite brilliant wine. Plenty of which ends up on the tables in Rovinj, the coastal citadel that’s every bit as dramatic as Saint-Malo, with the happenchance street theatre of a Fellini film. But while large hotels rise along the shore, the old town has lacked a smart, small-scale base from which to explore the cobblestoned lanes.
The Melegran is owned by Aussie-born Adrian Calvert and Lea Lazarić, whose grandfather was mayor of nearby Pula and a frequent guest of President Tito. Both are well aware of the sort of versatility and service that many outfits in Croatia lack. While the walls are siege-proof thick, the couple have deployed a playful design that draws on mid-century riffs, Love Heart pinks and blues, Designers Guild prints and faux foliage. The main building is a former sculptor’s house, with a hole-in-the-wall bar-reception that rustles up pomegranate cocktails; there’s also a scattering of apartments nearby – the two-bedroom mezzanine suite even has its own roof terrace. Front-desk star Dragana Cestar will fix island voyages, vineyard tours and restaurants (first-timers should head to La Puntulina for oysters and Istrian fizz at sunset). With a spa retreat in spring, and a new space for events and talks, this spot is carving out its own cultural scene while remaining rooted in the medieval atmosphere of one of the country’s most individual towns. Fiona Kerr
Masseria Alchimia, Puglia, Italy
Price: Rooms from £96 per night
Swiss owner Caroline Groszer has transformed this whitewashed masseria, creating a handful of absurdly well-priced apartments, perfect boltholes for summer stays. Inside, Groszer’s aesthetic is considered and crisp – wishbone chairs and retro lights, bespoke glass art and private terraces with Acapulco chairs for catching the last of the afternoon sun. Rooms come with kitchenettes (pastel coloured Smeg toasters, a proper coffee pot, with fresh ground beans ready to use, a little hob) so that you can whip up the spoils from the farm into a light supper. Gardens include rows of plum trees, a wall of tumbling cacti, a towering palm - the emblem of the Masseria - and a sweet set of swings and a slide. Come for a night or two on your way north or south, or, like lots of the guests, stay for a fortnight (there's plenty of cupboard space and hangers) and use the apartments as a base to dip into nearby Puglian hits Poligno al Mare, Monopoli and Alverobello. There's also a townhouse in nearby Fasano and a penthouse apartment overlooking Ostuni’s cathedral spires. And if you like Groszer’s style, you can check out her ski chalet in Andermatt too. Lee Marshall
Oliver PilcherBrondo Architect hotel, Mallorca, Spain
Price: Rooms from £99 per night
This is Palma's first venture into Architectural Digest-approved contemporary style. This Mallorca hotel will delight design freaks and possibly irritate those who don't share their obsession. For me, the arch mix of original floors and retro furniture with ethnic carpets and contemporary lighting works like a dream. Just don't expect extreme comforts - it is a laid-back spot where service is conspicuous by its absence and the new wing in particular, with bare concrete and scary, stripped-back brick, has a starkness that might be a little too cool for its own good. Brondo Architect is essentially a design showroom you can stay in, but it certainly adds to the variety and vitality of Palma's hotel scene. Stephanie Rafanelli
Coco-Mat Hotel Nafsika, Athens, Greece
Price: Rooms from about £100 per night
Can minimalist ever be cosy? Take a fast train north from the centre of Athens to the smart, quiet suburb of Kifissia and, after a five-minute walk from the station, you'll discover that particular combination can be an unexpected success. Coco-Mat Hotel Nafsika is a pared-down, fuss-free, warmly welcoming hotel, a modern building full of glass, in which the open-plan ground floor is given over to eating, chilling and keeping in touch. At its centre is a kitchen and all-day buffet, with wooden tables lit by pendant lamps, and brightly coloured chairs. There are long white sofas scattered with cushions, a workstation with computers, shelves of books on Athens; and across one wall, pillows. Pillows? The hotel is owned by Coco-Mat, a bedding company that specialises in natural materials, and here you can not only choose the type of pillow you want to rest your head on, but buy it, too. All the beds and linens, as well as much of the furniture, in the 22 bedrooms and suites are by Coco-Mat. You will sleep soundly. In the morning, watch bread being kneaded for the oven, and choose from a wide range of healthy, imaginative dishes. Outside there's a scented herb garden, and a rack of bikes for exploring the area. It maybe 40 minutes to the city centre, but the charms of this quietly hip yet unpretentious address make it a popular in-the-know base. Fiona Kerr
Luis FerrazHotel 1908, Lisbon, Portugal
Price: Rooms from £104 per night
Located right across from arguably one of Lisbon’s best restaurants – seafood heaven Cervejaria Ramiro – Hotel 1908 is a gem, set in a stunningly imposing 20th-century structure on a corner of Lisbon loved by locals and visitors alike. As one of the city’s most iconic buildings, you’ll feel the grandeur from the minute you set eyes on the hotel (without the grand price – this is arguably one of the nicest cheap hotels in Lisbon). Opened in 2019 after years of dereliction, the property now pays tribute to Portuguese artists within, with artworks woven into the original nooks and crannies of the design. This is a hotel that focuses on the smaller details; a warming green and purple colour theme, black face towels specifically for makeup removal and personal service from the staff, who remember your name and greet you warmly.
Rooms here are also suitably unique; guests can take in a view of lively Largo do Intendente from ‘Square Rooms’, while the ‘Attic Rooms’ are a set of three rooms with an exclusive lobby which can be either booked individually or together. The jewel in the crown, should you be willing to splash out more, is ‘The King of Dome’ – the main suite with a huge amount of space and access to the hotel’s emblematic dome, for a stay that feels really special. Abigail Malbon
Rosa et Al, Porto, Portugal
Price: Rooms from about £105 per night
As Porto's star has begun to rise in recent years, a clutch of old townhouses around the city have been converted into home-from-home guesthouses. But what makes Rosa Et Al a standout hotel in Porto is its spot-on design. There are seven rooms - the newest, the Garden Pavilion, was added at the beginning of this year - many with original features: exposed beams in the loft, double-height plasterwork ceilings with floral motifs, restored fireplaces and polished floorboards. Each has been equipped with a design piece - vintage Fifties Hans Wegner armchairs; Jean Prouvé lights - chosen by architect co-owner Emanuel de Sousa. A favourite is the King Grand Deluxe Garden room for its delicate, threaded ceiling artwork by Portuguese architect Bruno Vale, which looks like a complicated version of a cat's cradle. The breakfast room opens onto a slightly wild back garden with a pair of salvaged, distressed doors propped up against a fence, terracotta pots planted with thyme and lavender, and a Portuguese tile-topped table at which to sit and eat homemade scones at teatime. The art on the walls changes regularly (from abstract textile wall hangings to a photographic montage) and there's a gorgeous selection of items for sale in reception, including beautifully illustrated tins of sardines and fig-and-pear soap. This is a quiet spot, with just a smattering of fashion boutiques nearby, but it's a pleasant 20-minute stroll to the river and all the action. Fiona Kerr
Karolina KodlubajHotel Les Cabanettes, Provence, France
Price: Rooms from about £112 per night
There’s something about the watery plains in the wilds of France’s Camargue Delta, planted with rice fields and dotted with pink flamingos against a backdrop of winding rivers, wild horses and fiery sunsets, that feels like a portal to another era. Among it all, here is one more curious time-travelling moment: on a deserted road, a back-lit sign flashes bed and board. Pull up in the driveway, gravel creasing under tyres, to see a curved structure rising like a mid-century mirage shimmering in the Californian heat – except you’re 15 minutes from Arles and its Roman amphitheatre and thrumming art scene.
The owners of the original building, a family-run hotel and restaurant from the 1960s, enlisted French modernist architect Armand Pellier to create a space that would break the mould. They sold up recently, but Franco-American couple Aaron and Gaëlle Redlin-Bihr fell in love with the landmark and moved in with their two young children. In their past life they ran a lively studio for artists in a Brooklyn warehouse; now the guardians of Pellier’s legacy, they’ve kept true to his vision – a convex glass spine and 29 pared-back, wood-panelled rooms with sliding doors opening onto balconies overlooking the pool – right down to his camel-brown furniture. Once again, diners settle at tables on the wavy deck in the shade of a white-winged roof, but now they tuck into tapas while channelling a little slice of Palm Springs in Provence. Fiona Kerr
Nicolas AnetsonLa Planque Hotel, Paris, France
Price: Rooms from about £116 per night
Right in the heart of the capital’s 10th arrondissement, the small quartier Goncourt still finds itself untouched so far by gentrification. Straddled by the neighbourhoods of Belleville and Canal Saint-Martin, which are filled with independent bars and cool new brasseries, this corner is characterised by an interesting mix of cultures, local bobos and in-the-know visitors. Here, designers Dorothée Delaye and Daphné Desjeux have stamped their signature retro style on a former apartment block and sweetshop by sourcing a large chunk of the furniture from local flea markets. On the ground floor, the salon’s cosy mish-mash flits from antique dressers to rattan chairs and velvet banquettes, while sepia photographs, well-thumbed novels, spools of coloured thread and other vintage treasures are jumbled together on the library shelves.
Outside lies a small terrace – a prized rarity in the city, particularly when it comes with pretty pink walls, wrought-iron café chairs and a cluster of potted plants. The original staircase, polished up to its former glory, leads to 36 rooms in shades of deep green, burgundy and grey with old-fashioned marble bureaus, rotary-dial telephones and velvet-clad headboards whose curved lines nod to Art Deco. Each space is typically Parisian in size but full of charm – ‘la planque’ is French slang for hideaway, after all. For more affordable recommendations, see our guide to the cheapest nicest hotels in Paris. Fiona Kerr
Alex ReytoCasa Brava, Algarve, Portugal
Price: Rooms from about £120
Hidden in the undulating landscape of the Barrocal, removed from the madding crowds of some of Portugal’s most popular beach towns, a community of hoteliers are pursuing a quiet shift in the traditional perspective of the Algarve, swapping sand and sea for slowness and simplicity. Leaders of the movement are Marco and Julie Pinto, who were both born to Portuguese parents, and moved here from Paris five years ago to renovate a crumbling old farm. Now also consultants in sustainability and olive-oil-soap producers, they rebuilt it as Casa Brava, an eco B&B with an organic vegetable garden flanked by unbroken thyme fields.
Three former animal stone barns were reimagined as restful rustic retreats filled with repurposed objects sourced from the region’s vintage markets. Sun-speckled terraces – perfect for vegan breakfasts in the morning or a glass of organic wine in the evening – face the biological pool filtered by plants and river stones and trimmed with humming lavender. Nearby is the lively town of Loulé where locals congregate on Saturday for the weekly ritual of gossip, almond tarts and shots of medronho brandy at dive bar O Postigo. The slow life here is alive and well, passed into the hands of new custodians who repurpose ancient rituals in a conscious effort to create an alternative and altogether more sustainable future for the Algarve. Fiona Kerr
Hôtel Le Sénéchal, Ile De Re, France
Prices: Rooms from about £122 per night
Most Parisians who swarm to Ile de Ré in spring and summer have their own houses - or an aunt, or an old schoolfriend. Among just a handful of charming hotel options, Le Sénéchal in Ars en Ré is the ever-evolving creation of Marina Ducharme and her architect husband Christophe, who met on holiday on the island and later got married here. In 2000, they opened this calm, luminous property in a townhouse with old stone walls, interiors like pale, romantic watercolours, and a labyrinthine layout that lends a sense of mystery. Arranged around the garden courtyard are 25 rooms and suites, and a pair of loft spaces with dressing rooms and kitchenettes, decorated with cottagey textiles and faded painted wood. Of the smaller rooms, 8 and 9 have views over the village, lots of daylight, and bathtubs; Petite Suite 7 is a family room in seasidey blues and whites. Le Sénéchal also has several attractive houses around Ars, the biggest sleeping 15. The latest addition is Villa Victoire, named after the Ducharmes' granddaughter, with five bedrooms, a private garden and heated swimming pool, and a more luxurious feel than the sweetly distressed hotel rooms. Fiona Kerr
PaterakisAngsana, Corfu, Greece
Price: Rooms from £128 per night
With sweeping views over the Ionian Bay, it’s easy to see why Banyan Tree Group chose a hill in Benitses in Corfu as the location of its first venture into Europe. The result is Angsana, a slick Greek Islands hotel that combines Asian-inspired design with all the hallmarks of a luxurious Mediterranean stay – private beach, beach club, yoga deck and a spa. A generously sized world class spa at that, home to a hammam, wellness pool, 11 treatment rooms, gym with new Technogym equipment and a 25m indoor pool. Then there’s the outdoor pool and cabana set ups – quite possibly the most photogenic on the island.
In the rooms, bathrooms are majestic with egg-shaped baths and floor-to-ceiling marble. Geometric orange kimonos with matching slippers enhance the overall Japanese aesthetic. When it’s time for supper, there are three options. Koh, which serves new twists on Asian classics, the upscale Italian-with-a-local-twist restaurant Botrini and a rooftop bar that’s the place to be for a sundowner. Or whenever you want – the resort is open year round. For more, see our full Angsana Corfu Resort & Spa review. Jemima Sissons
Sebastian ErrasLe Pont De L'Orme, Provence, France
Price: Rooms from about £131 per night
Here is a charmingly uncomplicated proposition: a small, shuttered, whitewashed house of indeterminate age, approached through a lovely avenue of old yew trees, with a bar and restaurant downstairs and five airy rooms upstairs. It’s owned by Axel van den Bossche, founder of Antwerp-based design studio Serax, who was on the lookout for somewhere to stay in his favourite part of France. The original Provençal terracotta tiles and marble fireplaces of the mas remain, the walls have been given the brightest white lick of paint and Serax’s sleek furniture and contemporary lights are placed alongside vintage pieces.
The hotel has mostly Belgian guests, Belgian gin in the bar and Belgian tableware in the restaurant; but the daily chalked-up menu is respectfully regional (gnocchi with sage butter; pork knuckle; bouillabaisse; cherry sorbet), generously executed and reasonably priced. The B&B is a half-hour drive from Avignon and a five-minute walk from Malaucène, perhaps best known as the point from where Tour de France cyclists begin their agonising ascent of Mont Ventoux. Wiry Lycra-clad masochists come here year-round to punish themselves on its slopes, but back at Le Pont de l’Orme the pace is positively horizontal. A dip in the pool. A long lunch. A snooze in the shade. And some very good local wine. Fiona Kerr
Daniel SchaeferCristine Bedfor, Mahon, Menorca
Price: Rooms from about £132 per night
Ask anyone in Spain and they’ll tell you that the English influence is what makes Menorca so unusual. The isle was under British rule for more than 70 years in the 18th and early 19th centuries, which left a mark on its architecture and culture – and even its cocktails, with the gin-and-lemonade sundowner known as pomada becoming its most famous drink. The latter has top billing on the menu at this newcomer – but it is not the only nod to the UK. This is the first hotel by friends Cristina Lozano and Daniel Entrecanales, Spanish entrepreneurs who have more outposts in the works, including one in Málaga which is due to open next year. ‘In Menorca everyone calls Cristina “Cristine”, and her personality is so strong,’ says Entrecanales. ‘It led us to imagine that Cristine Bedfor was that eccentric English friend with a beautiful house always full of people.’ So interior designer Lorenzo Castillo decided to move away from Mediterranean blues and whites; instead the 21 rooms are a profusion of fabrics and floral prints in aqua green, mustard yellow and dusty pink, filled with antiques bought throughout Menorca, France and Britain. But this is not a place for just staying put: the owners are generous with inside tips from art galleries to recipes to take home. The new social hub for the island. Fiona Kerr
Anne Emmanuelle ThionAu Bout Du Verger, Ile-de-France, France
Price: Rooms from about £134 per night
Just 30 minutes outside Paris, the Chevreuse Valley is the French capital’s great green lung, a park of forests, rivers and lakes dotted with off-the-beaten-track châteaux and historic hamlets. Deep in the landscape and tucked at the end of an orchard, as its name translates, is this tranquil seven-bedroom gîte which opened last October. ‘I conceived it as my own house,’ says owner Thierry Grundman. ‘It’s a showcase of the wabi sabi spirit, which is emblematic of my interiors brand.’ Pieces sourced by his Atmosphère d’Ailleurs company fill every space: antiques from around the world, accessories from contemporary designers and works of art from Grundman’s own collection, mixing eras and cultures with his curatorial eye.
So in one bathroom a giant shell is fashioned into a sink, a huge Saturn cane pendant hangs above a sitting area and on the kitchen table there are mugs by Parisian ceramicist Margot Lhomme. If something catches your eye, you could take it home as many of the items are for sale. Natural materials draw on the setting with lots of wood and organic linen. It’s the perfect jumping-off point for exploring this under-tapped area, and the detox menus make for a deeply rejuvenating escape. ‘Here you will experience the present moment – intensely,’ adds Grundman. ‘It’s up to you to savour it.’ Fiona Kerr
Mattia MionettoCasa Burano, Venice, Italy
Price: Rooms from about £139 per night
Casa Burano is perfectly on-point, with refreshingly contemporary rooms decked out with local furnishings, and bathrooms that deserve a shout out for the enormous steam room and a tub big enough for 10 people. Breakfast is delivered in hampers every morning – homemade yogurt, jam and croissants – and there are limitless espressos. But the best bit is the price. Gianluca Bisol has passed the reins over to his charming son Matteo, and the family want to access that sweet spot in travel, where places aren’t expensive for the sake of it. There’s no reception (you’re simply trotted from vaporetto to room) so it’s easy to instantly relax. No interruptions, just glorious Burano, with its lace and linen shops, lollipop-bright fishermen’s houses and bakeries serving S-shaped Bussolai biscuits that you won’t find anywhere else. All so ridiculously pretty it feels like being on a film set. Fiona Kerr
Memmo Alfama, Lisbon, Portugal
Price: Rooms from about £139 per night
This is the second property from Memmo Hotels. The first, Memmo Baleeira in the Algarve, sums up the laid-back surfer side of Portugal. This one is all about the nation's soul, about the melancholic, heady strains of Fado which echo in this Lisbon neighbourhood at night, about its tiny, cobbled, alleyways and hand-painted azulejos, about the fast-flowing Tagus River beneath it. Once a stronghold of the Moors, Alfama is the oldest part of the city, and this 42-room hotel is in a beautifully renovated 19th-century building at the end of a tiny sliver of a street. The bedrooms are calm, crisp and white, with contemporary lines cleverly inserted into these ancient walls by the architect Samuel Torres de Carvalho. There are views of the flower-filled inner courtyard or Lisbon's rooftops and the Tagus beyond. Breakfast is served in the downstairs sitting room where there's a 24-hour honesty bar; upstairs on the rooftop there's a terrific little wine bar serving octopus salad or smoked ham platters, and a separate terrace with a fire pit for winter and a red-lined swimming pool for summer. But the whole point is that everything here is very simple, very warm and very Portuguese. See more of our picks for the best hotels in Lisbon. Fiona Kerr
Alex Stephen Teuscher1898 The Post, Ghent, Belgium
Price: Rooms from about £140 per night
This dramatically turreted Gothic Revival pile, with its double-spiral staircases, soaring traced windows and five-metre-high ceilings, used to be the central post office in Ghent. The interiors have been adapted to their new purpose with low-key northern European flair. In keeping with the epistolary theme, there are bundles of old letters, inkpots and paperweights. Though the visual cues are different, the overall vibe – at once sumptuous and modest, impeccable and unpretentious – will be familiar to anyone who has visited other Zannier hotels, such as its gorgeous flagship chalet in Megève.
Bedrooms are categorised according to size: from Stamps and Envelopes to Letters all the way up to the wildly romantic Tower Suite. Though the proportions vary greatly, the style is consistent throughout, with lots of deep arboreal greens, woody, brassy accents and gleaming marble bathrooms. Most rooms have fine views of the historic city centre and its churches, castles, riverside mansions, atmospheric lanes and picturesque genever joints.
Yet Ghent feels less self-consciously museum-like than Bruges, more like a place where ordinary life goes on, thanks to its large, friendly student population. Go – post-haste – and marvel at Van Eyck’s altarpiece in St Bavo’s cathedral. Stuff your face with waffles in the market square. Then repair to the hotel’s superb bar, The Cobbler, for a digestif before retiring to your fairy-tale digs. Definitely somewhere to write home about. Steve King
Hôtel du Cloître, Arles, France
Price: Rooms from about £142 per night
Balanced above a narrow street near the ancient Roman theatre, the ivy-covered pale stone façade of this recently renovated, 19-room boutique hotel could easily be mistaken for a private home in a sleepy Provençal village. The towering, century-old polonia tree and cobblestone terrace strung with coloured lights set the mood, but the moment you step inside, a more playful vibe kicks in, with an eclectic mix of 1960s granite mosaic floors, Van Gogh sunflower yellows and vegetal greens, all designed by India Mahdavi. The near-identical rooms combine deep comfort with panache: there are yellow-checked blankets and felt headboards, rattan armoires, orange cushions, curvaceous low tables, sky-blue walls and high ceilings with exposed beams and old-fashioned fans. The breezy roof-terrace bar has a great view of Arles' 12th-century Saint Trophime church and cloister (the building once sheltered medieval priors, whose dissolute ways were kept in check by the bishops next door). Splendid local wines are served downstairs at the minuscule tapas bar, L'Ouvre Boîte, on the shady front terrace, where chef Alexandre Arnal whips up cod brandade, organic green zebra-tomato salad, fresh sardines and other delicious terroir snacks from his postage-stamp-sized kitchen. The hotel is owned by the Swiss art collector Maja Hoffmann, and is already proving to be something of an unofficial hub for the town's effervescent cultural scene. The cloistered life has never seemed such fun. Fiona Kerr
Denise PronkStandhotel Zoomers, North Holland, Netherlands
Price: Rooms from about £146 per night
While the crowds mostly head to Zandvoort or Bergen, lo-fi Castricum aan Zee still flies slightly under the radar on the Dutch coast, with just a handful of beach clubs and a couple of tiny summer houses. The real draw is that the land here gives way to Noordhollands Duinreservaat, one of the country’s biggest nature reserves, beloved by hikers, cyclists and horse riders. Strandhotel Zoomers is huddled among the dunes right on the path that leads to the ocean where families from Amsterdam carry their cool boxes, foldable beach chairs and young children in a typical bolderkar (beach wagon) to a sunny spot near the water.
The owners were already running hit beach bar and restaurant Strandpaviljoen Zoomers, so adding somewhere to stay was a natural extension. They collaborated with homegrown design brand HKliving on interiors including rattan chairs and woven lamps. Yet it’s not just the styling that takes its cues from the environment – the latter is part of the whole ethos: the property is heated by a pellet stove and powered by energy generated via 280 solar panels. There are just 12 rooms and no reception or restaurant – though Strandpaviljoen is a short stroll away – instead, guests tap in a code to access rooms and there is a delivery service for breakfast and supper. And when the sunseeking day trippers return home, the sky turns a peaceful pink above the almost-empty shore. Fiona Kerr
Frenando GuerraTipografia Do Conto, Porto, Portugal
Price: Rooms from about £147 per night
When Alexandra and Nuno Grande came up with the name of their first project, Casa do Conto (meaning ‘House of Tales’) in Porto’s Cedofeita district, they couldn’t envision the story that would begin their life as hoteliers. A week before they finished, a fire destroyed the building and they had to start again. It took them years to rebuild, but since they finally opened in 2011, it’s become one of the most design-forward addresses in town. Last year they added a second chapter, Tipografia do Conto, in a nearby former workshop and warehouse once used for printing books and other publications.
The history of the building is referenced throughout: in the bar, hundreds of independent titles are displayed; the ceilings are engraved with phrases by different artists; and the wooden façade in the courtyard resembles the drawers used for storing fonts. There are 10 rooms facing either the courtyard or the city, and although they vary in size, the design is unifying with a modernist streak: lots of concrete, Seventies furniture and big mirrors. There’s no restaurant – breakfast is served in the green-tiled bar – but plenty of hot tables are a short stroll away; try Namban and Early Cedofeita. One of the best things about it, however, is the secret garden with its swimming pool and a hammock strung at one end. It’s perfect for hanging out with a glass of Port or Vinho Verde, surrounded only by the sound of birds and a rare moment of stillness in this otherwise happening neighbourhood. Fiona Kerr