It's no secret that “destination celebrations”
are the new thing. Instead of visiting Europe with just
your spouse, why not take your extended family and make
it an event? At the Château de Tourreau, one of
the most exquisite private estates in Provence, you'll
be greeted with all the amenities and intimacies of
a private home, complete with an eclectic collection
of antiques, oversized ballrooms, library, formal gardens,
nine bedrooms and a charming internal courtyard with
bubbling fountains and flowering jasmine. In addition,
there's an adjacent farmhouse, with seven bedrooms,
as well as a swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts,
volleyball and croquet lawn. Staff includes a chef and
personal assistant whose sole job is to pamper you.
Staying here is more than a vacation: You can live like
a lord in your own private kingdom.
Situated on sunny Costa del Sol, which has an average
temp-erature of 71 degrees F, the Marbella Club Hotel
is open year round, offering 121 luxury rooms and suites,
along with 16 Andalusian-style villas, some with private
gardens and pools. In 1946, Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe
acquired as his private residence the Finca Santa Margarita,
which has been transformed over the years into this
luxurious beachfront golf resort and spa, known as one
of the “leading small hotels of the world.”
In addition to savoring the Mediterranean cuisine of
the award-winning Grill Restaurant, guests enjoy two
outdoor heated swimming pools, the numerous treatments
and programs of the Thalasso Spa, golf, tennis and horseback
riding.
A former sixteenth-century monastery that was converted
into a hotel in 1901, the Hotel Splendido – on
four acres of wild herbs, olive trees, lavender and
bougainvillea overlooking the Bay of very chic Portofino
– is known today for its magnificent beauty, unique
service and glamorous scene. There's plenty of
dancing at the piano bar, superb al fresco and indoor
Ligurian dining, and a ravishing seascape at the only
swimming pool in Portofino. Guests can choose from 65
sumptuous rooms and suites – some with balconied
baths. Exquisite pictures decorate pastel-painted walls
throughout the hotel, and there are black-and-white-tiled
marble floors. The hotel also has a new health and wellness
center and, as of March 2004, a new presidential suite
with three terraces.
At
the tip of the Cap-Ferrat peninsula between Nice and
Monaco is the palatial Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, a
Riviera sanctuary since 1908 for the international elite
– from royalty to Picasso, Somerset Maugham, Charlie
Chaplin and Paul McCartney. This 53-room hotel, enveloped
by acres of rolling pinewoods and gardens, features
every amenity from a heated saltwater pool overlooking
the Mediterranean to jogging trails and complimentary
bicycles. Guests can savor Provencal cuisine at the
hotel's restaurants. The opening of two new structures
on the property is scheduled for the Spring of 2005
and will include a new restaurant with picture windows
overlooking a waterfall, new rooms with terraces and
private gardens facing a lagoon swimming pool, a spectacular
presidential suite on three levels, a concert hall and
lecture room, and a health center.
