Spain, Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca, Portixol

During our stay in Mallorca we had lunch in hotel Portixol when visiting Palma. Portixol is a sister hotel of Esplendido and has the same fresh, stylish and refined atmosphere. It has a great restaurant, spa and pool area and is located near the beach, just a 10 minute walk from the centre of Palma. Due to the city vibes it is not as laid back as Esplendido and therefore less of a reccommendation when travelling with kids. And it is also more exclusive and expensive (tip: plan your trip at the beginning/ end of the low season and check the offers they regularly have on their website) . For a romantic sun, sea & citytrip though it is a superb address. Click here to get into the Portixol mood: http://www.loxitrop.com/popup_cd1.html

http://www.portixol.com/

Don't forget to check out the small bay (calle del Vicari Joaquim Fuster) next to hotel Portixol. There are some nice and trendy restaurants and shops. And a nice beach of course!

Spain, Mallorca, Puerto de Soller, Esplendido

Mallorca what a great discovery. To be honest... it was not the first thing that came to our mind as we could only think of charters and mass tourism. Not what we were looking for. But we were so wrong!

I was reading Bal Masque (Elia Barcelo) and was triggered by the beautiful description of the nature and the bohemian, arty and creative spirit in the area around Deia in the North West of Mallorca where part of the story took place. So curious that I did some investigation and came across http://www.theothermallorca.com/ on the internet. We found Esplendido Hotel in Puerto Soller and discovered and enjoyed the other Mallorca to the fullest.

http://www.esplendidohotel.com/

Esplendido is beautifully located directly at the sea in the idyllic bay of Puerto de Soller. Mikael and Johanna Landstrom, a Scandinavian couple, transformed this sleepy village into a hip hide away by renovating and restyling an old 1950's hotel. With its Italian retro chic architecture and the amazing view (especially around sunset) they could not have choosen a better place! The stunning view is everywhere in Esplendido. On the terraces, in the rooms, the breakfast area, the hotel lobby, the massage rooms (indoor & outdoor!), the infinity pool... you will hear the sound of the waves breaking at the shore and you will gaze at the calming view of the bay, the lighthouse and sailing boats.

But it is not only the view. The Esplendido staff is young, energetic and incredibly friendly, the vintage / Scandinavic design is inspiring and fresh, the breakfast buffet is ... just wow!, as well as the restaurant, spa, pool, shop and vinyl library. We had such a great time, that we came back the next year with our 9 months old son. Click on the following link and listen to get in the Esplendido mood http://www.loxitrop.com/popup_cd4.html.

When travelling with kids discovering a great place to stay feels even more like finding a treasure. Esplendido is one of those if you travel with little kids (< 2 yrs). Don't expect entertainment or playgrounds, but a relaxed child friendly atmosphere and staff who will warm bottles at every hour and blend fresh fruit without a problem. Tips when planning to go to Esplendido with kids:

• Book a room with sea view & terrace; it's absolutely worth the investment when having drinks / dinner on your private terrace with your baby sound asleep in the room.
• Bring a baby phone with strong reach or walkie-talkie with baby phone function so you can have dinner in the restaurant downstairs and ask for a room close to this area when making your reservation.
• Hire a car for the length of your stay. It's really nice to make a daytrip to Palma and to unspoiled beaches on the island (http://www.theothermallorca.com/mallorca_guide/beaches.htm). Our favourite: Cala de Deia, hidden and difficult to find but once there you will see a small pebble beach with crystal clear turquoise water and a little bar overlooking the sea and serving GREAT lobster.    

  

  Cala de Deia

Fun to know: the famous artistic crowd living in Deia in the 70s always ended their party's skinny dipping in this bay.

Argentina, Mendoza, Club Tapiz

Sunbathing at the pool in the middle of a vineyard... how nice is that?

Club Tapiz is a great address to sleep and/or to eat when visiting Mendoza. Club Tapiz was recommended to us by the owners of Los Juncos (they bought the wine for Los Juncos at Tapiz).

The location is indeed stunning in the middle of the vineyard. The whole estate has an air of basic elegance. Nothing is overdone, but everywhere is eye for quality and detail. The  restaurant is very good, nice rooms, great pool and of course fine wines....

http://www.club-tapiz.com.ar/

When visiting Mendoza you will definitively visit the wine estates for tours and tastings. There are so many; we have only seen a few (it did not help that I found out that I was pregnant just before we flew into Mendoza - of all places!!)

One of the wineries we really liked is Achaval Ferrer. It has a modern look, is family owned and has a very warm and intimate atmosphere. The tour was very good and the wine tasting... it smelt good I have to say!

www.achaval-ferrer.com 

Salud!

Argentina, Villa la Angostura, Las Balsas

A lunch with a view.....

http://www.lasbalsas.com/

Exploring the Lake District when staying in Los Juncos we visited the villages San Martin de los Andes and Villa la Angostura. A great (though bumpy) road trip with stunning panoramas. On our way we found Las Balsas, a charming blue country house hidden in the forest on the shore of the Nahuel Huapi Lake. Wow, what a location, breathtaking..... We had lunch on the terrace. The lunch was absolutely good, but most memorable of Las Balsas is the view. When sipping your wine, you see the sun shimmering on the lake, little boats sailing by, dramatic mountain scenery on the background... Get the picture?

We did not spend the night here, but would definitively treat ourselves to do so if we ever go back to Argentina. The swimming pool, spa, restaurant, lounge and open fire were tempting. The interior is a bit old English country/ yacht club. Not the most stylish I have ever seen, but very cosy and a good match with the environment. 

Argentina, Buenos Aires, VAIN

I LOVE Buenos Aires. And I love VAIN, a small design / boutique hotel in Palermo Soho. It's only the 12 hour flight that we haven't came back there (yet)...

VAIN is such a great place to stay. Located in the middle of Palermo with its tree lined avenues and all the hippest shops, coffee bars and restaurants around the corner. VAIN has a beautiful classic facade and a real cool retro designed interior.

http://www.vainuniverse.com/

We received a very friendly welcome and loved our room. There are 15 rooms all designed differently. Found no chocolate on our pillow but fresh flowers and cool VAIN toiletries (which I could not resist to take home). So nothing to complain! Breakfast was superb, fresh juices, eggs etc etc. And an amazing top floor... we almost missed it (till we heard about it the last day of our stay). There is a great living area, with computer, books, magazines and a ... terrace with deckchairs to enjoy the afternoon sun. Ahhhh, I wanna go back there....

For drinks/lunch/dinner you should not miss Bar6, Oui Oui, Mark's Deli & Coffee House, Cabrera (all just a few blocks away).

Argentina, San Carlos de Bariloche, Los Juncos

My nr 1 'ChocolateOnMyPillow' place to stay is without a doubt Los Juncos in Bariloche. We have such a warm memory of this place that I know for sure that it will always be my favorite! 

Los Juncos has it all: fantastic location, stunning lake view, lovely owners and staff, a great chef (Gaby) who will cook you a dinner to die for or can teach you how to make local specialties, an honesty bar with fine wine, beautiful bohemian style decorated rooms and ... a chocolate on your pillow; but most important you will get the feeling that you are not a guest but a friend. Which is quite a unique experience.

http://www.visitlosjuncos.com/ 

As we visited Los Juncos in 2008 I was curious to see the latest reviews on trip advisor: amazing, all 5 out of 5's! I also came across my own review titled “Lovely place, lovely people!”:

'After a 20 min ride from the airport along the Nahul Huapi lake we arrived. Excited when seeing the yellow house elevated on a hill amongst pineapple trees at the lakeside. And it only got better. We received a warm welcome by the manager Flavia and the owners. We drank wine, enjoyed the delicious bites and shared stories... and felt immediately at home. Our room was a beautiful romantic en-suite with lake view and was decorated with colorful brocante.

Flavia told us that we could have dinner in the Posada prepared by her brother Chef Gaby. Dinner was another great experience, the most delicious food, in a great atmosphere: candlelight, full moon view above the lake and the sound of Nina Simone on the background. So we ended up in a romantic after dinner dance! But the most wonderful memory of our stay was my birthday. Simon (my husband) had organized a great surprise dinner with the help of Flavia, starting with Champagne and appetizers in the garden, which was decorated with candles and flowers. The dinner was to die for! With family recipes and the best trout I have ever tasted. We really regretted that we had to leave and we definitively come back some day!'

We visited Los Juncos during our roundtrip in Argentina. The Bariloche area is actually great for skiing but we were there in the Argentinean summer.

France, Megeve, Le Lodge Park ('the cheap way')

Writing about our recent stay in Lagacio, I had to think of another luxurious skiing resort. Le Lodge Park in Megeve. It's not that we are completely into the jet set skiing. Most of the time we rent a cosey chalet with a group of friends, but that year I was 3 months pregnant and we wanted a romantic skiing trip a deux...uhh a trois!

I found Le Lodge Park on the internet searching for nice mountain retreats with a spa. I fell in love with the pictures of their sister hotel Fermes de Marie. http://www.fermesdemarie.com/
But this hotel was so incredibly expensive that I was happy to discover the 'cheaper' sister in the Sibuet family... 

Le Lodge Park has a great ambiance (I really like the style, which I would describe as Colonial Mountain Safari with lots of skin & fur and hunting trophy's), it has a great bar with a big fireplace, a nice Spa, a good restaurant and the location is convenient in the charming centre of Megeve. 

http://www.lodgepark.com/

Le Lodge Park is a really nice place to stay, but it is quite high brow, and the room rate definitively does not include it all! Actually a half board stay was for us too much Top of the Bill...Therefore we decided to do Le Lodge Park 'the cheap way'! 


How to improve the price/ quality rate and make it more 'ChocolateOnYourPillow' proof:

• Book in the first week of the low season (mid March) 
• Search the internet for special deals
• Book a Classic Bedroom, for the 'room only' rate (the cheapest)
• Don't have breakfast in the hotel (it's 25€ per person); there is a very cute bakery in the centre of Megeve (on your way to the slopes) with great pastries, bread, coffee, tea and juices which will cost you around 5€ per person. If you want to spoil yourself with a Lodge Park breakfast, order it in your room (it's the same price and a real treat!).
• Don't have dinner in the hotel every night. Although I would definitively do it once. As you are in the centre of Megeve there are so many options ranging from a great Pizzeria to Michelin star rated restaurants.
• If you like Spa treatments, I would highly recommend the hot stone massage; but just visiting the hammam and sauna is also great, and the bath in your room is pretty big and has a jacuzzi... 

Italy, Dolomites, San Cassiano, Lagacio

Skiing in Italy, what a good idea was that! Read in a magazine about Lagacio Mountain Residence. So we thought let's give it a try.

http://www.lagacio.com/

The raving Lagacio reviews on Tripadvisor and Booking.com say it all and show that we are not the only ones that have fallen in love with this beautiful place. Amazing. Located in the middle of the mountains (Alta Badia ski area) and in the centre of the stylish little village of San Cassiano. Never heard of this village before, but appeared to be pretty posh (Michelin star rated restaurants and Moncler all over the place). In this luxurious setting Lagacio is not at all high brow and has a feel of basic luxury, inspired by nature. Its not for free, but worth every penny. The room rate includes it all... breakfast, spa access, parking, shuttle service to the slopes (which is actually a 5 minute walk).

Lagacio is a bed & breakfast concept and has apartments in different sizes. The apartments are well equipped with quality stuff and have a light, modern design with a local Ladin touch. Eye for detail is everywhere. How about filtered mountain water from the tap in your room... In everything you feel the love and passion of the owners and staff. Service with a smile is an understatement over here.

The breakfast buffet is simply amazing. Supplies are from local organic farmers. You can be healthy and blend your own juices or spoil yourself with pastry, cheeses or eggs as you would like them to be.

And then... the Spa! Again... great design, great staff and comfortable extras like lots of different herbal teas to choose from. Nothing better than a great massage, beauty treatment, sauna or hammam after a hard day of skiing.

With all these perks and privileges we ... of course... found a chocolate on our pillow. Not just ordinary chocolate, but a delicious one in a little box. Therefore we conclude that Lagacio is 100% ChocolateOnYourPillow proof!

Italy, Venice, Bloom & Settimo Cielo

Just returned from a wonderful skiing trip in Italy. As we flew into Venice, we decided to stay the first 2 nights in the city of love... After all it felt ages ago that it was just the two of us. And the city of love is definitively better to explore without two boys of 1 and 2,5.

It was not the easiest thing to find a charming stylish place to stay with a reasonable room rate amongst an overload of overdone fake settecento or 300 eur plus per night. Found Bloom via I-escape (http://www.i-escape.com/bloom-settimo-cielo/overview), great site for travel inspiration by the way.

Our stay at Bloom was a big hit. Although the building from the outside was nothing special, the inside was great (nice rooms, big bathrooms, cosy and nicely decorated breakfast and lounge area). The location of Bloom is brilliant. In San Marco, overlooking the lovely Campo Stefano. But the best perk is the roof terrace with a beautifull view over the Campo. With 20 degrees Celsius and blue skies (in March!) we enjoyed our best lunch on 'our' roof on the big lounge cushions with a delicious panini from the bakery at the corner of the street.

We did not find a chocolate on our pillow at Bloom but a free bottle of Prosecco in the fridge at the topfloor was a valued alternative!


http://www.bloom-venice.com/

We had dinner at Aquapazza and Rosa Rossa, both nearby and highly recommended. And heard also good stuff about Beccafico, located at the Campo Stefano.

Bit confusing, but Bloom & Settimo Cielo are located in the same house, different floor. They both have their own designed and styled breakfast room, which adds to the intimate character the bed & breakfast. Fortunately they both have access to the roof.
























http://www.settimocielo-venice.com/