No vacation inspires great expectations—or occasional angst—like a honeymoon. In addition to wanting a fabulous destination, you want your once-in-a-lifetime luxury escape to run exactly as planned. Then there's the added challenge of balancing both your interests—beachy for you, adrenalizing for him. And you want assurance there will be first-class food and drink in a sophisticated setting that’s perfect for honeymooners, without any schmaltzy couples-only vibe. Now, suppose you want all of the above—but on a budget?
Don't despair: Travel experts Mr & Mrs Smith will help you choose the right luxury-for-less destinations at hip, boutique hotels with surprisingly low rates. Read on for more details.
Rodwell House
Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA
Fine art, fine food, fine wine a stroll from cafe-filled Kalk Bay
Perched overlooking the sea in the breezy village of St. James, quietly refined Rodwell House is the ideal stay if you want to escape Cape Town’s tourist bustle. Lovingly restored to its parquet-floored, marble-columned, clipped-lawn glory, this 1930s mansion is not only an elegant boutique hotel, but it boasts an impressive collection of 20th-century modern South African art as well as a huge walk-in wine cellar stocking rare, celebrated bottles. Also making it worth writing home about is the fact you’re only a short drive from some of the cape’s best wildlife and horticultural boasts.
Wow factor The beautiful pool is fed by a mountain spring and flanked by chaises longues to stretch out on. Walk down to the tidal pools below the gardens for an invigorating saltwater swim.
Rates Low season, R1,500–R3,500; high season, R2,000–R6,000. Includes full breakfast and VAT. (From about $168.)
Hotel Signum
Aeolian Islands, ITALY
Family-run Aeolian farmhouse in Il Postino country
The “seven sisters” of the volcanic Aeolian Islands are scattered like stars across the deep blue Tyrrhenian Sea, north of Sicily. What could be more romantic a scene for you and your new mister? Hotel Signum’s honeymoon landscape credentials don’t stop there: This boutique beauty is a set around a series of tiled terraces bursting with scented lime trees, bougainvillea and honeysuckle. We recommend you try to book one of the light and airy rooms with their own private terraces with views of the Mediterranean.
Wow factor Signum's new spa, Salus per Aquam, specializes in geothermic water treatments and steam baths as well as a particularly invigorating ice massage. Some treatments are conducted on a bed of thermal rose salt, others in a 19th-century copper tub. Either way, you won’t be able to keep your hands off each other afterward.
Rates €130–€320, including breakfast. (From about $170.)
1860 Luxury Accommodation
Victoria, AUSTRALIA
Refined rusticity in the historic gold-rush town of Beechworth
A former cattleman’s hut, simple yet elegant, and providing everything you could need from a stylish vacation rental. Arranged around the parklands of Lake Sambell, 1860 Luxury Accommodation sits snugly at the end of a quiet lane, giving a sense of space and seclusion. Crossing the original timber-planked threshold—or better still, being carried over it—is like stepping back in time. But hang on—is that a flat-screen television with DVD on the wood-clad walls? This joint may hark back to days of yore, but it’s eminently set up for present-day luxury self-sufficiency. So you needn’t even speak to another soul but your mate.
Wow factor This charming bush cabin was constructed in the 1860s, just east of Melbourne. A few years ago it was dismantled and painstakingly reassembled in Beechworth. Its owners restored this 19th-century settlers hut to its former glory, retaining the original atmosphere without skimping on 21st-century luxuries.
Rates AUS$265 per night from Monday to Thursday and AUS$285 per night from Friday to Sunday, with a 10 percent discount if you stay for four or more nights, excluding Christmas and Easter. (From about $190.)
Etnia Pousada
Bahia, BRAZIL
Jungle gem in hipster hangout Trancoso
Bahia’s peaceful fishing village of Trancoso has been a choice destination for wanderlust-struck creative types since the ’70s, but Etnia Pousada ups the luxe a notch, offering eight woodland bungalows, each styled with a different ethnic influence. In the hands of anyone other than the fashionista/design guru owners, it could all slip into kitsch, but smart, sensitive style prevails—together with an air of absolute serenity and back-to-nature bliss.
Wow factor Etnia’s bungalows are dotted around the woodland and linked by paved pathways, so each offers plenty of privacy. Each is styled according to a different geographic theme; spacious Gipsy is decorated with a Romany-ish blue and red palette; the smaller bungalow Kyoto conjures Japanese minimalism and features a futon mattress.
Rates Low season, €137–€178; high season, €178–€228, including breakfast; excludes 15 percent taxes. (From about $180.)
Townhouse
Miami, Fla., USA
Fresh Florida fun, a stroll from SoBe’s sands
This South Beach boutique hotel attracts hip, easygoing guests with a sense of fun. Few cities are more diverse and cosmopolitan than Miami, and even fewer can boast white-sand beaches and endless days of perfect sunshine too. With its fresh decorative mix of minimalist white spaces and bold red statement pieces, the Townhouse offers a clean-lined backdrop for stretched-out lounging, snacking on sushi and sipping cool cocktails. There's no pool, but you can sunbathe on the decked rooftop or walk the 50 yards to the beach. If you look the part, you can use the pool at the Raleigh too.
Wow factor Bond Street becomes a buzzing bar later in the evening; we recommend the saké Bloody Marys. The Rooftop lounge is also very cool, with hip parties on Fridays and Saturdays—a see-and-be-seener on the SoBe.
Rates $115–$500, including continental breakfast; it can be more when there are major events (such as the Miami Music Festival or Super Bowl).
Couvent d’Hérépian
Languedoc-Roussillon, FRANCE
Vaulted mod-convent in postcard-pastoral Languedoc village
Hérépian, a small village on the fringes of the Haut Languedoc national park, couldn’t provide a more scenic setting for this renovated 17th-century convent. Adding modern touches such as a subterranean spa, a terraced garden and a mouthwatering table d’hôte to its ancient vaulted ceilings and period charms, Couvent d’Hérépian is a cute hotel that offers great get-away-from-it-all value in a real rural idyll.
Wow factor The spa’s products are freshly prepared, organically sourced and from the locality. From the pool you can smell the scents of its treatments: chamomile, olive, lavender, honey, thyme and grape seed.
Rates Low season, €120–€265; high season, €175–€355, including tax. Buffet breakfast is €10 a person. (From about $155.)
Básico
Yucatan Peninsula, MEXICO
Back to Básico on sunny Caribbean shores
Any more cutting-edge and it would take somebody’s eye out, Básico takes pared-down industrial chic to jaw-dropping extremes. Located in the humming heart of Playa del Carmen on the Riviera Maya, it’s a young, sassy boutique hotel with an eye for design and a mind for a party. In the rooftop terrace bar, sun-tanned scenesters sip martinis, recline on daybeds made from truck front ends or bask in the twin water-tank pools.
Wow factor A hotel for 24-hour party people—if you’re into cocktails and beats, get ready to join the bronzed and buff brigade posing by the pool. Azotea looks out onto the ocean from the hotel rooftop and provides a sassy, youthful clientele with a bewildering array of martinis. DJs keep the crowd up late on weekends.
Rates Midweek, US$160–$280; weekend, $190–$330, including breakfast; excludes 12 percent tax.
Puripunn
Chiang Mai, THAILAND
Old-world Thai charm in historic Chiang Mai
There’s no city that better symbolizes Thailand’s diverse cultural heritage and modern aspirations than Chiang Mai: Tour buses crowd Burmese-style temples and ornately carved teak houses; vendors in hill-tribe costumes sell souvenirs beside fast-food outlets. Almost hidden from the surrounding city, this charming and traditional boutique hotel is an enchanting slice of old Thailand. Like an ornate cake fashioned from chocolate and cream, Puripunn is lovingly designed, satisfying to experience and guaranteed to leave you wanting more.
Wow factor All rooms are attractively decked out in old-world Thai-colonial style, with rich greens, warm woods and cream hues. Little touches such as porcelain-handled taps, ornately framed paintings and brass ceiling fans make staying in Puripunn like stepping into Far East yesteryear.
Rates Low season, THB4,600–14,720; high season, THB5,635–18,975, including breakfast. (From about $130.)
Murmuri
Barcelona, SPAIN
Hoppen and jumpin’ in exciting Eixample
Located in the upscale Eixample district on the busy promenade of Rambla de Catalunya, Barcelona boutique hotel Murmuri is all understated elegance—interiors designed by British style maven Kelly Hoppen—and quiet intimacy. It hits the right notes for well-heeled locals and visitors alike. Her touch can be seen throughout, and her trademark neutral color palette perfectly complements the aquamarine sofas, stools and rococo armchairs on the rooftop, providing the air of a glamorous open-air living room.
Wow factor Peace amid the mayhem. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Spanish, with their matadors, feisty flamenco dancers and tomato-throwing festivals, love nothing more than a big, brash spectacle. Well, here they hit the mute button. Stay here if you crave quiet intimacy in the middle of it yet away from it all at the same time.
Rates €119–€450, not including breakfast (an additional €24 a person). (From about $155.)
Number Sixteen
London, U.K.
Fun, fresh townhouse on a smart South Ken side street
As petite and pretty as an iced cupcake from the nearby Hummingbird Bakery, Kit Kemp's trademark English whimsy adds a welcome hit of color to Number Sixteen, a London boutique hotel in the classic mold. This refined lady of leisure resides on a birch-lined side street in a discreet corner of Kensington, where she is just yards from the South Ken Tube station—and some of London's most popular cultural sights, shopping streets and galleries. Despite this amazing location, the hotel is as peaceful as you like: In its leafy courtyard garden, the only noticeable sounds are the burbling water of the stone fountain and the contented chirping of London's luckiest birds.
Wow factor Every room is uniquely decorated with a different mix of Kit Kemp’s trademark flirty florals and savvy color combinations; rooms feel spacious thanks to high ceilings and plenty of natural light—even those on the lower ground floor have big windows—and twin-sinked bathrooms are all similarly clad in soothing pale gray granite and oak.
Rates £120–£270 room only, excluding VAT. (From about $175.)
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