Five villas we'd book ourselves this summer
People ask us the same question every June: if you could go anywhere in the collection, where would you actually go? It's a harder question than it sounds — we spend all day looking at the best villas on the coast — but here are the five that come up, again and again, when the team talks about where they'd go themselves.
For the once-in-a-decade gathering — Villa Tiziano
Some houses are for a week. Villa Tiziano is for a memory you'll still be talking about in ten years. Carved into the rock above Positano across four sun-drenched terraces, its infinity pool appears to spill straight into the Tyrrhenian. Sixteen guests, a private chef, and a skipper for days along the coast. If you're marking a big birthday or a reunion that has to be perfect, start here.
"They found us a house we still talk about three summers later." — Éloïse & Marc, Paris
For golden-hour people — Villa Céleste
Villa Céleste was built to catch the light. Floor-to-ceiling glass, a west-facing infinity edge, and an open kitchen made for a chef who arrives with the aperitivo. It sleeps ten above Bandol on the Côte d'Azur, and the sunsets, in the words of one guest, are the kind you couldn't script.
For a slower kind of luxury — Villa Beatrice
Not everyone wants the party house. Villa Beatrice is a belle-époque villa on the shore of Lake Como, restored with a light, contemporary hand — frescoed ceilings meeting a sleek modern kitchen, a garden that runs down to a private jetty and boathouse. Wake to mist on the water. This is the one for couples and small families who measure a holiday in unhurried mornings.
For the group that wants everything — Villa Salvador
If the brief is spa, cinema, infinity pool, and room for fourteen, Villa Salvador answers it in the hills above Marbella. Seven ensuite bedrooms, a hammam and hot tub, a private screening room, and a pool that looks clear across the Mediterranean toward Gibraltar.
For the ones who want to disappear — Villa Íris
And then there's the antidote to all of it. Villa Íris is a whitewashed artist's house tumbling toward the sea in Cadaqués — the village that inspired Dalí. Blue shutters, a saltwater pool, a rooftop terrace for long, wine-soaked evenings. It sleeps eight, and it asks nothing of you except that you slow down.
Five very different summers, one thing in common: we'd happily pack our own bags for any of them. If one of these is speaking to you, the concierge can check dates in a minute — or tell us what your trip looks like and we'll point you to the right door.