LUXURY TRAVEL NEWS

In which our Editor-in-Chief explores niche, independent luxury as the theme
for this issue on his travels around the world. Darius Sanais

On an insomniac overnight flight recently, I got thinking about what some of the world’s biggest luxury hotel groups have in common. There are least five megalith s that started as a single hotel, personally run, whose owners’ standards and business nous then transformed them into global brands.

These are world-leading hotel groups but by definition, when you become a large group, you lose the personal touch. And the personal touch is an ever more important component in the mind of today's luxury traveller, who mixes work and leisure, on and off, like never before. Everyone has different preferences, and in my downtime I sometimes quite like staying in a super-slick business-cum-leisure resort where I know everything will work with max efficiency, even if I do have reminders of uptime in the form of a business centre and the corporate group in Conference Room A.

But sometimes you just want to tune out, switch off, and stay somewhere with no cues at all to the road warrior existence. You'll take the risks of the unknown. At the extreme end of the spectrum this means starlight safaris in Botswana and bareback riding in Colombia as offered by the top adventure travel companies. At the gentler end, it means dipping into independently-owned hotels, which is where we go this issue.

The Royal, Evian, is an independently-owned hotel with a difference. Ask anyone remotely connected with the hotel industry about it and a fond look is likely to come into their eyes. The hotel sits like a palace on the south shore of Lake Geneva, on top of a hill, overlooking the lake. An icon in the Roaring Twenties, it fell on hard times until it was rescued by Danone, the French food group that owns Evian water (among many other brands).

Arriving at the hotel you have a glorious sense of event. We came to the little town of Evian by ferry from Lausanne, across Lake Geneva, and it was a five-minute drive to the hotel, out of the town, up a steep hill, and then through glorious parkland and an arboretum. The domed ceilings of the reception area and grand rooms on either side resembled a mini-Versailles, but with far better views. Step onto the terrace and you can see clear across Lake Geneva to the city of Lausanne, and, beyond, the Jura mountains and the Vallee de Joux, home of the Swiss watch making industry.

Our suite, with its bay windows and small balconies, one with a view of the lake, the other with a sweep up forests and meadows to the Alps behind, was restful, high-ceilinged and relaxing with a hint of faded chic. This is not a hotel that has been revamped to the latest Philippe Starck-inspired designs, and has all the more character and individuality for it. One sensed that the staff's friendliness was because they were friendly people, not because they had been over trained in smiling at a luxury hotel academy.

On the lake side of the hotel, a steep lawn led to a quite enchanting kitchen garden, with rows of herbs and salads carefully labelled by hand: chicory, flat leaf parsley, chervil, chives, spring onions, and a number of things I had never heard of. These appeared in various forms on our plates during lunch and dinner, and the food was of a type that seems fast-disappearing in France: simple, high-quality, French country cooking. An onion soup was as dense as it was balanced; when we asked for a vegetable soup we were told it wasn't on the menu but no problem, the chef would make one using whatever he had in from the garden. This was slightly different each night, a wonderful indicator of authenticity, always created without the slightest protest.

Aside from the views and food, the Royal has a few more trump cards. A recent addition is an outdoor pool at one end of the grounds, with In which our Editor-in-Chief explores niche, independent luxury as the theme for this issue on his travels around the world fabulous views over the town, the lake, and the Alps beyond. Given the vagaries of the climate in the Alps, there are also two indoor pools, one inside the hotel with a marvellous walk-through series of thermal rooms and baths attached (both outdoor and in). And the Royal's great attraction is its golf course, set idyllically in the grounds up behind the hotel, and home to the Evian World Masters championship.

We don't play golf; instead we spent our days in the pools and strolling the grounds, and taking the funicular to the town of Evian below - the Royal has its own, Art Nouveau-era funicular station, and it's a steep five minute ride into Evian. The town, once a place of faded grandeur like the great hotel above it, has been restored to charm and zest, helped by Danone: it is a far more cheerful and characterful place than it was when I first went there as a child.

The Royal is a hotel owned by a large corporation, but not one that owns hotels, and for that its character rating hovers near the absolute maximum. Overall it merits an excellent LUX rating of 18.5/20.

There would appear to be absolutely no connection between the Royal in Evian and Greywalls, a famous British country home designed by Edwin Lutyens a hundred years ago, on the windswept Firth of Forth, outside Edinburgh in Scotland. In fact there are two. The first is that they are both located on world-renowned golf courses: from the lawn at Greywalls you can actually spill your drink onto the fairway at Muirfield, one of Scotland's most renowned links courses. And the second, more unlikely link is that they are both (with the help of abundant kitchen gardens), places where French country cooking - the kind of home-ish cooking you once used to get at auberges around France - is thriving.

At Greywalls, the cuisine comes with the help of one of the world's great chefs, Albert Roux, founder of the two Michelin-starred Le Gavroche in London. But where Le Gavroche has a complex and elaborate menu, Roux has put a more rural, laidback emphasis on Greywalls. The hotel itself has a mesmerising charm, a low, curved building that seems far bigger inside than its simple exterior would suggest. The dining room is relaxed and casual, and was abuzz with a mix of wealthy burghers from Edinburgh (a 20 minute drive away) and Americans there for the golf.

French country cooking requires French country wines and I chose a Beaune Cent Vignes, 2005, from Louis Jadot as the single wine to match all courses. I had been recommended Roux's braised beef cheek in red wine sauce by a number of friends who had visited, and it was memorable for its rustic depth and beautiful, almost delicate texture. A magnificent combination, and a great match for the wine.

My room, while on the small side, was thoughtfully laid out, recently refurbished and extremely comfortable. It felt like a country house run by a very professional general manager.

The following morning was fine and I strolled through the walled gardens (as famous as the house itself) and through the kitchen gardens where hens roamed freely between the lettuces and the beehives, looked over by protective rooster.

Greywalls is a compelling place even if you are not a golfer; if you are, it must be a wonderful counterpoint to the generic five-star hotels that often abut great courses. It's worth visiting for the braised beef cheek alone and as a gastronomic country experience merits a LUX rating of 18/20.

Another other highly gastronomic venue visited by LUX recently was Ynshir Hall, in Wales. Probably the best restaurant in Wales, this stunningly set house (effectively a restaurant with rooms, and views) has a Michelin star and some of the most tranquil sweeps of scenery imaginable from its grounds.

The seared scallops, pancetta, carrot puree and pink grapefruit were a memorable and different starter – the quality of the scallops was sublime. (Beware the wine choice though: this dish needs a Riesling, not a white Burgundy). Main course of Welsh Lamb Cannon with chick pea hummus, tomato coulis and sweet potato had a lot to live up to: the finest restaurant in the home of lamb. It succeeded, the tenderness of the lamb melding perfectly with the hint of spice and sweetness. An inspired dish, perfectly executed

In many such hotels, the accommodation and location disappoints after the dining experience, but not so Ynshir, so long as remoteness and cosiness are what you expect. It’s not cheap, but merits a LUX rating of 17/20 as a wonderful getaway.

Some destinations like the Cote d’Azur and Tuscany have had centuries to hone their images – brands – as travel destinations. Others like Spain’s Costas have built theirs, not always favourably, in decades. Croatia is blessed with a coastline at least as beautiful – in fact probably more beautiful – than any of the above, and being relatively new to the travel scene, still appears to mean different things to different people. It can conjure up images of fabulous yachts laden with beautiful young things island-hopping and clubbing with the Abramoviches at Cape Diem in Hvar; and also of package tourism.

My destination was a revelation. I headed for Rovinj, on the Istrian peninsula. Once an outpost of Venice, the old town looks and feels like a mini- Venice, with pretty ochre buildings and churches around a long, broad and barely used harbour. The streets were crowded with middle-class holidaymakers from all over Europe – no British lager louts, and no oligarchs.

The town’s beauty was stunning as was the simple excellence of its seafood (sea bream, grilled, served with salad on the harbour’s edge – perfect Mediterranean food). Even more of a revelation was my hotel, the Hotel Lone, a swirling, Zaha Hadideque contemporary edifice a pretty ten minute walk away along the seashore.

The Lone is a privately-owned design hotel that manages the very difficult trick of being both a business and leisure hotel with equal slickness. The light, airy, contemporary spa had a series of pools and hydrotherapy systems all with a view of pine forest and sea. The restaurant, under the pines, was stark modern Med and excellent for it, with a fine selection of Croatian wines and some high-quality seafood, pleasantly un-messed with.

A lot of thought has gone into the Lone. The building swirls so all rooms have a view from their balcony; the bathrooms have an Oriental-style glass screen separating them from the bedrooms (thankfully, it’s opaque); the in-room literature is beautifully designed and written. There is a little tasting of Croatian wines every evening by the terrace, and some pretty high quality jazz in the inhouse jazz club.

With the excellence of the staff – not a given at all in this part of the world – and the blessed location on a quiet cove a short and beautiful stroll from town, the Lone fully merits its LUX rating of 17.5/20 and is highly recommended for work or play as the best hotel in Istria and one of the very best in Croatia.