Smith Travel BlogTravel tales and hotel news from the boutique hotel experts at Mr & Mrs Smith

Archive for the 'Italy' Category

We’re gleefully celebrating Spring’s arrival with a globe-spanning host of new hotels this month. We kicked off our world tour in the Windy City, where Ian Schrager’s sleek Public Chicago hotel has impressive Lake Michigan views, a glittering crowd invariably gathered in the bar, and some elegant guest rooms big enough to throw a party [...]

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This month, we escaped to some dreamy island getaways, including U Palazzu Serenu, a hillside haven in Corsica; The Bulgari Resort, an Italian-inspired designer-den in Bali; and  Soneva Kiri, a family-friendly beach resort on Koh Kood. In the Dominican Republic, a rainforest eco-retreat named Casa Bonita caught our eye, along with the chic shoreside casitas of [...]

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We’re starting the new year as we mean to go on, with a host of heavenly hotels. This month, we’ve already enjoyed a Tuscan tryst: we were seduced by a cosmopolitan Chianti castle, Castello del Nero and also Villa Armena, a baroque villa near Siena. In London, the witty Ampersand hotel in Kensington wowed us, [...]

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This month, we started our search for stylish stays by sipping whisky at The Atholl, a suite-only townhouse in Edinburgh. After all that hard work, we headed south to soak up the rays at romantic Tuscan village retreat Monteverdi and relax at Imani Country House, a rural haven in Portugal. Over in Australia, we partied [...]

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We like to think we know how to spot what’s special about a city within moments of arriving there – not least in Italy, where last year we spent a lot of time scouring cobbled streets and Renaissance piazzas for secrets to share in our recent Italy hotel guide.   Meet some like-minded spirits: founders of [...]

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Project runway: plane-to-party travel tips

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

Are you a fly-by-night kinda gal? We’ve got style counsel for your party destination: Lucy Fennings helps you land the right look, with day-to-night dresses, stay-put foundation and ante-upping accessories

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During this month’s search for sparkly new Smith hotels, there were two words on our lips: Costa Rica. We played ‘I Spy’ (the sea) at Latitude 10‘s bohemian beachfront casitas on the Nicoya Peninsula, developed a design crush at Kurá‘s minimalist jungle bungalows in Uvita, played Tarzan and Jane at Lapa Rios‘ tropical treehouses on the Osa Peninsula and got coffee-drunk at Finca Rosa [...]

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Travel’s golden age may now be a bygone era, but trust us, there are still glimmers of the same old-fashioned elegance at some of our favourite coastal destinations. We’ve teamed up with the iconic luxury skincare brand Crème de la Mer to showcase some hand-picked escapes inspired by a shared love of classic glamour, indulgent [...]

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This month, we dipped into French Polynesia, discovering Manava Suite Resort, a surfers’ paradise in Tahiti; Moorea Pearl Resort & Spa, a lagoon-side hotel on Moorea; Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, a hamlet of overwater bungalows in Bora Bora (above); and Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort, a secluded escape in the Tuamotus. In Malaysia, we [...]

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The Crème de la Mer guide to simple beauty

Monday, September 3rd, 2012

Sometimes luxury is best served effortlessly and stripped back. We’ve teamed up with the skincare travel essential, Crème de la Mer, to bring you a travel guide to simple beauty – here, we offer our picks of some of the world’s most special and naturally beautiful getaways (and give a little advice on what to pack)… [...]

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