Thursday 17 May 2012

Boutique Hotels Italy for Luxury Escapes


Book the best boutique hotels in Italy for the ultimate experience.

If you are looking for boutique hotels, Italy’s Umbria region offers a rustic but elegant experience.

Why Choose Italy

Booking boutique hotels in Italy is the ultimate romantic holiday. Italy is famous for being a country of romance – from the language, the food, the art and architecture and the landscape. If you want an exceptional experience, boutique hotels in Italy are perfect for a special occasion. If you are seeking a rural romantic but elegant destination there are many spots in Italy that haven’t been spoilt by the tourists. Umbria for example has been dubbed the ‘new Tuscany’ without the tourist hype. If you want an authentic, unique experience, don’t follow the tourists or stay in chain hotels.

Why book boutique hotels, Italy

  • Perfect for a honeymoon
  • To mark a special anniversary
  • As a weekend indulgence

What you should expect from a luxury boutique hotel in Italy

  • Location – make sure you choose an area that suits your needs. There is nothing more romantic than being surrounded by stunning views, rolling hills and fields of sunflowers. Choosing a rustic boutique hotel in Italy’s Umbria region is a great getaway.
  • Décor and style – if you are looking for a boutique hotel in Italy, you should check out any pictures or reviews you can find online. The best boutique hotels have a unique style and elegance, as well as the individuality that comes from smaller, independent hotels.
  • Boutique hotels in Italy should also have a sense of luxury – whether it is a private swimming pool, four poster beds or a hand carved marble bath.

Indulge in Europe – Book a boutique hotel in Italy

There are many reasons to indulge in Europe – you don’t have to spend money on expensive long haul flights and the destinations are just a short hop away. Booking a boutique hotel in Italy is an easy, convenient way to escape the realities of humdrum life – even if it is just for a weekend. If you want to put a bit of magic back into your life or relationship – book one of the boutique hotels in Italy and be transported into an enchanting, indulgent and authentic holiday experience. http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/italy

Boutique Hotels, Italy – Art and Architecture


For the ultimate bohemian break, book one of the boutique hotels Italy has to offer and discover art and architecture in style.



Staying in Perugia

If you are travelling to Italy to discover the Umbria region, it’s a good idea to base your stay in the town of Perugia. Perugia has its own airport with direct flights from London and boasts the best boutique hotels Italy has to offer. The town is renowned for its University and bohemian buzz. It’s also considered to be the heart of Umbria, and the ideal spot if you plan to tour the region.

Gubbio

If you are staying in one of the boutique hotels Italy does so well, you can set the tone for a unique and individual holiday. Don’t expect the usual tourist traps in Umbria. From Perugia, the hill-town of Gubbio is about 25 miles away. Here you are surrounded by green rolling hills, and can visit the Piazza Grande – the artistic high point of the town. Gubbio has been described as “a symphony in stone” with its narrow streets and stone buildings the town was central during the Renaissance.

Day trippers

Boutique hotels in Italy are often built to reflect the distinct architecture and history. Staying in boutique hotels is a great way to enhance the Italian experience. The Crusaders brought new ideas of art and architecture and Umbria features a network of towns and villages where you can trace these ideas.

Do your research

To truly enjoy the enriching experience of touring Umbria countryside, it’s worth spending one day idling around your boutique hotel, reading about Italy’s history while enjoying the pool. The next day, you can use your knowledge to explore the architecture on offer. Some recommend you read Dante’s Inferno: “It evokes the vivid, vengeful world the new art sprang from,” one travel journalist noted.

Assisi

From Gubbio, Assisi is 45 minutes away and is a popular pilgrimage because of the basilica of St Francis. The town is moving and spiritual, with plenty of art, architecture and museum pieces, but its university adds a vibrancy to the streets with the odd kite festival or bike race occurring.

Fascinating culture

Wether you are going on Russian holidays, trips to America or holidays to Italy, the culture should always be sought out. If you are staying in one of the boutique hotels in Italy’s Umbria region, it’s a chance to explore a fascinating culture. For example the pictures of Piero della Francesca have an incredible story. In San Sepolcro, his Resurrection is testament to the power of art – a British Officer in World War Two was ordered to shell the small town but stopped when he remembered an essay he had read by Aldous Huxley saying it was the greatest painting in the world. He held fire and now you can experience the greatest painting in the world for yourself.

Friday 30 March 2012

Boutique Hotels Italy for Luxury Escapes


Book the best boutique hotels in Italy for the ultimate experience.

If you are looking for boutique hotels, Italy’s Umbria region offers a rustic but elegant experience.

Why Choose Italy

Booking boutique hotels in Italy is the ultimate romantic holiday. Italy is famous for being a country of romance – from the language, the food, the art and architecture and the landscape. If you want an exceptional experience, boutique hotels in Italy are perfect for a special occasion. If you are seeking a rural romantic but elegant destination there are many spots in Italy that haven’t been spoilt by the tourists. Umbria for example has been dubbed the ‘new Tuscany’ without the tourist hype. If you want an authentic, unique experience, don’t follow the tourists or stay in chain hotels.

Why book boutique hotels, Italy

  • Perfect for a honeymoon
  • To mark a special anniversary
  • As a weekend indulgence

What you should expect from a luxury boutique hotel in Italy

  • Location – make sure you choose an area that suits your needs. There is nothing more romantic than being surrounded by stunning views, rolling hills and fields of sunflowers. Choosing a rustic boutique hotel in Italy’s Umbria region is a great getaway.
  • Décor and style – if you are looking for a boutique hotel in Italy, you should check out any pictures or reviews you can find online. The best boutique hotels have a unique style and elegance, as well as the individuality that comes from smaller, independent hotels.
  • Boutique hotels in Italy should also have a sense of luxury – whether it is a private swimming pool, four poster beds or a hand carved marble bath.

Indulge in Europe – Book a boutique hotel in Italy

There are many reasons to indulge in Europe – you don’t have to spend money on expensive long haul flights and the destinations are just a short hop away. Booking a boutique hotel in Italy is an easy, convenient way to escape the realities of humdrum life – even if it is just for a weekend. If you want to put a bit of magic back into your life or relationship – book one of the boutique hotels in Italy and be transported into an enchanting, indulgent and authentic holiday experience.

Boutique Hotels - Italy for Art lovers



Boutique hotels, Italy – An aesthetic experience

If you love art, Umbria is the ideal location. Of course, Italy is known for its incredible art and culture – but many tourists are only aware of the famous attractions in Rome and Venice. Umbria however is where the likes of Michelangelo, Perugino, Giotto and Rafaello all lived and worked. As a result, the region is packed with art work – in every church or convent you come across you’ll find artistic treasures. If you are booking a holiday in the region, staying in one of the boutique hotels in Italy’s ‘green heart’ is the ideal way to indulge your aesthetic side.

Be inspired

Italy’s most revered and famous artists began the Renaissance not in Rome but in Umbria. Here, they would paint in return for a meal or a bed – making the area a rich treasure trove of art. Considered by many to be the unspoilt and authentic Italy, the area is devoid of mass tourist traps and ugly commercial buildings. Here, you can holiday in style in one of the boutique hotels in Italy’s spiritual centre.

Uncover history and art

As a result of the artistic activity through the centuries, Umbria is full of hidden treasures. The Celestine Abbey is a fascinating place north of Assisi that embodies the areas turbulent history. It was completed in 1367, after three architects worked on the building. It survived being ransacked and the local warfare of the 13th-15th centuries but crumbled in 1593 after an earthquake. Restored in 1969, human skeletons were unearthed alongside a false wall that hid a painting of the Madonna and child – it now hangs in the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia. The boutique hotels in Italy’s Umbria reflect the aesthetic sensibilities of the area – adding to the elegant and authentic experience.

Stay in Boutique hotels, Italy

Staying in one of the individual boutique hotels is a way to experience Italy away from the beaten track. You can tailor-make your own itinerary and really explore the area to suit your desires. One thing is for sure, if you love art, Umbria will be a fascinating, unforgettable and unique place to stay.

Back in time

Staying in the Umbria region is like stepping back in time. With few modern buildings and homes that mostly date back to the 13th century, it is an enchanting place. But you can balance out the rustic in Perugia – the urban heart of Umbria with its young, vibrant, chic street life. Here you’ll find some of the most stunning boutique hotels in Italy. Famous for its Jazz Festival and Eurochocolate festival, Perugia has bars and trattorias create a bohemian style. And here you can visit the National Gallery of Umbria that houses some of the most fantastic renaissance art.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Florida Villas – The beaches of Sarasota

If you love beaches, than there’s only one place to rent a Florida villa – Sarasota.

Luxury Florida villas

If the idea of renting your own private luxury Florida villa near to the finest beach in the world appeals, than what are you waiting for? Sarasota boasts rolling white-sand beaches with incredible azure waters. Not only that, the area oozes a sophistication and charm that is a zillion miles away from the more popular destination of Disney World. Situated in Florida’s Gulf Coast, with an exhilarating mixture of museums, restaurants and shops, it’s the perfect place to relax.

Sunsets and Mangrove forests

In between relaxing in your Florida villa, you can ponder some master works of art, stroll through designer shops, and play a round of golf or canoe through mangrove-forests. But if all that sounds too much, simply planting your toes into the white sand and basking the sunset over the Gulf is enough in itself.

The perfect holiday

The tranquil Gulf Ocean and the pristine Sarasota beaches make for the perfect holiday. If you rent one of the Florida villas in the area, get ready to become a serious beach bum!

Sea shells on the sea shore

Staying in one of the Florida villas in the area and renting a car gives you the chance to explore some of the best beaches around. Manasota Beach on Manasota Key is a good place to start to appreciate cloudless horizons and warm sand. Known for its amazing shells – remember to take a bucket.

Next, Blind Pass Beach promises nature trails filled with wildflowers and you can spot dolphins playing in the surf. Caspersen Beach features sloping dunes in their natural state and is beautifully desolate.

The Venice Municipal isn’t far, and is a chance for a more family-based day out with volleyball and picnics. On the drive out look out for the spectacular Florida villas built in Mediterranean style in the 1920s.

The world’s best beach

But the icing on the cake has to be Siesta Key Beach. Siesta Key is a beautiful barrier island eight miles long offshore of Sarasota. Its tropical atmosphere is thanks to the fact it is considered to be the world’s finest, whitest beach. If you want to find your own personal paradise, rent one of the Florida villas in Sarasota and enjoy the warm breezes and cool water. As well as the white sands the tropical trees, wildflowers and exotic parrots all add to a tropical feel. Along the beaches and bays you will see gulls, terns, plovers, pelicans, egrets, herons, ibis, spoonbills, storks and cranes. Offshore dolphins and manatees are often spotted frolicking in the gulf and bay waters.

Florida is the top destination for attractions, sights and scenes. Beachlets.com specialise in beach villas, apartments and cottages in Florida and worldwide.