Six houses in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal make up this section. Some occupy nineteenth-century buildings in city centres, others were converted from earlier uses or rebuilt in the last two decades. Each entry describes the building, the public rooms and the way commissioned work is shown, without ranking the houses against one another.
Hotel Cort occupies a nineteenth-century house on Plaça de Cort, the square in front of the city hall in the old centre of Palma, Mallorca. The building faces the square directly, and a large old olive tree stands a few steps from the entrance. Interiors were reworked for hotel use while the outer walls and the window openings were kept as they were.
Public rooms run along the ground floor, with a bar and a restaurant that open onto terrace seating on the square. Bedrooms are arranged over the upper floors around the original circulation. The furnishing draws on Mediterranean pieces and commissioned work, and the collection is displayed through the corridors rather than gathered in one room.
Ask about which bedrooms face the square, since the terrace and the square itself stay busy into the evening. Other useful points before arrival are the hours of the restaurant, arrangements for vehicles in the old centre, and step-free access into the building.
Category — Art hotel
Location — Palma, Mallorca, Spain
Paris · France · Art Hotels
Hôtel Panache
Hôtel Panache stands in the ninth arrondissement of Paris, in a nineteenth-century house on a corner near rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière. The building keeps the proportions of its period: tall windows, a narrow stair core and a modest street frontage. It was converted for hotel use and the bedroom floors follow the original plan of the apartments above the ground floor.
The ground floor holds a small bar and a room for breakfast, both open to the street. Bedrooms are compact by the standards of newer buildings, with moulded ceilings kept where they survived and contemporary fittings elsewhere. The decorative scheme was commissioned for the house rather than carried over from another address of the same owner.
Because the house is small, it is worth writing ahead about bedroom size and which windows face the street. It also helps to confirm luggage handling on the day of arrival, as the stair and the entrance are narrow at this address.
Category — Art hotel
Location — Paris, France
Brixen · Italy · Art Hotels
Forestis
Forestis stands above Brixen in South Tyrol, on a shelf of the Plose mountain rather than in the valley. The oldest part of the property began as a sanatorium building of the early twentieth century, and later towers of timber and glass were added beside it. The setting is spruce forest, and the outlook from the site is onto the Dolomites across the valley.
The added towers hold bedrooms with full-height glazing; the older building carries public rooms. A spa area, treatment rooms and a restaurant occupy the lower levels, and the material palette is kept to timber, stone and glass throughout. Walking paths from the property lead directly into the surrounding forest without crossing a public road.
Access is by mountain road and can be affected by weather, so the house is the right source on conditions for a given date. Worth asking about as well are transfer arrangements from the valley, restaurant hours, and which rooms sit in the older building.
Category — Art hotel
Location — Brixen, South Tyrol, Italy
Ericeira · Portugal · Art Hotels
Aethos Ericeira
Aethos Ericeira occupies a converted building on the coast at Ericeira, north-west of Lisbon. The structure was built for another use before it was reworked as a hotel, and the conversion kept the long low outline of the original above the shoreline. The Atlantic is directly in front of the property, and the town of Ericeira lies a short distance along the coast.
Bedrooms are arranged along the seaward side, most of them with a terrace. Public rooms include a restaurant, a bar and a swimming area on the terrace level, and there are treatment rooms indoors. The interior scheme uses plaster, timber and locally made textiles, with commissioned work hung along the corridors and in the public rooms.
Sea conditions on this coast change quickly, so anything that depends on the water should be confirmed with the hotel. Also useful before arrival: the hours of the restaurant outside the summer months, transfer arrangements from Lisbon, and which rooms have direct terrace access.
Category — Art hotel
Location — Ericeira, Portugal
Castelrotto · Italy · Art Hotels
Hotel Schgaguler
Hotel Schgaguler stands at the edge of Castelrotto, a village in South Tyrol below the Alpe di Siusi. The house has been run by the same family for decades and was rebuilt to a design by the architect Peter Pichler, completed in 2018. The rebuilding replaced the earlier decorative exterior with plain rendered walls and evenly spaced window openings.
Bedrooms are finished in pale oak and stone, with the window openings set to frame the slopes rather than fill the wall. Public rooms sit on the lower levels and include a restaurant, a bar and a spa area with a pool. The village square and its church tower are a short walk from the entrance along a quiet street.
Mountain weather governs much of what a stay looks like here, and the house is the right source on current conditions. Sensible questions before arrival concern the hours of the spa area, parking at the property, and which rooms face away from the village street.
Category — Art hotel
Location — Castelrotto, South Tyrol, Italy
Ibiza · Spain · Art Hotels
Casa Maca
Casa Maca is a rural house in the hills outside Ibiza Town, on the island of Ibiza. The building is a traditional island finca with thick whitewashed walls and small window openings, converted into a small hotel with a modest number of bedrooms. Worked ground surrounds the house, and the old town of Ibiza is visible from parts of the property.
Bedrooms are spread between the main house and outbuildings, each finished differently rather than to one repeated scheme. A restaurant occupies the terrace and the ground-floor rooms, and produce from the property is used in it. Works by artists connected to the island hang through the public rooms, and the collection changes from time to time.
The house is reached by a country road, so it is worth asking about the approach and about vehicles before arrival. Other useful questions concern the restaurant's opening days outside the summer, and which bedrooms sit apart from the main building.
Category — Art hotel
Location — Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain
Zunoas is an independent reference. It is not connected to any hotel described here, takes no bookings and sells nothing. Entries rest on published sources, and hotels change their restaurants, their access arrangements and their rooms without warning. Anything that matters to a stay should be confirmed with the house directly before travelling.
