Relais & Châteaux is not a hotel chain. It is an association of around 580 owner-run hotels and restaurants, and the through-line is simple: someone — often the chef — owns the building and cares for it the way you would care for your own home.
Italy is where that idea is at its best. Between Florence and the Veneto you can string together a week of these houses without once staying somewhere that feels corporate — a converted Tuscan castle, a working farm estate, a villa above a lake. The rooms matter, but the reason to go is dinner. At a Relais & Châteaux house the restaurant is the point, and it usually shows.
A few we send people to often: a hilltop estate outside Siena for the quiet and the cooking; a farm in the Val d’Orcia for families who want room to spread out; a lakeside villa in the north for a shorter, more romantic stay. The right one depends on the season and who is travelling — tell us, and we will match it.
The detour is the point. These are rarely the most convenient addresses. They are almost always worth the extra hour in the car.
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