Finca Cortesín in Casares, Malaga, has won a string of awards since it opened in 2009. Photo: Michelle Chaplow |
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Andalucian hotels win big in international awards
Andalucia has always been an incredibly popular holiday destination, with around 8.3 million international tourists this year up to August.
Andalucia has an impressive range of hotels where visitors can enjoy relaxing breaks or city experiences, with beautiful décor, superb service, and spectacular outdoor spaces which can be enjoyed all year round, from roof terraces with panoramic views and swimming pools to plant-filled patios. Every year, we see more five-star GL (Gran Lujo, or Grand Luxe) properties opening, the top category with truly above-and-beyond service and phenomenal design.
Many of these hotels are in converted historic buildings, with original ceramic tiles, stone floors, marble pillars, wooden beams, coffered ceilings, sweeping staircases and other architectural features. In other cases, pieces are salvaged from palaces and monasteries and given a new life in another building.
Such is the case with a firm favourite with the andalucia.com team, Finca Cortesín, located in Casares, just inland from the Costa del Sol. Despite looking like a grand estate dating back centuries, with cobbled courtyard, patios and tiled fountains, the prestigious resort, which hosted the Sondheim Cup in October, as well as other international golf championships, is only 14 years old.
The resort has a world-class spa and sumptuous, spacious rooms, as well as extensive grounds with four swimming pools. The classy, heritage feel is provided by flooring from an 18th century Portuguese convent and a Venetian palazzo, among other clever touches.
This five-star GL resort recently added to its gargantuan haul of awards with Best Hotel in Spain and Portugal in the Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Awards. The prestigious travel magazine has described it as “certainly one of Europe’s smartest places to escape to”. In the European section of the World Travel Awards 2023, known as the Travel Oscars, Finca Cortesín was crowned Spain’s Leading Leisure Resort.
Another Andalucian winner at the WTAs was Grupo Kaizen, a small group of three stylish boutique hotels: the Don Ramón in Seville (above), which opened earlier this year, the Malvasía in El Rocío, and Casa Palacio María Luisa in Jerez de la Frontera, all with exquisite decoration and attention to detail. The group’s owner, Marisa C de Azcárate, is closely involved in their creative development.
Voted Europe’s Leading Independent Hotel Group, against strong competition, Kaizen’s Jerez hotel also came out top: Casa Palacio María Luisa (above) won Spain’s Leading Boutique Hotel. Considering the number of outstanding boutique hotels around the country, that is quite an achievement.
Casa Palacio Maria Luisa, also a five-star GL property, is known for its elegance and its references to wine and equestrianism, two of Jerez’s most renowned characteristics, achieving the mix of magnificent architectural spaces, eye-catching, original décor, and modern comfort that typifies the Kaizen group’s three hotels.
While it cannot be denied that Andalucian cities are being swamped with a possibly unnecessary amount of new hotels at the moment, when it comes to establishments of this calibre, you can never have too many.