Europe’s Secret Villages
The Sunday Times,
Sorano, Tuscany
Flirting with Lazio across the unmarked border, and an hour south of the Val d’Orcia — textbook Tuscany — are the hilltop towns of the Maremma. They are as impressive as Pienza and Montepulciano, only without the crowds, pecorino shops and overzealous restoration projects. Pretty Pitigliano gets some visitors, but Sorano is blissfully spared. That means you’ll have a fortified medieval town tottering along a limestone outcrop, with canyons gnawing through the tufa stone below, pretty much to yourself.
Flirting with Lazio across the unmarked border, and an hour south of the Val d’Orcia — textbook Tuscany — are the hilltop towns of the Maremma. They are as impressive as Pienza and Montepulciano, only without the crowds, pecorino shops and overzealous restoration projects. Pretty Pitigliano gets some visitors, but Sorano is blissfully spared. That means you’ll have a fortified medieval town tottering along a limestone outcrop, with canyons gnawing through the tufa stone below, pretty much to yourself.
Life here revolves around the Fortezza Orsini — a 14th-century fortress equipped with grain mills to wait out sieges — while medieval alleyways rollercoaster up and down the rock face. But the Maremma is about the countryside as much as the individual towns: the same soft hills as the Val d’Orcia, minus the manicured lines of cypress trees. Among them, you’ll find romanesque churches, Etruscan tombs and the vie cave, or “sunken roads” — mysterious Bronze Age trenches, up to 20ft deep, tracing a triangle between Sorano, Sovana and Pitigliano.
Stay there
Agriturismo Sant’Egle is a converted 17th-century customs house between Sorano and Pitigliano. Rooms have exposed stone walls and beamed ceilings, and there’s a saltwater pool. The organic, zero-impact farmland provides everything that ends up on your breakfast plate (doubles from £96, B&B; agriturismobiologicotoscana.it).
Agriturismo Sant’Egle is a converted 17th-century customs house between Sorano and Pitigliano. Rooms have exposed stone walls and beamed ceilings, and there’s a saltwater pool. The organic, zero-impact farmland provides everything that ends up on your breakfast plate (doubles from £96, B&B; agriturismobiologicotoscana.it).
Get there
Fly to Rome with easyJet, Flybe or Jet2; from there, it’s a two-hour drive north. Or fly to Perugia, two hours northeast, with Ryanair.
Fly to Rome with easyJet, Flybe or Jet2; from there, it’s a two-hour drive north. Or fly to Perugia, two hours northeast, with Ryanair.
La Cadière d’Azur, Provence
La Cadière is a taste of pre-Peter Mayle Provence. It rears up on a hilltop, five miles from the coast, and does a fine line in medieval villagery: arched gateways to enter; houses embedded in old rampart walls; and narrow, sometimes pedestrianised streets stacked almost on top of each other. You’ll find few lavender bags or embroidered tea towels here. Cadière has kept its shopping scene local-friendly, with boulangeries jostling for space with greengrocers and charcuteries. Dinky Place Jean Jaurès, the main square, is the epicentre. Go for the Thursday-morning market, then head to Le Cadiero, a smart bar-tabac with tables lined up along the square. You’re in for a treat for lunch: Hostellerie Bérard, a Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms, has a lunch deal from Wednesday to Friday, with three courses for £32, served in the garden.
La Cadière is a taste of pre-Peter Mayle Provence. It rears up on a hilltop, five miles from the coast, and does a fine line in medieval villagery: arched gateways to enter; houses embedded in old rampart walls; and narrow, sometimes pedestrianised streets stacked almost on top of each other. You’ll find few lavender bags or embroidered tea towels here. Cadière has kept its shopping scene local-friendly, with boulangeries jostling for space with greengrocers and charcuteries. Dinky Place Jean Jaurès, the main square, is the epicentre. Go for the Thursday-morning market, then head to Le Cadiero, a smart bar-tabac with tables lined up along the square. You’re in for a treat for lunch: Hostellerie Bérard, a Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms, has a lunch deal from Wednesday to Friday, with three courses for £32, served in the garden.
Follow this with boules on Place de la Liberté and a visit to the church of St André, built into the town ramparts in 1508. Whatever time of day, the views across the Bandol vineyards and down towards the Med (Saint Cyr sur Mer is a 10-minute drive away) are quite something.
Stay there
You’re back at Hostellerie Bérard, which spills across four buildings in the village (plus another two miles out). The rooms are as refined as the dining — simple decor and views across the village, vineyards or the more touristy Le Castellet, on the neighbouring hill (doubles from £91; hotel-berard.com).
You’re back at Hostellerie Bérard, which spills across four buildings in the village (plus another two miles out). The rooms are as refined as the dining — simple decor and views across the village, vineyards or the more touristy Le Castellet, on the neighbouring hill (doubles from £91; hotel-berard.com).
Get there
Fly to Marseilles, a 45-minute drive away, with British Airways, easyJet or Ryanair, or take Eurostar’s seasonal train service to the city from London; it’s a 6½-hour journey. Alternatively, Nice is two hours east.
Fly to Marseilles, a 45-minute drive away, with British Airways, easyJet or Ryanair, or take Eurostar’s seasonal train service to the city from London; it’s a 6½-hour journey. Alternatively, Nice is two hours east.
Cacela Velha, Algarve
Thirty miles east of Faro, edging towards the border with Spain, this is what the Algarve used to look like: whitewashed cottages dug into its two cobbled streets, the only snatch of colour coming from the sky-blue doorframes and window shutters. Cacela Velha’s cemetery is almost as big as the village itself; the “car park” (a dusty field) is twice its size.
Thirty miles east of Faro, edging towards the border with Spain, this is what the Algarve used to look like: whitewashed cottages dug into its two cobbled streets, the only snatch of colour coming from the sky-blue doorframes and window shutters. Cacela Velha’s cemetery is almost as big as the village itself; the “car park” (a dusty field) is twice its size.
Paths run down to the dunes and the beach, which is a long, dreamy stretch, with an untamed sandbar hovering just out to sea — part of the 38-mile protected stretch of the Ria Formosa nature reserve. The tides move quickly here, so, rather than wade out to it, it might be better to catch a boat from the neighbouring village of Fabrica.
Stay there
Set on a 15-acre farm just east of the village proper, Casa de Cacela has 10 bedrooms, each housed in converted farm buildings and named after a fruit that’s grown on site. There’s a pool, and sunloungers and beanbags under the fruit trees (doubles from £62, B&B; casadecacela.com).
Set on a 15-acre farm just east of the village proper, Casa de Cacela has 10 bedrooms, each housed in converted farm buildings and named after a fruit that’s grown on site. There’s a pool, and sunloungers and beanbags under the fruit trees (doubles from £62, B&B; casadecacela.com).
Get there Fly to Faro, a 45-minute drive away, with BA, easyJet, Jet2 or Ryanair.
Tinos, Cyclades
Not a village, but a whole island. The third largest of the Cycladic isles, Tinos is best known as the Greek Lourdes, which means most of its visitors are here for the Panagia Evangelistria — a church containing a supposedly miraculous icon — or one of the other 700-plus churches. That leaves the rest of the 75-square-mile island deliciously unspoilt.
Not a village, but a whole island. The third largest of the Cycladic isles, Tinos is best known as the Greek Lourdes, which means most of its visitors are here for the Panagia Evangelistria — a church containing a supposedly miraculous icon — or one of the other 700-plus churches. That leaves the rest of the 75-square-mile island deliciously unspoilt.
Yes, there’s the odd high-profile visitor (Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano have stayed here), but they are the exception rather than the rule. Expect empty roads, countryside crisscrossed with hiking paths and speckled with tiny whitewashed settlements, and beaches that are yours for the taking. There’s a nascent surf scene centred on Kolibithra beach, where you can get lessons, then a drink from a VW camper van converted into a bar (tinossurflessons.com). At Ballos restaurant, on Vourni beach, in the southwest, everything on your plate is sourced locally, and guests get sunloungers to while away the afternoon (ballostinos.gr). Elsewhere, you will discover hundreds of coves that stay people-free, even in the height of August. By Cycladic standards, it’s miraculous.
Stay there Aeolos Bay has everything you expect from a Greek island hotel: sea views, breezy balconies and bright white interiors (doubles from £57, B&B; aeolosbayhotel.gr).
Get there BA and easyJet fly direct to Mykonos. From there, it’s a 30-minute ferry ride to Tinos.
Santa Agnes de Corona, Ibiza
Steel yourself, because Santa Agnes is changing — this year, they had a festival. On the plus side, it was one as far removed as you can get from the clubs of San Antonio: a festival of almonds.
Steel yourself, because Santa Agnes is changing — this year, they had a festival. On the plus side, it was one as far removed as you can get from the clubs of San Antonio: a festival of almonds.
Just inland from the White Isle’s northwest coast, and 13 miles north of Ibiza Town, Santa Agnes is another world. The village clusters round a single T-junction: a church, two restaurants, a government office and a hotel, all surrounded by lovingly tended groves of almonds, citrus trees and olives. This is full countryside immersion in the island’s most traditional corner. And beyond Santa Agnes is Es Amunts, a protected nature reserve encompassing rugged landscapes, cliffs, unspoilt forests and tiny villages. This Ibiza, far from the clubs and the celeb villas, is where things are done as they always have been — from the working of the soil to the reverential treatment of almonds. The festival went well, by the way.
Stay there
In the village itself, Can Partit is a sweet little six-room property — but for the same price, a mile and a half towards the sea, there’s Can Pujolet, a boho Ibizan agritourism hotel. An 18th-century house in 32 acres of organic land (which supply the on-site restaurant), it has 10 rooms with stone walls, exposed beams and balconies with hammocks. The terraces overlook the surrounding farmland, while the pool and the hot tub are discreetly bordered by cherry and fig trees (doubles from £132, B&B; canpujolet.com).
In the village itself, Can Partit is a sweet little six-room property — but for the same price, a mile and a half towards the sea, there’s Can Pujolet, a boho Ibizan agritourism hotel. An 18th-century house in 32 acres of organic land (which supply the on-site restaurant), it has 10 rooms with stone walls, exposed beams and balconies with hammocks. The terraces overlook the surrounding farmland, while the pool and the hot tub are discreetly bordered by cherry and fig trees (doubles from £132, B&B; canpujolet.com).
Get there
Airlines flying to Ibiza include easyJet, Jet2 and Thomas Cook. Santa Agnes de Corona is a half-hour drive from the airport.
Airlines flying to Ibiza include easyJet, Jet2 and Thomas Cook. Santa Agnes de Corona is a half-hour drive from the airport.
Regencos, Costa Brava
Quiet, refined and embracing its history, Regencos is everything you don’t expect from the Costas. It’s 10 minutes from the coast and a smidgeon south of the “Dali triangle”, which covers the surrealist painter’s stomping grounds — such as the Theatre Museum in Figueres, his house museum in Port Lligat and the castle in Publo that he bought for his wife, Gala. This is prime weekender territory for Barcelonans: quiet medieval villages plonked amid mountain-tufted countryside, rustling fields of corn and a soundtrack provided largely by birds and donkeys.
Quiet, refined and embracing its history, Regencos is everything you don’t expect from the Costas. It’s 10 minutes from the coast and a smidgeon south of the “Dali triangle”, which covers the surrealist painter’s stomping grounds — such as the Theatre Museum in Figueres, his house museum in Port Lligat and the castle in Publo that he bought for his wife, Gala. This is prime weekender territory for Barcelonans: quiet medieval villages plonked amid mountain-tufted countryside, rustling fields of corn and a soundtrack provided largely by birds and donkeys.
Stone-housed, terracotta-roofed and occasionally cobbled, Regencos is low-key yet chichi. Remains of its 14th-century walls are visible in places, and the village coils around Sant Vicenc, its frilly-facaded, honey-hued church. Spin out lunch at La Calendula, a surprisingly swish restaurant in the old theatre (mains about £25). The chef, Iolanda Bustos, upped sticks from Girona to present her hyper-local menu — she even picks her own wild flowers, herbs and roots every morning to garnish the dishes. The afternoon is for excursions into the soft Emporda landscape. Prettily restored Pals, a 10-minute drive away, is more popular, but worth a visit. Refuel with turron-flavoured gelato at Dino’s, on
Placa Major (gelatsdino.com).
Placa Major (gelatsdino.com).
Stay there The Hotel del Teatre keeps the peace with an adults-only rule in its two converted 18th-century farmhouses. The rooms — just seven of them — are pared back, with exposed beams, pale walls, oodles of natural light and modern art delivering splashes of colour (doubles from £118, B&B; hoteldelteatre.com).
Get there Fly to Girona, a 45-minute drive away, with Jet2 or Ryanair.
Mazi, Bodrum
Mazi is 25 miles east along the coast from the resort of Bodrum and shares the crystalline waters that launched a thousand package holidays. That’s where the comparisons end, though; with the pincers of the Bodrum and Datca peninsulas on either side, this is an area of still-watered coves backed by pine- and olive-shrouded hills.
Mazi is 25 miles east along the coast from the resort of Bodrum and shares the crystalline waters that launched a thousand package holidays. That’s where the comparisons end, though; with the pincers of the Bodrum and Datca peninsulas on either side, this is an area of still-watered coves backed by pine- and olive-shrouded hills.
There’s no coastal road to speak of — driving from Bodrum means looping inland and out again, through a pine forest and down until the road peters out at the water. Olives and fishing are the drivers of the Mazi economy, and you can reap the benefits over lunch or dinner at Kayabasi: wedged on top of a rocky outcrop, it has been charcoal-grilling fresh swordfish, bream and mullet, and drenching them in local olive oil, since 1960. White sea bream wrapped in laurel leaves is the signature dish (mains about £10; kayabasirestaurant.com). Take in the views over a grainy coffee, then descend to the pebbly beach below to read a book — or arrange for one of the village fishermen to take you in search of more remote coves.
Stay there
Taz Turizm was one of the first hotels in the village, opening in 1976 on the edge of the Aegean, with a homespun pier cantilevered proprietorially over the water. The 29 simple rooms are divided into bungalows and dotted across the garden in between olive and orange trees. Meals of barbecued fish, homegrown veg and the family’s own olive oil are taken overlooking the sea, and, if you’re feeling adventurous, they have kayaks for guests to use (doubles from £43, full-board; mazi-tasturizm.com).
Taz Turizm was one of the first hotels in the village, opening in 1976 on the edge of the Aegean, with a homespun pier cantilevered proprietorially over the water. The 29 simple rooms are divided into bungalows and dotted across the garden in between olive and orange trees. Meals of barbecued fish, homegrown veg and the family’s own olive oil are taken overlooking the sea, and, if you’re feeling adventurous, they have kayaks for guests to use (doubles from £43, full-board; mazi-tasturizm.com).
Get there
Fly direct to Bodrum, an hour’s drive away, with easyJet, Jet2 or Turkish Airlines.
Fly direct to Bodrum, an hour’s drive away, with easyJet, Jet2 or Turkish Airlines.
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