TRAVELLERS ARE INVITED TO ‘TASTE THE WORLD’ AT RELAIS & CHÂTEAUX’S 540 BOUTIQUE HOTELS AND GOURMET RESTAURANTS, WHERE THE OWNER’S

PASSION RULES AND FOOD IS SERIOUS BUSINESS. HERE’S A SMALL APPETIZER...

WORLD CONCIERGE

The Relais & Châteaux story is one of originality and an attachment to the very best traditions of the world of hotels and restaurants: a marriage between well-loved customs of the past and openness to the new.

In France, in 1954, Marcel and Nelly Tilloy, who owned a delightful property in the Rhône Valley, got together with seven other hoteliers to offer travellers a distinctive, charming and, above all, gastronomic itinerary between Paris and the Côte d’Azur. They called it the Route de Bonheur.

United around shared values, they formed Relais & Châteaux, an association that would grow and grow, to become today’s collection of 540 beautiful boutique hotels and gourmet restaurants around the world.

Relais & Châteaux likes to call its properties maisons. A maison, they say, is a place where you feel at home; a place with its own roots, history and attachment to a particular terroir. In every one of them a family member – maître de maison or chef – will be on hand to welcome the visitor.

And food? Fine food is a given. Relais & Châteaux properties bring together more than 500 chefs, including some of the most famous in the world. Each restaurant – within a hotel or standing alone – is unique, wherever possible creating inspired menus from locally sourced ingredients.

While every property is different, they all share a common value: a passion for great hospitality and fine food by the men and women who invite travellers to taste their world.

www.relaischateaux.com

Kirini Suites & Spa Santorini.

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Maître de maison Alexandros Garagounis describes this retreat in the Cyclades as “the pure essence of Greece”. Nestled in the village of Oia, renowned for offering the best views on Santorini, the luxurious Kirini Suites & Spa is reckoned to

be among the Greek island’s best hotels. Its gourmet Anthὸs Restaurant and the beautiful A.SPA are similarly regarded. In fact the 19-room property was voted amongst the world’s 50 top hotels and top 10 hotels in Greece and Turkey in the 2016 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.

KIRINI SUITES & SPA SANTORINI

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Dubbed poetically ‘a rhapsody in blue and white’, the hotel sprawls through the village in a dazzling series of whitewashed buildings with views over the volcanic island’s famed caldera and within a short walk of the promenade.

The simple all-white theme – so typical of Santorini – is carried through into the hotel’s cool, chic interiors. The newly renovated and decorated guest rooms range from 35sq m Junior Suites to the stunning Master Suite with a private pool on its large sea-view veranda.

Built into the rocks by the pool, Anthὸs Restaurant, under chef George Lakovidis, serves modern Greek and Mediterranean food with an accent on local produce and wines. Alfresco dining offers fabulous sunset views.

A.SPA has three spa suites and a long menu of treatments featuring Caribbean Ligne St Barth products. There’s also a well-equipped gym.

Elsewhere you can wander through Santorini’s towns and villages, eat and drink in its many tavernas, go hiking, horseback riding, diving, sailing, waterskiing, shopping – or simply pour another glass of ouzo and lay back in the sun.

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Sculpted into the cliffs above the Bay of Positano, the San Pietro has been described as “an architectural masterpiece, combining luxury with technical prowess”. Opened in 1970 by Carlo ‘Carlino’ Cinque on a promontory with the best views of the village, the coast and rocks of Capri, Il San Pietro is these

days run by niece Virginia Cinque and her sons Carlo and Vito.Over the years the hotel has been the retreat of celebrities such as Gregory Peck,

the Rockefellers, Peter O’Toole, Tina Turner and François Mitterrand. The setting, views, comforts and service – not to mention a Michelin restaurant – continue to attract those in know.

The hotel has two restaurants: the Zass, which has the Michelin star, and the Carlino, which is reserved for guests and looks directly out to sea. Chef Alois Vanlangenaeker produces Mediterranean specialties like lobster tagliatelle and truffle sauce-coated sea bass and says, “When I create a new dish, I always think of guests who choose a Michelin-starred restaurant not only because they want to eat well, but also because they want an unforgettable experience.”

Below the hotel is a private beach, with restaurant and bar, reached by a lift cut into the rock. During summer months you can join a complimentary two-hour cruise around the bay. There’s a tennis court, too, down by the sea, while up on the clifftop is a swimming pool and sun terrace. A free shuttle bus runs in and out of Positano 24/7.

The hotel’s 59 beautifully tiled rooms and suites are individually decorated, with bright linen accents and generous windows with perfect sea views.

The spa takes care of pampering and wellbeing with La Prairie face and body treatments. There’s a Turkish bath and high-tech fitness centre.

But above all there’s that million-dollar view and the warmth of the Amalfi coast.

IL SAN PIETRO DI POSITANO AMALFI COAST

Two orange trees frame the discreet front door of this riad (a traditional Moroccan house or palace built around a courtyard) close to Marrakech’s famous Jemaa El Fna square.

Once inside the great wooden doors, though, guests enter a cool and elegant oasis away from the bustle of the medina. Owners Véronique and Pascal Beherec have used the best of Moroccan craftsmanship to decorate this palace filled with fine fabrics, sofas and pillowcases embroidered with gold thread. The open courtyard, with its columns and arches, reaches up to an ornate gallery, off which are suites with private terraces overlooking the medina. Rooftops converted into swimming pools, gardens and sun decks overlook the old town and the Koutoubia Mosque and have unobstructed views of the Atlas Mountains.

The villa’s 27 rooms and suites reflect their Moroccan setting in opulent style. They range from Deluxe rooms

overlooking the inner courtyard to the two-bedroom Riad Suite with its solarium and private swimming pool and patio looking down onto the garden.

Gardens and greenery surround the riad. There are patios full of plants, massage rooms and a traditional hammam, a beauty salon, a gourmet restaurant, a cigar cellar and three pools, including two that are heated during the winter, and one on the roof.

The restaurant, under chef Jean-Claude Olry, blends French, Mediterranean and Moroccan influences in dishes served in the high-ceilinged dining room or out on the poolside patio.

Outside the villa, the exotic world of Marrakech awaits and further afield are trips to explore Berber culture; visits to a friendly local village; cooking classes and all the flavours and varied landscapes stretching up the plateaux of the Atlas Mountains.

VILLA DES ORANGERS MARRAKECH

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France was where it all began for Relais & Château, with the first of many Routes de Bonheur (‘Roads of Happiness’) linking the eight founding hotels. That route stretched

along the Rhône Valley and featured a unique eight-stop gourmet itinerary.

Château de la Treyne, near La Cave in southwest France, is a fine example of the Relais & Château ethos: a beautiful hotel-restaurant owned by a family with a hands-on involvement in the shape of maîtres de maison Philippe and Stephanie Gombert.

The chateau sits high above the Dordogne River, its handsome facade and towers reflected in the placid waters. The region is home to more than 1,000 chateaux and other monuments, and Château de la

Treyne is the perfect base from which to explore a rich history and culture.

The Dordogne-Lot region is also rich in produce like truffles, foie gras, ceps, chestnuts and walnuts, wild ducks, blue lobster and mullet from the river and wine from the vineyards around Cahors. Michelin-starred chef de cuisine Stéphane Andrieu makes full use of the terroir’s gifts with an innovative menu served in the regal Salon Louis XII or, in summer, on a broad, candlelit terrace overlooking the river.

Guest rooms and suites are individually furnished and named to reflect their position in the chateau – maybe occupying the old chapel or in the top of the 14th-century Square Tower – or special features.

Outside are formal gardens, a heated infinity pool and tennis court. The river offers fishing and kayaking, there’s golf at nearby Golf du Mas del Teil, trails for hiking, horse riding and mountain biking, and hot-air ballooning over the Dordogne Valley.

CHÂTEAUDE LA TREYNEDORDOGNE

This century-old former family home on the beach of Praia da Rocha, Portimão, became the first hotel in the Algarve back in 1934. Surrounded by palm trees and overlooking the ocean, the Bela Vista Hotel &

Spa is a beautifully renovated boutique property with a great sense of colour and style in its 21st-century incarnation.

Owned by the Proença de Carvallo family and managed by maître de maison Golçalo Narciso, the hotel’s elegant and sometimes quirky interiors are the work of leading Portuguese designer Graça Viterbo. Marble, wood and Portuguese tiles, mirrors, paintwork and colourful fabrics and furnishings create a unique combination of tradition and modernity, with the blue sea view filling many of the guest room windows.

Rooms and suites are housed in the main Palace or adjacent Blue House and range from Classic through Elegance, Deluxe and Character to the exotic Junior Suite and the large, modern Suite. Many of the rooms have balconies and all have mod cons like complimentary Wi-Fi.

The menu in the light-filled Vista Restaurant is designed by young chef João Oliveira, who says of his food: “I draw my inspiration from the north of Portugal with its influences from Mediterranean cuisine… I am committed to providing memorable and varied experiences through a journey around Portugal’s flavours.”

For pampering and wellbeing, the 400sq m Bela Vista Spa L’OCCITANE provides a full range of treatments in its five treatment rooms. There’s also a sauna, hammam, wet relaxation area and a fully equipped fitness lounge.

Outside, a palm-fringed swimming pool is surrounded by loungers and shaded cabanas. But if you prefer the sea, the hotel has its own private beach a few steps away. Other attractions include golf, fishing, waterskiing, sailing and kite surfing.

BELA VISTA HOTEL & SPA ALGARVE

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Sydney’s famed Rockpool restaurant and its chef-owner Neil Perry need no introduction to anyone with an interest in food. After 27 years as one of Australia’s best (and most awarded) restaurants,

Rockpool served its last meal in July this year, making way for Perry’s new restaurant in Bridge Street, which opened on 8 August as part of his Rockpool Group.

In a blog before the opening, Perry assured Rockpool devotees: “Eleven Bridge will offer the same premium, sustainable produce, sourced locally with world-class service, but it will do so in a more relaxed, à la carte style. Thus, while we will be changing the name and menu format, we will be maintaining all the elements that are crucial to great dining.”

And so it’s proved. With an emphasis on the country’s finest and most sustainable produce, executive chef Phil Wood’s seasonally inspired à la carte menu reveals a diverse

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selection of modern Australian dishes interspersed with celebrated classics from Rockpool’s rich culinary history.

Occupying the first floor of the imposing Burns & Philp building in Bridge Street, just up from Circular Quay and The Rocks, the restaurant has a moody, European feel, with dark-painted walls and white linen-covered tables individually lit by ceiling spots. Diners can choose to sit downstairs or on a mezzanine overlooking the action.

Says Perry: “Eleven Bridge celebrates the mastery and art of the finest cooking. In the kitchen, the skill of our chefs is paramount as we highlight the nature of individual ingredients and traditional cooking methods: a roasted lobster split and shared; a whole partridge steamed in bread; native abalone pan-fried and doused in brown butter and herbs at the table.”

Head sommelier Yuki Hirose’s wine list features 1,200 wines from Australia and around the world, with 40 available by the glass.

Bookings are, of course, essential, online or by phone (+61 2 9252 1888).

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Located in the Var hills between Lorgues and Flayosc in Provence, Château de Berne sits at the end of a road that wends its way through

500ha of unspoilt wilderness.The 18th-century chateau is now a five-

star hotel and spa, with a gourmet restaurant, bistro, wine cellar and 120ha vineyard. Its 27 guest rooms, renovated in ‘country chic’ style, look out over the garden, vineyards and forest. For 300 years its cellars have held characterful red, white and rosé wines of Provence and the hotel has helped pioneer wine tourism in the region.

The hotel’s fine-dining restaurant, Le Jardin de Benjamin, is the province of head chef Benjamin Collombat, who left his Michelin-starred restaurant in nearby Draguinan to set up Château de Berne’s gourmet restaurant earlier this year.

Collombat’s French cuisine makes good use of vegetables, herbs and olives from the estate’s gardens and other fresh Provençal produce. An impressive wine list includes wines from throughout France but with a special focus on Côtes de Provence vintages from the Domaine du Château de Berne. The dining room décor is neoclassical and there’s a bright, airy conservatory. In warm weather diners can eat outside on a terrace shaded by olive trees.

The hotel’s more casual eatery, Le Bistrot de la Cave, has a blackboard menu featuring fresh regional cuisines, dishes to share and pizzas with seasonal toppings.

The elegant Cinq Mondes Spa at the Château de Berne includes an outdoor infinity pool, an indoor pool with swim massage jets, two Jacuzzis, sauna, steam room, sun lounge, and relaxation space with a herbal tea room and gym.

Activities on the estate or close by include mountain biking, electric bikes, petanque, hiking, yoga, cooking and wine-tasting classes, tennis, adventure trails and visiting Provençal markets.

CHÂTEAU DE BERNE

PROVENCE

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Whatley Manor is a beautifully restored country manor house hotel and spa set in 5ha of English country gardens in the heart of the glorious Cotswolds, around two

hours from London. Owned by Swiss couple Christian and Alix Landolt,

Whatley has 23 individually decorated guest rooms, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, the sumptuous Aquarias Spa, a gym, infinity pool, a 40-seat cinema and magnificent country gardens divided into 26 areas with different themes, based on plans dating back to 1920s.

The hotel is close to the ancient town of Malmesbury (the Abbey dates back to 676AD) and Roman spa city of Bath is 35 minutes away. But if you’re into food and wine and pampering, you don’t need to stray far from Whatley Manor.

Head chef Martin Burge creates exquisite cuisine in the award-winning restaurant in The Dining Room (which boasts four AA Rosettes in addition to its two

Michelin stars) and Le Mazot, a Swiss-style brasserie.“Drawing upon my classical French training while taking

a modern approach with food, my aim is to provide dishes that burst with flavour and give you a dining experience that is both entertaining and creative,” says Burge, a much-lauded chef and UK MasterChef judge. “My tasting menus will take you on a culinary journey that showcases the very best of seasonal ingredients combined with a series of highly accomplished cooking techniques.”

The Aquarias Spa, meanwhile, is luxurious in the extreme, with a huge hydrotherapy pool complete with airbed, airtub, neck massage jets and air bench; a ‘tepidarium’ with heated stone recliners; salt scrub showers; thermal cabins including a laconium and sauna and a VIP Suite complete with its own hydrobath. There’s a gym and workout studio with personal trainers, tai chi, Pilates and yoga.

Picnics, hunting, horse riding, golf, fishing, polo, hiking and clay shooting are on the ‘nearby’ menu.

WHATLEY MANOR HOTEL & SPACOTSWOLDS

Head chef Martin Burge

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Lyon-born Daniel Boulud is one of America’s most celebrated chef-restaurateurs. His reputation may be international but the warm welcome that greets guests at DANIEL, his

restaurant in the heart of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, remains very personal.

Boulud’s mantra is to “prepare the finest American produce according to French culinary tradition”. Superb ingredients are skilfully combined, elevating rustic dishes to new levels of refinement, sophistication and pleasure. Under Boulud’s masterful direction, the best American regional products, from Nantucket Bay scallops to Montana beef, are cooked to perfection in a restaurant where a contemporary décor is elegantly juxtaposed with striking neoclassical architecture.

The restaurant has earned three stars from The New York Times, two stars in the Michelin Guide, a number-eight ranking on Restaurant magazine’s list of

the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and recognition with a prestigious James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant.

DANIEL’s wine list includes more than 2,000 selections from 15 countries, chosen by head sommelier Raj Vaidya.

Dining at DANIEL is a very special treat at any time, but New York’s most discerning gourmets take it a step further with a degustation dinner in The Skybox, a glass-enclosed dining salon suspended above the kitchen and lined with comfortable banquettes. Here, up to four guests can watch the chopping, sautéeing, grilling, searing and saucing as cooks led by executive chef and Boulud protégé Jean-François Bruel prepare their degustation dinner.

The Bellecour Room offers more private dining, while, just beyond DANIEL’s revolving brass door, The Bar & Lounge is a perfect spot for a pre-dinner drink, cheese course, dessert, night cap, or full dining experience. Down a few steps, the Bar & Lower Lounge is a rendezvous for Upper East-siders in the know who come for the atmosphere and cool jazz vibe.

DANIEL NEW YORK CITY

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Spicers Peak Lodge, 140km southwest of Brisbane airport or a two-hour drive from the Gold Coast, is set in the stunning natural environment of the Queensland high country with some of the best

views in the state.The lodge sits 1,100m above sea level atop the Cedar

Mountain plateau, making it Australia’s highest non-alpine lodge. From rainforest and rugged mountain escarpments to the pristine backdrop of World Heritage-listed Main Range National Park, there’s no shortage of unspoilt wilderness to admire and explore.

The architecturally designed lodge is a mix of contemporary and classic design. Century-old Scottish bluestone and recycled timber floorboards, bespoke furnishings and local landscape photography add a touch of style.

The eight roomy Lodge Suites in the main building feature open fireplaces and private verandas. Some have large spa baths. Two Loft Suites boast elevated views with cosy

reading nooks and direct access to the mezzanine library. Perched on the edge of the escarpment are two luxurious, standalone lodges, both with separate lounge rooms and outdoor spas, open fireplaces and private verandas with panoramic views of Spicers Gap.

Food is the province of chef Doug Innes-Will, who oversees The Peak restaurant and describes his cooking style as: “Contemporary cuisine emphasising a respect of produce and producer. With equal significance given to the flavour and technique in order to create an inherent sense of place. Guests are served a fluid menu dictated by season, what’s been gathered and the chef ’s whim.”

The restaurant has earned two hats in both the 2016 Australian Good Food and Travel Guide and Brisbane Times Good Food Guide. All meals and beverages are included in the tariff.

The lodge has a day spa, tennis court and swimming pool. Local activities include guided walks and mountain bike adventures, 4WD tours and scenic flights.

SPICERS PEAK LODGE QUEENSLAND

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