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The places, the people, the products and a natural sense of creativity, meet our friends that made us smile.
We at The Aficionados get excited about finding standout markers that share our culture for style, creative luxury, design and aesthetic. Possibly random in nature, perhaps, but go ahead and freely explore our collection of hotels, edits, finds and little treasures from Lisbon to NYC - Here, there & not everywhere.
Hat maker to the stars, family milliner business Mühlbauer’s designs began over a hundred years ago and now fly from Vienna to top some of the most famous heads in the world.
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Design Bothy close to the Cairngnorms National Park, ideal for a small family or as a Highland refuge, this aged restored cottage is decorated with Scandi influences and Scottish crafts - complete with log stove.
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Whisper the names – Rain Cloud, Driftwood, White Smoke and Ink - and already your nose is twitching to find out more. Meet cult Perfumer H, aka Lyn Harris.
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Originally conceived as the village schoolhouse back in the 1930s, the traditional house, with alpine curb appeal of larch shingles, gabled rooftop and green shutters frame the lattice windows, is now a fabulous small design hotel surrounded by the Bavarian alps and pastures.
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Exceptional pieces of precision engineering – Berlin based Mykita sunglasses fuse the handcrafted with high technology to produce eyewear that redefines the aesthetic of luxury.
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Architect Mario Botta’s church of San Giovanni Battista in Mogno, in the Swiss canton of Ticino is made of geometrical white marble and dark gneiss.
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There couldn’t be a bigger contrast between the FIFA World Headquarters and Widder Hotel, both located in Zürich, both a design concept by Swiss architect Tilla Theus.
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A fabulous luxurious retreat located on the wild Mani Peninsula of Greece’s Peloponnese, a dreamy, soul-catching kind of place, rugged and barren, yet full of impressive shows of xeric beauty.
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Conceiving of noa* as an ever-changing network of architects, interior designers, graphic talent to even psychologists and much more, noa* is able to incorporate a multitude of ideas and styles into its hotel projects.
Not just a relic from the punk era, Le Kilt has brought the real deal back with a bang replete with slogans, mix and match tartans and a playful sense of cool.
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Food writer Meredith Erickson has travelled the wintry peaks and picturesque trails of the alpine region of France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria to source the most delicious dishes.
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Imagine the romance of a remote crofter's house in a modern architectural design overlooking the infinity of the Scottish Highlands. This is your stylish den of Norse interiors with the traditional soul of the Gaels - a snug holiday retreat for two close to Isle of Skye in Wester Ross.
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One of Scotland’s most beautiful coastal routes – and indeed the Highlands’ answer to Route 66 – take a drive around the North Coast 500 and sweep your way through 500 miles of varied, rugged natural beauty of the sort that only Scotland could ever really claim as its own.
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With the feel of a hip in-the-know club for lido-lovers, Aqva Boutique Hotel’s modular alabaster white building is fronted by a turquoise pool surrounded by sleek decking. Like a pointing finger, a private pier juts out onto the lake - perfect for those celeb moments.
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Kanaal by Axel Vervoordt & Co is a kind of city in the countryside, less than half an hour’s drive from Antwerp, where art, architecture and nature combine.
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Strikingly modern design and humble heritage are the trademarks of Tempel 74 Apartments in the heart of the Mellau-Damüls ski region, just 500m to the ski lifts. Centuries-old Alpine craftsmanship marries pioneering architecture: a design concept that is very much at home in Bregenz.
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A Swedish Instagram influencer born long before his time, Gothenburg’s photography icon, Hasselblad, could never have fathomed the impact he would one day have.
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Poseidon’s Sanctuary, the Ilha Verde or the basecamp of cashmere, these wild island hush outposts of myths, folklore and cultural soul are well worth finding your sea legs.
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Built into the original Medieval town walls of Hall, this former guilders’ house of traditional Tirol style has stood here for well over half a century with records dating back to 1450. Today, behind the rose petal façade, lies the small Kontor Boutiquehotel.
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This is all about the mix of traditional Alpine style, synonymous with mountainous living and the contemporary hand of private hoteliers. We pulled together a cool style edit of those places that take the traditional dipped into urban sleekness adding a dash of modernity.
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Contemporary art continues to find its way into the Alpine villages of Engadin – surely, a reflection of the cosmopolitan and cultured crowd that seizes upon these rural locales each holiday season.
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Birds, botanicals and fauna headline the canvas of this Austrian designer den found in Tirol wrapped in a fusion of honeyed Alpine traditions and chic urban style.
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Our top 10 small boutique hotels brimming with design, luxury, character, and distilled with local charm - this is beyond B&B, this is Dinky Luxe.
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Close to the Tirol mountains of the Tux and Zillertal Alps, this new boutique hub of chilled design and nostalgic tradition, stepping away from the chocolate-box picture-post-card image with creative art installations and a casual approach to life in the alps.
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Antwerp is one of Europe's cultural hotbeds with historical landmarks and art institutions. And while Antwerp has plenty of those – we turn our focus on the smaller-scale contemporary culture must-sees the Flemish city has to offer.
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A groovy icon from the seventies, Seehotel Ambach presides over the shores of Lake Caldaro in Italy’s South Tyrol with its perfectly formed, curvaceous marshmallowy walls of laid-back glamour and a canvas of tangerine, vert and oxide reds which drape mid-century furniture pieces.
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Even though it’s not always easy to spot, the architectural designs of Milan based Peter Pichler Architecture can be considered traditional in many ways. Their sleek, pointed and stark lines may not look it, but they are deeply inspired by nature and by the surrounding vernacular architecture.
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Affectionately known simply as ‘Magda’, personality flows from this mountainous bolthole of style framed on all sides by glorious greens, thanks to its location in choc-box Bolzano within the South Tyrolean Dolomites. Magda will soon become your New Best Friend.
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Fera Palma, a restaurant that celebrates Spanish cuisine with plays on traditional tapas and Mediterranean cuisine mixed up with fresh Asian fusion and flavour.
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Founded by three self-confessed coffee addicts, Gringo Nordic are serious about its sourcing, production and roasting. What could be better on a visit to Gothenburg to indulge in the nation’s pastime of fika, which involves carving time everyday for ‘coffee and cake’.
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Wonderfully humble, this authentic exclusive-hire farmstead hideaway dating back to 1885 comes with the mandatory choc-box appeal of a rural Alpine chalet besieged by the hush rhythms of lush green pastures, ancient forests and hum of the mountain waters.
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The seductive fusion of small design hotel meets stylish townhouse belonging to an architect friend best describes what this luxury nine-suite bolthole in Lisbon’s fashionable Amoreiras quarters is all about.
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This summer sees the re-opening of the Pavilion Le Corbusier. Located in Zurich, architects Silvio Schmed and Arthur Rüegg took on the restoration of this iconic structure which pays homage to an architect who was the forerunner of urban design, a pioneer of sustainability, and a leader of modernism.
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The fabulous boutique Hotel Julien, with its mansion-house pedigree in the heartlands of old-town Antwerp, is a self-confessed curator of the arts, designer pieces, antiques and mid-century furnishings, which adorn the handsome salons and rooms in comfy elegance.
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Set against the forested Beskydy (Beskids) range in the Carpathian Mountains, this 200-year-old designer hideaway fosters modern Czech county living whilst giving heritage a hug, decked in whites, linens and twisted rafters.
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The winery of St Jodern Kellerei in Switzerland’s beautiful Brig, in the canton of Valais, has long been recognised as having the highest vineyard in Europe.
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Villa Charissa is a new addition to the hip, designer-cool Aenaon Villas Santorini. Built in the same traditional island’s cave house style, locally called “yposkafa”, Villa Charissa is a luxury suite that cascades into tiers all cocooned in a rigorous aesthetic of pure white, smooth polished cement and a tinge of volcanic black for added drama.
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A chilled habitat of modern alpine vibe, this ski bolthole is dapper, plush and Martini cool. A suave lair of modern alpine style that flirts with the traditions of the Alps and is the perfect habitat for the ski fraternity and summer activity junkies.
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When wandering Mallorcan village streets, a specific type of fabric will catch your eye – the blue & white fabric called Ikat. It bears a characteristic pattern obtained by the process of resist dying, and the island of Mallorca is the only place where you can still visit family-run workshops that have been operating for over 160 years.
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Lisbon's sleek MAAT is the city's latest cultural hub, where the worlds of architecture, art and tech collide - a museum of force in glazed ceramic form.
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Handmade design sleeps with the heritage in-laws in this family of thread counts, crafted furnishings and heaps of creativity – small, luxury & the ever so beautiful tiny boutique hotels, guesthouses and design B&B.
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