Belmond Hotel Caruso (Amalfi Coast, Italy)

Wednesday newsletters at all times characteristic a lodge or flight overview.

At present: Evaluation of Belmond Resort Caruso in Ravello, Italy

Located in probably the most spectacular location, nearly suspended between sea and sky, Belmond Resort Caruso occupies a former medieval palace on the highest, quietest level of Ravello, overlooking the rocks and cliffs of Italy’s Amalfi Coast and the Mediterranean (or, extra appropriately, Tyrrhenian) Sea. With frescoed salons, arched stone vaults and simply 50 extremely particular person rooms and suites occupying each form and nook of the traditional palace’s structure, it’s an intimate retreat with an intriguing sense of historical past. However above all, with its rose arbour resulting in one of many world’s most spectacular infinity swimming pools, with sunlit or candlelit eating within the Belvedere Restaurant, and with a wealthy sense of its previous as a retreat for presidents, writers and movie stars, the lodge is nearly impossibly romantic.

Belmond Resort Caruso options in my prime 10 lists of the very best luxurious accommodations in Italy, the world’s most spectacular cliffside luxurious accommodations, the very best luxurious accommodations on Capri, Ischia, and the Amalfi Coast, the world’s most beautiful lodge swimming pools, and my favourite Belmond accommodations on the earth.

Have you ever ever stayed at Belmond Resort Caruso? In that case, what was your expertise? Go away a remark.

On this overview (extra data beneath my slideshow & Youtube clip):

PROS & THINGS I LIKE

Belmond Resort Caruso is situated on a picturesque cobblestone sq. within the coronary heart of Ravello, considered one of Italy’s most completely charming villages. A couple of 60 minutes drive from Naples’ airport, the mountain village of Ravello is about on the Sorrento Peninsula, far faraway from the crowds that flock to its coastal neighbors Positano, Amalfi and Sorrento. Based within the sixth century, Ravello encompasses a Twelfth-century cathedral, homes in-built Arabic-Sicilian type, winding slim streets, and aromatic gardens. Villa Cimbrone is a powerful lookout level within the village, and there’s a summer time music pageant on the terrace at Villa Rufolo, whose backyard impressed Wagner’s Parsifal. La Dolce Vita was certainly born right here, surrounded by lemon bushes within the lazy, scorching climes of Italy’s Campania province.

The ultraluxe property is the greatest situated lodge on the Amalfi Coast, perched by itself little rocky spur at Ravello’s highest level (350 meters or 1150 ft above sea stage). The lodge affords jaw-dropping, unobstructed views over the mountainous Amalfi shoreline and the turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea from nearly all over the place (together with the pool space, gardens, rooms and restaurant). The Belmond’s unimaginable hilltop location and its fabulous views out to the ocean and surrounding cities is definitely one of many property’s main attracts and can sweep you off your ft. The panorama from the lodge has usually been described by shiny journey magazines as ‘probably the most stunning on the earth’.

Belmond Resort Caruso started life as an Eleventh-century palazzo, constructed by a patrician Roman household who got down to attain Constantinople, the brand new heart of the Roman Empire, however failed due to a storm at sea and ended up in Ravello. Over the next centuries, because the Italian republics squabbled, Ravello was destroyed and the palace fell out and in of damage. By the sixteenth century, it had been utterly rebuilt, with the addition of a splendid colonnade within the raised backyard. An additional interval of neglect adopted, till 1893 when Pantaleone Caruso, a hotelier and winery proprietor, opened the property as a lodge. Belmond (beforehand Orient-Categorical Inns) acquired the Resort Caruso Belvedere in 2000 and started a painstaking, four-year restoration, working intently with the Italian Advantageous Arts authorities, earlier than reopening the lodge as it’s recognized right this moment.

Similar to its sister property Belmond Resort Cipriani in Venice (which I reviewed right here), the Belmond Resort Caruso is a movie star hotspot. The celebrity of the lodge began in 1903, when a New York Instances journalist visited, and his article impressed many rich and influential Individuals, overwintering on the European rivieras, to go to. It turned a favourite hang-out of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group. Attracted by the cocoon of privateness, later friends included Greta Garbo, Gina Lollobrigida, Humphrey Bogart, Jackie Kennedy and Dustin Hoffman, who all loved the peace of strolling among the many vines within the colonnaded gardens, the style of genuine Neapolitan cooking and a captivating environment away from prying lenses.

Belmond Resort Caruso encompasses a basic decor in grand type with frescoed salons, mosaic flooring, arched stone vaults, and marble hallways. Visitors are nonetheless greeted within the luxurious foyer by two stone Thirteenth-century lions guarding the doorway and the fabulous view which have outlined the palazzo proper from the start. Strolling across the property is a like a journey again in time to the Renaissance period. Colourful frescoes of ribbons, flowers, cornucopias, Arcadian scenes, cameos, goddesses and nymphs adorn the ceilings in a number of salons, the drawing room, the chapel, the bar, the boutique store and the foyer. The lodge’s inside was created by designer Federico Forquet, who launched fashionable components and Twenty first-century know-how, with out dropping the authenticity of the palace itself or the Neapolitan spirit.

Belmond Resort Caruso affords 51 rooms and suites, all very spacious and every with its personal particular person type. Most boast sea views from their terraces and lots of get pleasure from a non-public backyard. Throughout my go to, I stayed in a Deluxe Suite, situated on the property’s higher ground and that includes a separate dwelling space and one bed room with a kingsized mattress. The suite embraced a Neapolitan type decor and was furnished with 18th- and Nineteenth-century antiques. The ground was coated in magnificent mosaic tiles resembling a bit of artwork. The spacious toilet featured a separate bathe cubicle, bathtub, bidet and double vainness basins, and a novel (and really personal) outside bathe. Unique Bulgari and Penhaligon toiletries had been supplied and replenished day by day. The rooftop terrace was furnished with sunbeds, a desk and chairs, and supplied stupendous views of the gardens and the ocean. Unquestionably, this was one of many most astonishingly stunning lodge rooms I’ve ever slept in.

Belmond Resort Caruso options magnificent, Mediterranean type gardens, that cascade down the hill in layered terraces. The gardens have been over 100 years within the making and comprise a set of hidden spots, massive lawns and scented walkways, with olive bushes for shade, and lemon bushes and herb beds offering contemporary mint, thyme, rosemary and bay to be used within the kitchens. Roses bloom and climb at each flip, most memorably over the elegant colonnade that leads up steps to the very best level of the property, the place you discover the pool space (extra on that beneath).

The property’s really jaw-dropping infinity swimming pool is commonly listed among the many greatest lodge swimming pools on the earth. Inbuilt 2005 on the area’s highest level, the pool is an architectural triumph which seems to be suspended over the Amalfi shoreline, taking full benefit of the outstanding vistas. The pool is sufficiently sized and lined with very comfy white-cushioned solar loungers and umbrellas. Clay pots full of pink and white flowers adorn the stone-tile deck. Pool providers embody the concierge delivering an iPod pre-loaded along with your selection of music, or a contemporary fruit appetizer or cocktail to the aspect of the pool as you swim.

There’s additionally a small villa within the gardens with an air-conditioned fitness center on the bottom ground and an intimate spa upstairs. The fitness center, although small, has a full vary of cardio tools and weight machines, all positioned in entrance of a window with a distracting, panoramic view of the shoreline – the proper option to neglect how arduous the exercise is. A private coach can also be obtainable. The primary-floor wellness heart affords a well-constructed menu of important remedies utilizing merchandise by Aromatherapy Associates and Sothys. Therapies are tailor-made for face, physique, hair or magnificence, with massages and aromatherapy experiences supplied alongside specialist rituals, equivalent to a 140-minute moms and daughters wellness package deal.

Eating services on the lodge embody the advantageous eating Belvedere restaurant and an informal poolside restaurant. Belvedere restaurant offers a stellar eating expertise – with give attention to genuine Italian delicacies – which surpasses the view. The restaurant’s terrace – from the place you possibly can admire the breathtaking views of the Amalfi Coast – is shaded by a cover, in order that friends can eat exterior with out being affected by the solar. Breakfast can also be served right here, with a superbly displayed buffet in one of many salons complemented by an a la carte menu for eggs. The poolside restaurant – which has the beautiful infinity pool because the backdrop – affords an easygoing menu of Italian favorites, a lavish salad bar and genuine Neapolitan pizza straight from a wood-fired oven.

Indoors, the cocktail & piano bar is a classy spot for an early night cocktail or a late-night digestif. This is among the lodge’s public rooms which advantages from having magnificent, restored 18th-century frescoes, and when you can take your eyes off the ceiling, there are additionally views over the Amalfi shoreline. The atmospherically lit bar space, with its immense wood bar, affords an intensive checklist of cocktails – Italian favorites and new mixes – and a wide array of wines, champagnes and scrumptious native prosecco.

Belmond Resort Caruso belongs to the portfolio of the Belmond Resort Group fomerly generally known as Orient Categorical till its rebranding in 2014. Belmond is a lodge and leisure firm that manages a ultraluxe assortment of 49 iconic accommodations, trains and river cruises in 24 international locations, bringing collectively a number of the world’s most sensational journeys and locations. It ranks among the many most unique lodge manufacturers on the earth. With Belmond, you possibly can keep in timeless accommodations in Venice, Rio and St. Petersburg, embrace the spirit of journey at Machu Picchu or Angkor Wat, glide alongside the rails by way of the Swiss Alps, soar throughout the Andes, or discover the mystifying rivers of Myanmar.

It’s a couple of 15-minute drive to Amalfi, the attractive but in addition very touristic seaside city full of outlets, cafes, and sights such because the Duomo di Amalfi. The village of Positano – which clings precariously to the mountains – is about an hour away by automotive. Complimentary shuttle service is obtainable by the property to each Amalfi and Positano. Visitors can even benefit from the day by day complimentary boat excursions alongside the Amalfi Coast, on board of the lodge’s personal boat.

CONS & THINGS TO KNOW

Resort Belmond Caruso is considered one of Italy’s most romantic boltholes. The hillside setting in a medieval city, the grand palalazzo-like design, stunning rooms, lush gardens, a spectacular pool, and a world-class restaurant match the breathtaking views. It’s very arduous to fault the lodge, however it’s possible you’ll need to know the next nonetheless:

The resort’s spa is small. In case you are on the lookout for a wellness keep, it’s possible you’ll be dissatisfied since state-of-the-art spa services (e.g. sauna, steamroom, whirlpool, and many others …) are missing aside from the remedy rooms. That mentioned, you possibly can nonetheless get pleasure from a vary of remedies and massages designed to nourish thoughts, physique and soul and a few therapies may even be loved within the romantic gardens underneath an azure sky.

The property is extraordinarily costly, however so are most prime accommodations on the Amalfi Coast, an space of Italy the place vacation budgets come to die. However IMHO, Belmond Resort Caruso is properly price its appreciable price ticket because it is among the most unique accommodations in Italy, offers a tremendous journey expertise you’ll always remember.

MY VERDICT

Location: 10/10
Design: 9/10
Pool: 10/10
Rooms: 10/10
Meals: 9/10
Breakfast: 10/10
Spa: 9/10
Service: 10/10
Worth for cash: 10/10
General expertise: distinctive: 9,8/10

TIPS FOR FUTURE GUESTS & SAVE MONEY

Lower your expenses: get complimentary VIP perks at Belmond Resort Caruso when reserving by way of Virtuoso (e.g. room improve, day by day breakfast, early check-in, late check-out, and $100 USD meals & beverage credit score).

Lower your expenses: learn my ideas for getting the very best deal at a luxurious lodge like Belmond Resort Caruso.

Room tip: Though you possibly can’t go incorrect right here – since every room is completely charming – I like to recommend to e book or request a room (and even higher, a set) on the next ground with view of the ocean. Suite Deluxe #208 (the one I stayed in throughout my go to) is extremely stunning and boasts an infinite personal terrace.

Learn my ideas for getting ready your journey in time.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

Surely the very best time to see the Amalfi Coast is from April to June, when the spring flowers are in bloom, the climate is simply heat sufficient, and the temperature of the Mediterranean permits for the primary dips of the season. By selecting late spring or early summer time, you may as well keep away from the vacationer crush of July and August and the oppressive temperatures later within the 12 months. The autumn months of September and October are additionally a superb time to go to the Amalfi Coast, because the temperatures are nonetheless gentle, the times sunny (more often than not), and the lion’s share of vacationers have left.

HOW TO GET THERE

Naples Worldwide Airport in Capodichino is a brief 65 km (60 minutes) drive from Belmond Resort Caruso. Transfers might be organized by way of the lodge, or by way of a non-public taxi firm (I used Eurolimo and paid 120 euros a technique for the switch between the airport and the lodge). The lodge’s concierge can even organize a non-public helicopter to satisfy you in your arrival on the airport and transport you to the lodge in supreme luxurious. For an inventory of airways that supply direct flights to Naples, click on right here.