Four new feelgood island escapes

Eco-friendly elegance in the Atlantic

The Azores are emerging as a model of lo-fi regenerative tourism, with local enogastronomic and architectural traditions being foregrounded and development carefully considered. Caroline Sprod and Ali Bullock moved here from Hong Kong several years ago, choosing the countryside around Ponta Delgada on São Miguel island as the unlikely spot to establish their Gin Library in 2019 – a now globally famous gin-forward bar, and the largest private collection of the spirits in Europe.

Last year Sprod and Bullock opened a clutch of tumbledown farm buildings as an eco-resort collection of suites and apartments. Called Solar Branco, it is sleek and simple, preserving original stone, timber and doors but embellishing with modern locally crafted furniture (the raw-edge tables are all made from trees that come down in storms), with a few flourishes of the gorgeous original Portuguese tile work. There’s a common pantry for help-yourself snacking on fresh fruit grown on the estate, which doubles as the breakfast space and the site of buzzy sustainable-sushi dinners, for which people come from island-wide.

The feel-good factors here are plentiful: the Green Butler app, which gives guests real-time information on their energy usage, was recently installed in the rooms. All glass is recycled; there’s a zero food waste programme in place; the Bullocks founded the Ocean Azores Foundation, and €1 from every bottle of Ghosts of the Ocean gin sold goes to it, as shortly will energy savings made from solar power. All this, and black-sand beaches that are close to empty in the off season. solarbranco.com, from £110

Your own private Galicia

Spain’s Atlantic coast isn’t known for its island resorts (or its islands, for that matter). But a Galician family is trying to change that, with the opening of A Creba Private Island, hidden away in a bay south-west of Santiago de Compostela. Its owners bought the tiny island, with its old fruit orchards and five-bedroom farmhouse, as a holiday home project. A careful restoration was undertaken; the resulting look and feel are airy, clean and pared-back, with lots of local stone and pale tones.

The pool at A Creba – the master suite also has a private plunge pool in its deckThere’s a common pool and, off the master suite, a second, private plunge pool set into the deck. Lawns spill down to the shore in every direction, with plenty of spots for taking in the sunset. The chef brings Michelin experience and a local focus; guests can wander the island’s dedicated kitchen gardens with him. A nice fillip: A Creba is fully self-sufficient, with electricity sourced from solar, biomass and wind power. acrebaisland.com, from €9,200 a night for 10 people, all-inclusive

Detox and design-forward agritourism on Mallorca

The biggest of the Balearics has seen the arrival of a few full-bore luxury properties in the last couple of years; spring 2024, by contrast, marks the arrival of not one but two Mallorcan hotels that take a quieter, slower-travel approach. Son Sabater, not far from Pollença in the island’s far north, is a rambling restored 16th-century farmhouse surrounded by 20 hectares of oak forests and carob orchards.

Its 12 rooms and suites and three one-bedroom villas share outdoor and indoor pools and gardens; the design is warm, rustic understatement, with local wood, Mallorcan stone walls and nubbly heavy linens. zafirohotels.com, from €239

To the southwest, just below Deia, the owners of Can Cera, the gorgeous house hotel in Palma, have opened the adults-only Hotel Valldemossa. Crowning a hill overlooking the village of the same name, it’s a self-contained eyrie: the manor house was formerly part of Valldemossa’s Royal Charterhouse Palace, and houses just 12 rooms and suites, whose guests have the run of a sprawling property with multi-level terraces and gardens.

There’s a large pool surrounded by cypress and olive trees, a spa and spa programme that leans into detox massages, and an outpost of Palma’s De Tokio a Lima restaurant, where the cuisine marries Japanese-Peruvian flavours. valldemossahotel.com, from €330