Portofino
Italy


The Experience

Set in the verdant hills, high enough to overlook the chic harbor town of Portofino, the Splendido was a favorite escape for couples seeking seclusion long before Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton adopted it as their personal hideaway in the 1960s. Its setting has kept it on the world short list for romance: Most rooms have balconies or terraces dripping with mimosa, framing the Mediterranean below and overlooking terraced grounds fragrant with yews, pines, palm trees and olive groves. But the Splendido's not sitting still. In 1998 the hotel opened a small branch, the Splendido Mare, in a town house right on Portofino's famed piazzetta, for those who prefer to sleep within strolling distance of the boutiques and trattorias.

The Rooms

The rooms, in cool, refreshing combinations of white with pastels, contain just enough Italian flourishes -- from Murano glass chandeliers to pastoral frescoes -- to remind you where you are. But the view and Italian air are the reasons to come, so book a room or suite with a balcony or terrace. All have cable and satellite televisions that pop up out of a cabinet (an Orient-Express Hotel signature), as well as white Carrara marble bathrooms with amenities you want (Bulgari soap, heated towel racks) and others you can maybe do without (a scale). As if you needed anything to watch other than the gorgeous view, the DVD player comes with a shelf of Academy Award–winning films, featuring the kind of megastars who inhabit the Presidential Suite and its four secluded terraces.

The Service

Evidently, the staff here shows as much reluctance to leave as the guests….There is virtually no turnover, so employees become very adept at making sure the flowers in your room are always fresh and the Brunello in your wineglass is replenished. Concierge Fausto Allegri -- a 30-year Splendido veteran -- was even named a Knight of the Italian Republic for services to his country. (Though whether hiring a helicopter to scatter 5,000 red roses in the swimming pool for a celeb guest's marriage proposal greatly helped Italy is debatable.)

The Highlights

The mood here is sensually indulgent, with leisurely days that start late with espresso delivered bedside. A little sunbathing and soaking in the heated saltwater pool -- the only hotel pool in Portofino -- is followed by a lunch (of locally caught fish with basil from the hotel grounds) at the Terrazza Restaurant overlooking the picturesque bay. After that, you might board the little shuttle van for the five-minute ride into town for some shopping, returning to the hills in time for a workout and a massage at the Health and Well-Being Center. End it by chartering the hotel's speedboat, which takes parties of eight for jaunts along the coast.

-- Kathleen Beckett

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