The six houses here are gathered because the building is the reason to go: a palace kept through its conversion, a family home turned into a small hotel, a modern house made from handmade brick, a mid-century block on the rocks. Entries describe what stands there and what is worth asking before arrival.
Setting. Il Sereno stands directly on the eastern shore of Lake Como at Torno, a village north of the city of Como. The house was built new on a lakeside site and its rooms face the water across terraces that step down toward a landing stage. Boats come to the property from the water, and the road runs behind it against the hillside.
Building. The building is modern, with stone, wood and glass carried through the public rooms and long horizontal terraces on each level. Planted walls run across parts of the facade. Inside there is a restaurant facing the lake, a bar, a library room and a pool set on the terrace above the water. Interiors were designed as one scheme rather than assembled over time.
Ahead. The house runs a season rather than the full year, and the closing months differ from year to year. Arrival by water and use of the landing stage are arranged with the hotel in advance. Restaurant service is open to outside guests at some times and not others, which is worth confirming.
Category Art Hotels
Location Torno, Lake Como, Italy
Checked May 2030
Palácio Ludovice
Lisbon, Portugal
Setting. Palácio Ludovice occupies an eighteenth-century palace on a steep street in Bairro Alto, in the centre of Lisbon. The house was built for the architect and goldsmith whose name it carries, and it was converted to a hotel after a long restoration. Its front is on the street, while the rooms behind open toward a garden on the slope.
Building. Original decorative work survives in parts of the building: tiled panels, painted ceilings and stone doorways were kept and repaired during the conversion. Rooms differ in shape and size because the plan of the old palace was retained. Public rooms include a restaurant, a bar, a garden terrace on the hillside and a small pool set among the terraces.
Ahead. No two rooms in a converted palace are alike, so anyone with a preference for outlook, stairs or quiet should raise it in writing. The garden and terrace are open according to weather and season. Access on the surrounding streets is steep, and arrival by car needs arranging with the house.
Category Art Hotels
Location Lisbon, Portugal
Checked May 2030
Casa Legado
Santiago, Chile
Setting. Casa Legado is a family house in Providencia, a residential district of Santiago, that was converted into a small hotel by the family that owned it. The building sits on a quiet street among houses and trees rather than in the business centre. Its scale is domestic, and the number of rooms is small.
Building. The house keeps its original plan: sitting rooms, a dining room and a library on the ground floor, bedrooms above, and a garden behind. Furniture, books and objects from the family remain in place through the public rooms, and each bedroom is named and arranged differently. Breakfast is served in the dining room or in the garden.
Ahead. A house of this size fills quickly, so it is worth writing well ahead. Room differences are real here, so it helps to describe what is wanted rather than accept whatever is free. Meals beyond breakfast, and use of the sitting rooms by outside visitors, are arranged with the owners.
Category Art Hotels
Location Santiago, Chile
Checked May 2030
Casa Malca
Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Setting. Casa Malca stands on the beach road south of Tulum, on the stretch between the town and the biosphere reserve. The house faces the sea directly, with sand on one side and jungle behind. It was opened by an art dealer, and the collection he assembled is hung and placed throughout the building rather than kept in one room.
Building. Works are set in the corridors, the stairwells, the restaurant and the outdoor spaces, so the collection is met in passing rather than visited. Rooms are divided between the original house and later beachfront buildings, and their outlooks differ accordingly. The property keeps restaurants, a bar, pools and a stretch of beach with shade.
Ahead. Which building a room sits in changes the experience considerably, and this is worth settling in writing. Parts of the collection move and are rehung, so nothing on display should be assumed permanent. Road conditions and seaweed on this coast vary by season, and the house is the source to ask.
Category Art Hotels
Location Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Checked May 2030
Katamama
Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Setting. Katamama is set back from Petitenget beach in Seminyak, on the southern coast of Bali, behind a wall of brick. The building was made from bricks pressed and fired by hand, laid in patterned courses that run through the walls and screens. It stands beside a well-known beach club under the same ownership, but the hotel itself is a separate building.
Building. The plan is arranged around courtyards and planted corridors, so guests move between rooms under open sky. Suites have their own terraces or balconies, and interiors use Indonesian textiles, timber and stone chosen and made for the house. A restaurant, a bar and a pool sit within the walls, with the beach a short walk away.
Ahead. The tropical climate here has clear wet and dry periods that affect the courtyards and the pool. Anyone wanting a particular outlook or a ground-floor terrace should ask before arrival. Arrangements with the neighbouring beach club are set by the hotel and change from time to time.
Category Art Hotels
Location Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Checked May 2030
Hôtel Les Roches Rouges
Saint-Raphaël, Var, France
Setting. Hôtel Les Roches Rouges sits on the rocky coast between Saint-Raphaël and Agay, on the corniche road that follows the red porphyry cliffs of the Esterel. The building dates from the middle of the last century and was reworked rather than replaced. The sea is directly below, reached over the rock rather than across sand.
Building. The renovation kept the long low form of the original hotel and stripped the interiors back to plain finishes, concrete and simple furniture. Rooms face the water on the sea side and the hillside behind on the other. A seawater pool is cut into the rock at the shore, and the hotel keeps a restaurant, a bar and terraces above the water.
Ahead. The house runs a coastal season and closes for part of the year. Sea-facing and hill-facing rooms differ plainly, so the outlook is worth naming when writing. Access to the rocks and the seawater pool depends on conditions, and the hotel is the source for that.
Category Art Hotels
Location Saint-Raphaël, Var, France
Checked May 2030
Before you rely on this
The Room Index is independent and for reference only. Details come from published sources, and houses of this kind rehang, refit and close for part of the year. Room differences inside converted buildings are real. This site is not connected with any hotel named, sells nothing, takes no bookings, and every detail should be confirmed with the house directly.
