HOSTAL DE LA GAVINA
S'Agaró, Gerona; 011-34/972-321-100, lagavina.com. Rooms: $212-$357. Suites: $278-$969.
On a bluff over the sea, this grand Spanish villa is a fifty-six-room, seventeen-suite retreat fit for royalty (indeed, King Juan Carlos has been a guest). Marble and crystal are ubiquitous; some walls are literally laden with gold and silk.
MAS DE TORRENT
Torrent, Gerona; 011-34/972-303-292, mastorrent.com. Rooms: $309-$425. Suites: $358-$668.
The best home base from which to launch your expedition of the Costa Brava courses, this family-friendly Relais & Châteaux property, created from a 1751 farmhouse, is comfortable without being fussy. The newer suites may lack the charm of rooms in the main house, but they do feature private heated pools.
COSTA DEL SOL
NH ALMENARA GOLF & SPA
San Roque, Cádiz; 011-34/956-582-000, nhalmenara.com. Rooms: $190-$272. Suites: $278-$634.
In the hills above Sotogrande, Almenara looks out on its own fine twenty-seven-hole course. Many of the spacious rooms and suites also overlook the Mediterranean, and an on-site kid's club called La Iguana offers plenty of ways to keep the little ones amused.
THE SAN ROQUE CLUB
San Roque, Cádiz; 011-34/956-613-030, sanroqueclub.com. Rooms: $246-$287. Suites: $301-$431.
The best place to stay to play Valderrama and Sotogrande, the San Roque Club is built around a magnificent old sherry dynasty-family mansion. Its fifty rooms and fifty hacienda-style suites are ideal for families or groups of friends.
SOFITEL LAS DUNAS BEACH HOTEL & SPA
Marbella-Estepona, Málaga; 011-34/952-794-345, las-dunas.com. Rooms: $180-$355. Suites: $370-$1,960.
With a more exclusive feel than the famed but timeworn Marbella Club nearby, Las Dunas lavishes its guests with spectacular aesthetics: Gardens, fountains, pools, trompe l'oeil murals and luxurious suites with oversize tubs and showers are but a few of its charms.
A revolution is underway in Spanish cuisine. While grand old restaurants still serve traditional Castillan and Catalan fare, creative young Spanish chefs are introducing savory new spins to the world.
COSTA BRAVA
CAL PEP
(Catalan) Barcelona; 011-34/933-101-961. $$
This bustling joint is the place to sample botifarra amb foie al oporto (white pork sausage with foie gras and port wine served over white beans). As fabulous of a tapas bar as you're likely to find anywhere.
EL BULLI
(Indescribable) Roses, Gerona; 011-34/972-150-457. $$$$
Call now to have any chance to secure a table at what some call the world's finest restaurant. Over the span of more than fifteen courses, chef Ferran AdriÀ shatters every culinary expectation with Willy Wonka-esque foams, glazes, melts and mists.
RESTAURANT SANT PAU
(Eclectic) Sant Pol de Mar, Barcelona; 011-34/937-600-662. $$$$
Carmen Ruscalleda, Spain's leading female chef, serves exquisite vegetable and seafood creations in a lovely garden overlooking the sea twenty-eight miles north of Barcelona.
SIETE PUERTAS
(Catalan seafood) Barcelona; 011-34/933-193-033. $$$
Enjoy traditional fish stews and seafood paella amid boisterous tables of Barcelona lawyers and financiers on very long lunch breaks.
TORRE DEL REMEI
(New Catalan) Bolvir de Cerdanya, Gerona; 011-34/972-140-182. $$$$
In an impossibly beautiful 1910 hotel, a former mansion, chef Josep-María Boix brings a modernist touch to traditional Catalan dishes like black-footed Ibérico ham.
COSTA DEL SOL
LA HACIENDA
(Mediterranean) Marbella, Málaga; 011-34/952-831-267. $$$
A remodeled villa with mountain and sea views, La Hacienda earns high marks (and prices) for Andalucían dishes with a French touch. The iced soufflé dessert is worth the transatlantic flight.
TABERNA DEL ALABARDERO
(Eclectic) Sevilla; 011-34/954-560-637. $$$
Featuring lamb, fish and pork prepared with haute cuisine flair, the Taberna is part of a well-known cooking school. It also has a branch in Washington, D.C., for those who prefer politics over pleasure.
TRAGABUCHES
(Andalucían) Ronda, Málaga. 011-34/952-190-921 $$$$
Tragabuches chef Dani García is noted for his wild departures from traditional Andalucían specialties, such as cherry gazpacho garnished with "cheese snow" and a "backdrop accent of anchovies." A culinary gem worth the thirty-five-minute drive from Marbella.
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