Hampshire

Smack bang in the museum-filled Marais, this ivy-clad hotel with a spa and restaurant is a romantic spot for couples.

A refreshing, stylish boutique hotel set in a charming 17th-century building from Spain’s Golden Age on the fabled Plaza Mayor in the heart of Madrid.

In the ultra-luxurious Mayakoba beach complex near Playa, the Fairmont is a super-sized, beachside resort offering back-to-nature stays with full urban comfort.

The Algarve’s ‘Pink Palace’ – the former home of the Viscount of Estoi is now a luxury 5-star hotel, with all mod-cons and a notorious pink rococo facade.

This bewitching artillery fort, built 1502, is now a one-bedroom, 2-room historic hideaway with lovely views across the estuary to Dartmouth Castle.

Boutique and bijou, Naxos Island is the best of the five-stars bunched up around Agios Prokopios.

Warm, inviting and homely B&B that’s a great adventure base, with an affordable price tag.

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The asylum where Van Gogh spent 1888-89 is a masterpiece of Provencal Romanesque, and today specializes, appropriately, in art therapy. His room and reproductions of the paintings he made there are on display, along with temporary exhibitions.