Hospes Las Casas del Rey de Baeza, Seville, Spain

The Casas del Rey de Baeza is unique in Seville as it is the only boutique hotel which has broken away from traditional Spanish style to embrace the modern designer feel. Although the impressive façade is typical in its white walls with yellow trim and brimming flowerpots, you enter into a cool slate-blue & white oasis once you step inside the front door.

The facilities
The grey-blue wooden beams and rattan window coverings create something of a breezy seaside feel on the interior patios. These patios create welcome pools of calm as you sit in the shade of the riotous banana plants. Inside, the library and sitting room have an air of a top-class safari lodge, with squishy brown leather armchairs, Zulu paintings, tall cacti and birds in an antique cage. There is also a stylish restaurant with low lighting, modern art on the walls, good food and an adjoining leafy terrace.

There is an elevator for those with weary legs, which rises up to the last and best surprise of all – a rooftop pool and terrace, where you can make the most of this central but quiet neighbourhood which seems miraculously devoid of the constant noise prevalent everywhere else in Seville.

The rooms
The stylish bedrooms are on the upper floor, leading off the two foliage lined patios. Décor is sleek contemporary with neutral fabrics offset against dark brown leather and wood. The walls are lined with modern art and each room contains DVD libraries and flatscreen TVs. Sliding doors of frosted glass lead through to the decadent slate and marble bathrooms.