travelwithattitude.com

England

What impresses most about '22' is the extraordinary level of attention to detail. Suites manage to be both elegant and supremely functional with a dining table for 4, a good working desk, and lighting which adjusts from reading to romance. There's delectable fruit (where do the others find those inedible apples?), a choice of morning paper, and at 5:00 o'clock ice with cocktail fixings. The luxurious bathrobes, slippers, towels and bed linens carry the '22' monogram.

Read more . . . 22 Jermyn Street, London

France

The mas (a traditional house or farm in Provence) is approached down an unpretentious lane just five minutes from Tarascon. In the courtyard, our host, Pierre Valo, warmly welcomed us. He was pleased that his website directions proved effective in helping us find his mas in the orchards.

Read more . . . Le Mas de Comtes de Provence, France

Greece

I arrived earlier than planned at the entrance to the Hotel Grande Bretagne. It was 9:30 a.m. when I entered the lobby. I liked it immediately. Imagine a Five Star Hotel where people actually sit the lobby and talk. It’s so Greek. As I languished in my suite after an unexpectedly frantic tour of the islands, I had the first hunch that this may be my favorite hotel in the world.

Read more . . . Grand Bretagne, Athens

Ireland

Tinakilly Country House is in a meticulously designed new addition which detracts nothing from this Victorian Italianate Manor. On two levels, the spacious dining room allows single diner’s like myself the option of either gazing out at the garden undisturbed or to pretend to gaze out while eavesdropping discreetly. The main topics this evening are golf, the Irish rush hour and Chef Christopher Daly’s rendition of wild Irish salmon.

Read more . . . Tinakilly Restaurant, Rathnew, Ireland

Netherlands

On my way to dinner at Café Roux, I discovered a corner of Amsterdam’s past. Passing under a honey-colored stone arch, I emerged into the courtyard of the once a 15th century convent. Standing on bricks, hundreds of years old, I’m surrounded by a gothic edifice covered with a classical baroque façade addition. The convent now poses as Amsterdam’s Grand Hotel and dinner at Café Roux is just one of her charms.

Read more . . . Cafe Roux, Amsterdam

Italy

Descending ancient stone steps that disappear into the chilly waters of Lago De Como I feel like the subject of a Dante Rossetti Pre-Raphaelite painting. Rain pelts my soft white terry robe as vapor billows from my mouth and nose. I look down to my feet flushed bright pink from cold lake water.

Read more . . . Villa Serbelloni, Lake Como, Italy

Scotland

I had traveled a long way from Edinburgh to Loch Ness, through stormy weather, and bad roads, and finally I had made it to Castle Urquhart, the famed castle seen in so many photos of Loch Ness. This was the sight of many Loch Ness Monster sightings. Traveling with my mother, we couldn’t wait to hike down to the shores of the lake, and check out the castle.

Read more . . . Loch Ness, Scotland

Spain

"Muy tranquillo" says my taxi driver when he hears I’m staying at Hotel Byblos. Shooting past southern Spain’s new toll road and thirty minutes west of Malaga, we turn north towards the Sierra Nevada. The Mediterranean is left behind as we weave between two golf courses. The spring bloom of orange trees sweetens our approach to Costa del Sol’s whitewashed, terracotta-tiled, palm-rimmed Hotel Byblos.

Read more . . . Hotel Byblos, Andalusia, Spain