Escondrijo - Boutique Hotel Vejer de la Frontera

[close press window]

	High Jinks El Escondrijo is the perfect micro boutique hotel, with just four spacious Moorish-contemporary suites set around a central patio and winding stairways. ...The hotel is called El Escondrijo (´hidden place´), it´s in the Callejon Oscuro (´dark alley´), and you really couldn´t ask for a more romantic hideaway. [ Full text ]	El Escondrijo is the perfect micro boutique hotel, with just four spacious Moorish-contemporary suites set around a central patio and winding stairways. Room I is a mezzanine apartment with a hammock-chair and its own private terrace; Room III (the exotic ´Red Room´) has a separate sitting room, voile curtains opening onto a dark-red, alcove style bedroom and white stable doors leading to a black-tiled rain shower. The delicious breakfast of fruit, yogurt and honey, toast, eggs and coffee is served in the patio, drinks on the terrace at the top. Other facilities include units in each room with hobs and fridges stocked with wine, beer and fino and a vast collection of CDs, paperbacks and DVDs. If you don´t arrive with a plan of action, Tenette and Nigel will help you put one together. ...The hotel is called El Escondrijo (´hidden place´), it´s in the Callejon Oscuro (´dark alley´), and you really couldn´t ask for a more romantic hideaway. But if you tire of sitting on the terrace, taking in the views across the rooftops and fields to the coast, and wandering the streets of Vejer, with its ninth-century Moorish battlements, the coast is only 10km away. In El Palmar, you can walk for hours along the long, sandy beach and drink sunset Mojitos at the Gran Baba beach bar. [ Return to summary ]
	Hotel Watch This is by far the best small boutique hotel in the area. Opened in June, the centuries-old house has been lovingly restored, maintaining Moorish features and feel but with 21st century swish. With wooden doors, solid shutters, tiled floors, a gallaried internal courtyard and views of North Africa from the roof terrace, it has irresistible impact. [ Full text ]	The location Hidden within the maze of Vejer's quiet cobbled streets, in the heart of one of Andalusia's pretty whitewashed hilltowns. It's an ideal base: 10 minutes' drive from a lengthy stretch of wild beach, a day trip away from Cadiz and Seville and a one-hour journey from Jerez international airport. The draw This is by far the best small boutique hotel in the area. Opened in June, the centuries-old house has been lovingly restored, maintaining Moorish features and feel but with 21st century swish. With wooden doors, solid shutters, tiled floors, a gallaried internal courtyard and views of North Africa from the roof terrace, it has irresistible impact. The drawbacks The shared breakfast table could be bigger - some people aren't designed for morning smalltalk. The other guests All nationalities - and mainly couples. The rooms Four, with individual design and layout. All have luxurious beds, huge showers, CD players and music library. Try Number 3, the "romance" room,which has a colonial-style lounge area, high ceilings and a gorgeous bedroom painted deep burgundy, with sexy lighting. Two rooms have their own private terrace. The service Warm,easy-going and just right. The food Breakfast only - but it is superb. There's a fridge, well stocked bar, and snack-making facilities in each room. Barbecues on the terrace are organised on request. There are dozens of restaurants in the old town. The best is El Jardin del Califa, serving mouth-watering Moroccan cuisine in an intimate garden illuminated by candlelight (booking essential). [ Return to summary ]
	Love nests for a last summer fling Tenette Ludlow and her partner, Nigel Anderson, are two British refugees from urban servitude who brought this former chapel back from the dead last year. They have made something that, depending on how you look at it, is either a tiny, intimate and quite stunning boutique hotel or a private home with four rooms set aside for paying guests. And that is the great thing about it. For as long as you are in Vejer - a month or just a night - this is your home. And it's not some shonky self-catering duplex with a view of the petrol station; it is a dream of the Spanish Golden Age. [ Full text on the Observer website ]
	My Kind of Town: Vejer by Tim Hart Where is the best place to stay? The Hotel Escondrijo on Callejón Oscuro, which is a small boutique hotel, five minutes from the main square. It's owned and run by a charming English couple, Tenette Ludlow and Nigel Anderson. You'll never feel crowded as there are only four rooms/suites, and these are comfortable, stylish and, at around £68 per night, ridiculously cheap. Our favourite, Room IV, has its own roof terrace. [ Full text on Telegraph website ]
	Giles Coren for Mr and Mrs Smith ...like going to stay with one’s very posh Andalusian friends – except that if it belonged to one’s posh Andalusian friends it would probably still be falling down. [ Full review on Mr and Mrs Smith website ]
	i-escape.com Boutique B&Bs, or micro hotels, are beginning to mushroom across Europe. Escondrijo almost defines the type. Its cool interiors, easy intimacy and fabulous prices make this a perfect place, and those looking for something hip and informal will be in heaven here. Step in off the cobbled alleyway and you find all the original architectural gems: the old stone steps, the ancient wooden doors, a 12th-century well and an open courtyard with cloistered walkways. The clean contemporary style, however, is distinctly 21st-century. You get candles on the stairs, loungers on the roof terrace, scatter cushions in the chill-out room, bold colours on the walls. The four blissful rooms are faultless. Two have private terraces with 20-mile views, one comes in opulent red, another has a woodburner. You’ll find CDs and books everywhere, French windows open to the breeze, barbecues on the roof terrace in summer. There’s Duna the dog and Remo the cat, too. Brilliant.
	Alistair Sawday´s Special Places To Stay Vejer is one of Andalucia's most alluring little towns and Escondrijo a most beguiling place to stay. Nigel and Netty spent 18 months restoring it all before opening in 2004, and it's been delightfully done - a vivid, unusual blend of traditional and top-spec contemporary. [ Full text ]	Alistair Sawday´s Special Places To Stay Even here - down a backstreet of whitewashed houses - you can smell the sea. Vejer is one of Andalucia's most alluring little towns and Escondrijo a most beguiling place to stay. It´s in the old quarter - the fashionable part of town in the 1800s - and was built on the site of a church destroyed in the 1776 earthquake. Bits of that old church, cleverly incorporated,make attractive features and infuse the patio bar with history: an arch here,a stained-glass window there, a little niche... Nigel and Netty spent 18 months restoring it all before opening in 2004, and it's been delightfully done - a vivid, unusual blend of traditional and top-spec contemporary. A maximum of eight guests ensures a friendly atmosphere and there´s no sense of overcrowding. Nigel and Netty are young, easy, sophisticated hosts who gladly share their collection of 400 CDs, and there´s broadband internet and TV. Three of the generous bedrooms have their own kitchen areas, two have private terraces with stunning views over the rooftops to the mountains, all have excellent bathrooms. Ravishing beaches are close by. [ Return to summary ]
	Travel Intelligence ...a sexy little boutique hotel of sleek, stylish, contemporary ways, cut with jewel-like tiles and lush fabrics. The bottom of the house is the traditional open patio which serves as public space, with a deliciously cushioned cave of a tv room, an honesty bar and a little internet work station. There’s more public space at the top of the house on a rooftop terrace, complete with sleek loungers and the views for which Vejer is justly famous. Plenty of thought (and not a little cash) has gone into the restructuring of Escondrijo’s rooms. There are just four of them and each is different, though they share lofty spaciousness, charming original features (beams, stonework) and contemporary, comfortable furnishings.
	TimeOut: Andalucia Escondrijo is another recently opened and highly classy place, constructed from the remains of an old chapel. It also has four stylish, characterful rooms, two with private terraces and all with stereos. There's a main sun terrace, guest bar, movie lounge, and internet access too.

Please note: we are taking a sabbatical and will not open as normal this year.