Aire de Bardenas

Deep peace, big views and tons of style at this cool hotel on the edge of a desert

If you like big dramatic landscapes in remote corners of the world, you’ll love it here. This design hotel stands on the edge of the Bardenas Reales National Park. On one side the desert rolls west towards wind-sculpted hills. On the other, wheat fields stretch back towards the medieval town of Tudela. The hotel was built to blend into this deeply rural landscape and when you drop down a track in the middle of nowhere, you’ll think you’ve washed up at a fruit farm. Wind turbines whirl on a distant ridge while the compound itself is encircled by walls of wooden crates. It’s all nicely filmic, though for a moment you'll wonder if you're in the right place.

Soon your confusion is swept away and you’re standing in the cool embrace of this lovely hotel, looking out through big windows onto a sun-drenched courtyard. On the far side you spot what appear to be prefabricated cubes, painted pale olive. Now that you're tuning into the playful industrial design of the hotel, you guess correctly that these are a batch of rather funky rooms. Some gaze into the desert, others open onto private courtyards with vast round bathtubs. Inside, décor is minimalist, almost spartan, but you'll be deeply comfortable. Elsewhere, there’s an extremely productive kitchen garden, a sparkling pool that looks onto the mountains, and a swanky restaurant for delicious Navarre food.

Highs

• A winning location, with the land rolling west under a vast sky. Come here for romance, pure peace and to escape the world for a while
• We loved lolling in the window seat, gazing at the harsh, almost lunar landscape. Rooms with desert views are definitely worth splashing out on
• Exploring the Bardenas Reales National Park - a barren, dusty expanse with sandstone outcrops rising in surrealistic shapes. Hire a bike, take a guided walk, or segway through desert valleys
• The unexpectedly excellent food, most of which comes from the land around you
• The swimming pool - no better retreat in a place of hot sun. Loungers are limited, so bag yours early

Lows

• There isn’t that much to do in the area or in Tudela. You come for this architecturally impressive hotel, and the dramatic landscapes it inhabits; 2 nights is probably enough
• Rooms and meals are quite expensive for a destination some way off the tourist trail, and there's a charge for baby cots, which seems a bit petty
• Service receives very mixed feedback, and only limited English is spoken at reception
• The closest international airport is Bilbao, a 2.5-hour drive away, and you'll need a car to get here and to drive to restaurants for a change of scene (3km away)
• Flies and wasps can be a bit of a problem around the rooms