Hotel Claude Marbella

A ritzy hideaway with top gourmet cuisine in the prettiest part of Marbella's old town

The latest chic retreat to open in Marbella takes its name from the opera singer Claude Devoize who once lived here. At that time the house was a hub for the local intelligentsia, and the dream of its present owners, Franz and Désirée, was to hear the house ringing to the sound of animated conversation again, and to see it full of happy guests. Right now it certainly is, and their diminutive 7-room hotel - reborn after 5 years of restoration and decoration - has set a new benchmark in the boutique-is-beautiful league of southern Spanish hotels.

The focus of Hotel Claude is a marble-flagged patio where the original columns and wafer-bricked arches, along with a 17th-century well, are juxtaposed by two eye-catching purple pouffes. This same ritzy note is carried throughout the hotel: in the library-cum-drawing room where the feel is one of plush boudoir, in the black-and-white diner where you feast on inspired gourmet cuisine, and in all 7 of the Costa's sexiest bedrooms.

Highs

• A perfect position on a pedestrian street at the heart of Marbella's labyrinthine old town, yards from some of its best bars and restaurants
• Sumptuous bedrooms with every conceivable gizmo
• Don't let the 'grotty Costa' image put you off coming: the old town is pretty with a capital 'P'
• Mouth-watering food magicked up by culinary maestro Tell Wagner, who brings Michelin 3-star credentials
• Franz and Désirée's pride in their hotel is both tangible and justified: its creation was a labour of love for this brother and sister team

Lows

• We could find very little to fault in the hotel: a water tank that gurgles intermittently as you breakfast on the roof terrace, a slight lack of elbow room in the dining room... but now we're quibbling
• Marbella's beaches can get crowded, and the town can feel more international than Andalucian; but as a chic city- and seaside break rolled into one, it's hard to beat
• There's no parking - but there's a car park 2 minutes away