Wake up, dive in

Château de la Baie, Côte d’Azur, France

5 bedrooms | Sleeps 10

There are some wonderful turn-of-the-century postcards of Plages des Sablettes that show the terracotta turret of the château peeking out from above the pine trees. The view has hardly changed over the ensuing years. The architect Lucien Gassier was a great adventurer and his extensive travels in Indochina were reflected here, basing the shape of the building on a pagoda, perching a trio of dragons like gargoyles on the roof, even painting the shutters turquoise instead of a more traditional provençal duck egg. This grande dame has a spring in her step. The interiors are bang up to date, crisp and clean lined. The five bedrooms, some opening onto their own balcony, some out to the gardens, are spread across the first floor and also on the lower ground floor. All are elegant and unfussy, with neutral colours, and perhaps the occasional flash of blue. There is plenty of space here for everyone to find their corner, with a huge open sitting room, a media room, a games room with billiards table, and a cinema room. But this is a house for outdoor living, first and foremost. Tall windows all point out over the indigo infinity pool and pristinely manicured grounds, to the horizon blast of the Mediterranean just beyond. A steep path leads to a little ladder for anyone wanting to plunge straight into the sea. Or a gentler route can be taken by walking to the gorgeous sandy bay, only two minutes away. A holiday hotspot perfectly embodying the French concept of les pieds dans l'eau.

Le Chateau des Calanques, Côte d’Azur, France

11 bedrooms | Sleeps 22

The domaine is incredibly pretty, and prettiest of all towards the end of the day when, at sunset, the whole of the west-facing house glows like a peach as the last rays reach in through the windows and wash the white walls pink and orange. And when night falls the lights of Cassis begin to twinkle, with the inky protected darkness of the Calanques National Park behind. It is a magical spot. Winston Churchill painted these very same views many times when he visited what was then the Revestel Hotel. The manoir has now been refurbished to the nines but that feeling of its history and charm pervades. Architecturally it’s about scale; everything is high and wide and deep, to compete with the dramatic seascape. A cathedral-like double storey glass addition to the sitting room floods the inside with sunshine. There are 11 bedrooms, spread between the main house and an annexe, where soft linen curtains ruffle in the warm breeze. Best, of course, is the master suite, which takes up the entire second floor and looks out to wraparound blues from both the bed and the bathtub. This is a place to fill with friends and family and have fun in – backgammon tournaments by the swimming pool, boules in the shade of ancient pines, movie nights in the cinema room and long lazy dinners under the stars on the huge terrace, while the waves crash on the shore below.

La Fossette, Côte d’Azur, France

8 bedrooms | Sleeps 12+3

This is one of those villas that people tend to spot from a boat and immediately want to google to see how they can rent it for themselves. It sits on its own little peninsula with the sea on three sides, seemingly away from it all. But despite the isolated feel, there is no driving for hours on a bumpy track to get here. Instead, La Fossette is just around the coast road from the pretty village of Le Lavandou. The setting has the perfect balance. There are unobstructed Mediterranean views everywhere you look, including from each of the equally lovely eight bedrooms. Vivid green lawns tumble to the water, flower beds are filled with blousy clouds of trailing daisies, cicadas roar. The swimming pool, down a set of organically craggy stone steps, feels like a raft adrift in the middle of the sea. Inside, it mainlines nostalgic South of France retro charm with fabulous tomette terracotta tiles on the floors, contemporary art and crumpled linen sofas – it’s a house that is very much a home. There is delicious peace and quiet for snoozing in hammocks or basking in the sun like lizards. But for those wanting to dip into the action, to feast on plates of tuna tartare and glasses of icy cold rosé, to lie with their toes in the surf, to listen to the beach club chatter and hum, it’s all there too, a quick trip along a private path.

 Palazzo Osa, Tuscany, Italy

10 bedrooms | Sleeps 20

This is the other side to Tuscany. Instead of the rolling honey-coloured hills of the interior, here are long dune-backed beaches and flamingo-filled lagoons, rocky coves and mystical islands on the horizon. Palazzo Osa delivers a particularly grand slice of it. The former convent, which dates back to 1730, is anything but austere. After decades as the holiday home of the Zampolli family, it has been gloriously kitted out, dressed from top-to-toe with tasteful antiques and an eclectic mix of art. Original beamed ceilings and time-worn tiled floors are brought up to date and softened with deep sofas and contemporary lighting. There are shuttered windows and arched doorways, but also excellent mattresses in the 10 bedrooms and charmingly modernised bathrooms. It still feels classic but, crucially, comfortable too. Fireplaces crackle to life on cooler evenings. In the morning, there are eggs fresh from the chickens that peck and roam about. Thick-cushioned tomato-red outdoor chairs are set out between the palm trees for aperitivos, a striped cloth is thrown over the long table for lunches of vegetables just plucked from the gardens, and by the swimming pool, beds line up beside the edge, pointing out to the Tyrrhenian waterfront. Somewhere to slow down and switch off.

 Villa Astor, Amalfi Coast, Italy

6 bedrooms | Sleeps 12

Everything at Villa Astor is full-tilt – the eye-popping views that take in Mount Vesuvius, the rich history of the house with its ruins dating to the 1st century A.D., the spot-on standards of service, the undeniable seriousness of the style. Less is not more here. Instead, revered French designer Jacques Garcia has leant fully into the sumptuous backstory of the place. Marble columns tower in the grand salon, ancient busts, urns and pottery look out from the corners. Such is the importance of the 150-plus pieces of museum-worthy artefacts throughout, the Ministry of Culture has granted them special protection. There are six bedrooms where hand-painted frescoes are inspired by Pompeiian motifs, and it's no less imposing in the bathrooms where long soaks can be taken in tubs hewn from single slabs of marble and teeth brushed at lion-claw-footed basins with gilded taps. The detailing is phenomenal. Not to be outdone outside, the swimming pool is set within fragrant botanical gardens rated amongst the ten most beautiful in Italy, and the terraces have hosted everyone from Princess Margaret to Rudolf Nureyev for sundowners. A series of steps leads all the way down to a natural saltwater grotto, and there is also direct access to the sea from a jetty. Just don’t forget to dry off before you flop into an Empire armchair in the Grand Salon. A turbo-smart Roman holiday on all levels.

 Villa Stella di Praiano, Amalfi Coast, Italy

8+1 bedrooms | Sleeps 16+2

This is how the old guard used to do the Amalfi Coast – forgetting the crowds and surveying the scene instead from a glorious ivory tower. Villa Stella di Praiano is a dreamy vantage point with balconies and arched windows all framing the backdrop of the Mediterranean. It is set up to never take the eye away from the view. Gardens, filled with lemon and fig trees, are carved out of the rocks. Nooks with a hot tub, or a table for two, or a pair of sun loungers are dotted around. In one corner there is a massage bed set up in the shade of a muslin-curtained pergola. On the main level, a huge olive tree hangs over the dining area. It is the most picturesque panoramic outdoor living. The house itself has an almost monastic simplicity which is incredibly elegant – white-on-white walls, tiled floors, carefully chosen antiques – the only pop of colour comes from the uninterrupted swatch of sea blue on the horizon. It may be an impressive place to stay but it also has no airs and graces. Beyond the terraces, the land falls away steeply, with steps leading down, down, down, all the way to water where striped umbrellas dot the rocky sunbathing platforms and La Gavitella restaurant is good for a bowl of its specialty squid and potato stew.

 Villa Breeze, Crete, Greece

12 bedrooms | Sleeps 24+4

Villas in Crete tend to be clustered together near the popular hotspots, which is why this new house is a great find – a feet-in-the-sand address that feels adventurous and out-there in a remote corner. In reality the bolthole on the south coast is only 75 minutes from Heraklion; it just happens to be a thrillingly unspoilt and secluded spot to hide out in. No other buildings are in sight, just the rocky hills to either side and a wide-eyed stretch of the Mediterranean, all the way to North Africa. With 12 bedrooms to fill, there is no need to leave the compound. The look is all low-slung simplicity with three traditional style stone buildings strung together between covered dining areas, sunset-facing outdoor sitting rooms and a swimming pool with water the same turquoise as the sea beyond. Laid-back island vibes run throughout, polished concrete and grey linens adding a smart edge. The set-up is easy-breezy and the design has really considered how everyone will move around. The beach just below the pool rarely sees another soul so it is all yours for kayaking and paddleboarding, snorkelling and skinny dipping. And there’s a lo-fi barbecue and set of benches on the shore too for quickly whipped up, starlit suppers.

 Simeroma, Crete, Greece

8 bedrooms | Sleeps 12+4

As you pull into the driveway, or step out onto one of the terraces, or walk around the edge of the swimming pool, or draw back the curtains in the morning, it’s clear that everything at Simeroma is really all about the wide magic of the open sea. The fact that the house is such a refined retreat seems like an added bonus. There are beautiful gardens, there is a boules pitch as well as a croquet lawn, and down a set of stone steps there is even a little private Greek Orthodox chapel. But you can’t get away from the water, as it hooks the attention of anyone looking out of a window, or peering past the top of their book, or over someone’s shoulder at lunch. The buzzy restaurants and bars of Elounda may be nearby but this spot feels practically on its own island, surrounded by the Mediterranean. Inside while the architecture leans firmly towards elevated grandeur, it is actually a brilliantly liveable space, very much a family home. Calm, elegant bedrooms run across the lower ground floor (closest to the pool for a few laps first thing) and the first floor (with a glorious soft breeze blowing through). There’s also a separate two-bedroom cottage by the tennis court. A fresh spin on a classic Cretan villa.

 Villa Agua, Corfu, Greece

4 bedrooms | Sleeps 8

It is hardly as if this part of the north-east of Corfu is lacking in beautiful villas and, yet, here is one that has hit it out of the ballpark. The estate, which is made up of three other houses that can be rented all together or individually, opened in 2021 and already it has rooted itself elegantly into the landscape. It may be only five minutes from the buzzing fishing village of Kassiopi but the feel of the place is far removed and private. Of the four stone-clad buildings, Villa Agua sits right at the front of the grounds in the most knockout setting, just above the shoreline. Its spaces have been designed for lingering, for languid lazy breakfasts as the tendrils of heat reach out into the day and for nights on the terrace under the deep navy sky.

Inside the bedrooms are simple but polished, pretty ticking stripe curtains jollying up the all-whites, and each of them has sea views and swimming pool views too. The pool gets its own billing for packing such a punch: 40 metres long, infinity-edged and unashamedly over-sized. A submerged seating area on the far side of the water is probably the best wallowing spot on the island, closely followed by the floating jetty in the sea and a tucked-away secret sliver of beach.

 Soukia Cove, Corfu, Greece

8 bedrooms | Sleeps 16

It’s so effortlessly lovely here. Smart but not a precious be-on-your-best-behaviour type place. Designed for noise, for children clattering around, as well as cleverly feeling like a grown-up and spoiling holiday house at the same time. Terracotta-walled Soukia Cove is a supremely well-pitched home-from-home, where repeat guests earmark next summer’s dates before they’ve even unpacked their bags. It could be the help-yourself wall of books to delve into in the triple-aspect sitting room, or the shelves of CDs to flick through, or the sofas to flop onto, indoor and out, that makes it so easy to settle in. Or the cook’s dream of a kitchen, bright and airy, filled with every piece of kit imaginable, and a blissful setting in which to whip up a Greek salad while watching the team larking about in the infinity pool. With eight bedrooms, it’s great for two or three families coming to mess in together or, because they are all en-suite and tip-top, a gathering of 16 friends. At night the moon winks in the water’s reflection below and the sound of the waves nudging the shore is hypnotic. The house is a short walk from local restaurants and Kassiopi is reachable on foot too, which is game-changing in terms of getting everyone to and fro, and the teens back again before the sun starts to rise over Albania across the water.

 Villa Vida, Corfu, Greece

7 bedrooms | Sleeps 14

Bounding onto the scene five years ago, Villa Vida was a funky modern addition to this stretch of the east coast of Corfu. The water here is an arresting neon blue and so it made total sense to focus the estate around the sea. The two houses, one with four bedrooms and the other with three, work together symbiotically so that there is plenty of space for everyone, but equally an impression of connection and togetherness. The design majors on natural stone and glass everywhere it could possibly go. Clean lines and sleek styling clearly rule. Lunch at the long table on the huge wraparound deck feels like being on the bow of an ocean liner, surrounded by the Ionian. And a gentle salty breeze seems to always blow. A big infinity pool sits between the pair of villas, banana and olive trees flourish in the lush gardens and there’s a private pebbly bay below with sunbeds lined up in the shade and on the bobbing dock. There’s even a beach bar down there for post swim refreshers. Everywhere you might like to sit and take in that watery view, you’ll find a gathering of sofas or some deep armchairs, ready for contemplation or conversation. The whole place is incredibly well considered.

 Cala Mijas Beach Villa, Andalucia, Spain

5 bedrooms | Sleeps 10

This radically bold beautiful building is right on La Cala beach, a wide sweep of buttery sand 20 minutes’ drive from Marbella. It’s an enviable setting. The wooden boardwalk that edges the end of the lawn is a completed part of the Málaga Coastal Path, running 7km from La Cala de Mijas to the port in Cabopino. Promenading along is a national Spanish pastime: walking, buggy-pushing, roller-skating, cycling; passing seafront cafés and dunes, rocky outcrops and small rivers. It’s a snappy way to get under the skin of the area. The five-bedroomed villa has a prime location, close enough to the buzz and the restaurants, but set back behind gates for privacy. Inside things are slick and bright, coffee-table-book modern but not starkly so. Glass is the mainstay of the design so that views out to the water are maximised at every point possible. A stay here can be active with early morning dips in the sea or laps in the saltwater swimming pool, mats rolled out on the grass for yoga or powering on the NordicTrack machines in the lower garden. Or it can be restful, slow-paced strolls, chiringuito lunches, dolphin-spotting from the rooftop terrace and watching the world go by.

 Pedra d'Or, Majorca, Spain

5 bedrooms | Sleeps 8+2

For all the charm of Deia and Port de Sóller, it’s worth remembering that the beaches on the east side of Majorca are so much better. The sea is the pin-up – mesmerising, iridescent, often flat as a pancake and warm as a bath. And the sand can be that kind of white, flour-soft stuff that makes your heart soar. Pedra d’Or, at the edge of Porto Petro Bay, is in what feels like an undiscovered corner, a spit of land with only private houses on it, jutting out of the coastline. Staying here, surrounded by water, is to stumble across a Majorca of old. The traditional low-rise villa is hunkered down in a palm-filled garden. Its neighbours are a 17th-century watchtower and a lighthouse. It is the opposite of sceney, and delightful for it. Three bedrooms in the main house and two more in the annexe means that it works well for those with older children or family members who might want their own space. The communal spaces, all chunky solid stone, are flooded with natural light from wide picture windows. There’s a swimming pool that looks back into the bay, great for watching the fishing boats and small yachts sail in. And a ladder leads down directly from the rocks into the sea – bring jelly shoes. For a dip on sandy shores, the tiny crescent-moon of Caló de sa Torre is a minute’s walk away. Walk a little further and find cove after sandy cove.

 Lopud 1483, Dalmatian Coast, Croatia

5 bedrooms | Sleeps 10

It takes unparalleled vision to take a ruined 15th-century Franciscan monastery and imagine it as a contemporary place to stay. Fortunately, Swiss art collector Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza had the mettle for the task and 25 years after she first visited the tiny car-free island of Lopud, on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, her villa Lopud 1483 opened its doors to guests. The feel of the place is deeply restorative – there was an ancient pharmacy discovered on site and a medicinal garden has now been planted with 80 different species of healing flora. While the original cloisters still stand, the cells have been transformed into five thoroughly modern bedroom suites. Scattered throughout are priceless antiques and artefacts collected by Francesca’s father, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. That is the thrill of the design, the cusp where ancient and present meet, like the tapestry from the 1400s hanging opposite a current-day artwork by German photographer Thomas Struth. Breakfast can be laid out in the shade of the gnarled old olive trees, or lunch in an inner courtyard. Afternoons can be spent paddleboarding from the stone jetty, or walking barefoot around the lawns, visiting the chickens, or cycling across the island for a swim at Šunj Beach. A week here delivers downtime and thinking space, the pace as slow as the renovation.