Villa Magalean: a luxury hotel with a spa and a gastronomic wine bar located in one of the most beautiful towns on the Basque coast
Villa Magalean: a luxury hotel with a spa and a gastronomic wine bar located in one of the most beautiful towns on the Basque coast
In Hondarribia, a wonderful fishing village where the blue color of the sea mixes with the reds and greens of the small boats and fishing homes, is the four-star Villa Magalean Hotel & Spa. Its privileged location at the mouth of the Bidasoa River, protected by Mount Jaizkibel and close to the Pyrenees, makes it an unbeatable stop to discover the Basque Country.
Villa Magalean lives up to its name, which comes from the word magal in Basque, meaning “lap, skirt, protection” – and that is the aim of the hotel’s owners and it represents the daily philosophy of Susana Cardarelli, the hotel’s manager who, alongside her team, offers guests the warmth of a large family home combined with hotel services of the highest possible level.
This wonderful eight-room boutique hotel is the dream come true of the Miqueu Brousse family: opened in 2017 in a 1950s Neo-Basque villa, it combines Art Deco and contemporary flair.
The decoration is a journey through the best creative workshops in Europe where know-how and contemporaneity fuse seamlessly. Furthermore, the hotel’s look is the result of a search for traditional objects – witnesses of region’s customs and traditions which have been acquired at auctions and flea markets. The end result is surprising: both sparking thought and comforting guests at the same time. There are pieces of furniture and accessories of various influences: a current style with timeless furniture by Eichholtz (Holland), as well as contemporary, beautiful, restrained, and simple furniture by XVL Collection (Belgium); fabrics by Holland & Sherry (England) featuring fine materials such as wool, linen, and high-quality velvets; exclusive hand-made pieces by C & C Milano (Italy); the timeless and modern fantasy touch of Karman Lights (Italy); and porcelain objects from the dream factory that is Lladró (Spain) and by Haviland (France), one of the last great porcelain houses in Limoges.
Upon entering the villa, we find the Albertine Library, which owes its name to the previous owner and well-known French heroine and intellectual. This is a magical space where guests confess that they reconnect with history, culture, images, and letters thanks to the bookstore where pieces of Basque, Spanish, French, and Anglo-Saxon literature stand out.
The eight rooms, all of which are unique and have a balcony or terrace, offer the highest standards to ensure the client’s wellbeing. Meticulous and elegant decoration, high-end mattresses and pillows, Italian and English textiles, luxurious bathrooms with showers, Italian taps, and double sinks, and all the services of a great hotel.
To complete the stay, it is essential to have a moment of relaxation at the Henriette Cinq Mondes Spa, which owes its name to the first female beautician in Hondarribia and the prestigious French cosmetics firm, which is conceived from a holistic point of view in terms of caring for the body and mind. This is one of the 15 exceptional Spanish hotels associated with the exclusive French brand and its treatments based on dermopuncture, a manual acupuncture technique that does not use needles, having the conviction that the skin is our most vital sensory organ. In addition to these Cinq Mondes treatments are precise therapeutic options offered by the technology of LPG and Indiba® which acts upon the body and face, yielding results from the very first session.
And you cannot visit Hondarribia without enjoying its gastronomy rich in ingredients from the sea and the mountains that are the undisputed protagonists of the region. The hotel’s Mahasti Gastronomic Wine Bar, open to its guests from morning to night, invites visitors to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, experience a gourmet tea time, taste the best gourmet products from our region, and pair them with wines that are both surprising and unforgettable and which can be found in the establishment’s wine cellar – a place where the best wines from the Basque Country rub shoulders with labels from the most renowned wine-growing areas of Spain, as well as Bordeaux Grands Crus and other great wines from around the world.
Villa Magalean Hotel & Spa
Calle Nafarroa Behera 2, Hondarribia.
Tel.: + 34 943 569 130
