06Field Notes · Where we put people
The Stays
Five-star houses and the rare exceptions that outperform them — properties we have used, would use again, and in a few cases would build a whole trip around. Judged on whether they work for the way our clients travel, not on the lobby.
A hotel can be extraordinary and still be wrong for the trip. What we look for is narrower than a star rating: can they hold breakfast at seven every morning, will they store six bikes somewhere dry, does the kitchen take a preference sheet seriously, and is there somewhere to sit down at four in the afternoon and do nothing. These are the properties that pass.
Cap RocatMallorca, Spain
SeaRiding baseGolf nearby
A nineteenth-century coastal fortress cut into the cliffs above Cala Blava, and one of the few genuinely dramatic hotels in the Mediterranean that isn’t loud about it. Rooms are carved into the rock. It sits close enough to Palma and the coastal gravel to be practical, and far enough out to feel removed. Ask for a suite on the seaward side.
Gran Hotel Son NetMallorca, Spain
MallorcaInlandGardens
Inland among hills and gardens — warmer and more intimate than the coast, with unhurried off-road riding from the door and long lunches after. The island’s quieter answer.
Castello di ReschioUmbria, Italy
EstateRiding from the doorSpa
A thousand-year-old castle on a 1,500-hectare estate near the Tuscan border, restored over decades by the family that owns it. Vaulted ceilings, reclaimed materials, Andalusian horses, and a bathhouse built into the old cellars around a saltwater pool. The estate itself is the riding — farm tracks and woodland paths straight from the door.
Mandarin Oriental, Lago di ComoBlevio, Italy
LakeWalk-out hikingGolf nearby
On the quieter eastern shore, which matters more than it sounds — you are away from the Cernobbio traffic and can walk uphill into the mountains directly from the property. Suites with private decks that are worth eating on. Boat access to everywhere is the real amenity.
AmaneraPlaya Grande, Dominican Republic
CaribbeanGolf on siteWinter
Built into the jungle on a cliff above a crescent beach, with the ocean in view from essentially everywhere. Bay-view casitas have their own pools and terraces built for spending a whole afternoon on. The golf course below it has ten holes on the Atlantic.
The Fife ArmsBraemar, Scotland
HighlandsArtSporting
A Victorian hunting lodge in the Cairngorms, reimagined by art dealers, and the result is far stranger and better than that sounds. Real art on the walls, real Highland hospitality, and the Cairngorms outside for riding. A top-100 links is within reach.
GleneaglesPerthshire, Scotland
ScotlandGolfEstate
The sporting estate at full scale — and countryside gravel that pairs with the golf instead of competing with it. Movement added to the week without becoming the focus of it.
Aman Rosa Alpina / FORESTISDolomites, Italy
AlpineSeptemberWellness
Two very different readings of alpine luxury, both understated and both tied closely to what’s outside the window. Rosa Alpina sits in the middle of Alta Badia and the riding; FORESTIS is higher, quieter, and more austere. Choose on how much you want to leave the property.
Lefay Resort & Spa DolomitiMadonna di Campiglio, Italy
AlpineSpaMichelin
Contemporary alpine with Brenta Dolomite views and Michelin dining on site. Ask for the penthouse.
Hotel IcaroAlpe di Siusi, Italy
AlpineWalk-outFamily-run
On the meadow itself, which is the entire point — the plateau is out the door at first light, before anyone else is on it. Family-run across three generations.
Hotel SassongherCorvara, Italy
Alta BadiaVillageTraditional
Traditional Alta Badia at the foot of its namesake peak — in the village, walkable to everything, carved wood and old stube rooms.
Ritz-Carlton, Dove MountainTucson, Arizona
DesertGolf on siteWinter
Not boutique, and that’s fine — it does the two things a Sonoran trip needs extremely well. Private casitas that feel separate from the resort, and a Tom Fazio course on site. Desert singletrack is a short transfer in three directions.
The Belden HouseLitchfield, Connecticut
NortheastWeekendClose to home
An early nineteenth-century Federal house steps from the town green, with wide-plank floors and original fireplaces. The closest thing to a proper hotel in our own hills, and the base for a weekend that needs no flights at all.
Winvian FarmMorris, Connecticut
NortheastMicro-adventureFood
Relais & Châteaux in the Litchfield Hills, and the place we send people who want the countryside without a plane. Riding at White Memorial is fifteen minutes away — long gravel roads and mellow doubletrack through protected land.
La RoqqaPorto Ercole, Italy
CoastSummerGolf nearby
Above the harbour on the Argentario coast, and a different Italy from the hill towns — 1960s glamour, mid-century furniture, sea on three sides. The penthouse takes the whole top floor with four terraces.
Bulgari Hotel RomaRome, Italy
CityRooftopBase
Minutes from the landmarks, with a rooftop over the Mausoleum of Augustus. The Roman base when the riding is out of town.
SextantioSanto Stefano di Sessanio, Italy
AbruzzoHistoricSingular
An albergo diffuso spread through a preserved medieval village — stone-walled rooms, candlelight, and standout regional cooking.
Casadonna RealeAbruzzo, Italy
AbruzzoMichelinDestination
Niko Romito’s minimalist mountain retreat, with rooms above the kitchen that made it famous. A destination in its own right.
Airelles Château de la MessardièreSaint-Tropez, France
RivieraApr–JunPrivacy
Above the town with space and privacy, in easy reach of the Riviera before the season lands.
Inara CampAgafay Desert, Morocco
DesertCampMarrakech
A luxury camp in the stone desert an hour from Marrakech — the natural lunch stop on an e-bike day out, or a night under more stars than seems reasonable.
Edson HillStowe, Vermont
VermontDay-trip baseNortheast
Rooms held purely for changing and cleaning up at either end of a riding day — the trick that makes a one-day Vermont trip feel unhurried.
The Burklyn InnNortheast Kingdom, Vermont
VermontKingdom TrailsOvernight
The base for Kingdom Trails — a grand house minutes from the network that made the Northeast a destination.
Mayflower Inn & SpaWashington, Connecticut
NortheastAubergeSpa
The Auberge property twenty minutes from our own hills — the spa-and-lunch half of a Litchfield weekend.
Explora AtacamaSan Pedro de Atacama, Chile
AtacamaGuidedExpedition
Guided desert exploration done properly — routes, guides, and horses in-house, built for people who want the desert itself rather than a pool with a view of it.
Nayara Alto AtacamaSan Pedro de Atacama, Chile
AtacamaDesignQuiet
Blends into the red rock outside town — quieter than Explora, with the same access to the salt flats and canyons.
Rosewood Kauri CliffsNorthland, New Zealand
New ZealandTop-40 golfCoastal
Six thousand coastal acres above the Pacific, a world top-40 course, and native forest walks down to pink sand.
Banyan Tree AlUlaAlUla, Saudi Arabia
DesertCanyonTented
Tented villas set directly inside the canyon terrain — sandstone walls out the window, exploration-led days.
Desert Rock ResortSaudi Arabia
DesertCarvedSingular
Rooms carved into the rock massif itself. The most dramatic address in the region, and it isn’t close.
EsperanzaLos Cabos, Mexico
BajaWinterGolf access
Baja cliffs and private coves on the corridor, with Chileno Bay golf access and January weather that answers a Northeast winter.
Las Ventanas al ParaísoLos Cabos, Mexico
BajaServiceWinter
Old-school Baja service at its most polished — butlers, fire pits on the sand, and the corridor’s best tables.
04Begin
Tell us who’s travelling
and what a good day looks like.
That is genuinely the whole brief. We come back with a shape for the trip — or for the year — within a few days.