Secret Hotels of Sicily

Across Sicily, historic villas and farm estates have been reborn as cozy, family-run hotels and agriturismi, or farmstays, where the food is organic and the people are as warm as the ever-present sun.

CARLENTINI: Tenuta di Roccadia. In 1988, Pietro Vacirca gave up the family clothing business to buy an abandoned 19th-century farm built on the site of a thousand-year-old Cistercian convent. "Finding Roccadia was like finding a beautiful woman," says Pietro. "So I got married--for the second time. First my wife, then Roccadia." Five years later, Pietro opened Tenuta di Roccadia as an agriturismo with horseback riding and hiking trails....

  

Renting an Apartment in Venice

Try the life of a Venetian on for size.

Sometime around day three of an apartment stay in Venice, a transformation occurs. The welcoming 'buon giorno' you've been receiving at the neighborhood cheese shops, butchers, and bakeries grows more enthusiastic, with an obvious trace of recognition...

  

Germany's Castle Hotels: Fairy Tales Do Come True

In Germany, a number of genuine castles--turrets, hidden passages, the whole deal--are more than just romantic backdrops. They're hotels, too. This is a knight that you'll never forget.

Kurfürstliches Amtshaus. Owner Christa Probst is likely to greet Americans with an amazed, "How ever did you find us?" The Eifel region, west of the Rhine and southwest of Bonn, with its rolling farmland and strings of tiny, round lakes filling ancient volcanic craters, is a popular escape among German weekend motorcyclists and countryside trekkers. The closest that foreigners explore is generally the castle-lined Mosel River valley...

  

Secret Hotels of the Amalfi Coast

Reid Bramblett scoured Italy's cliffside villages--and the island of Capri, while he was at it--for million-dollar views at hundred-dollar prices

Locanda Costa Diva, Praiano. Many Amalfi Coast visitors spend their time in the three most famous resort towns--Amalfi, Positano, and Ravello--with little thought of the less-heralded villages in between. Halfway from Positano to Amalfi, Praiano is a nondescript old fishing village with a small beach; it's secluded enough that few tourists hop off at its bus stop. Spilling down the hillside in a series of lush garden terraces and rural structures converted into secluded rooms, the Costa Diva was opened four years ago by the Milo brothers, Pino and Filippo.

Secret Hotels of the Caribbean: Jamaica, Bahamas, and More*

Finding your own affordable but fabulous tropical hideaway

Jake's. Sitting alongside rocky shoals washed by the warm surf of Jamaica's South Coast, Jake's Easter egg-colored guest cottages are funky boutique versions of the Caribbean shack. The two dozen buildings overflow with odd, endearing details that are an exercise in culture-clash chic: Indian minaret-shaped windows, driftwood door frames, glass bottles embedded in plaster walls, Arabian-influenced domes, hammered-tin doors, Mayan-inspired weavings....

* Jamaica coverage.

  

The Secret Hotels of Florence & Venice

Ten hotels in Flornce, ten in Venice, none charging more than $90 for a standard double room

One thing I will never change is our one-star status," declares Roberto Zammattio, owner of Venice's Al Guerrato Hotel. "I prefer to take in a few euros less but still give a bit more to guests; that way everyone is happy." Such is the attitude that makes a Little Wonder Hotel-a personal touch, comfortable beds, and a price tag of less than $90 per room...

  

The Secret Hotels of Rome

Twenty exceptional hotels in the Eternal City for under $80 a night.

True budgeteers will appreciate the irony: The only Rome hotel to rival the five-star Hassler (atop the Spanish Steps) for "Best Room with a View" is Albergo Abruzzi, a backpacker's haven overlooking the incredible 1,800-year-old Pantheon. Few cheap sleeps are so well situated, but among the best of the best, each has its own charms...