House & Garden - Paradise Found

A new breed of luxurious accommodation, wineries and decent restaurants are putting Argentina and Uruguay firmly on the map the traveller in search of comfort, culture and peace. By Mary Lussiana.

The natural wonders of South America, twinned with its enchanting Latin beat, have long attracted visitors, but the continent is increasingly attracting the higher end of the market as a new wave of luxurious accommodation becomes more accessible. There are now direct flights with British Airways to Buenos Aires, for example, which provides the perfect gateway to the rest of the continent. From there, it is a mere hop to barefoot luxury along Uruguay’s famed Atlantic coast – where there has been a recent flurry of design-led boutique hotels opening – or to where the Andes cradle the vineyards of Mendoza, home to new smaller-scale wineries.

Buenos Aires is a vibrant, charming city; home to the tango, best seen at the restaurant Esquina de Carlos Guardel; of late dinners and long siestas; of cafes – try Tortoni’s Cafe, the city’s oldest; and of writers, such as Jorge Luis Borges, who once said, ‘it smacks of fiction the Buenos Aires was ever founded, i  judge here to be as eternal as the sea and wind’. It was founded by the Spanish in the sixteenth century and has, over the centuries, famously become a melting pot of cultures. Head to the elegant tree-lined boulevards of Recoleta where, between the stylish shops, there are two lovely hotels. The Alvear Palace is old-fashioned luxury personified, the best address in BA since it opened in the thirties, but for a recent take on urban chic, check into the cities first ever five-star boutique hotel, Algodon Mansion. It is a gorgeously restored 1912 villa comprising just 10 rooms, a restaurant and roof top plunge pool. The huge marble bathrooms are sumptuous, the bedrooms filled with Frette linens and fresh flowers, creating the peaceful retreat that twenty-first-century travellers yearn for.

And so from the city to the coast, on a path well trodden by the rich and famous, who summer here. Once it was Punta del Este in Uruguay, but as it grew, the cognoscenti moved north to Jose Ignacio. This little fishing village is all crashing waves and golden sands, thatched cottages, and a sign as you enter, ‘Aqui sola corre el viento’ (here it is only the wind that runs). And it certainly has a sleepy feel; the recent addition of Playa Vik, a strikingly modern hotel designed by Uruguay’s leading architect, Carlos Ott, stands out. The main building is all titanium and glass, its interior filled with art by Anselm Kiefer, James Turrell and a sculptural bench by Zaha Hadid. There are four suites here, with remaining accommodation in six two-and three-bedroom, glass walled casas. It is a breathtaking whole, culminating in a cantilevered black-granite swimming pool that juts out over the beach below. Inland its sister hotel, Estancia Vik, which opened in 2009, offers a traditional ranch-like atmosphere. Its 12 rooms are steeped in Uruguayan art, and there are views of huge skies and open landscapes, cows at the waterholes and horses to ride in the fresh dawn air.

Well-known chef Francis Mallmanns latest venture, the Hotel Garzon, is set in the dusty inland village of Garzon. Its five simple but comfortable rooms, and the seriously good restaurant, will no doubt put this far-flung village on the map. It is worth the drive for Mallman’s courgette salad alone but don’t miss his slow-cooked lamb either, and sit, if you can, in the pretty courtyard.

Within sight of the bright lights of Punta del Este is another new, rural paradise. Las Piedras is the first venture outside their own borders for Brazilian hoteliers Fasano, and what an achievement. Architect Isay Weinfeld has created a hotel that vanishes into the magic of the landscape. The swimming pool is fed from a spring-led rock pool; boulders and butterfly-filled shrubs frame its blue waters. The Italian restaurant serves the same sublime menu as its Brazilian siblings and sits high on a rocky promontory above the 20 spacious bungalows that make up the accommodation. Around you, in the undulating pampas, are the hummingbirds and parakeets that gave Uruguay its name, ‘river of the painted birds’.

From the meadows to mountains: nothing prepared me for the beauty of walking up to see the sun rise over the snow-capped Andes. Mendoza is ravishing: the sky an endless blue, the air sharp and clear. Verdant vineyards roll into the foothills of the Andes and amid this beauty lies the Cavas Wine Lodge. It has 14 villas dotted around the rows of grapes, lavender, olives and broom. Each has a plunge pool, rooftop terrace with log fire, stone-floored bedroom, and rock-walled bathroom.

As we sat at the neighbouring Ruca Malen, one of the new-wave of wineries that has so redefined the full-bodied Malbec, with a glass of it in our hands, baking in the sunshine that made the tops of the Andes glisten, i felt i had reached a little corner of paradise.    
 
Mary Lussiana travelled as a guest of Exsus (020 7337 9010; exsus.com), which can organise a similar trip to Buenos Aires, Mendoza and Uruguay, from £3,760 per person, including flights and transfers.