The Place
Too big to include in the guide but too distinctive to leave out, the Aigua Blava is a holiday village with a difference – a collection of delightful annexes among shady, pine-covered cliffs and flowered terraces, set round a tiny fishing harbour and beach, the whole arrangement is the opus of multi-lingual ex-swimming champion, Xiquet Sabater – a man whose life history would defy belief if it were not confirmed in the Spanish Who’s Who?
The complex provides everything you need, even a boutique complete with genuine French assistance. Each room has individual style, ranging from summerhouse brightness in some annexes to the more formal bedrooms in the main hotel. Even the least inspiring are immaculate, and the sea views are out of this world. Guests who reserve a table in the pleasant restaurant are rewarded with a feast of a four-course meal, with plenty of choice and desserts ranging from the holy to the sinful.
This area has always been Xiquet’s home, and he wants his guests to feel the same warmth as if it were theirs, too. If the four generations who come back to this Mediterranean idyll year after year (making early booking essential) are any guide, he succeeds – with abundant help from his cheerful staff.