Category: General

In partnership with Turespaña 

From the Renaissance palaces of Andalusia to the avant-garde ateliers of Barcelona, Spain has long known how to do luxury with soul. Here, centuries-old craftsmanship and cutting-edge creativity sit side by side, but ensuring this rich duality remains for centuries falls to the responsibility of Círculo Fortuny.

As Spain’s foremost alliance of cultural excellence, Círculo Fortuny exists to protect and promote authentic, heritage crafts and Spanish creativity. Founded as a non-profit to unite and amplify the voices of the country’s most prestigious brands, ateliers and institutions, the association is dedicated to safeguarding traditional savoir-faire while driving innovation across a range of sectors – from gastronomy to gunmaking, design to distilling.

Currently with 61 members spanning heritage houses and contemporary pioneers, Círculo Fortuny acts as both curator and ambassador, offering discerning travelers a gateway into Spain’s most exceptional experiences. These are brands and makers held to the highest standards – not just for quality, but for the cultural legacy they uphold.

[See also: Here Are Two Amazing Road Trips Through Undiscovered Spain]

Heritage Craft Experiences

Among the most enchanting of these are the heritage workshops that quietly preserve techniques honed over generations. In Madrid, the Conde family welcomes visitors into their luthier’s atelier: a serene, wood-scented space where classical and flamenco guitars are still crafted entirely by hand. Felipe Conde, heir to a three-generation legacy, has shaped instruments for some of the world’s greatest musicians – from Paco de Lucía to Leonard Cohen.

Further east, in Valencia, Carbonell has been making handcrafted fans since 1860. Each piece is a labor of love, fashioned from fine wood, lace and silk, and hand-painted with motifs that range from classical florals to avant-garde abstraction. A private visit offers a rare chance to see a fan-making in motion, with artisans using age-old methods to make a fan personalized to your wants, feeling more couture than craft.

Over in the Basque town of Eibar, Grulla Armas invites guests into a very different kind of workshop. Founded in 1932, the house continues to make bespoke hunting rifles, prized as much for their artistry as their engineering. Still producing in small numbers, the house combines precision machining with intricate hand engraving. A tour here offers insight into Spain’s lesser-known but no less exacting heritage trades.

Luxury Food Experiences

If craftsmanship lies at the heart of Spanish luxury, then gastronomy is surely its soul. In San Sebastián, the Basque Culinary Center stands as a temple to culinary innovation. While it operates as an academic institution, the center also hosts public programs, hands-on workshops and tastings, all designed to immerse visitors in the region’s famously experimental cuisine.

[See also: A Guide to All Three-Michelin-Star Restaurants in Spain]

Spain’s vinous treasures are, of course, legendary, and few bodegas are more revered than Marqués de Murrieta. Founded in 1852 and housed in a neoclassical château outside Logroño, the estate is a living symbol of Rioja’s winemaking heritage. Guests can explore the cellars, admire the vineyards from a private terrace, and sample vintages of the iconic Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva in the same rooms where historic figures once dined.

In the rural hills of Burgos, Cervezas Mica brings a craft-beer twist to the country’s fine-drinking scene. Using mineral-rich barley grown mere miles from the brewery, Mica produces a range of award-winning beers that are terroir-driven. A private visit to the warehouses reveals the meticulous process behind each bottle, ending in a guided tasting paired with local dishes that elevate beer to the level of fine wine.

[See also: The Best Ways to Experience the Rioja Wine Region]

Tucked behind gates in Midtown’s little-known Clinton Court, this duplex unit with a rooftop terrace has played a starring role in both film and TV.  Tucked behind gates in Midtown’s little-known Clinton Court, this duplex unit with a rooftop terrace has played a starring role in both film and TV. 

The country’s Environment Minister approved a request by Woodside Energy to extend the life of its North West Shelf gas plant for four more decades. The country’s Environment Minister approved a request by Woodside Energy to extend the life of its North West Shelf gas plant for four more decades.

This spirit will be much easier to get than others with the Old Fitzgerald name. This spirit will be much easier to get than others with the Old Fitzgerald name.

The hand-stitched relic occupied pride of place on HMS “Spartiate” during the 19th-century naval clash. The hand-stitched relic occupied pride of place on HMS “Spartiate” during the 19th-century naval clash.

We check in for two days of restorative wellness. 

Contrary to first impressions, ‘clean’ beauty is a muddied world, rife with contradiction. But, sitting in front of Odacité founder Valerie Grandury as she talks through her exclusive partnership with Domaine des Etangs Auberge, the movement becomes a lot clearer.

After recovering from breast cancer, Grandury found that in her adopted home of California, there was little skincare that suited her needs post-treatment, and she longed for the premium products that came as standard in French pharmacies. The solution? To build the products herself. 

Following years of development in her own kitchen and making custom-blend skincare for a few select clients, Grandury launched Odacité in 2009. The brand’s take on clean beauty isn’t about naysaying so-called chemicals – instead, it’s about calling on powerful natural ingredients and pairing them with research-backed actives to create a 360-degree wellness brand that is gentle to skin and planet.

With a cult global following, Grandury is now on a mission to spread the word, placing her premium products at the heart of world-leading hotel spas. The partnership with Domaine des Etangs Auberge is a natural one, on all fronts. On a surface level, Odacité was launched in California by a French founder; Domaine des Etangs is the only French hotel by the California-based hotel group Auberge. But deeper than that, they share an ethos that, first and foremost,t looking to nature is the ideal way to build holistic health.

“It’s important to me to work with only a few partners and create something really exceptional,” says Grandury. While other collaborations of this kind might be born of sales-led negotiations, Grandury herself was at the heart of putting Odacité in the Domaine des Etangs spa. “I got in touch with the Domaine and said, ‘The specific thing about Odacité is that we try to create something that belongs to your hotel.’ So, I came and stayed at the Domaine and I had the chance to spend half a day with [the hotel’s groundsman] Francois, to go through the grounds and look at the plants – I’m an ingredient nerd.”

The main fruit of Grandury’s search through Domaine des Etangs’s 2,500-acre grounds (which surrounds an epic 12th-century chateau) was lemon balm. The fragrant herb hails from the mint family and is native to the Middle East and the Mediterranean but grows in abundance in the hotel’s sprawling grounds. This discovery guided the custom essential oil made specifically for the hotel. Bolstered by calming lavender and sweet, floral rose, the oil is heady and powerful. “When you’re at home, add a couple of drops in your hands to warm up the essential oil, [cup your hands] around your nose, take five really deep breaths, and it’s going to take you right back to the Domaine,” Grandury says.

It follows then that lemon balm is also the core ingredient in the signature Odacité x Domaine des Etangs treatment, where handpicked local herbs are used to concoct a soothing bath and an invigorating scrub, followed by an expert massage.

The real star of this new collaboration, however, is the facials. Utilizing almost the full breadth of Odacité products (including the bright blue Aqua micellar water, the Hydra-repair mist and the signature lemon balm oil) and personally conceived by Grandury, the two new facials are performed by Domaine des Etangs’s remarkably skilled therapists. It’s clear from the get-go that they understand not just the products they’re using, but also the structure of the skin and the face itself. As a result, the facials are tailored and intuitive, rather than one-size-fits-all all.

Acting as an embodiment of Odacité’s science-meets-nature ethos, the two facials cater to either end of the wellness spectrum. The Nano Infusion offering utilizes the high-tech nano pen to create tiny non-invasive punctures in the skin to better allow products to penetrate. The Temple of Beauty facial, on the other hand, calls on more nurturing methods. Structured gua sha techniques are used to promote lymphatic drainage and gentle massage movements create lift and glow, without more invasive tools.

For a full immersion into the Odacité x Domaine des Etangs collaboration, the hotel has launched a three-day wellness stay. As well as taking in the very best of Domaine des Etang’s amenities, including dinner at the Michelin-starred Dyades, guided walks through the art-filled grounds and lakeside picnics, the package showcases the hotel’s vast wellness offering, including the indoor Roman bathing circuit, guided meditation and a choice of bespoke Odacité treatment.

aubergeresorts.com

The Fusion of Mexican Craft, Indian Style, and Shared Storytelling Takes the Gold at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition The Fusion of Mexican Craft, Indian Style, and Shared Storytelling Takes the Gold at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition

A Chinese tourist reportedly jumped into one of the protected pits where he “pushed and pulled” the clay warriors. A Chinese tourist reportedly jumped into one of the protected pits where he “pushed and pulled” the clay warriors.

The rare landmark 1960s property in Santa Monica was the legendary Brazilian modernist’s only residential project in the U.S. The rare landmark 1960s property in Santa Monica was the legendary Brazilian modernist’s only residential project in the U.S.

Currently available through online-auction house SBX Cars, the 2022 Ford GT Holman Moody Heritage Edition is one of only 21 examples built. Currently available through online-auction house SBX Cars, the 2022 Ford GT Holman Moody Heritage Edition is one of only 21 examples built.