Why you need to go to the Dunas de Formentera lodge within the Balearic Islands | EUROtoday

” Formentera is Corsica without the bombs, Ibiza without the clubs, Moustique without Mick Jagger, Capri without Hervé Vilard, the Basque Country without rain,” wrote Frédéric Beigbeder in Love lasts three years. While there are now more bars, restaurants, tourists and ferries straight from Ibiza, the island still retains the hippie chic spirit that has been its home since the 1970s and the arrival of a bohemian jet set in search of exclusivity. An enclave of just 83 square kilometres planted in the middle of the Mediterranean where people take their time to live and indulge in indolence without guilt, since everything here calls for letting go.

Discreetly opened in early June on the southern beach of Migjorn, considered one of the most beautiful on the island, the Dunas de Formentera hotel, at once sober, elegant and with its feet in the sand, is no exception to the local spirit and is an addition to the very fine collection of the Spanish group Marugal. There is no need to make a big deal out of it here: the show is undoubtedly played out outside, between the dunes and crystal-clear waters that can be seen from the swimming pool, the restaurant open to the four winds and also from the 44 rooms with terraces spread across small units among the pine trees and gently sloping paths, which give the whole place more of a village atmosphere than a high-end hotel.

It is also in reference to the peasant houses of the Balearic Islands that the renovation was imagined, reappropriating the original buildings, dating from the 1960s, which then turned their backs to the sea in order to protect themselves from the wind. The decoration signed by the Antonio Obrador studio, to whom we also owe the spectacular Cap Rocat, a former 19th century fortress^e on the island of Majorca, still at Marugal, also favors simplicity with a great deal of natural materials – wood, linen, cotton, raffia and polished concrete in particular – which are brought to life with a few touches of color – pink, beige, navy and wine-red – skillfully distilled on the cushions, headboards and lamp bases in Italian terrazzo style. At Dunas, there is no need to look for a TV, immersion comes above all from nature, the song of the cicadas and the sound of the waves. A bit cliché, some will think. No, just the luxury of taking the time and enjoying the simple things. The same state of mind at the table of the Caliu restaurant, full of Mediterranean flavors and diversity, where you can taste gazpacho, croquettes, fish ceviche, grilled octopus, ham iberiantruffle pizza and meats cooked on the embers. All facing the infinity pool and the deep blue sea. A place outside of time and conventions that will be hard to escape, even to reach the Gecko hotel, still in the Marugal collection, which, with its positioning beach club trendy, was one of the first to offer on the island, when it was launched in 2017, a hotel offer that was both more “enjoyable” and really a lot in tune with the occasions. In each instances, everybody will discover one thing for them and, above all, a top quality/worth ratio that’s removed from indecent.

From €306 per night time in off-season. Open from April to October. dunasdeformentera.com/en
And additionally: geckobeachclub.com/fr