Hotels as different as a period townhouse and a modernist rural retreat conjure a sense of home in a few common ways, including the warmth of the proprietors, the intimacy of the property (even on sprawling grounds) and the coziness of the rooms. For those seeking a sense of the familiar abroad, these eight new, renovated or expanding properties extend a homey welcome.
ENGLAND
Batty Langley’s, London
If your idea of home is an 18th-century townhouse with period furnishings in London’s Spitalifields neighborhood, consider Batty Langley’s, a 29-room newcomer from the owners of the city’s similarly historic Hazlitt’s and the Rookery. Named for the architect and landscape designer Batty Langley, who wrote books on house and garden planning, the boutique hotel evokes a stay with the gentry via cozy, firelit public rooms filled with overstuffed couches, book-lined shelves and an honor bar. Individually decorated rooms feature antique carved beds, brocade drapes, mirrors and paintings with gilded frames, and updated bathrooms, many with cast-iron tubs and, for decoration only, chamber pot chairs. Rooms from 195 pounds (about $280); battylangleys.com.
GREECE
Eumelia, Laconia
The owner, Frangiskos Karelas, aims to make guests feel like family atEumelia, a 50-acre organic farm his ancestors have operated since the 1890s, located about 45 minutes’ drive southeast of Sparta in the Peloponnese region. Guests are invited to harvest fruit, pick olives, collect almonds and press grapes, depending on the season. Five modern stained concrete houses provide apartment-like accommodations including kitchens, fireplaces and terraces for outdoor dining. Bikes are available for getting around, and the proprietors encourage guests to forage the property for ingredients, teach cooking classes and stock a mini-market of organic wine and olive oil in the main farmhouse. Rooms from €100, including breakfast; eumelia.com.
FRANCE
La Borde Maison d’Hôtes & Spa, Burgundy
Originally a moat-ringed 14th-century castle, much of which burned during the French Revolution, La Borde Maison d’Hôtes & Spa in rural Burgundy retains its fortress sense of home, from the stone walls that surround it to the rustic wood rafters in its five suites. Opened as a hotel in 2012, the property is much more than its interiors, though; some 17 acres of gardens, ranging from formal French to an orchard and rose garden, border the buildings, and guests have access to an outdoor pool, tennis court and pétanque area. The hosts will cook for guests, on demand, from their vegetable gardens, and throughout the summer will hold a contemporary sculpture exhibit. Rooms from €325; uk.lbmh.fr.
GERMANY
La Maison, Saarlouis
Named for the French word for home, and just six miles from France, the new La Maison, a Design Hotel, straddles old and new definitions of home. Its 38 rooms are spread between a 19th-century former court building that looks like a private villa and a modern, aluminum-shuttered addition overlooking parklike grounds. Rooms mix vintage and contemporary furniture and range from minimalist models in the new wing to more traditional suites with fixtures like free-standing bathtubs in the old. Among the better-than-home amenities, there’s a bistro where the glass walls open onto a terrace, and in the cozy library, a bar. Rooms from €105;lamaison-hotel.de.
ITALY
Masseria Trapanà, Puglia
For those seeking peace and privacy in their home away from home,Masseria Trapanà provides them in a 16th-century farmhouse recently converted into a nine-room resort in the southern Puglia region. Nearly 150 acres of olive groves buffer the property where grandly proportioned rooms feature exposed stone walls and floors, and some include original fireplaces, private gardens and outdoor soaking tubs. Each of the six walled gardens, home to 19 types of fruit and nut trees, has a distinct personality, from the tranquil yoga garden to the more social games garden. Plum trees shade the lounge chairs around the pool, and hammocks are strung up throughout the grounds for getaway naps. Rooms from €500 for two nights’ minimum, including breakfast; trapana.com.