Riviera di Ponente, Italy

Hotel Windsor

Price per night from$255.11

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR238.54), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Hotel Windsor Photos

Style

Jet-set jetsam

Setting

Lesser-known Liguria

Explore

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In a coastal hamlet where multicoloured houses line up like gelato flavours, Hotel Windsor’s pale, pared-down façade stands out. This artfully revived riviera stay has hit the sweet spot – and not just because its private beach is dotted with pistachio-hued sunloungers, and topped with meringue-like umbrellas. Its setting in Laigueglia is understated compared to its coastal counterparts (Monaco and Portofino are within driving distance), and only enhanced by the hamlet’s air of nostalgia. As your sea-breeze-cooled balcony or view-framing French windows suggest, this is a bolthole where you could happily linger, although Liguria’s coastal charms, all the way to Genoa, are yours to dip into. 

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Cocktails (or mocktails) on arrival

Facilities

Photos Hotel Windsor facilities

Need to know

Rooms

25, including one suite.

Check–Out

11am. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £224.71 (€262), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €1.50 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates include a breakfast buffet.

Also

The hotel is unfortunately not best suited for guests with reduced mobility.

Hotel closed

The hotel is open from late March until the beginning of November.

At the hotel

Private beach, gym, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, air-conditioning, minibar, free bottled water, tea-making kit, and Culti Milano bath products.

Our favourite rooms

It’s hard to pick a favourite when most rooms face the sparkling sea, but the spacious Junior Suite might just take the biscotto – French doors swing out to a double balcony boasting expansive sea views, from the Capo Mele promontory to Alassio. Another rather romantic choice is the Wellness Room – its freestanding bath tub, tucked away on the mezzanine, calls for long soaking sessions.

Packing tips

A copy of Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman – the nuanced novel is set just down the coast from Laigueglia.

Also

While away an afternoon at Bagni Windsor, the hotel’s beach club – sage-green sunloungers shaded by a scalloped parasol are included in your stay.

Pet‐friendly

Four-legged friends are very welcome; they can stay in any room at no extra cost. See more pet-friendly hotels in Riviera di Ponente.

Children

Welcome, but not particularly catered to. A cot can be added to Deluxe and Junior suites on request.

Food and Drink

Photos Hotel Windsor food and drink

Top Table

Every table has a sea view, so they’re all top spots in our eyes (but those on the terrace offer the most mesmerising vistas).

Dress Code

Simple tailoring or flowing natural fabrics in muted hues – the hotel calls for a more subtle style than its glitzy Rivieria neighbours.

Hotel restaurant

As you might have guessed, the sea is the star of the show in Laigueglia, and the set-up at the hotel’s restaurant, Savō, capitalises on this – huge glass doors open out to a sun-sheltered terrace, creating an idyllic spot for for aperitivi when the beach is bathed in golden hour’s glow. Here, the region’s rich culinary heritage is showcased through a focus on seasonal, local produce. Relinquish all (self-)control and opt for the chef’s seven-course tasting menu, which spotlights at least one regional ingredient per dish through inventive flavour combinations, such as red mullet with courgette flower and white chocolate. There are also à la carte options for those after a streamlined supper (or looking to finish their meal with a tiramisù). Lunch is a more informal affair, following the seafood focus with plates from catch of the day, to calamari, to octopus skewers.

Hotel bar

Windsor Bar is a sultry contrast to the pastel hues of the hotel’s creamy exterior and beachfront beds. Come for all-day espressos, local liqueurs and classic cocktails, a selection of which come with a suggested food pairing – soak up your pisco sour with some tuna tacos, or another light bite. 

Last orders

A breakfast buffet is offered from 7.30am to 10.30am; lunch is served between 12.30pm and 2.30pm; and dinner is from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

Room service

Linger over a sea-breeze-tickled breakfast on your balcony – room service is available from 7am to 11pm.

Location

Photos Hotel Windsor location
Address
Hotel Windsor
Piazza 25 Aprile 8
Laigueglia
17053
Italy

Hotel Windsor is hidden away in Laigueglia, a coastal Ligurian village halfway between Nice and Genoa.

Planes

Genova City Airport is just over an hour’s drive from the hotel; Nice’s international airport is 90 minutes away by car. Private jets and helicopters can land at Riviera Airport, a 15-minute drive from the hotel.

Trains

ItaliaRail and Intercity offer several rail routes along the Riviera di Ponente, a picturesque way to take in the curving coastline. Laigueglia station is a 10-minute walk (or even shorter drive) from the hotel; from here, trains to Genoa or Nice each take around two hours.

Automobiles

Driving distances are manageable: Genoa and Monaco are a 90-minute drive; Turin is two-and-a-half hours’ away by car. You could also swap four wheels for two – hire a Vespa and channel your inner Italian. The hotel has round-the-clock parking, just down the road from the main building, for €25 a day.

Worth getting out of bed for

Take yourself off for a wander through Laigueglia’s cobblestone streets and pastel-pretty buildings, or the hotel can arrange a three-hour tour to (literally) walk you through the village’s artistic heritage. Waking up each morning to glimpses of Gallinara Island will no doubt have you itching to get closer – a boat tour here is irresistible, or take your exploration deeper on a diving excursion. Whale-watching is possible year-round, though your best bet for spotting these breaching giants is in summer. For adventures on shore, hike through the olive-tree-carpeted hinterland, bike to neighbouring villages, stretch out in a beach yoga class or sample local wines and olive oils at hotel-organised tastings. If you’re looking to counter your countryside pursuits with something more cosmopolitan, the bright lights of Monaco are less than a 90-minute drive away.

Local restaurants

As you’d expect of a coastal escape, fresh fish is high on the menu, and luckily you won’t have to go far from the hotel for some of the region’s best. Next door is seafood spot Vascello Fantasma, where local catch is transformed into artfully arranged dishes. Terrazza Praié perches panoramically on the hilltop above the town: drink in uninterrupted views along with the property’s own vintages on the terrace, where a four-course tasting menu of Ligurian plates is served at lunch and dinner.

Local cafés

Non Solo Bar ticks all the boxes – it’s a deli, café and bar, all rolled into one sun-dappled space.

Reviews

Photos Hotel Windsor reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this beachfront boutique hotel in Liguria and unpacked their pesto and antipasti, a full account of their riviera retreat will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Hotel Windsor in Italy…

Hotel Windsor is reminiscent of riviera days gone by, and looks to those yet to come. The hotel’s owners, husband and wife duo Alessandro Sironi and Alice Muzzioli, have drawn on a nostalgia for the Riviera di Ponente’s 1960s heyday, conserving the hotel’s butter-coloured exterior and sage shutters, and dotting the private beach with vintage-inspired scalloped parasols. And yet its traditional good looks belie the contemporary edge within. All-Italian interiors are curated with Sicilian-style ceramics, designer furniture, lighting by Davide Groppi, and mid-century pieces. 

The palette is neutral and understated, making the blue blend of sky and sea all the more striking. And the designers have anticipated this: balconies adorn most rooms – some even have two – allowing for sea-gazing from sunrise to sunset. The most expansive sea views take in the Capo Mele promontory and Gallinara Island, and the pastel-perfect private beach below is just as eye-catching. From here, lap up the Ligurian sunshine from your Kettal sunlounger or a paddleboard (we're very much in favour of the former, preferably with an Aperol spritz in hand).

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Price per night from $255.11