Designed by architects for travel enthusiasts: Our curated collection of outstanding holiday accomodations — also via map. Do you already know our new entry?
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“If you don’t want to see another soul for a while …” – that was once the slogan of a rather little-known German holiday region. Behind it lies a very understandable desire, one that can be fulfilled in many places across Europe.
Designed by architects for travel enthusiasts: Our curated collection of outstanding holiday accomodations — also via map. Do you already know our new entry?
“If you don’t want to see another soul for a while …” – that was once the slogan of a rather little-known German holiday region. Behind it lies a very understandable desire, one that can be fulfilled in many places across Europe.
in January 2026
Paris, Texas, Portugal
Like the scent of a petite madeleine, but translated into an image: the first glimpse of the aerial photographs of this house in southern Portugal evokes Wim Wenders – and a sense of what is possible here: letting your thoughts wander freely, undisturbed by anything at all.
The plot surrounding the small house for four is vast – the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt would fit onto the fenced site no fewer than three times. This is a place to retreat when you want peace and quiet, away from everyone and everything. And you still have choices to make: Do you fancy a few laps in the pool? Or do you want to settle down with a book on the chaise longue by the door, only occasionally lifting your eyes to the pine-covered hill beyond? That’s when the mind begins to drift further afield – to the harbour of Sines, just a 30-minute drive away. Right, of course: the oysters, crabs and crayfish bought this morning are still waiting for dinner – right here in the fridge, next to the wine from a nearby vintner. With so many important decisions to consider, it’s easy to forget where you actually live, and what you do for a living, isn’t it?
There is a difference between being alone and feeling lonely. The former can be deeply beneficial – especially when it is a place you choose for yourself. Kyle House, set high up in the Scottish Highlands, is made for exactly that.
It would be hard to find greater remoteness: the house is around two and a half hours’ drive from Inverness Airport, and the nearest village, with fewer than 450 inhabitants, is 15 minutes away. The day here still has only 24 hours – so why waste any of them escaping from this place? Far better to let your gaze drift across the sea inlet of the Kyle of Tongue. Large, low-set windows frame the landscape, drawing light, sky and a sense of the weather into the interior. High above the water, with views stretching as far as the Ben Loyal mountain, you find what you came for: an encounter with vastness and time – and perhaps with yourself as well. Kyle House is part of the Wildland project, which protects nature while creating places where there is nothing you have to do – except be there.
Seclusion does not have to be spectacular. Sometimes, a house on a hillside is enough to gain distance from the world. The Hube stands alone in the rolling hills of south-eastern Styria – surrounded by meadows, forest and an abundance of its own quiet.
There is nothing around to distract you: no passing traffic, no neighbours, no pressure of appointments. Instead, large expanses of glazing open up the house to the landscape, making the outdoors a constant companion indoors. Light, weather and the changing seasons become part of the living space. The architecture remains deliberately restrained, allowing the surroundings to take centre stage. Walks begin right at the doorstep, pauses arise naturally, and time becomes less pressing. How long have the children been sitting in the cherry tree, stuffing themselves with fruit? Oh well. Perhaps they’ll come down before we set off for a hike. Or perhaps they’ll simply stay where they are.
The Black Forest may still conjure up images of cuckoo clocks, cherry gateau and Bollenhut. But there are ways of curing that: a stay at the old Seilerhansenhof redefines what the Black Forest can feel like today.
Anyone arriving in the southern Black Forest with clichés in their luggage will be surprised in Vorderschützenbach, west of Villingen-Schwenningen. There is no trace here of the geraniums and balconies one used to look for first when puzzling together a 1980s jigsaw. Instead, calm, clear spaces unfold between house and landscape. Meadows, pastures and woodland frame an ensemble of three gabled buildings with timber façades; and the seclusion makes every sound of nature audible. Interior and exterior merge in subtle ways: sightlines stretch across the fields, while materials such as wood and stone bring the surroundings quite literally into the house. Step by step, the old images fade – until your own Black Forest feeling emerges, shaped by a contemporary, restrained kind of romance.
An hour from Barcelona and an hour from the first foothills of the Pyrenees – in this enchanting in-between, the more than 300-year-old stone house Mas Oak rests on a green hillside.
Despite its secluded setting, you are not alone here. The owners of the historical farmstead live on site – along with their horses, several cats and a dog. The Swiss couple offer their guests a fully equipped apartment with three bedrooms, the perfect place to turn your purchases from the market in Igualada – just a 15-minute drive away – into a delicious meal. Perhaps there will even be leftovers for the next day, to be enjoyed after a long hike from the monastery of Montserrat up to the summit of Sant Jeroni. And if, on that walk, you happened to encounter too many tourists making their pilgrimage to see the Black Madonna in the basilica: back at Mas Oak, peace is guaranteed once more – by the window overlooking the green hills, a good book in hand.
There really is everything: in the Italian Ore Mountains, about an hour’s drive south-west of Siena, the La Piana estate lies in complete seclusion on 34 hectares of land. It can accommodate up to 15 people. Or just one.
This is a place to withdraw from the world in the most agreeable way – despite being not far from plenty of bustle. Pool, terrace, kitchen and fireplace lounge offer ample space for everything you may have always wanted to do with your loved ones – or just as well, entirely on your own. And beyond the house itself there is the estate, only slightly smaller than Hamburg’s Stadtpark. If, after all that solitude, you feel the urge to experience what it’s like to be among other people, simply get in the car, drive to the seaside town of Piombino, about an hour away, and take the ferry to Elba. It works best in high season. Afterwards, you are guaranteed to appreciate the seclusion of La Piana all the more.
A place where the past comes alive and where engaging with it allows you to see things anew: this is Haubarg Friesensteern, set on a terp on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein.
This is a place for pause and reflection. The listed farmhouse, perched on a raised mound in the open landscape of Eiderstedt, is surrounded by nothing but pastures, wind and an expansive sky. Here, the quiet rhythm of the north sets the pace of the day. Across some 250 square metres, historical details – richly decorated alcoves, old Delft tiles and exposed timber beams – are combined with contemporary elements. Four bedrooms, an alcove room, a large kitchen–living area and a terrace provide space for up to ten guests, whether for shared time together or moments of solitude. Intriguing traces of other eras can be found everywhere – also across the 8,000-square-metre grounds with lime and apple trees. Haubarg Friesensteern makes history the central experience, offering a welcome distance from everyday life.
This is a place that changes you. La Melagrana lies on Sicily, close to the Baroque towns yet secluded in the hills. But that hardly matters, because above all, this is a place where you find yourself very much at ease with yourself.
That has much to do with the brilliance of Sicilian architect Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo, who designed the house. It captivates with its disarming simplicity and a sense of adaptability unlike any other. In this way, the place – whose name translates as “the pomegranate” – stands as a promise: to transform those who stay here as well. In fact, nothing here distracts from the site on which the house stands. Its secluded position in the open landscape, with views of the sea, grounds you while at the same time directing attention to the essentials of life: sky, earth and nature. The food on the table. And the people – up to five of them – with whom you are sharing this place at that moment.
Photos: Janke Laskowski via unsplash.com (cover picture), Lorenz Iblher (Monte de Santiago), Fran Mart (Kyle House), Paul Ott (Hube), Barbara Kuberczyk (Am früheren Seilerhansenhof), Germán Saiz (Mas Oak) Dominik Baur (La Piana), Anna-Clara Neuner (Friesensteern), Hélène Binet & Armin Linke (La Melagrana)
Architectural adventure: Casa Tessino in the jungle-like Onsernone Valley is an experimental, minimalist place with its own treehouse studio, offering a truly harmonious experience with nature.
Organic forms, panoramic windows and inserted alcoves – coming to rest has many faces. From the English coast to the Cyclades: welcome to eight very different bedrooms.
Nordic by nature: in the village of Vollerwiek, where the vastness of the marsh meets the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site, a wooden bungalow stretches out into the greenery. Functional, warm and filled with light.
Denharten is a place that leaves no guest untouched. At the listed four-sided farmstead in Rottal-Inn in Lower Bavaria, you can think, retreat or celebrate together, far away from the hustle and bustle of the world.
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