Boutique hotels for arts, crafts and design lovers: VAWAA Partners with Tablet Hotels

What if you could extend your travel experience with a stay at a hotel that really gets the mindset of local art and craft immersion?

Observing a harvest, stomping on grapes or watching a calzolaio craft a fine pair of shoes are some examples of powerful and authentic memories: those that we will remember long after the trip.

To celebrate that spirit of experiential travel, Tablet Hotels has partnered with VAWAA, offering guests a three-month complimentary Tablet PLUS membership, valid now through December 31, 2019. 

Booking a stay at a Tablet property gives you the chance to travel through a fine lens, with special member perks and access into arts and crafts experiences that you’re unlikely to find at other hotels. While the luxury game has resulted in many resorts offer fine fixings like a great spa and plushly-appointed rooms, it takes a truly special place to help you brush shoulders with artists and craftspeople who completely immerse you into the artisanal spirit of your journey.

For your next crafts-centric vacation, you won’t want to miss: 

Il Borro, Arezzo, Italy

Under The Tuscan Sun became wildly popular in 2003 but its influence and spirit lives on.

 In this estate villa owned by the Ferragamo family since 1993, you’ll get more of a hands-on experience than you might think, with over 100 acres of vineyards and also a winery at your disposal. The estate has workshops within a restored medieval village, and this means a guest can get a hands-on approach watching craftsmen and women show their virtuosity.

What could be more authentically Italian than bringing home a pair of handcrafted shoes made at Palaia: Calzolaio del Borro, a shop run by a cute little woman who doesn’t speak English so her nephew translates for her? She’s known for not only her shoe making but for hugging all her guests (with Salvatore Ferragamo at the helm, many might think this particular shoe shop sells only Ferragamo shoes, but it is completely separate).

At the heart of this estate is Il Borro itself, a villa built by Prince Hohenlohe and his family in 1854 (he was a German statesman who served as Prime Minister of Prussia). Don’t worry—true to the Tablet style, it has all the luxury fixings (e.g. a spa, Turkish bath and more). But it’s also a Sturbridge-style, hands-on unraveling of rich moments that make it a real artistic community than just a beautiful resort. All guests stay in medieval apartments and each named after a craftsperson that lived there: be it a maestra, stritore writer, sculpture or aviator.

The is magical and enchanting: authentic Tuscany at its best.

Rates range from around $673 per night during the summer.

Sundance Resort, Utah, United States

It’s a little bit of Thoreau’s Walden, a little bit of Rocky Mountain pine forest a a full-fledged artists’ community.

The resort is another dimension of the famous Sundance that Robert Redford built, but although skiing is on everyone’s minds (especially in the winter), what is particularly wonderful in the summertime is to take advantage of the thriving artistic community.

“We really try to incorporate to bring arts and nature together here,” says marketing manager Abigail Brock. “The arts studio is really the epitome of what Robert Redford envisioned.” While guests don’t have to stay at the resort in order to take classes in pottery, soap-making, leather journal making, silversmithing or painting, there are so many benefits if you do (for starters, the resort has a very homey feel to them and you’ll get at least a fridge and microwave, and sometimes, even a kitchen).

While some classes you can just walk in on, others—like candle and printmaking or beading—have to be scheduled in advance. The arts studio is a separate building and allows artists of all levels to participate from $95 per person per class.

A beautiful seasonal touch? glass blowers are brought in from Mexico in the winter. There’s something magical about watching blown glass when the snow falls all around you.

96 rooms and several mountain homes; rates from $200 

Blow Up Hall 5050, Poznań, Poland

What if you stayed in a hotel where the room actually chooses you?

While this may seem like a practical joke, that was the thinking behind this collaboration between owner Grażyna Kulczyk and Rafael Lozano Hemmer, a Mexican-Canadian electronic artist whose work plays with ambient sounds.

This design-forward hotel is about as non-traditional as you can get, and if you choose to venture into the beautifully designed public spaces, your movements get monitored on video and incorporated in a real-time video installations.

No two rooms are alike, so if you come back for repeat visits, you can be guaranteed each visit is truly unique, just as an artistic experience should be.

Rates from $110.

 
So, whether you’re on a quest to learn the art of Venetian masks or batik in Indonesia, here’s wishing you safe travels in true (and vetted) style.

Get your *three-month complimentary Tablet PLUS membership.
Offer is valid now thru December 31, 2019.

For more discounts, tips, stories and new artist updates, subscribe here.