What a whole-villa stay is actually like

The phrase sounds like a category of hotel room. It is not. Taking a whole villa changes the shape of a holiday in three specific ways, and they are worth knowing before you decide whether it is for you.

The hours stop being set

No breakfast service, so no breakfast time. People come down when they wake up. Someone swims at seven and someone else appears at ten, and the kitchen deals with both. On a holiday with small children or grandparents, or both, this is the difference between a restful week and a logistical one.

The kitchen is yours

There is a cook, and there is a conversation rather than a menu. You say what the group likes; it gets made in the house you are staying in. This is the thing guests write to us about most often afterwards — not the pool.

Nobody else is there

No other party at the next table, no queue for a sunlounger, no corridor. It is quieter than people expect, and it makes a group behave differently — conversations run longer because nobody is waiting for a table.

What you give up

Room service at two in the morning. A concierge desk. The particular freedom of not knowing anybody else in the building. And it is poor value for two people in a big house: the pleasure of a villa is filling it.

Is it more expensive?

It depends entirely on the size of your group, which is why the honest answer is to ask. A house split between three or four families usually surprises people. The same house for a couple does not.