This isn’t a sponsored list, and it’s certainly not another “Top 10” assembled for the sake of it. It’s the practical side of how we travel as a couple – the hotels, riads, villas and campsites we’ve actually slept in, built up journey by journey, from Morocco and China to Croatia and beyond.
As we keep exploring, we’ll add to this page whenever somewhere genuinely earns a place on it. For now, it covers where we lay our heads at night – from boutique hotels in medina backstreets to a tent pitched somewhere with better stars than Wi-Fi.
Looking for how we get there and stay connected once we’ve arrived? That’s over on Our Travel Kit: Hotels, Car Hire & eSIMs page.
Jump to: Hotels & Stays · Campsites · A Note on How We Choose
We rarely stay anywhere for long – sometimes it’s just a night or two, occasionally longer if somewhere has really won us over. So comfort alone isn’t why we pick a particular place: a warm, attentive team can win us over just as much as somewhere more polished, or what you might call “posh”. If we’re honest, value for money is usually what tips the balance between staying somewhere and moving on.
Hotels & Stays
We’re neither luxury travellers nor budget backpackers – somewhere in the middle, and our choice of accommodation reflects that. Across Morocco, China, Croatia, Tanzania and beyond, we’ve stayed in boutique hotels, traditional riads, private villas, self-catering apartments, guesthouses and campsites. What the ones we’ve loved most have in common isn’t price or star rating – it’s that they make it easy to slow down together.
Location matters as much as the room itself. Sometimes that’s the centre of a busy city, sometimes it’s beside a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and sometimes it’s somewhere we won’t see another person for hours. We try to build at least one of those into every trip.
We book most of this through Booking.com, occasionally through other platforms or directly with the property.
A word on what makes a hotel work for two. Hotel classification and star ratings vary quite a bit from country to country, so a “boutique” hotel in one destination can look completely different from one in another. What tends to hold true everywhere, though, is that the smaller, independently run places are usually the ones that remember your name by the second morning – and that’s often worth more to a couple than a longer amenities list.
What we actually look for
- Character over chain. A riad in Marrakesh, a guesthouse above the Tuo River in Fenghuang, a family-run villa on the Dalmatian coast – any of these beats a generic hotel room.
- Self-catering when it makes sense. Partly for the flexibility, partly because shopping at a local market and cooking with what we find is part of how we get to know a place, not just where we sleep.
- Central, or genuinely quiet – never in between. Either walking distance from the heart of a destination, or somewhere we can’t hear anyone else at all. Even when we’ve had a car with us, we’d often park it up outside an old town and only collect it again after a couple of nights, just to stay properly central.
- Walkability. In historic towns and medinas especially, being able to walk back after dinner matters more to us than a view from the window.
- Value for money. Once everything else checks out, this decides it. We read recent reviews closely, and we’ll pay more if we’re confident we’ll get what we’re expecting.
A few stays have earned a permanent place in our memory. In Ostuni, Puglia, it was hard going – hauling suitcases uphill after leaving the car in a car park just outside the old town – but the hotel/guesthouse Dimore del TEMPO PERS0 Mare videre, perched on top of the hill, more than made up for it. We’d booked two nights, and the view from the roof terrace alone was worth every step.
Then there was Tenerife, where everything was going smoothly until we discovered that a large part of the island had lost power after a major storm. Thankfully, it was restored by the following morning, just as we were due to leave – but the candlelit dinner and quiet, unhurried chat before bed that night were wonderful all the same.
Morocco
Odyssee Park Hotel, Agadir, Morocco
Avenue Mohammed V, Agadir 80000
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Comfort | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
A well-placed but no-frills hotel for the first or last night of a southern Morocco road trip – Agadir Beach, the promenade and the town centre are all a short walk away. The reception looked much like you’d find in any modern European hotel.
- Friendly, welcoming staff
- Genuinely central – no taxi needed for the beach, restaurants or cafés
- A solid launchpad rather than a destination in itself
Worth knowing: it’s practical rather than polished, and better suited to a night or two than a week-long stay. We’d book it again for exactly that – a comfortable stopover, not a holiday in itself.
Kenzi Club Agdal Medina, Marrakesh, Morocco
Bd Mohamed VI, Marrakech 40000
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▱▱ 3/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
An all-inclusive resort on the edge of Marrakesh for couples who want buffet meals and an evening show on tap without giving up easy access to the medina. After a while, the food became a bit heavy.
- Food available more or less all day
- A decent drinks list
- Evening entertainment included
- Staff attentive without being intrusive
Worth knowing: this is the edge of Marrakech, not the medina – expect a taxi or resort shuttle rather than a stroll into the old city. It suits couples who want the ease of a resort with the option of sightseeing, not those chasing an intimate boutique stay.
Riad Jomana, Marrakesh, Morocco
62 Arset Aouzal, Bab Doukkala, Medina, Marrakech 40000
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
Deep in the medina, this is the kind of riad where you can walk to most of Marrakesh’s best-known sights and still hear almost nothing of the city from your room. It has a very private, family-like feel – the sort of place where you find yourselves lingering over breakfast simply because nobody’s rushing you along.
- Genuinely central within the historic medina
- Staff who go out of their way, not just through the motions
- Traditional decoration without feeling like a museum piece
- Souks, restaurants and major sights all on foot
Worth knowing: the medina’s alleyways make it fiddly to find on a first attempt – save the pin, or arrange a pickup. Best suited to a short city stay rather than days spent by a pool, since there isn’t one.
Dar Doukkala, Marrakesh, Morocco
83 Rue Bab Doukkala – Dar el Bacha, Marrakech 40000
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▰ 5/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
The most spacious riad on this list, and the one we’d pick for a longer Marrakesh stay rather than a two-night stopover. A simple Moroccan breakfast in the garden, taken slowly with nowhere else to be, was a beautiful start to the day – the sort of small ritual that ends up defining a trip more than any single sight does.
- Genuinely large rooms by riad standards
- Full of period character without feeling worn
- Quiet despite sitting well within the city
Worth knowing: it costs more than most riads nearby, though the extra space is the reason why. It’s roughly a 10–15-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fnaa – close enough to reach easily, far enough to sleep undisturbed. Our pick of the four Marrakesh riads here for anyone staying more than three nights.
Maison de Vacances, Tafraoute, Morocco
Route Imyane, Tafraoute 85450
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▰ 5/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
Our host Jamal ran this one, and it’s the single best example on this list of hospitality doing more of the work than the building itself. Jamal was on hand whenever we needed anything, and never once made it feel like an imposition.
- Bicycles included, useful for pottering round the local villages
- Genuinely exceptional value against everything else we found in the region
- A quiet base for the Tafraout and Anti-Atlas area rather than a stopover
Worth knowing: you’ll still want a car for the wider Anti-Atlas – this is a base, not a hub you can walk everywhere from. It rewards a longer stay; book two or three nights rather than one if you can, so the surrounding villages and rock formations get their fair share of time.
China
Edinburgh Hostel, Zhangjiajie, China
A23, Resettlement Area of Pengjiapu, Guanliping Community Residents’ Committee, Yongding
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
A budget base for Tianmen Mountain, and one where the welcome outstrips the facilities. A very friendly feel to this place.
- Priced well below what the location and service would suggest
- Hosts who clearly enjoy having guests, not just processing them
- An easy walk or short ride to Tianmen Mountain
Worth knowing: it’s a hostel, not a hotel – expect simpler rooms and shared spaces. Fine for one or two nights built around the mountain; we wouldn’t plan a longer stay around it.
Destination Youth Hostel, Zhangjiajie (Wulingyuan), China
Wujiayukou, Jundi Road (near Zhangjiajie National Forest Park Wulingyuan Ticket Station), Wulingyuan 427000
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
Close enough to the Wulingyuan ticket station that we didn’t need transport on park mornings – worth booking here alone if you’re spending several days in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. The walk to the park entrance takes barely five minutes; if you’re not sure of the direction, just follow the crowd.
- About as close to the park entrance as you’ll find
- English-speaking staff who were genuinely helpful with routes and timing
- A sociable mix of international travellers passing through
Worth knowing: this is built around the national park, not city life – don’t expect much beyond that. If Zhangjiajie’s forest park is the reason for your visit, we’d book this again without hesitation.
Dream in Fenghuang, Fenghuang Ancient Town, China
No. 9, Lane 2, Huilongge, Gucheng Community, Fenghuang County, Xiangxi Prefecture 416200
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▰ 5/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
The one place on this whole list we’d send someone without a single caveat attached. Staying inside the old town meant we were still walking its lanes after the day-trippers had gone, when the riverside lanterns were the only light on the water – the kind of hushed, private moment no day visitor gets to see. Sharing tea with our host, after he invited us in, is a moment I’ll never forget.
- Right inside Fenghuang Ancient Town, not a shuttle-ride away
- Private, comfortable rooms that didn’t feel like a compromise for the price
- Hosts who made the stay feel personal rather than transactional
Worth knowing: reaching it with luggage means a short walk through pedestrian lanes – there’s no pulling up outside. A minor trade for waking up inside the old town rather than commuting into it each morning.
Aroma Tea House – Former Jing Guan Ming Lou Museum Hotel, Guilin, China No. 9
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
A former museum building turned hotel, and the best European-style breakfast we had anywhere in China.
- Spacious rooms for the price
- A breakfast worth getting up for
- Handy for Guilin’s parks and lakes
Worth knowing: service here was fine, not memorable – competent rather than warm, which stood out precisely because so many other stays on this list weren’t. Good for a short Guilin stopover; we wouldn’t build a longer trip around it.
Yangshuo Tea Cozy, Yangshuo, China
No. 212 Xiatang Village, Baisha Town, Yangshuo
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
Set just outside Yangshuo town among the karst hills, this suited us better than staying centrally would have. A beautiful view from the room balcony made it hard to leave in the mornings.
- Quiet enough to actually notice the surrounding landscape
- Spacious rooms for the price point
- Well placed for exploring the countryside rather than the town itself
Worth knowing: you’ll want a bike, scooter or short taxi ride to reach the centre – it’s not walkable. Worth the trade if what you want from Yangshuo is the countryside rather than the town’s bar strip.
SSAW Boutique Hotel Shanghai Bund, Shanghai, China
No. 839 Renmin Road, Huangpu, Shanghai
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
Central enough to reach The Bund and People’s Square on foot, with rooms that punched above the price. A spacious room, especially given the location and how reasonable the price was.
- Genuinely central for a city this size
- Comfortable, well-finished rooms
- Strong value for a boutique stay in central Shanghai
Worth knowing: Shanghai is too big for any hotel location to cover everything – you’ll still be on the Metro or in taxis most days. A dependable base for a city break; we’d book it again on a return trip.
Croatia
Roko Apartments, Grebaštica (Šibenik), Croatia
Donji Banovci 58, Grebaštica, Šibenik 22000
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
A family-run base in a small coastal village, with a rooftop pool that made up for the modest size of the rooms. The rooftop pool earned its keep – the sea itself was a little cold for lingering.
- A quiet village setting, away from the busier Dalmatian resorts
- Hosts who felt genuinely pleased to have us there
- Rooftop pool with a proper sea view
Worth knowing: you’ll need a car to explore beyond Grebaštica itself – this is a base for day trips, not a destination you can walk everywhere from. Good value and a peaceful pace; the kind of place we’d return to for a slower stretch of a Croatia trip.
Villa Masline, Sevid, Croatia
43 Barbiščevica, Sevid 21222
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▰ 5/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
A genuinely private villa in a village with almost nothing else going on – which was exactly the point. A beautiful view from the villa towards the bay, at any hour of the day or night, made this one of our most romantic stops in Croatia.
- Space to properly spread out, rare for a villa at this price
- Hosts attentive without ever hovering
- A slower pace than anywhere else on this Croatia list
Worth knowing: Sevid has little in the way of nightlife or restaurants of its own – bring a car and expect to self-cater some evenings. If what you want is somewhere to properly switch off on the Dalmatian coast, this is our top pick from everywhere we’ve stayed there.
Tanzania
Hakuna Majiwe Beach Resort & Spa, Paje, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Paje, South East Coast, Zanzibar
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
Right on Paje Beach, with kitesurfers visible from the sunbeds most mornings and the village a short walk away for anything the resort didn’t cover. We could walk to Paje along either the beach or the road, whichever suited the mood that evening.
- A genuine beachfront position on one of Zanzibar’s best stretches
- Quiet compared with the busier resorts further north
- Paje village, with its own cafés and restaurants, within easy walking distance
Worth knowing: we ate in the village more often than at the resort’s own restaurant, which didn’t match the rest of the experience on value. Rooms were comfortable rather than a highlight – it’s the beach and setting doing the heavy lifting here, and they do it well.
United Kingdom – Scotland
Apex City of Glasgow Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
110 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 2EN
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▱ | Very Good |
A dependable city-centre base for a Glasgow weekend, or the first night of a Scottish road trip. A lively place to start from.
- Genuinely central – shops, restaurants and sights all on foot
- Comfortable rooms for the price
- Paid parking a short walk away if you’re driving on
Worth knowing: there’s no on-site parking, and city-centre traffic noise comes with the territory. A reliable, unremarkable-in-a-good-way choice for a weekend break or a road trip’s starting point.
Campsites
Some of our favourite nights haven’t been in a room at all. A tent, a campervan pitch or a simple bungalow under canvas has a way of stripping a trip back to the essentials. We haven’t used them often, but even so, there’s a particular kind of closeness that comes from cooking on a single stove and falling asleep to the sound of a place rather than its traffic.
Campsites also tend to reward the kind of slow travel we enjoy. Facilities can range enormously, from a basic pitch with a shared tap to fully serviced grounds with a pool and a restaurant, so it’s worth checking exactly what’s included before you book rather than assuming. Many campsites now offer a mix of options on the same grounds – tent pitches, campervan hook-ups, and pre-erected safari tents or bungalows – which suits couples who want the atmosphere of camping without necessarily bringing all the kit themselves.
What we look for in a campsite
- Shade and shelter. A pitch under trees can be the difference between a comfortable afternoon and an unbearable one, especially somewhere hot.
- Clean, well-kept facilities. Showers and toilets matter more on a campsite than almost anywhere else we stay – we always check recent reviews specifically for this.
- A sense of space between pitches. Being able to sit outside in the evening without feeling like you’re in someone else’s camp adds a lot to how romantic (or not) a stay feels.
- Something to look at. A sea view, a mountain backdrop, or simply a well-tended garden – campsites live or die on their setting more than almost any other type of accommodation.
- Easy access for a road trip. Since most of our camping has happened as part of a longer drive, we look for sites that are simple to find and easy to pitch up at after a long day behind the wheel.
Burnbake Forest Lodges and Campsite, Dorset, UK Burnbake Forest Lodges & Campsite
T42 Vibe – Overall: ▰▰▰▰▱ 4/5
| Category | Rating | Verdict |
| Couple Factor | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| Location | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| Value for Money | ▰▰▰▱▱ | Good |
| 🛏 Comfort | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
| Hospitality | ▰▰▰▰▰ | Excellent |
After visiting quite a few campsites on the Isle of Purbeck, we chose to stay here – and in short, that was the right choice. The site sits tucked into mature woodland, and beyond that, it also features:
- A good choice of generously sized pitches for a fair price
- A comfortable utility area with clean shower rooms and toilets
- A small café and shop for anyone not fancying cooking their own food
Worth knowing: access to the campsite is via single-track roads shared with cyclists and pedestrians, so take care when driving. We only stayed on the camping pitches rather than in the lodges – another option on-site, though considerably more expensive than a pitch.
A Note on How We Choose
Not every hotel, riad, villa or campsite we’ve stayed in makes it onto this page. We only include the ones that genuinely impressed us – or, occasionally, the ones that stood out for the wrong reasons and are worth approaching with a little caution.
We only give a T42 Vibe score reflecting our own experience: subjective, out of five, and no apology for either of those things. If you’re wondering why the scores here skew high, it’s simply that a perfectly reasonable place can miss out on a mention altogether if it didn’t stand out or catch our attention either way.
Accommodation scores weigh comfort, location, hospitality, value for money and how the stay felt as a couple.
We’ll keep adding to this page as we go – only ever with places that have genuinely earned it.
The long way round, as a couple
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About the Author & Travel Philosophy
The author, ainarsbl, is a Level 7 Google Local Guide, Master Reviewer and Expert Photographer with over 1,000 contributions, 200 reviews and 600 photos. His focus is on discovering scenic landscapes, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, cities and meaningful travel experiences for couples. Learn more about the Travel42.uk authors and our approach to exploring the planet together.