Pleasure and Landscape
January 24, 2024 .... Hotel CoolRooms Palacio de Luces is one of the best kept secrets in Asturias. A restored 16th century palace nestled in 13,000m2 of gardens just two kilometers from the village of Lastres, one of the most beautiful in Spain, with its winding maze of tiered streets and its unparalleled harbour scenery.
There, between the sea and the mountains, surrounded by woodland with beech, yew, cherry, pine and holly trees, you will find this charming hotel by CoolRooms, the only Relais & Chateaux in the Principality of Asturias and a true example of hospitality.
An ideal place to get away from the maddening crowds and discover an awareness of pleasure without noise or pollution, in 44 rooms and suites between 33-51 square meters, some of them with private garden. A refined restaurant offering a cuisine with Asturian roots and influences from the Americas under the direction of Chef Francisco Ruiz. It also boasts a spa including a massage room, heated swimming pool with jets and chromotherapy connected to the garden, contrasting showers, relaxation beds, panoramic sauna and turkish bath with chromotherapy. And all of this is surrounded by spectacular views of the Sueve Mountain Range, the Picos de Europa mountain range and the Cantabrian Sea.
Activities also bear the stamp of its nature, making it the perfect setting for exciting quad excursions, hiking to Pienzu Peak, surfing lessons, fishing, visits to the neighboring anchovy cannery, the local cheese factories and even a visit to the sheepfolds or playing golf on one of the adjacent courses, an endless number of possibilities offered by the hotel team, who will prepare memorable and personalized stays for you.
The Future Starts Here
Hotel CoolRooms Palacio de Luces will reopen its doors in April 2022 after completing important refurbishment, redecoration and customer experience works carried out by the construction company Antana, the architectural and interior design studio Proyecto Singular and the CoolRooms Hotels team. A process that has tailored Palacio de Luces to the standards of the CoolRooms Hotels brand, a benchmark in the sector thanks to its collection of hotels in iconic or unique buildings in culturally active centres or privileged natural settings such as CoolRooms Palacio de Atocha (Madrid) or CoolRooms Palacio de Villapanés (Seville), all of which are establishments providing an insight into the culture and history of each city and town in Spain, offering a personalised and memorable experience, with gastronomy as a core element.
LOCATION
Between the Mountains and the Sea
Hotel CoolRooms Palacio de Luces is located in one of the most beautiful places on the eastern coast of Asturias: in the region of La Sidra, just 2 kilometres away from the fishing village of Lastres in the council of Colunga. Undoubtedly one of the most charming villages in Spain, winner of the 2010 Prince of Asturias Exemplary Award and famous for its labyrinth of sloping cobbled streets and its beautiful balconies.
The location of the palace is enviable, just 10 minutes from the beaches of La Isla, Lastres and La Griega, 40 minutes from Oviedo, 25 minutes from Gijón, 50 minutes from Asturias Airport and 60 minutes from Covadonga. The weather is quite mild, and thanks to the sea and the abundant rainfall, today there is a great diversity of ecosystems such as deciduous forests and undergrowth.
Among the area's attractions are the modern Lastres lighthouse - the last to be built in Asturias and the star of the Spanish TV series Doctor Mateo - and its' beautiful cliffs. Not forgetting Pienzu Peak, considered the highest peak in Europe in relation to its proximity to the sea, offering a demanding ascent exceeding 1,100 metres in altitude and boasting unique views over the landscape: to the north, the Cantabrian Sea, its wild waves and majestic beaches; to the south, the Picos de Europe mountain range, rising up like watchtowers over a paradise of unparalleled scenic beauty.
HISTORY
A 16th Century Palace
Palacio de Luces was founded in 1580 by Juan Victorero "El Viejo", a Spanish nobleman who went to the Americas and returned to his native Asturias bringing with him architectural, cultural and gastronomic influences.
The building is in keeping with the style of constructions of the time, when manor houses replaced medieval towers. Its façade shows the three stages in which the building was extended (the last in the 20th century), with very revealing symbols such as the coat of arms of the Victorero family, the Maltese Cross and the Franciscan cordon.
At the main entrance to the palace is the entrance hall and, on the right-hand side, there is a room with an exact replica of the Victorero´s family tree. Very striking is the enormous stone lintel with an engraving that is used as a chimney cap revealing the existence of an old cider press (a place where cider was made) inside the palace.
Crossing the hall we find La Palmera Gastrobar preserving part of the fence, musealised as a decorative element and historical memory. However, the chapel should not be forgotten: it is an example of a small rural church with a portico and bell to call to worship, where, given the small size of the temple, the existence of a pulpit on the outside stands out.
INTERIOR DESIGN
Past and Present
During the renovation of Palacio de Luces, we have treated each one of the four existing buildings independently, bearing in mind the historic development that has taken place since the 16th century, the year it was built.
"Each period has a special quality to it, just like each other space in the hotel", explains Ana Peigneux, interior architect of CoolRooms Hotels. And she adds: "these peculiarities lead us to relate them to each other by arranging the spaces and providing them with a content that astonishes the guest".
For example, in the Palace building, interior design is based on the figure of the Hidalgo (nobleman), giving prominence to reused furniture reupholstered with floral and geometric textiles, as a counterpoint to the new neutral, calm and welcoming colours.
The lobby building - the connection between the building complex thanks to its central location - also favours reused furniture, but on this occasion, it combines it with new elements, resulting in an elegant and sophisticated style. In addition, the presence of a spectacular circular bar providing service to users who wish to use it, comes as a surprise.
As for the dining building, the restaurant has a sober new natural wood floor and the events room offers a neutral but very sophisticated atmosphere.
Part of the lighting project, as in the case of the Hotel CoolRooms Palacio de Atocha, has been designed by María Covarrubias, who has sought to "approach the project in a sober and discreet manner, always respecting the context of the building and emphasising the decoration".
As usual, all the lighting installations and lamps are custom-designed. The Spanish artist Gabriela Calderón Chillida, granddaughter of the famous sculptor and engraver Chillida, has made several light sculptures in the common areas of the hotel, alluding to flora and insects.
María Covarrubias seduces with her ‘touch’ other diverse spaces such as the wedding hall - where she introduces the magic of a golden light through translucent panels thanks to their reflection against an inclined plane of mirrors.
Hotel Landscaping
Distributed between its 16th century palace and a very contemporary annexe, the rooms of the Palacio de Luces are an extension of the landscapes framed by its windows, which speak to us of the past and the deeds of its former inhabitants both in Asturias and in the Americas, from where they brought botanical treatises and exotic plants with which they decorated their gardens.
The play of light is constant in them. Like the magic that guests experience at nightfall when they switch on the lamps and see how new "virtual" landscapes are drawn on the walls, making use of the tones of the lights and the shadows they cast, to relax them and prepare them for a calming rest.
Its 44 rooms are distributed between 5 Deluxe Rooms (33-38m2), 2 Premium Rooms with garden (33-37m2 + garden), 23 Junior Suites (33-39m2), 5 Junior Suites with garden (33-39m2 + terraze), 5 Suites (47-51m2) and 4 CoolSuites (33-51m2).
CUISINE
Products and quality with Asturian roots
The restaurant of Palacio de Luces, known to date as the Balcony over the Sueve Range, has been christened Tella, and it offers local products (from sea and mountain) of supreme quality as well as dishes with Asturian roots and the influence of the Americas.
"My cuisine responds to the market, to local organic produce, to what Colunga has to offer, which includes almost everything, from legumes to fish, from seafood to game and from sausages to farmyard produce", explains Francisco Ruiz.
In the dining room there is an impressive viewpoint with a large window that opens up and occupies an entire wall, offering extraordinary views of the Sueve mountain range, which precedes the Picos de Europa one. Just at the opposite end of the hotel, near the chapel are similarly beautiful views, but this time facing the Cantabrian Sea.
Nature and style. The restaurant's large window offers us an incomparable view of the marvellous landscape of Asturias which supplies Ignacio García Canellada's kitchens with irresistible dishes such as his salad of scallops confit in citrus fruits, bed of wakame seaweed and green apple emulsion with marine touches; tips of white asparagus from the garden, toasted ajoblanco (cold almond soup) and marinated red tuna; P.G.I. Asturias beef with lobster from the Bay of Biscay; creamy rice with grilled scarlet shrimp finished in a wood-fire oven; John Dory with saffron mussel velouté and pickled vegetables; Pitu de caleya (free-range chicken dish) mole with grilled avocado cream and avocado peel popcorn; or a caramelised torrija (a type of French toast), cinnamon foam and toffee ice cream.
Moral elegance. The Palaces of CoolRooms Hotels support Slowfood and sustainable cuisine, and Palacio de Luces with its chef, every year collaborates with international campaigns such as Food For Change in association with Slowfood International and World Oceans Day, both initiatives promoted by Relais & Châteaux, which understands gastronomy as a fundamental part of the experience, just like the brand.
Hotel CoolRooms Palacio de Luces, Carretera AS 257, s/n, Luces, Asturias, Spain Follow us on Instagram @coolroomspalaciodeluces Please email: hotel@palaciodeluces.com Starting Rates 240 Euros (VAT included)
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