It’s the start of the new year and a new decade, and as usual, the internet is flooded with articles about the latest trends; what’s hot and what’s not. Whilst browsing through predicted travel trends, we were delighted to discover that actually La Cazalla is pretty trendy already. Here’s why:
1. Transformative Travel
For many of us, our much-awaited vacations are simply an opportunity to escape our hectic lives and take it easy for a week or two, and the suggestion of incorporating ‘life-changing experiences’ into our plans may invoke a little eye-rolling and seem like just. another. task. However, there is a growing desire in some to experience and learn something new during vacations and to take that knowledge home and apply it to daily life, and we’d be happy to help you realise those goals at La Cazalla. Certainly, there is something special about the property. Perhaps it’s the beautiful private location in a valley that has barely changed in thousands of years or the fact that it is surrounded by trees and natural beauty. Maybe it’s because there is an energy in the air that never fails to uplift and touch all who visit. But how long before the feeling fades after your return home?
Imagine instead incorporating some yoga practice into your stay, for instance. You don’t have to be bendy with an Instagram-trend-worthy body. La Cazalla is so secluded that with your yoga sessions taking place on site, you’ve no need to worry about comparing yourself with others in a wall-to-wall-mirrored studio. Learn some basic stretches and breathing techniques, and take those home with you. As you stretch and breathe at home, imagine yourself back at La Cazalla; a perfect way to recreate that peacefulness on your home turf. Or there’s mindfulness or life coaching or meditation or tree bathing or an exploration of nature with a local guide. We are able to offer a variety of learning experiences, including discovering edible plants and those that can be made into soaps and hand creams. Take the knowledge home with you and extend it into your own life, giving you that additional reason to spend time in nature. Alternatively, get married here. That’ll definitely be a transformative experience with life-changing effects!
2. Slow Travel
Closely related to transformative travel and certainly the buzzword of the travel industry over the last few years is slow travel, but what does it mean? Slow travel reflects our desire for a more authentic experience when we travel. Rather than flying through a checklist of must-sees and must-dos during a visit to a new location, the emphasis is on connecting to local people, cultures, food, and music. Our home town of Ronda has become the third most visited city in Andalusia, and whilst there’s absolutely nothing wrong with choosing a regional tour that takes in all the province has to offer, acting as the locals do can often provide a far more rewarding experience. For example, here’s Ronda’s most photographed location, el Puente Nuevo, at 9:45 am on a beautiful February morning:
Nobody there! Well, one person on the far left, maybe. In high season, by 11:45 am, you can’t move for people taking photographs and admiring the view.
The ethos of slow travel encourages you to slow down, reduce the list of things to do (therefore reducing your travelling around and your carbon footprint too), and take time to experience what the locals like to do. You don’t have to skip the bridge. In fact, you definitely should not because it’s stunning, but as breakfast here traditionally takes place at 10:00, head to the bridge at 9:30, be awed by this 19th-century feat of construction with its incredible vistas, then find a local café and enjoy freshly baked, soft, fluffy molletes or tostada with a café con leche or those naughty fried churros with thick hot chocolate.
Then to avoid the day-trippers, head back to La Cazalla to lounge via Barrio San Francisco, and pick up something for lunch from one of the local stores. Be brave! Don’t worry if you can’t speak Spanish. Lots of the little stores have delicatessens with local meats, prepared dishes, and cheeses; just point to what you like the look of and taste the real flavour of Ronda at lunchtime. People are very friendly here and will really appreciate you popping in to their store to try something local. Of course, you could learn a little Spanish before you come (Duolingo is an excellent free language-learning tool) and even take an Authentic Ronda Tour with local language/slow travel specialists Entrelenguas.
Alternatively, as Andalusia is the birthplace of flamenco, what better way to ‘experience local’ than by having a flamenco lesson at La Cazalla? Or taking part in our olive harvest in November and then tasting that freshly pressed oil? Whatever your interests, reach out to us and we’ll be happy to help you, which brings us to the third travel trend:
3. Tailor-made Travel
According to Emirates Holidays, people are now looking for bespoke, tailored experiences (as evinced by their 20% year-on-year increase in the uptake of their own tailor-made offerings). Over the last few years, we’ve developed an approach to our guests’ stays that we like to think of as our La Cazalla Concierge Service. Once we receive a reservation, we encourage all our guests to communicate with us as much as they can about their wishes for their holiday. Everyone is different and everyone wants something different from their visit, and we find that our guests get so much more out of their stay if we are able to suggest experiences that they might enjoy and make loose or fixed plans for them. We’re also available 24/7 to gently assist or direct throughout your stay.
Lisa and Mark infused our time there with kindness, generosity of spirit, excellence, and professionalism, bringing every part of our planned itinerary to glorious life.
4. Digital Customer Service
Hand in hand with our concierge-level service, we have also been following the trend to provide communication to prospective and current guests through a variety of channels. As well as email, we are available to connect on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, FaceTime, Skype, Twitter, or the good old-fashioned telephone! And when I say we, I mean just the two of us (you can read about us in our Press Pack here), not a huge, faceless, press-this-option-and-wait organisation. Chat with us and organise your dream vacation because we’re all about personal service.
5. Home-tels
Sticking with the theme of ‘about us’ for a moment, Conde Nast Traveller lists home-tels amongst their top travel trends for 2020, which is exactly what we are. La Cazalla operated as a boutique hotel for 15 years prior to us buying it, and as we bought it to be our home, we filled it with souvenirs from our travels, paintings, and books. Guests often comment on how at home it makes them feel and that they feel instantly relaxed.
As our travels around the world also gave us a taste for the finer things in life, we’ve brought these into our home-tel too: the bedsheets are 600-thread-count Egyptian cotton; the towels are fluffy, thick, and white; the bathroom amenities are Molton Brown (in refillable bottles, not single-use throwaways); the ceiling fans are beautiful, award-winning designs, the gardener will straighten the pool loungers and sweep away the leaves.
6. Green credentials: La Cazalla’s Tree-Planting Project and The Veg Box
As the world focuses on climate change, many of us are thinking about the effects of our travel when we book a holiday. Some of us are opting for short flights rather than long-haul to avoid ‘flight shaming’ (flygskam), a movement being highlighted by Greta Thunberg. Others are choosing to travel by train so that they can engage in a little tagskryt (train-bragging) while they reduce their carbon footprint. Whilst it is possible to travel to Ronda by train, the truth is that the majority of our guests fly to Málaga, Madrid, or Seville, and then rent cars to complete their journey and use during their stay. Sadly, a group of 12 people flying from London to Málaga is responsible for a shocking amount of emissions.
With this in mind, this year we have created a tree-planting project at La Cazalla. Of course, one mature tree can only consume 22 kg of carbon dioxide per year, but additionally, you will be joining us in maintaining a centuries-old tradition of La Cazalla being a productive orchard and vegetable garden by helping us replace some of the 200 mature trees lost during an unprecedented flood in 2018. The proper name of La Cazalla is ‘Huerta de La Cazalla’. Huerta means orchard or vegetable garden in Spanish, and we believe that this area has been important for growing food for thousands of years because it has its own spring-fed water source as well as being close to a little river. ‘La Cazalla’ means fortified or protected place, and as there used to be a Roman fort in Ronda, we think that possibly our ‘Huerta de La Cazalla’ is where the food for the fort was grown. It is our responsibility to regenerate this beautiful area and ensure its continuity for generations to come.
For each group of guests who stay at La Cazalla, we will plant a tree. You will be able to dedicate your tree to the memory of a loved one, to celebrate a birth, or as a reminder of your wonderful holiday. The tree will be planted with a plaque describing the species, date of planting, and the dedication, and if you come back and see us again in the future, your tree is already absorbing your carbon footprint for that journey! Last month, our first guests of the year, ‘A Branch of Daizie’s Place Writing Workshop', planted their tree. When will you be adding yours to the orchard?
La Cazalla is totally organic and pesticide-free, and we make our own compost from our kitchen and garden waste and top it off with a healthy dose of horse manure from Oberon and his girlfriends.
Additionally, we are also introducing The Veg Box: a zero-miles, vitamin-filled box full of vegetables, salads, fruit, and eggs from here at La Cazalla or from our neighbours, Paco and Genaro. We have to admit that we affectionately refer to them as The Vegetable Men because they have the most amazing vegetable plot we have ever seen! A family-sized organic Veg Box costs just EUR10, and you only need to type that into Google to know it’s fantastic value.
7. Off-season Travel
Notice the blue sky in the photos above? That’s January 2020. Sure, the ladies are wearing sweaters and scarves as it is a little chillier that month, but just look at that blue sky! And it’s normal!
February 2017
Autumn
Winter
Off-season travel has long been favoured by those wishing to visit popular destinations during their quieter months and take advantage of lower-cost travel, and Forbes predicts the trend will continue. We’ve always been surprised that more people don’t visit Andalusia during autumn, winter, and spring. Ronda has a very distinct and regular weather pattern throughout the year, with hot, dry summers and little or no rain until October. In October, we expect rain on and off for about six weeks, but it comes in short sharp bursts followed by the sun. By mid/late November, the rainy season is over and the clear blue skies of winter set in. This is our favourite time of year. It’s like being in a mountain ski resort without the snow! Lunch in the sun followed by dinner in front of the cosy fire. Christmas Day in Ronda is almost always warm enough to eat outside on the terrace at lunchtime. Honest! These clear blue skies and warm days continue until the end of March when we have a short rainy season, just a few weeks and a little sprinkle of rain to encourage the spring flowers to open. April, May, and June are simply glorious.
Spring
Additionally, travelling during off-peak times spreads the economic impact of tourism throughout the year, enabling locals to have a more stable income.
8. Multigenerational Trips
Once again, we’re already trendy in this respect - yippie! In 2017, Travel Leaders Group, which represents 50,000 agents in North America, reported that 91% of its agents booked multigenerational family trips. Coincidentally, that’s about the same percentage of our bookings made by multigenerational families wishing to spend time together.
There are a variety of reasons for multigenerational travel, including the greater financial wealth of the older generations making a holiday possible at all for the younger ones, but for the most part, life is just so darn busy that families are choosing to spend time together on vacation. Again, there’s that recurring theme; a desire for connection and quality time. Additionally, multigenerational families often come to celebrate a special occasion together such as a wedding or birthday, and if you’d like to hear more about what we can organise for your special day, such as live music, flamenco, or catering, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re always happy to help.
With six large bedrooms, three lounges, outside terraces, a pool, and 13 acres of private land, your family can choose to be together and to spread out, and there’s plenty to keep you all occupied, with table tennis, darts, badminton, boules, Wii Sports, board games, books, and DVDs.
9. Digital Detox
In August 2019, the results of a joint study on the emotional effects of becoming disconnected from the world wide web whilst travelling were published by the University of East Anglia. Whilst many participants initially experienced anxiety, frustration, and withdrawal symptoms, once they had accepted the situation, they reported that they engaged more with other travellers and locals during their disconnected travels and spent more time with their travel companions. Weren’t we talking about this earlier? Many also pointed out that they were much more attentive and focused on their surroundings while disconnected, rather than getting distracted by incoming messages, notifications, or alerts from their mobile apps.
Well, due to La Cazalla’s secluded location, we can certainly help you with a digital detox:
Did you spot the house? As you can see, there isn’t much in the way of mobile masts, so if you would like to conduct a digital detox at La Cazalla, simply let us know and we will turn off the Wi-Fi and disconnect the mobile signal booster.
10. Nakations
Naked + vacation = nakation, one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry according to the South China Morning Post. The popularity of stripping off and getting back to basics seems to be intrinsically linked with the above travel trends - a growing desire to disconnect from technology and reconnect with nature, with ourselves. “There is something very freeing about shedding your clothes and being accepted without judgement in a group that’s enjoying the same freedom,” says Kat Whitmire of Bare Necessities Tour & Travel.
Again, if you take another peek at the photo above, you can see how secluded La Cazalla is, so if you fancy getting your kit off and skinny dipping in the pool, you won’t need to worry about attracting a gaggle of gogglers.
So actually, we’re starting 2020 feeling pretty hip and trendy, with our tailor-made service for transformative and slow travel experiences at any time of the year, high or low season, our capacity for multigenerational stays in our home-tel, our latest going-green projects, and our secluded location allowing for nakations and digital detox, all of which can be reserved via any digital channel you choose. But don’t just take our word for it; check out our reviews or come and see for yourselves. Experience Spanish life. Experience nature. Experience La Cazalla de Ronda.