Why Couples Love Life on the Edge
A cliffside suite turns the view into the main event. Infinity pools appear to pour straight into the sea, terraces hang over open water and the light changes minute by minute from morning to night. Many of these hotels are small, which keeps them quiet and personal. Because they are built into rock rather than spread across flat land, rooms often feel tucked away from one another.
The flip side is that cliffs and beaches rarely coexist. At most of these hotels, swimming happens in your private pool, a shared infinity pool or from ladders into deep water. Sand means a short boat or shuttle ride. For many honeymooners, that is an easy trade for the view.
Santorini and Mykonos
Santorini is the archetype. In Oia, Katikies Santorini is the classic picture: white cave suites cascading down the caldera cliff, three guest-only infinity pools and a romantic, hushed feel. Just outside the village above Ammoudi Bay, Canaves Oia Epitome breaks from the whitewash with dark volcanic stone. Every suite and villa faces west with its own pool. In quieter Imerovigli, Grace Hotel Santorini, Auberge Resorts Collection, now marketed as Grace Hotel, Auberge Collection, has just 23 rooms and one of the most photographed infinity pools on the caldera.
On Mykonos, Cavo Tagoo Mykonos is terraced into a cliff on the edge of Mykonos Town, facing the sunset over the Old Port, with cave pool suites and a free shuttle into town. It is livelier than Santorini's retreats, especially around the main pool in summer.
The Amalfi Coast
Italy's most romantic coastline offers four very different cliffside stays. Le Sirenuse is the soul of Positano, a family villa turned legendary hotel with candlelit dinners at La Sponda and complimentary sunset cruises. Hotel Santa Caterina, just outside Amalfi, has been run by the same family for four generations, with cliff elevators down to a private sea-level beach club and a Michelin-starred terrace restaurant.
High above the coast in Ravello, Caruso, A Belmond Hotel is an 11th-century palazzo with a heated infinity pool about 1,150 feet above the sea. Between Amalfi and Positano, Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa occupies a restored 17th-century monastery with only 20 rooms, a much-photographed cliff-edge pool and a spa in former prayer halls.
The Caribbean: Saint Lucia and Jamaica
Saint Lucia's Soufrière coast is cliffside romance at its most exotic. Jade Mountain is famous for sanctuaries with an open fourth wall facing both Pitons and private infinity pools. It is kid-free. Its sister resort, Anse Chastanet, climbs a forested hillside above a reef-fringed beach. Ladera Resort sits about 1,000 feet up a volcanic ridge between the Pitons, with open-wall suites and heated plunge pools.
In Jamaica, Rockhouse Hotel has thatched villas on the limestone cliffs of Negril's West End, a 60-foot infinity pool carved into the bluff and ladders straight down into clear water for snorkeling. It is the most laid-back and accessible hotel in this collection.
Pacific Coasts and Bali
On California's Big Sur coast, Post Ranch Inn sits high on the cliffs where redwoods meet the Pacific, with Cliff Houses that have outdoor soaking tubs and no TVs at all. On Kauaʻi's North Shore, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay terraces down a bluff above Hanalei Bay with views of Makana. In Los Cabos, Esperanza, Auberge Collection steps down to rocky coves and a private beach on the Sea of Cortez, with whales visible from terraces in winter.
On Bali's Bukit Peninsula, Bulgari Resort Bali places villas roughly 500 feet above the Indian Ocean with an inclinator down to the beach, while Alila Villas Uluwatu is known for its Sunset Cabana suspended over the cliff. Far to the north, Fogo Island Inn stands on the rocky North Atlantic shore of Newfoundland, with every room facing the ocean and icebergs drifting past in spring.
Practicalities: Stairs, Beaches and Seasons
- Expect steps. Grace Hotel Santorini has no elevator. Positano, Anse Chastanet and Ladera Resort involve a lot of climbing. If mobility is a concern, ask for a lower-level room or one near the main facilities.
- Know where you will swim. Rockhouse Hotel has no sand beach, while Jade Mountain and Ladera Resort rely on shuttles to beaches. Caruso, A Belmond Hotel offers boats to the coast.
- Watch the calendar. Many Mediterranean cliff hotels are seasonal, typically open from about April to October. Fogo Island Inn has a three-night minimum.
- Respect the sea. In Los Cabos and at Bulgari Resort Bali, currents at the base of the cliffs can be strong, so the pool is often the better swim.
When to Go
For Santorini and the Amalfi Coast, May, June, September and early October typically balance warm weather with fewer crowds than July and August. Saint Lucia and Jamaica are at their driest from about December to April. Bali's dry season runs roughly April to October, which also brings the clearest sunsets on the Bukit. Big Sur is often foggy in early summer and at its clearest in fall. Fogo Island's iceberg season usually runs from about April to June.
