Financial Times

Bespoke cycling trips and new hotel opening in Mallorca

By Sophy Roberts

- Excerpt from Article -

Cari Gray (www.grayandco.ca) is the go-to woman for a truly bespoke cycling trip – the kind that mixes up rough-and-tumble village restaurants with specific rooms in good hotels that Gray & Co., a Canadian, has personally put through the service wringers for her ferociously loyal client base. Already strong from the Dolomites to Tennessee, next month Gray adds Mallorca to her repertoire of expertise.

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Cari Gray (www.grayandco.ca) is the go-to woman for a truly bespoke cycling trip – the kind that mixes up rough-and-tumble village restaurants with specific rooms in good hotels that Gray & Co., a Canadian, has personally put through the service wringers for her ferociously loyal client base. Already strong from the Dolomites to Tennessee, next month Gray adds Mallorca to her repertoire of expertise. The island hosts more than 35,000 cyclists annually and has become a well-known spring training ground for professional riders. With Gray, typical daily rides are 55km to 75km and can include hairpin-studded runs like Sa Calobra: 10km of tarmac, climbing some 668m up the side of a mountain. It’s not all about the burn, however. Her bespoke itineraries (from £1,000 per night, excluding flights) feature nippy transfers via 50ft luxury powerboats. Also in Mallorca is a new hotel opening this month: Sant Francesc Hotel Singular (www.hotelsantfrancesc.com; from C320; second picture) in Palma’s old town. The former manor house has 42 rooms, in a neutral, almost masculine palette, some with original fresco ceilings; the 100sq-m Torre Suite with its own terrace; a rooftop pool; and a garden restaurant.

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