“The Aga Khan always used to stay in that room.”
My Italian tour guide, Michela, points to a high room in a tower to my left. We are sitting at the outdoor Atrium Bar on the deck of Hotel Cala di Volpe drinking Bellinis that taste like they have been blended from nectar of the gods. “He could see the entire bay from that little window.”
Photography by Whitebox Studio
It’s easy to see why His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, who founded Cala di Volpe in 1962 with some Sardinian partners, was enchanted with the setting. Designed by famed French architect Jacques Couëlle to look like a charming fishing village, the property offers unobstructed panoramic views of Costa Smeralda, a coastal destination in northwestern Sardinia so stunning it seems almost AI-generated.
Sitting on the deck, we are surrounded by vibrant pink bougainvillea and sparkling, emerald-blue water. Dramatic granite cliffs and craggy mountains dot the horizon. I got a closer peek at those rock towers yesterday when my son and I were taken by boat (the only mode of transport) to the hotel’s private beach. After lounging on the white sand for a few hours, we strolled over for lunch at Matsuhisa Beach (yes, that Matsuhisa; it’s the only Nobu in all of Italy, and it’s right on the water). There, we nibbled on Michelin-star yellowtail with jalapeno and miso cod while taking in arguably one of the most beautiful restaurant views in the world.
I take a sip of my Bellini. “Ooh, that’s fresh,” I whisper, dabbing a few drops of pulp from my lips as a discreet waiter slips a tiny dish onto a table already filled with glistening olives, crispy chips and fresh guacamole. Michela has been regaling me with stories about the hotel. Though she won’t reveal the names of many of the celebrities and royals who have stayed in the $41,120-a-night Harrods Suite, she does mention that Dodi Fayed docked his yacht in the harbor here and he and Princess Diana ate at the restaurant. (I don’t know about the rest of you but I remember those yacht pictures.)
“And did you know that a James Bond movie was filmed here?” she asks. “Remember the scene in The Spy Who Loved Me where the white sports car [a Lotus Esprit] shoots off the dock into the water? It was shot right over there.” She points to a dock before us and takes a small sip of her Bellini. “After we finish here, I’ll take you to the Matsuhisa in the hotel. It’s a restaurant now, but when they shot the film, they used it as James Bond’s hotel suite.”
After we finish our drinks, we continue our tour of the property, passing the Olympic-sized saltwater pool where I spent the morning gazing at yachts from a terra cotta–hued lounge chair. “We have an indoor and an outdoor gym,” she says, waving toward a small fleet of machines on the ocean’s edge. “And, of course, you’ve tried our Barbeque restaurant, right?” Indeed, I had. Earlier that morning, the chef whipped up an herb-and-cheese omelet that I ate looking out on the glamorous poolscape, trying not to pinch myself.
“And this is my favorite part of the hotel,” Michela says as she walks past tennis courts and a soccer field where my son spent a few hours the day prior. (The hotel offers a “Juventus Resort Experience” for would-be Taty Castellanoses.) She opens the gate to a magical little garden that’s part of the Kids Club (and where, for a fee, you can host a private farm-to-table alfresco dinner for up to 20 people). “The children love the goats,” Michela notes as we amble toward a small shed filled with kids (baby goats, that is, not pint-sized hotel guests).
After admiring the adorable baby goats and wishing I had more tiny farm animals in my life, I continue to explore the garden, which smells intensely of mint. I glance to my right and discover why: a massive plot filled with enough mint to serve mint juleps to the entire hotel in perpetuity. My nose leads me to another fragrant spot, and I spy lavender, rosemary and basil. We wander past row after row of fresh herbs and vegetables. “I think the chef used some of these herbs in my omelet this morning,” I say, crushing some sage in my hand and inhaling deeply. “Maybe,” says Michela. “It’s very possible!”
Soon, we are back at the main hotel, which consists of a series of irregularly shaped pastel houses with tiled roofs that curve around the coastline. Though the main building was renovated in 2022 by the Parisian design studio Moinard Bétaille, many of the interior spaces have retained the rustic, cavelike quality of Jacques Couëlle’s original design, with rough-hewn whitewashed walls, large, arched windows and doors, terra cotta tiles, local stonework and stained glass windows throughout.
As we leave the main lobby, we pass a beauty salon. (The word “coiffure” is hand-painted in a maroon-and-black script, set off by a swirling design motif seen throughout the hotel.) At the entrance, a series of bulbous green jugs of varying sizes have been half submerged in the white stucco wall, giving the effect of sea glass washed ashore.
We arrive at Matsuhisa at Cala di Volpe, aka James Bond’s hotel suite in The Spy Who Loved Me. It is a vast space with a wall of glass windows facing the glittering Costa Smeralda Bay. I immediately recognize the undulating white stucco walls, dark exposed wood beams and funky curved bar from the movie, which I must have watched at least five times with my dad, a huge James Bond fan. “Shaken, not stirred,” I think, imagining Roger Moore standing a few feet away, his signature martini in hand.
Our next stop is the Harrods Penthouse Suite, the crown jewel of this iconic hotel. If James Bond really did stay here, this is undoubtedly where he would spend the night canoodling with Russian double agent Major Anya Amasova. Renovated recently by the design team from Harrods, the palatial, three-floor, 2,690-square-foot suite is a masterpiece of modern design with solid-wood doors carved to resemble sunbeams; a glass wardrobe hand-painted in swirling emerald green and sapphire blue with 22-karat gold fragments; and a fluted limestone feature wall that mirrors the natural curves of the Sardinian landscape.
On the first floor of the suite, there is both a bar and a wine cellar. In the three king-size bedrooms, patinated-bronze alcoves cast ambient light over the beds. But the pièce de résistance — the raw material for a lifetime of vacation fantasies — is the 2,690-square-foot rooftop. In addition to an alfresco dining pergola and a sunbathing deck, the roof boasts a gorgeous infinity pool (with an integrated bar) that appears to spill right over into the Mediterranean Sea.
“Nobody does it better,” Carly Simon crooned about 007 in the 1977 theme song to The Spy Who Loved Me. The same can be said about this stunning hotel where James Bond chose to shelter in place.
