How to holiday like James Bond in Sardinia

Posing as a marine biologist and with Soviet agent Anya Amasova posing as his wife, James Bond checked into Hotel Cala di Volpe in the The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Their mission: to gather intelligence aboard super-villain Karl Stromberg’s secret underwater lair, somewhere in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Sardinia and the Italian mainland. In the meantime, they stay in a spacious suite with exposed wooden beams and open ocean views (where Amasova also vows to kill Bond when the mission is over).

When I stayed at Cala di Volpe this year, I saw no villainous marine lair, just Tommy Hilfiger’s super yacht. The hotel has retained its Bond glamour through the years and offers the super-rich (and some super-famous) a more private experience than St Tropez or Monaco. For the rest of us, this Sardinian institution is a decadent place to spend a few days (or weeks) – if you can afford it.

Its architect, Jacques Couëlle (friend to Picasso and Dali), had a philosophy of ‘home landscape’, which meant that architecture should reflect the nature around it. At Cala di Volpe, that’s been translated into cave-like stone arches (painted white or clay orange) that give the hotel a sculptural feel. From behind (that is, from the sea), Cala di Volpe looks like a warren, with each alcove a secluded balcony set above the bay. (This balcony was my favourite part of an altogether fabulous room, especially when, in what locals regarded as a freak weather event, it rained one day.) Inside, the terraces and cloisters of Cala di Volpe are chic and muted. It reminded me of a grand Mediterranean villa – homely but never gauche.

Yet there’s still something decadent about a hotel that has a saltwater pool next to the sea. Underneath the understated surface, it’s apparent that this isn’t your usual Italian countryside. At the nearby town of Porto Cervo, shop fronts where you might expect to see locally produced olive oils or charming seaside souvenirs are instead branches of luxury brands such as Hermes and Miu Miu. Recent visitors include Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc and the singer Adele. Back at the hotel, a drink at its ocean-view terrace bar (a striking example of those clay orange arches) will set you back 30 euros. At lunch by the poolside one day, we spotted Kris Jenner, matriarch of the Kardashian brood, with her boyfriend Corey Gamble a few tables down. (I was tucking into a massive grilled seafood platter and the best truffle pizza I’ve ever had. I can’t confirm if Kris had the same.) It’s no wonder locals play ‘spot the celebrity’.

Entertaining the super-rich is what the whole region – a ten-mile stretch of sand, rocks and sea unabashedly named ‘Costa Smeralda’ (emerald coast) – was developed for. It was virtually uninhabited before Couëlle and others, funded by the multi-billionaire and Islamic royalty Prince Karim Aga Khan, decided to put their stamp on the rocky Sardinian coastline. Today it’s a manicured strip of luxury with hotels, golf clubs and private beaches. Often guests stay on their super yachts and come ashore just to access the amenities. Not for the first time, I marvelled at the generosity of Bond’s expenses account.

For the yacht-less, food and drink is a big part of whiling away the time. The house drink is the bellini, a delicious concoction made from crushed peaches marinated in lemon juice, strained with Italian brut. Cala di Volpe alone has four restaurants, including one by sushi chef Nobu Matsuhisa (yes, the Nobu). Our trip coincided with his fleeting visit as part of a European tour of his culinary empire. ‘Nobu-san’ talked us through the making of some of his signature dishes while a trusted lieutenant demonstrated in the open kitchen (Nobu doesn’t seem to work the kitchen himself any more). Our eight-course omakase (translating as ‘I’ll leave it up to you’ – meaning the chef chooses what to serve the customer) menu that evening included an unforgettable tuna sashimi salad and the world famous black cod with miso (the meaty fillet is marinated in miso for three days then caramelised on top). Nobu has now opened a club on the hotel’s private beach called 'Matsuhisa Beach', a short boat ride away, where you can enjoy sushi by the seaside.

In between meals, Cala di Volpe has plenty of other amenities. There are two gyms, one open air and the other not (though I didn’t make it to either). As with all good luxury hotels, there was an on-site spa (I did make it to that). The pool is Olympic-sized, though even my host didn’t know why it was filled with saltwater. And for children and families, there’s a playground and farm, complete with a grandfatherly farmer to whom the baby goats answer by name and staff who’ll take your kids for the day.

This was quite a different holiday to the kind of Italian trip I usually have. Instead of church hunting in Rome or crowd weaving through Naples, Costa Smeralda was all about food, sun, drinks and sea. Admiring the framed bay view from my balcony alcove, I could see why Couëlle and his associates bothered to build all this, from scratch, on one uninhabited corner of Sardinia.

Double rooms at Hotel Cala di Volpe cost from £360 in low season and £1,000 in high season.