The Glass House. Slepping under stars in the desert

The Glass House, located in the heart of the Gorafe Desert in Granada, Spain, is one of those rare experiences that feels like stepping onto another planet.
This extraordinary accommodation, fully integrated into its surroundings, offers a private and luxurious stay where sky, earth, and silence merge in perfect harmony.

Built with sustainable materials and featuring large panoramic windows, The Glass House invites you to admire the vast desert landscape from every angle.
Its minimalist architecture and sleek design make it the perfect hideaway for travelers seeking exclusivity, tranquility, and a deep connection with nature in southern Spain.

Gorafe

The Gorafe Desert, also known as the “Desert of the Coloraos,” is one of Europe’s most dramatic landscapes. With its red-hued canyons, rugged terrain, and wild beauty, it resembles the American Southwest.
Visitors can enjoy private 4×4 tours, guided hikes, stargazing sessions, or explore the prehistoric Gorafe Megalithic Park, home to some of Spain’s most impressive dolmens.

Staying at The Glass House is not just about accommodation — it’s about living a full sensory experience. Watch the sunrise paint the desert in shades of gold, or enjoy a private dinner under a sky filled with stars.
Every moment becomes a memory to treasure.

Through Andalucía Experiencias, you can enjoy exclusive stays at The Glass House combined with tailor-made desert experiences: guided 4×4 excursions, gourmet dinners featuring local flavors, and private astronomical sessions led by expert guides.
Every detail is curated for travelers who value privacy, sophistication, and authenticity.

The Glass House in Gorafe is more than a luxury stay — it’s an emotional journey through the silence, stars, and vastness of one of Spain’s most extraordinary landscapes.

Gorafe
Gorafe
Gorafe

Text: Spain Luxury Trips 

Photography: Maria Gallardo

What is a Luxury Travel really?

WINE TASTING

What is a Luxury Travel really?

WINE TASTING

Since we started back in 2009 to offer trips and private experiences in Andalusia, much has changed; both the profile of the traveler and trends, and of course the external circumstances of a globalized world that nothing makes us strangers and affects us.

In this journey, with its comings and goings, I have met clients who over the years have become friends. They chat via whatsapp, call me after hours to tell me why they have had problems with a client, the most improbable anecdotes that would be enough for a book, etc. One of these friends is Adriana Vilas. She is a professional in the tourism sector with a luxury travel agency located in Madrid. From the beginning, besides trusting in our way of working and how to see inbound tourism, she has become a friend over the years, where we exchange views on the industry and trends, which by circumstances are transforming the tourism landscape.

Adriana got it right, in my opinion, with what is the concept today of what is a Luxury Travel. This updated concept and under her experience (in addition to long phone and whatsapp chats) encouraged her to describe this concept.

rooftop tour

But what is luxury travel?

Defining what luxury is today is not at all simple, especially if we analyze how this concept has evolved throughout history.

Today, it is not so much about ostentation or high-end products, but rather luxury refers to experience, to something intangible.

Luxury is a concept that each person lives and feels, with a different meaning. What is or is not luxury, will depend on our experiences and our personal experience.

However, all luxury has something in common, it is perceived to be associated with an experience that has to be, above all, unique, distinctive, different, out of the ordinary, and, of course, exclusive.

There is something we can all agree on and that is that this concept of luxury is associated with other terms such as quality, excellence, differentiation and exclusivity.

Merida
Italica

Coco Chanel, stated that “luxury is a necessity that begins when necessity ends”.

With this premise, it can be said that more than changing the concept, what has occurred is a change in the perception of what luxury itself is. From being a global concept, it has become something very personal and subjective.

For us working on a concept with such personal implications and moving between such blurred definitions, organizing travel experiences based on luxury and distinction is always a challenge for us.

I know that it is not enough with what we know, with what our experience dictates, with intuition or with the story offered by the trends of the moment. We must always be one step ahead.

In the sector we find everything, since the term ostentation is still applied, but experience tells us that someone who seeks ostentation does not give value to the terms I mentioned before.

Another fundamental aspect that my friend was talking about is DISTINCTION:

“Luxury will be that feel like a local more instead of feeling like a tourist. It will be to travel without worrying about anything, feeling that your trip has been designed in a different way, out of the conventional and in an authentic way, with exclusivity, in private tours and experiencesthat are designed with care and attention to the smallest detail.

To turn a trip into a luxury experience, it is necessary to make an effort to touch the heartstrings, moving you to pleasurable experiences, intense, very pleasant sensations”.

 

And you? What is a travel luxury for you?