Villa Eyrie Resort

The pitch is a Ligurian villa somehow dropped onto a ridge above Saanich Inlet, with Vancouver Island's mountains filling every window. This resort north of Victoria has quietly shed its '80s Italianate kitsch for something more considered, and the Tuscan Spa keeps pace with the rooms. The restaurant, Alpina, runs on European technique learned in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, applied to local British Columbia ingredients, which is a stranger and more compelling idea than it sounds.