Room Service: Harbourmaster Hotel

Aberaeron, Wales

Do seaside hotels conjure up memories of disastrous family holidays, faux-sophistication and garishly patterned carpets? Well, the nightmare's over – at least in Aberaeron on Cardigan Bay. The little seaside town's Georgian-style houses are painted all the colours of the rainbow, mirroring the style of Cork or Kerry across the water rather than Aberaeron's sober, Sunday-best neighbours. And presiding over the quayside is the Harbourmaster Hotel, finished in a plummy blue.

Step inside, and you could almost be in a chic metropolitan hotel. Almost, but not quite. Although the Harbourmaster has reinvented itself as a small hotel and restaurant modelled on contemporary designs, it's cosy as well as cool, homely as well as sophisticated. Welsh and English blend seamlessly in conversations in the bar and on the menus. The owners and staff are laid-back but professional. It's a cosmopolitan operation which, for once, lives up to the "Cool Cymru" label.

The Harbourmaster's maritime lineage is interpreted without the usual nautical nonsense. There's not a coiled rope or stuffed parrot in sight. Walls are painted in the soothing colours of the sea, sky and sunsets. There's a subtly recurring design motif based on a ship's porthole. And in the bar, solid blocks of oak serve as tables – a neat prop for a place that's about substance as well as style.

Location, location, location

Gwesty'r Harbwr – Harbourmaster Hotel, Pen Cei, Aberaeron, Ceredigion, West Wales SA46 0BA (01545 570755; www.harbour-master.com); Aberaeron is on the A487 coast road between Cardigan and Aberystwyth.

Are you lying comfortably?

Lewis Davies, the 19th-century harbourmaster, liked to keep an eye on things, so all seven bedrooms – named after ships linked with the port's history – have harbour views. You won't find an inch of chintz. They're uncluttered and modern, without that chilly feel you get when minimalism becomes too clinical. Stone walls and old beams give the rooms a cosy feel, and they all have big beds, crisp bedlinen, Gilchrist & Soames toiletries, fluffy bathrobes, state-of-the-art bathrooms and plumbing with Niagara-like water pressure.

The bottom line

Doubles cost from £75 to £90, with a suite from £95 to £105. Short breaks (two nights' dinner, B&B) cost £110 to £140 per person.

I'm not paying that: Lima House, 1 Victoria Street, Aberaeron SA46 0DA (01545 570720; www.limahouse.co.uk) has doubles for £40.