The Complete Traveller’s Guide to Soleterea
Come for the sunshine. Stay because you’ve developed expensive tastes.
There are countries you visit to see things, and countries you visit because you want, temporarily, to escape from the drudgery of life.
Soleterea is where you head to for the second category.
A sun-drenched kingdom of crystalline lakes, pastel cities, flower-strewn promenades and spectacularly indulgent cuisine, Soleterea has spent centuries perfecting the art of beautiful living. Expect leisurely mornings, extremely long lunches, breath-taking art, an ocean breeze perfumed with the scent of flowers and a national inability to understand why anyone would drink sparkling wine only on special occasions.
This is The Equinox Traveller’s definitive guide to Soleterea.
Soleterea is a fictional country from Camilla Andrew’s The Essence of the Equinox fantasy series, but The Equinox Traveller treats its world exactly as we would a real destination. Below you’ll find where to stay, what to eat, what to pack, the best places to visit and how to plan your perfect fantasy holiday.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
The Vibe
Soleterea is warm, cultivated, colourful and deeply sensual. Here, beauty is not just an aesthetic but a way of life. Architecture, gardens, fashion, food, perfume, music and art all function as expressions of national identity.
Climate
Think long, balmy summers, abundant vegetation and the kind of weather that makes eating outdoors the default rather than an optimistic gamble. Rain is infrequent and usually arrives as brief afternoon showers that leave the cobblestones gleaming.
Pack accordingly.
What to bring
Daytime
- Linen
- Cotton
- Chiffon
- Sunglasses
- Comfortable walking shoes
- Hat
- Swimwear
Evening
This is where Soleterea becomes dangerous to your luggage allowance.
Bring:
- Silk
- Satin
- Gossamer fabrics
- Pastels
- Floral prints
- Gold jewellery
- Something unnecessarily beautiful
If your outfit makes you look vaguely like you escaped from a Botticelli painting, you’re on the right track.
FIRST STOP: LE CREISSANT
The capital you’ll struggle to leave
Le Creissant lingers like a daydream.
Pastel storefronts line broad promenades beneath pale pediments carved with flowers and foliage. Gold cursive glitters against frosted shop windows. Wildflowers tumble from curlicue balconies while cafés offer shade from the afternoon sun. It’s a city designed for wandering, and wander you should.
Don’t miss
The Museum Quarter
Lose an afternoon among galleries, sculpture halls and alabaster antiquities.
The Royal Botanical Gardens
Part scientific institution, part enormous pleasure garden.
The Observatory
Go shortly before sunset and stay until the stars emerge.
The Promenade
The place for shopping, pastries, people-watching and developing opinions about strangers’ clothes.
The temples
Even travellers with little interest in religion should visit for the architecture and art.
WHERE TO STAY
★★★★★ Hôtel Étoile — Le Creissant
The grande dame of Le Creissant
An enormous pale-blue-and-ivory hotel overlooking one of the capital’s principal squares, crowned with gilded starbursts and celestial statuary. This is where foreign dignitaries, old-money families and people who would be mortified to be seen carrying their own luggage stay.
Known for: its glass-roofed atrium, astronomical clock, liveried doormen and outrageous suites.
Rooms: Powder-blue silk walls, painted ceilings, marble fireplaces, fresh flowers changed every morning and balconies overlooking Le Creissant.
Signature experience: Breakfast on the rooftop observatory as the sun rises.
From: 850 coronas per night.
Best for: Your first visit when you intend to do Le Creissant properly.
★★★★★ La Roseraie
For honeymooners and hopeless romantics
A secluded palace hotel hidden behind acres of rose gardens. Rather than one enormous building, suites occupy little pavilions scattered throughout the grounds, connected by flower-covered walkways. Every room smells faintly different depending upon which garden surrounds it.
Known for: Absolute discretion. A favourite among newlyweds, secret lovers and aristocrats who are supposedly somewhere else.
Signature experience: A private candlelit dinner served on a boat drifting across the swan lake.
Best for: Romance.
Warning: If your companion says “I’ve booked us La Roseraie” after three dates, you are either marrying them or making an appalling decision.
★★★★ Maison Clémentine
The fashionable boutique choice
A converted townhouse in the arts quarter, decorated in apricot, pistachio and strawberry shades. Much younger and less formal than Le Creissant’s grand hotels. The lobby café is permanently full of artists, actors, writers and beautiful people pretending not to notice one another.
Known for: Excellent brunch.
Expect:
- spiced brioche and lemon jam
- lavender-almond croissants
- raspberry tarts
- goat’s cheese galettes
- sparkling nectar wine
Best for: Artsy travellers, couples, younger visitors and anyone whose holiday wardrobe took three suitcases.
★★★★ Les Bains de Vénus
The spa hotel
Built around natural thermal springs, with an enormous Art Nouveau bathhouse full of mosaic pools, fountains and stained glass. Treatments include rose-milk bathing, orange-blossom oils, honey masks and mineral soaking.
Signature suite: A private tiled bathing chamber beneath a retractable glass ceiling.
Best for: Doing absolutely nothing for four days and considering it culturally enriching.
WHERE TO EAT
★★★ Le Soleil d’Or
The pinnacle of Soleterean fine dining.
Hidden among Le Creissant’s flower-draped boulevards lies Le Soleil d’Or, the jewel of Soleterean gastronomy. Every course celebrates abundance, sunlight and artistry, where even the simplest herb is arranged as though painted onto porcelain. Unlike most establishments, everything takes place in the light of day. Breakfast stretches lazily into lunch. Sparkling wine is socially acceptable before noon. Meals are leisurely affairs beneath pergolas covered in climbing roses while fountains murmur nearby.
The menu feels impossibly light—as though the food itself might float away.
Tasting menu highlights
Scallop and orange salad
Served within a tulip.
Shrimp and sparkling wine bisque
Butter-poached lobster
Seaweed tartare • borage flowers • sparkling nectar wine sauce.
Peacock confit
Burnt honey • lavender • figs.
Lamb rack
Harissa • pomegranate molasses.
Hibiscus and sumac shrimp étouffée
Roasted plantains • yellow rice.
The dessert
Orange ice cream garnished with candied lavender almonds, orange peel, violets and flakes of gold leaf. Orange brandy and spiced syrup are poured over it tableside, because apparently ice cream wasn’t decadent enough.
WHAT ELSE TO EAT
A trip through Soleterea should involve an irresponsible amount of pastry.
Look for:
- Raspberry-and-rose religieuse
- Cherry-stuffed macarons
- Strawberry shortcake
- Lemon pound cake with vanilla glaze
- Éclairs with nuts, berries and edible blooms
- Vanilla crème éclairs with violet sugar
- Cheesecakes with red berries and pansies
AFTERNOON TEA
By mid-afternoon you may be thinking:
Surely they can’t expect me to eat again.
They do.
A proper Soleterean afternoon tea should arrive surrounded by flowers, gold-edged porcelain and enough tiny pastries to make you question the structural integrity of the cake stand. Expect floral teas, miniature savouries, delicate cakes, macarons and sparkling wine.
Take it outside whenever possible.
ESCAPE THE CAPITAL
Because Soleterea isn’t just Le Creissant.
Orille: The Soleterean Riviera
For glamour
A dramatic coastline of aquamarine coves, pastel villas and marinas glittering with pleasure yachts. The hills are covered in citrus groves and enormous summer estates belonging to the Solarite elite. This is where you go when you want everyone to know you’re having an expensive affair.
Activities:
- Charter a private sailing boat
- Swim in secluded turquoise coves
- Champagne lunch overlooking the marina
- Spend the afternoon at a private beach club
- Gamble at the grand casino
- Dance until 3am
- Return to your hotel by moonlit boat
Stay: A cliffside suite with a private infinity pool.
Order: Butter-poached lobster, sparkling nectar wine and orange ice cream flambéed tableside.
Bring: An unreasonable number of swimsuits.
Lis: The Lakes of Love
For romance
Deep blue lakes lie beneath flower-covered mountains, surrounded by magnificent villas in shades of cream, peach and faded rose. Tiny villages climb the hillsides between lemon groves. It’s quieter than Orille. Old money rather than new money.
Activities:
- Take a polished wooden boat across the lake.
- Visit aristocratic gardens.
- Have lunch beneath wisteria.
- Swim from a private jetty.
- Explore tiny villages.
- Then dress ridiculously well for dinner at your hotel.
Stay: An old villa converted into a hotel.
Signature experience: A private candlelit dinner on a floating pavilion.
Perfect for: Anniversaries, honeymoons and proposals.
Necteaux: The Garden Country
For perfume and flowers
Rolling countryside filled with lavender, roses, jasmine and orange blossom. This is where much of Soleterea’s perfume and wine industry lives. Where you go when you want to wake with your windows open and smelling flowers before you’ve even opened your eyes.
Activities:
- Make bespoke perfume together
- Cycle through flower fields
- Visit vineyards
- Picnic beside streams
- Take a flower-arranging class
- Stay at a vineyard estate
- Spend an afternoon doing absolutely nothing
Best season: Late spring.
Perfect for: People who say they want to “get away from everything.”
Ambrois: For Lovers After Dark
For seduction
Ambrois is the sultrier sister to Le Creissant. Discover iron balconies tangled with flowers. Decadent buffets dense with herbs and spices. Carnivals that last well into dawn. Humid nights that soak you in sweat. Courtyard restaurants. Musicians spilling onto the streets. Gated communities of old money mansions with wraparound porches.
The air smells like jasmine, sugar and rain.
Activities:
- Start with cocktails in a hidden courtyard.
- Eat shrimp étouffée and beignets.
- Find a tiny jazz club.
- Dance.
- Get caught in warm midnight rain.
- Return to your hotel looking thoroughly disreputable.
Perfect for: New relationships. Because if you’re not sleeping together before Ambrois, you probably will be afterwards.
Astrial: Sleep Beneath the Stars
For stargazing
Sparsely populated hills and extraordinary night skies have made Astrial the centre of Solarite astronomy. Discover untamed sprawls of strawberry fields that are perfect for spotting herds of wild unicorns. Luxury observatory retreats offer private glass-roofed suites. Spend the evening beneath the stars and take a hot-air balloon over the countryside at sunrise.
Activities:
- Stargazing
- Midnight picnics
- Unicorn riding
- Private observatory sessions
- Hot-air balloon rides at dawn
Perfect for: privacy.
SOLETEREA IN ONE PERFECT DAY
If you have only 24 hours:
8:30am
Wake at Hôtel Étoile.
9:30am
Lavender croissants and orange-blossom coffee on the terrace.
11am
Royal Botanical Gardens.
12:30pm
Museums and galleries.
2pm
Lunch at Le Soleil d’Or.
4pm
Shopping for perfume and jewellery.
5:30pm
Afternoon tea.
Yes, you’re eating again.
7pm
Return to the hotel. Dress outrageously.
8:30pm
Opera or aerial ballet concert.
10:30pm
Late supper and sparkling wine.
Midnight
Walk the flower-covered streets beneath the stars.
THE SOLETEREA DIRECTORY
BEST FOR
Architecture: Le Creissant
Beaches: Orille
Lakes: Lis
Flowers: Necteaux
Nightlife: Ambrois
Stars: Astrial
Luxury: Orille
Culture: Le Creissant
Romance: Lis
Food: Le Creissant
Perfume: Necteaux
Bad decisions: Ambrois
TRAVELLER ETIQUETTE
✓ Accept flowers graciously.
✓ Dress elegantly after sunset.
✓ Compliment the gardens.
✗ Never touch a unicorn.
✗ Never ask a solarite how old she is.
Soleterea looks like paradise.
But beauty can be misleading. Even paradise can have borders, politics, and corruption brimming beneath an immaculate veneer. And abundance looks very different when you’re watching it from the other side.
Welcome to Soleterea.
You’ll find it in The Essence of the Equinox, beginning with When the Stars Alight.
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