Poland Hotels Booking

Nothing completely new ever really opens in the center of Paris — but the newly expanded, heavily renovated and recently renamed Hotel Duo is about as close as it gets. Previously the Axial Beaubourg, the Duo has had a makeover at the hand of the modern architect and interior designer Jean-Philippe Nuel — and now the fashion-conscious traveler (aren’t we all) has another spot in the Marais to call home.

The style is nothing too outré — in Paris even the most modern hotels have more than a tinge of the classic to them. Above all the look is contemporary, elegant and highly composed, with plenty of the building’s classic character showing through, along with some thoughtful modern luxuries, like the all-new black-and-white bathrooms.

Downstairs there’s a smart little cocktail bar, and a cozy lounge, where breakfast is served in front of the “virtual chimney” (a video screen where the fireplace ought to be), and new additions include a sauna and a fitness room. As for the location, it’s hard to find fault — don’t tell the fashionistas, but this place is perfectly placed for tourists, with easy access to the Louvre, the Centre Pompidou, and the best of walking Paris.

Prague is a city that, for various world-historical reasons, sat out the heyday of Fifties and Sixties modernism. So when a hotel like the Vintage Design Hotel Sax ventures down the retro-modernist road, it does so with a special vigor. A couple of present-day Czech architects have transformed this centuries-old building into a boutique-hotel fantasy, almost a movie-set world full of vivid colors, bold prints, and classics of mid-century furniture design.

The riotous public spaces put the minimalist design hotels to shame, and the rooms are toned down just enough to be livable. They’re not quite luxury-hotel material, but they are comfortable, and the attic rooms, up under the eaves, trade a little bit of headroom for views that peek out over Prague’s picturesque rooftops.

As for the location, the Sax is exactly where you want to be: in the heart of the old town, the Malá Strana, the historic district of winding cobblestone streets below the Prague Castle. If there’s one thing the Sax lacks, it’s a restaurant (though there’s no shortage in the neighborhood) — but with a fitness center, a massage corner, and even a five-o’clock tea service in the lobby bar, it’s got just about everything else you could ask for.

For fans of old-fashioned luxury hotels, Chicago offers no end of options; many of the city’s hotels feel like throwbacks to Chicago’s glory days as the business-and-industry capital of the Middle West. For the rest of us, however, Hotel Sax Chicago is a bit of a welcome departure, with soft, light colors and a clean-lined, almost European look taking the place of the mahogany and marble bathrooms of the classic business hotel.

Cabin rooms are on the cozy side, and will be familiar to boutique hotel connoisseurs — a queen bed, a flat-panel television, and just enough room to spread out a bit. From there they just get bigger and bigger, on up to the junior suites with their king beds and dual HDTVs, and the one-bedroom suites with sleeper sofas.

And the location is quite possibly Hotel Sax’s greatest strength: the Marina City complex, right on the Chicago River, is home to the legendary House of Blues as well as a number of bars and restaurants and even a bowling alley — which if you’ve never considered as a viable night-out option you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Chicago is a gourmand’s paradise, and everything from upscale steakhouses to classic street sausages is within easy reach — get a guest pass to the Crunch gym next door if you feel you may have overindulged.

How to get there:

The Hotel Sax Chicago is located a few blocks from both the Grand Ave station on the Red “L” line or a few blocks from the Merchandise Mart station. It is approximately a 30 minute drive from Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

It’s not all farm houses and olive groves. Near the south coast of Sicily, housed in a medieval-era convent once occupied by the Knights of Malta, lies the Eremo della Giubiliana, a remarkably posh boutique hotel hidden away within an imposing fortified exterior. These stone walls still look up to the task of repelling an invading force, but inside it’s elegant and sophisticated in a way that one doesn’t often expect from rustic, rugged Sicily.

Of course defeating expectations is half the game in the better sort of hotel. The feeling is reminiscent of Morocco in the oasis-like atmosphere of the compound’s interior. It’s quite normal to see minimalist modern furniture against the background of this kind of stark stone architecture, less common to see the Eremo’s refined, almost baroque pieces.

Five miles from the town of Ragusa, it’s a self-contained escape. A restaurant, a bar, and a wine cellar in an old crypt are there to see to guests’ immediate needs, and a swimming pool keeps things from getting too warm. Spa treatments are offered with a view of a bona fide archaeological site. And despite the general air of understatement, the Eremo is unmistakably upscale — the neighboring Ragusa-Giubiliana airfield accommodates guests arriving via private plane.

Argentina’s economy, after famously melting down at the turn of this century, seems to have rebounded handsomely, at least if the spate of recent hotel openings is any indication — forget about inflation or GDP, the Boutique Hotel Index is the only measure that matters to us. Suddenly it seems that around every corner in Buenos Aires there’s a stylish new hotel going up, and good ones too — and near the top of the class of 2006 is the ultra-modern Buenos Aires cE, Design Hotel.

The building, by the porteño architect Ernesto Goransky, stands in sharp contrast to its location on the Parisian-looking Rodriguez Peña Square, in Buenos Aires’s Barrio Norte. Rooms go from compact and efficient to large and lofty, but all look out through full-length windows and feature flat-screen televisions that pivot for universal viewing. What they may lack in coziness they make up for in visual impact, and the views from the balcony suites are particularly extraordinary.

There’s a small bar and café, and not much more, but no matter — in today’s Buenos Aires, no hotel is an island. Buenos Aires cE, Design Hotel’s location is a highly desirable one, whether for nightlife, culture, or shopping — the latter, along the Avenida Santa Fe, is some of the best in the city.

How to get there:

Buenos Aires cE, Design Hotel is approximately a 45 minute drive from Ezeiza International Airport, 15 minutes from the Domestic Airport, and 15 minutes from La Boca and Palermo Hollywood. Please contact customerservice@tablethotels.com to arrange airport transfers.

Any doubts about whether Barcelona really is one of the world’s capitals of cool are quickly settled by a look at the boutique hotel scene. And in a city full of funky, well-designed small boutiques, the Hotel Market fits in perfectly.

It’s a hotel-restaurant, to be exact, the sort of place where the food comes first, with the bedrooms in a supporting role. But the lodgings are anything but perfunctory — while the restaurant is a fixture in the neighborhood surrounding the Sant Antoni market, the hotel pulls its weight as well, with seventeen rooms decorated in smart monochrome hues and rich hardwoods.

The neighborhood is the Eixample, the extension just outside Barcelona’s old city walls, and this particular quarter is hip and rapidly improving. Here you’re largely free of the typical tourist traffic, but by no means isolated — the Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas are not far off. The restaurant draws more than its share of locals, and the San Antoni market itself is often buzzing. Best of all, perhaps, is the price; even accounting for the fact that it lacks many of the more indulgent services you’ll find in higher-end luxury boutiques, the Market Hotel is an excellent value.

It’s about time squeaky-clean Toronto had a style transplant, and it’s probably no surprise that this one happens to be a Québecois import. The Germain family’s first Ontario outpost adds a dash of style to the theater district, in the form of this scratch-built 11-story red brick building, which hides a magnificently inviting split-level lobby (and a first-class French restaurant, Chez Victor) behind its impressive stainless-steel and glass entryway.

For too long the lobby has been about delivering a visual impact and little else, or worse, reduced to a desk crammed under a stairwell. This is a public space worth lounging in, with a library, an espresso bar, and a double-sided open fireplace surrounded with daybeds and white leather couches. Elevator walls are lined with poetry in English and French against a background of cloud imagery, which sounds terribly precious but is actually carried off with style.

Some exquisite facades hide uninspired rooms, but not so here; rooms are spacious, open-plan, with massive white Frette-dressed beds set against backgrounds of rich brown wood. Furniture is sleek and modern, as are the amenities, like flat-screen TVs and generous, functional desks. Showers are separated from the living space by glass walls—no longer the most original trick in the hotelier’s handbook, but it works, and if you’re feeling modest, just draw the blinds and concentrate on stuffing your suitcase with the Aveda bath products.

Note: At Casitas de las Flores, there is a 3 night minimum stay requirement.

Was it Walt Whitman or the nation of Mexico that said “I am large, I contain multitudes”? It was the poet, of course, but it’s equally true of Mexico — whether your picture of it is the ruined pyramids of the Yucatán or the hip nightspots of the Distrito Federal, you can bet there’s another side of Mexico you’re not considering. In the case of Costa Careyes, it’s the exclusive, relatively undeveloped, upscale yet unpretentious side.

There’s something almost European about it, like a classic Riviera resort town — except there isn’t actually a town. This is still the New World, and there’s nothing on these shores but the fifty-odd villas, casitas, bungalows and castles of Costa Careyes. Yes, castles — not fortified, but rather something like mega-villas, each one positioned for the best possible view, and surrounded by a moat-like swimming pool.

Not all of them are quite so lavish, but they’re not far off. You might not know it just looking at it — note the absence of limousines and liveried bellmen — but Costa Careyes is among the most luxurious resorts in the Americas. The sea is your playground here, from the miles and miles of beach to any seafaring activity you could ask for, from surfing to deep-sea fishing. There’s a polo club three miles to the south — that’s the kind of entertainment we’re talking about here.

And though it feels as remote as anywhere, it’s not that far off the beaten track: Manzanillo airport is an hour to the south, and Puerto Vallarta airport a little more than double that to the north.

Hotel Drisco’s most extraordinary feature has to be its location; while most of San Francisco’s hotels are clustered around the bustling downtown area, the Drisco makes its home in the sedate upscale residential district of Pacific Heights. This is the postcard vision of San Francisco, where century-old mansions sit side by side atop the ridge overlooking the Marina and the Bay.

The building itself fits right in, and the interiors are suitably old-world, abounding in rich fabrics and antique furnishings. Unlike many of the downtown hotels, this one has views: of the downtown skyline itself, and of the picture-perfect residential surroundings. Rooms are spacious enough, with king beds, work desks and huge marble bathrooms, and the vast suites come with sofa beds as well.

A gourmet breakfast buffet is complimentary, as is an afternoon wine aperitif. The restaurants and boutiques of upper Fillmore Street and the nearby Presidio Heights are within walking distance, and the Lyon Street Steps offer an astonishing view over the Palace of Fine Arts and San Francisco Bay. Virtually everything else in this compact city is a modest drive from this central location — and at the end of a day spent downtown you’ll be glad to retire to the serene seclusion of Pacific Heights.

In Dubai the basic hotel choice is between new and old — or, since everything’s really new, between old-fashioned and new-fangled. At the slightly over-named The Palace – The Old Town you can get a bit of both: the Palace is a classic antique-style hotel compound, in the middle of the Old Town island in Dubai, next door to The Address, as modern a high-rise hotel/residential complex as you could hope to find anywhere. Dubai Mall, the largest shopping center in the Middle East, is also next door, so you’re not exactly roughing it. But within the compound the atmosphere is one of seclusion, whether or not some of the world’s tallest buildings loom in the middle distance.

Over two hundred rooms and suites are hidden away throughout the complex, the most basic ones lavish enough, with private balconies and five-star amenities. Five gradations of suites, though, put most luxury hotels to shame — the “Diplomatic Suites” are just middle-of-the-range, if that tells you anything. Of course we can’t all have Royal or Imperial suites. Fortunately we do have access to the massive central pool, the three restaurants and the Palace spa — when in Dubai….

These days, with the Riviera as crowded as it is and Provence practically a borough of the city of London, the greatest luxury to be had in the south of France is a little privacy. The most sought-after experience is that of being a guest in a private home — which goes a long way to explaining the appeal of a place like Le Mas de Pierre.

It’s located on the hillside just below the fortified town of Saint Paul de Vence, on five acres of parkland, a compound of stone farmhouses surrounded by gardens and olive trees. Inside are 48 bedrooms, classically beautiful in soft Southern colors, furnished with antiques painstakingly collected by the hotel’s owners. Except for contemporary touches like plasma-screen televisions, this is hotel design of the old school, right down to the lavish marble baths.

Le Mas offers plenty of ways to chill out, from massages and spa treatments to lolling by the pool or just soaking in the sun on your private terrace or balcony. The restaurant, Le Table de Pierre, is a fine one, serving upscale local cuisine, as expected. And best of all is the location — close enough to the Côte d’Azur to make for easy day trips, yet far enough to shut it all out at night.

That’s “good” as a noun, not an adjective. San Francisco’s Good Hotel is less about being a good hotel—it certainly is that, in its unassuming way—and more about doing good.

It’s the ideal location for this sort of thing. It’s literally in the shadow of the city’s new federal building, which is a marvel of green engineering—an inspiration, surely, for the Good Hotel’s extensive environmental efforts. And the neighborhood, which is a slight sticking point for some first-time San Francisco visitors, puts you immediately in mind of philanthropy; here, south of Market (and rather on the “wrong” side of Sixth), you’re surrounded, quite frankly, by streets full of people who could stand to have a bit of good done to them.

The Good, if we can call it that, goes about its goodness in two distinct ways. First, practically everything inside it is recycled, re-used, or re-purposed in some way, from the beds, made of reclaimed waste wood, to the lobby furnishings, made from retired skateboards. Less visible is the fact that everything in the place is low-energy and restricted-flow — sink water is used to flush the toilets, for example.

Second, it offers guests a bit of agency in their do-gooding. Hybrid cars park free, charitable donations are included in the bill, and the hotel’s “philanthropy concierge” (yes, you read that right) can line up coveted last-minute volunteering opportunities.

In a way it’s a nutshell version of San Francisco itself: not overly luxurious, but stylish and photogenic, and exceedingly concerned with doing the right thing. Oh, and with some good, if idiosyncratic, food: in place of the traditional hotel restaurant, you’ll find Good Pizza, which is exactly what it sounds like.

It could have gone so wrong. In less capable hands a Beatles-themed hotel, right around the corner from the Cavern Club, could easily have resulted in a nightmare of kitsch. But the Hard Days Night, against the odds, doesn’t try to coast on theme alone — were it not for the portraits and the memorabilia (which, granted, are central to its appeal, but anyway) this place would still be big news on the Liverpool hotel scene.

In fact it’s stylish enough, and plush enough in that very British boutique sub-luxury sort of way, that even Beatles agnostics would be hard pressed to find a better option in town. And fans, needless to say, will be over the moon, especially in the McCartney and the Lennon suites, the latter of which comes complete with a white grand piano.

The restaurant, the bar, and the brasserie/lounge are strengths as well. More than a meeting place for Beatles die-hards they’re among the city’s most in-demand nightspots, again, easy on the kitsch, and heavy on the authentic Liverpool history. The Hard Days Night is one of the anchors of something of long overdue dining and entertainment renaissance in this town — despite the obvious nostalgia, there’s something oddly forward-looking about it.

Riva Hotel, on the Croatian island of Hvar, is something of a time capsule — the sort of place that just might take you back to the days when this whole design boutique thing started. For any number of world-historical reasons that don’t really bear examination here, Croatia is, as a tourist destination, at least a decade or two behind just about anywhere else in Europe. This is no dismissal — if the boom in business there is any indication, there’s plenty of demand for a bit of not-yet-spoiled European coastline.

Here many hotels are dragged bleary-eyed out of the Seventies and into the twentieth century, and a hotel like the Riva, a hundred-year-old Italianate villa redesigned in a modern-minimalist style, stands head and shoulders above the rest. The location is prime, right on the waterfront of the Hvar harbor (itself easily accessible by ferry from Split), and the surprisingly stylish interiors, with rooms dominated by enlarged stills from classic films, are just icing on the cake.

It’s not quite velvet-glove luxury, but it’s as decadent as Hvar gets, and it’s equally well suited for sportsmen, sightseers, or clubbers — that’s the marina just outside, and the historic village streets and the up-and-coming Hvar nightlife are just steps away. In fact it’s worth renting a car, and making a day trip or two out of the harbor town: the island is one of the coast’s most scenic, and is home to a thriving wine tradition.

Stylish ski hotels are rare enough, and all the more so in Aspen, where the local style tends toward a fairly conservative overstuffed-armchairs-and-stone-fireplaces sort of luxury look. The Sky Hotel is the first hotel in town to try to change all that, and its efforts haven’t gone unnoticed — from some of the early local reviews you’d imagine it was some kind of crazy moon hotel, rather than simply a member of the stylish-yet-accessible Kimpton boutique hotel group.

To be fair, the eclectic mix of modern furnishings, from the stretched-out wingback chairs to the vaguely mid-century kidney-shaped tables, looks a bit more outré in the context of a ski hotel than in a big-city boutique, which is, of course, pretty much the point of this place.

Urbane touches like L’Occitane bath products, free wireless internet, iPod-ready stereo systems, all right at the foot of Ajax mountain — it’s not rocket science here, but it’s a combination the world could use a lot more of. Add in a hip-but-not-alienatingly-so cocktail bar, the 39 Degrees Lounge (don’t worry, it’s quite a bit warmer than its name) and suddenly Aspen is looking a whole lot younger.

Though it’s passed through varying degrees of cool, from golden age to slightly passé and back again and again, it’s by now clear that the French Riviera is just one of those timeless destinations. The perennial warm-weather migration back to this stretch of the Mediterranean is due in part to the smart recycling of a handful of grand old hotels to reflect the tastes of contemporary sun-worshippers. The Hotel Juana, located in the resort of Juan-les-Pins near Cap d’Antibes, is a product of that particular revolution, infusing traditional luxury and historic architecture with a fashionable modern sensibility and an understated air that’s well-suited to its seaside location.

The hotel, tucked into a quiet pine tree-shaded property near the private beach of Belles Rives, is an Art Deco classic dating back to 1931. The ivy-covered structure with its cream-colored stucco facade, surrounded by a hammam and white marble pool, has been restored to achieve a sort of pared-down French elegance — the interior’s dramatic curves and whimsical details provide 1930s-style glamour, but the finishing touches are clean and modern. The Art Deco chic look continues throughout the hotel’s 40 refurbished guest rooms, many which offer private terraces overlooking the sea and pine groves. Fine linens and internet capability are standard features; oversized suites also contain Jacuzzis. Mediterranean cuisine and a superb wine list await guests at the hip La Terrasse Club, and the private beach and tony boutiques of Juan-les-Pins are just a short stroll away.

Those whose work takes them to India likely know the Taj hotel empire well — with an outpost in every major city they’re a mainstay of the high-end business-hotel market, where efficiency meets luxury, and traditional Indian style meets contemporary international design. And those with business in Chennai know the Taj Coromandel — the city is one of India’s industrial centers, and the Taj, one imagines, is where quite a lot of business changes hands.

It’s saddled with a slightly disappointing building, but the interiors, on the heels of a major renovation, are very much up to the current Taj standard: a contemporary take of the classic luxe-colonial look, crisp and smart but well short of anything you’d call design-y. Rooms start large enough and scale on up to absolutely massive — but you don’t have to book the presidential suite to get the basics, including wireless internet, plush bed and bath, and a very workable desk. And as is the custom in a hotel of the Taj Coromandel’s stature, an array of services are designed to keep visiting executives (and you) fit and fed, from the pool and 24-hour gym to the restaurants, one Indian and the other Italian.

It’s the rare classic grand hotel that actually lives up to its storied reputation — in this case it’s because the Carlton St. Moritz hasn’t been shy about renovating. On the theory that its rather demanding high-end guests could forgive a bit of contemporary design, especially in the service of a technological modernization, they’ve left the building pretty much as it was, but handed the interiors over to the designer Carlo Rampazzi to do with as he wished.

From the outside the Carlton looks massive, but post-renovation, it’s divided into just sixty suites. It follows that interior space is plentiful, and the style is a mix, classically-inspired furnishings set out in bold, coordinated, contemporary colors. It takes a lot to compete with the view of the lake, shared by all of the suites, but these interiors have the visual appeal to hold their own.

Beyond good looks, it’s a luxurious modern classic, with in-room amenities like plasma screens and marble baths, as well as upscale hotel services like a formal fine-dining restaurant and — crucially for a Swiss mountain hotel — a state-of-the-art spa complex spanning over ten thousand square feet. And it’s more than just a ski chalet: from skiing to sailing to golf, it’s a base for any kind of outdoor exploration, all the year round.

The age of the boutique ski hotel is upon us. While the typical North American mountain resort counts rooms by the hundreds, Quintessence, on the shores of Quebec’s Lake Tremblant, numbers just thirty suites — though surely they had space for more, as each spans at least 700 square feet, they went for the ultra-luxury approach.

The style isn’t quite as new — we’ve seen more and more mountain resorts taking their cues from the high-end lodges of the Swiss Alps — but when combined with the intimate scale (and the level of service that only a small hotel can provide) the result is an experience few competitors can match. The elegance of the atmosphere lends itself to the sort of romance that is more typically the province of city-center boutique hotels — and the king-size beds, wood-burning fireplaces and deep soaking tubs don’t hurt either.

Room amenities are state-of-the-art, service is impeccable, and the restaurant and wine bar are the equal of anything you’d find in the city. There’s more to do than just ski, incidentally — though the slopes are a short walk away, so is the lake, and the Quintessence spa is an attraction all the year round.

How to get there:

Hotel Quintessence is a 1 1/2 hour drive (130 km) northwest of Montréal and a two minute walk from Tremblant Village. It is accessible year-round by car, limousine or bus.

The Standard Hollywood is the motel of your dreams. Sixties modernist, blinding white, with Astro-Turf surrounding the obligatory swimming pool. And the neighborhood — not some desert highway but the Sunset Strip, site of many a debauch, from Tallulah Bankhead’s Twenties exhibitionism to the heavy-metal excesses of the Eighties and beyond.

From the upside-down sign, the funky 24-hour coffee shop, to the label on the thermostat marked BLOW HARDER, it’s clear that the Standard is relentless in its pursuit of insouciant LA cool, with a generous helping of irony: Warhol print curtains, shag carpets on ceilings as well as floors, minibars full of lowbrow candies and house-brand condoms. And it’s not all kitsch — the Standard is modern and comfortable enough where it really counts, with orthopedic mattresses on the beds and nods to modern cooking even in the intentionally retro coffee-shop restaurant.

In the end it’s worth stressing that it’s more motel than hotel. There’s very little that’s luxurious about it, and stylish though it may be, it could use a coat of fresh paint here and there. If it’s white-glove luxury you’re after then there’s plenty of that available elsewhere in town — the Standard is for guests who will trade the occasional hitch in function or service for a vibrant nightlife and a scene that’s unrelentingly hip. And if that last clause is enough to give you a bit of a migraine, you know what to do…