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One Family's Vacation Home is Another's Hospes Villa Paulita
It seems hard to believe that the new Hospes Villa Paulita on Lake Puigcerda near the Pyrenees mountains in Spain was once simply a family's summer holiday home--style and splendor of this kind is not what we think of when we picture a summer shack by the lake. Now a designer resort, three buildings (one from the nineteenth century, two newer) include 34 rooms and 4 suites, each individually decorated with highlights including stained glass windows, wood beamed ceilings and even antiques that were inherited from that rich family.
The new owners have also added the Bodyna Spa, which includes a pool, fitness center and wet and dry saunas. After you've worked up an appetite here you can dine in Senzone L'Estany, the on site gourmet restaurant. Unfortunately online bookings and room rates are not available yet, but you can't expect a lakeside resort with a view of the mountains to come too cheaply.
Related Stories:
· Spain Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]
· Spain Travel Stories [Jaunted]
Tags: New Hotels in Europe / Stockholm Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
New Hotel in Europe: Stockholm's Langholmen Prison Hotel on the Island
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
This new hotel in Europe is really cool. In the middle of Stockholm, there's a leafy island that used to be home to Sweden's largest prison. But now it's Sweden's newest and funkiest hotel, the Langholmen.
The Langholmen has a bit of everything, including both hotel and hostel style rooms, a conference center, restaurant, and even a beach "just beyond the prison wall". There's also a prison museum that opens every afternoon, with guided tours available in summer. And like many modern-thinking Scandinavian establishments, free Wifi access is available throughout.
As for the hotel rooms, yes, until 1975 they were prison cells, but since then, plenty has changed. While the cell doors still look a touch threatening, inside each cell has been converted into a comfortable single or double room with bathroom. The prison entrance hall is now the reception, and includes a 24-hour cafeteria. And much better service than the prisoners used to experience.
Related Stories:
· New Hotels in Europe [HotelChatter]
· Ljubljana's Celica: A Prison, an Art Hotel or a Youth Hostel [HotelChatter]
Tags: New Hotels in Europe / Odd Hotels / Ski Hotels / → All Tags
New Europe Hotel :: The Whitepod
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
The Whitepod Hotel is either an igloo in Alps of Switzerland or a private ski resort, depending on how you look at it. Straight from the "hotel" itself:
The result is an exclusive destination with two choices. The solitude of the Whitepod eco camp, for a maximum of 24 guests at any one time. Or climb higher into the mountains to the Whitepod refuge, standing on the edge of our private ski resort.
The pods are an insulated canvas huts that have gas lamps, a wood burning stove to keep you warm and the sheets are apparently organic. There are three different kinds of pods, one which can sleep up to 8 people. Guests can then meet up in the main lodge which houses the dining room, the main room and the spa (showers and saunas.)
Up in the Alpine Refuge, 60 guests can be accommodated in "cosy bedrooms and hip dormitories" ideal for group bookings like corporate retreats or family reunions. If your family is a bunch of outdoor freaks.
Since the hotel is accessible only by snowshoes or skis then that should be your first clue about the activities to do here: ice climbing, snowshoe touring, dogsledding, skating and night skiing, which sounds kinda cool.
Having closed for a while, the Whitepod will open again in December. An Expedition pod starts at 325 Swiss Francs and include morning tea/coffee served in the pod at wake up and afternoon tea and freshly baked cakes in the main lodge. Don't forget your boot warmers!
Tags: Ireland Hotels / New Hotels in Europe / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / → All Tags
A New Ritz-Carlton Coming Soon to Ireland
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
Look for the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt to hit the hills of Ireland sometime in the next couple months. It is officially listed as "opening in August," but so far the on-line reservations system isn't taking any bookings for any night before October. Apart from this picture here, we couldn't find anything but architectural drawings on the site either, so we expect there are still plenty of construction workers racing around.
This will be a fancy castle where you get the best of the country and the city. Built next to a golf course but in the land where the movies Braveheart and Excalibur were filmed, it is nevertheless just 16 miles from Dublin and 45 minutes from the airport. Parts of the castle itself date back to the early 1700s.
Rooms promise to be palatial as well, with the smallest coming in at 540 square feet. Apart from the "recessed TV in the bathroom," however, we're not seeing any notable amenities on the list. Weekday rates start at 255 euros ($344) and bump up to $398+ on weekends. (Factor in a gouge fee to go online with your laptop of course).
Here's an interesting twist: two of the 20 spa rooms are VIP rooms. So you don't have to mingle with all that Ritz-Carlton guest riff-raff when you're relaxing...
Tags: New Hotels in Europe / Hotel Spas / Portugal Hotels / → All Tags
New Europe Hotel: The Aquapura Douro
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
One of the just-opened hotels on the list is the Aquapura Douro in the Douro Valley, northern Portugal. If the stylish website is anything to go by, the Aquapura Douro's something a bit special, or at least highly philosophical since the promos are littered with deep and meaningful quotations from the likes of Einstein, Goethe and Proust.
The hotel itself has 50 rooms and 21 luxury villas, two restaurants and two bars, an outdoor pool, spa, a wine room and (whatever this might be) a Technogym Gym. Antiques and fancy design pieces round out the rooms and other guest areas and the designers think there's "a feeling of mystery all over the property".
While we've missed their July opening special (although this great offer is still displayed in big print), there are still discounted opening room rates available until the end of August. A standard room starts at 180 Euros ($240) and a villa starts from 434 Euros ($590), both prices per room.
Related Stories:
· New Hotels in Europe [HotelChatter]
· Hotels in Portugal [HotelChatter]
Tags: New Hotels in Europe / Design Hotels / → All Tags
New Europe Hotel: Grims Grenka's Not So Grim
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
Come September 1, Norwegian capital Oslo is getting a really ambitious hotel. The Grims Grenka Hotel has this to say about itself:
Our goal is to become Norway's best hotel, and the hotel will in many ways appear to be revolutionary with regards to interior design and service. Our ambition is to make Grims Grenka so exhilarating that guests won't want to leave.
So how exactly do they plan to do this? The location is a good start, in a historical part of Oslo near the Akershus Castle, with the central station just five minutes away. The 66 rooms and suites are deliberately large, with many over 750 square feet, and there's already a rooftop lounge to enjoy a drink in.
An Asian restaurant will follow, along with a nightclub and a private cinema. Their website's not letting any bookings be made yet, despite the promised opening in less than two weeks, so we'll have to wait and see if the September deadline really comes through.
Related Stories:
· A New Design Hotel for Oslo [VisitOslo]
· Norway Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]
· Norway Travel Stories [Jaunted]
Tags: New Hotels in Europe / Paris Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
New Europe Hotel: Luxury at the Lumen Paris Louvre
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
This September, a new luxury spot will open in Paris, in the form of the Hotel Lumen Paris Louvre. It's well-located (not far from the Louvre, as you'd expect) and it has its own Parisian-style brasserie, Le Passage Saint Roch Restaurant, which has connections to renowned cookbook writer Frédérick Grasser-Hermé. Actually, the Lumen sounds a bit like one of those hotels where any room's a good room:
Of the 33 guest rooms, choose from the St. Roch single rooms (with views of the stained glass windows of the beautiful St. Roch church), the Pyramides double or twin rooms, the Lumen rooms (with lots of light), and the beautiful, luminous suites on the 5th and 6th floors.
The room rates do reflect these great views, however: we looked at booking a Saturday night in late September and the cheapest double available was 424 Euros ($570) per night, quickly jumping up to rates like 760 Euros ($1,025) if you want a twin instead of a double. But it is in the heart of Paris.
[Photo: racingsquirrel]
Related Stories:
· Hotel Lumen Summer Opening [Informed Traveler]
· Paris Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]
Tags: New Hotels in Europe / Hotel Spas / → All Tags
Wine and Spa at Hungary's Andrássy Kúria
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
Looking for a relaxing spa, plenty of good wine and a quaint countryside location ... then the new Andrássy Kúria Hotel Wine & Spa in Hungary is what you're looking for. The Andrássy Kúria can be found in the Hungarian town of Tarcal in the north-east of the country, in the middle of the world-famous Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district.
Tags: New Hotels in Europe / Hotel Spas / → All Tags
New Europe Hotel: g Is For Great in Galway
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
Having a name with just one letter certainly cuts down n typing, printing and misspelling. Presumably there's some other philosophy, though, behind the g hotel in Galway, Ireland. It's recently opened but has made quite an impact, with Travel + Leisure mag voting it the 2007's best large hotel (although it's not that large, with just 101 rooms) and Microsoft MSN listing it as Hot for 2007.
It's an eye-catching hotel on the way through to your room, but then the rooms are more soothingly stylish than too out there. Designer Philip Treacy obviously loved bathrooms, and many of the rooms have showers planned for two, and some even have an LCD TV in the bathroom too.
There is also a spa attached to the "g", and at this ESPA you can get all the usual cosmetic treatments, steam room, sauna and use the vitality pool; and there's a relaxation area overlooking a Zen garden for unwinding. Tipsters complain that it's too far out of town if you want to go and see something, so only book in if you're there to stay or don't mind a drive.
[Photo: Groover1964]
Related Stories:
· Ireland Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]
· Galway Travel Stories [Jaunted]
· Pinkie and the Brain [Jaunted]
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