Hotels • November 2014
Six of Europe’s cosiest hotels
The temperature may have dropped in the northern hemisphere, but there’s no need to be blue. Travel writer Lucy Gillmore picks six warm and welcoming winter retreats that are perfect for when it’s cold outside
Hotel J, Stockholm, Sweden
The water outside might be choppy and grey, but curling up in front of a roaring log fire, wrapped in a rug with a steaming mug of cocoa at Hotel J couldn’t be cosier. Stockholm is just a short ferry ride away, so after shopping and sightseeing, you can soak away the salty air in a tub looking out to sea, before tucking into a plate of fresh seafood in the hotel’s waterfront restaurant.
InterContinental, Berlin, Germany
Sitting against Berlin’s skyline and within tourist-tramping distance of Tiergarten park and the Reichstag, the InterContinental (see offer below) is not only central but also has a stellar spa that offers an indulgent winter warmer: a hot-chocolate massage with warm cocoa oil. After the pampering, relax in front of a crackling fire in the Library Cigar and Rum lounge before a Michelin-starred dinner in Hugos, gazing out over the twinkling lights of the city.
Canal House, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
On a cobbled canalside in Amsterdam, a clutch of 17th-century merchants’ houses has been converted into the darkly theatrical Canal House, a truly 21st-century hotel. The 23 rooms are swathed in plush purple with rich velvet drapes and silk wallpaper, making them a seductive cocoon. Rooms are rated Good to Better and Best via Great and Exceptional – Exceptional Room 12 has the best canal views, while Room 2 (a Great Room), has a semi-private terrace in the garden should you fancy fresh air.
Greywalls Hotel, near Edinburgh, UK
Pack your Pringle jumper for this elegant Edwardian country house hotel overlooking the rolling greens of Muirfield golf course. Just a half-hour drive from Edinburgh, Greywalls is more private house-party than hotel with family portraits, shelves of well-thumbed books and antlers strung with school caps. Book a cottage room near the main building for a super homely feel. Before dinner in Chez Roux, you can sink into a sofa with a G&T in front of a log fire.
Hotel Verneuil, Paris, France
This tall, skinny 17th-century bolthole in arty arrondisement Saint-Germain-des-Pres might not boast the roomiest boudoirs in Paris but it can brag location, location, location: it’s seconds from the Seine and opposite the house where Serge Gainsbourg lived. Everything about this little hotel is on the bijoux side, from the cosy lounge with its café au lait-toned beams, old wooden floors and velvet sofas to the contemporary water-powered Faber fire and the tiny lizard-skin lift that cranks up to the 26 rooms.
Ca Maria Adele, Venice Italy
Mist swirling in off the lagoon, the crowds dissipating; Venice out of season has an almost melancholic air. Ca Maria Adele, in the quiet quarter of Dorsoduro that’s home to the Peggy Guggenheim museum, is an opulent hideaway where you can hole up on the Moroccan terrace after meandering the maze of canals and dank alleyways. With just 12 rooms, including a handful of sumptuous themed suites, it’s the stuff of overblown fantasies.
This article has been tagged Destination, Hotels