9 New Hotels In Europe's Culinary Capitals
Industrial-inspired designs – and a lobby bakery – are highlights of Barcelona's Praktik Bakery Hotel.
While the majority of your days wandering a European culinary capital will — and should — revolve around feasting, following up a mind-blowing dinner, say, underneath funky chandeliers with a night of threadbare accommodations is an inevitable downer. Instead, splurge on the stylish, inspiring settings of these 9 new and forthcoming hotels. Here, napping between meals becomes a priority.
Amsterdam
Art permeates Amsterdam, and for guests who want their dose of culture to linger beyond a visit to the Rijksmuseum, there's art'otel, across from Centraal Station. Part of a budding design-focused hotel chain, this one's home to a gallery, flaunts a two-story curtain bearing video art and is filled with over 100 contemporary works from multidisciplinary Dutch collective, Atelier Van Lieshout. Prins Hendrikkade 33, 1012 TM, +31 20 719 7200, artotelamsterdam.com
Barcelona
The scent of just-out-of-the-wood-fired-oven bread will greet guests of Praktik Bakery Hotel, in Barcelona's Modernist Eixample neighborhood, when it opens in April. Baluard Bakery, with its hand-kneaded loaves and wafting aromas, lends the lobby a sense of epicurean theater, but the hotel's industrial-inspired design — done up in glass, brick and wood — adds allure beyond the on-site carb haven. Provença 279, +34 93 343 66 90, hotelpraktikbakery.com
Florence
Come May, the fashionable set will gravitate toward Portrait Firenze, the 34-suite hotel in Ferragamo's Lungarno Collection, on a bank of the River Arno. Inspired by the lavish heyday of circa-1950s haute couture, it's decked out in black-and-white fashion photography and luxe materials like silk and marble. The best part may be the balconies, where espresso breaks come with views of the Ponte Vecchio. Lungarno Acciaiuoli 4, 1-800-745-8883, portraitfirenze.com
London
Chris Corbin and Jeremy King are best known for their acclaimed London restaurants, including celebrity hangouts Le Caprice and the Wolseley. Now the duo are bringing their knack for hospitality to the hotel sphere. The 73-room Beaumont opens in Mayfair, overlooking Brown Hart Gardens, in the fall. An Art Deco façade is the first hint the property will take design cues from circa-1920s New York. Surely, the most desired bed will be the one uniquely set inside artist Anthony Gormley's sleep-proof sculpture. 8 Balderton Street, Mayfair, W1K 6TF, 020 7647 1810 thebeaumont.com
Paris
Geneva and Ramatuelle, near Saint-Tropez, are graced with swank La Réserve properties. Now, hotelier and wine guru Michel Reybier, is expanding his presence in Paris — jet-setters can already stay in one of the brand's 10 fancy Trocadéro apartments — with a 5-star gem opening in the 8th arrondissement later this year. Close to the Champs-Élysées, the 40-room hotel will have a private library, spa and elegant, clubby feel courtesy of powerhouse French designer, Jacques Garcia. 42 Avenue Gabriel, lareserve-paris.com
Reykjavik
Less than an hour away from Reykjavik's "new Nordic" cooking dens is the inn-turned-ION Luxury Adventure Hotel, on the Golden Circle Route and in the shadow of stunning Thingvellir National Park. Perched atop pillars over the slopes of Mount Hengill, the eco-friendly, 45-room property is tricked out with natural materials like local driftwood. The spa, with a heated outdoor pool and lava field views, befits its rugged surroundings. 801 Nesjavellir, +354 482 3415, ioniceland.is
Stockholm
Parquet floors, Swedish limestone and marble baths glimpsed through glass walls will be among the perks of Miss Clara, from Nobis Group, when it opens in April. Set in a former girl's school, each of the 92 rooms reimagines the curved lines of the Art Nouveau movement, with custom bentwood furniture, storage-saving pull-out desks and windows facing onto the boulevard. Sveavägen 48, missclarahotel.com
The Swiss Alps
Switzerland's bucolic Urseren Valley—90 minutes from Zurich—is the site of Chedi Andermatt, centerpiece of the flashy new Andermatt Swiss Alps Development. The 50-room property, a revamp of a grand dame, honors its Alpine roots with a timber-clad façade and sloping rooflines, but this is far from a cookie-cutter chalet. Here, the granite check-in desk doubles as a bar, a heated pool is surrounded by reclaimed teakwood and glass fireplaces are found on private terraces. Gotthardstrasse 4, +41 41 888 74 88, thechedi-andermatt.com
Vienna
Vienna's tallest skyscraper, the monolithic Donau-City Tower, is also the city's first sustainable building. Inside is just-opened Meliá Vienna, where guests climb a floating spiral staircase in the lobby, DJs spin and geometric patterns pop up on stone tiles and headboards. Each of the hotel's 253 rooms overlooks the heady Danube through floor-to-ceiling windows. Donau-City-Straße 7, +43 1 90104, melia.com
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