May / June 2010
Calm in the City
By by Gail Harrington
22 Urban Hotels Where Tranquility Reigns
Travelers love big cities and all that comes with them: restaurants that make all the lists and those on the edge of discovery, wonderful shopping, great museums, operas and other musical performances, theater, the contrast of what’s old with contemporary flourishes, plus insider secrets to discover. But even better is finding a way to enjoy all that and still have an escape plan when you need to get away from it all. Here are 22 places where you can do just that – hotels where you find refuge exploring gardens or parks, rejuvenating in a soothing spa, or enjoying home-away-from home comforts.
EUROPE
No. 1 BARCELONA
Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona
From the city’s most stylish boulevard, Passeig de Gràcia, guests enter this contemporary 98-room cocoon via a raised glass catwalk. Take it easy at this new hotel’s 11,000-squarefoot spa that keeps style simple with black ceilings, white floors, and wet-look stone. Book a “Time Ritual” for a set amount of time, rather than a specific treatment, and forget all about the clock. But arrive early and use the whirlpool, herbal steam room, and indoor spa pool first, or the rooftop pool where you can swim laps or just soak and watch the world go by.
Doubles from $485, including breakfast and a bottle of wine or tapas at Banker’s Bar.
No. 2 DUBLIN
The Merrion
Sharp-suited politicians keep the neighborhood hopping. But across from the Irish Parliament, a calm universe awaits behind the black doors of 142- room The Merrion, which was created from four magnificent Georgian townhouses. Off the hotel’s drawing rooms, guests take refuge in an eighteenth century-style garden with seating amid box hedges, flowering bulbs, and scented plants, plus the soothing sound of an antique statue that spouts water into a pool. Stop by the James Joyce sundial statue, and feel like you have all the time in the world to read Ulysses.
Doubles from $630, including breakfast and a bottle of Champagne.
No. 3 FLORENCE
Four Seasons Hotel Firenze
After forays in Florence, return to this fifteenth-century former palace of the Gherardesca family that’s graced with soaring ceiling murals, bas-reliefs, restored original frescoes, Murano glass chandeliers, plus an ample indoor courtyard with a glass ceiling. Take a time-out in the 116-room hotel’s 11-acre walled park – the hill inside the garden is made of stones from the old Florence city wall that was destroyed in 1870. This botanical garden with historical species has been private for centuries, and you won’t have to share it with the masses.
Doubles from $680, including breakfast and a $115 spa credit.
No. 4 ISTANBUL
ÇiraGan Palace Kempinski
After navigating ancient lanes and negotiating rug prices, head for this hotel, a former home of Ottoman sultans on the edge of the Bosporus. There are no city sounds, just splashing water and the horns of ships passing by. In the vast riverfront garden, palm trees, grassy stretches, and spa cabanas surround an infinity pool. These outdoor grounds are as grand as the 315-room palace: views of the Old City on the right, the magnificent Bosporus Bridge to the left, and Asia across the water.
Doubles from $620, including breakfast and one afternoon tea service.
No. 5 LISBON
Olissippo Lapa Palace
No wonder it feels like a country manor – Lapa Palace was once the home of a count. On a quiet street in the embassy district, this nineteenth-century hillside villa is surrounded by gardens with streams, waterfalls, and a swimming pool. Many of its 109 rooms have terraces overlooking the Tagus River. It’s just the kind of place that reminds you to slow down and listen to the sweet song of the green parakeets chirping in the trees. Doubles from $470, including breakfast, flowers and port on arrival, and complimentary parking.
No. 6 LONDON
The Goring
With a garden just bigger than Centre Court at Wimbledon, The Goring has an edge on quiet with large trees that muffle city sounds. Guests may stroll along stone pathways and dine on the intimate garden terrace from April through September – the roof can be opened or closed with the flick of a switch. To celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, the 71-room hotel will offer tea and croquet lessons on the lawn every Thursday evening from July 22 through August 26.
Doubles from $370, including breakfast, and fruit and flowers on arrival.
No. 7 LONDON
51 Buckingham gate, Taj Suites and Residences
It’s easy to feel at home in these plush nineteenth-century townhouses, practically around the corner from Buckingham Palace. Every room comes with a fully equipped kitchen (washing machine and butler on request) and access to a tranquil courtyard garden whose fountain was a gift from Queen Victoria. You could say the 86-room 51 Buckingham outdoes the palace: Not even the Queen has a Michelin-starred chef organizing backyard barbecue dinners on summer nights.
Doubles from $520, including breakfast, tickets to the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, and butler service.
No. 8 NAPLES
Hotel Romeo *Spa Coming Soon*
If this flashy 83-room retreat’s views of the Gulf of Naples and the isle of Capri don’t transport you, the newly renovated spa, slated to open this August, will win you over. In addition to an expanded treatment menu featuring slimming and antiaging therapies, the new spa will pay homage to the Gulf of Naples and the Mount Vesuvius volcano. You’ll get heat-based treatments amid soft red lighting in the Paradise of Fire zone. It’s all about aquatic therapies in Inferno of Water, which opens onto a terrace where the infinity pool seems to merge with the sea. Back inside, settle into an immersion chaise lounge in the hydrotherapy pool for a soak before treatments or, for a truly Zen haven, book the three-room Japanese suite, which comes with its own private garden.
Doubles from $405, including breakfast, a $70 hotel credit, and a personalized city guide.
No. 9 PARIS
Hôtel Le Bristol
No hotel in the city can compete with the 187-room Bristol’s 13,000-square-foot garden – the largest green space among the Parisian palaces – with its giant magnolia trees, vibrant azaleas and rhododendrons, chubby cherubs spouting water, and dining terrace for meals created by the hotel’s Michelin three-star chef. A rooftop pool, surrounded by teak decking and murals, convinces guests they’re lounging aboard a nineteenth-century yacht, but the adjoining solarium with city views brings them back to the present. Doubles from $970, including breakfast and complimentary parking.
No. 10 PARIS
La Réserve Paris
Turn that dream of a Parisian pied-à-terre into reality – one that puts a contemporary spin on spacious nineteenth-century apartments in the exclusive sixteenth arrondissement. La Réserve sits at the place du Trocadéro, and five of the ten roomy residences come with a direct view of the Eiffel Tower across the Seine – also, apartments 1 and 2 have private gardens. If you need a chef, hair stylist, or massage therapist, just ask the butler.
One-bedroom apartment from $8,900 for three nights, including breakfast, two one-hour massages, and a bottle of Champagne.
No. 11 PRAGUE
The Augustine, Prague
In addition to its own garden, The Augustine, in Prague’s Malá Strana district, has easy access to the gardens of the adjacent Wallenstein Palace (now the Czech Senate). Comprising seven historic buildings, the 101-room hotel has its share of quiet corners, including a thirteenth-century Augustinian monastery (still in operation) that welcomes visitors to explore its cloistered terraces and private courtyard; guests can take yoga and tai chi lessons in the serene inner cloisters.
Doubles from $400, including breakfast and a $100 dining credit.
No. 12 ROME
Hotel de Russie
Set between two of Rome’s most beautiful piazzas, the 122-room Hotel de Russie has a big secret: a hidden garden with walking paths, grassy banks, old palms and yews, flowering roses, and fruit-laden orange trees. This could be the most exclusive place to escape the bustle of central Rome. For the ultimate hideout, the Nijinsky Suite comes with a 2,572-square-foot terrace that overlooks the city as well as the tranquil garden. Doubles from $1,100, including breakfast and a $50 dining credit.
THE AMERICAS
No. 13 BUENOS AIRES
Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires
In the ritzy Recoleta shopping district, the 1930s former Duhau family home still feels like a private enclave. Between the walled palacio and the 165-room hotel’s contemporary tower, there’s a lovely multi-tiered garden built on the family’s former soccer pitch. A waterfall cascades into ponds fringed by native grasses and calla lilies, and white leather chairs make a great place to take it easy in the shade while sipping malbec. Doubles from $705, including breakfast and one wine-and-cheese tasting for two.
No. 14 CHICAGO
The Peninsula Chicago
On the top two floors of the 339- room Peninsula, you’ll be humming “My Kind of Town.” High above North Michigan Avenue, urban frustrations melt at the 20th-floor spa, where foot-care and tea rituals start off lavish two-hour treatments such as the Uplifting Mint Experience. Afterward, nest in a relaxation room with a fireplace and a view of the indoor pool on the 19th floor. Natural light from 20-foot-tall windows floods this glass-enclosed pool, where water kept between 79 and 82 degrees and a sprawling outdoor deck make this urban hotel feel like a secluded resort. Doubles from $415, including breakfast and a $50 dining credit.
No. 15 LOS ANGELES
Hotel Bel-Air *Coming Soon*
Since opening in 1946 in a canyon above Sunset Boulevard, the Hotel Bel-Air has been a favorite of not just the celebrities who hang out there, but just about everyone. And who wouldn’t love the privacy of this exclusive hillside residential neighborhood? But it’s the 12 acres of gardens and the lake with swans that make it a true escape. Now closed for renovation, Hotel Bel-Air will reopen in mid-2011 with a new spa housing ten treatment rooms, 12 new hillside villas, and some creative design twists, such as outdoor alcoves off the bar to bring those gorgeous gardens inside.
Rates to be announced.
No. 16 NEW YORK
Gramercy Park Hotel
Who needs the keys to the city? Guests at this hotel across the street from Gramercy Park may request a key to unlock the gate of the city’s only private park, which belongs to the owners of 39 buildings around the square. And the hotel’s private rooftop club and garden feel like the terrace and solarium of a private home. The recent reinvention by Ian Schrager makes this 185-room property a retreat from New York City – vibrant Renaissance colors, conversation-stopping custom furniture, over-the-top fixtures, and rooms that are sheer theater. Doubles from $675, including breakfast and one lunch for two.
AFRICA & THE MIDDLE EAST
No. 17 ABU DHABI
Emirates Palace
Owned by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, this modern-day palace on a desert peninsula is a national monument, perhaps the world’s only such landmark, with its own beach and 210 acres of private gardens. Choose your playground, land or sea – snorkeling along coral reefs, strolling through the gardens, lazing on a 4,200-foot-long crescent of white sand, and riding the swimming pool’s water slides and lazy river. It’s a true desert oasis, and the skyline of the central business district is in clear view from many of the 410 rooms.
Doubles from $400, including breakfast and a 15 percent dining discount.
No. 18 CAPE TOWN
Mount Neslon Hotel
At this 201-room property, it would be easy to forget you’re in South Africa’s second-largest city, except the backdrop is Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain. Inside the walled estate, nine acres bloom with more than 100 types of trees and roses, including one variety created for the hotel’s 1999 centenary. Plus, each garden suite has its own private walled oasis. Outside the gates, walk through a public green space to reach a main city thoroughfare.
Doubles from $580, including breakfast and one afternoon tea for two.
No. 19 DUBAI
Armani Hotel Dubai *New*
In the midst of Dubai’s one-upmanship design craze, Giorgio Armani had a single focus: to create a 160-room hotel that feels more like a home – with, of course, the same understated elegance that defines his fashion empire. Anchoring the world’s tallest tower, the new Armani Hotel has a private entrance and no traditional check-in – instead, a dedicated host acts as your single point of contact throughout your stay. Outside is a 27-acre park with palm-fringed walkways, flowering trees, rows of shady date palms, reflecting pools that cascade into a lake, and the world’s tallest water fountain – 500 feet high, 900 feet long, and, by night, sparkling with 6,600 lights.
Doubles from $680, including breakfast and either entrance to the 124th-floor observation deck or a $150 dining credit.
ASIA
No. 20 BEIJING
Aman at Summer Palace
Adjacent to the vast domain where Chinese emperors once summered in lakefront palaces, these bungalows that formerly hosted guests of the royals hide out amid lush greenery and little ponds. Aman’s 44-room paradise has a secret doorway through a stone wall, which gives guests 24/7 access into the Summer Palace grounds for quiet walks and private lakeside tai chi classes.
Doubles from $550, including breakfast and one lunch for two.
No. 21 NEW DELHI
Aman New Delhi
Even in a city of 17 million, there’s an antidote for urban frustrations. Not a sound penetrates beyond the manicured sphere of green that circles this 67-room resort. Start the day with an early-morning yoga class in nearby Lodhi Gardens, surrounded by fifteenth-century tombs; follow it with a picnic breakfast; laze on daybeds that line the hotel’s 50-meter lap pool; and finish off with spa treatments and a snooze in Aman’s bamboo relaxation garden. Lodhi Pool Suites (one, two, or three bedrooms) come with a terrace, private garden, and pool.
Doubles from $550, including breakfast and one lunch for two.
No. 22 TOKYO
Park Hyatt Tokyo
Even in a city of 17 million, there’s an antidote for urban frustrations. Not a sound penetrates beyond the manicured sphere of green that circles this 67-room resort. Start the day with an early-morning yoga class in nearby Lodhi Gardens, surrounded by fifteenth-century tombs; follow it with a picnic breakfast; laze on daybeds that line the hotel’s 50-meter lap pool; and finish off with spa treatments and a snooze in Aman’s bamboo relaxation garden. Lodhi Pool Suites (one, two, or three bedrooms) come with a terrace, private garden, and pool. Doubles from $550, including breakfast and one lunch for two.