Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

In bed

Text Guy Dittrich

The ultimate hotels for the discerning traveller who wants a truly special place to sleep in style

Gerbermühle GERMANY
105 Gerbermühlstraße, Frankfurt, tel. +49 (0)69 689 77790, www.gerbermuehle.de

At last Frankfurt has a classy bolthole where visitors can escape from the claustrophobic high-rise of its financial hub. Overlooking the River Main, a few kilometres along the towpath from the centre, is this lovingly restored former tannery. Famous as the place where Frankfurt’s favourite son Goethe used to dally with female company, every taxi driver knows where it is. The sturdy stone of the original house is now home to a snug bar and large restaurant. Candle-lit by day and night, the restaurant moves out onto the terrace when it gets warmer, whilst the beer garden kicks off in early summer.

A new extension sympathetically wraps around the older core to create a covered courtyard and just 18 guest rooms – sufficient for a buzz yet allowing for highly personal service. Interior designer Oana Rosen has furnished the gallery-like spaces in sophisticated white and the crisp lacquered cupboards and casework serve to highlight the Biedermeier furniture on display. The luxurious linens and fabrics add a sexy touch. Rooms from €180.

The Ring AUSTRIA
The Ring, 8 Kärntner Ring, Vienna, tel. +43 (0)1 22122, www.theringhotel.com

The Ring hotel is fabulously situated on the elegant Ringstraße around Vienna’s old town. Behind the neoclassical façade of this former bank, the lobby highlights the mix of old new with the original steel-cage lift on one side and a 3m-long ultra-minimalist fireplace on the far wall. Rooms are comfortably modern with hardwood-floored entrance lobbies and large bathrooms. Beds are expansive clouds of cream linen while the curvaceous gold-effect lamp stands are a gentle reminder of the city’s Secessionist past. Attracting a vibrant and wealthy crowd, Vienna’s self-styled “casual luxury” hotel is all about luxury, even at breakfast, with no buffet but waitress service only. Rooms from €275.

In the news

Life in colour

The ‘Way We Live’ series is back with this exploration of the way people around the world live with colour. In a multitude of places and cultures, from startling coastal blues to the subtle monochrome of minimalist urban styles, every opportunity to make cross-cultural comparisons and connections is taken in this book which provides a truly international vision in which lifestyles are reflected in colour. The Way We Live with Colour is published by Thames & Hudson and is out in all good bookstores this month.

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