More favorite European luxury hotels…

Happy Saturday, blog fans. I usually try to update my travel blog on the weekends with reports on restaurants, fun activities, or travel. This weekend, Bill is recovering from two back to back TDYs, some kind of respiratory infection that isn’t COVID, and irritable bowel syndrome. He is out shopping for food right now, but I have my doubts that we’re going to get out and about today.

Although we have lovely fall weather, we’re both kind of tired… Bill from sickness, and me from tending to Arran all week and repeatedly getting up in the middle of the night. Arran is doing okay today, except for his rancid, atomic farts, and being a little sleepy from his chemo. He did get a chemo pill today, as well as Prednisolone; the Endoxan pill makes him want to snooze. And two days post Vincristine infusion is also when the side effects tend to kick in. He was a little low energy this morning, and threw up a little of his food.

This is actually kind of a bummer, though. I’d rather Arran not be dealing with side effects on Saturday, which is the one day Bill and I can go anywhere and things will be open. Maybe we should try to change the day of the infusions. We’ll have to do that anyway, if Arran is still with us next month. We still have plans to visit France, starting on Wednesday, the 16th, which is our anniversary.

But maybe it’s not so bad that we aren’t going out today. I’ve been wanting to write another post about some of my favorite European luxury hotels. We’ve been to some good ones since the last time I did one of these posts, in February 2017. Our fortunes have improved since that time, five years ago, when I wrote about our favorite luxury digs. These aren’t necessarily ranked in order, nor are they even my favorite lodgings of all time. They’re just luxurious European places we really enjoyed and haven’t forgotten. So here’s another post about some of my favorite hotels when we want to drop a load of euros. Here goes.

10. Grand Hotel du Lac, Vevey Switzerland

*From the very first moment, we were impressed… until we ate in the restaurant and our waiter sold us 40 CHF glasses of Cristal Champagne, and waved a truffle under my nose!*

Bill and I stayed at this five star hotel in Vevey, Switzerland in December 2015. I went with him on a business trip to Vicenza, Italy, and we decided to stop in Switzerland on the way home, so Bill could visit the Giger Museum in Gruyeres. I noticed the Grand Hotel du Lac the first time we lived in Germany, but in those days, our finances made it impossible to book such a place. Switzerland is expensive no matter what, but a five star hotel there is quite a splurge. Still, I decided to go for it, and even sprang for a lake view, as the hotel is right next to Lake Geneva. The lake view was a waste of money, though, because there was fog the whole time we were there during waking hours. The one full day we were in the area, we spent in Gruyeres. Still, the hotel is absolutely beautiful and comfortable, and I remember our stay there fondly– with exception to our experience in the restaurant, which was not as impressive. Vevey is a pretty town, too. I’d love to go back! And I would definitely stay in this hotel… though I might go elsewhere for dinner.

9. Merrion Hotel, Dublin Ireland

*Merrion Hotel is wonderful! And it’s close to lots of authentic Irish pubs, too…*

In 2018, I whimsically bought tickets to see a bunch of concerts, one of which was in Dublin, Ireland, and featured Paul Simon, James Taylor, and Bonnie Raitt. Yeah, that was a great show, and it lasted about six hours! We obviously needed good digs, so we could get proper rest. I decided to book Merrion Hotel, which is supposedly Dublin’s best… or, at least it was when we were there in 2018. Anyway, we didn’t have an upgraded room, but the room we had was nice enough. Bonus was that they gave us lots of chocolate– like three huge bars of it– milk, dark, and white. I remember loving the breakfasts at this hotel, which were cooked to order and absolutely amazing. Plus, there was a beautiful pool area, and top notch service. Highly recommended!

8. Europäische Hof Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

*This was a very tastefully decorated and comfortable room. The owner of the hotel obviously takes great pains to make her hotel special.*

In June 2021, Bill and I decided to pay a visit to Heidelberg, Germany, a city not that far from where we currently live. At the time, COVID-19 cases, and the restrictions that accompanied the pandemic, were in full swing. We decided we wanted to stick close to home. I booked a few nights at Europäische Hof Heidelberg, a beautiful five star hotel with a long history and high service standards. The hotel has been family run for generations, and the attention to detail and care for guests are obvious. The owner of the hotel was very attentive and visible during our visit. Afterwards, when I wrote a review on TripAdvisor, she responded personally, and even sent me an email. We had a gorgeous, comfortable room, and the location was very convenient to the downtown area. I still get email offers from this hotel, and I’d love to go back sometime. Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s not a rip off.

7. Park Hotel Sonnenhof, Vaduz, Liechtenstein

*The view from our patio. What a beautiful place! I could stare at those mountains all day!*

Bill and I visited Vaduz, Liechtenstein in May 2022, on our way home from a trip to Italy to taste wines. Originally, I had planned to stop in Lugano, Switzerland, but determined that Lugano wasn’t close enough to home. We had visited Liechtenstein once, back in 2009, and I thought it might be interested to visit the tiny country one more time. When I saw that it had a very highly regarded hotel with beautiful views, I was definitely onboard with booking. We had a lovely time in Vaduz, and delighted in tasting even more wines there! Park Hotel Sonnenhof is a very restful hotel with an excellent restaurant. It’s great for a splurge.

6. Hotel Bareiss, Baiersbronn, Germany

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you might know that Bill and I only recently stayed at the Hotel Bareiss in Baiersbronn, Germany. It’s probably the most expensive hotel we’ve ever stayed at, but it’s important to remember that the price of the room includes breakfast and dinner, as well as an afternoon cake buffet. At this hotel, food is front and center, but it also offers classic, quaint Black Forest inspired rooms, a petting zoo, daily activities, walking trails, several restaurants, and a first class pool and spa area. I LOVED the pool and spa areas, actually. We were there at a great time to enjoy them, too, because it wasn’t crowded at all! I wish we’d had a chance to try the a la carte restaurants, because the items that we had that weren’t part of the board menu were truly very special. Service is also outstanding at this hotel! Baiersbronn is a great town for foodies, as there are quite a few exquisite Michelin starred restaurants there. It’s also a fine place for hikers, especially if they want to see waterfalls.

5. Upper House, Gothenburg, Sweden

*Coolest pool ever! This is jutting out from the building on the 18th floor, and has a glass bottom.*

In late June 2019, Bill and I went to Gothenburg, Sweden to pick up our brand new Volvo at the Volvo factory. Although we could have stayed at a hotel chosen by Volvo, I wanted to go to the Upper House, a hotel in Gothia Towers. Why? Because of the pool. It juts out from the side of the building on the 18th floor! Also, the hotel is very swanky and beautiful, and offers beautiful views of the amusement park next door. Bill and I both loved the breakfasts, which were very unusual and cooked to order with fresh ingredients. If you’re going to Gothenburg and looking for something special, The Upper House is a good bet. The spa area is dreamy, but so is the bar… and I distinctly remember loving the bed. I wish I’d thought to find out where the mattress came from. That was a pretty epic trip. We combined it with stops in Copenhagen, Rostock, and Leipzig, and saw Mark Knopfler, both in concert, and at the bar in the Leipzig hotel where we were staying!

4. Auberge au Boeuf, Sessenheim, France

*The pastries alone were worth the trip! The room was nice, too!*

In March 2022, we had to go see our dentist in Stuttgart. At that time, COVID-19 rules were in full effect in Germany, and things were feeling a bit dystopian. We decided we wanted to get out of Germany for a few days, so I looked for a place just over the border. That’s when I discovered tiny Sessenheim, a little village near Soufflenheim, where a lot of French pottery is made. Sessenheim boasts a marvelous Michelin starred restaurant called Auberge au Boeuf, which also has four rooms to rent. This isn’t a big hotel, but the room we stayed in was the only one I have ever stayed in my lifetime that had its very own private sauna. It also had a jacuzzi bath. But the most impressive and memorable part of our stay at this hotel was the breakfast, which included the most delicious pastries I’ve ever had! They were obviously made on site, and served on special pottery that appeared to be locally made. Breakfast also included cheeses, smoked fish, cold cuts, and a variety of other goodies, all of which were brought to us. No breakfast buffet!

3. Hotel Oberwaid, St. Gallen, Switzerland

*Beautiful pool area. There are also great spa facilities on the ground floor.*

If you ever feel the need to feel “safe”, Hotel Oberwaid is a good bet. This hotel, located within sight of Lake Konstanz, is also a health sanitorium. There are physicians on staff for people who go there for health reasons, but it’s also a very comfortable hotel. From June until December, children are not allowed at the hotel, so it’s a very restful, adult oriented place. The restaurant serves excellent local cuisine, and there’s a fantastic pool and spa area. What I loved most about this hotel, though, was that they went to great lengths to make guests comfortable. After four nights at a noisy resort in Italy, I was definitely in the mood for a peaceful, quiet couple of nights at a place that was climate controlled and had good beds. Hotel Oberwaid had that, but it was also a very classy place. I can see why people go there for their health, even though I didn’t feel like I was staying in a hospital. The focus is on health and wellness, but in a comfortable, visually appealing setting. I’d like to go back sometime, if the fates allow.

2. De Witte Lelie, Antwerp, Belgium

This is the hotel Bill chose for us when I turned 50 in June. It’s not the most luxurious of the properties where we’ve stayed. It doesn’t have a spa or a pool. However, it is beautifully and stylishly furnished, and offers every comfort, and it’s very convenient to downtown Antwerp. What I loved most about it was the service, which was very warm, personal, and professional. They brought out a beautiful strawberry tart and some fizz for my birthday morning, and we stayed in the funkiest room I’ve ever seen. I like this hotel because it’s so hospitable; we were so pleased with everything! One caveat I would mention is that if you have mobility issues, you might want to call the hotel for advice on which rooms are best. Our room required climbing a couple of flights of stairs. The other side of the hotel has elevator access for that part. The featured photo is of the hotel’s iconic red front door!

1. Brenner’s Park Hotel & Spa, Baden-Baden, Germany

In November 2018, Bill and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. We were also preparing to move to Wiesbaden from the Stuttgart area, in what would turn out to be a very stressful relocation, particularly considering that we were moving within Germany. I wanted to find us a really beautiful place to spend our anniversary, and I found it in Brenner’s Park. One of my former professors from Longwood University recommended this hotel, calling it “a little slice of Heaven”. Indeed, that’s what we found when we got there, especially since they upgraded us from a deluxe room to a junior suite… and that room was palatial! Brenner’s Park has a resident cat named Kleopatra, a fantastic spa, beautiful pool area, delicious food, and a classy bar. I would LOVE to go back there, even though it’s not very far from where we live now. Maybe on a future dentist excursion, we’ll book Brenner’s Park… but I don’t know if we can spring for a junior suite, and it’ll be hard to downgrade after staying in one. In a word… WOW.

I won’t deny it. Bill and I have been living a pretty sweet life over here… and I am very grateful we’ve had these opportunities to enjoy some of Europe’s loveliest hotels. I hope we can visit a few more before it’s time to retire and settle somewhere permanent. For now, we’re going to keep splurging for as long as we can. You only live once!

If you’re curious about any of these places and want more details of our visits, be sure to search the blog. I have done extensive review series of each place listed in this post!

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Volvo, Mark Knopfler, and East German adventures… part three

Sunday morning, I woke up at about 3:00am. I couldn’t help but notice the sun was already rising. Sweden is a bit weird for the uninitiated, especially in the winter and summer, when days are either really short, or really long. A few hours later, we got up for real, enjoyed the awesome rainfall shower, got dressed, and headed to the 25th floor for breakfast. At Upper House, breakfast is always included in the rate. You get a very nice buffet, as well as “small plates”, which are prepared by the chef. Most people get two or three of the small plates, as well as whatever they want from the buffet. Below are a few photos of items we enjoyed over the course of our two night stay.

The menu.

Awesome scrambled eggs with chives and bacon.

Roast beef…

Chocolate filled cream puff.

Delicious strawberry crumble with cream. I think this one was my favorite.

A beautifully set table.

A view of the city.

On day two, Bill had the royal and the shakshuka, a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, and garlic.

At 11:30am, we headed to the spa for our massages. One thing I want to mention about the spa in Sweden. It seems that when it comes to nudity, the Swedes are more like the Brits and us Americans. We were advised to come dressed in our bathing suits. Even in the locker room, there really weren’t any places to change in privacy. So, if you’re reading this in Germany and you want to visit the Upper House spa, be advised that it’s NOT textile free, even in the sauna. In fact, we even had our massages while wearing bathing suits, although they were rolled down. We were fully covered the whole time.

Our aromatherapy massages went on concurrently– Bill and I were in the same room with two female therapists. We spent 80 very peaceful minutes getting the knots knocked out of our tired muscles, although the bed at the Upper House was the very best of all four hotels we stayed in this week. Then, we checked out the amazing spa area with its views of Liseberg.

Heated lounges overlooking the amusement park.

The view.

Bill in his snazzy robe. I brought mine from home.

This pool is 18 floors up and has a glass bottom… Yes, it’s very secure, and yes, you can see to the street when the water isn’t bubbling.

A saltwater pool… It had jets.

A peek at the pool from the ground floor of the towers.

After a few pleasant hours in the spa, we were hungry. We got dressed and went looking for food. Unfortunately, just as it is in Germany, a lot of Swedish restaurants also take a “pause”. Consequently, we ended up at Ristoria, an Italian eatery in the towers. They had a Sunday brunch, which didn’t really please me much. The food wasn’t bad, but it looked like it had been sitting for awhile. Also, the chairs were uncomfortable. But it satisfied my hunger well enough…

From the buffet at Ristoria. It should be mentioned that cash isn’t accepted anywhere in the hotel or restaurants, so bring your credit cards.

Not too impressed.

One drawback to Gothia Towers’ location is that it’s not close to downtown, nor is it in a particularly walkable location. Moreover, while we were in the spa, I overhead a guy telling the staff that he was robbed. So after we finished lunch, we went back to the room. I proposed a visit to Liseberg to Bill, but he wasn’t interested. He doesn’t like rides, particularly ones that are extremely high or just plain extreme. I will admit, while I wouldn’t have hesitated to ride most of the rides at Liseberg when I was younger, they did seem a bit extreme, even to me. And I don’t like crowds or being part of a captive audience… so we decided to hang out and talk.

At about 5:00pm, we went to the Upper House’s bar and proceeded to spend the evening drinking… and talking to a British woman named Janet who lives in Doha, Qatar and works in the airline industry. Bill struck up a conversation with her when she said she wanted to sit out on the balcony. The wind up on the 25th floor was extreme, but Janet said she had been dealing with 50 degree weather for weeks and she wanted some fresh air. Dopey me… I thought she meant 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Nope… 50 degrees Celsius. That is some HOT weather! No thanks!

Janet was a total stranger prior to last Sunday, but she turned out to be a lot of fun to talk to. She also reminded me a lot of my sister, Becky. She said she was going to have to get up very early on Monday morning to fly to Stockholm for business purposes. Then, I guess, she was going back to Doha… We had a lot to talk about, though, since it turned out we liked the same kind of music and had lots of travel stories to share. We found ourselves talking about everything from 9/11, Princess Diana and where we were when she died (I was in a sleeper care with a Chinese family on a train from Vienna to Venice) to her trip to Vietnam and, of course, religion and politics. She even kissed us goodbye!

This was dinner… two small plates. Pork belly and some kind of sea scallop soup. I was partial to the pork, but that probably surprises no one.

The next morning was the day we picked up our new car. Things got off on the wrong foot, when the elevators wouldn’t work. We had to climb a tight spiral staircase to get to the restaurant. Then, while we were eating, our waiter came over and said Volvo had sent a taxi for us. Bill was upset, since he was told they wouldn’t come until after 9:00am. But he never got any confirmation one way or the other and, I guess, trusted that things would go according to plan. He was pretty upset that we weren’t ready for the taxi and they hadn’t told us it was coming.

After breakfast, we went to the reception and explained what was going on. A very beautiful blonde woman with delicate features and big blue eyes was running the desk. She offered to call Volvo for us and find out what to do. Meanwhile, we went back to our room to wait. While we were there, I noticed the below sign.

This is pretty awesome! If you smoke in your room, they’ll charge you a lot to clean it. Then, they’ll donate half of the fine to Sweden’s Heart and Lung Foundation. I love the sense of social responsibility the Swedes have.

One more view of the dining room. Next time, we’ll be sure to reserve a table for dinner. Upper House has a restaurant with a Michelin star.

Volvo agreed to send us another taxi at 10:40am, so we waited in our room, checked out, and hung out in the lobby to wait for yet another taxi driver driving a Volvo to take us to our new wheels. I prepaid for the room, so the only bill to be settled was for our dual massages and drinks in the bar. It was about $400.

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Volvo, Mark Knopfler, and East German adventures… part two

Last Saturday was the day we’d been waiting for. Bill took the dogs to the Tierpension in the morning, then ordered a cab to take us to the Frankfurt Airport. We could have driven my car, but because we picked up a new car, we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of having to retrieve my Mini Cooper a week later. Plus, it’s not cheap to park at the airport for eight days.

I decided to book business class on Lufthansa, since it’s relatively affordable over here and doing so nets us more frequent flier points. Sometimes, those points come in handy. I also booked all of our accommodations on Expedia.com. When we stay in hotels, I use Expedia. When we book self catering accommodations, I tend to use Booking, because they have more variety. I book directly if a place is somewhere I really want to try and they aren’t on a travel site.

Surreal look at life above the clouds.

Since we booked business class for our 90 minute flight, check in was a breeze. A very friendly Asian lady checked our bags. I was originally going to book both of my bags, but I brought my laptop and it seems the airlines are getting a lot stricter about not allowing certain electronics to be in checked baggage. Flying business class got us access to the business class lounge, which was very crowded, but not as crowded as the rest of the airport was. The friendly Lufthansa clerk was not lying when she told us it was the “high” season. We also happened to be traveling at the same time a bunch of handball teams from around the world were going to Sweden for a tournament. Our flight, in particular, had the entire Brazilian team on it. The players were mostly kids and teenagers and their coaches. A lot of them are still firmly in their ids.

Wine in the business class lounge…

Right before our flight. Glad we could go to the lounge, especially since it took forever to get to the plane, which was parked all the way at the end of the airport. We had to take a lengthy bus ride.

This guy’s in love with me… ha ha ha!

It turned out there was no beer or wine available on our flight. There was a reason given for the lack of booze, but I couldn’t hear what it was. It was no big deal, since the flight was finished in a jiffy. Now that we’re living near Frankfurt, getting to Scandinavia without layovers is a cinch! We’ll have to visit Scandinavia more often, now that it’s more accessible.

Gothenburg is Volvo land… even the airport has Volvo exhibits.

It’s also home to Liseberg, which is a very well-known amusement park that was located directly across the street from where we stayed. This play station was sponsored by the park.

A driver sent by Volvo picked us up and took us to Gothia Towers, which are three huge towers in Gothenburg. They include the Gothia Towers hotel, several restaurants, and Upper House, which is a five star hotel located on the 20th through the 25th floors of the second tower. If we had only wanted to stay one night, Volvo would have probably put us up at a different hotel. But since we wanted two nights, we were on our own to book and pay for them.

I have expensive tastes, so I booked us in the Upper House. I got several emails and a phone call from them before we arrived. It’s supposedly among the best hotels in Sweden. Having now stayed there, I can mostly see why. The service is superb; the rooms are huge and comfortable; and there is an amazing spa complete with a heated swimming pool that juts out of the 18th floor of the building. The spa is free for Upper House guests. Others have to pay admission. We decided to book a due aromatherapy massage for Sunday, then use the spa afterwards.

This was our view from the 21st floor. To access Upper House, you have to go to the 25th floor. All of the rooms are under the reception.

Bathroom was generously stocked with Molton Brown toiletries!

It was a very nice room… The bed was excellent. Wish I could have taken it home with me.

Once we dumped our bags, we went looking for food. Gothia Towers has several restaurants, but most of them were fully booked last Saturday night, on account of all of the handball players who were staying in Gothia Towers. We had dinner at the bar at West Coast, which is a seafood place on the first floor of the towers. It was okay…

Bill had seafood casserole, which was very comforting and filling.

I had a martini…

And trout, that looks like salmon. I noticed the food was never served very hot. I don’t know if that’s a Swedish thing, or the kitchen was just weeded. I did enjoy the Swedish dishes we had, though. It was a nice change from German fare.

Swedish beer, too.

It was after 10:00pm when I took this photo. The park had just closed. Thank God for blackout curtains.

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: Upper House

More favorite European luxury hotels…

Volvo, Mark Knopfler, and East German adventures… part three

Volvo, Mark Knopfler, and East German adventures… part two