Cool Winter Dreams:
Hideaways

We Will Rock You: Hard Rock Hotel, Davos

There’s one thing we need to say before we get started: a Hard Rock Hotel in Davos is a bit strange – but who says you only have to listen to alpine kitsch when you’re in the mountains? The best thing about these hotels is the rock memorabilia, and in Davos you’ll find a framed dress worn by Björk as well as a short glittery skirt from Madonna. Rent the Rock Suite and you can admire Jimi Hendrix’s embroidered vest and play his version of the American national anthem on a Fender. (The guitar and accompanying amp can both be borrowed from the hotel.) To make sure you don’t miss any of the three hundred collectibles, we suggest going on one of the guided tours. A nice touch are the name tags worn by the hotel staff, which also include the employee’s favorite song.

→ hardrockhotels.com

Some of the rooms are up to seven meters high, which makes for a spectacular sense of space. If you’re looking for a TV, you won’t find one – instead, you could try looking out the windows at the stunning mountain backdrop. There is WLAN, but it can be deactivated with the flick of a switch.

→ quartier-gapa.de

Permanent Exhibition: Altstadt Vienna, Wien

At the Hotel Altstadt Vienna located on Spittelberg in the middle of the Austrian capital, someone really put a lot of effort into furnishing the sixty-two rooms and suites. Though, of course, this “someone” wasn’t a single person, but many people with good taste – including architect Matteo Thun or Lilli Hollein, the general director of Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts. The hotel also boasts a considerable collection of contemporary art, which is due to the fact that owner Otto E. Wiesenthal is a passionate art collector. So you shouldn’t be surprised if you stumble across a work by Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz or Gottfried Helnwein during your stay.

→ altstadt.at

Starstruck: Hotel Rangá, Island 

Of course Hotel Rangá, situated on the south coast of Iceland, can organize hiking, biking and volcano tours for its guests – but a much more spectacular experience is offered at night: stargazing. The hotel has its own observatory with two telescopes for observing the night sky, which, here in the middle of nowhere, has not yet been spoiled by light pollution. Guests can also request a wake-up call when the conditions are right for seeing the northern lights. One small caveat: If you book the suites, you should be prepared to stay in an African- or Japanese-themed room in the middle of the North Atlantic.

→ hotelranga.is

The Paper Daisy restaurant attached to Halcyon House – not to mention the hotel as a whole – has been showered with awards, which is due in part to the typical Australian hospitality and the fantastic furnishings bursting with the color blue without resorting to maritime kitsch. The bathrooms are a dream, so if there’s ever a shark alert on the beach again, you can always just stay in the tub.

→ halcyonhouse.com.au

Alpine Lakes: Bürgenstock Resort, Obbürgen, Schweiz

Please don’t hold it against us that we seem to be so interested in bathtubs on these pages, but the ones at the Bürgenstock Resort simply can’t go unmentioned. The hotel is located on a wooded rocky outcrop, 500 meters above Lake Lucerne, and offers a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains. If you can’t see them from the bathtub in your room, you can always wander over to the Alpine Spa and soak in the Infinity Edge Pool. The water there is heated to a pleasant 35 °C, the view is simply out of this world – and should you get bored, you have four other pools to choose from.

→ burgenstockresort.com