Vienna is just booming these days, with notable new hotels opening every few months. One notable recent debut is The Guesthouse Vienna, Design Hotels newest member to hit the Austrian capital. The hotel – situated in the Innere Stadt, the city’s first district – is decidedly intimate, with just 35 rooms and four suites.
Local architect Arkan Zeytinoglu converted the former 1950s student dormitory into an upscale boutique hotel while maintaining the building’s structure. Cooul touch: Zeytinoglu installed pop-out windows on the building’s front so that guests could look out and around (and down) at the city below. (We hear Suite 802 has the best panoramic views across the neighborhood from its private roof garden.)
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Foodies will want to check out the Brasserie & Bakery, which serves a range of dishes like classic wiener schnitzel or a marinated duck breast with beetroot gnocchi. Even the coffee served is a special roast and made exclusively for the hotel by Naber Kaffee. But the star of the show is definitely the baked goods from Gragger & Cie, a popular local bakery. Taking his cue from French baker Lionel Poilâne, Helmut Gragger uses 18th-century baking practices: only natural sourdough, wood-fired ovens, no preservatives and no unnecessary rushing of the process.
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The Guesthouse Vienna is located right by the historic Vienna State Opera. The district is home to more than 60 museums, including the Albertina.