Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

In bed

From a Spanish style statement to a Scandinavian haven, we seek out where to sleep in style

Silken Gran Domine Hotel

BILBAO
61Alameda Mazarredo, tel. , www.hoteles-silken.com

Being situated opposite Bilbao’s Guggenheim must have been both a blessing and a curse for the architects of the Gran Domine. They had the best location in town to work with, facing the city’s greatest attraction – but they also had Frank Gehry’s iconic architecture to live up to.

This five-star hotel doesn’t disappoint, however; banks of cantilevered windows make a serious style statement even before you step inside. The interior is even edgier – this might be the most handsome modern hotel lobby in Europe – but there’s comfort as well as high style in the bedrooms. Naturally, you’ll want a room overlooking the Guggenheim, so be sure to request it (some rooms look in on the atrium – a trip in itself). In-room, the spacious bathrooms are a highlight, with some looking through to the stylish bedrooms. Toiletries are classy, and a signature rubber toy placed on pillows at night is a delightful touch – it might be a cat one night and a little black bull the next.

Even if you don’t have a room with a view, you’ll enjoy the best vista in Bilbao from the fabulous rooftop breakfast restaurant – the next best thing about this place after the location. There’s a big, teak-decked terrace from which you can enjoy views not only of the museum, but also of the bridge connecting the city to the airport and motorway, which has become a design icon in its own right. Back on the ground floor, meanwhile, the lobby features a mysterious waterfall of crockery, which may or may not be related to Beltz, with a gourmet restaurant tucked away in the back. There’s also a coffee shop beside the entrance, while ‘Splash and Crash’ is the highly stylised, 1970s-inspired bar. Rooms from €127. Anthea Gerry

Hotel Skeppsholmen

STOCKHOLM
1 Gröna gången, tel. , www.hotelskeppsholmen.com

Set on an island five minutes from the centre of Stockholm, the Skeppsholmen opened its doors last autumn. It’s a great location, with the nightlife of Stureplan, the graceful Royal Palace and the high-end shopping of Birger Jarlsgatan all close to hand. The island isn’t completely private, but with only the traffic of a few local residents and the visitors to the museums of Modern Art and Swedish Architecture, it’s an oasis of tranquillity in the bustling Swedish capital.

Guestrooms with views of the archipelago through the mature trees leave you in no doubt of where you are, and the serenity of the location seems to rub off on the hotel’s young, good-looking (this is Scandinavia) crew, under the composed eye of Joachim Olausson, formerly GM of the city’s well-respected Berns Hotel. Everything is possible here, including breakfast for lunch and an internet cable walked to your door by Olausson himself. It all feels easy.

The establishment’s style is also simple: clearly, yet subtly, Swedish. Contrasting the largely white guestrooms are discreet highlights in the national colours of blue and yellow. Venison features on the menu, toiletries are by local luxury suppliers Byredo, and typically Swedish salty-sweet liquorice candies fill the mini-bar. This is no nationalistic pastiche, but rather a carefully layered series of stories that slowly reveal themselves; such as the fog-like patterning of the curtains, or the wooden butter knives that every Swedish child carves at school.

The majority of the 81 guestrooms are small (the two long, narrow buildings that make up the hotel were originally military barracks), but guests will want to be hanging out in the lounge, restaurant and terrace with the glamourous things of Stockholm who’ve made this their new home. Double room from €184/SEK 1,800, including breakfast. Guy Dittrich

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