Spring in the City: Where to Stay for a Luxurious Urban Retreat

February 19, 2024 by Hidden Doorways

As the mercury starts to rise, not everyone wants to bolt off to the beach. Spring is perhaps our favorite season for a city break. Crowds are limited and the weather is perfect for a day spent strolling the streets. If your clients are considering an urban escape over the next few months, be sure to keep some of these incredible city-center destinations in mind. 

CASA POLANCO

Mexico City’s Ultimate Boutique Hotel

Set in the sophisticated Polanco neighborhood, at Casa Polanco you can step away from the hustle and bustle of Mexico City’s epicenter, planting yourself in front of the majestic Parque Lincoln. A calmer setting it might be but don’t be fooled into thinking you’re away from the city’s infectious energy. Here, guests are just minutes from the city’s main avenues, museums, and galleries — an intimate retreat in the immediacy of the city, aka the best of both worlds.

Design-wise, think Spanish colonial revival architecture meets modern design touches. Find renewal in the spa cabin, take in the city on its terraces, eat al fresco on the hotel’s veranda, or retreat in the peace of the hotel’s library with spirit and rare cigar in hand.

THE MERCER

A Pocket of Luxury in New York’s SoHo District 

Renowned as being SoHo’s very first luxury hotel when it was established in 1997, to stay in one of The Mercer’s 73 sublime rooms or suites is to start and end every New York City day in urban paradise. 

A landmark Romanesque revival building, inside the hotel speaks of elegance, intimacy, and subtlety. They want guests to feel the comfort of home alongside the thoughtfulness of five-star service. On days you don’t want to leave the comfort of the hotel for too long, rest assured you can dine like royalty in its modern Italian restaurant, Sartiano’s, ordering its legendary Fritto Misto to your hotel room if feet are simply too exhausted to budge after days spent wandering the city’s captivating avenues. 

THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL

A Gilded Age Landmark in Midtown NYC

Of course, New York doesn’t have just one high-end hotel on offer, so if the NoMad neighborhood is your client’s preferred stomping ground then check into the Renaissance-style palazzo property that is The Fifth Avenue Hotel in the heart of Manhattan. 

Exquisite and eclectic is how it defines itself where rich color palettes and fascinating art and furnishings come together to create a palpable sense of excitement. There’s an energy here that runs throughout every room from its signature restaurant Café Carmellini where guests dine under soaring trees and crystal chandeliers to its Baudelaire penthouse suite where a spa bath and powder room are complemented by a larger-than-life terrace looking out onto the city that never sleeps (except guests 100% will in the arms of its deluxe king-size beds). 

THE GORING

A Historic Hotel in London’s Belgravia 

London’s last remaining family-owned luxury hotel, The Goring is the result of a century of careful crafting to give rise to a grand and impeccable hotel full of wit and wonder.

Belgravia is one of London’s most exclusive and elegant areas that places landmarks like Buckingham Palace and sophisticated shopping areas such as Sloane Square and Knightsbridge (home to world-renowned department store, Harrods) within walking distance. But when the day of sightseeing and city-scouring is over, your clients will know that the finest furnishings and the warmth of a genuine welcome await them. From the silk-lined walls of its deluxe bedrooms to the palatial penthouse that is The Royal Suite complete with a garden balcony and handpicked antiques including a unique collection of royal artifacts, there’s no such thing as an average room here.  

THE BEAUMONT

Art Deco Elegance in London’s West End

Go all-out glamour with a spring escape in the UK’s capital city where you can call this old-world luxury hotel home for however many nights. 

The Beaumont is located on the quiet Mayfair Square with 72 recently renovated rooms plus 29 suites and studios tucked away inside as well as the perfect spot for a Jazz Age afternoon tea in Gatsby’s Rooms or even a New York-style steak supper in The Colony Grill Room. The Financial Times How to Spend It supplement says: ‘This place is elegance like they don’t do anymore’. And we couldn’t agree more. 

ELLERMAN HOUSE

Ocean Views Are Calling in Cape Town

If your clients are seeking a spring break where sunshine is a guarantee, then this luxury boutique hotel in South Africa’s Cape Town is one to add to the list. 

An Edwardian mansion with just 12 unique rooms and suites plus two exclusive-use villas, you’ll find Ellerman House above Bantry Bay – so Atlantic Ocean views are a given. Full of little luxuries to make the house feel like a home, the Ellerman experience begins from touchdown as its luxury vehicle arrives at the airport to whisk guests to the bay. Second-to-none service is what they pride themselves on here, with a world-class concierge at your client’s beck and call throughout their stay. Sought-after table reservations, helicopter flights to elsewhere in Africa, and even exclusive itineraries curated by Ellerman to help guests journey around South Africa in complete comfort and class — all they have to do is ask.

LA SUITE DIOR

A Private Parisian Stay in a Dior-Designed Residence 

The city of romance is known for its Haussmannian architecture, and this private apartment is set in just that with a 180-degree terrace to enjoy the spring breeze that takes in the sweeping views of Paris and its maze of boulevards. 

Incredibly exclusive, a stay here invites you into the building where Christian Dior first established his couture house in 1946 – the famous 30 Montaigne. Having undergone a two-year meticulous renovation, the building’s seven floors are filled with homages to Dior from the flagship store to the ateliers and private gardens. Be sure to encourage your clients to not just live and breathe Dior but to eat it too in one of the building’s three eateries – Le Restaurant Monsieur Dior, Dior Le Café, and La Pâtisserie Dior which overlooks a rose garden no less. Because a stay in this designer apartment gives you keys to the entire 30 Avenue Montaigne kingdom, guests receive total private privileges like a tour of La Galerie Dior and Dior Heritage and a gourmet dining experience in the conservatory by Chef Jean Imbert. Fancy a day trip to the fashion founder’s former home in Provence to mix up days spent in Paris? Consider it done — yet another exclusive perk for Dior Suite guests alone. 

MAJESTIC HOTEL & SPA BARCELONA

A Grande Dame in Barcelona’s Beating Heart 

Our final five-star hotel is another family-run affair with more than a hundred years of heritage behind it. Fancy from the outside in with its classic doormen entry and just as fancy on the inside too. It boasts the largest suite in the whole city — the Majestic Royal Penthouse comes with a driver, private butler, and rooftop terrace with jacuzzi. A stay here is a decadent daydream come to life. 

The Majestic lives up to its name with amenities too giving guests spa treatments, unbeatable Barcelona city views, DJ and dancing rooftop soirées and slow-food delectable dishes at its SOLC restaurant that uses seasonal produce from its very own kitchen-garden just north of the city. But when your clients presumably want to leave their very own palace to head into Barcelona, know that its location is applause-worthy too, being on the same street as two of Gaudi’s masterpieces that also happens to be the most known avenue in the city for architecture and high-end stores, Paseo de Gracia.