This Viennese Palace Simply Bought a New, Fashionable Makeover — and Now You Can Keep There

Vienna isn’t quick on palatial — actually — lodges, and it has gone by way of a spate of splashy luxurious openings over the past 5 years, bringing manufacturers like Rosewood and Anantara to hitch stalwarts like Resort Imperial and Resort Sacher Wien. However on the finish of 2023, a boutique resort quietly opened inside a pair of town’s beloved palaces that had taken years to revive.

The positively lovely Almanac Palais Vienna is the third property from the Almanac hospitality group (the opposite two are in Barcelona and Prague). It represented one thing of a homecoming for the house owners, the Haselbacher household from Austria, which is maybe why they spent so a few years guaranteeing the 1871 buildings had been correctly preserved. The unique neo-Baroque facades and heritage marble doorways hark again to the glamor of the unique Palais, constructed for 2 of town’s most distinguished businessmen: the German-Austrian industrialist Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck and the textile magnet Baron Friedrich von Leitenberger.

Award-winning Chilean designer Jaime Beriestain was tasked with the property’s restoration, reworking the historic palais into the grand resort steeped in Viennese heritage. Whereas the façade stays intact, interiors evoke a refined magnificence with a palette of wealthy woods, creamy beiges, and silver and gold hues; sculptural accents; and a rotating assortment of work and pictures by up-and-coming native artists.

When my household and I entered the hovering marble foyer contained in the resort’s glass-covered atrium, we had been immediately wowed. The design option to protect the historic molding and nonetheless put up a contemporary, painted display screen is an fascinating alternative, and it really works, setting the stage for the resort’s identification as a historic landmark and a hub of up to date artwork. The foyer is so spacious and minimalist that I immediately feared my kids operating with abandon by way of it, crashing into the trendy sculptures on show in partnership with Galerie bei der Albertina Zetter, however fortunately, they had been too exhausted from our red-eye flight to do a lot injury.

The resort’s ardour for artwork is clear all through and is cemented with its newest assortment, additionally accomplished with Galerie bei der Albertina Zetter. The all-Austrian artwork assortment accommodates works by greats, together with Gustav Klimt and Hermann Nitsch, and it’s the first time a piece by Klimt will ever be on show in a resort. The drawing, Klimt’s “Sitzende Dame von vorne (Seated Girl Face-On, 1912-1914),” is contained in the Palais Suite.

I cherished beginning every morning with a espresso from the ground-floor third-wave espresso store Elias after which becoming a member of my household to linger over scrumptious breakfasts contained in the ethereal Donnersmarkt Restaurant earlier than heading out to discover town for the day. Upon return, we headed downstairs to the spa’s Indoor pool, considerably of a rarity within the metropolis, to loosen up in, and the art-inflected bar was excellent for a pre-dinner drink. All in all, Almanac Palais Vienna is a wonderful trendy addition to town’s burgeoning resort roster, bringing it increasingly to Europe’s forefront of metropolis locations past Paris and London.

Here is my evaluate of Almanac Palais Vienna.

The Rooms

Since I used to be touring with my husband and two children, we booked two adjoining rooms. We arrived early within the morning, after taking the red-eye from New York to Vienna, so our rooms weren’t fairly prepared, however after a few hours on the on-site espresso store and within the park, certainly one of them was prepared for us to relaxation in.

Once we walked into the primary room, it was so massive — with a sitting space and king mattress — that I assumed it have to be for the grownups. Little did I do know that after we would see the second room, a collection, I might really feel ridiculous for believing the primary room was massive. The suite simply spanned greater than 1,500 sq. toes, with a mattress so massive I believe it might have been two kings pushed collectively. My husband and I joked that we may sleep on it horizontally and nonetheless have loads of further room; there was a big sitting space and a separate lavatory and closet. The ceiling was a bit low — I discovered that because the flooring went up, the ceilings bought decrease — however since neither of us could be very tall and so they had clearly compensated with extra horizontal area, we had been thrilled. Each rooms regarded down on the resort’s inside atrium foyer and acquired daylight from the opening above.

The resort has 111 rooms, of which 80 are suites, offering spacious lodging in a metropolis the place that may be scarce. Whereas different components of the constructing have preserved neo-Baroque particulars, the rooms are undeniably trendy. Ceilings and a few partitions function antiqued gold mirrors, and behind the cream-colored leather-based headboard is a wooden backing wall engraved with a round sample. Grey couches are curvy with mod-patterned accent pillows, and the minibar incorporates a shiny pink countertop. Bogs are lined in Austrian white marble with gold accents, and the remaining have gold handles, sconces, lamps, and doorways for a luxe, however not over-the-top, poshness.

Meals and Drink

On the bottom ground with an outside space in heat climate, Donnersmarkt Restaurant & Bar is ready inside a brilliant and colourful eating room with a large-scale trendy mural alongside one wall of Vienna’s natural world. The menu options plant-forward Alpine delicacies, like celery confit with a chervil and pistachio béarnaise sauce and oven-roasted and marinated native pumpkin with black radish, honey, and black aioli. The wine checklist has an area focus, with a choice of biodynamic and natural bottles from vineyards within the hills of Vienna. The Donnersmarkt Bar had a showpiece round gold bar and maroon velvet seating accented by trendy work on the partitions by artist-in-residence Martin Lukáč.

Vienna has a severe espresso and café tradition with a whole lot of historical past, so any new espresso store has to impress. Fortunately, the on-site Elias Espresso Store has no hassle doing so, with its gleaming white tile, hovering ceilings, and minimalist design. It serves third-wave espresso and native pastries.

Actions and Experiences

In 2024, the resort began providing a number of month-to-month workshops with native consultants. These embrace a gua sha and face yoga workshop, a floral association class, and a four-hour artwork remedy session with licensed holistic artwork therapist and Create Artwork Remedy founder Petra Krassnitzer. The classes promote the circulation of vitality and stimulate sensory perceptions by way of a combination of meditation and inventive workout routines, comparable to kneading clay, portray on a canvas, or writing.

The resort additionally has a number of gallery and museum partnerships. One is with the Belvedere Museum, permitting all resort visitors to get pleasure from a complimentary entrance at Belvedere 21, the museum’s up to date artwork constructing, and visitors of the Vienna Artwork Suite may get pleasure from a complimentary entrance to Higher and Decrease Belvedere, the museum’s different two sections. Company may get pleasure from unique after-hours guided excursions of Galerie bei der Albertina, which is inaugurating its new exhibition area, Zetter Initiatives.

The Spa

Vienna has a showering tradition courting again almost 2,000 years, and the resort’s underground two-floor wellness sanctuary pays tribute to that. Open simply to visitors, the gorgeous marble-clad oasis has a glowing 45-foot indoor thermal pool, plus spa and sauna services and a completely geared up health club.

Signature remedies embrace the Viennese Raise & Glow Ritual, a facial utilizing a mixture of gua sha and cryo-massage strategies, together with botanical skincare merchandise. {Couples} can guide a nighttime spa expertise, the place they’ll have the pool, sauna, and steam room all to themselves for 3 hours, together with a {couples} therapeutic massage, glowing wine, particular treats, flowers, and two embroidered robes.

Accessibility

Almanac has 4 accessible rooms within the resort: two Almanac Rooms, one Almanac Deluxe, and one Junior Suite. All of them function a large entrance to the lavatory and to the room, emergency cords and buttons, and an open sink within the lavatory.

Location

The resort is true on Vienna’s famously elegant Ringstrasse and simply throughout the road from Stadtpark, one of many metropolis’s authentic public parks. It’s inside strolling distance from native landmarks just like the Vienna State Opera Home and the Museum of Utilized Arts (The MAK).

Easy methods to Get the Most Worth Out of Your Keep

Almanac Palais Vienna is a part of the Visa Signature Luxurious Resort Assortment. Visa cardholders who guide by way of the gathering’s web site will obtain an automated room improve on arrival if out there, complimentary breakfast for 2, a $25 meals and beverage credit score, late checkout when out there, and VIP visitor standing.