Whenever I stay in a hotel I like to take a photograph of the view from the hotel room window. Believe me, most of the time the view is extremely disappointing, although I guess Basil Fawlty would ask me, "What do you expect? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, herds of wildebest sweeping majestically..." Here's a few examples from the real world:
I can't remember much about this hotel, other than it was a good place and worth a visit. The reason I've posted this now is purely because I was scrolling through the blog and noticed I hadn't posted it before. I hope I've got the name right.
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| View from Room 501, Hilton in Buda |
This is the view from room 501 of the Hilton Hotel in Budapest, the one in Buda. It's a fantastic hotel offering great rooms and a fantastic location. Some of the rooms have decent rooms, but perhaps not room 501, although it's such a great hotel that the view from the window is secondary. Book a stay, it's well worth it. Great breakfasts and the room service is good too.
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| View from room 2319, Real Inn, Monterrey |
This really was a great hotel with excellent staff and, as you can see, some tremendous views from the hotel restaurant. There was a pool, which I used twice, a decent restaurant serving roast dinners for breakfast, it was a really impressive place.
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| View from room 416, Novum Madison, Dusseldorf |
Great hotel, friendly staff, but no restaurant (not a problem as the hotel was opposite Da Bruno, my favourite Italian trattoria). There was no air-con either and Dusseldorf was baking in the 40 degree heat. Fortunately, I could open both windows and let the sound of the city rock me to sleep. I loved it and I would return.
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| View from room 619, Sheraton Station Square |
I'm not sure what's better, the view from the Renaissance Hotel 57 below or this one from room 619 of the Sheraton Hotel Pittsburgh Station Square. I think I'll go with the Sheraton, supposedly the only hotel in Pittsburgh with a riverfront location.
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| View from room 1306, Renaissance Hotel 57 NY. |
My recent trip to Pittsburgh and New York, I think, provided the best views from the hotel window in the history of this blog. The shot above, from room 1306, Renaissance Hotel 57 on Lexington Avenue and 57th is fantastic, see above.
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| View from Room 522, Park Hotel, New Delhi |
The Park Hotel, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary when I bowled up, was an absolutely fantastic place. The food was amazing and so were the staff.
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| The view from Room 514 Ramada Amsterdam Centre |
Not exactly in the centre of Amsterdam, although, to be fair, pretty well connected by trams and trains, so I'll let them off. A pleasant hotel with a decent rooftop restaurant, where I dined every night.
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| View from room 304, International Hotel |
This is the view from room 304 of the International Hotel, Luxembourg. The hotel is right opposite the central railway station – you can't get more convenient than that!
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| The view from room 302, Act Hotel, Tokyo |
The Act Hotel in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, Japan, offers tiny rooms and no view through the window. The above shot is the view from room 302. Not good, is it? Also not good is the lack of breakfast – it's not on offer and guests are advised to go out for breakfast. I went to Precious Coffee Moments, a pleasant coffee shop close to the Grand Hyatt.
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| View from Room 542, Sheraton Warsaw Hotel |
Room 542 of the Sheraton Warsaw Hotel. I was there 14-16 June 2018. Nice room, great city.
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| The view from room 103, Motel One Wien Prater |
This is the view from Room 103 of Motel One, the one close to the fairground. I love it, as you all know.
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| View from room 416, Park Inn, Linz, Austria |
A great hotel in the perfect location and offering a great view out of the window. The Park Inn by Radisson is bang in the centre of town and about 20 minutes' walk from the River Danube.
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| View from room 656, Sofitel Copacabana Beach, Rio... |
Probably not the best example of the mundanity of hotel room views. This shot of the pool (one of them) at the Sofitel Copacabana Beach in Rio is actually quite a good view. There is, of course, two views. Had I tilted the camera upwards a little bit, you would see the building site beyond.
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| Room 542 – reasonably pleasant view |
This is the view from room 542 of the Sheraton Warsaw Hotel in Poland. It's a tremendous hotel and I've stayed there twice now. Room 542 was recently refurbished and it was fantastic.
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| View from room 1712, Hilton Doubletree... |
The above shot is from the Hilton Doubletree in Philadelphia, a nice hotel bang in the centre of the city and just a stone's throw from an excellent restaurant called Bellini. Doubletrees are great hotels.
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| View from Room 109, Wyndham Garden Dusseldorf |
Well, I wasn't expecting the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and to be fair, this is the standard view from most hotel windows. This view is from room 109 of the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Dusseldorf, a great hotel in my opinion.
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| The view from Room 209, NH Palacio, Avilés |
The NH Palacio Hotel in Avilés is very very nice, located on the main square in the centre of town. The rooms are pleasant and this, my friends, is the view from Room 209 in which I am staying (see blogposts).
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| View from Room 315, Nofo Hotel, Stockholm |
This was a great hotel bang in the centre of Stockholm. The room was a bit cramped, but I prefer small rooms over large ones and Room 315 did the job, although the view out of the window was a little unusual (see pic above).
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| View from room 905, Duque de Loulé, Lisbon |
This the view from the H10 Hotel Duque de Loulé in Lisbon. Very pleasant hotel, offering excellent breakfasts – for more see link in my report of the trip entitled
In Lisbon...
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| View from room 165, Motel One Wien-Prater, Vienna |
A return visit to this great hotel proved to be another great decision of mine. I enjoyed every minute of it, although one night only I'm afraid, but one night is better than none.
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| The view from room 307, Star Inn, Linz, Austria... |
Despite snowy, cold weather in the UK in December 2017, this was the view from Room 307 of the Star Inn in Linz, Austria. A pleasant hotel in the centre of town.
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| Room 113, Hampton Inn, Blytheville, Arkansas |
Not as polished as the Sheraton and with paper plates and bowls and plastic cutlery for breakfast, this hotel did its job and had some very friendly and helpful staff, so I ain't complaining one bit. And yes, I'd go back there, although the Holiday Inn might have worked better as it had a restaurant.
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| Room 344, Sheraton Memphis Downtown, USA |
The Sheraton Memphis Downtown hotel was ideally suited for driving across the Mississippi into Arkansas and it was a nice hotel too.
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| Room 107, Catalonia Hotel, Brussels... |
This was a hotel that didn't offer me an outside view at all; instead I got to look down on the Catalonia's 'business centre', which consisted of one computer with an 'AZERTY' keyboard – very frustrating.
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| The view from room 510, First Euroflat Hotel |
This the view from room 510 of the First Euroflat Hotel in Brussels. It was quite pleasant to have a leafy tree outside the window rather than another building or a brick wall, like at the NH Hotel Grand Sablon, also in Brussels (scroll down to find it).
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| The view from room 342, Motel One, Vienna – a great hotel |
This is the view from room 342 of Motel One in Vienna. It's a great hotel with plenty to offer anybody who checks in. I'd recommend this excellent hotel to anybody.
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| View from Room 201, Sheraton, Warsaw... |
A very nice hotel indeed with an excellent room, but as usual, the view leaves a lot to be desired. It's a block of flats with an optician's shop on the ground floor opposite the main entrance to the hotel.
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| The view from room 507, Best Western Plus, Nashville, TN. |
A great hotel and, compared to a lot of views from the hotel windows that I have experienced, this one, while featuring an old skip and half-finished condo block, was a pleasant break from the norm of apartment or office blocks. Great hotel too.
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| Room 32 Burns Art Hotel, Dusseldorf |
The Burns Art Hotel close to the central railway station was a wonderful hotel and close to my favourite restaurant of all-time, Da Bruno. It was also the first double aspect hotel room I had the pleasure of enjoying. The photo above was the view from one window, and the view below from the other window.
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| The other view from Room 32, Burns Art Hotel Dusseldorf |
The above photograph is the other view from Room 32 of the Burns Art Hotel. There is also a Burns Aparthotel, which I've also stayed in; it too offers large rooms, one of which you can see if you check out Hotel Rooms (also on the pages section of this blog).
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| The view from room 211, Mercure City Center, Dusseldorf |
A pleasant hotel located very close to my all-time favourite restaurant, Da Bruno. I mean it's under four minutes on foot, you can't get better than that!
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| View from room 602, Bohem Art Hotel, Budapest |
A nice hotel down a quiet side street close to the Danube. No restaurant here, but they do serve breakfast. This is common. Haven't been to Budapest since 2007 (it's now March 2017) so 10 years.
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| The view from Room 324 of the Hotel Fenix, Prague |
This is the view from Room 324 of the Hotel Fenix, Prague. It was a reasonably decent sort of place, bang in the middle of the city.
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| View from room 117 Grand Majestic Plaza Palace, Prague |
This was a very pleasant hotel in Prague, Czech Republic, but the view, while not that bad, left a lot to be desired. Still, you can't have everything.
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| View from room 841, Hotel Scholl... |
This was a wonderful 'boutique' hotel in a place called Schwabischhall, a chocolate box town in Germany. I liked the quirky hotel but wasn't keen on the breakfasts – everything lacked sweetness – and the photo above is the view from Room 841 at the very top of the hotel.
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| View from room 317, Messehotel Stuttgart |
This was a really nice hotel with a decent room and a not so decent view, but everything else was fine; the WiFi worked, the breakfast was good, so nothing to complain about.
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| View from Room 301, Premier Inn, Scunthorpe. |
This is the view from room 301 of the Premier Inn, Scunthorpe. It was alright and a darn sight better than the other hotels in town.
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| View from Ibis Dubai, World Trade Center. |
The above shot is the view from room 417 of the Ibis World Trade Center, Dubai. A pleasant hotel, but sadly I won't get a chance to sample the restaurant as I'm rushing around doing 'stuff'.
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| View from room 306 Austria Trend Schillerpark, Linz. |
Linz was quite a nice place. I managed a walk around after breakfast, but didn't have much in the way of time. The pic above is the view from room 306 of the Austria Trend Schillerpark hotel.
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| The view from room 2084, First Hotel Mayfair, Copenhagen |
View from room 2084 of the First Mayfair Hotel in Copenhagen. I was only there for one night due to a pilots' strike at SAS, but the hotel was excellent.
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| The view from room 1411, Austria Trend Europa, Vienna |
This is the view from room 1411, Austria Trend Europa hotel in Vienna. The hotel was ideally located in the midst of the city's shopping district and close to Stephansplatz underground station.
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| View from room 814, Hampton Inn, Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
This (above) is the view from room 814 of the Hampton Inn in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. It was a nice hotel, although I thought the room was miles too big. Still, quite a funny view!
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| The view from room 507, Hotel Banke, Paris – a truly amazing hotel |
This is room 507 of the Hotel Banke, Paris. There's only really two hotels that I can say I was really impressed by (so far that is!). One is the Hotel Banke and the other the Hyatt Regency, Irvine, California.
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| The view from room 626, Le West-End Hotel, Nice, France |
This is the view from room 626 of the Le West-End Hotel in Nice, South of France. As it goes, it's one of the better views I've experienced on my travels.
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| Room 203, Cutlers Hotel, Sheffield |
This is the view from the Best Western Cutlers Hotel in Sheffield. A nice hotel, but I wasn't impressed by the breakfast room or the breakfast offering.
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| Room 1601, Holiday Inn, Midtown, Montreal |
Here's the view from Room 1601 of the Holiday Inn, Midtown, Montreal. A nice hotel, I thought, although initially I felt the reception area looked a bit rough and ready.
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| View from Room 27, Schellenberg Hotel |
This rather inspiring view from Room 27 of the Schellenberg Hotel, Dusseldorf. Shame really as the hotel is located on the Rhine (or Rhein as they spell it in Germany.
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| View from room 571, Hotel Galles, Milano |
This is the view from room 571 of the Best Western Hotel Galles close to the Lima metro station in Milano. In many ways it's the best view of the lot, reflecting as it does a typical Italian scene. Nice hotel too.
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| Room 210, Best Western Nordic Ambiente, Langenhagen. |
This view from room
210 the Best Western Nordic Ambiente in Langenhagen, Germany, was one of the better views I've experienced.
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| View from room 656, Sofitel Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro |
Rio de Janeiro is a pretty glamourous place and the Sofitel Copacabana is right on the beach, but this is the view from room
656 – there's a nice building site to look at and, of course, straight across from my room, more hotel rooms.
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| Room 304 Best Western International, Luxembourg |
As it goes, not a bad view. This from room
304 of the Best Western International Hotel in Luxembourg and right opposite the main railway station.
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| Room 418, the Hilton Doubltree, Cleveland, Ohio |
The Hilton Doubletree in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, is one of the best hotels I've stayed in of late and the view really ain't bad when you think about it. This is the view from room
418.
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| View from the Best Western Leidse Square, Amsterdam |
I was staying in what amounted to a prison cell, a tiny room. I think it was room
356 (room 357 is miles better) and this was the view from my hotel window.
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| View from room 334 of the NH Hotel Grand Sablon, Bruxelles |
This was a fantastic hotel with great service, great food, an even greater waiter and a decent room. All that was lacking was a decent view, but you can't have everything. This view from room
334.
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| View from room 530 of the Mercure Hotel, Hagen, Germany |
Hagen was a fairly nice place and so was the Mercure Hotel. The hotel was located on a hill and was a fairly tall building so my room – room
530 – offered this splendid view of (ahem) the tops of some trees.
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| From room 37 of the Bruntsfield Hotel, Edinburgh |
The Bruntsfield Hotel in Edinburgh is a fantastic hotel with a decent restaurant. I've stayed here many times in the past and was glad to go back recently even if it was to be close to a conference I was attending in Edinburgh. This is the view from room
37.
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| View from room 404, Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi |
I loved the Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi, mainly because of the amazingly good service and the restaurants, especially the Silk Route Restaurant. This view from room 404 was more impressive than most as there was so much sand everywhere. Great place and extremely hot. It was gone 7pm before I took a dip in the pool.
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| The view from room 207 of the Friends Hotel, Dusseldorf. |
I stayed at the Friends Hotel in Dusseldorf, Germany in mid-June 2015 and it's nice, but this is the view from the hotel window. If you enlarge the photograph you might be able to spot the Buddha staring back at you.
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| Room 107, Melia Milano, Milano, Italia |
Nice hotel, great restaurant and a great Italian city, but the view from room 107 on a cloudy, drizzly day was not very inspiring. Still, you can't have it all.
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| View from room 606 of the Quality Inn, Pittsburgh, Penn. |
I liked this hotel as there was a decent Panera Bread outlet underneath it where I enjoyed my first ever 'Bear's Claw'. Fantastic. The hotel was reasonable, but not in any way 'top end', although the staff were very friendly. That tall building you can see is known locally as the 'cathedral of learning'. It's real name is Pittsburgh University.
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| Room 205 of Les Nations Hotel, Geneva |
An uninspiring view if ever there was one! This is Les Nations Hotel in Geneva.
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| The view from room 502, Holiday Inn, LA Airport |
This is the view from room 502 of the Los Angeles airport (LAX as its know locally) Holiday Inn. That's a McDonald's you can see below and apparently 'gangland' was close-by. I think I inadvertently sauntered into it, but nothing untoward happened and I didn't end up with a holdall of firearms like in
Falling Down.
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| Room 508, Hyatt Regency, Irvine, California |
This was arguably the best hotel in the best location. I loved it. The Hyatt Regency in Irvine, California, had everything: decent staff, decent food, a decent pool and a decent room with this view. Perfect. Oh, I'd love to go back there!
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| Room 520, Anker Hotel, Oslo, Norway |
This view from the Anker Hotel in Oslo, Norway, room 520. A memorable trip as it was minus 12 degrees outside and I was wearing a pair of Dr. Marten's without any tread on the soles. Fortunately, I didn't slip and I remember reading Owen Jones' Chavs in a restaurant a short distance from the hotel.
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| View from room 1101, Sheffield Premier Inn |
This shot was taken from room 1101 of the St Mary's Gate Premier Inn in Sheffield. All Premier Inns are good places, especially if, like me, you enjoy a decent breakfast. Room 1101 offers this great view and it was a large room with a sink in the room.
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| Room 407, Friends Hotel, Dusseldorf |
View from room 407 of the Friends Hotel in Dusseldorf. The last time I stayed here in June I was in room 2007 (scroll up to see a photo of the view from room 207). This time, in September 2015, I was two floors higher in room 407. I preferred 207, which was bigger, but this is a great hotel and I'll be staying again in the not-too-distant future. The reason the view is obscured is that those black strips of material are, in fact, some kind of 'curtain', albeit a quirky version of curtains. It's impossible to draw these curtains back so, unless I held various strands aside, this is the view from the window.
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| Room 704, Best Western Royal Centre, Brussels |
Not a brilliant hotel, mainly because there was no restaurant, but what the hell, it was a bed for the night, there was a decent hotel and I was happy. But this, my friends, is the view from room 704.
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| Room 535, Hyatt Regency, Montreal – corporate but nice |
I love Montreal. It's a great city for cycling and they have Bixi Bikes, which I've used every time I've been in this great Canadian city. I love Montreal and I love the Hyatt Regency too.
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| Room 1001, Best Western, Old Salata Street, Doha, Qatar. |
The Best Western hotel on Old Salata Street, Doha, was pleasant enough even it peering out of the window made me feel a bit like John Simpson. All I needed was that white jacket. This is the view from room 1001.
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| El Tropicano Hotel, San Antonio, Texas. Very Mexican. |
I can't remember the room number, and the blog posts relating to this Mexican-flavoured hotel in San Antonio, Texas, mention nothing so you'll have to take my word for it and say that this shot is the view from my hotel window. Great hotel!
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| View from room 1317, Knoxville Hilton, Tennessee, USA |
I remember it was a little chilly in Knoxville, home of Quentin Tarantino AND Johnny Knoxville, and the view from room 1317 of the Knoxville Hilton was a little uninspiring. Still, Knoxville was great and I went from here to LA, via Detroit!
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| View from room 210, Grand Hotel Hartlepool |
This is the stunning view from room 210 of the Grand Hotel, Hartlepool. Wonderful isn't it? Still, while the view wasn't so great the restaurant was excellent. Yes, folks, the Grand Hotel Hartlepool has Mumbai, an Indian restaurant, in the basement.
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| Room 811, Warwick Allerton Hotel, Chicago |
The Warwick Allerton Hotel in Chicago is quite nice and very centrally located in the downtown area. This rather interesting view was taken from room 811.
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