Best Places to Stay

The other day I was thinking about what makes a good lodging - or even a perfect one. I often read Tripadvisor, but these days I think there are too many fake reviews. So I wonder what you like about a hotel, inn or b&b?

Here are my thoughts, with links to places I specially liked. They're not EXACTLY recommendations, because places change hands and I visited some of them ages ago. But if you're going to be in the area, you might like to consider giving them a try! :)

I really love places in amazing surroundings.Purcell Mountain Lodge in the Canadian Rockies. was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and I went in by helicopter because it's so far from any road. I've been to many wilderness locations but these huge vistas of imposing mountains, majestic and empty, really affected me. I don't have easy access to many of the photos I took - they are slides, and need scanning. But this picture will give you an idea of the scenery there.

(Photo: Ralph Maughan)

The lodge was a haven in the imposing but slightly alarming (to a city girl) landscape. All the guests bonded very well as a group and it was fun being with them. The food was great, the rooms fine, but the location was what blew my mind - like being in another world.

A differently lovely setting, and MUCH closer to home (about twenty miles from London in fact!) is Tanners Hatch Youth Hostel in Surrey, on the historic National Trust Polesden Lacy estate. When I first went, it had no electricity and no road access. It's a bit more up to date now but it is still gas lit and remote. You wake to the baaing of sheep and feel you've stepped back in time. It's lacking every sort of luxury (not even indoor toilets) but it's a huge favourite with kids and is always booked up. Here it is, on the edge of the wood. Can you spot this little black-and-white cottage amongst the Springtime trees? (oh, and I forgot to say, the woods are full of bluebells in May).

(photo: wossnim on Flikr)

Comfort. OK, Tanners Hatch doesn't qualify but usually it helps to have good lighting and good heating. I've been in too many places with dim, badly sited lights, and could have done without a stay in a Bavarian guest house not long ago when skies were dark and everything was covered in snow ... See the distant figures of T and little A, then 5 years old.....

The inn had been closed for weeks before our visit and the rooms didn't warm up for DAYS. We sat there in our outdoor clothes all evening while little A. slept. And l-o-ong evenings they were!

Friendliness. You can't expect the host to be always on top form - they might have just had bad news or be feeling ill, for instance. But I have good memories of the quaint old Barnacle Hall, near Coventry, Warwickshire, and The Old Bank in Marnhull, Dorset, and if you go there, I hope you find the owners as pleasant as I did.

Any traveller hopes to avoid lodgings that call to mind John Cleese's "Fawlty Towers." But once in a York b&b, I dared to turn the blaring radio down at breakfast, since we were the only guests. I didn't think anyone would mind. But the owner minded. "If you don't like my choice of radio station, you can go somewhere else next time!" he shrieked, turning the sound up again. (We did).

(photo: Orangecow.org)

On the other hand, the owners of one b&b in Florida were just a little too friendly and chatty for comfort, and in an unstoppable stream of information, they told us FAR more detail than we needed to know about how weird the neighbours were. We locked our rooms that night, I can tell you!

(photo: coolgallery.com)

Then there's Tea. Being English I always, always like a cup of tea, so a kettle, tea and preferably a snack, are a must in any lodging.

(Photo: Cindy Adkins)

At breakfast, those little plastic packets of jam and marmalade turn me off. No offence to the jolly little ones shown below (stock photo) but seeing plastic packs always suggests coloured blandness, not good flavoursome preserves.

(photo: www.21food.com)

I think Germans probably do the world's best breakfasts, with the best bread, the best variety. One of my most memorable breakfasts was in the moderately priced Park Inn in Berlin's Alexanderplatz. It's not that exotic, being a modern tower block in an ex-Communist square (below), but T and I actively looked forward to going to breakfast with its gorgeous mueslis and yogurts and fancy breads.

Outside Germany, take me to the breakfast at the Mauna Lani on the Kohala Coast, Hawaii. Not so much the breakfast for me (although it was good, with Japanese as well as American, like many Hawaiian hotels) but it was the beautifully relaxed atmosphere. Oh, and the blue sea, the balmy temperatures, the fresh pineapples....

(Photo: forbes)

I like fun decors. I don't have to live with them all the time, after all. Propeller Island City Lodge, (also in groovy old Berlin), is fun and mad for a night or two.

The Hotel Altstadt in Vienna, Austria is more traditional, decorated in a variety of old and new styles with some fine art works. I liked this room's gothic glamour.

(Photo: Altstadt Hotel)

We felt as if we were staying in a theatre set. (This hotel also has a good breakfast, and a salon with all-day free tea and cakes, too - very welcome in Austria's freezing winters.)

Delightful outdoor space is a plus. Plenty of nice contenders, but we remember the Chateau Marmont, on Sunset Boulevard, USA. We had the penthouse suite, with a massive balcony. This was some years ago (although Robert de Niro had already become a fan) and I don't know what it's like now but in those days the hotel reminded me irresistibly of the Tower of Terror in Disneyland (and I kind of liked pretending I was staying in a Disneyland ride).

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(Photo: travelandleisure.com)

It was K's eleventh birthday (that is the K who is getting married soon!) and we had a celebratory champagne breakfast on this vast terrace.

If you're shocked by the idea of 11 year olds trying champagne, I should add that she and her friend were attending the French Lycee at the time, where it was considerd that kids needed to learn to appreciate wine at the knee of maman and papa.

Luxury hotels are often fabulous, but the less imaginative ones can be snobby and ultimately dispiriting. I specially remember a deluxe hotel in beautiful South Africa where my earrings were stolen by the woman making the beds. No amount of linen bedsheets, fancy bath soaps, personal butlers or super spa facilities could make up for having my privacy violated in this way. I decided not to report the loss, because I kind of sympathised with her. I know there's no excuse for stealing, but most of the staff lived in terrible shanty towns and it made me feel uncomfortable. I have felt this in several otherwise beautiful hotels in countries with much poverty and deprivation.

(photo: abroadview.org)

I love places that are unusual or special in some way, like the calm and spiritual (and modern) cathedral lodge in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral. After the ancient gates have shut for the night, you can wander round and have the cathedral close almost to yourself. There's also a delightful library containing some thought provoking books in the lodge.

The mad and mysterious old Baron Hotel in Aleppo, Syria, is also memorable, with a dining room unchanged apparently since the 1920s, and ancient ad signs and photos on its walls for organisations that have long ceased to exist, like Pan Am, BOAC and Stephen's Inks, who provided this charming promotional thermometer on an outside wall.

Every now and then I don't make a note of a place's name, and then I regret it. One of my best ever lodging memories was of a b&b near Bath, England, which belonged to a woodsman and his family. It had a log fire, and wooden furniture (all made by the owner) and was surrounded by trees. The rooms were cosy, the food was delicious (and vegetarian), and, being winter, we really appreciated the roaring fire (wood fire, of course). I'm so mad I can't remember its name!

Do you have a favourite lodging anywhere in the world, and why do you like it? I'd love to hear about it.

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(PS. If anyone has concerns about the new Blogger interface, I found a useful url - click here for it. I think someone is coordinating the problems there are, hoping Google will take notice and address issues before removing the old interface. I'm having real problems working the new interface from my phone.

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