Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
weekends,
120 during the week—and a bit more of a swank feel, with coffered
edges to the ceilings, textured wallpaper, colorful fabrics and carpets, and well-lit
marble bathrooms. Rooms ending in -03 are the largest—though none are really
that spacious—but for optimum quiet pick a room ending in -04 or -05, facing
the back courtyard.
€
€€€
Solo travelers take note: Both the Amadeus and its neighbor,
Hotel des
Artistes
(Via Principe Amadeo, 21, at Via Accademia;
%
011-8124416; www.des
artisteshotel.it),
feature extra-wide
francesina
beds in their single rooms.
Otherwise, the
125 doubles at the Hotel des Artistes are bland but comfy. The
hotel received a functional overhaul 3 years ago, with bathrooms jammed into
room corners as an afterthought and heavy drapes over the double-paned windows.
Hotels near the Train Station
Unlike the areas around train stations in most large cities, the Porta Nuova neigh-
borhood is semi-stylish and perfectly safe, and many of the city's hotels are here,
just a 10-minute stroll south of the central sights.
€
€€
95 per double you can have a room in a gracious 18th-century
apartment house directly across the street from the station at the family-run
Hotel
Bologna
In fact, for
€
(Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 60;
%
011-5620290 or 011-5620193).
Some rooms are quite grand, incorporating frescoes and fireplaces. Others have
been renovated in sleek modern style with laminated, built-in cabinetry and
glossy wood floors. Still others fall in between, with well-maintained 1970s style
furnishings and linoleum flooring. Whatever the vintage, all of the rooms are
spotlessly clean, nicely maintained, and were overhauled in the fall of 2005.
5
Step off the elevator at the simple, sixth-floor
Hotel Bellavista
(Via Galliari,
15, between Via S. Anselmo and Via Principe Tomasso;
%
011-6698139),
on a
€€
A Worthy Splurge
€€€€
Pass through the doors of a plain-looking building between the
Via Roma and the river, and you'll think you're in an English country house.
That's the idea at the
Victoria Hotel
55
(Via Nino Costa, 4, a tiny street,
unlabeled on most maps, off Via Giuseppe Pomba between Via Giolitti and
Via Cavour;
%
011-5611909; www.hotelvictoria-torino.com),
and the
Anglophile decor works splendidly. The lobby resembles a drawing room,
with floral sofas, deep armchairs, and a view onto a garden. The glass-
enclosed breakfast room feels like a conservatory. “Standard” guest
rooms—
€
163 per double—are handsomely furnished in a chic style that
soothingly combines contemporary and traditional styles, with mahogany
bedsteads and writing desks, and rich fabric wallcoverings and draperies.
“Deluxe” accommodations (
€
183 double), each with a distinctive look,
are oversize rooms furnished with carefully chosen antiques and such
flourishes as canopied beds and richly upholstered divans.
