Staying at one of the best Art Nouveau hotels in Europe is a great way to splash out, luxuriate and savour some of the most beautiful art and design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Art Nouveau varied greatly across Europe, both in style and name. But the one common thread that ran from Barcelona to the Baltic was its free-flowing form, especially in depictions of nature. Looking back, it was one of the most exciting times for design in European art history, and some of the finest surviving Art Nouveau buildings around the continent are hotels.
Some of these hotels have stunning exteriors, others are filled with outstanding artworks from this period, with mosaics, stained-glass windows, exuberant floral patterns and statuary. One of these hotels almost became its country’s national Art Nouveau museum.
I hope you enjoy this virtual trip around Europe, and that you’re inspired to stay in one of these superb hotels one day. Enjoy.
Best Art Nouveau Hotels In Europe
Hotel Le Negresco, Nice
Le Negresco was built towards the end of the Art Nouveau and Belle Époque period, opening in 1913. It was conceived by owner Henri Negrescu as a high-end luxury palace that would attract the wealthiest international clientele of its day. And it did exactly that – for little more than a year, when it was requisitioned as a military hospital. This devastated Negrescu, who died in 1922 at the age of 52.
The Hotel opened again in 1928, and prospered again until the outbreak of the Second World War. It was bought in 1957 and came under the management of Jeanne Augier, who transformed it into what some call a ‘museum hotel’. Every corridor in the Hotel is an art gallery – there are over 6,000 works of art spanning several centuries, and a range of architectural and furnishing styles from Neoclassical to Rococo to contemporary.
I’ve included Le Negresco as one of the best Art Nouveau hotels in Europe because of its exterior and pink dome, one of the last Art Nouveau period buildings on the French Riviera. It’s one of the most famous hotels in Europe, and one of the most recognisable.
You can book Hotel Le Negresco rooms here.
W Hotel Prague
The W Hotel Prague is the newest iteration of one of the great Art Nouveau hotels in Europe, the former Grand Hotel Evropa. This hotel has had pride of place on the east side of Wenceslas Square (Vaclávské náměstí) since 1872, and it was transformed into the iconic Art Nouveau hotel in the early 1900s.
The old Grand Hotel Evropa closed for around a decade, and underwent a huge refit, and it’s now part of the W brand owned by the Marriott chain. Many of the old fixtures, fittings and fittings remain, especially in the bars, restaurants and lobbies.
Some of the rooms also retain some of their Art Nouveau décor, while others have a more contemporary feel. It’s a real Art Nouveau Prague icon, well worth splashing if you’re passing this way.
Book your W Prague rooms here.
Meran Hotel Prague
W Prague’s longtime next-door neighbour, Hotel Meran, is a much smaller, more intimate affair than its famous neighbour, but no less eye-catching from outside.
The Hotel Meran was built between 1895 and 1906 on a very narrow plot of land (like the beautiful Functionalist Hotel Avion in Brno). Somehow, with ingenious design, they managed to build a 20-room hotel out of this narrow space. And the façade of the building is gorgeous, with mosaics and plant-like ornamentation. There is a musical motif on the roof sign, with the Hotel name instead of notes.
Inside, there are plenty of Art Nouveau details, from the paintings in the dining room to the decorative stair parapet and wooden panels in some of the corridors.
At one point under the Communists the Meran was merged into the Grand Hotel Evropa (now W Prague) next door and it suffered much neglect during this period.
It’s one of the most affordable Art Nouveau hotels in Prague, with prices around one-third of what you’d pay at the W. It’s a typical small mid-range European hotel, with an unbeatable location on Wenceslas Square, very close to the National Museum and the Cold War Museum Prague, a few doors up below the Hotel Jalta. A great place to stay.
You can book your Meran Hotel room here.
See Also: Art Nouveau Prague – 14 Wonderful Buildings You Have To See
Hotel Lutetia, Paris
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Lutetia is the finest Paris Art Nouveau hotel, a palace on the Left bank opposite the Bon Marché department store also owned by the Boucicaut family. Both buildings were designed by Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, the Hotel graced with a fine Art Nouveau exterior, with signage, curved windows, wrought ironwork and stone reliefs of flowers and cherubim classic motifs from this rich period.
The Hotel was intended as somewhere for Bon Marché’s customers to stay after a shopping trip. But like several other cafes in the area, it became renowned for attracting a literary and artistic clientele. Matisse, Picasso and Antoine de Saint-Exupery were regular visitors, and James Joyce completed Ulysses there in 1920 or 1921, and stayed there for several weeks between January and February 1940, his final stay in Paris. He died the following year in Zurich.
Inside, don’t miss the beautiful Art Nouveau frescoes on the walls of Bar Josephine, named after regular Lutetia patron Josephine Baker. Much of the interior is from the later Art Deco period, particularly some of the stunning lamps. If you ever wondered about differentiating Art Nouveau and Art Deco, a simple tip – there aren’t many straight lines in Art Nouveau, while there are in Art Deco!
The Lutetia is also a short walk from Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Germain des Prés, two of the most famous churches in Paris.
You can book your Hotel Lutetia rooms here.
Villa Ammande, Pärnu, Estonia
Pärnu is one of the most popular seaside resorts in the Baltic republics, and this Art Nouveau gem is one of the best hotels in town.
It has had a slightly less turbulent history than some of the other Art Nouveau hotels in Europe featured in this article, with the result that, especially inside, you get the full Art Nouveau works: windows, doorways, murals, stencilled wallpaper, flooring, furniture, even a stunning painted ceiling and an Art Nouveau fireplace. It’s absolutely exquisite, and I haven’t even started on the exterior yet!
The Villa was built by Hermann Leopold Ammende, a wealthy local merchant, and designed by Mieritz and Gerasimov architects who had an office in St Petersburg. The family business eventually sustained serious losses, and had to sell the Villa in the 1920s. Interestingly, at the time – during the interwar first Republic of Estonia, Art Nouveau was dismissed as bad taste, so it’s fortunate that the Villa survived.
It was later used as a casino and library, and part of it served as a sanatorium in Soviet times. Mercifully it was restored in the late 1990s, and has been operating as a hotel ever since.
Book your Villa Ammende rooms here.
Mandarin Oriental Gellért Hotel, Budapest
The iconic Gellért Hotel is one of the Art Nouveau masterpieces of Budapest. The fine edifice with its distinctive corner towers and turrets was the last Budapest Art Nouveau to be completed – in 1918, because of delays caused by the outbreak of war.
Named after one of the patron saints of Budapest, and the city’s first bishop, it w designed by Armin Hegedűs, Izidor Sterk and Artúr Sebestyén. The interior was decorated as per the original pre-War plans in Art Nouveau style, with a superb glass dome, several stunning stained-glass windows and the wondrous turquoise and blue tiles of the famous Thermal Baths.
At the time of writing the Hotel is in the later stages of a multi-year refurbishment, and it’s due to open in 2027. However the Baths, owned and operated by a different company to the rest of the Hotel, remain open to visitors.
Four Seasons Gresham Palace Budapest
This sumptuous hotel is one of the great Art Nouveau Budapest buildings, a former insurance company office overlooking the Danube. It was built between 1904 and 1906 for the British-based Gresham Insurance Company, and designed by two Hungarian architects, Jozsef Vago and Zsigmond Quittner.
As elsewhere, the building was left to decay during the post-war Communist period, when it was used as an apartment building.
Following the fall of Communism, the building was eventually restored to its former glory, including its many interior decorative details, such as wrought ironwork, mosaics and stained glass. It’s a stunning building, one of the loveliest Art Nouveau buildings in Europe. And the views from the front windows – of the Chain Bridge, Danube and Royal Castle – are among the best you’ll find in Europe too.
You can book your Gresham Palace room here.
Hotel Moskva, Belgrade
Secession gem where the stars stay when in Belgrade
Belgrade’s Hotel Moskva is one of the most beautiful hotels in Europe, built in the 1900s and opened in 1908 by the King of Serbia, Peter I.
It was designed by Belgrade architect Jovan Ilkic, with some input from Russian designers in St Petersburg. The superb tiled façade includes many Zsolnay tiles imported from neighbouring Hungary, where they were a defining part of the country’s unique Art Nouveau.
The Hotel became a major literary hangout after World War I, where a table was permanently reserved for local resident (and Nobel laureate) Ivo Andric.
A great many famous names have stayed at the Moskva, including the likes of Rebecca West (author of the best travel book on the former Yugoslavia, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon), Samuel Beckett, Orson Welles, Louis Armstrong, Albert Einstein and Alfred Hitchcock.
For a brief immersion into life at one of the great crossroads of historic Europe, this is a wonderful place to stay.
You can book rooms or suites at the Hotel Moskva here.
Orea Spa Hotel Bohemia, Mariánské Lázně
Mariánské Lázně – still widely known by its German name, Marienbad – is one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe. The town grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as people came to sample its waters with properties considered beneficial for health, even possibly curative in some circumstances. It was during this heyday period that many of its finest hotels were built, including the grand Hotel Bohemia.
The main Art Nouveau element of the Bohemia is its exterior, a great curvaceous confection, with corner turrets and elaborate balconies. Originally named the Fürstenhof, it was designed by Viennese architect Arnold Heymann, who also designed several other hotels in Mariánské Lázně, including the present Hotel Pacifik (formerly Hotel Ott) further up the street.
There’s less Art Nouveau decoration inside than I had expected, other than some chandeliers and wood panels in the grand, spacious lobby. There’s a touch of slightly faded grandeur about the Bohemia – and I think some more Art Nouveau details might give it quite a lift.
You can book your Hotel Bohemia room here.
See Also: Things To Do In Mariánské Lázně
Grand Hotel Union Eurostars, Ljubljana
The Grand Hotel Union was the first modern hotel to be built in Ljubljana, then a provincial city in the Habsburg Empire, in 1904 and 1905. Designed by Croatian architect Josip Vancaš, the hotel is similar to some Viennese Secessionist (the Austrian name for Art Nouveau) buildings, especially the corner dome and floral decorative flourishes on the external walls.
There is plenty more Art Nouveau inside, including murals (in the Kavarna Union café), stained-glass artwork, and lighting. The Union Hall, which is sometimes used as a concert venue, is also well worth seeing when you visit, and there are some other beautiful Art Nouveau buildings close by – don’t miss the bright red Vurnikova hiša, just across the street from the Grand Hotel Union.
You can book your Grand Hotel Union room here.
Hotel Slavia, Košice, Slovakia
When this beautiful Art Nouveau hotel was built in 1900, Košice was part of the Habsburg empire and Hungarian was the most widely spoken language in a city then most commonly called Kassa (pronounced ‘Koshsho’). It replaced an earlier hotel on the site, and as well as the Art Nouveau makeover a café and restaurant were built on the site.
A century and a quarter later, the Slavia is one of the best hotels (not to mention restaurants) in Slovakia. The boutique Hotel is adorned with beautiful tiled paintings of birds (on the lower level) and a naked man and woman (possibly Adam and Eve) at the top.
After the Second World War, the building housed a fencing school and later a department store. In a familiar timeline, it was restored to its former glory following the fall of Communism. It’s on the main street (Hlavna) in Košice, close to many of the city’s sights including St Elizabeth’s Cathedral and the city’s famous Plague Column.
You can book your room at Hotel Slavia here.
Best Art Nouveau Hotels In Europe – Final Thoughts
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this article, and that you get to stay in one or more of these hotels at some point in the future.
For more Art Nouveau inspiration, check out my guide to the best Art Nouveau cities in Europe, which covers twelve cities around the continent including Riga, Paris, Brussels and Subotica, a hidden gem in the far north of Serbia.
I also suggest taking a look at my articles on Art Nouveau Barcelona and Art Nouveau Leipzig. These cities both went through a prolific phase of Art Nouveau – known as modernisme in Catalunya and Jugendstil in Germany.
This article isn’t just part of a series of Art Nouveau articles – it’s also part of a series of themed articles about Europe designed to inspire you to seek out some new places. Please feel free to browse some of the following:
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