Index / Card 01
Hotels where architecture, collections or craft are the reason to book.
Two crisp buildings face each other across a courtyard in Josefov, a short walk from Old Town Square. The architect was Eva Jiřičná. Her signature is glass and steel used with restraint, and the hotel shows it from the lobby onward.
Rooms are pale and uncluttered. Some look onto the courtyard, others over the rooftops of the old Jewish quarter. It works as a calm base in a busy district, and as a lesson in how little a room needs.
The address is Praça Luís de Camões, on the line where Chiado meets Bairro Alto. The building is eighteenth century. A renovation led by Pritzker laureate Eduardo Souto de Moura reshaped it, keeping the old façade while opening up the inside.
Interiors lean on Portuguese makers: ceramics, wood, woven textiles. Up top, a terrace looks across the roofs toward the Tagus. Below, the square fills and empties all day, and the hotel feels like part of it.
Small is the point here. A restored 1920s house on Montefiore Street holds just twelve rooms, close to Rothschild Boulevard and the White City.
Walls carry work by contemporary Israeli artists, and shelves of books in several languages line the rooms. Downstairs, the restaurant is a destination in its own right. Expect the feel of a private home with professional service behind it.