Anthea Gerrie Stays At Warsaw’s Iconic Five-Star Hotel Bristol, Which Has Wowed World Celebrities From Michael Jackson To The Queen
Improving on the work of one of the greatest art nouveau designers of the 20th century is a tough call, but Warsaw’s Hotel Bristol somehow managed it when the Iron Curtain fell. A super-elegant post-Communist refurbishment including the creation of one of the world’s most glamorous, gilded reception areas is only what you would expect for the finest hotel in a vibrant city rightly dubbed the Paris of the East before World War II.
Now the five-star establishment completed in 1901 and distinguished with incredible decorative interior detail by Vienna’s Otto Wagner is planning a new restaurant and other upgrades to celebrate its 125th anniversary. But guests can dine elegantly now in the iconic Column Bar, experience old-world coffee house ambience in the hotel’s famous Cafe Bristol and drink until the wee hours in a 21st century gin bar, all part of an establishment which never stops heaping improvements upon itself.
No wonder there’s a Wall of Fame listing the incredible number of heads of state, royalty and celebrities who have stayed in this establishment so loved by Michael Jackson he apparently wanted to buy it. The hotel survived him, just as it survived the Nazis who razed virtually every other building on the Royal Route which connects the picturesque Old Town with the happening new districts which make Warsaw once again a world-class capital.
Location is everything in a sprawling city, and the Hotel Bristol sits on a direct bus route from the airport as well as being just a 10-minute wander from the beautiful Old Town Square with its pastel-coloured townhouses and Warsaw’s own little mermaid at its centre.
Rooms, to which guests ascend in elegant brass and glass cage elevators, are among the few in Europe which still exude the kind of pre-war glamour associated with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Think upholstered consoles at the foot of huge beds with luxuriant padded headboards, large bathrooms with make-up lighting suitable for a movie star and private vestibules equipped with antique furniture on which to lay room keys and handbags. Naturally, the modern world has been allowed to creep in with giant flat-screen TVs, in-room espresso machines and the full gamut of technical amenities.
But the history! It’s not surprising that in the city of Chopin some of the first guests after the hotel opened its doors in 1901 included Grieg, Strauss and Caruso. Untouched by either the Nazis or the Communists, the hotel provided a rare touch of glamour in Iron Curtain days, when a new generation of guests included Marlene Dietrich and Richard Nixon.
Mismanagement closed its doors for more than a decade in the dying days of the Soviet Union, until Forte came to the rescue; the hotel was reopened by Margaret Thatcher in 1992 and enjoyed visits from Elizabeth II, the Dalai Lama and George Bush in the vanguard of a whole slew of celebs and creatives from Woody Allen to Picasso and Martin Scorsese.
On my first visit a few years ago I enjoyed dining in the Marconi restaurant with its terrace tables overlooking the lush indoor gardens. This elegant eatery is now the breakfast room, where excellent cooked dishes and cold buffet options offer a delicious start to the day, while dinner is currently being served in the Column Bar made so enticing by Wagner,
whose finest decorative work is in the opulent high-ceilinged lounge separating the lobby from the hotel rooms and restaurants. A new dining option is promised in time for the 125th anniversary, but the Column Bar will surely live on as one of the world’s most elegant watering holes – cocktails are still served here as well as in the newish Lane’s gin bar.
The hotel has a fine spa, gym and indoor swimming pool, but its most unique offering must be its genealogy packages for increasing numbers of tourists coming to Poland in search of their roots. Anna Wiernicka, who has a Masters in history as well as membership of both Polish and American genealogist associations, offers both an introduction to guests’ family history and a more extensive research package, priced at around £470 and £1260 respectively.
But you don’t need Polish antecedents to stay at the Bristol and enjoy Warsaw’s finest hospitality, still dispensed as lavishly as when the hotel opened in the city’s fin de siecle glory days.
Tell Me More About The Hotel Bristol in Warsaw
The Hotel Bristol, Krakowskie Przedmieście 42/44
00-325 Warsaw, Poland
T +48 22 55 11 857
Rooms from about £195
