Favourite Hotels

This page shows some of our most favourite hotels.
It's also a bit of a technical playground for me as I wanted to build a webpage that utilises the cool text scrolling over a photo effect.
The effect probably has a real name, but I don't know what it is.
Note that the nice scrolling effect doesn't work on mobile devices for some reason that I've not been able to get to the bottom of yet.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand - our favourite hotels. First up is...

Firefly, Zermatt, Switzerland

After Brugge, Zermatt is probably our most visited holiday destination and we have stayed in some fabulous hotels there.
But the hotel that stands out the most for us, and the only hotel in Zermatt that we've stayed in more than once, is the Firefly.
With sixteen stunningly presented suites spread across four floors, the Firefly is an exceptional hotel indeed.

Here's Judith relaxing in our suite's library area, with the lounge visible in the distance.
With three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious, well equipped kitchen and a dining area, there's plenty of space in which to relax.

The Firefly is only a small hotel and is fairly hemmed in by the buildings around it (as are most buildings in Zermatt), so I think it would be fair to say that it doesn't have the best views in town (and there are some very, very good views in town).
However, our suite had balconies on three sides of the building, so we still had some great views.
This is the view looking north up the valley.

3100 Kulm Hotel, Gornergrat, Switzerland

A mere 30 minute mountain train ride from Zermatt is the 3100 Kulm Hotel.
The "3100" in the name refers to the height in meters of the hotel above sea level, perched on the top of a mountain. Consequently the views are awesome in every direction.
As there's a train from Zermatt to, literally, the hotel's front door, this place gets really packed out during the day.
However, that's one of the things that makes staying at the 3100 Kulm Hotel extra special.
The last train down the mountain is at around 7pm, so after that time the only people left up here (apart from the hotel's staff) are the ones staying in the hotel's 22 guest rooms.
Which is why you can see (almost) no people at all in this photo (sadly there is no prize for spotting her).

Although the rooms themselves are fairly basic, the views are out of this world.
After a cloudy day/evening, I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to have a look out of the window to see if things had cleared up a bit. And I'm so glad I did.

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Hopefully you've already heard of the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise as it's a world famous hotel, and rightly so.
It sits at the end of Lake Louise, which is frozen and covered with snow in this photo.
As befits its world famous status, it's really busy and really expensive pretty much all of the time.

The hotel is old by Canadian standards, with the first buildings appearing in 1890, a mere eight years after the first railroad surveyers set eyes on Lake Louise.
Consequently the inside of the hotel is beautifully presented in a way that most modern hotels simply can't be bothered with these days.

If you treat yourself to a lake view room, this is the sort of view you can look forward to when you open your curtains in the morning.
Although in the summer there is likely to be considerably less snow.

Wickanninnish Inn, Vancouver Island, Canada

The Wickanninnish Inn is unique in this list in that it's the only hotel that we've only stayed in once.
That's mainly because it's quite expensive (in both time and money) to get to a fairly remote part of Vancouver Island from the UK.
However, once you've made the effort to get there, it's an exceptional place to stay.

The Wickanninnish Inn is nestled amongst the trees at the north end of the expansive Chesterman Beach.
People visit in the spring and the autumn to storm-watch and the hotel provides complimentary wellington boots and waterproof macs.
However, when the weather is more forgiving, a walk down the beach is a most relaxing experience...

...before retiring to hotel's restaurant to admire the views and the excellent food.
Sadly, I have no photographs of the lovely room we had there as I completely fluffed the exposures on the ones I took.

Hotel Sofitel Luxembourg Europe, Luxembourg

We've stayed at the Hotel Sofitel Luxembourg Europe many times when we've been driving home from Switzerland as it's approximately half way back to Calais.
It's in the business district of Luxembourg City, on the Kirchberg Plateau, which means it's a) easy to get to from the motorway, and b) very quiet over the weekends. That's very handy for us as that's generally when we're looking to stay.
However, it's still only a scenic 20 minute walk from the center of Luxembourg City.
(Note that the big tower in the background isn't part of the hotel. That's one of the towers of the European Court of Justice.)

The standard rooms are exceptionally spacious (by European standards) and comfortable.
The beds are perhaps the most comfortable that I've ever slept in.

If you fancy treating youself and splashing out on a suite, this is the sort of thing you can expect.

And that's the end of my whirlwind tour of our favourite hotels.
We hope you enjoyed the photos (and the text scrolling over the photos too :o).