The nap of luxury
DOMINIC BOOTH hits top tourist destination, Hamburg and enjoys a break at the up-market Fontenay hotel
VIBE
White is the word. The Fontenay adheres to the city’s strict rule for primarily ‘weiss’ buildings on the banks of the lake and its own brilliant architecture gives a cruise ship-like facade, with curved edges and glass fronts promising luxury inside – which is exactly what we got.
From the figure-of-eight atrium, with its opulent chandelier and side doors leading to a library, champagne bar and ‘smoking room,’ you’ll feel like you’ve landed in an uber-modern version of a 1930s Hercule Poirot hotel.
The views of Hamburg’s waterways were especially pleasant from the balcony of our room at this modern, fivestar property on the west banks of the outer Alster lake, a 20-minute walk from the city centre up towards the smart suburb of Eppendorf.
Staff are friendly and welcoming, and, like so many German natives, speak brilliant English.
SPA
The sixth-floor rooftop spa has its own viewing platform, which doubles as a ‘relaxation area’ as well as a pampering experience you’ll not forget in a hurry, and the indoor-outdoor infinity pool, a Finnish sauna and a relaxing steam room will have you feeling completely chilled out.
FOOD AND DRINK
The Parkview restaurant provides a relaxed atmosphere for breakfast, which offers traditional German meat and cheese, as well as eggs cooked to order, to cater for British tastes.
The restaurant gave us a ground-level lake vista in the mornings, the perfect place to sip coffee and plan the day’s activities. It was also a lovely setting for a one-night, three-course extravaganza, delivered by expert waiting staff and sommeliers. The food in the restaurant was good, but maybe the more lively atmosphere was back up seven storeys on the top floor in the Lakeside rooftop bar.
Here you can look over and review your day’s spa activity over a gin and tonic and some bar snacks, and look the other way back at Hamburg’s cityscape, perhaps to plan the next day’s itinerary.
The bar also has its own food menu, which doesn’t come cheap, but the views make it worth every penny.
WHILE YOU’RE THERE
Hamburg used to have a reputation as a rough and tumble port, famous for its docks, industry, merchant banks and seedy red light district, but Germany’s second largest city is now an accessible and top-drawer tourist destination in its own right.
Its stately architecture includes the UNESCO world heritage site Speicherstadt – ‘City of Warehouses’ – next to the ultra-modern Hafencity and the unique 2017-designed Elbphilharmonie (a concert hall built atop an old warehouse with a roof shaped like waves).
It is primarily a waterfront city, set around the River Elbe but with many buildings focussed towards the inner and outer Alster Lakes, making for some stunning views in the morning sun and when the lights come on at night.
Hamburg doesn’t sleep much, yet it’s still relaxing and picturesque.
Miniatur Wunderland is the world’s largest model railway and is a perfect family day out – even the adults will be mesmerised by its enchanting world in miniature, while music fans can venture to St Pauli to see Beatlesplatz and explore the bars and clubs that gave The Beatles their first proper taste of the live music industry in the early 1960s.
The area is known for its red light district, set along the Reeperbahn – also known as the Sinful Mile, a magnet for stag and hen dos.
In between the family and the downright filthy, there’s the very pleasant shopping district in the city centre, which includes the gothic Rathaus building and several Baroque churches.
GETTING AROUND
The Fontenay is well-located. Nearby Eppendorf boasts a lovely walk along the lake or through the parks, a smart restaurant, a cafe or two and an uncomplicated U-bahn (or S-bahn – public transport is very efficient and very widely used in Hamburg) to St Pauli, the other side of the lake, or the airport.