Refuse to bid farewell to the 70s? Rent a VW CombiVan in Europe

By Dian Hasan | September 29, 2009

Cars have always played a major role in our lives, as well as in pop culture. Marking certain milestones and historic eras. And we’ll all admit to relating personally to our vehicles.

One such vehicle that is synonymous with the care-free hippie movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, is the VW Combi Van. A vehicle forever linked and etched into San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury neighborhood, Jimmy Hendrix, and Woodstock on the East Coast. Replete with the Peace Sign and… a flower in your hair!

And while the US population of the VW Combi Vas has dwindled, Europe still has a few. And retrofitted as an RV (Recreational Vehicle) for the modern age too. So anytime you itch for some nostalgia, you can rent one of these RVs that are about the size of an American RV’s cooler box… and hit the road. After all, everything in Europe is smaller and more quaint, making for a truly unique travel experience.

Hobo Chic ~ Stay in a Concrete Hotel on the Danube in Austria

It seems that creating accommodation for paying-guests is just limited by the imagination. As long as there’s a market, people will do anything for fun. A look at Das Park Hotel in Ottensheim, in the municipal camp site of Linz, Austria, which has rooms (well it’s more like circular cubicles, with barely enough space for a bed). I don’t dare to imagine there are en-suite bathrooms. Let’s just say that these concrete tubes could fall under the category of glamping (glamorous camping).

Step into a fairytale ~ Rogner Bad Blumau Hotel, Styria, Austria

By Dian Hasan | August 18, 2009

When a hotel is designed by the same creative force that gave Vienna the whimsical Hundertwasserhaus building, you know that it won’t be plain vanilla. Rogner Bad Blumau is the brainchild of eccentric architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. A design best described as Gaudi-esque, featuring a melange green roofs, round shapes and colorful facades make up a wonderful work of art in the middle of nature.

Live like a bat ~ Gamirasu Cave Hotel, Cappadocia, Turkey

In the blogosphere, the image of Gamirasu Cave Hotel has been well documented for its uniqueness. But what’s it is really like? And how does it feel to live like a caveman, albeit only for a brief stay? Located in Cappadocia area of Turkey, that’s renowned for its martian-like setting of cave dwellings, Gamirasu Cave Hotel started life in 1999 and sits in a beautifully restored Byzantine monastic retreat in Ayvali Village – an area that supposedly has been inhabitated for over 5,000 years!

Sleek & Chic ~ The Gray Hotel, Milan, Italy

By Dian Hasan | August 12, 2009

It’s quite surprising that until recently Milan was void of designer hotels that befit its status as fashion capital, a title it shared with fellow cities of Paris, New York and London, each with a myriad of designer stay offerings. Accommodations were limited to a choice of either over-the-top opulence resembling Palazzos, or the dull blandness of international chains. The Gray is representative of a new breed of hotels, one that leans toward modern, daringly designed hotels.

Sleek & Chic ~ Hillside Su Hotel, Anatalya, Turkey

By Dian Hasan | August 12, 2009

Hillside Su is a welcome departure to the often “been-there-done-that” type of hotel look, taking a decidedly avant-garde approach to design. Perfectly describing not just the hotel, but the city of Antalya as well — this south coast resort town clings to the cliffs above the Mediterranean, and it seems everyone’s got an elevated sea view. Most rooms have balconies facing the water, complete with day beds (turning them into night beds is – of course – your prerogative).

Sleek & Chic ~ Sumahan on the Water, Istanbul, Turkey

By Dian Hasan | July 26, 2009

The stunning Sumahan on the Water is located in Çengelköy, a district of the Asian coast of Istanbul in which there is a real air of the Bosporus. The architects Nedret and Mark Butler transformed a unique family heirloom – a former complex of elegant homes in which one of the typically Ottoman spirits was distilled – into an intimate, chic and comfortable hotel facing the sea.

Eco Chic ~ La Palafette, Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Perfect for those with no taste for the tropics, or anyone who appreciates an inventive and inspiring hotel, Hôtel Palafitte is a South Pacific-style overwater bungalow hotel, located not in the Maldives but on the waters of Switzerland’s Lake Neuchâtel, at the foot of the Jura mountains, with a stunning view of the Alps across the lake. Completed just in time for the Swiss Expo.02, this is an utterly futuristic execution of a timeless concept. After all, farmers lived in houses on stilts above the waters of this very lake some five thousand years ago — but never quite like this.

Eco Chic ~ Aire de Bardenas, Spain

By Dian Hasan | July 25, 2009

It must be something in the Spanish water! As there’s a mushrooming of design hotels across Spain, with such progressive design language, it defies explanation or categorization. Something of a mystery really, and we don’t have the space to investigate the reasons (and don’t even get us started on the food), so we’ll have to be content merely to report on another worthy development: the Aire de Bardenas, set at the edge of a desert in the northern province of Navarre.

Sleek & Chic ~ First Hotel Grims Grenka, Oslo, Norway

By Dian Hasan | July 25, 2009

It’s a puzzling irony: the sort of modern, minimalist design that’s so often described as Scandinavian is actually quite rare in real live Scandinavian hotels. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part they’re a conservative lot. That’s about to change, though, if the opening of the First Hotel Grims Grenka, in Oslo, is any indication.