The newest building in this issue by more than a century, standing on the shore of the Alster inside the city. It is also the house that publishes least about itself, and we have written it accordingly.
Four words, and they are the right four
The Fontenay's own page offers radiant white and surrounded by ancient trees. That is the description, and having stood in front of it, it is hard to improve. The building is emphatically of our own time and it is white in a city that is mostly red brick, set among mature trees on the shore of the Alster, which is a lake in the middle of Hamburg rather than a river running past it. It is inside the city and facing water at the same time, which is a combination most cities cannot offer at any price.
The case for a new building
Almost everything else in this letter is old. A ryokan from 1861, a chair from 1859, a courthouse turned hotel, a coupé from 1971. The Fontenay is the argument on the other side: that something put up in our own time can be worth crossing a country for, and does not need a date on it to earn the trip. On the Alster, in a city with real museums and real shopping within a walk, that argument does not need much help.
What we are not telling you, and why
This is a short review on purpose. The hotel publishes no architect, no opening year and no room count on any page we could open, and three deeper paths on its own site return errors. So this piece carries none of the three. You will find all of them in secondary coverage and we are aware of what they say. A house that does not print a fact on its own site has not made that claim, and we do not launder other people's reporting into ours. If you want those numbers, the front desk will give them to you in a sentence.
The practical half, and the one thing to ask for
It runs a live booking calendar and publishes no closure, refurbishment or seasonal notice of any kind. We did not telephone to confirm August trading, and we would rather say that than imply we did. A large house with a working booking engine is a different risk class from a small one, but an absent notice is not a confirmation. When you book, ask for the lake side. The building's whole proposition is the water and the trees, and a room facing the other way is a different hotel at the same price.
At a glance
The TGC view
It is the modern answer in a letter that mostly argues for old things, and it holds its own on position alone. We book it for a party that wants Hamburg itself, water out of the window and a building with no draughts in it. We confirm trading before anyone commits to a date, and we ask for the lake side every time.
Want us to arrange it?
We hold the relationships, the rooms and the access. Tell us the dates and we handle the rest.
Visit website ↗Behind a gate on Kantstrasse that most people walk past, two buildings that used to try women and then hold them. Grüntuch Ernst finished the conversion in 2022. The rooms were cells, and the house neither hides that nor sells it.
Read the review →A walled garden at the foot of Hidari Daimonji, half an hour north of Kyoto Station, with twenty six rooms in it and sixteen UNESCO sites within reach. The point of the house is that it is not among them.
Read the review →A family that arrived in Kyoto from Fukui in the transport and seafood trade, and only became innkeepers a generation later. Kawabata wrote here. The building is a registered cultural property. There is no view and nothing to prove.
Read the review →