Romantic Hotels

Before becoming a sentimental term referring to love between two people, romanticism was a cultural movement born in Germany in the late18^th century, characterized by a desire to express one’s feeling through all the possibilities of art. No artistic discipline escaped these new aesthetic and moral values. Painting, sculpture, music, poetry and architecture throughout the 19^th century responded to this willingness to place sentiment over reason. During this same period, the luxury hotel industry was born, and today, former royal residences now transformed into mythical palace hotels, highlight and proudly proclaim their romanticism. Whether it’s a hotel on the French Riviera which was home to a famous romantic couple or a house belonging to a family of penniless aristocrats in the Tuscany countryside, or a renovated Andalusian convent, there’s an abundance of ideal vacation sites for couples. The ingredients are always the same: a history, a panorama and an atmosphere, although the recipes and the side dishes may vary. Gastronomy, a spa, cultural escapades and little personalized niceties enable one hotel to distinguish itself from the others. In this way, from the shores of Lake Como to the Barrio Alto in Lisbon, from the banks of the Danube in Budapest to the canals of Bruges, it’s possible for a couple to ensconce themselves in a romantic hotel and become the privileged witnesses of eternal love.