Four Seasons Hotel Prague

Charles Bridge is a hundred metres upstream, close enough that the statues on it are legible from the terrace. On the Old Town bank of the Vltava, Four Seasons Hotel Prague occupies the corner where Veleslavínova Street meets the embankment, and the view from its river rooms, across the water to the Lesser Town roofs and up to Prague Castle, is the one on the postcards.

History

The hotel opened in February 2001, Four Seasons' first in Central Europe, after a long assembly of a site that had been occupied for centuries. Three historic buildings were restored and linked: a Baroque house from the early eighteenth century, a neoclassical house of the mid-nineteenth and a neo-Renaissance house of the 1880s, their facades facing the street and the river. A fourth building was constructed to join them, with a modern facade on the embankment that holds the river-view rooms and the restaurant. The 2002 floods, which reached the ground floors of the Old Town, closed the hotel for several months in its second year; it reopened with the ground floor rebuilt.

Architecture and design

The three historic houses keep their original scale, staircases and room shapes, so corridors turn corners and ceilings change height between wings. The Baroque house has vaulted ceilings and the most ornate rooms; the neo-Renaissance house, the largest, has tall windows and painted beams in some of its rooms; the neoclassical house is plainer. The new wing is the only part visible from the bridge, a stone and glass facade on the water that was designed to sit quietly among its neighbours. Bohemian crystal chandeliers hang through the public rooms, and a renovation in the 2010s lightened the interiors and added the spa.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has around 150 rooms and suites across the four buildings, and no two wings feel alike. The modern wing holds the river rooms, with full-height windows facing Charles Bridge and the castle; rooms in the historic houses look over Old Town rooftops or the quiet courtyard. The top suites in the Baroque and neo-Renaissance houses have terraces or vaulted sitting rooms with castle views. Rooms across all wings share Four Seasons' standard of large marble bathrooms and beds.

Dining

CottoCrudo, opened in 2012, is the hotel's Italian restaurant and bar, with a raw bar, a wood-fired oven and a terrace along the embankment that fills on summer evenings. It is one of the few restaurant terraces in Prague where the table faces the bridge and the castle at once. The bar serves cocktails and a long list of Italian wines, and breakfast is served in the restaurant.

Wellness

AVA Spa, on the lower floors, has treatment rooms, a sauna, a steam room and a relaxation area, with a fitness centre next door. There is no swimming pool. The embankment outside is the flattest running route in the city, along the river to the National Theatre and back.

Weddings and events

The hotel's function rooms are in the historic houses, with period ceilings and views of the river or the courtyard; the largest take dinners and receptions, and the smaller salons are used for meetings. Weddings are held with the ceremony in a salon or on a terrace facing the castle and the reception in the main function room, and the CottoCrudo terrace can be booked privately for drinks beside the water. Capacities depend on the configuration and are confirmed by the hotel.

Location

Veleslavínova 2a is in Staré Město, the Old Town, on the embankment just north of Charles Bridge. Old Town Square is a five-minute walk east, the Rudolfinum concert hall is around the corner, and the Jewish Quarter begins two streets away. Staroměstská station on Metro line A is two minutes on foot. Václav Havel Airport Prague is about 17 km west, around 30 minutes by car. As a luxury hotel in Prague it has the closest river frontage to the bridge of any hotel in the city.