The Ring

There’s a new breed of hotel in Europe that achieves a high degree of refinement without going over the top with high design – or becoming a stuffy old grande dame. The Ring, a hotel centrally located by the Vienna State Opera, is one such auberge that adheres to the concept of “casual luxury”. Step through the front doors, past the old-world facade in neo-Renaissance style, and enter what appears to be an art gallery. Paintings, antiques and objets delight the eye, and lead you along to a seating arrangement of teal sofas and a glassed-in fireplace. A renovated cast iron lift awaits to take you to rooms decorated with designer lamps and fabrics in a soothing pea-green and cappuccino colour scheme that is chic without reminding you of a cold showroom at the Milan Furniture Show. Sink into a lounge chair, pick up the phone and order up a facial at an on-site treatment room.

The best quarters are in the sprawling X-Ordinary category, topped only by the Cosmopolitan suites and the high-luxe Ring suite, a gem with oodles of space, a canopy bed, large rain shower and separate entrances for service staff. Head off to the fitness studio for an eyeful of Vienna’s rooftops, and take a sauna to enjoy the heat and the view of the famous Karlskirche from an oval window. Sample aromatic creative cuisine at the lobby-level at eight restaurant accompanied by wines from its 770-bottle cellar, or head out for a taste of imperial Vienna at one of the city’s great dining addresses. It’s all nearby. Have a nightcap at the hotel bar Drings, a visual treat with its changing art exhibitions and unusual plasma screen installations.