Detailed Review
Built in 1932 and totally renovated, the Alvear Palace Hotel is one of the most elegant hotels in Buenos Aires. Decorated in Louis XVI and Empire styles, each guest accommodation features personal butler service, fresh fruit basket and flowers, Hermes de Paris toiletries and smart touch-screen telephones.
Independent Reviews
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The Alvear Palace
By Caroline MajorAgainst the cobalt sky of Buenos Aires, the Alvear Palace’s grand form is breathtaking in the afternoon sunlight. In the lobby, crew-cut boys, dressed in black and trimmed with red, sneak looks at pretty women. The décor is luxurious, with thick blue and gold carpets, winged-back chairs and silver service set against sparkling glass and shining marble.
The butler arrives just as the porter leaves. He is laden with fresh pink roses, a bowl of summer fruits and a cold drink, and his easy manner and agile exit, thwarting any uncomfortable tip moments, is pleasantly surprising.
When the last women finish high tea, the bar fills with well-heeled Argentines, passionate for cocktails. There is nightly live jazz on the outdoor terraces, and the rooftop ballrooms and garden restaurant are stylish places to watch the sun sink over Recolector.
The Alvear maintains its romanticism and charm by discreetly hiding its modern technology. Touch screen telephones work the TV, stereo and air-conditioning, as well as connecting your PC to the internet on a second line. Thoughtfully, each room has a cellular phone to use in Buenos Aires, billing calls to your room.
The function rooms and business facilities are the most prestigious in South America. Cast an eye behind the drapes or above the cornicing and you’ll find subtle speaker systems and hidden projection screens.
With 70 years of tradition, the locally-owned Palace continues to indulge an appetite for fine French furniture and Italian textiles. Alvear is a reinvented but traditional Grand Dame – functional yet luxurious.© Travel Intelligence. All rights reserved
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"Buenos Aires' premier luxury hotel, which is housed in a handsome Beaux Arts building, attracts an affluent, stylish crowd."
Luxury hotel in smart residential neighbourhood boasts fine French dining, elegant public spaces and Louis XVI-style guest rooms. Plus all facilities that may be required of visiting heads of state.
Alvear Palace Hotel
By Matthew Barker
Francophile Grand Dame dating back to 1932, unabashed in its Louis XI pomp: drapes, chandeliers, deep, deep baths, big, big beds, hushed service. A recent refurb has added all modish cons. Member of The Leading Hotels of the World. 80 rooms (120 suites).
Hotel Attractions: L’Orangerie and La Bourgogne restaurants both offer polished Gallic classics; the Lobby Bar a long-favoured retreat for well-heeled portenos to enjoy a Champagne cocktail and cigar - if F Scott Fitzgerald ever journeyed south he would have loved it here. Most suites have jacuzzis, all have a personal butler service. Hermes in the bathroom. Fitness centre includes pool, sauna, gym and assorted high-tech gizmos for aerobic sessions.
Local Attractions: La Recoleta, the posh part: a Parisian-tinged barrio and home to the cemetery where Evita is buried; the well-stocked Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Monet, Gaugin, Renoir, van Gough) and the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Pilar. Beefeaters should head for the nearest parrilla (and there are plenty of those around); cakes at Queen Bess; decent local cuisine at Munich and Dora, coffee everywhere.
© Travel Intelligence. All rights reserved
Client Reviews
The Alvear Palace mixes Old World elegance with
Posted by Marc Zakian on 2004-07-06.
Condé Nast Traveller 2008 & 2007 Gold List
