Detailed Review
The Hotel Eden is one of the oldest and most exclusive hotels in Rome. Set in the middle of the city, just a few steps away from Via Veneto and La Dolce Vita, the Hotel is surrounded by the green parks of Via Ludovisi, the Borghese and Malta villas, and just a short walk to the Spanish Steps and Via Condotti for haute couture shopping. The elegant yet comfortable atmosphere of the Eden is reflected in its foyer – a cozy living room in a private home, inviting guests to relax by the fireplace. The Hotel offers 121 luxury rooms each with color satellite TV, video recorder, compact disc player, private safe, minibar and fixture for connecting fax and computer lines, plus a fitness center and the well-know roof-garden restaurant, La Terrazza dell’Eden.
Press Quotes
"Perched off Via Veneto, the Eden commands sweeping views, not only of distant domes but also down the hidden lanes and gardens of next door Villa Medici." Guardian 07
Independent Reviews
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Hotel Eden
By Daniel ScottThe views from the Michelin-starred La Terrazza restaurant – where I found myself taking tea alongside Rupert Murdoch - at the top of the Hotel Eden, rank amongst the best in Rome. The Spanish Steps and the surrounding parks of the Ludovisi, Borghese and Malta villas are all part of the vista here, as is St Peters Cathedral in the distance. Opened in 1889, recent renovations have restored the hotel’s original elegance without making it seem too ostentatious. Clusters of comfortable couches and narrow corridors lead off from a white marble lobby to give the feel of an English drawing room. Bedrooms have high, corniced ceilings and classical furnishings, and suites – which include the Imperial, one of Europe’s most expensive – justify the label “sumptuous”. Once the choice of the Victorian glitterati, the Eden continues to be favoured by celebrities such as the Spice Girls and Nicole Kidman, and carries a hefty price tag. Yet the service and atmosphere here is refreshingly unstuffy.
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"An empire-style grande dame with sharp service and fabulous views from the Michelin-starred rooftop restaurant."
The Eden is a world-class hotel and smaller than Rome's other five stars. Decor is classic with a clubby English twist and rates are high, but a loyal following keep on coming for the great service. Views from the rooftop restaurant and bar are as impressive as the dining. The adjacent terrace is open air most of the year.
Hotel Eden
By Jamie Dunford Wood
This fearsomely expensive hotel just off the Via Veneto, ’the jewel in the Forte crown’, has long been a favourite of English travelers, and gained the ultimate accolade of some ribbon cutting by Margaret Thatcher on the completion of its renovations in 1995. Staff are friendly rather than snooty, and the elegant white marble lobby with its comfortably furnished English drawing room, complete with roaring fire in winter, is cool and comfortable. The hotel is not a big one - just 121 rooms - and upstairs the intention has been to create a discreet, private, house guest feel. The narrow corridors are plain cream with a thick blue carpet, not inviting any corridor banter with fellow guests, just a mumbled excuse me as you squeeze past. The rooms divide into two categories, superior and deluxe, and because they come in a variety of sizes you cannot be guaranteed space unless you opt for a deluxe - at these prices not a lot dearer than a superior. You’re also likely to get a decent view, which is one of this hotel’s selling points, because it has wonderful Roman views across the Villa Borghese gardens to St Peters beyond from one side - 4th and 5th floors are best for this, and 5th floor rooms have little balconies. The rooms themselves, though sometimes small, are well proportioned, with high corniced ceilings. They are decorated in the main in early French empire style, with wicker backed bedheads, discreetly patterned wallpapers, and the odd hand-painted antique furniture piece - the rest are good repro. Like a comfortably English country house the paintings and antique prints are well chosen and hung in groups, and rooms sport a variety of elegant table lamps. Where walls are painted, the colours chosen are dusty - duck egg blue, sage etc. Most rooms have little entrance lobbies, and small simple chandeliers. Windows are tall and shuttered, and curtains, in fine, subdued fabrics, are swagged. On the 6th floor they have three interconnecting modern rooms with wall to wall glass and amongst the best panoramas in Rome - you can lie in the bath like Nero and visualize Rome burning. Elsewhere the bathrooms, though not necessarily enormous, are perfectly adequate, but lacking twin sinks or separate showers which you might expect at these prices. On the top floor, too, there is a wonderful restaurant with the same 180 degree panorama. If you don’t stay here, eat here, but book weeks in advance.
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