Tim and I are usually pretty frugal travelers. But on our honeymoon, we were willing to grow the budget a bit. Great locations and awesome style made our choices of two Buenos Aires hotels an easy decision. In our first post today, I’ll focus on the Vain Hotel, a boutique hotel in Palermo.
I was smitten with the Vain Hotel (pronounced “bahn”, not “vain”) from the minute we stepped though the doors. It’s high ceilings, warm wood floors, white walls and clean lines make it clear the owners are design conscious. The modern, minimal decor is accentuated with pops of color and bit of classical style and furniture mixed in occasionally.
Our room on the top floor was small but comfortable. We had a small private balcony, which we hardly used because of the cool weather. But opening the curtains flooded the space with light and made the room feel bigger.
We definitely hit up the mini-bar for the small bottles of champagne when we arrived. The hotel also left a bottle of local red wine. Every morning there were fresh flowers in our room and a staff member stopped by every evening with mints and a printed weather card with the next day’s forecast.
The coolest feature of the room was the bathtub, which is actually out on the balcony, but fully enclosed in glass. While soaking in the tub you could look up at the trees and sky above. Loved it.
Also on the top floor is a cool communal lounge. Decked out with a computer (free internet), TV, interior design books, magazines, and a few travel guides, it was a great place to relax. You could used the phone in there to call down to the bar and have drinks or snacks brought up.
The small, but cozy spaces made us feel at home. In fact, I may have actually said to Tim while sitting in the lounge one afternoon, “Let’s imagine this is our house…”
Also off the lounge is a rooftop deck. Again, too cold while we were there, but it must be awesome in the summer.
The small bar is just off the main entrance and reception area. We were given tickets for free drinks at checkin and ate our included breakfast here every morning. The food was quite good, with choices like omelets, yogurt and fruit, or fresh muffins and croissants.
As a designer, I was really into the branding of the hotel. Their logo made it’s way onto everything, but without overdoing it. The Vain mark was embroidered on our sheets, on the soaps and shampoos, even the room numbers.
Tim found the hotel online and was impressed by all the positive reviews. We too found the friendly, English-speaking staff to be extremely helpful with restaurant recommendations and setting up airport transportation. The Palermo Viejo location was convenient for all we wanted to do.
Up next: Art Hotel
