Hotel Eden, Rome, Italy
Hotel Overview
Review of Hotel Eden, by Daniel Scott
The Hotel Eden in Rome is a luxury hotel as much like a paradise as its name suggests. Opened in 1889, recent renovations have restored the luxury 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.
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. Once the choice of the Victorian glitterati, the Eden continues to be favoured by celebrities such as Nicole Kidman, and carries a hefty price tag. The service is top notch - you'll feel like a star.
The facilities
The views from the Michelin-starred La Terrazza restaurant - where I found myself taking tea alongside Rupert Murdoch - at the top of the luxury Hotel Eden, rank amongst the best in Rome. The luxury hotel also has a fitness centre and spa offering a range of face and body treatments.
The rooms
The 121 bedrooms in the luxury hotel have high, corniced ceilings and classical furnishings, and suites - which include the Imperial, one of Europe's most expensive - justify the label "sumptuous". All rooms have high speed internet access and on-demand movies with their satellite TV.
Facilities
Hotel Policies
Awards
"World's Best Hotels", Travel and Leisure 06Who stays here?
This luxury hotel has seen a myriad of celebrity guests, including Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Antonio Banderas, Cameron Diaz and Keanu ReevesCome for...
- World-class treatment
- Views from top-floor piano bar and terrace
- Amazing location right by Piazza di Spagna, Spanish Steps and the boutiques of Via Condotti
Not Suitable for...
- Those on a budget
Children
Extra beds and baby cots can be added to rooms and babysitting services are provided upon request. Families should consider booking a suite with connecting double room.Eating in
The Michelin-starred Terrazza dell'Eden is one of the city's finest restaurants.The Press Say
"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 07Reviews
Review of Hotel Eden, by Jamie Dunford Wood
The Hotel Eden is just off the Via Veneto in Rome and is known as the 'the jewel in the Forte crown'. This luxury hotel has long been a favourite of English travellers, and gained the ultimate accolade of some ribbon cutting by Margaret Thatcher on the completion of its renovations in 1995.
The facilities
Staff at this luxury hotel 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. On the top floor, too, there is a wonderful restaurant with a 180 degree panoramic view. If you don't stay here, eat here, but book weeks in advance.
The rooms
Upstairs, the intention has been to create a discreet, private house 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 121 rooms at this luxury hotel are divided 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 luxury 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.