The Riverside Hotel by Angela Moore

As with many of the better hotels in Prague, the Riverside was formerly an apartment building. It has a handsome Art Nouveau façade and suites of spacious rooms, with smart belle époque interiors.

The hotel is set on the banks of the Vltava – or, more precisely, on a busy junction just back from the banks of the Vltava. This means that while you get lovely river views from rooms, your taxi has to jink across two lanes of traffic to drop you off, which rather puts paid to grand, sweeping entrances. However, any credit lost will be restored by the uniformed doorman who escorts you to the door.

From the doorman on, service levels are high. The small reception desk doubles as an extremely efficient concierge service, who make faultless recommendations for dinner. A hot-and-cold running maid service ensures that rooms are kept in tip-top condition. Everyone is friendly and solicitous. Breakfast is served in a small subterranean room, which has the brilliant addition of a big screen showing the hotel’s webcam, which sweeps up and down the river.

The location is not central. The hotel is set in the very south of Mala Strana, perhaps a 20-minute walk to the Charles Bridge and 30-40 from the Old Town Square. The busy road surrounding you means that it’s not a particularly tranquil either, though you are removed from the surging crowds around the Old Town Square, and super double glazing means you don’t hear traffic.

The hotel also suffers slightly from a lack of public space. The Hemingway Bar is pleasant, but does not provide a lot of space for a 46-room hotel. If this is full there is nowhere for you to go except your room.

The rooms
Rooms benefit both from their architecture and from Pascale de Montremy’s interiors, which are luxurious and tasteful, if a bit conventional in their execution. There are some charming touches, like the lampshades strung with delicate chains of glass beads, in homage to Prague’s glass-making industry.

All rooms have beautiful hardwood floors and plenty of natural light. In a dramatic departure from Prague hotel form, the individual air-con is both easy to use and actually effective. Wifi is free to use and tv runs to a few free news channels and a selection of movies (blue and otherwise) which you need to buy. Bathrooms are beautifully tiled, with fatly fluffy full-length robes – these, and the linens, are excellent. Beds are very comfortable, piled high with pillows.

In terms of room types, Superiors and River View Deluxe rooms differ only in terms of their views. The views are lovely, and certainly worth the extra money, especially if you get a high-level room on the north side of the hotel, which means you can see all the way to Prague Castle. Suites and Junior Suites have a larger separate seating area, good for small families (ask for a room with a private balcony.) Doubles, though, do not offer much space.

The verdict
The Riverside is exactly the sort of place that the people at Small Luxury Hotels of the World like best - small, smart, cosseting and refined (perhaps rather too refined for some?)