Luxury Travel Advisor - November 2007 - (Page 56) big enough for six. Butler service, though not a standard amenity, can be arranged on request. Tip: Room 432, a Junior Suite, has the hotel’s only balcony. All guest rooms can be booked over the GDS, but for VIPs, contact Director of Operations Rodolf Weytingh (h2783-om@accor.com) or Guest Relations Officer Nienke Oosting (h2783-gr@accor.com). The property’s general manager is Richard Launay (h2783-gm@ accor.com). At the hotel’s spa, there’s just one treatment room, and the most requested service is the Full Body Massage. Using Roger & Gallet products, treatments can be provided en suite, too. The spa is also home to a swimming pool, Turkish bath and well-equipped gym. Spa insiders highly recommended booking services in advance. For VIPs, contact Nienke Oosting. Cafe Roux comes courtesy of famous French chef Albert ST. BASIL’S CATHEDRAL is among the many historical landmarks that draw throngs of visitors to Moscow every year. Roux (he created Le Gavroche in London). Signature dishes include Scottish beef with green asparagus and morels. We hear it’s best to make reservations at least one week out, particularly for weekend dining. Chief Concierge Paul Westerink (h2783-cr@accor.com) can arrange for private viewings and tours on short notice. A favorite among guests is the Grand North Holland tour, which whisks clients off to visit an original windmill, a local wooden-shoe factory and a cheese farm. Other specialty tours include the Grand South Holland tour to Delft, a town made famous by its pottery; the miniature town of Madurodam; and a trip to the beach resort village of Scheveningen. Luxury travel advisors can also arrange for clients to be fetched from the airport in a Mercedes S Class limousine, in which they’ll be driven to a private boat that weaves through the city’s canals to the hotel. ACCESS: SUGGESTED DINING IN MOSCOW At Carré Blanc on Semyonovskaya, French fare collides perfectly with Russian classics in an 18th-century mansion. Oysters are flown in twice weekly from France, and some 700 bottles are on the wine list. As the restaurant is a popular choice for Moscow diners and weekend brunchers, reserve ahead. 7-495-258-4403 1 Red Square, perched on the top of the National History Museum, serves up the likes of little homemade venison sausages and sturgeon packed into light-as-air pastries with dazzling views of St. Basil’s. Be sure to book ahead. 7-495-692-1196 Genatsvale V.I.P. boasts top-notch Georgian cuisine in a country house on Ulitsa Ostozhenka. 7-495-203-1242 Cafe Pushkin, on Tverskoy Bulvar, is considered the best restaurant of all and offers three levels of dining: a lovely 24/7 café, a see-and-beseen dining room and a rooftop summer café. 7-495-229-5590 SUGGESTED SHOPPING IN MOSCOW Worthwhile shopping venues include the daily Vernisazh Market in Izmailovsky Park, which, despite its kitschy collection of items like nesting wood babushka dolls, is a great place for finding vintage linens, antiques and fur hats. Send Hermès-, Versace- and 56 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | November 2007 Valentino-wearing fashionistas over to streets like Stoleshnikov Lane, Tretyakovsky Proyezd and Kuznetsky Most. SUGGESTED DINING IN AMSTERDAM We like the Blue Pepper on Nassaukade for its not-to-be-missed Indonesian rijsttafel. 31-20-489-7039 Kudos for Naked Chef Jamie Oliver’s London outpost Restaurant Fifteen. On Jollemanhof, it’s not far from the cruise terminal. There are several dining options here, but we like the Trattoria. Book ahead. 31-107-111-567 At !Zest, on Prinsenstraat, order any of the Thai curry dishes. Be sure to book ahead, as this is considered one of Amsterdam’s top 10 restaurants. 31-20-428-2455 SUGGESTED SHOPPING IN AMSTERDAM Side by side with dozens of other antiques shops not far from the Rijksmuseum, Eduard Kramer (www.antique-tileshop.nl), on Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, showcases 17th-century Delft tiles, while Analik (analik. com), on Hartenstrat in the Nine Streets area, still reigns supreme for trendy togs from the famous designer. For pricier duds, shoppers should head for PC Hooftstraat to browse the shelves at stores with names like Gucci, Vuitton, Wolford and Chanel. http://www.antique-tileshop.nl
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.