Short break ideas for 2012
Paris, France
To enjoy the work of designer India Mahdavi, you’d normally need to check in somewhere swanky: the Connaught in London, where she designed the Coburg Bar; the Monte Carlo Beach; the Peacock at Rowsley in Derbyshire, for example. Late last year, however, saw the opening of the 15-room Hôtel Thoumieux (+33 1 4705 7900, thoumieux.fr) on the left bank, close to the Eiffel Tower, which is Mahdavi at her most exuberant – a riot of clashing patterns and skewed lampshades. Yet it has rooms from €150, including espresso maker, iPad, Aesop toiletries and a complimentary minibar full of soft drinks. You may find yourself spending rather more on dinner if you choose to dine in, for the chef is Jean-François Piège, latterly of the palatial Hôtel de Crillon, where he had three Michelin stars. He has already won one for his first-floor restaurant here. Eurostar has return fares from London from £69.
Basilicata, Italy
Among the most alluring hotel openings of 2012 promises to be Palazzo Margherita, the latest addition to Francis Ford Coppola’s small portfolio of superb yet unfussy hotels. Back in 2004, the film director bought the 19th-century hilltop palazzo (palazzomargherita.com; rates not yet set) in Bernalda, where his grandfather was born, as a private holiday home. (Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars’s super-glamorous wedding took place there last August.) But on 1 February it will open as a hotel, its nine rooms designed by the doyen of Parisian interiors, Jacques Grange, whose projects have ranged from Yves Saint Laurent’s chateau in Normandy to the revamped Mark hotel in New York. It’s a 15-minute drive from the coast and the closest airport is Bari, 82km away, to which Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Stansted from £56 return.
Vienna, Austria
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Klimt, and the city is celebrating with a succession of exhibitions. From 14 February to 6 May, its Museum of Fine Arts (khm.at) is hosting a major show of his early work. The Leopold Museum (leopoldmuseum.org) will stage Gustav Klimt: Up Close and Personal (24 February to 27 August) featuring not just pictures, but the artist’s travel diaries and letters from his muse, Emilie Flöge. From 14 March to 10 June the Albertina (albertina.at) will mount a show of 170 drawings. And from 16 May-16 September the Wien Museum (wienmuseum.at) puts its entire Klimt archive of 400-plus paintings, drawings and posters on show for the first time. In the meantime the Belvedere (belvedere.at), whose substantial permanent collection of Klimts includes The Kiss, is hosting Gustav Klimt/Josef Hoffmann: Pioneers of Modernism until 4 March. The very central, cosy and old-fashioned Pension Suzanne (+43 1 513 2507, pension-suzanne.at) has doubles from €109, including breakfast. Bmi (flybmi.com) flies to Vienna from Heathrow from £97.
