We spent two nights in the centre of Luxembourg, electing to stay at the Hotel Simoncini, a very arty hotel on one of the squares near the Notre Dame Cathedral.
We arrived a little early but were lucky enough that there was a room available. While we checked in, Ange wandered around the stylish foyer, taking in the art. The hotel forms half of the building’s ground floor while the rest is taken up by the Galerie Simoncini, an art gallery sharing the same ownership as the hotel.
The artistic flair was reflected in the hallways between rooms and lifts and we had an intriguing hanging mobile featuring the nespresso single coffee servings. Actually on closer inspection they were little hoods or lampshades, but that didn’t help me reach a higher understanding of what the artist was trying to say with the piece. Looked nice though!
The room itself was an OK size with wooden floors and a comfortable bed. While the bed had one mattress, it had two duvets which I I puzzled over. The layout kept the clutter to a minimum with a small desk doing double duty holding the tv and minibar.
A pair of chocolates were a nice touch but their proximity to the red wine made me momentarily wonder if that was free also, before I realised that it was only out because you don’t refrigerate it, not because its free…
The bathroom was compact and the shower had an advanced shower head, a number of settings allowing you to select the pressure and size of the water streams. The toiletries were Damana.
The room overlooked the stairs up to the Place Guillaume II – Luxembourg and we had a view of an LED sign indicating how many parking spots were remaining in the carpark beneath, but more photogenic was beyond that, the spires of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
We’d asked what time the bells would toll and, although assured that the windows were double glazed, they couldn’t muffle the bongs at 5am!
We headed down and asked for a map of the area. Suprina, the girl behind the desk who had checked us in was very helpful. She asked what kind of things we were interested in and spent a good ten minutes pointing out the best places around town to get good photos and the best museums to see. It was handy getting all the critical points marked on the map as it made navigating around much more efficient.
The next morning for breakfast we headed down to the breakfast room and selected from the impressive Continental offering. Upon seating ourselves the waitress took our coffee order, and then we grazed on the selections available. I particularly liked the selection of cakes (for breakfast!) and took them up on the offer of an omelette.
Would I Go Back?
Sure! The arty decor and central location outweighed any minor inconvenience of the proximity to the bells of Notre Dame. If you want all the benefits of the unbeatable location, you have to accept a little early morning noise. And the staff were all very friendly and amazingly helpful.
