Steigenberger Park hotel 5*, Dusseldorf, Germany

March 2009, 3 days.

THIS was a TRUE 5*!

I got the true 5* feeling at once entering the hotel. In fact, I got the feeling before I went in! :)

The check-in was efficient and the receptionist small-talked and was very friendly. Why don't the other hotels understand the importance of the small-talk?

The room was nice, with fruit and bottled water.



The bathroom was... oooooh, very nice.... And the toiletries? Mmmmm... Although they were their own brand it felt very luxurious. You got everything from toothbrush to soap to bath-salt to "high-shine" nail-files. And everything packed in luxurious packages. Heaven for a "toiletries-freak"!





The breakfast was not the best I have had, but it was nice and quite and you could get sparkling wine.

Everybody at the hotel always smiled and were very friendly. THIS is how a tr






The location of this hotel is one of the best. It's close to the fine shopping and it's close to the metro. I never tried the sauna/wet-room, but it looked very nice. I wished they had a spa at this hotel!

Radisson SAS Hamburg, Germany 4*

1 week
August 2008

The hotel was easy to find, traveling with car. The best way to find it was to follow the direction to the "messe-center".

The hotel itself is like other Radisson SAS hotels. You know what you get. However the breakfast is one of the best I have had. There were something for everybody.

There were a swimming-pool at the second floor (or third?). The weather wasn't nice, so we didn't sit outside, but there were some sun-beds outside. If the weather had been better I am sure I would have liked sitting there. :) The swimming-pool was quite big, for being at a hotel and there were sun-beds alongside the pool.

Don't go to the wax-museum! It was a really disappointing site. We were finished after 5 min...

If you like walking in a nice park, I can recommend the park close to Radisson SAS. I don't remember the name, something with "bloomen". The park is big, have lots of chairs and things to do for children. The flower-arrangements are beautiful! In the evenings there are light-shows with some (crappy :-D) classical music. It lasted for 30 min. and, in my opinion, that was too long. 5 min. would be enough! :)







Hamburg is a place for shoppaholics. However I never came in "shopping-modus". I didn't buy anything there! A pity...:)

Hotel Palacio Estoril, Estoril 5*

3 days
April 2008

This hotel gave me the feeling of a TRUE 5*.

The hotel had sent me driving directions and we had no problem with finding the hotel. Outside the hotel they had a private parking place for free! Fantastic!

The hotel was impressive, so was the service and room. The toiletries were Molton Brown. Small chocolates with a note with the weather-forecast at the pillow at the turn-down service was also very nice.













The breakfast was FANTASTIC. Full English, sweets, cakes, champagne, juices etc... I could have sit there forever!

We never tried the swimming-pool as the weather wasn't that nice. BUT it looked very nice, so did the garden.

So far this is one of the best hotels I have been to and I will go back. I can highly recommend it.

Spring in Dusseldorf

Before the beauty-show I went to the city-center. In a city-guide for Dusseldorf it was said that the shops opened at 09.00. That is not true, most of them opens at 10.00. It was sunny, but freezing cold.




Because I was freezing and needed something to do from 09.30-10.00 I ended up at a Heinemann. On ground floor there is a very nice chocolate-shop and upstairs there is a cafe. I bought myself a cappuchino with cream and chocolate on top. Nice!








I also ended up bying myself some chocolate.... As I collect boxes, I needed those two....:-)

I haven't heard about Heinemann, but I think it's a well known place. When I walked upstairs, to the cafe, I could see pictures of lots of famous people who had been to the cafe, among them, the Pope.

I went to Ferragamo, but I didn't find anything this time! (Good for my bank-account....:-))

The food at Radisson SAS Dusseldorf

The breakfast was... once again... cold... At least the cold food WAS cold and didn't look like it had been there for hours, but the hot food was not hot enough.

There were scrambled egg, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes etc.... A selection of cold meat, juices, some cereals and a wide selection of bread. You could also make your own waffles.

I had room service today too. I ordered steak. It was very nice, and again, plenty of food.

Radisson SAS Dusseldorf

The hotel is like all other Radisson SAS - business-like. You know what you get, a decent business-hotel. There are some very good things with Radissons: Free wireless internet and coffe/tea making facilities in room. At all the Radissons I have stayed at, there has also been enough space for a small sitting area with a chair and a table.

The check-in was efficient.

My room is nice, clean and the toiletries are the same as I have had before, but nice.

A bottle of water, complimentary, a nice gesture!

Tonight I had room-service, bacon cheese-burger. It was very nice and plenty of food.

The hotel area is quite boring. I tried to find some small shops, to get a bag of crisp and some other snacks, but I couldn't find any. It looks like the hotel is in the middle of all the show-rooms for the big designers, so if you are in the fashion-industry, the location would be the very best. If not, I would suggest to stay in the city-center. The only reason I booked this hotel was because I thought it was closer to the exhibition-center, but it's about 3 km. so you will have to take the tram anyway. City-center next time.

I had a quick look at the swimming-pool, it looked nice, I may try it out tomorrow.

My plans for tomorrow is to get up very early to get to the city-center before the beauty-show. The shops will be open at 09.00 and my plan is to be there when they open. I have to get as much as possible out of this trip! :-D