Atlantis by Giardino Hotel is a 5 star luxury resort, set on the mountainside overlooking Zurich. It offers gorgeous rooms, an amazing 2 Michelin star restaurant and a glorious outdoor pool, which is bathed in sunshine all day. Other features of this luxury resort hotel include a superb indoor pool and jacuzzi, which are part of the chic spa, and a bar and restaurant that spill out onto a balcony, with stunning views over Zurich.
Location
The Atlantis building looks like a grand ocean liner, navigating through the green meadows and forests on a pretty hillside above Zurich. It was built in 1968 and has since been an architectural icon of Zurich. In the 1970’s it attracted guests like Sophia Loren, Muhammad Ali, Abba, Freddie Mercury, and more recently, the singer Rihanna was spotted by its stunning pool.
The hotel is around a 10 minute drive from the lakeside squares in Zurich town centre and a complimentary transfer in the hotel Land Rover is offered throughout the day. It is therefore no effort to get into town. There is also a train station within 5 minutes walk, if you prefer to make your own way into the centre.
Style & Character
Following a vast and impressive refurbishment, which was completed in December 2015, the new version of the Atlantis hotel is achingly stylish. The hotel foyer had a living room vibe with touches of the outside finding a home inside. A large double-sided fireplace, surrounded by sofas, sat to one side of the entrance hall; its platinum surface, decorated with imprints of local forest leaves. The reception desk, on the opposite side, was hewed out of local wood, and the curves and gnarls of the wood made it look like a perfect tree base. Carpets were deep pile and the sofas thick and comfy. Like the rest of the hotel, there had been no expense spared. Even the ceiling was decorated in a leafy, sparkly light installation bringing the feel of the forest inside.
Two grand spiral staircases took you upstairs. Here you will find the bar and two restaurants, along with a cigar room that not only offers an impressive selection of cigars, but also blows a gentle breeze up through the floor tiling to waft away the smoke.
I particularly loved the numerous terraces where you could enjoy your meal or drink alfresco. In colder weather, you could either warm up by a fire pit outside, or cosy up on one of the numerous comfy seats by the bar or next to the window. From here, watch the spectacle of the sun setting over the sparkling rooftops of Zurich. A magical setting.
Rooms
The rooms at Atlantis by Giardino Hotel were a triumph to luxury. Once again, no expense had been spared. From the textured wallpapers to the bespoke leather minibar casing and marble bathrooms, the decor was indulgent and the room design was well thought-out. The sockets were in useful positions, the TV’s swung out to an unusual angle (yes I did say TV’s – our Lux room had 2 very large widescreen TVs with every channel imaginable). The shower was perfectly designed to keep water in without needing a full screen, the lighting was available in a number of brightness modes depending on your mood. A complimentary non-alcoholic minibar (with water, various drinks, coffee machine, smoked almonds, sweets and crisps) was an added bonus to this brilliantly designed room.
Tip: Our room faced the back overlooking the pool and I would choose a room facing in this direction again. The two balconies (equipped with padded loungers of course) were bathed in sunshine throughout the day.
Service & Facilities
Atlantis is a proper resort hotel with a huge spa, an indoor and an outdoor pool, both immaculate and ultra-stylish, as well as a hairdressers and a gym.
The outdoor pool opens for Easter and was not (sadly) open during our stay. It looked slick with decking to the side, lots of loungers and a poolside bar. The indoor pool was an absolute highlight for us. It was set in the depths of the hotel but had floor to ceiling windows on two sides, looking out at a Japanese style garden with a waterfall cascading down rocks. Because it was in a dip, the pool felt very private and cosy. The stonework and flint work on the walls gave it a natural feel and the trendy lap pool (with sparkly tiles) was positioned next to a large Jacuzzi pool for lazing in. This pool was undoubtedly one of the nicest indoor pools I have experienced.
Food & Drink
As you would expect from a hotel with a 2 Michelin star restaurant, all the food was excellent. From the room service club sandwich (simply delicious and nothing like your standard room service club) to the food in the Hide and Seek restaurant.
Breakfast was a buffet, offering eggs served to your table and a huge range of high quality foods. The homemade jam made at the sister Giardino Ascona property was particularly good, as was the utterly fresh smoked salmon, excellent bircher muesli, cereal selection and salad. Everything was, once again, lovely.
Atlantis by Giardino Hotel is both an excellent base to explore Zurich but is also a resort in its own right. Whether you want to spend days by the pool, to jog around the hillside park behind the hotel, burn calories in the super indoor lap pool, relax in the spa, or just eat fine foods to the backdrop of Zurich, this hotel really does tick all the boxes.
Atlantis by Giardino Hotel also features as in our best art-inspired hotel rooms around the world.
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