5 time machines disguised as hotels

Hotels where time has stood still

Time traveling is possible. Well, not in the way we usually experience it in movies or in books where you can jump into a time machine and travel to a destination of choice, but in our imagination. What does this has to do with a hotel blog, one might wonder? Well, if you hang on one second, I will tell you.

There are hotels out there where time has stood still. Hotels that by keeping the original architecture, the design, the vibe have become a time capsule. It is like entering a museum where you can, with very little imagination, get a first hand experience how life was led back in the day. Basically, a kind of time traveling.

When I search for hotels to stay at during my travels I always actively look for these kind of hotels. Hotels where there is a history and that historic stamp has been kept intact, be it a castle in France, a ryokan in Japan or a historic inn in the US.

In this post I have listed 5 hotels where time really has stood still. Where it when staying there, truly feels like you have travelled back in time.

Safe (time) travels!

Rantapuisto / Helsinki, Finland

This excellent example of 1960:s Scandi design is located just outside Helsinki on the south coast of Finland. The hotel is nestled among tall pine trees on a gentle slope, leaning towards the Baltic Sea. The hotel is a feast of wood, brick, tiles and glass and it is filled with mid-century design and features.

Read more about the my stay at Rantapuisto here

Les Cabanettes / Arles, France

Les Cabanettes is, just like Rantapuisto, from the 1960:s. But if the one above is a good example of the Nordic version of this era, this is a French one. Or to be exact, this is a a French take on an American motel from that era. The design is sleek and angular with generous use of wood, stone and brick. The result is so good-looking, still to this day.

Read more about my stay at Les Cabanettes here

Menardi / Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

The Menardi Hotel is located in classic Alpine resort and two-time Olympic host, Cortina. The Menardi family have been living and working on this site since the 19th century but it wasn’t until after the end of the WWII that this hotel took shape. And it has kept the same shape since then. This is an alpine Italian version of mid-century design where it is more or less all about wood, dark wood and white rendered walls. There are so many fantastic features from this period still being used, like the small jugs they serve coffee in. This is a hotel where you can truly say that time has stood still.

Castle Leslie / Glaslough, Ireland

Of course I had to have a castle among my time travel hotels. And which could be a better representative than Castle Leslie in Ireland. The Leslies have been around since the end of the 17th century and many features that are still visible today, come from the 18th and 19th century. It is a surreal feeling walking around these halls looking at artwork from centuries ago and imagining how life was when these art pieces were first hung on these very walls.

Read more about my stay at Castle Leslie here

Røisheim / Lom, Norway

This farmstead turned hotel has been located here since the 18th century and since 1858 it has been functioning as an inn, offering people a place to eat and sleep before they continue their journey over the mountain pass. The hotel consist of 14 buildings where the rooms come in different sizes and looks. What they all have in common, is that they have an authentic, traditional look and feel.

Read more about my stay and the Røisheim here

So, these are five of my favorite truly historic hotels.. Do you have any that you would like to recommend? Please write me.

/RG