The Best Hotels Near Zinfandel's, by the Record
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Built for passengers stepping off the Orient Express, the Esplanade is Zagreb's grande dame hotel, all Art Deco curves and goose-down beds in a city still waiting for its first boutique challenger. The lobby and cocktail lounge have the hushed drama the style promises, and the ballroom is genuinely monumental. A Michelin Key hotel, and the kind of place that makes a marble bathroom feel like the obvious minimum.
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Every room in this central Zagreb hotel doubles as a gallery dedicated to Boris Bućan, one of Croatia's most recognized contemporary artists, whose bold graphic work covers walls, corridors, and common areas with actual intention rather than decorative filler. The Art Déco bones of the building hold a spa, indoor pool, rooftop bar with city views, and YEZI, a pan-Asian restaurant worth skipping lunch for.
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A real castle on a private river island, which makes Grad Otočec Slovenia's only water castle and a genuinely odd place to check in for the night. The 16 rooms sit behind centuries-old stone walls and turrets, restored to Renaissance and Gothic form, with interiors that lean warm and woody rather than museum-stiff. Wine tastings happen inside one of the towers, and the kitchen works off an organic garden on the grounds. Michelin awarded it one Key.