The Aria seemed a new hotel (or extremely well maintained). It’s a conversion of a much older group of buildings and most rooms look out into the block's central light well. Some rooms have views out over the formal gardens of the public park behind the hotel.
The rooms are comfortable, modern and very clean. They have PCs with Internet connections and a decent sound system. We had a “DeLuxe” room and got a massive (good quality) bed and a very high spec bathroom. Our room was very quiet.
This isn’t a large hotel. There is one main public area, split off into themed areas.
The staff were generally excellent and English was spoken everywhere.
The Hotel is aiming for an uber cool, hip ambiance. Simple clean lines mixing with older retro furniture. This isn’t an easy look to do and they haven’t quite hit the mark. Some of the corridors can feel a little institutional and for me the public spaces didn’t work. For example they have a library done up in scarlet and gold, lined with real books and populated with leather armchairs, which looks great except it is not separated from the blinding-white public area of the breakfast room / bar.
Accepting its faults, this is a good hotel with real character. We liked the music CD / DVD library and the private screening rooms off the bar. The general music theme suits Prague. The food was generally superb. Breakfasts were a notch above the usual high-class hotel fare and the one evening meal we had (Christmas night) was fantastic.
The Hotel’s trump card is its location. It is in a quiet street of taverns and embassies in a pretty part of town, between the two principle attractions of the Castle and the old town square. It is very close to St Nicholas (alone worth the journey to Prague) and a 100m or so from the Charles bridge. There are nearby tram and metro stations but Prague is small enough for one to be able to walk to all the sights from the hotel.
So it is not London’s Savoy, or even the Hemple, but is a nice place to stay in a beautiful city.



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