With so much emphasis placed on where to find the finest genitalia in town, it can be daunting for already paired gay couples to find the right place for a romantic getaway without the intrusion of yet another parade of shirtless wonders discussing their piercings. While Mr. T. Inches and Miss B. Havin are often part of a gaycation, let’s talk about the attraction you brought in the seat next to yours. After all, a bed of rose petals with champagne and chocolates at hand for a romantic encounter that only occurs in dreams can be a reality. Can’t it?
Switzerland’s Hôtel des Trois Couronnes
Speaking of chocolates, why not go right to the source of those creamy bonbons bursting with thick liquid? Hôtel des Trois Couronnes is a Swiss legend, albeit a very discreet one. This intimate establishment on the edge of Vevey’s charming Old Town offers just 55 rooms and suites. It’s an intimate place; isn’t that what you want to have a good Valentime? Located on the shores of Lake Geneva, with the snowcapped French Alps across the water, Hôtel des Trois Couronnes enjoys a privileged location and shares it happily with its guests, who are made to feel as if they are at a house party rather than a hotel, though as a name House Party des Trois Couronnes does not quite have the same ring to it. A stroll with my honey along Lake Geneva? Sounds damn good to me. Switzerland has a somewhat exaggerated reputation of being expensive, but quality costs more than the two-dollar shop stuff. Anyway, the Australian dollar is high right now; make the most of our plastic notes while you can. Trois Couronnes’ fitness room has chandeliers, for God’s sake! How can you miss that? Have you ever faced your muscles to the mirror under a Baccarat glow? www.hotel3couronnes.ch
Sydney’s Diamant Hotel Penthouse
Maybe you are coming to town for Mardi Gras next month, or maybe you are coming for Valentine’s Day, or maybe you are just coming. No matter what the reason, get your arse and someone else’s to The Diamant Hotel’s penthouse for the most extravagant of accommodation in Australia’s most extravagant of cities. This is the place to take your partner when you have done something really, really bad and have to make up for it big time. The Diamant penthouse is the ultimate in space and style in Sydney accommodation. Amidst the hustle and bustle of Kings Cross, The Diamant sets a new standard in indulgent hospitality with the recent unveiling of this impressive accommodation option. Not a hotel room at all, but rather an actual residence—the only one in the building. Gourmets and those on cleansing diets with love the enormous, full-service kitchen, which is accompanied by a sprawling living room spilling out past giant glass doors onto an outdoor terrace. Technogeeks will love the Crestron console, which imbues the holder with power over the entire apartment’s audio, visual, lighting, and temperature control systems, all in the palm of your hand. There are three bedrooms here; perhaps your Valentine’s Day dream involves more than one. When all is sated and done, the enormous master bath awaits in its white marble splendour. For totally over the top indulgence, butler service is available on request and online shopping is possible at Coles via the penthouse’s own account, whose access code is provided for guest use. Why go out when you can have it delivered?
www.diamant.com.au
New York’s Inn At Irving Place
What better a Valentine hideaway could there be than a suitably romantic Victorian mansion tucked away on a quiet side street in the most exciting city in the world? A well-kept secret among those in the know is the lovely Inn At Irving Place, a fantasy world of Victorian splendour waiting for its guests on the other side of a discreet, unmarked door just south of Gramercy Park. This is not a hotel in the traditional sense, or even the New York sense. Inn At Irving Place is two classic townhouses at 47 and 49 Irving Place needlepointed together to make one big house, a house with a long history as a residence, a speakeasy, and a men’s club—among other things. Today, it is an unapologetically nostalgic visit to times gone by. The rooms themselves, quaint and charming, are the type that discourage sightseeing when all you want to do is stay within the pretty walls and enjoy the ambience while you can. The fireplaces in the rooms add a cosy touch even if they can’t be lit, though the one on the ground floor does exude the same warm flame of hospitality as the welcoming staff. That fireplace is located in Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon, a New York high tea experience unlike any other. It is all very romantic and most unexpected just moments away from the hip and happening streets of Lower Manhattan. Before her marriage to Sir Charles Mendl, Lady Mendl was known as Elise de Wolfe, America’s first professional interior designer and the darling of the social set in New York, Paris, and London. De Wolfe lived at Number 49 Irving Place with a darling of her own, theatre agent Elisabeth Marbury, for twenty years (1892-1912). They were famously known in society circles as ‘The Bachelors’. Together, they ran a salon on the premises, hence the current name of Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon. Number 47 was the temporary home of such luminaries as Oscar Wilde, who was a theatrical client of Ms. Marbury.
www.innatirving.com
Robert La Bua
