A twin room at Serena Hotel Buenos Aires (Photo: Serena Hotel)
Opened in 2010, Serena Hotel is a 34-room, modern, design hotel in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires.
It’s one of the city’s more upmarket neighborhoods, popular with tourists and business people alike.
A locked front entrance to the hotel immediately lends an air of exclusivity to this oasis away from the bustling main streets of the city. Unusually, you can’t just walk in from the street: you need your room swipe card to gain access.
The front entrance (Photo: Serena Hotel)
There’s dark wood throughout the well-composed lobby area, with an extensive library of art books along one wall. Bubbling water features lend a feeling of Zen. At the end is the breakfast restaurant and bar area, followed by an outdoor courtyard space for al fresco dining.
My tasteful Standard Executive room was a cookie-dough brown throughout. I was pleased to note a great amount of storage space, and a large balcony – with space enough for a couple of chairs and side tables (although the view from my room unfortunately only looked out on to another couple of buildings).
A large, flat-screen TV and coffee making facilities comes as standard, plus a super king size bed with Egyptian cotton linen. The overall feeling was clean and fresh.
The bathroom was decked out in marble and featured a particularly deep, whirlpool bath.
The basement swimming pool at Serena Hotel Buenos Aires (Photo: Serena Hotel)
Amenities at Serena include a basement swimming pool illuminated by large skylights. The pool area also offers a small gym and sauna cabins. Spa treatments include several massage therapies, and I treated myself to one from an accomplished female therapist.
Quiet and calming
The best thing about Serena? Tucked away down a side street, there’s a quietness and serenity to these rooms. It feels like a luxurious, private club (the hotel is also adults only). I never saw anyone else in the pool area, which I pretty much had to myself.
Its location is also good – within a 15-minute walk of the Teatro Colon, Recoleta Cemetery and other landmarks – including the hop-on, hop-off tour bus that’s popular with many tourists.
Room rates start from US$150 (€121), which is also good value for this quality of hotel.
Grown-up, stylish, quiet and serene: what’s not to like?
Serena Hotel, Libertad 1617, C1016ABG CABA, Argentina: serenahoteles.com/en-buenos-aires-hotel
