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My European Valentine

© Stuart Buchanan MacWatt

I have always considered Paris to be the romantic perfect city in which to celebrate February 14th with my Valentine. Reaching Paris from England is now so quick and hassle free with Eurostar. London's Waterloo Station to the centre of Paris is a comfortable two hours journey. Choose a seductive room in the Hotel Costes in the rue Saint-Honoré, add a candlelit dinner gliding down the Seine on a bateau mouche and you surely have a perfect recipe for a romantic interlude. Hotel Costes in Paris is something of a hedonistic temple, (with prices to match), restful and inviting bedrooms, decadent décor reminiscent of the Belle Epoque, with rich deep red hues, swirling patterns, and luxurious silks and brocades and the hippest bar in Paris. If you are pressed for time and money, cut out that expensive night at the Costes and take a Eurostar Day trip to Paris, with a romantic dinner thrown in and you can still be back in London by midnight.

No frills cheap flight airlines out of London have opened up all Europe as suitable background to a romantic weekend. Travel Telegraph offer a two unusual hotels in Florence, beautifully converted from a 16th century nunnery and an 18th century monastery for a weekend's dalliance, (one wonders what the nuns and monks would have thought of the dalliance bit), or the luxurious Hotel Mariano Cubi in Barcelona.

Great weekend options are also available in the Central Europe of the former Hapsburg Empire. The beautiful and historic cities of Bratislava, Budapest and Prague now vie for our custom with remarkably cheap prices, superb hotels and restaurants.

I note that History in Harmony Ltd, in association with Enjoy Slovakia, recommend one of my favourite European hotels, the Marrol's in Bratislava, for a romantic weekend. Situated in the heart of the very beautiful historic centre of Slovakia's capital and just minutes away from the banks of the Danube which flows through the city, the hotel is itself a carefully renovated listed historic building and boasts one of the finest restaurants in town.

The management offer a variety of creative weekend options for two. I think that Weekend a la Greta Garbo would suit perfectly for my Valentine. I dined superbly both at the Hotel Marrol's Italian restaurant and at the nearby Modrá Hviezda restaurant & wine cellar, which nestles in the shadow of the castle dominating the Old Town. Slovak wines are as yet little known outside the country. This will change once Slovakia becomes a part of the EU in May, and deservedly so.

Hotel Marrols

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