| What to expect: Built in 1897 as luxury apartments, Le Palais sits in a quiet corner of a leafy inner suburb overlooking Prague's Nusle Valley. Celebrities, business leaders and leisure travelers looking for refined privacy enter through a wrought iron doorway into a softly lit, small marble lobby. In the lobby library, antique books line rich green walls, and deep, tartan armchairs surround a fireplace. Amenity highlights: Le Palais has integrated the building's original Belle Epoque elements with faithfully recreated period touches. Original 1897 mosaic floors complement romantic ceiling frescoes; wrought iron banisters lead to corridors lined with jute runners. In the Relax Center, the Jacuzzi and showers are tiled in turn-of-the-century Turkish style. Insider tip: Famous Bohemian painter Ludek Marold lived at Le Palais in the 1890s when it was an apartment building, and his work can be seen on the staircase that provides the hotel's fire escape. The underside of the staircase is decorated with a flower motif, while he painted the ceiling of each landing with a fresco of swallows in flight - every floor is different. |