Given Prague's reputation as one of Europe's prettiest cities, it was a surprise when Petra Kazdova, public relations manager for the InterContinental Prague, cheerfully apologized for the property's ugly facade.
In fact, the 372-room hotel does have a somewhat institutional look, especially in contrast to the charm of the Old Town architecture that surrounds it. It was designed in the early 1970s in a style aptly called Brutalist, Kazdova explained, but its beauty lay in the location, the interior and the views.
Prague was the first stop on a recent three-city tour that also encompassed Vienna and Budapest, cities so close together that bundling two or three of them at a time is a no-brainer for many travelers. And because location is a key selling point for InterContinental's properties in these cities, the company works proactively to engage guests with their environment.
The hotels have created Insider Experiences that can include preset itineraries, customized outings with private guides and self-guided tours with the input of the concierge staff.
In Prague, for example, our guide offered us two customized Insider Experience excursions, delving into special-interest travel the first day and a whirlwind highlights tour the second.
The first day's tour was devoted to exploring the city's Jewish Quarter, where the hotel is located and which comprises everything from art nouveau to neogothic and classical styles of architecture.
The Jewish ghetto was first established in the time of the Hapsburgs, and although Prague was occupied by the Nazis during World War II, the synagogues survived.
We visited the most important, the Old-New Synagogue, which dates from 1270 and is the oldest working synagogue in Europe, and the Pinkas Synagogue, where the names of 80,000 Holocaust victims are inscribed on the walls.
The Klausen Synagogue was once the largest in the ghetto and sits at the entrance of the Old Jewish Cemetery, which features some 12,000 tombstones dating to the 15th century.
We finished our tour with a look at the Spanish Synagogue, built in a Moorish style in the 19th century and which reopened in 1998 after being closed for 20 years.
The synagogues and cemetery are part of the complex of buildings collectively called the Jewish Museum. For more, check out www.jewishmuseum.cz.
The hotel is also quick to recommend local restaurants, and we spent our first evening at the Medieval Tavern U Pavouka, where the entertainment ran toward sword fights and bellydancing.
The next day, we embarked on a more general tour of the city, starting at Strahov Monastery, a complex of churches where Mozart once played the organ, and libraries situated up the hill from Prague Castle. We spent the rest of the day meandering down from the monastery, giving Prague Castle not as much time as it warrants -- plan on at least a few hours to do it justice -- and stopping for lunch at Villa Richter, located in an inner-city vineyard.
We took a stroll along the famous Charles Bridge and past the John Lennon Wall, once adorned with a Lennon mural (since covered by graffiti) and now featuring a bust of the singer. That led us to Old Town Square in time to see the antics of the Astronomical Clock.
Cafes and Klimt
It took us an entire morning by train to reach Vienna, where we arrived just in time for a light lunch -- a concept foreign to the Viennese -- at the hotel's Mediterranean restaurant, followed by a two-hour Vienna at First Glance guided walk to give first-timers an overview of Old Town. To reach the famous Steirereck restaurant for dinner that night, we only had to walk through the Stadtpark, located right in front of the property.
Our Insider's tour started the next day when we bypassed the city's best-known museums in favor of the art nouveau Secession Building museum, which houses 10 or 15 rotating contemporary exhibits as well as the Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt on permanent display.
We also explored Naschmarkt, an Austrian version of Covent Garden, where we sampled artisanal vinegars, handmade chocolate and sauerkraut and had a first-rate lunch at Kim Kocht, which served a blend of Korean and European fare.
We then overdosed on caffeine at the Cafe Museum, one of Vienna's 300 traditional Viennese coffeehouses, where we tasted five or six varieties, from kleine schwartz, or espresso, to melange, the local version of cappuccino.
An evening wine tasting at a city winery called Weingut Hajszan, which also features a restaurant serving local specialties, rounded out our tour.
Urban thermal springs
Because Budapest is known for its spas, our Insider Experience included visits to the Szechenyi and Gellert thermal baths, where locals hang out in large mineral pools in ornate settings that present a marked contrast to the American spa experience.
We dined on Hungarian specialties at the Tigris Restaurant near St. Stephen's Basilica and within easy walking distance from the InterContinental Budapest, which is located on the Pest side of the city right on the Danube. After hours, we explored one of the city's Ruin bars, temporary watering holes that spring up in empty buildings and where locals gather to dance and drink.
Our itinerary also included a lunch of Hungarian French fusion cuisine at Cafe Pierrot, an hourlong Danube cruise and a day with a guide exploring both sides of the city, including Margaret Island, the Royal Castle on Buda and the dramatic Heroes' Square.
Guests who prefer to wander on their own will do especially well at the Budapest property, where the chief concierge, Janos Valcz, offers a lively Insiders tour on the hotel's TV station and on the website.
All three hotels were renovated in 2009, and room rates range from about $270 in Prague and Vienna and about $215 in Budapest.
Current prepackaged Insider Experiences include a two-hour Cubism and Art Nouveau excursion in Prague and a Dorotheum Auctions tour of a famous auction house in Vienna. Itineraries and rates change with the season, and customized Experiences are priced individually.
For more, visit www.czechtourism.com, www.austria.info, www.gotohungary.com and www.intercontinental.com.