There’s a cross on the roof, stained glass in the windows and a choir loft upstairs, but this whitewashed three-level building near Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake is no longer a house of worship.
It’s the Hotel Lucile, a 25-room boutique lodging that opens Sept. 14 with a restaurant and bar in the high-ceilinged sanctuary where churchgoers once gathered. This opening follows more than a decade of controversy and transformation, including a community debate, bankruptcy and the arrival of a new hotelier in 2020.
The new hotelier is Los Angeles-based Casetta Group, which specializes in adapting older structures and has six properties in California and New Mexico, including the Surfrider Hotel in Malibu and Casa Cody in Palm Springs.
When guests arrive at Hotel Lucile, they will find many reminders that the building was constructed as Bethany Presbyterian Church in 1931. But those guests will also see plenty of updates, including 25 guest rooms in the space that once held a church school; a small pool (about 15 feet square); and a rotating display of more than 100 contemporary artworks (many for sale). The organ loft is now a meeting space. The choir loft is retooled as a zone for coffee and drinks. The rooftop is a lounge with downtown views.
1.Bathroom inside a suite.2.Desk inside a premium king room.3.Sitting area inside a suite.(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
“The building has lived several lives,” Hotel Lucile general manager Anthony Gutierrez said in an email. “It has always been a place for people to gather.”
The establishment fell idle as developer Dana Hollister took over the lease and sought city permits to convert it into a hotel with alcohol and dancing. Despite opposition from many neighboring homeowners and businesses alarmed by possible traffic impacts, those permits were approved in 2014.
But Hollister declared bankruptcy in 2018 and sold her interest in the property in 2020. That’s when the Casetta Group took over Hollister’s long-term lease from the Presbytery of the Pacific, which owns the property.
This church-to-commerce transition isn’t entirely unique. Across the city and the country, declining attendance has idled many religious buildings, often leading to conversions. In DTLA, the restaurant and event space known as Redbird + Vibiana was previously St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, deconsecrated by the Catholic Church after suffering damages in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. In Beachwood Canyon, the Monastery of the Angels was built as a private mansion and rebuilt by the Catholic Church in 1948 as a monastery. In early 2026, Homeboy Industries bought it from the church and began remaking it into Home of the Angels, a “recovery campus” for people impacted by trauma, substance use disorders and involvement in the justice system.
More church conversions may follow, thanks to California law SB4, passed in 2023 to allow faith-based groups and nonprofit colleges to avoid some local restrictions when converting buildings into affordable housing.
Meanwhile, the Hotel Lucile begins a new chapter, retaining interior arches, masonry, woodwork details and a rooftop cross that the hotel will keep alight at night. (The old church bell, however, will remain silent.)
Because the hotel has no on-site parking, it will rely upon valets and street parking (already tight in the neighborhood) to accommodate the cars of overnight guests and restaurant diners.
The rates begin at $441 nightly, plus a $50 amenity fee. To start, management is offering a “locals rate” of 15% off for guests who can show a California state ID.
“We did preserve as much as we could of the original beams and stained glass,” said Laney Langenstein, who oversees strategy and marketing for Casetta. Though guest rooms have minibars (curated by Erewhon and other partners), Langenstein noted that hotel staffers will also push a martini cart that will “go through the hallways and see if anybody thinks it’s cocktail hour.”
The dinner-only restaurant, Sous Sous, will draw upon cooking traditions of southern France and the American South, seating up to about 120, with occasional live music on the room’s stage. A hotel cafe will be open to guests for breakfast and lunch.
The new look of the hotel was produced by Casetta Hotels and design firm Electric Bowery. Children are permitted at the hotel, but not encouraged by the layout. (Of 25 rooms, 24 have a single king bed and one has two queens. Most rooms have showers, not tubs. There is one suite, which has its own courtyard patio and fountain.)
With an eye to potential expansion later, hotel management has also bought up one of the three immediately neighboring properties.
Meanwhile, now that the hotel is about to open, feelings among neighbors are mixed.
A booth at Sous Sous restaurant.
“When they tried to get a permit for the hotel, we all went to speak against it. But they got the permit,” said Jin Chang, longtime owner of nearby Big Mac’s Liquor on Sunset. Now, Chang said, he’s neutral about the hotel opening and relieved that his mini-mall has its own parking lot.
“What’s the definition of progress?” asked VJ Kesh, a longtime neighborhood resident. “Is this hotel a reflection of Silver Lake? Hell, yes. So I’m in favor.”
I’d like to pen an ode to the once-L.A.-based artist Mel Kadel on the occasion of the release of her first coloring book for women and girls, published by Secret Headquarters in Atwater Village. Titled “Dream Drops,” the detailed hand drawings allow blossoming artists to participate in Kadel’s elaborate, imaginative world of fragile, brave, timid, hopeful, brash, adventurous women — characters she’s drawn for decades now.
I first met Kadel more than 25 years ago when I moved to L.A. from Boston with my then-up-and-coming indie rock band called the Movies. The band moved into a two-bedroom triplex in Silver Lake that cost $845 per month and immediately fell in with a ragtag group of iconoclastic and wildly talented artists including Kadel, photographer Alex Prager, painter America Martin, artist Mercedes Helnwein and bands and musicians such as the Silversun Pickups, Jimmy Tamborello, the Jealous Sound, Earlimart, Radar Bros. and Irving.
Kadel and her then-partner Travis Millard — another prolific and accomplished artist — lived in a cabin near the wild mountainy edges of Echo Park, and friends would gather there to draw, drink and make music. Kadel always had her head bent over her work, page after page of detailed line drawings that later appeared on friends’ bedroom and living room walls and sometimes on fliers for shows at Spaceland or the Silverlake Lounge.
It was Kadel who encouraged many of us to try our hand at creating art, and she once staged a group show at an Echo Park record shop called Sea Level that was owned by a friend of ours. I painted a self-portrait on a piece of wood for the show that still hangs on my wall today.
Kadel created the album cover for the Silversun Pickups’ debut EP, “Pikul,” which was released on Dangerbird Records in 2005, and later, after the band and the label soared to new heights, she covered Dangerbird headquarters near Sunset Junction in Silver Lake with a building-sized mural featuring her otherworldly woman clad in blue stripes with forever flowing flowered hair.
In many ways it is Kadel whom I credit with opening a young me up to the magical world of art and the ideas that flow from it — Kadel and those early L.A. friends, many of whom I no longer see regularly, but whose accomplishments I relish in when they come to my attention. Which is just what I did when I saw that Kadel had released her coloring book — a project that she has worked on (no doubt in the same intentional, intense way that she always has) for the past year.
I’m arts editor Jessica Gelt, glad for what was and looking forward to what will be. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Eleanora Owen in “Being Piaf.”
(Doug Engalla )
Being Piaf Written and performed by Eleanora Owen, this solo theatrical piece explores the life and songs of French singer and lyricist Edith Piaf. Directed by Tim Byron Owen. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays; through Aug. 30. Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com
Green Corridors The West Coast premiere of Natalka Vorozhbyt’s darkly humorous drama about the plight of four Ukrainian women — refugees from the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. Translated by John Freedman with Natalia Bratus. Directed by Frédérique Michel and produced by Charles A. Duncombe. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays; through Sept. 27. City Garage Theater, Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Ave T1, Santa Monica. citygarage.org
Tercera Raíz The contributions of the African diaspora to Mexican culture are celebrated with dance and mariachi music. Produced in partnership with Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company. 8 p.m. The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East. theford.com
SATURDAY
New–Music Game Night! Brightwork Ensemble and People Inside Electronics present an evening of game-inspired works by Cristina Lord, Isaac Schankler, Siobhán Dougall and Richard An, and audience participation. 8 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org
SUNDAY
Eileen Cowin: Between Panic and Paradise The Los Angeles–based photographer and artist’s 50-year career has produced visual narratives that incorporate cinema, literature, poetry and painting, erasing the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction. Through Jan 3, 2027. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org
Jamar Gilbert and Amber Liekhus in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at a Noise Within.
(Daniel Reichert)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom A Noise Within opens its season with the seventh of the 10 plays in August Wilson’s Century Cycle to be produced by the company. Amber Liekhus stars as an iconic blues singer during a tempestuous recording session in 1927 Chicago. Directed by Gregg T. Daniel. Previews, 2 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Aug. 28; Aug. 29-Sept. 20. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. https://www.anoisewithin.org/play/ma-raineys-black-bottom/
TUESDAY
Beethoven’s Fifth with Anna Handler
Da-da-da-DUM. The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s incoming conductor-in-residence leads the orchestra in one of classical music’s most iconic pieces, along with the composer’s rarely heard Triple Concerto and the U.S. premiere of Grace-Evangeline Mason’s “Ablaze the Moon.” 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra will play Blue Note LA on Tuesday and Wednesday.
(Blue Note LA)
Jeff Goldblum & the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra As they’ve been doing for three decades, the actor-musician and his band perform contemporary arrangements of classic jazz and American Songbook standards. 7 and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Blue Note Los Angeles, 6372 Sunset Blvd. bluenotejazz.com
Looking West: How the Myth of the Western Frontier Got Its Start Muse/ique takes a deep dive into the legends and reality of the American West through classic Hollywood film scores, folk songs and contemporary compositions that reclaim the era’s diversity. Led by artistic and music director Rachael Worby with Damon Daunno, Raye Zaragoza, Glynn Turman and Muse/ique Orchestra. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; 3 pm. (premium RSVPs only) and 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. muse-ique.com
WEDNESDAY
California African American Museum The museum augments two of its ongoing shows with special events. On Wednesday, Justen LeRoy of Art + Practice offers a curatorial walkthrough of “The Sound of Gordon Parks,” an immersive exhibition highlighting the sonic dimension of the photographer, composer, author, poet and filmmaker’s work. Thursday night, poets Pam Ward, Luis Rodriguez and Lynne Thompson share original work inspired by “A New Song: Langston Hughes in the West.” Gordon Parks, 2 p.m. Wednesday; Langston Hughes, 7 p.m. Thursday. CAAM, 600 State Drive, Exposition Park. caamuseum.org
“Conscience” by playwright Joe DiPietro will have its L.A. premiere at International City Theatre in Long Beach.
(Justin Patterson)
Conscience The Los Angeles premiere of Tony Award-winning playwright Joe DiPietro’s drama about pioneering politician Margaret Chase Smith, who famously challenged Joseph McCarthy’s tactics and was the first woman to serve in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Directed by Caryn Desai. Previews, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays; through Sept. 13. International City Theatre the Beverly O’Neill Theater, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. ictlongbeach.org
THURSDAY
Rachmaninoff & Adams Gemma New conducts John Adams’ “Short Ride in a Fast Machine,” ahead of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto (with Jeneba Kanneh-Mason in her L.A. Phil debut) and Symphonic Dances. 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
— Kevin Crust
Retrospective
L.A. Times arts coverage from the past …
Eisa Davis, playwright and actor, who appeared in Melissa Jane Gibson’s play “This” at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City in 2011.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
A double life as actor, playwright
Aug. 14, 2011
“I’m in a play called ‘This.’ ”
“OK, what is it called?”
“No, no, it’s called ‘This.’ ”
“Yes? What? It’s called what?”
With a lighthearted laugh, Eisa Davis says she often encounters this response when revealing that she is in a new production of “This,” which recently opened at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The perplexity may be fitting for the universe playwright Melissa James Gibson has created: a world of confusion in which close friends enter a vulnerable time of unforeseen circumstances testing their expectations — a time also known as middle age.
Davis’ work as an actor and a playwright has contributed to a textured career. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama in 2007 for her play “Bulrusher,” about a biracial orphan infant found in a basket and raised by a quiet schoolteacher. She went on to write and star in the autobiographical “Angela’s Mixtape,” which was among the New Yorker’s best plays of 2009. Other plays she has written include “Ramp,” as well as “The History of Light,” which is returning to the stage this fall in New Jersey. READ MORE
– Jasmine Elist
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Conservators examine “Portrait of Mai” by Joshua Reynolds at the Getty museum.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
A 250-year-old portrait by painter Joshua Reynolds recently arrived at the Getty and is being examined by conservators before going on view in its West Coast debut later next month. “The Portrait of Mai” was acquired by the Getty for $61 million in a rare joint purchase with the National Portrait Gallery in London and depicts a young, regal-looking Tahitian man who arrived in London with Capt. James Cook in 1774.
If you’ve seen the recent national tour of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, you may have wondered how on earth the actor playing the living chandelier Lumiere sings and dances for more than two hours while wearing lighted candles on both of his hands. The answer has arrived via this fun story written by Times contributor Jenelle Riley, who headed backstage during a recent performance to trail Danny Gardner as he donned the 7-pound props and went about the business of performing in the rigorous show.
The group show “To Share a Stomach” recently opened at the Brick in East Hollywood. Times contributor Sharon Mizota wrote a review that included her take on the unique and difficult-to-execute concept. The show was made manifest when 25 Iranian artists, working under challenging wartime conditions, sent instructions to artists counterparts in L.A. for how to create artworks using various levels of collaboration. Mizota found the results understandably uneven, but deeply touching and impactful.
The Kennedy Center’s National Symphony Orchestra performs at the Hollywood Bowl under musical director Gianandrea Noseda on Aug. 18.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
The newly homeless National Symphony Orchestra, whose fate has become uncertain as a court battle wages over whether or not the Kennedy Center will close down for two years, performed at the Hollywood Bowl earlier this week. Times classical music critic Mark Swed was there to watch, along with many effusive supporters of music director Gianandrea Noseda’s now wandering orchestra. Swed found the program lacking in imagination, but noted, “with its smooth strings, creamy brass, pungent winds and friendly percussion, Noseda’s NSO came across as a gracious orchestra meant to please, and, consequently, a seemingly marvelous anomaly in an otherwise divisive present-day D.C.”
Speaking of the Kennedy Center, last week proved a pivotal one for its fate. The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted late in the week to move forward with President Trump’s plan to close the building for renovations for two years. According to multiple news reports, the board also voted to inscribe Trump’s name on the building using the language “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”
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Brett Littman has been named the new director and chief executive of the the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
(Don Stahl)
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego announced earlier this week that it has appointed Brett Littman as its new director and chief executive. Littman is replacing Kathryn Kanjo, who left to become the new director of the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art. Littman has previously served in a variety of leadership roles in the arts in New York City, including as director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum; executive director of the Drawing Center; and deputy director of MoMA PS1. He was also co-director of Dieu Donné Papermill and associate director of UrbanGlass. He will start at MCASD in early October as the fifth director and chief executive in the museum’s history.
The Perenchio Foundation has awarded a $2,040,000 grant to the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, representing the largest grant in the Grammy-winning organization’s history. The 2026 General Operating Support grant, which aids many aspects of the organization’s programming and community offerings, will be distributed over three years, and arrives at LACC celebrates its 40th anniversary.
It’s not easy to get to Rifugio Val di Togno, at 1,317 meters (4,320ft). The dirt road from the nearest town winds for 4 miles through 27 hairpins and is best done in a four-wheel drive, or it’s a solid two-hour hike from the tiny hamlet of Carnale. But as managers Luna Lybeer and Wout Allegaert say: “We offer guests nothing so they can get away from everything.” Although you can hardly describe this beautifully renovated mountain hideout as “nothing”. Every room looks down the valley, whether through a porthole-like round window or huge floor-to-ceiling sliding doors. Breakfast, lunch (or a picnic to take on a hike), afternoon snack, aperitivo and a two-course dinner are included too – delicious vegetarian meals made using produce from the couple’s garden, or foraged nearby, along with homemade kombucha, sourdough and gnocchi. Doubles from £298 all-inclusive (three-night minimum), rifugiovalditogno.com
An Austrian train station turned B&B
Built in 1910, the old station at Lermoos in Austria’s Tirol had stood empty for years before Johann Ehmann and his wife Cleo Weber bought it in 2019. “We were fascinated by it and contacted Austrian Railways regularly for more than five years asking if it was for sale,” says Ehmann. Now the couple have converted the classic Alpine building at the foot of Zugspitze (Germany’s highest peak) into Lermooser, a design B&B. The eight rooms range from a cosy bunk bed “cabin” to the “team XL” with three single beds and a double in a row. There’s a communal kitchen and a kiosk downstairs for coffee, pastries and homemade soups. The train still stops right outside, and hikes up to the Tuftl Alm viewpoint, and to Seebensee and Drachensee, start right from the door. Doubles from £106 B&B, lermooser.com
A historic wilderness hotel in Norway
‘Røisheim, a time capsule of a turf-roofed hotel.’
In summer, the sun doesn’t set until 11pm at Røisheim, which sits on the fringes of Jotunheimen national park in southern Norway. That means all the more time to go on blue ice glacier walks and swim in mountain lakes, cycle over the Sognefjellet pass or tackle Galdhøpiggen, Norway’s tallest mountain at 2,469 metres (8,100ft). The first recorded ascent of Galdhøpiggen in 1850 started from Røisheim and the trail still leads from the courtyard of the hotel, although most hikers now choose quicker routes starting from nearby Spiterstulen. Røisheim, a time capsule of a turf-roofed hotel, has been welcoming mountain-lovers since 1858 and many of the rooms are faithfully preserved with timber-clad walls, carved wooden beds and barrel-like tubs. Doubles from £243 B&B, roisheim.no
Alpine apartments in Bavaria
An apartment at Karls Mittenwald. Photograph: Jessica Lerchenmüller
“We didn’t choose Mittenwald because we wanted to open a hotel, we chose it because we wanted to live somewhere that summer still feels like summer,” says Anne-Sophie Trinkgeld, who recently opened Karls Mittenwald in this pretty small town near the Austrian border with her husband Dario. Mittenwald came out top in their search for the best combination of climate, outdoor activities and accessibility in the Alps – it’s surrounded by mountains but just 40 minutes from Innsbruck. The couple turned the former bakery into 11 thoughtfully designed one- and two-bedroom apartments with a cafe downstairs serving breakfast spreads and homemade cakes. Just the fuel for days spent swimming in the clear waters of Lautersee, cycling to the source of the Isar River through the Karwendel nature park or hiking to Germany’s highest brewery, Karwendelbräu. Apartments from £145 a night, karls-mittenwald.de
An eco-campsite in the Austrian Tirol
Gerhardhof on the Mieming Sun Plateau
Nearly 1,000 metres (3,280 ft) above sea level, the wide Mieming Sun Plateau is known for its mild microclimate and looping hikes through pine forests and Alpine meadows. Josef Volgger grew up on a farm here, Gerhardhof, which his parents also ran as a small guesthouse. Now Volgger, along with two business partners, has transformed Gerhardhof into a sustainability-minded campsite with grey water recycling, wood-chip heating and solar energy, as well as a naturally filtered swimming pond. You’ll still see Josef’s mother Edith in the bakery, turning out apple strudel, and there is a restaurant for dinners of wiener schnitzel and Käsespätzle (an Alpine mac and cheese). Pitches from £38 a night, gerhardhof.com
A 500-year-old inn in the Italian Dolomites
Over its five centuries in the South Tirolean town of Lana, the building that now houses 1477 Reichhalter has had many incarnations, including a butcher, bakery, sawmill, stable and tavern. Since 2018 it has been a restaurant with eight bedrooms dressed in mid-century furniture. Room number 4, Helmsdorf, has a balcony with views of the Vigiljoch mountain and Braunsberg Castle (you can borrow a bike to explore further), while Schönmüller is another favourite for its raw plaster walls and tiled stube stove. Downstairs, tables spill on to the pedestrianised street from the restaurant, which dishes up a delicious beef tartare and house salad made with homemade pickled vegetables and whatever’s in season from the kitchen garden at sister hotel Villa Arnica. Doubles from £170 B&B, 1477reichhalter.com
A Bauhaus guesthouse in Italy’s South Tirol
For 40 years, Johanna Fink ran her family’s Alpine hotel Briol with simple efficiency: sheets air-drying on the line, guests summoned to dinner by cowbell at precisely 7pm. Recently, her children Victoria and Valentin von Klebelsberg have taken over, but Briol remains charmingly the same. The main house was renovated in 1928 by artist Hubert Lanzinger in modernist Bauhaus style – the bedrooms have no heating (there is a hot-water bottle service), guests share a bathroom and there are no TVs, wifi or pictures on the walls. But with views like this, from a mountain meadow high above Barbiano and the Eisack valley, the lack of distraction is very welcome, and hiking trails fan out from the doorstep. Doubles from £255 half-board, briol.it
By the lake …
A houseboat on a Swedish lake
‘It’s all about the lake’ at Stugbaat and its five houseboats on Lake Lelång. Photograph: Beyond Oceans Media
Stugbaat is a collection of five houseboats that bob around the huge Lake Lelång in Dalsland. Each floats on an aluminium or stainless steel pontoon, and comes with a little motorboat for towing the tiny house to a quiet corner or pootling ashore to explore. On dry land, there are mountains to climb (Egersknatten), berries and chanterelles to forage in the forest, a straw museum in Bengtsfors and a microbrewery in Torrskog. But, really, it’s all about the lake: fish from or dive off the wooden deck that surrounds the cabin or take out the paddleboard included with each booking. You can hire a kayak, check out the floating sauna, or simply drop anchor and do nothing. From £233 a night (two-night minimum), sleeps 4, stugbaat.se
Back-to-nature cabins in Sweden
Life is off-grid at Naturbyn on Lake Eldan.
Thomas Peterson started with just one log cabin, which he handbuilt on a section of pine and spruce forest on the shores of Lake Eldan in Värmland. Then he built another, and one up in the treetops, and one floating on the water. There are now seven at Naturbyn, all off-grid (no wifi or electricity, just wood-burning stoves and paraffin lamps), all with views of the lake and some with grass roofs dotted with tiny wild strawberries. This being Sweden, there’s a sauna on the lakeshore. Beyond that, borrow a canoe, forage in the forest, watch for elk among the trees, catch a pike for supper or count shooting stars across the inky sky. Cabins from £160 a night, sleeps 2, naturbyn.se
A waterfront hotel in Jutland
Ny Hattenæs on the shores of Brassø Lake.
In the heart of the Danish Lake District on the Jutland peninsula, the 19th-century mill town of Silkeborg is known as Denmark’s outdoor capital. Just south of Silkeborg, the waterfront hotel Ny Hattenæs has sat on the forested shore of Brassø Lake since 1896 when it opened as a summer boarding house. It is now open year-round, but summer is still the loveliest time to stay, when days are long, the lake is filled with people swimming, paddleboarding and canoeing, and the terrace at Ny Hattenæs is the perfect place to catch the lingering twilight. Revamped in 2022 by the trio of siblings behind Danish design house Society of Lifestyle, the 14 bedrooms are filled with House Doctor furniture and the bathrooms stocked with Meraki natural products. Room number 7 is the plum pick, with a large balcony overlooking the water. Doubles from £205 B&B, nyhattenaes.com
A new-gen hotel in Bavaria
Less than an hour’s drive south of Munich, Tegernsee is where city folk flock in the summer to drink in leafy beer gardens, tuck into knödel dumplings in farmhouse restaurants and boat on the lake. Lederhosen and dirndls are still a regular sight in some parts here, but the recently opened hotel Blyb, in the quiet village of Gmund am Tegernsee, is as far from the usual Bavarian cliches as you can get. The villa dates back to 1892, and while it still has original stucco paintings and ornate wooden balconies, they’ve been updated with crisp monochrome decor, a restaurant from the team behind the hip Munich spot Mural, an outdoor yoga deck and events that might include a doner kebab and DJ pop-up or intimate unplugged gigs in the library. Doubles from £112 room-only, blyb.co
Lakeside cabins in a German biosphere reserve
Berlin school friends Julian Trautwein, Johann Ahlers and Christopher Eilers founded Raus in 2021 with the simple idea of getting city-dwellers like themselves out into nature. They started with a handful of sustainably built cabins near German cities and this year have added their 100th. Lodge am See takes the Raus concept and turns it into a little cabin resort, with 17 huts by a lake in the Unesco Elbe River Landscape Biosphere Reserve, between Berlin and Hamburg. The area is known for its quiet cycle paths, but the water is just as attractive, and there are free paddleboards to borrow, canoe hire nearby and sea eagles, storks and cranes to spot above the wetlands. Cabins from £126 a night, sleep 2, raus.life
The Sahanlahti Resort ‘has sleek modern villas that come with wraparound terraces’
Finnish Lakeland is Europe’s largest lake district, a watery labyrinth of thousands of lakes, rivers and channels. Its biggest body of water, Lake Saimaa, is like an inland archipelago of nearly 14,000 forest-covered islands. In summer, Finns flock here to lakeside log cabins (known as a mökki), which are an essential part of Finnish culture. On the site of a historic sawmill on Saimaa’s rippling shoreline, SahanlahtiResortembodies mökki tradition old and new, with timeless red-painted wooden cabins (some with their own saunas) and sleek modern villas that come with wraparound terraces. You may even spot a Saimaa ringed seal, one of the world’s rarest. Cabins from £93 a night, sleep 4, sahanlahtiresort.fi
An adults-only hideout in the Austrian Alps
Just outside the medieval town of Kitzbühel, Schwarzsee is known for its mineral-rich peat waters (its name means black lake), which are some of the warmest in the Alps, reaching 27C in summer. On a hillside above the lake, Seebichlis another black beauty, its darkly painted wooden balconies spilling over with flowers. Brothers Max and Sebastian Witzmann, whose grandfather bought Seebichl in the 1950s, have created an artsy take on a traditional Alpine hotel, with bright orange Eames chairs rather than classic carved-wood Tirolean ones and contemporary art on the walls instead of antlers. And if Schwarzsee or the heated pool in the garden at Seebichl get too balmy, hike up to the nearby Sintersbach Waterfall for a chillier dip. Doubles from £170 B&B, hotel-seebichl.at
In the forest …
A-frame cabins in the Slovenian Alps
‘A peaceful base for exploring the surrounding Savinja valley.’ Photograph: Mamoot/Andrej Lamut
Famed for its emerald green water, the Savinja river runs from the Rinka Falls at the head of the pristine Logar valley in northern Slovenia down through forested gorges in the Slovenian Alps. Along its banks, Forest Camping Mozirje is a peaceful base for exploring the surrounding Savinja valley. Tents and campervans pitch up in meadows among the trees. For those allergic to pegging in a ground sheet, there are bell tents and A-frame-shaped wooden “forest beds” built from local timber. Campers swap hiking tips and debate rafting versus canyoning over dinner at communal tables in the well-stocked covered kitchen. Afterwards, gather around one of the campfires or kick back in a hammock next to the little outdoor library. Pitches from £15 plus £14 per adult. Forest Beds from £84, campingmozirje.com
A design hotel in the Black Forest
Artbau Designhotel and its treetop views. Photograph: Maris Mezulis
Germany’s Black Forest (Schwarzwald) is named for the canopy of conifers so dense it blocks out much of the sunlight. It’s a mysterious place, often linked to the dark fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, although the siblings actually collected and wrote their folktales farther north around the city of Kassel. It is easy to imagine Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood trotting down the trails, although you’re more likely to encounter German families or a hilltop castle. In the Black Forest town of Waldkirch, famous for the production of church and fairground organs, Artbau Designhotel is a sharply modern riposte to all that fairytale tweeness, with concrete walls and steel tables softened by Moroccan textiles and balconies that look out to the treetops. Doubles from £115 room-only, artbau-designhotel.de
A forest sauna in Latvia
‘The glass cabin bedrooms … looking out across wildflower meadows by day and up to star-filled skies after dark.’ Photograph: Stikla istaba
Deep in a pine forest near the Gauja national park, Ziedlejas is dedicated to the Latvian tradition of pirts – steamy wood-fired bathhouses heated to about 65C. There are three here: the glass pirts beside the swimming pond, the smoke pirts under the grey fir trees and the wool pirts with walls made from sheep’s wool (which releases skin-soothing lanolin). Sessions last around four hours, guided by a pirts master (pirtnieks), who takes guests through the ritual, which includes “whisking” (tapping and brushing) bodies with bundled sticks, herbal scrubs, massage and alternating hot and cold water. The glass cabin bedrooms are just as restorative, looking out across wildflower meadows by day and up to star-filled skies after dark. Cabins from £110 a night, sleeps 2, ziedlejas.lv
Family-friendly huts and camping in the French Alps
The Huttopia Bozel en Vanois campsite. Photograph: Manu Reyboz
Huttopia has dozens of nature-immersed campsites all over France (and a handful farther afield). There’s a formula – tree-shaded spots often beside lakes and rivers, pre-pitched safari tents if you don’t fancy BYO, a wood-fired pizza restaurant for the evening – and it works, with families returning year after year. Set among pine and fir trees on the banks of the Doron de Bozel river, Huttopia Bozel en Vanoise is at the gateway to the Vanoise national park near the Italian border, which is criss-crossed with hiking trails and home to ibex, marmots and chamois. Closer still is the lake beach – a five-minute walk – or canyoning on the Doron de Bozel; while back at camp kids can join the forest-school-like Petits Trappeurs or hang with new friends at after-dinner magic shows and open-air film screenings. Nature pitch from £20, Trappeur wood and canvas tent from £146 a night, huttopia.com
Tiny houses in a Swedish forest full of wildlife
An off-grid cabin at Inforest
The only alarm clock at the four off-grid cabins that make up Inforest,2½ hours north-east of Gothenburg, is the sound of robins, blackbirds and chaffinches, perhaps joined in their dawn chorus by the odd woodpecker or cuckoo. Each solar-powered tiny house here is a kilometre apart, so your only neighbours will be the roe deer, hares and the odd moose roaming among the hectares of pine, spruce and birch trees. Almost 70% of Sweden is covered in forest and the right of public access, or allemansrätten, means you can walk or bike in every direction. For a little more action, head to the perfectly preserved wooden town of Hjo on the edge of Lake Vättern, just 4 miles away, for a sauna on the harbour or to sail on the steamship Trafik before scurrying back into the woods. Cabins from £155 a night, sleep 2-4, inforest.se
Modernist treehouses on a farm in Sweden
Suites on stilts at Trakt Forest Hotel. Photograph: James Silverman Photography
In the summer of 2022, this family farm in Småland opened five striking suites on stilts among the treetops of the surrounding pine forest. This spring, Trakt Forest Hotel added seven bedrooms in its historic Erik’s House farmstead, the design more rattan headboards, crocheted cushions and views of cows grazing than the angular minimalism and secluded stillness of the treehouses. There is a restaurant, Traktköket, in a nearby log cabin and much of the food is grown on the farm or sourced locally. Outside, there’s a little sauna hut beside the farm pond, with a wood-fired bath squirrelled away deeper in the forest. The team can prepare a fika (coffee break) backpack with coffee, cake and a sandwich to take out on a hike further into the wilderness. Doubles from £184 B&B, traktforesthotel.com
Some of the areas mentioned above have been affected by wildfires this summer. Please check before booking.
Haldensee is a clear, sparkling cold lake located at the bottom of the Tannheimer Tal valley in the Austrian Alps (about 90 miles south-west of Munich). We visited last year, just when summer was on its way out, and it was too cold to skinny-dip in the lake (unless you were very brave). Nonetheless, if you’re a hiker, a ski lift takes you up into the Allgäu Alps where you can walk through dense forest to Bad Kissinger Hütte serving refreshing apfelschorle, warming soups and seasonal bakes to refuel for the journey downhill. When going down, we were accompanied by tinkling cattle, ambling along the mountain-side springs, which made the experience so much more memorable. Kovida
Mountain tracks of Lake Garda, Italy
Mountain bikers on the Strada del Ponale at Lake Garda. Photograph: Image Professionals /Alamy
Northern Lake Garda, where the mountains tower above the lake, is one huge adventure playground: walking, cycling, climbing, boat trips and all manner of watersports on the lake. There are castles, waterfalls and valley cycle trails. The old Ponale mountain road might be the pick for cycling (best on ebike) and walking. It winds through tunnels and clings to the rock with spectacular views over the lake. At Ponale Alto enjoy a hearty pasta dish washed down with a local beer or wine, before returning downhill all the way. Dave Thomas
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Swiss bliss near Mont Blanc
There are loads of great walking choices from La Fouly just to the east of the Mont Blanc massif. Photograph: Daniel
Skip the crowds of Chamonix and spend a week at La Fouly, in south-west Switzerland. Some walking routes are busy (it is a hub for the famous Tour du Mont Blanc walk) but there are plenty of walks to choose from, many of which are not on the main trail. Walk to the Lacs de Fenêtre, where you can hear the gurgling burps of rock ptarmigans at first light, and the shrieks of marmots as you descend back down into the valley. We camped by cool, fast-flowing rivers at Camping des Glaciers in La Fouly. Daniel
Meadows and cowbells in Slovenia
The Logar valley in Slovenia. Photograph: Aliaksandr Mazurkevich/Alamy
The loudest sound in Slovenia’s Logar Valley is usually a cowbell. A narrow road runs through flower-filled meadows to the foot of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, but it’s best explored on foot or by bike, stopping at the little farms that sell homemade cheese and apple juice. Follow the easy trail to the 90-metre Rinka waterfall, then linger over lunch at one of the mountain inns to enjoy the view. I stayed overnight in a family-run guesthouse, and by early evening the day visitors had gone, leaving the valley almost silent except for swallows and grazing cattle. Susanna C
Dragonflies and lilies on Italy’s secret lake
Lago di Monate is north-west of Milan. Photograph: Panther Media Global/Alamy
The spring-fed Lago di Monate, between the much larger lakes of Maggiore and di Varese, has possibly the freshest swimming water in Italy, chiefly because of its longstanding ban on motorboats. You can hire paddleboards to cross the calm surface to vast lily beds, blooming in summer and alive with dragonflies. The grassy beach with sunbeds and umbrellas at Il Coppale is very reasonable with evening meal (fresh fish, naturally) on their terrace at about €25 with a view over the lake to the Alps. Tim Leadbetter
Alpine ambience in Bavaria
Lödensee in Upper Bavaria. Photograph: Image Professionals /Alamy
Looking for a reasonable budget autumnal trip, a search on the usual sites led us to Bavaria, and the outdoorsy town of Ruhpolding. Alpine atmosphere was immediately delivered, with a charming unpretentious ambience. There is a really impressive waterpark and cool blue lakes, such as Lödensee and Weitsee. Hikes through classical Alpine scenery took us to an alm, a mountain refuge in high meadows where local milk and beer was served with platters of meat and cheese. A little further away the huge Chiemsee gave us a day at the beach. A stop in Munich on the way back allowed us to visit the excellent BMW museum, part of which is free. Brian Lowry
The town of Foix in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Photograph: Fred P/Alamy
Cycling the Velosud this summer was the perfect trip to the mountains without having to cycle up or down them. We spent two weeks leisurely following the signposted route in the foothills of the Pyrenees, often alongside rivers, with mountain views every day. It’s all either traffic-free or on very quiet roads, and passes by spa towns such as Salies-du-Salat, the beautiful Foix and Mirepoix, and lovely, low-key but well equipped campsites (always with swimming pool, aperitif and morning croissants). Rowan
A cross-border trek on the Camino Francés
A pilgrims’ shrine on the Way of St James near Roncesvalles. Photograph: J Meyers Foreman/Alamy
I’ve walked close to 2,000km of the Camino de Santiago, traversing Spain from the Pyrenees to the Galician coast and following the crashing waves of the Atlantic Portuguese coast in northern Portugal. One of the most stunning stretches of the Camino Francés (part of the Camino de Santiago) takes you from the French Pyrenean town of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to the Spanish village of Roncesvalles. It’s a very tough climb, but it’s well worth the effort. In the early morning mist, as you approach the border with Spain, the panoramic views from above the cloud line will take your breath away. A truly spectacular experience. Stephen Taylor
Tuscany’s wild side
The Alpi Apuane are in the far north of Tuscany, inland from La Spezia, Liguria. Photograph: Alamy
It’s amazing that the Alpi Apuane are not better known. This raw, jagged cluster of marble peaks forms a dramatic backdrop to the bucket-and-spade beaches of northern Tuscany. These mountains are laced with challenging trails, including the multi-day Via Vandelli, linking Modena to the coast. The valleys shelter quiet, refreshing streams and half-forgotten villages. Above the treeline, the hiker is rewarded with expansive views of the mountains, the sea, and the surreal marble quarries hewn from the mountainsides. This is the wild side of Tuscany. Robert
Winning tip: The Vosges mountains by train
The Vosges’ Wormsa valley, just west of Colmar, is brilliant walking country. Photograph: Juergen Feuerer/Alamy
The Vosges mountains in eastern France are made up of forest-covered rounded peaks called ballons, and are accessible by train. The line between Colmar and Metzeral provides easy access into the Wormsa valley, where forest paths climb past streams to the peaceful Lac du Fischboedle, surrounded by trees. From there you can climb the third highest mountain in the Vosges, Hohneck (1,363 metres), for sweeping views towards the Alps. The food in the region is delicious, especially tarte flambée (flammekueche), a traditional thin flatbread topped with creme fraiche, onions and bacon. Hannah
