REVIEW | Grand Hotel Duchi d’Aosta

October 2022. As we wanted to test Trenitalia‘s Frecciarossa 1000 service from Paris to Milan, we planned a rail trip around it. From Antwerp to Paris with Thalys, the ‘Red Arrow’ to Milan and once in Italy continuing to Trieste and Bologna. The return trip took us to Basel in Switzerland to enjoy SBB‘s panoramic coach and Germany‘s Rhine route to Cologne. From there we got back to Belgium.

After having survived the Fyra from Milan to Trieste we had a lovely stroll from the station to the central square where our hotel, the Duchi d’Aosta, was located. It’s a historic building with a rich history and connected to the Relaix & Château chain.

We were warmly greeted at check-in and immediately offered a glass of local sparkling wine at the bar while they handled all our administration. After finishing our glass we received our keys and we were shown to our room.

We had a small room on the top floor with an outside roof terrace overlooking the main square.

The room itself was small and cosy and decorated in a red pattern which suited the hotel very well. There was a nice bed in the middle, a desk area where there were also some welcome sweets. In the entry hall there was a closet as well as the complementary minibar.

The bathroom was also rather small but had a spacious walk-in shower, although the sliding shower doors where already showing signs of wear and tear and didn’t close properly. The water also constantly fluctuated between hot and cold, which was annoying. As a 5-star property they still used small individual toiletries with a very nice scent.

The biggest downside of the room was that it was very warm. To save on power bills the hotel already switched off the central air-conditioning, so we couldn´t use it to cool down the room. WE could open the windows which helped somewhat but the room kept being warm and stuffy (being right under the roof certainly didn’t help).

In the basement of the hotel was a nice spa area, decorated in a fake Roman bath house style. There was a nice but cold pool with some jets you could turn on. As well as a rather cold Jacuzzi, sauna and relaxation room.

The breakfast in the morning was served at the table and not in a buffet. You could choose between an Italian breakfast and the Harry’s breakfast. The Harry’s was the same as the Italian but with added charcuteries and hot dishes. We tried harry’s breakfast on the first morning and the Italian on the second morning. The Italian was already more than enough to eat, and all ingredients where delicious.