As summer holidays come to an end, 50 Best has compiled its list of the World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023.
01.09.2023 - 14:42 / matadornetwork.com / Lake Bled
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Trip-planning generally follows the same formula: pick a destination, figure out a way to get there, and find a place to stay. Every so often, you come across an accommodation so luxurious, curious, or charming that where you want to stay determines where you want to go in the first place. That’s exactly what happened to me on a recent trip to Slovenia when I stumbled upon the website for the Chateau Ramšak glampsite in Maribor.
Photo: Booking.com
Maribor is Slovenia’s second-largest city after Ljubljana, the capital. Beyond its quaint Old Town, the city is most famous for being a gateway to the Štajerska wine region. The oldest vine in the world, which has been bearing fruit for some 450 years, adorns the façade of a medieval building in the city’s riverside Lent area called the Old Vine House, which doubles as a museum dedicated to the red-wine-producing Žametovka grapevine.
I knew that I wanted to see a Slovenian wine country on my recent trip but was torn between visiting Goriška Brda (“Slovenia’s Tuscany”) near the Italian border or Štajerska, which is located just south of Austria and produces similar wines — until I found Chateau Ramšak.
Photo: Booking.com
A love of Austrian rieslings and pictures of the romantic two-person tents, spacious four-person tents, and single family-sized treehouse at Chateau Ramšak ultimately swayed me toward Maribor’s wine region. But I soon learned that the Ramšak estate is well worth a visit independently of the glampsite. The 37-acre estate has existed for more than two centuries, houses the largest wooden wine press in Slovenia, and owns a graft of the world’s oldest vine.
The Chateau Ramšak glampsite is considerably newer. When it opened in 2016, it became Slovenia’s very first glampsite, according to the manager who showed us around the property. He noted that the concept of glamping is “very compatible” with the ethos of Slovenia, a country that’s more than 50 percent forested, and has since spread to popular areas such as Lake Bled.
Admittedly, I was a bit apprehensive about our $300 booking when we pulled up to the property. Chateau Ramšak is only 10 minutes from Maribor by car and much closer to the less-than-scenic road that accesses it than I’d imagined. Suddenly, I feared that the convenient location that I’d initially counted as a selling point might be too close to town.
Photo: Alex Bresler
My nerves began to settle as we walked past the communal outdoor cocktail bar and lounge space, known as Glam Island, which looked like a pleasant place to relax by the
As summer holidays come to an end, 50 Best has compiled its list of the World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023.
Following the success of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and The World’s 50 Best Bars, 50 Best has just announced The World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023, marking the brand’s first global launch since 2009.
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