Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch

Though only fifteen minutes from Frankfurt's city center, Gravenbruch is a country idyll, a wooded lakefront resort, and evolved over hundreds of years from country estate to hunting lodge to, finally, Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch. Its current incarnation is a five-star luxury hotel, equal parts business hotel and exclusive resort, and has played host to visiting statesmen, royalty, and all manner of celebrities, from athletes to pop stars.

The guest rooms very in style and décor from the modern (though not radically so) to the somewhat traditional, and all are spacious, this being a semi-rural retreat and not a cramped city hotel. Some suites overlook the park, others have lake views, and the Presidential Suite is vast even by presidential standards, palatial enough for a Thai princess, an American president, and the King of Pop (whose stay, mercifully, was uneventful).

Dining is a featured attraction at Gravenbruch, from the traditionally German Forsthaus (named for the hotel's history as a nobleman's hunting lodge) to L'Olivo's Mediterranean tapas bar. Torschanke & Schoppenhof and the Bar & Wintergarten round out the quartet of restaurant options, and the hotel's catering service is available for special events, private dinners, even cooking demonstrations or classes.

Located as it is just minutes from Frankfurt (home to Germany's stock exchange, and thus one of Europe's financial centers), Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch places an emphasis on the business traveler's experience. Thus, despite its country manor ambience, it provides all the services one would expect from a downtown business hotel. The business center is available 24 hours, as is room service, and shuttle service to and from the airport, the city center, or the Frankfurt Trade Fair are all included.

All of these amenities, though catering to the business traveler, are no less enjoyable for those who are traveling for leisure. You don't have to have business at the stock exchange or an appointment with Lufthansa to enjoy Gravenbruch. The noblemen who frequented the Forsthaus were not here for meetings, but to hunt and otherwise amuse themselves, in a pastoral setting, away from the bustle of Frankfurt.