Platán Manor

Less than an hour by car from Budapest, the lakeside Tata Castle is one of rural Hungary’s signature attractions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, you can’t stay in the castle itself; right next door, however, in a 17th-century palace that once belonged to the aristocratic Esterházy family, is Platán Manor, a small-scale hideaway that combines the noble character of a historical residence with the comforts of a modern luxury boutique hotel and the stylistic range of a contemporary designer with the freedom to range across centuries of visual inspiration.

The Hungarian designer Zoltán Varró is responsible for the Manor’s new look; not just the bedrooms, which combine antique details with modern fixtures and furnishings, but the salons as well, including the forest-themed Hunter’s Room, whose moss-patterned carpet reappears throughout the hotel. And next to the Manor, by the side of the castle’s old moat, is the Mirror Spa, named for its reflective exterior; inside it’s all warm wood and forest textures.

No less significant is Platán Manor’s culinary program; the gastronomic restaurant existed even before the Manor’s redevelopment as a hotel, and it’s now joined by a bistro concept in an adjacent space.