LX Boutique Hotel

What does a designer do when several of the rooms in a new urban boutique hotel face the wall of the building next door? For the LX Boutique in Lisbon, the answer was a simple and inspired one: commission local artists to decorate it with quirky scenes, giving those rooms a distinct atmosphere all their own. If you think that’s all very nice but you’d just as soon have a more expansive view, the LX provides two to choose from: the surrounding Baixa neighborhood or the Tagus River. Those two vantage points provide the framework for each of the hotel’s five floors to subscribe to a specific theme, creating a variety of experiences within the intimacy of a 45-room hotel.

Rather than upping the sensory overload factor like so many hip theme hotels, the LX uses the city of Lisbon as its touchstone. Each floor is a tribute to a vital aspect of the bustling Portuguese capital, with literal infusions: traditional instruments decorate the Fado floor, named after the plaintive, rhythmic style of music associated with the city, and the Pessoa floor celebrates its poetic namesake with an abundance of books. There’s nothing avant-garde about the décor, and in a hotel that offers so much to choose from, the straightforward nature of the varying aesthetics is a relief.

In what feels like a bit of a curveball, the hotel restaurant, Confraria de Sushi, is one of Lisbon’s most lauded Japanese hotspots. If that’s not your cup of green tea, just step outside: the elegant tree-lined streets of the Baixa district are home to plenty of cafes.