DoubleTree By Hilton Košice

The First DoubleTree East of the Old Divide

DoubleTree by Hilton Košice occupies a fourteen-storey tower at Hlavná 1, the first address on Košice's main pedestrian street and, when it opened in 2009, the first DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Eastern Europe. It is a different proposition from the converted townhouses and guesthouses that fill the rest of the Old Town: a full-service, 170-room hotel built to a brand standard rather than a local one, with the scale to run a casino, a spa and more than a thousand square metres of meeting space under one roof.

Why It Works

We picked it for what scale actually buys here: a Mediterranean restaurant running proper lunch and dinner service, not just breakfast, a lobby bar, a casino and a spa with a hot tub and sauna, none of which a boutique guesthouse down the street could offer. The rooms themselves are comfortable rather than distinctive, Hilton's standard fit-out rather than a designer's vision, but the view from the upper floors over Košice's Old Town is not something a four-storey townhouse can match. It suits a stay built around reliability and amenities rather than architectural romance.

Why This Location

Hlavná 1 sits at the head of Košice's main square, the long pedestrian boulevard that runs the length of the Old Town past St Elisabeth's Cathedral and the State Theatre. Everything that matters in the historic centre is a short walk in one direction, and the hotel's height means the view back down the square, from the upper floors, is one most visitors to Košice never see. It is as central an address as the city offers.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€ (Premium)

• Vibe: full-service tower, main-square address, brand reliability

• Rooms: 170, across fourteen floors, standard Hilton fit-out with upper-floor views

• Best For: travellers who want amenities and a central address over architectural character

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the view down Hlavná from the upper floors

• Dining: Olive Tree restaurant (Mediterranean, lunch and dinner), Lobby Bar, breakfast room

• Amenities: casino, spa with hot tub and sauna, fitness centre, over 1,200 sq m of meeting space

• Attractions: St Elisabeth's Cathedral and the length of Hlavná (immediate), Old Town sights within walking distance

Olive Tree, the Casino and the Spa

Olive Tree, the hotel's main restaurant, runs a Mediterranean menu through both lunch and dinner, a rarer commitment than the breakfast-only kitchens found at most of the city's smaller hotels. The Lobby Bar extends the evening with cocktails, and the attached casino gives the property a late-night option that nothing boutique in the Old Town offers. The spa covers a hot tub and sauna rather than a full treatment menu, enough for an hour of downtime between sightseeing and dinner rather than a destination in its own right.

Rooms Built for Reliability

The rooms follow Hilton's standard DoubleTree fit-out: ergonomic desk chairs, flat-screen televisions, branded bedding, and the chocolate chip cookie at check-in that the brand is known for worldwide. It is not a room designed to be photographed, but it is a room that works the same way on every floor, which matters for a business trip or a group booking where consistency counts for more than character. The meeting and banquet space, over 1,200 square metres, makes the hotel a default choice for conferences passing through Košice.

Before You Book

The hotel's scale means it can absorb a late check-in without the limited-reception issues smaller Old Town properties sometimes have, with check-in running to midnight. Parking is available on site, useful for anyone arriving by car rather than on foot through the pedestrian zone. For travellers who want the Old Town's historic character rather than a modern tower, one of the city's smaller guesthouses will suit better; for everyone else, the location and the amenities are hard to beat.