Hotel Erzherzog Johann ( Editor's Choice)
On a busy pedestrian street in the old town, just a few steps from the city's main square, the Erzherzog Johann is our choice for the best hotel in Graz. It offers just about everything Gemütlichkeit readers seek: good rates, a sense of history and a friendly, family-owned atmosphere - with a touch of surrealism thrown in as well.

The convex facade of this five-story former Baroque palace has just enough decoration to make it stately and inviting. Guests enter through the old, vaulted carriageway, which has been converted into a small lobby with marble floors and a large wood-paneled reception desk. On the left is an opulent little bar designed by the surrealistic Viennese artist, Ernst Fuchs. During the day, with its lack of windows and Freudian decor, the bar looks rather gloomy. At night, however, it is much more alluring. Fortunately, the spacious breakfast room behind it is brightly lit and vividly colored with canary yellow walls framing a large cobalt blue abstract painting.

Though the public rooms are stylistically very different, they show good taste and nicely complement one another. A favorite room is the sunny, covered atrium behind the lobby, which is framed on three sides by heavy wrought iron railings lined with a forest of old palm shrubs and rubber plants. The overall effect is Mediterranean...in a Central Europe sort of way.

Almost every floor of the Erzherzog Johann has an interesting little sitting area to display the hotel's attractive collection of antique furniture and porcelain cabinets filled with ancient bric-a-brac.

The attractive accommodations tend to be large with high ceilings and polished parquet floors, although a few have wall-to-wall carpeting.

The traditional furnishings are of good quality and handsomely accented with striped or floral fabrics. The sparkling mid-to large-sized baths have beige and white tiles and halogen lighting. Some rooms have separate toilets. The only sour note in the guest quarters are the TVs perched atop brown laminated minibars.

For a few dollars less than the "superior" accommodations, business rooms are available with fax machine, video recorder, a larger desk, and a bit more room.
Contact: Hotel Erzherzog Johann, Sackstrasse 3 -5, A-8010 Graz, tel. +43/0316/81 16 16, fax 81 15 15, email: office@erzherzog-johann.com, web: www.erzherzog-johann.com.
Daily Rates: Singles 94-165 EUR, doubles 142-178 EUR
Rating: Quality 15/20, Value 16/20

Hotel Zum Dom
This small establishment serves as Graz's art hotel. It features stylish modern rooms that successfully mix antiques with vivid colors and such "Po-Mo" designs as the large blown-up silkscreen of Raphael's angels that serves as the head board in one room. Unlike other so-called art hotels, this one doesn't just use loud colors to mask cheap commercial furnishings - it's actually quite luxurious. Given its central location and stylish decor, it is also quite reasonably priced.

Zum Dom is set on a sloping cobblestone street just below the Cathedral and Mausoleum, and next to a trendy restaurant called Mod ("Dom" spelled backwards, if you didn't notice), a name that could aptly apply to the hotel as well. The reception is on the second floor, as is the spacious breakfast room.

Whimsical ceramic door signs, such as little hand-sculpted scuba divers or mounted chicken heads, announce the number of each room. Inside are spacious, brightly colored spaces with parquet floors, high ceilings, Persian carpets, intricately patterned curtains -  such as floral or leopard skin - and an antique or two to offset the otherwise modern furnishings. Many beds are draped with half- or full canopies for a more ethereal look. Baths have either showers or whirlpools, and room Number one, with its heavy mantle of cream and purple-veined marble, wins the award for the most lavish bathroom.

Staff is not plentiful, but cheerful and helpful.
Contact: Hotel Zum Dom, Brgergasse 14, A-8010 Graz, tel +43/0316/824 800, fax 824 800-8, email: domhotel.co.at, web: www.domhotel.co.at
Daily Rates: Singles 76 to 116 EUR, doubles 145 to 156 EUR
Rating: Quality 13/20, Value 14/20

Schlossberg Hotel
An excellent choice if you are willing to pay for something small, historic and luxurious. Like the Zum Dom, the Schlossberg combines the contemporary and the antique, but here the scales tip toward the latter, and both are offered at a much higher level of luxury.

The modern world is represented mainly by the art on the walls (by such notables as Hermann Nitsch, who fortunately decided to use paint this time), while numerous antiques fill both guest and public rooms.

The lounge features an exceptionally attractive collection of Biedermeier sofas and old leather reading chairs, which are worth stopping by just to relax in. (If you need to justify your visit, you can buy a drink from the small lobby bar).

During warmer months, the main attraction is the hotel's open air terrace that rises in three tiers up the steep slope of the Schlossberg, offering wonderful views over the old town and the river.

Breakfast is served in a spacious room or in a sunny, nonsmoking wintergarden in the building's enclosed courtyard.

Rooms are decorated in muted tones with thick carpeting, well-made reproduction furniture, as well as a good-quality antique or two, such as a centuries-old oil portrait or a small turn-of-the-last-century chair still clothed in its worn, original leather.

The marbleized tile bathrooms vary in size, but all have good sized tubs. Room Number 4 is an especially nice double with a heavy wood beam ceiling. Nearby Numbers seven and two (a ground floor twin) are also good choices. Parking is available for a fee in the garage across the street.
Contact: Schlossberg Hotel, Kaiser-Franz-Josef Kai 30, A-8010 Graz, tel. +43/0316/80 70-0, fax +43/0316/80 70 70, email: office@schlossberg-hotel.at, web: www.schlossberg-hotel.at
Daily Rates: Singles 130-170 EUR, doubles 182-225 EUR
Rating: Quality 16/20, Value 13/20

Romantik Parkhotel
Fond recollections of a memorable stay here with my family keep a soft spot in the heart for this traditional hotel, located in a Habsburg yellow building across the ring road from the old town and city park.

The large, neo-traditional lobby has wood paneled ceilings, halogen lamps and brass accents. The comfortable lounge offers a quartet of antique, oversized wooden armchairs arranged on a spacious Persian carpet. A wintergarden at the front of the restaurant and café serves as the breakfast room.

Accommodations have high ceilings and are uniformly large. The decor is attractive and traditional with parquet floors, Persian rugs, graceful chandeliers, and wood furniture with burgundy-tinted floral fabrics. The white tiled baths all include tubs. One benefit of this slightly off-center location is the hotel's free parking lot.
Contact: Romantik Parkhotel, Leonhardstrasse 8, A-8010 Graz, tel +43/0316/36 30-0, fax 36 30 50, email: romantik@parkhotel-graz.at, web: www.romantik@parkhotel-graz.at
Daily Rates: Single 89-120 EUR, doubles 139-168 EUR
Rating: Quality 12/20, Value 12/20