Hotel Beethoven

Hotel Beethoven

On a Saturday evening at Hotel Beethoven, a cellist tunes up in the room below the guest floors, working through Haydn before the weekend chamber concert begins on a Bösendorfer grand piano that once belonged to owner Barbara Ludwig's mother, Sissy, herself a pianist. That detail sets this 43-room, five-floor address apart from bigger hotels nearby: family-run, tucked into a quiet side street at the start of the Naschmarkt, directly across from the Papageno Gate of the Theater an der Wien. The State Opera, Musikverein and Museumsquartier are all within easy walking distance, and traditional Viennese coffeehouses line the streets around it. Rooms carry city views, air conditioning, soundproofing, minibars and safes, and the concierge will arrange museum visits, gallery openings and preferential Musikverein tickets rather than just book a taxi. Downstairs, the Lvdwig Bar, designed by architect Gregor Eichinger with cocktails by Karoly Orban, stays open through the day, useful for anyone who wants a drink without leaving the building. This suits travellers coming for Vienna's concert halls and galleries, or anyone who would rather stay somewhere with a family behind it than a brand name on the door. It offers less for guests wanting a pool, a spa, or the anonymity of a much bigger property, though families are catered for, with a playroom on site and two room categories that sleep up to four adults and three children. Staff switch between six languages, pets travel for a small fee, and the hotel holds the Austrian Ecolabel. Come for the Saturday concert on the piano that once belonged to Barbara Ludwig's mother, and the room upstairs becomes the encore. A 43-room, family-run address off Vienna's Naschmarkt, minutes from the State Opera and Musikverein, where a weekend chamber concert plays on a piano that belonged to the owner's mother. Book it for the music and culture, not for a pool or spa, since there isn't one.