Hotel Havana

An historic 27-room Mediterranean Revival hideaway revived for the latter day hipster.

Stodgy. Famed Austin hotelier Liz Lambert revitalized the grande dame for today’s tastes, creating one of the coolest hotels in town (look no further than the events calendar—stocked with rotating DJs and emergent musicians—for proof).

1914 was a banner year for hotel architecture, if Hotel Havana—inspired by the era’s Cuban versions—has anything to say about it. It’s chockablock with detail you just don’t find in modern retreats, including 20-foot ceilings, pine floors and Colonial shuttered windows that peep out on private terraces. But more than anything, we love that guests feel truly at (quirky) home here, thanks to candy-colored SMEG refrigerators for mini bars and robes made of serape (Mexican striped blanket fabric). Writerly types should book the 365-square-foot Hemingway Suite for a work desk, intricate tilework in the bathroom and a terrace over the river.

Hotel shops usually give you the heebie jeebies, but this place has curated an unmissable boutique where wares range from custom Hotel Havana zippo lighters to leather passport wallets made of vegetable tanned harness leather right there in town.

Standard issue hotel breakfasts will never be the same. This morning, perched on a tufted turquoise banquette in Ocho, the hotel’s glass conservatory-turned-restaurant set along the water, you’ve never had a better kick-start. And it wasn’t just the plantain griddle cakes with Mexican crema or the basket of griddled flour tortillas with blackberry butter and local honey. It was the resplendent atmosphere.

Ocho - Pan-Latin cultural influences from Mexico, Cuba and Texas.

Havana Bar - Cocktails in dimly candlelit basement setting.