Stays fit for a Queen: 70 years of royal globetrotting | Travel

The Chatwal, New York

MARRIOTT

2. The Waldorf Astoria, New York, USA

The Queen was at all times going to make the Huge Apple considered one of her first stops after her Coronation. So it was solely pure for the glamorous Waldorf Astoria, whose artwork deco interiors function in lots of traditional movies, to host a gala dinner in her honour in 1957. In any case, its Presidential Suite had hosted just about each president since 1947, and Marilyn Monroe lived within the lodge for a yr. The lodge is present process an £800 million makeover, crunching down its authentic 1,400 rooms to simply 375, with its reopening scheduled for subsequent yr (hilton.com). Within the meantime test in to the Chatwal, one other artwork deco masterpiece in Midtown Manhattan.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £530 (thechatwalny.com). Fly to New York

3. Rajmahal Palace, Jaipur, India

Commonwealth nations have been a excessive precedence for the Queen, and her first journey to India, in 1961, went down properly, with greater than 1,000,000 individuals lining the highway from Delhi airport. In Jaipur she stayed within the maharajah’s palace. Now a lodge — and nonetheless residence to Rajmata Padmini Devi, matriarch of the Jaipur royal household — it’s an enclosed oasis with secluded verdant gardens and meticulously designed interiors. There are simply 13 rooms, together with the Queen Elizabeth suite. In 1961 the Queen rode into Jaipur on an elephant; The Guardian reported that when she left it was with the maharajah, who was heading for a tiger shoot.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £171 (raashotels.com). Fly to Jaipur

InterContinental Amstel, Amsterdam

ALAMY

4. InterContinental Amstel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

The Queen’s travels haven’t all been state visits. In 1962, for instance, she hopped over the Channel with the Duke of Edinburgh to Amsterdam, to have a good time the silver marriage ceremony anniversary of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. The occasion and the British royal couple’s lodging have been within the palatial Amstel, which had lengthy been the town’s five-star grande dame. It’s a traditional lodge in the identical league because the Ritz in London or Raffles in Singapore — its imposing foyer, historic staircase, cut-glass chandeliers and stuccoed ceilings complementing an ideal place on the Amstel River.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £385 (amstelhotel.com). Fly to Amsterdam

5. Antumalal, Pucon, Chile

In 1968 Her Majesty set out on a tour of Brazil and Chile, ending up on the adventure-sports resort of Pucon, within the Chilean lake district. Right here, she and Prince Philip rested on the Bauhaus-style Antumalal, constructed by Czech immigrants on the shores of Lake Villarrica in an enormous personal park, and embellished with the paintings of the indigenous Mapuche. Apparently, a brand new mattress was shipped in for them, however the open-backed truck on which it was being delivered received caught in rain and it needed to be dried out over a hearth.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £154 (antumalal.com). Fly to Pucon through Santiago

Lodge Britannia, Trondheim

6. Lodge Britannia, Trondheim, Norway

In 1969 the Queen and her household boarded the Royal Yacht Britannia for a vacation to Norway. In Bergen, the center of the fjords, they attended a banquet hosted by King Olav V. Additional north, in Trondheim, they got here ashore to remain within the opulent Lodge Britannia, placed on the map by aristocratic British fishermen who have been lured right here by rivers wealthy in salmon. Data present that the royals ate oxtail soup, trout, saddle of lamb and Britannia cheesecake in Palmehaven, the lodge restaurant, which continues its custom of British afternoon tea.
Particulars B&B doubles from £292 (britannia.no). Fly to Trondheim

● Essentially the most luxurious vacation locations
● Match for royalty: fortress resorts within the UK

7. Lodge Imperial, Vienna, Austria

The Queen has made just one royal go to to Austria, in 1969, however she did every thing correctly. That meant going to the state opera, visiting the Spanish Driving Faculty in Vienna and staying within the lodge that was as soon as the town palace of Archduchess Maria Theresa. The Imperial nonetheless seems the half — with stucco ceilings, parquet flooring and valuable materials all through — but it surely isn’t precisely because it was then: for the Queen, the Habsburg royal household quickly furnished one of many suites with royal antiques, together with an 18th-century mattress.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £269 (marriott.com). Fly to Vienna

Lodge Excelsior, Dubrovnik

MARKO TODOROVIC

8. Lodge Excelsior, Dubrovnik, Croatia

A historic villa courting from 1913 within the Unesco-registered outdated city district of Dubrovnik has developed into one of the lavish resorts on the Adriatic. So it isn’t shocking that the Excelsior was the handle of selection for the Queen on the finish of a 1972 tour of what was then Yugoslavia, her first expertise of a communist nation. The royal occasion began in Belgrade then headed to Zagreb, Pula and the little-known Brijuni Islands simply offshore, earlier than discovering sanctuary within the Presidential suite up within the tower of the Excelsior, with panoramic views from its wraparound balcony.
Particulars B&B doubles from £223 (adriaticluxuryhotels.com). Fly to Dubrovnik

L’Oustau de Baumanière, Provence

OLIVIER METZGER

9. L’Oustau de Baumanière, Provence, France

The Queen has been to France not less than a dozen occasions, and on the event of her second state go to to the nation, in 1972, she mixed a reception at Versailles with a cease to see her uncle, King Edward VIII, and his spouse, Wallis Simpson, at their residence within the Bois de Boulogne. Afterwards the royal couple headed south to Provence, the place they stayed within the fairly village of Les Baux, whose ruined fortress sits atop a rocky outcrop. Their lodging right here was L’Oustau de Baumanière, a discreet Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms that has a protracted historical past in French gastronomy.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £185 (baumaniere.com). Take the practice to Avignon, or fly to Marseilles or Montpellier

10. Huka Lodge, Taupo, New Zealand

The Queen has stayed on the spectacularly situated Huka Lodge on North Island a number of occasions, first within the Nineteen Eighties. What started life as a tented fishing camp on the Waikato River now has 22 luxurious suites and residences; the royal occasion took over the entire place. The Queen was supposedly keen on the trout fishing, and the serenity will need to have come as a aid after a sticky encounter with an egg-throwing protester at an Auckland racecourse throughout her 1986 tour. Today there’s nothing tent-like concerning the lavish interiors, and the room price contains Michelin-starred dinners, preceded by hearth cocktails.
Particulars Full-board doubles from £1,428, together with airport transfers (hukalodge.com). Fly to Auckland

The Ahwahnee, Yosemite

GETTY IMAGES

11. The Ahwahnee, Yosemite, USA

In 1983 the Queen launched into an adventurous journey alongside America’s west coast, from San Diego to Seattle. En route she popped into the world’s first nationwide park, Yosemite, in California, staying within the grand Ahwahnee. The lodge was in-built 1927 in a hotchpotch of types — artwork deco, Native American, Center Jap, Arts and Crafts — in a bid to draw the elite. Huge home windows drink in views of Yosemite Falls and Glacier Level. The Queen slept in its Tresidder Suite, though your entire 123-room lodge was reserved for her personal use.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £414 (nationalparkreservations.com). Fly to San Francisco

The Adolphus, Dallas

ALAMY

12. The Adolphus, Dallas, USA

Having beforehand seen the west coast, the Queen returned to America in 1991, travelling on Concorde to go to the east coast, Florida and several other locations in Texas. That included staying in Stetson nation, in Dallas, the place the towering Adolphus guidelines the roost. The lodge was constructed by Adolphus Busch, brewer of Budweiser, and it introduced landmark glamour to cowpoke nation. Its public areas are luxurious and oak-lined, whereas its restaurant — the French Room — ideas its hat to Versailles. There may be, after all, a rooftop pool.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £222 (adolphus.com). Fly to Dallas

13. Labadi Seaside, Accra, Ghana

Generally there are few lodge choices for a royal go to, so it’s a query of constructing the perfect of what’s obtainable. Such was the case in Ghana, in 1999. Having been welcomed with a libation of gin on the airport tarmac, to convey good luck, the Queen stayed in Labadi Seaside Lodge, in Accra’s coastal suburbs. This timber-framed lodge with courtyard gardens has no explicit grandeur, but it surely does have a spa and a pool and the situation is a aid after the warmth of the town streets. In 2022 its seaside is a spot for partying, when sound programs make the sand bounce.
Particulars B&B doubles from £222 (labadibeachhotel.xyz). Fly to Accra

The Half Moon, Montego Bay

14. The Half Moon, Montego Bay, Jamaica

There’s loads of privateness for the Half Moon’s friends, together with the Queen, who stayed right here in 2002, due to its 237 rooms and villas scattered alongside a two-mile crescent seaside. The principle constructing is evocative of Nineteen Fifties plantation homes and the property has 9 eating places, though high-rolling friends barely have to dine out since each villa has its personal butler and chef. Different celeb guests have included Paul Newman and John F Kennedy along with his spouse Jackie. And though the resort has no fewer than 11 tennis courts, we’re guessing Her Majesty was extra thinking about its devoted equestrian centre.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £428 (halfmoon.com). Fly to Montego Bay

Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta

15. Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta, Canada

Because of its Commonwealth standing and spot subsequent door to the US, Canada has welcomed the Queen greater than 20 occasions, typically to remain within the big-city Fairmont Empress in Victoria or the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. However for tranquillity she favored the Park Lodge in Jasper Nationwide Park. Its 440 rooms are unfold alongside the shores of Lac Beauvert, the place there’s peace and quiet for days; in 2005 she and Prince Philip took over its secluded six-bedroom wood-framed Outlook Cabin (aka Royal Retreat), which has majestic patio views of the Canadian Rockies.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £267 (jasper-park-lodge.com). Fly to Edmonton

16. Raffles Lodge, Singapore

The birthplace of the Singapore sling has additionally had the Queen to remain. As a rule, Singapore doesn’t have a lot time for classic buildings, however the Raffles is an exception, an opulent 1887 oasis in lush tropical gardens within the coronary heart of an in any other case concrete-and-steel enterprise district. Named after the founder of recent Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, the all-suite lodge has hosted stars resembling Charlie Chaplin and Noël Coward over time. The Queen was right here on a state go to in 2006, and had time to go to the races on the Singapore Turf Membership.
Particulars Suite-only from £561 (rafflessingapore.com). Fly to Singapore

The Hebridean Princess in Scotland

ALAMY

17. The Hebridean Princess, Scotland

A lot of Her Majesty’s state visits have been primarily based on the Royal Yacht Britannia, till it was decommissioned in 1997, and her chartering of the luxurious Hebridean Princess for household celebrations in each 2006 and 2010 implies a lingering affection for journey by boat. This intimate cruise ship — simply 30 cabins on a former CalMac ferry — types itself as a country-house lodge on the ocean, full with an inglenook hearth. Most of its itineraries (together with hers) deal with the Scottish islands, the place its small measurement permits entry to locations bigger ships can’t attain.
Particulars Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £4,760pp (hebridean.co.uk). Fly to Glasgow for air and highway connections to Oban

18. Kampala Serena, Kampala, Uganda

Commonwealth heads of presidency conferences have been a daily function of the Queen’s travels. The 2007 summit was in Kampala, the quietly elegant capital of Uganda, the place she was accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, who elected to do a lot of the round-the-country visits on her behalf. The royal occasion stayed on the Kampala Serena, a 152-room resort lodge embellished with wrought-iron and hand-carved wooden panels, a ten-minute stroll from parliament. Breakfast is served on the terrace, past which a giant swimming pool hides amongst acres of lush gardens.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £177 (serenahotels.com). Fly to Kampala

19. Grand Lodge Union, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Regardless of the identify, this should rank as one of many Queen’s extra modest stays, in considered one of Europe’s extra diminutive capital cities (inhabitants 280,000). She was briefly right here in 2008, though she did have time to go to a stud farm of Lipizzan horses, that are broadly utilized in dressage. When it was in-built 1905 the Grand Union included a live performance corridor and a bowling alley, and its artwork nouveau café was a gathering place for metropolis intellectuals. However nowadays it’s a gently elegant four-star, though it has a swimming pool up on the highest ground, unusually extravagant for Ljubljana.
Particulars B&B doubles from £115 (uhcollection.si). Fly to Ljubljana

Lodge Adlon Kempinski, Berlin

20. Lodge Adlon Kempinski, Berlin, Germany

The Adlon, which stands proper beside the Brandenburg Gate, has lengthy been the grande dame of Berlin resorts, and the Queen stayed in its Royal Suite on her most up-to-date state go to, in 2015. The unique constructing on the positioning had its golden period within the Twenties and Nineteen Thirties, internet hosting a who’s who of politicians and celebrities, however then it decayed throughout the Communist period, and was ultimately demolished as a part of the buffer zone beside the Wall. After reunification it was rebuilt within the fashion of a real traditional, all marble and velvet, polished wooden and lower glass, and it’s conveniently near the Reichstag.
Particulars Room-only doubles from £340 (kempinski.com). Fly to Berlin

Join our Instances Journey e-newsletter and observe us on Instagram and Twitter