The Augustine

The Augustine Review

There's plenty of competition in Prague's high-end hotel market, but Rocco Forte's Augustine has vaulted to the top. How did they pull it off? First, there's the historic location, converted from a 13th-century monastery, with several monks still living on the grounds. Then there's the impeccable service. And finally, the rooms themselves: designed by Olga Polizzi, they incorporate modernist and cubist furniture designs—chaises, dressers—and art from '20s and '30s Czechoslovakia, splashes of color on the unfinished wood floors. Bathrooms are spacious, with polished marble floors, rainfall showers, and expansive tubs. (Check out those television sets in the wall.) Some rooms even incorporate old bits of the monastery, like a 300-year-old door and doorframe. The spa isn't left out of this Czech theme, with treatments that involve beer brewed by the monks; there's a bar in the cellar where the monks used to do exactly that, as well as a more formal continental restaurant upstairs. There may be other five-star hotels in the city, but the Augustine is the first to reflect Prague's own beauty back.