This Christmas we have had the privilege of staying in one of the most exclusive hotels in the world, right in the heart of our most favourite city.

A bit of history

The Connaught is a dreamy hotel situated in the heart of Mayfair in Central London. Opened for the first time in 1815 as the Prince of Sax-Coburg Hotel, it was formed by two houses owned by the Duke of Westminster. During the beginning of the 20th century, the hotel went through a number of restorations and saw it’s name change to the more English “Connaught”, after Queen Victoria’s seventh child Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. The last restoration was in 2007, where among the highlights are a new wing, the Aman Spa, a serene Japanese garden and David Collins’ luxurious Apartment suite.

Our stay

During the past year, we have made the habit of basing most of our afternoon walks in Mayfair, an area we are absolutely in love with. We often stopped to take pictures of The Connaught from Carlos Place, dreaming about what may be inside and thinking of what an amazing shot we would be able to take of the square from one of the suites. This Christmas our dream came true, as we had the opportunity of living the experience at the Connaught at full by staying in one of their gorgeous suites.

We arrived early in the afternoon and were greeted by their lovely staff. They showed us around the hotel, which gave us the opportunity to see their beautiful Christmas decorations. There was a very festive and cozy atmosphere, which blended perfectly with the hotel’s elegant and sophisticated style.

The suite was absolutely wonderful. We were welcomed by a fresh bottle of champagne and some seasonal fruit in the living room, where we relaxed and admired the beautiful view over Carlos Square.

After a nice and warm shower, we decided to go for a walk, as the hotel is positioned right in the heart of Mayfair’s shopping district. We strolled through a festive and decorated Mount Street and grabbed a few glasses of mulled wine with some nuts from the stands. We took advantage of the Burberry trenches that the hotel offers to their guests in the suites to stay warm, which was a pleasant surprise as we are absolutely in love with Burberry’s style!

As it was starting to get dark and we really wanted to get cozy, we decided to go back to the hotel and have some drinks and snacks at the cocktail bar, as we had heard amazing things about it. In fact, the Connaught Bar has been elected as the best cocktail bar in the world at the 10th Annual Spirited Awards during the Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans, and it is the only bar that has won this award twice.

We went for two their masterpieces, the Connaught Martini and the Faraway Collins. Our amazing barman prepared the the Martini in front of our eyes, by blending the Ketel One Vodka with Dry Vermouth and vanilla, grapefruit and lavender bitter. The cocktails were really tasty, but what stood up above all was the sophisticated and relaxing atmosphere that the bar was able to offer.

Tired – and also a little tipsy to be honest – we headed up to our room where our king size bed was waiting for us. We decided to order breakfast in our room for the next morning, as we wanted to continue benefitting from their amazing room service. We ordered a Japanese breakfast, together with a cheese omelette and a salmon and egg roll plus some fresh fruit and croissants.

Everything was delicious, and we strongly suggest you try the Japanese breakfast if you are looking for something new and tasty.

After this lovely feast, unfortunately for us it was time to go back to reality. We signed out around noon and thanked the whole staff one by one for the amazing service that they offered, and headed happily back home.