If you’ve got a flight in the early morning, getting to Athens’ airport from the city center can be painful. The train only runs every 30 minutes, and can be so crowded with people getting to work, that boarding with luggage becomes a struggle. So for our recent trip to Luxor, Egypt, we decided to spend some of our hard-earned miles on a night at the Sofitel, located directly across from the airport terminal.
We see this hotel every time we fly into Athens, and long wondered what it’d be like to stay there. But the Sofitel isn’t just convenient: it’s expensive. This five-star hotel just isn’t in our regular travel budget. Luckily, that’s what miles are for!
We arrived at the airport at 4pm, and walked the short distance to the hotel. Entering the lobby is a “wow” moment; upscale, cozy and modern, there’s no mistaking you’re in a five-star joint. A line of crew members from Aegean Air were ahead of us while checking in, but things moved along pretty quickly.
Our room was on the fifth floor. Actually opening the door, we felt a bit of a letdown — maybe the size and luxury of the lobby gave us some false expectations, but this was basically just a hotel room, and not even very big. Still, we had an incredible view towards the airport tower, and it was just for one night anyway.
We’ve stayed at other airport hotels, and although it’s always convenient, there’s usually one big problem: the noise of the airplanes. It’s not even something you can complain about. I mean, you choose to sleep at the hotel next to the airport, and noise is the trade-off. However at the Sofitel, we immediately noticed that this wasn’t going to be a problem. Not a squeak from the roaring jet engines managed to penetrate our walls, setting us up for a restful night of sleep.
After dropping off our bags and allowing ourselves a quick siesta, we set out to explore the hotel. We went straight to the top floor to check out the amazing pool and spa area. We also took a look at Jenny’s Rooftop Restaurant, which has a gorgeous interior design. The best is the outdoor terrace, which we were able to go out on, though it’s closed for the winter season.
There are a couple other restaurants in the hotel, though we didn’t sample any of them (remember: we were there on the cheap!) But the thing which struck us most about the Sofitel is how quickly you lose sight of where you are. This does not feel like a typical airport hotel, but like a destination in itself. I wonder how many people have had one too many drinks at dinner, another few too many at the bar, and then woken up too late for that early morning flight…
From our Travel Blog.