Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard Bucharest – the ballroom returns

At the corner where Calea Victoriei meets Elisabeta Boulevard, Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard Bucharest occupies one of Romania's most storied addresses. Built in 1867 at the request of the jeweller Jacques Herdan, the building opened as Hotel Herdan in 1873 and was renamed Grand Hotel du Boulevard four years later, by which point it had already become the first hotel in the city with electric lighting and a lift. Over the decades it welcomed the Austrian emperor Franz Josef, the poet Tudor Arghezi and the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, before decades of institutional use left it closed to travellers. A meticulous restoration returned it to service in March 2025 under Corinthia's management, with only 30 suites behind the restored façade — an unusually intimate scale for a building this grand. The MICHELIN Guide recognises the result with Two Keys.

01The house

The architect behind the building, Alexandru Orăscu, was already a leading figure in Romanian Neoclassical and Renaissance-revival design, having refined his training in Berlin and Munich before going on to draft Bucharest's 1893 city plan and serve as Minister of Culture and Public Instruction in 1876; his contribution to Romanian architecture was later marked with a postage stamp in 1967. He built the hotel for Jacques Herdan, who owned a prosperous bread factory and had acquired the plot in 1865.

Herdan's hotel set early benchmarks for the city: it was the first in Bucharest to offer running water in every room, and by 1904 it had added electric lighting throughout and its own lift. The quality of the operation was recognised abroad too, with gold medals at the Milan exhibition of 1906 and the Turin exhibition of 1911.

The twentieth century was less kind to the building: it served as the headquarters of the German military in Romania between 1941 and 1944 and later passed into use as a government building, a stretch of institutional life far removed from its ballroom years. It survives today as a listed Category A historic monument.

Its return to hospitality began with a management agreement signed on 5 March 2018 between Corinthia Hotels and the building's owner, NIRO Investment Group, which entrusted operation of the restored hotel to Corinthia. The renovation, spanning more than 8,500 square metres, was completed in March 2025, and the hotel welcomed its first new-era guests on 24 March that year. Much of the original grandeur survives, from the restored ballroom to marble staircases and architectural detailing throughout the ground floor.

02Rooms and suites

Every one of the hotel's 30 rooms is a suite, giving the building a residential feel closer to a private house than a grand hotel, with each space designed around bespoke furnishings, specially chosen artwork and tall windows that pull in daylight. Categories run from Junior and Superior through Deluxe, Grand Deluxe and the top-tier Signature Suite, and each draws its design language from Mihai Eminescu's poem The Blue Flower, expressed through hand-painted gold foil canvases, deep blue velvet and marble finishes.

Insider tip

On the edge of the Old Town, steps from Strada Lipscani and the Odeon Theatre.

The Deluxe Suite, at 46 to 51 square metres, pairs a sumptuous bed with a marble-clad bathroom built around a bathtub and separate shower, plus a walk-in wardrobe. The Grand Deluxe Suite steps up to 75–82 square metres, with a marble bathroom finished with a soaking tub and rain shower and an extendable sofa in the living room, while the Signature Suite, at 115–116 square metres, is the only category with its own private library doubling as an office, a second bathroom and a discreet service entrance — all positioned to catch views across the crossroads of Calea Victoriei and Elisabeta Boulevard, or over the vine-covered inner courtyard on quieter sides of the building.

03Where to eat

Sass' Restaurant & Lounge brought the Monaco original its first permanent address outside the principality, alongside a pop-up restaurant in Saudi Arabia. The Bucharest outpost of the family business founded in 1993 by Salvador "Sassa" and Yolande, and later run by their son Samy, serves sharing-style dishes paired with wines from France and Italy, in a baroque-style room finished with bold leopard print, gold accents and red ambient lighting. A live band plays through dinner, and on weekend nights the restaurant shifts into an adults-only lounge, with children over 11 welcome only until 11pm.

Boulevard 73 occupies the hotel's restored ballroom, originally conceived as an à la carte room blending French and Romanian flavours, and today doubling as the house's event space for banquets, private celebrations and corporate gatherings beneath its original architectural detailing.

04The bar

Heritage Bar takes a quieter register: velvet armchairs, tall windows and a fireside room watched over by a taxidermic peacock. The list runs to rare whiskies and cocktails built around ingredients such as apricot brandy and cardamom bitters, with bar food from croquettes and truffle potatoes to gold-leaf chocolates, served across a single all-day sitting that stretches from morning coffee to late-night drinks.

05Spa and wellbeing

On the fourth floor, Corinthia Spa Bucharest x THAIco pairs Romanian materials with Thai wellness traditions, its treatments delivered by Asian therapists trained in traditional Thai massage techniques. The thermal suite runs to a Finnish sauna, steam room and ice fountain, while two private treatment rooms keep the scale intimate rather than resort-sized. A top-floor gym, fitted with Technogym equipment, completes the offer, set apart from the spa itself for guests who prefer to train before breakfast.

06The neighbourhood

The hotel sits on the edge of Bucharest's Old Town, close to the Odeon Theatre, the Macca-Villacrosse Passage and the National Military Club, all within a few minutes on foot. Walk west along Elisabeta Boulevard for cafés, patisseries and the city's art deco and Neo-Romanian architecture around the Bucharest National Opera House, or head north toward Cișmigiu, where former factories and warehouses now hold wine bars and music venues.

07Making the most of a stay

The concierge team arranges guided architecture walks, wine tastings, day trips into the castle-filled Carpathians around Transylvania and helicopter excursions to a bear sanctuary near Brașov. One suite is fully accessible, and guests with specific requirements are asked to contact the hotel directly ahead of arrival.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.