Historic Hotels: UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Europe. Nights In The Past

Travelling to the USA? Then take a look at our (unofficial) list of the 20 Most Historic Places to Stay in America and sleep somewhere special in the Land of the Free

Cottages and Self-Catering...

While we try to keep our focus on hotels and inns, those seeking self-catering breaks and holidays in historic surroundings might find what they’re looking for by browsing the selection of specialist providers below:

English Country Cottages have a large range of places to stay throughout the country, while Dales Luxury Holiday Cottages specialise in UK self-catering accommodation throughout the Yorkshire Dales and Scotland.

Helpful Holidays and Blue Chip Vacations both offer self-catering accommodation throughout the south west of England (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset). specialise not only in UK properties, but also offer a large number of places to stay across Europe, including France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Both Interhome, Bowhills and Belvilla provide self-catering options throughout Europe. Many of these are period properties, including farmhouses.

Why travel to such a historic country and put-up in a soulless building-site box when you can rest in places such as the Palacio Eugenia de Montijo in Toledo, Spain? This renaissance building was once home to the wife of Napoleon III, and possesses remarkable architectural features such as a Roman sewer system and Arab walls from the 14th century. For secure online booking and information, try www.lastminute.com or Expedia

If ‘history holidays’ are on the agenda, then the Lygon Arms in Worcestershire, UK, ensures that the heritage experience doesn’t end at the hotel door. This beautiful building is famed for its links with the English Civil War, and is where both King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell stayed on occasions during that time. The luxury hotel is ideal for those seeking to explore the Cotswolds - one of Britain’s most picturesque areas. For details visit the Lygon Arms' Own Site

Historic Holidays. Modern Ways Of Getting There.

In the Air: Internationally respected, it’s always worth checking for deals at BMI UK, , Air France UK, KLM, Qatar Airways and Virgin or searching across numerous carriers with Skyscanner or Airline Network

On the Sea: Whether you’re travelling from the UK to the continent or the other way around, it’s worth looking for special offers with and Condor Ferries. Alternatively, search from crossings with various lines through FerryCheap. And if that’s not your thing then you can always travel between London and Paris on Eurostar via Thomas Cook

Could this be one of the best places for a romantic break or honeymoon in the world? Quite possibly. After all, the Luna Convento overlooks the Neopolitan Riviera in Amalfi, Italy. But what makes it a truly special place to stay is that parts of the building are almost 800 years old and once a convent founded by St. Francis of Assisi. Since opening as a hotel in 1821, the building has played host to the famous and infamous: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Wagner and Benito Mussolini have all stayed here. Find out more with Expedia

Devotees of classical music should certainly stay at the Hotel Konig Von Ungarn in Vienna, Austria. After all, it was here that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), and the "Figarohaus" in which Mozart lived between 1784 and 1787 forms part of the hotel`s building complex today. Indeed, the building was also frequented by both Haydn and Beethoven. Find the best deal, compare prices and read what other travelers have to say at TripAdvisor

Undoubtedly one of the most important heritage hotels in the country, The Hotel Elephant in Weimar, Germany, dates back to 1542. Restored and re-opened as a luxury hotel in the 1990‘s, it once played host to the likes of Liszt, Bach, Tolstoy, Marx and Nietzsche. And it’s had its share of notorious past visitors too, Adolf Hitler among them. Find out more about this fascinating hotel via Expedia

Nights In The Past Update: Spring 2010

Coming Soon... Our guide to haunted hotels in the UK. It doesn’t matter if you believe or not, we’ll be adding plenty of lovely old places to stay with bags of character. And that’s a promise.

New... Improved sections devoted to Historic Hotels in Spain and France

New... Offers on historic hotel accommodation including a few discount voucher codes when available.

This is also a completely clean site, free of scams, phishing and all the other nonsense which gives the internet a bad name. Proof is here.

Nights In The Past is a guide to historic and period hotels and accommodation throughout the UK, France, Italy, and Western Europe, including Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Germany. We focus primarily upon those hotels and inns with connections to famous historic figures and events, from the medieval period to World War II. Our aim is to provide information to those seeking historic places to stay be it for weekend breaks, heritage tours, romantic getaways, honeymoons or even business travel. Thank you for visiting.

Don’t think that you’ll have to stay in some modernist shed if you travel Down Under. See our list of 19th Century Hotels, Inns and B&B’s in Australia.

Go Time Travelling...

Welcome to Nights In The Past, the internet guide to places to stay of exceptional heritage: luxury historic hotels, old inns, beautiful chateaux, period bed & breakfasts, boutique hotels, ancient castles and more.

We feature both those places connected to famous figures and events in addition to accommodation of historic significance: medieval, Tudor, Elizabethan, Georgian and other periods up to the mid-Victorian.

If you’re looking for somewhere for a romantic break, business travel, weekend away, family holiday, history tour or honeymoon, we hope we can help you find what you’re seeking.

Thank you for visiting, please bookmark us and check back soon.

Historic Hotels in England, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Belgium and more...

Nights In The Past’s Friends

Nights In The Past is extremely proud to be an approved affiliate of many of the leading, most trusted, travel sites and online reservation companies on the internet. We therefore hugely appreciate anyone booking with them via Nights In The Past as it helps ensure that the site can expand and improve its service in years to come. These include:

How You Can Help...

We are always keen to learn of accommodation of historic interest, so if you believe you know of somewhere that should be featured on Nights In The Past, please email us and let us know.

We are particularly interested in those connected to historic icons, but also feature quality hotels and inns that have retained as much of their period character as possible.

In essence, if they are beautiful and romantic places to stay and at least 150 years old, we’ll endeavour to include them.

Stay Somewhere Really Ancient...

It’s taken thousands of hours to research and put together Nights In The Past and, during that time, we’ve come across some remarkably old buildings which operate as hotels, inns and other accommodation. Indeed, we’ve encountered some with origins dating back to before 1000 A.D.

Here are our lists (which we’ll update as we continue to develop the site) of the oldest hotels and inns in: The UK, France, Italy, Germany, Austria & Switzerland and Spain & Portugal. Furthermore, just to prove that even the most youthful of countries have wonderfully historic places to stay, we thought we’d compile a list of the oldest accommodation premises in Australia.