A stay at Hotel Ambra Cortina in the Southern Alps

Perfectly placed in the centre of the picturesque mountain town of Cortina D’ampezzo, Hotel Ambra Cortina provides a luxurious yet homely base for those looking to visit the ski resort.

But as I quickly learnt, Cortina isn’t a place just for skiers – it’s one of North Italy’s go-to resorts for high fliers and fashion lovers, with a main street packed with designer boutiques.

And Elisabetta, the hotel’s owner, has put her heart and soul into creating an atmosphere that oozes the sophistication and rustic glamour one would expect from such a destination.

Introducing Hotel Ambra Cortina

Styled as a “four star hotel that feels like a five”, Hotel Ambra Cortina offers bijou accommodation for the refined traveller.

Recently renovated to turn Elisabetta’s vision for the hotel into a reality, each floor has a theme: cinema, nature, fashion, theatre and luxury, with every room named and given its own unique design.

 A theatrical experience

During our visit we stayed on the theatre floor in the lush Red Room. With deep red soft furnishings and decorative wooden panels, it really did exude a theatrical vibe and lying on my four-poster bed it was easy to slip into delusions of grandeur!

Although the rooms couldn’t be considered exceptionally large they did feel spacious, with room for a small sitting area and lots of storage space. Plus we were lucky enough to have a room with a balcony that provided amazing views of the Dolomites mountain range. It was such a wonderful sight to wake up to every morning!

I also loved our bathroom, with its lighted glamour mirror reminding you of the theatrical aura of the room and decadent double shower. There’s lots of lovely personalisation to be found here too, with Hotel Ambra Cortina toiletries and even the slippers, dressing gowns and bath linen monogrammed with the hotel’s logo.

Special touches

And as a sucker for those ‘little touches’ that turn a hotel from somewhere to lay your head to something special, I loved the sweet touch to our turndown service, which saw us return to a room lit by mood lighting and heart-shaped chocolates left on our pillow.

Eager to see how our rooms compared to elsewhere in the hotel, we were given a sneaky tour around each floor, allowing us to see how each theme different. They all had that ‘Hotel Ambra Cortina’ feel, with high quality furnishings and the like, but there was a definitive change in the colours, styling and decoration used.

For example, the nature-themed rooms felt clean and relaxing with pale shades of green, and the cinema rooms crisp and bright, with beautiful artwork of classic stars and movies adoring the wall.

Of course it’s no surprise that without fail the most beautiful of the rooms are found on the top floor, where you’ll find the luxury suites, replete with boiserie panelling and the gold styling. If that wasn’t enough some also come with an inviting Jacuzzi bath!

The rooms themselves are the highlight of this hotel, but you will also find a pretty little lounge area and bar in the lobby. Here you’ll find more of the kinds of coffee table books and stylish magazines that are displayed in the rooms, plus a member of staff will make you the drink of your choice. A great place to meet friends before venturing out, I tried the house cocktail, made of tonic water, orange juice, gin and prosecco and I now have a new favourite tipple!

Breakfast is served in a cosy space in the hotel’s lowest floor, decorated in a classic country style with wooden chairs and benches.

Along the length of the rooms lies a continental spread fit for a king, with everything you could ever think of wanting for breakfast from hams, cheeses, breads and pastries through to cereals, yoghurts, biscuits and cakes – one day this included an exceptionally rich chocolate cake!

What we thought

At Hotel Ambra Cortina you feel like an honoured guest: always greeted with a warm welcome when you walk through the door, as well as a Baci chocolate on the reception! The team of attentive staff are always happy to help with any requests or questions, recommending places to go and offer advice on what to see. We loved their restaurant recommendation for LP26 – if you’re a fan of prosciutto, this is the place for you.

On the downside we did miss having a kettle in our room and we also found that it wasn’t really clear that hot breakfasts were also available – we discovered this on our last morning – but these small issues far from marred our stay.

Overall our visit to Hotel Ambra Cortina was memorable for all the right reasons. The hospitality of Elisabetta and her team could not be faulted and it was wonderful to stay somewhere so stylish yet so warm and friendly.

My stay at Hotel Ambra Cortina was complimentary for the purposes of review but as ever, all views are my own.