Hotel Van Zandt Getaway

We revisited the Hotel Van Zandt last week for for a quick getaway and had an awesome time.  If you haven’t been, it’s located just off Rainey St. in downtown Austin, Texas, where you’ll find some great nightlife.

Last time we were here we stayed in one of their city view, two room suites, which by any standards are very nice. This time we were very excited to hear they had bumped us up to Loretta’s Suite, which was one of their top rooms!

As with all of their rooms, their attention to detail is fantastic.  In addition to what you would normally expect, the room came with among other things, a full-size Gaggenau refrigerator, freezer and microwave, remote control blinds, and a record player with a catalog of records to choose from.

Enough about the room.  It was only 1 pm and our dinner reservations weren’t until 6, so we went to grab a quick bite to eat at the cafe downstairs and took a walk around the hotel.  I was surprised to find that they had tented off the outside pool deck to keep it warm enough for swimming in the winter.

After a quick tour around the hotel, we decided to take a walk down Rainey St. to check out some of the favorite outdoor bars we used to visit and grab a drink. We stopped by Lucille’s and Icenhauer’s, then grabbed some mini donuts from Little Lucy’s.  We’ve only been in Austin 3 years, and it’s crazy how much Rainey St. has changed even in that little time. We heard that one of the food truck lots was closing down for a new skyscraper to be built, so it was nice to see they found a place just down the street.

After Rainey St., we stopped by the happy hour by the lobby for a complimentary margarita and wine, then headed off to dinner at the Geraldine’s.  If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it.  Sometimes when you stay at nice hotels, their in-hotel restaurant is filled with high priced, bland food.  That’s not the case here.  Even if you’re not staying at the Van Zandt, Geraldine’s is well worth the visit.  They serve small plates you can share with the table, so we tried out 6 different plates like their Ceviche Tacos, Smoked Carrots, Chapalote Grits with Oxtail, and the Pig Face Candy Bar.  Lee isn’t usually the adventurous eater, but she really enjoyed it.  One of the biggest flavor surprises were the Smoked Carrots.  If you stop by Geraldine’s you have to try them, they taste like a smoked beef brisket!

The entire trip was a nice refresher from our normal routine, and helped us to disconnect from our computers and phones – something we’re hoping to do more of in the new year.

 

Check out the room in 360!
(click and drag the photo)

 

Check out our video!

 
 

Thanks to the Hotel Van Zandt for hosting us!

 

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