American Colony Hotel

American Colony Hotel Review

Once a pasha's palace, this cool limestone oasis with its flower-filled inner courtyard has been a hotel for more than a century. It's a 10-minute walk from the Damascus Gate, in East Jerusalem, but worlds away from the hubbub of the Old City. A favorite haunt of American and British expats, foreign journalists, and diplomats, the hotel (Swiss-run and affiliated with The Leading Small Hotels of the World) is famous for its ambience: turquoise-and-blue tilework, Damascene wood inlay, potted palms. The best, exceptionally large rooms breathe elegance, with rug-strewn flagstone floors and vaulted or antique painted-wood ceilings. At press time, the hotel was being renovated, one wing at a time, with some guest rooms redesigned in an antique style.