Hotel Mio's sleek and elegant design leave nothing to be desired (Photo courtesy of Hotel Mio)
Situated on one of the most sought-after avenues in Recoleta, Mio Buenos Aires captivates you from the moment you open the six-metre high French oak door and cross the threshold.
In a city like Buenos Aires, new places to rest your head are always popping up. Touting bells and whistles designed to lure in tourists, many of these hotels fall short and leave us disappointed. Enter Mio, so meticulously thought-out that no detail has gone overlooked, not one sumptuous service spared. Warm earthy elements combine with sleek modern design to create what aims to be a new paradigm in luxury accommodation.
This fresh approach, combining design, art and the world of wine is run by César Catena, cousin of Nicolás Catena (whose name you’ve seen on more than your fair share of wine bottles). With a focus on business travel and high-end tourism, the family aims to deliver the same stellar quality that people have come to trust from their wines.
As suggested by the name (“Mio” translates to “mine” in Spanish), guests are meant to feel at home during their stay at the hotel. Thirty rooms ranging from 50 to 100 square metres are at your disposition, all appointed with materials like French oak (recycled from wine barrels), marble, inviting linens and modern components like stainless steel fixtures and flat screen TVs. They’re incredibly spacious and luminous, and balconies allow guests to step out for a bit of fresh air. It’s a nice break from the standard stuffiness seen in other hotels, neither too pretentious nor too modest. The idea, after all, is to create an utterly luxe atmosphere.
Touches like a Nespresso machine, full mini-bar and “on-tap” wines – red, white and sparkling – are complimentary and make even the most pedestrian guest feel like royalty. A centrepiece of the room, the bathtubs are carved from single tree trunks and are ceremoniously placed outside the bathroom atop a marble platform, incorporated with the rest of the space. It’s hard to resist the urge to draw a hot bath and slide in after a day about town.
Rich organic elements are seamlessly intertwined with clean, almost industrial lines, lending a unique edge to the space. The hotel is natural and inviting, ensuring that your stay will be nothing short of relaxing and stress-free. Located on the 8th floor, the Spa makes you feel as though you’re in some dense tropical jungle. The lap pool is tiled in a blue so deep it’s almost black, and is accompanied by a waterfall and greenery. A handful of cardio machines provide guests the chance to work off the extra calories hard to avoid in Buenos Aires. On the other side of the Spa are two well-appointed cabanas offering a wide variety of massage and other treatments. Dark woods and stone add to the intimacy of the entire space.
Hotel Mio's restaurant (Photo courtesy of Hotel Mio)
A valued addition to the hotel is the presence of Tô, known for being the first and only restaurant to serve Frapanese cuisine in Argentina. Chef Toufic Reda takes great care to construct a menu designed around only the best ingredients. Quality and innovation are guiding principles here; the lunch menu changes every three weeks, the dinner menu with the seasons. The salmon carpaccio was excellent, and while it was more than disappointing to see cream cheese used in the sushi, the Dragon roll was eye-catching and delicious. Moving toward traditional French cuisine, the grilled sweetbreads with glazed pears in a merlot sauce were indulgent and well balanced. A chocolate and passion fruit dessert was rich but the citrus sauce kept things light. Wine fanatics will be pleased to know that the selection at Tô goes beyond standard Argentine offerings. Bottles imported from countries all over the world result in one of the city’s most extensive wine lists, a welcome change indeed.
When you’re in Mio, you want to stay there. It’s at once fabulous and understated, chic and classic. Sunlight pours in from all sides, and when you aren’t enjoying one of the many incredible services available to guests, you’re napping peacefully on that insanely comfortable bed upstairs. It provides you with respite from the chaos that buzzes outside and is able to meet every need that might arise during your stay. If you’re planning a trip to Buenos Aires, you don’t want to miss out on a chance to be a part of the Mio hotel experience.
