Last month Daniel and I celebrated 4 years of an amazing relationship.

If you already got to know me a bit you probably know that in my opinion there’s no better way to celebrate such a significant milestone than with a long weekend away including good restaurants, lots of alcohol and the cherry on top – a pampering and an urban boutique hotel.

If we’re going to get pampered – then we might as well go all the way!

It’s true, we spend a lot of time in Tel Aviv, but we were in the mood to visit as complete tourists.

I got to this boutique hotel in Tel Aviv, the CUCU Hotel, through an article Daniel sent me recently about new hotels in Tel Aviv, and it’s bizarre and special design caught my attention.

The CUCU Hotel, as implied by its name, is very different from other hotels in the Tel Aviv scenery, ranging from boutique hotels with spectacular classic designs to hotels that haven’t been renovated since the 80’s, and is characterized by a colorful and avant-garde design that reminded me of very charming boutique hotels I saw when I traveled abroad.

Let’s cut to the chase – everything you want to know about this hotel

As fit for a boutique hotel, CUCU Hotel has a relatively small number of rooms – 33 different kinds of rooms {Classic, Classic +, Superior} and one suite, in which we indulged in ;).

The location

When planning a vacation in Tel Aviv, one of the most important things is the hotel’s location – a location that’ll allow you to get anywhere you want, whether you want to go to restaurants, bars, the beach or even a cool shopping area, without, heaven forbid, having to move your car.

CUCU Hotel‘s location is perfect for a true urban vacation in Tel Aviv, since it’s located in the center of everything – on the busy Dizengoff Street, between Dizengoff Center and Dizengoff Square.
Honestly, I was a bit nervous about the hotel's location on such a busy street {especially on a Friday}, but I was happy to discover the entire hotel and the rooms in particular, were incredibly sound-proof, so even when the balcony door was open – the room was amazingly quiet.

Staff and ambience

The staff is super friendly at the CUCU Hotel.

When we walked into the hotel, the receptionist, Tzipi, greeted us with a big smile, told us a bit about the hotel and made sure we felt comfortable in the hotel’s lounge {the lobby} until our room was ready for us.

In the hotel’s lounge you’ll find comfortable armchairs and small tables with a variety of newspapers that will make your waiting time more pleasant, if you arrive early for check-in, like us, or if you’re just waiting for your partner to finally get out of the room.

Although there’s no bar or restaurant in the hotel’s lobby, the place is equipped with a hot beverage machine, a water bar, a large variety of all kinds of tea and jars of delicious cookies.
Bottom line? If you ask me – when a hotel is in such a central location and surrounded by restaurants and cafes, you don’t need more than this. But you could also indulge in a hot drink throughout the day with no additional charges, which is always fun 😉

The design

Though I already wrote a bit about the hotel’s design at the beginning of this post, when it comes to such special designing, there’s no doubt it deserves its own category!

The hotel owners were able to perfectly sum up the hotel’s look in one word – Cucu. Crazy.

The surrealistic design starts outside the hotel – the white facade is decorated with colorful porcelain balloons hanging from the balconies. People walking by can get confused and think that the balloons are real, because they are extremely realistic, and I think that that’s exactly what they wanted to achieve at the CUCU Hotel – a humorous design which is like a breath of fresh air in the most urban area in Tel Aviv.

Even the hotel’s outdoor patio and lobby are designed the same way – the bold colors and the crazy décor items, like the colorful tables and chairs, porcelain dogs with food bowls full of candies and many statues that decorate every corner of the lobby.

The corridors to the rooms are decorated with special colored metal lamps and cool wallpaper in a comic black and white style and the rooms’ doorframes were also painted with the same colors.
I really liked the fact that despite the strong colors that characterize the hotel, there is a balance that comes from using a uniform color scale, in the various wood items and the white background which is actually like a clean canvas for this “cucu” art piece.

The room

Leave the room’s design aside for a minute – the first thing I noticed when we walked into the room was the clean smell of it!

I’ve stayed in many hotels before and none of them ever smelled this clean, not the smell of a room that was over-sprayed with air-freshener, but a smell that came from good cleaning and from linen and towels that smelled amazing.

Okay, after I let that out, I could talk about the room itself.

The rooms, as expected in an urban boutique hotel, weren’t large {16 square feet for the basic- classic rooms, and up to 28 square meters for the suite}, but their planning and design certainly cover for the size.

If you thought for a moment that a room in the CUCU hotel would be ordinary, you made a big mistake!

The room designs match the general design of the hotel, which combines crazy and colorful elements with relaxing colors.
The suite’s design included a variety of materials that created a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere, like a smooth concrete floor, wooden furniture and glass wall that borders the bathing area that changes from clear to frosted with a press of a button {perfect!}, along with wallpaper with giant red lips, chairs and garden furniture that are particularly colorful.

The bed in the suite was a super comfortable king size bed and across hung a 50 inch television screen – perfect for relaxing before going out
The bathing area is designed in much more relaxed colors – white, clay, concrete and some black, and it’s divided into three areas: on the left – a small bathroom, in the center – a sink and two mirrors – one large mirror and one small enlarging mirror,  and on the right – a big white bathtub and a rain shower.

The suite had 2 balconies – one big one which included a seating area with a table, 3 chairs and a hammock swing chair, and the second one with a smaller seating area, both facing the back quiet and relaxing direction.
I must say that not only does the suite have a balcony, but almost all the rooms in the hotel have balconies – which is quite rare!

And the treats we had waiting for us in our room…

On the table in the entrance of the room, two original Kinder eggs waited for us, a Nespresso machine with capsules and a bottle of red wine in honor of the celebration.

Speaking of indulgence – how can you deal without two robes made out of super cozy fabric {not an ordinary towel} and an excellent blow-dryer that were placed in the closet for us.

In addition, the room had excellent wifi reception.

Breakfast

The hotel's breakfast is currently served in a cafe right across the street, named Bread Story.

Tzipi, the receptionist, told us that the restaurant underneath the hotel, Castel Cafe, is currently under renovation, and in the future, the meals will be served there.

Until then, guests receive a card for breakfast at Bread Story, where we were served a special menu for hotel guests, which includes a large selection of breakfast options, including the classic Israeli breakfast, Shakshuka, sandwiches and variety of salads.

The Price

The prices range from 670 shekels for a classic room to 1,200 shekels for the luxurious suite. Of course you should check prices on several websites and also check with the hotel first {the hotel's Facebook page occasionally offers special deals} before booking to get the best price {you can find more tips here}.
CUCU Hotel offers a high standard of accommodation, contemporary design and a super central location and therefore it should only be compared to similarly styled boutique hotels in Berlin, London and New York. In addition, I conducted a market survey before the trip and found out that the hotel's pricing is completely fair and even cheaper relatively to other hotels in Tel Aviv.

If you’re in the mood to go on a short urban vacation and you want to feel a bit like you got to Wonderland – don’t miss the special experience of a night in the CUCU Hotel.

What do you think of the surrealistic design of the hotel?

Share your thoughts with me in the comments below And of course I'd be very happy if you share this post on Facebook!