The former Belle Vue Hotel is buried within the form of today’s ANA Crowne Plaza Nagasaki Gloverhill, which sits on the same site.

The grande dame of the Nagasaki hospitality scene was the former Belle Vue Hotel, situated just off the Bund, at the edge of Glover Hill, in the Oura Foreign Settlement. It was the second oldest Western-style hotel in the city, established in 1863, a full thirty years before the famous Nagasaki Hotel was established in 1898.

Where the Nagasaki Hotel would be demolished in the 1900s, the Belle Vue continues to stand today, albeit buried deep within the form of the ANA Crowne Plaza Nagasaki Gloverhill.  If you look close enough at the form of the latter hotel, however, you will still be able to see – only just – the structure of the former Belle Vue, in particular its long verandah at the front of the building.

The Crowne Plaza today is a business hotel at heart, with small but comfortable rooms, and a lovely view of Gloverhill from the balconies of its hillside rooms.  Notably, its French restaurant, Pavé serves the best Japanese-style French cuisine in the city.  This is a unique east-meets-west fusion food that is a specialty of Nagasaki’s.

All in all, a quiet, tranquil, delightful sojourn.

View of the Belle Vue Hotel in the early 1900s. Note the long verandah out front.

Close up of the front of the Crowne Plaza Gloverhill – the verandah still exists and the Art Deco tower was probably added during the 1930s.

Lobby of the Crowne Plaza Gloverhill.

Side view of the hotel up towards Glover Hill.

Side view of the hotel down towards the harbour.

View of Gloverhill from the balcony of my room.

Interior of my room.

Having a cocktail at the hotel bar.

Exterior view of Pave, the hotel’s French restaurant.

Fried pieces of fish served upon a mock- V.O.C. plate.

Main course – a crayfish, in a distinctly Japanese-French style.

The Crowne Plaza Gloverhill at night. Goodbye Nagasaki!