revolving restaurant

Lonely Planet Amsterdam
by Lonely Planet

There's also a free market citywide (where anyone can sell anything) and rollicking free concerts. MELANIE LEMAHIEU / SHUTTERSTOCK © What's New Amsterdam Noord Above the happening former industrial area of Amsterdam Noord – with artist studios, vintage shops and a slew of new cafes and bars – revolving restaurant Moon, on the 19th floor of A'DAM Tower, offers a 360-degree panorama. North–South Metro Line Following a decade and a half of construction, the much-delayed Noord/Zuidlijn, linking Amsterdam Noord and the World Trade Centre in the south, is finally ready to roll from mid-2018. Design Emporium Dutch design has a new showcase with the opening of X Bank, a vast space in a one-time bank that now has changing displays of fashion and homewares, and a packed calendar of exhibitions, workshops, launches and lectures, along with a stunning new hotel, W Amsterdam.

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Amsterdam Noord RHop on a free ferry to Noord, one of the city's coolest, most up-and-coming neighbourhoods. Check out the cinematic exhibits at the EYE Film Institute and the artists' studios in the sprawling Kunststad (Art City) centre at former shipyards NDSM-werf. Ascend A'DAM Tower for dazzling views across the IJ to the city centre. 5 Dinner Views peak at Moon, the revolving restaurant atop A'DAM Tower. Oosterpark & East of the Amstel NThere are some fantastic nightlife venues in Noord; alternatively, back on the city side of the IJ, an evening spent on the terrace at De Ysbreeker, looking out over the bustling, houseboat-strewn Amstel river, is a well-deserved treat.

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Best Neighbourhood Gems Dikke Graaf Cooking so delicious the aromas lure you in from the street. Café Modern An Amsterdam Noord favourite. Volt Lively locals' local with luscious tapas and Mediterranean mains; in De Pijp. Éénvistwéévis Locals fork into fresh seafood from nearby waters; in the Plantage. Best Views Moon Take in 360-degree views from A'DAM Tower's revolving restaurant. REM Eiland There's nothing like this 22m former pirate-radio tower. Pont 13 Moored vintage car ferry with a superb Mediterranean-inspired menu. Café-Restaurant Stork Seafood specialist on the IJ. Hotel de Goudfazant Watch river boats while dining on punk French fare in Amsterdam Noord.

Little Failure: A Memoir
by Gary Shteyngart
Published 7 Jan 2014

What are you saying to me? Who is speaking through you? “I read on the Russian Internet that you and your novels will soon be forgotten.” Staring ahead at me like an angry, wounded child, then laying his gaze down, as if scared of it, on his prix fixe dish of something truffled. We are at the View, the revolving restaurant of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Dinner at the Marriott plus a $200 gift certificate to T.J.Maxx, the inexpensive clothing store, is my mother’s dream birthday gift. “Yes,” my mother says, “I read that, too. It was ____.” She cites the name of a blogger. My parents have not read my latest book, but they know the name of the blogger in Samara or Vologda or Astrakhan or Yaroslavl who says I will soon be forgotten.

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Even if the fictional parts were not entirely autobiographical, shouldn’t they have served as at least a partial explanation for who I am? Or were the more important parts obfuscated by the shutki? Or perhaps, scarier still, the cognitive gap between mother and son is too great; the distance from here to there, from Moscow Square to my apartment near Union Square to this revolving restaurant in Times Square, cannot be closed with words alone. Is hers but a less angry, more bewildered version of my father’s My son, how could he leave me? As we walk over to the table, my father already itching to discharge his own shutki at me—the ten minutes I have spent alone with my mother have raised his jealousy and his ire—I think: What if it didn’t have to be like this?

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“I would never second-guess the Gipper, Mrs. Sacciatelli. But when it comes to Russians, believe me, they’re animals. I should know.” Come Election Day, I am invited to attend what is sure to be a Republican victory party at the Marriott Marquis, the ugly slab of a building near Times Square, whose revolving restaurant will one day host my mother’s birthdays. The invitation to the party features a scornful cartoon of the big-eared Dukakis sticking his head out of an M1 Abrams tank (the most unfortunate photo op of his campaign), and I expect an evening of arrogant crowing, of being pressed to the bosom of my fellow conservatives while dancing a Protestant hora over the grave of American liberalism.

Mexico - Mexico City
by Rough Guides

< Back to South of the centre Insurgentes Polyforum Siqueiros Plaza México and around Teatro de los Insurgentes Insurgentes, the most direct approach to the suburbs, is interesting in its own right: leaving behind the Glorieta de Insurgentes (the roundabout at Insurgentes Metro station), it runs almost perfectly straight all the way out to the university, lined the whole way with huge department stores and malls, cinemas, restaurants and office buildings. A little under halfway to San Ángel, you pass on the right the enormous World Trade Center, crowned by Bellini, an expensive revolving restaurant. Polyforum Siqueiros Insurgentes Sur 701 (cnr Filadelfia) • Daily 10am–6pm; sound-and-light show Sat & Sun noon & 2pm • M$15; sound-and-light show M$30 • 55 5536 4520 to 24, polyforumsiqueiros.com.mx • Metrobús Poliforum The exterior of the garish Polyforum Siqueiros is plastered in brash paintings by David Siqueiros and some thirty other artists.

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Moussaka (M$155) inevitably heads the list of main courses, followed by less well-known but equally delicious dishes such as psári costas (fish wrapped in vine leaves in an egg and lemon sauce; M$140). Mon & Sun 1.30–6pm, Tues–Sat 1.30–11pm. Bellini 45th floor, World Trade Center, Av de las Naciones 55 9000 8305, bellini.com.mx; Metrobús Poliforum; map. A posh revolving restaurant at the top of the city’s third-tallest building, where business people come to impress their clients, and the romantically inclined enjoy candlelit dinners. Dishes from an international menu are prepared to the highest standards and service is impeccable.

Switzerland
by Damien Simonis , Sarah Johnstone and Nicola Williams
Published 31 May 2006

LEYSIN pop 2780 / elevation 1350m Leysin started life as a tuberculosis centre but is now a sprawling ski resort with 60km of runs. Many other sports are on offer, including a via ferrata – a vertical ‘footpath’ negotiated via cables and rungs. The tourist office (%024 494 22 44; www.leysin.ch; Pl Large) is based in the New Sporting Centre. Take in the Alpine scenery from the revolving restaurant atop Mt Berneuse (2048m). The cable car costs Sfr20 return in summer, or Sfr37 for the lift and a day’s skiing in winter. Hiking Sheep (%024 494 35 35; www.hikingsheep .com; dm/d Sfr30/80; pai) gets floods of accolades from happy backpackers. It’s two minutes’ walk from Grand Hotel station.

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Yet, some visitors seem more preoccupied with practising their delivery of the line, ‘The name’s Bond, James www.lonelyplanet.com Bond’, than taking in the 200 or so mountains. That’s because a few scenes from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service were shot here in late 1968/early 1969 – as the fairly tacky Touristorama below the Piz Gloria revolving restaurant will remind you. From Interlaken, take a Sfr115 excursion trip (Half-Fare Card and Swiss Pass 50% off, Eurail Pass 25% off) going to Lauterbrunnen, Grütschalp, Mürren, Schilthorn and returning through Stechelberg to Interlaken. A return from Lauterbrunnen (via Grütschalp) and Mürren costs about Sfr100, as does the journey up and back via the Stechelberg cable car.

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There’s skiing and snowboarding in the region (mainly intermediate and also some beginner runs; Sfr52 for a day pass). The tourist office can provide details on this, as well as on mountaineering and paragliding. For a brief season, a cable car (%033 971 34 17; return summer/winter Sfr48/40) runs to the nearby 2250m-high revolving restaurant, E A S T B E R N E S E O B E R L A N D • • M e i r i n g e n 173 AUTHOR’S CHOICE Hotel Victoria (% 033 972 10 40; www.vic toria-meiringen.ch; Bahnhofplatz; s/d/tr from Sfr130/180/250; in) Stylish but relaxed, the Victoria is Meiringen’s equivalent of a design hotel. Orchids, artfully arranged pieces of fruit, blue lounge chairs and dark hardwood floors give warmth to otherwise white rooms.

Supertall: How the World's Tallest Buildings Are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives
by Stefan Al
Published 11 Apr 2022

It made for a more recognizable icon—a shape that some people perceived to be distinctly feminine—and a welcome departure from the more phallic symbol type of large buildings. Canton Tower, Guangzhou, Information Based Architecture, 2010 Where Shukhov’s tower was hollow, ours was filled to the brim with activities, including an observation deck, offices, an exhibition area, a food court, a revolving restaurant, and a cinema. There was even a spiraling open-air skywalk, allowing visitors to climb 590 feet up the waist of the tower. We also proposed a bubble tram around the top ellipse, spinning tourists in glass cabins. To everyone’s surprise, the Chinese clients picked our design from the competition.

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A few modern architects saw an opportunity to elevate the elevator. The Space Needle in Seattle, a flying saucer on a stem and, at 605 feet tall, the tallest structure west of the Mississippi when it was built in 1962, featured scenic glass traction elevators. The saucer included a mechanical device of its own: a revolving restaurant making a full 360-degree circuit within 47 minutes—about the time of a meal. Space Needle, Seattle, John Graham & Company, 1962 Starting in the 1960s, the American architect and real estate developer John Portman used elevators to excite hotel guests. Departing from typical hotel design, which often featured long and dark corridors, he introduced a spacious atrium featuring glass elevators in the shape of a rocket ship.

Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation
by Edward Chancellor
Published 31 May 2000

The focus of attention is the “Alpin Express” lifts serving the Felskinn (3000m); from here, there are plenty of good blue and red runs coming down the side of the huge glacial bowl that towers all around, plus a snowboarding half-pipe. From Felskinn, the “Metro Alpin” takes over, the highest underground funicular system in the world, which tunnels up to the Mittelallalin station (3500m), below the mighty Allalinhorn summit (4027m). Up here are the world’s highest revolving restaurant (saas-fee.ch/en/kulinarik/bergrestaurants/revolving-restaurant-allalin) and ice pavilion (open year-round), as well as a half-pipe, a hatful of scenic red runs on the Feegletscher and a long, exhilarating blue all the way down to Längfluh (2870m), which is served by its own lifts from the village via Spielboden. An alternative is the lift to Plattjen (2570m), from where red and another long blue wind back down to Saas-Fee.

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It’s also easy to work your way over to Les Diablerets – although beware that if the snow at Villars or Gstaad isn’t that great, everybody heads up to the glacier, which can sometimes make things a bit overcrowded. From Leysin village, lifts and gondolas serve a host of red and blue pistes, as well as a half-pipe for snowboarders below the peak of La Berneuse (2048m), where there’s a panoramic revolving restaurant. Lift passes are good value, like a full day pass for Les Diablerets plus Villars-Gryon (excluding the glacier) or an all-inclusive pass taking in the above plus the Glacier 3000, Les Mosses and sectors of the Gstaad ski region. Adventure sports are a mainstay of all three resorts. Mountain Evasion (mountain-evasion.ch) and Centre Par Adventure (swissaventure.ch) are two companies in Les Diablerets organizing canyoning, zorbing, luge, mud-biking, rappelling and more.

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You chug up the hill, past houses and through meadows in the wooden, open-sided carriages to the halfway mark at Kälti. From here you switch to the super-modern CabriO cable car, with its double-decker, open-top cars, giving you stunning views of the green, rolling hills below, while the wind whooshes through your hair. At the summit, you’ll find the Rondorama revolving restaurant, and many signposted walking trails. The zigzag walk back down to Stans takes about three and a half hours (with a couple of possible routes), or alternatively, you can head down the side of the mountain to Wirzweli (in 2hr 30min), from where a cable car deposits you at the village of Dallenwil for the train ride back to Stans.

The Rough Guide to Switzerland (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 24 May 2022

The focus of attention is the “Alpin Express” lifts serving the Felskinn (3000m); from here, there are plenty of good blue and red runs coming down the side of the huge glacial bowl that towers all around, plus a snowboarding half-pipe. From Felskinn, the “Metro Alpin” takes over, the highest underground funicular system in the world, which tunnels up to the Mittelallalin station (3500m), below the mighty Allalinhorn summit (4027m). Up here are the world’s highest revolving restaurant (saas-fee.ch/en/kulinarik/bergrestaurants/revolving-restaurant-allalin) and ice pavilion (open year-round), as well as a half-pipe, a hatful of scenic red runs on the Feegletscher and a long, exhilarating blue all the way down to Längfluh (2870m), which is served by its own lifts from the village via Spielboden. An alternative is the lift to Plattjen (2570m), from where red and another long blue wind back down to Saas-Fee.

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It’s also easy to work your way over to Les Diablerets – although beware that if the snow at Villars or Gstaad isn’t that great, everybody heads up to the glacier, which can sometimes make things a bit overcrowded. From Leysin village, lifts and gondolas serve a host of red and blue pistes, as well as a half-pipe for snowboarders below the peak of La Berneuse (2048m), where there’s a panoramic revolving restaurant. Lift passes are good value, like a full day pass for Les Diablerets plus Villars-Gryon (excluding the glacier) or an all-inclusive pass taking in the above plus the Glacier 3000, Les Mosses and sectors of the Gstaad ski region. Adventure sports are a mainstay of all three resorts. Mountain Evasion (mountain-evasion.ch) and Centre Par Adventure (swissaventure.ch) are two companies in Les Diablerets organizing canyoning, zorbing, luge, mud-biking, rappelling and more.

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You chug up the hill, past houses and through meadows in the wooden, open-sided carriages to the halfway mark at Kälti. From here you switch to the super-modern CabriO cable car, with its double-decker, open-top cars, giving you stunning views of the green, rolling hills below, while the wind whooshes through your hair. At the summit, you’ll find the Rondorama revolving restaurant, and many signposted walking trails. The zigzag walk back down to Stans takes about three and a half hours (with a couple of possible routes), or alternatively, you can head down the side of the mountain to Wirzweli (in 2hr 30min), from where a cable car deposits you at the village of Dallenwil for the train ride back to Stans.

The Mini Rough Guide to Iceland (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 11 Mar 2022

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications Jón Gunnar Árnason’s stainless steel Sólfar (Sun Voyager) While in the vicinity, have a look too at Norræna Húsið O [map] (Nordic House, Sturlugata 5; www.nordichouse.is; daily 10am–5pm; free except for some exhibitions), a Scandinavian cultural centre with a well-stocked library offering free internet access, exhibitions, concerts and a café. On the other side of the domestic airport, on Öskjuhlíð hill, is the glass-domed Perlan P [map] (Pearl), a revolving restaurant that sits atop six enormous tanks used to store the geothermally heated water that supplies the city. The tanks hold 24 million litres (over 5 million gallons) of hot water and cater for almost half of Reykjavík’s water consumption. Öskjuhlíð itself is a leafy area thanks to tree-planting schemes and the creation of walking and cycling paths.

Lonely Planet Pocket Seoul
by Lonely Planet

(목멱산방; %02-318 4790; http://mmmroom.com; 627 Namsangongwon-gil; mains ₩7000-17,000; h11am-9pm; bLine 4 to Myeongdong, Exit 3) Mokmyeoksanbang | JASON BRYAN/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO © 5N.Grill INTERNATIONAL $$$ MAP GOOGLE MAP Led by Michelin-starred British chef Duncan Robertson, this upmarket revolving restaurant sits atop the iconic N Seoul Tower. Views are amazing, as is its French-style cooking with Korean influences. Reservations are essential. Downstairs, the open-air N Terrace is a good spot for a cocktail with a view. (%02-3455 9297; www.nseoultower.co.kr; N Seoul Tower, Namsan; set lunch/dinner from ₩50,000/95,000; h11am-2pm & 5-11pm; bLine 4 to Myeongdong, Exit 3 then cable car) 5Potala TIBETAN, INDIAN $$ MAP GOOGLE MAP Books about Tibet and colourful crafts and pictures adorn this restaurant.

Egypt Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Grilled foods don’t have the proper char, but other preparations, such as whole sea bass wrapped in banana leaves, are good and beautifully presented. The chef will make it truly Thai-spicy if you ask. Revolving Restaurant French $$$ Offline map Google map ( 2365 1234; Grand Nile Tower, Manial; entrées E£75-145, mains E£180-260; 7pm-midnight) Start with terrine de foie gras as you peer at the Pyramids from the 41st floor. By the time your filet d’agneau with tomato confit and a sweet garlic doughnut arrives, you’ll be looking east to the Citadel. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but the Revolving Restaurant at least has good French haute cuisine as well. And, unlike in the rest of this Saudi-run hotel, alcohol is served.

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The 360- degree views from the top are clearest in the late morning, after the haze burns off, or late afternoon. You might encounter a queue for the elevator at dusk. The Sky Garden cafe, one floor down from the observation deck, serves not-too exorbitant drinks and food (beer E£20, sandwiches E£45). The revolving restaurant just below that is a bit pricier, with a E£150 minimum. Cairo Marriott Palace Offline map Google map (Sharia Saray al-Gezira) Never mind that this is a luxury hotel: its core is a lavish palace built by Khedive Ismail to house Empress Éugenie when she visited for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

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Doqqi, Giza & Gezira Top Sights Agricultural Museum A1 Cairo Tower C1 Museum of Modern Egyptian Art C2 Sights 1 Andalus Garden C2 2 Garden of Freedom and Friendship C2 3 Giza Zoo A5 4Giza Zoo EntranceB4 5 Hanager Arts Centre C2 6 Mahmoud Mukhtar Museum C2 7 Manial Palace D4 8Mr & Mrs Mahmoud Khalil MuseumB3 9 Palace of Arts C2 Sleeping 10 El Tonsy B2 11 Four Seasons at Nile Plaza D3 12 Hotel Juliana D3 13 Kempinski Nile D3 14 Novotel Cairo El Borg C2 15 Sofitel El Gezirah C3 Eating 16 Al-Sudan al-Sharqi A3 17 El-Mashrabiah B4 Osmanly (see 13) 18 Revolving Restaurant C3 19 Sea Gull B1 20 Taboula D2 21 Yemen Restaurant A3 Drinking Buddha Bar (see 15) 22 Cilantro A3 Entertainment 23 Cairo Opera House C2 24 Cinema Tahrir A2 25 Club 35 B5 Shopping 26 Nagada A3 Information 27Canadian EmbassyD2 28French EmbassyB5 29Goethe InstitutA3 30Instituto CervantesB2 31Iranian EmbassyA3 32Israeli EmbassyB4 33Italian EmbassyD4 34Jordanian EmbassyB3 35Saudi Arabian EmbassyB4 36Sudanese EmbassyD2 37Syrian EmbassyA2 38UK EmbassyD2 39US EmbassyD2 Transport 40 Dok Dok Landing Stage C3 41Felucca Mooring PointC1 El Tonsy Hotel $$ Offline map Google map ( 3337 6908; tonsihotelcairo@gmail.com; 143 Sharia Tahrir; s/d US$45/60; ) Opened in 2011, this smart modern place is often used by groups, but it’s also handy for the independent traveller who prefers to stay in a less touristy neighbourhood.

The Rough Guide to Korea
by Rough Guides
Published 24 Sep 2018

Despite the fact that it sticks out like a sore and rather weathered thumb, a whole generation of locals have viewed it as a taboo subject – this was something that couldn’t be painted over with the regular whitewash of propaganda. Construction of the pyramidal 105-floor structure started in 1987, a mammoth project intended to showcase North Korean might. The central peak was to be topped with several revolving restaurants, while the two lower cones may have held smaller versions of the same. For a time, rather amazingly, Pyongyang was one of only three cities in the world that could boast a hundred-storey-plus building, the others being New York and Chicago. Kim Il Sung had expected the Ryugyong to become one of the world’s most admired hotels, its near-3000 rooms filled with awestruck tourists; however, no sooner had the concrete casing been completed than the foreign funding fell through (so much for the Juche Idea), and the project was put on indefinite hold.

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The best restaurants are closed to all but foreigners and the party elite, and you’ll probably eat at a different one on each day of your stay. The North Korean authorities seem to think that foreigners will only enjoy their meal if they’re rotating slowly – most “fancy” places, including both the Koryo and Yanggakdo hotels, have revolving restaurants. You usually have breakfast in your hotel, and on some days perhaps lunch or dinner too. Both the volume and the quality of food will depend on the prevailing food situation at the time of your visit – experienced diplomats suggest that it seems to improve when big groups or important folk are in town.

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ACCOMMODATION MYOHYANGSAN Chongchon 청천 Basic three-storey place with a bar and regular power cuts – good enough for one night, however, and a tour including this instead of the Hyangsan will be far cheaper. Hyangsan 향산 Pyramidal hotel that’s currently the best in the land, with an on-site health complex and stupendous pool, as well as the obligatory top-floor revolving restaurant. Paekdusan 백두산 The highest peak on the Korean peninsula at 2744m, the extinct volcano of Paekdusan straddles the border between North Korea and China, and is the source of the Tuman and Amnok rivers (Tumen and Yalu in Mandarin) that separate the countries. Within its caldera is a vibrant blue crater lake surrounded by a ring of jagged peaks; it’s a beguiling place steeped in myth and legend.

Lonely Planet Pocket Berlin
by Lonely Planet and Andrea Schulte-Peevers
Published 31 Aug 2012

(www.humboldt-box.com; Schlossplatz; adult/concession €4/2.50; 10am-8pm; 100, 200, TXL) 4 TV Tower Landmark Offline map Google map Berlin’s iconic TV Tower – Germany’s tallest structure – has been soaring 368m high since 1969. On clear days, views from the panorama platform are stunning. Savour them – refreshment in hand – in the lovably stuffy, slowly revolving restaurant-bar. VIP ticket holders can jump the queue. (Fernsehturm; www.tv-turm.de; Panoramastrasse 1a; adult/child €11/7, VIP €19.50/11.50; 9am-midnight Mar-Oct, from 10am Nov-Feb; U-/S-Bahn Alexanderplatz) Understand Red Berlin: Life in the GDR Two Germanys The formal division of Germany in 1949 resulted in the western zones becoming the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD; Federal Republic of Germany, FRG) with Bonn as its capital, and the Soviet zone morphing into the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR; German Democratic Republic, GDR) with East Berlin as its capital.

Shoe Dog
by Phil Knight
Published 25 Apr 2016

As the plane swooped down toward Haneda Airport I told myself that I’d need to summon the old skill quickly, or lose. I could not bear the thought of losing. THE 1964 OLYMPICS were about to be held in Japan, so I had my pick of brand-new, reasonably priced lodgings in Kobe. I got a room right downtown, at the Newport, which featured a revolving restaurant on the top. Just like the one atop the Space Needle—a touch of the Great Northwest to settle my nerves. Before unpacking, I phoned Onitsuka and left a message. I’m here and I request a meeting. Then I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the phone. At last it rang. A prim-sounding secretary informed me that my contact at Onitsuka, Mr.

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A prim-sounding secretary informed me that my contact at Onitsuka, Mr. Miyazaki, no longer worked there. Bad sign. His replacement, Mr. Morimoto, did not wish me to come to the company’s headquarters. Very bad sign. Instead, she said, Mr. Morimoto would meet me for tea in my hotel’s revolving restaurant. Tomorrow morning. I went to bed early, slept fitfully. Dreams of car chases, prison, duels—the same dreams that always plagued me the night before a big meet, or date, or exam. I rose at dawn, ate a breakfast of raw egg poured over hot rice, and some grilled fish, and washed it down with a pot of green tea.

Pocket Rough Guide Hong Kong & Macau
by Rough Guides
Published 18 Jul 2024

Cheoc Van is well developed, featuring cafés and a swimming pool (charge). Hác Sá is better, a long stretch of grey-black sand backed by pine trees, with plenty of picnic places, a beach bar and a recreation complex with another pool (charge). Restaurants 360º Café MAP Level 60, Macau Tower 8988 8623, macautower.com.mo. Smart revolving restaurant with unparalleled city views, serving Indian, Macanese and plain grilled seafood. One way not to bankrupt yourself is to opt for the set lunch buffets or afternoon tea from 3.30pm. $$$ A Lorcha MAP Rua do Almirante Sérgio 298 2831 3193, alorcha.com. This wood-beamed restaurant serves outstanding Portuguese food and is always busy.

Pocket Rough Guide Berlin (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 16 Oct 2019

Nearby stand statues of Marx and Engels, tucked into a corner of the Marx-Engels-Forum park. Berliner Fernsehturm. Gape at the bleak GDR architecture of Alexanderplatz before taking a trip up the Fernsehturm for tremendous views over the city. Lunch. For the complete television tower experience, book ahead for a meal in the revolving restaurant, Sphere. Karl-Marx-Allee. Admire the Soviet architecture along this impressive historical boulevard, formerly known as Stalinallee, including the original Kino International, as featured in the film Good Bye Lenin! Café Sybille Roger d’Olivere Mapp/Rough Guides Coffee. Grab coffee and cake (or ice cream) at Café Sybille, which also hosts a small but informative museum about Karl-Marx-Allee.

Egypt
by Matthew Firestone
Published 13 Oct 2010

Bella (Map; 2791 7000; Four Seasons at Nile Plaza, Corniche el-Nil; mains E£60-125; 12.30am-midnight) The top-billed restaurant at the Four Seasons is an elegant Italian-inspired affair highlighted by an open kitchen, two wood-burning stoves and lashings of contemporary art at every turn. Evening dinners are accompanied by a hedonistic antipasti buffet; it’s wise to save room for the rich risottos and handmade semolina pastas. Revolving Restaurant (Map; 2365 1234; Grand Hyatt Hotel, off Corniche el-Nil; dishes E£65-130; 7pm-1am) Located on the 41st floor of the Grand Hyatt, the Revolving Restaurant boasts some impressive stats: at 30m in diameter, the room rotates 360 degrees in 75 minutes, and takes in views of the Pyramids, the Nile and most of Cairo. While the revolving experience is enough of a reason to visit, the French haute cuisine prepared here in the show kitchen is nothing less than exquisite.

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Resembling a 185m-high wickerwork tube, the tower was built in 1961 as a thumb to the nose at the Americans, who had given Nasser the money used for its construction to buy US arms. The 360-degree views from the top are clearest in the late morning, after the haze burns off, or late afternoon. An occasionally revolving restaurant on top serves food (E£100 lunch or dinner, including entrance), or you can get a soft drink at the cafeteria (E£80, including entrance). You might encounter quite a queue at dusk. Mohandiseen, Agouza & Doqqi A map of Cairo in Baedecker’s 1929 guide to Egypt shows nothing on the Nile’s west bank other than a hospital and the road to the Pyramids.

Food Trucks: Dispatches and Recipes From the Best Kitchens on Wheels
by Shouse, Heather
Published 19 Apr 2011

I fell in love with the li hing mui variety, where the malasada is rolled in salty dried plum powder. It’s not for everyone, but mix-and-match boxes come by the half dozen, so you can afford to take a leap on one. Soul Patrol KEEP UP WITH IT: twitter.com/pacificsoul If you were the executive chef of one of Hawaii’s most popular fine dining restaurants—a revolving restaurant on the twenty-first floor, no less, with 360-degree views of Waikiki Beach—and you were adored by the media, making a six-figure salary, putting your kid through private school, and flush with benefits, would you leave it al to start a food truck? Sean Priester would, and did. And he’s banking on the island’s best fried chicken to sail into success.

The Perfect House: A Journey With Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio
by Witold Rybczynski
Published 2 Sep 2002

How much more beautiful this evocative space would be with white painted walls forming a neutral backdrop to the carved stone door and window frames. Walking from room to room, I make a quick circuit of the house. The experience of the identical porticoes with their different views is delightful, a bit like being in a revolving restaurant; the view changes while the architecture stays the same. The round sala is surrounded by eight rooms, arranged in four suites. All the rooms have shaped ceilings: low flat-vaults in the small rooms (with amezati, or mezzanines, above) and high coved ceilings with elaborate stucco decorations in the larger rooms.

Frommer's Irreverent Guide to San Francisco
by Matthew Richard Poole
Published 17 Mar 2006

Five blocks away, at the Fairmont Hotel, take the skylift, which zips up a pokey 100 feet per minute to the Fairmont Crown, 24 floors up, for a view of Chinatown, Nob Hill, the Financial District, Coit Tower, and the South Bay Peninsula. Beware of wedding parties in the elevators—they can seriously cramp your view. At the Embarcadero Center, the Hyatt Regency’s glass lifts take you to a revolving restaurant/ cocktail lounge that offers a great 360-degree view and overpriced drinks (Mel Brooks panicked on the way up here in High Anxiety). And it takes a few stiff sodas to get the nerve to peer 40 stories straight down from the San Francisco Marriott’s Atrium Lounge, where the only thing between you and pavement is a single pane of glass.

The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World
by David Eagleman and Anthony Brandt
Published 30 Sep 2017

Consider these sculptures in the port city of Marseilles, France: the visual analogs of synecdoche. Bruno Catalano’s Les Voyageurs Once the brain has the revelation that a whole can be broken into parts, new properties can emerge. David Fisher’s “Dynamic Architecture” breaks apart the usually solid frame of a building and, using motors similar to those in revolving restaurants, allows every floor to move independently. The result is a building that morphs its appearance. Floors can be choreographed individually or as an ensemble, adding an ever-changing facade to the city skyline. Thanks to our neural talent for breaking things apart, pieces that were once unified can become unglued.

The Rough Guide to Egypt (Rough Guide to...)
by Dan Richardson and Daniel Jacobs
Published 1 Feb 2013

The Citadel overlooks Islamic Cairo, where certain minarets give you a vista as far as the Pyramids on a clear day if they’re open (the Qalaoun complex, the Blue Mosque and the al-Muayyad minarets atop Bab Zwayla), but the finest view is from the high point in Al-Azhar Park. To look down on the mayhem that is Midan Ramses, the terrace café of the Everest Hotel is the place. The Cairo Tower on Gezira is also great for views, while the revolving restaurant at the Grand Nile Tower hotel on Roda Island offers what must rate as Cairo’s best panoramic view, encompassing the Pyramids, the Citadel, the Nile and most of downtown. * * * ISLAMIC CAIRO El-Hussein Muski, entered via a passage to Fishawi’s 02 2591 8089; map.

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Rooms, all in a sumptuous new wing, are stylish; north-facing ones offer killer views of central Cairo and the Nile. Facilities include everything you’d expect from a top hotel, including a sauna, health club, business centre and two swimming pools. There are also eight restaurants, including a revolving restaurant with panoramic views (see Cairo’s best views). $248 Le Meridien Pyramids Midan al-Remaya, Alexandria Desert Rd, Giza Pyramids 02 3377 7070, lemeridien.com/pyramids; map. Just over 1km from the pyramids, and a 20min drive from central Cairo, the vast sandy-coloured Le Meridien Pyramids has spacious rooms with subdued decor and balconies, but the real draw are the stunning views of the pyramids that many of the rooms boast.

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Lavishly decorated in marble and alabaster, this famous establishment specializes in kofta and kebab sold by weight (£E115/kg), to eat in or take out, although despite its pretensions, the food isn’t as good as in humbler establishments such as El-Dahan or Rifai in Islamic Cairo. Daily noon–2am. Revolving Restaurant 40th floor, Grand Nile Tower Hotel, Roda Island 02 2365 1234; map. “Semi-formal” dress is required and children under 12 are barred at this tip-top restaurant, which serves the finest French cuisine in Cairo and enjoys a panoramic view of the entire city. The menu changes regularly, but typical starters include scallop carpaccio (£E120) or lobster with smoked salmon and asparagus (£E130), followed by main courses like salmon in basil sauce (£E180), duck breast with cherry and endive (£E210), or vegetarian options such as tomato and asparagus risotto (£E80) followed by rosemary crême brulée (£E60).

After the Berlin Wall
by Christopher Hilton
Published 15 Dec 2011

‘Yes, and that applied to either side, the East and the West. There were no concepts and it had never been tried before,’ she says cheerfully. We are sitting in a conference room opposite the Alexanderplatz, a wide square and once a symbol of East Berlin modernity with its giant TV tower (topped by a revolving restaurant), world clocks, railway station, bookshops, restaurants and deluxe hotel. One of the bookshops is in a modern-looking bloc and I ask, as a sort of probe, whose land that had been built on. ‘Actually,’ she said, ‘it’s original.’ The bombing and then the street fighting of spring 1945 somehow spared it so the problems of claim and counter-claim haven’t arisen.

Bastard Tongues: A Trailblazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World's Lowliest Languages
by Derek Bickerton
Published 4 Mar 2008

When my commuter plane droned into the valley where Provo lies, I thought, "My God! The Ameri­ can Shangri-la!" It was almost April, but the surrounding moun­ tains were deep in virgin (naturally) snow. The thing that struck me most about Mormons was their rela­ tionship with liquor. They didn't have any, but how they missed it! The revolving restaurant atop a tower was called High in the Sky, and its signature drink was called High in the Sky, too; it was a mix of seven nonalcoholic beverages whose specinc gravity was such that they lay on top of one another in a rainbow spectrum of nau­ seating colors. At a party, my host offered me a Coke and with a leer that in another country might have accompanied the offer of his sister, asked, "Would you like a dash of Sprite to spritz that up a bit?"

The Alps: A Human History From Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond
by Stephen O'Shea
Published 21 Feb 2017

But the rapid gear-shifting does seem Aston Martinish, like something Sean Connery or Daniel Craig would do, so the difficulty of the task replaces thoughts of sex with those of masculine glamour. I regret that my itinerary this summer will not take me to the peak of Piz Gloria in the Bernese Alps, where a museum devoted to Bond adorns a revolving restaurant used in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service as the locale for the nefarious doings of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. When we arrive at the pass, slightly carsick, surprise comes in the form of a finish line made with inflated blue tubes. The road beyond it is closed to automotive traffic. The mystery of the absence of oncoming traffic on our way up is resolved: A bicycle rally is taking place.

Moon Prague, Vienna & Budapest: Palaces & Castles, Art & Music, Coffeehouses & Beer Gardens
by Jennifer D Walker , Auburn Scallon and Moon Travel Guides
Published 15 Oct 2024

GREATER VIENNA The Danube Tower (Donauturm) Donauturmstraße 4; www.donauturm.at; daily 10am-10:30pm; €18; U6: Neue Donau Rising out of Donaupark, the 250-m (825-ft) Danube Tower, Donauturm, is the tallest building in the city. Ride the lift up to the viewing platform for 360-degree views over the Danube and toward the old part of the city and the hills beyond. There is a revolving restaurant at the top serving Viennese food, and there’s also a café. In the fall of 2023, the Danube Tower got an upgrade. They not only renovated the rotating mechanism of the café, but installed what is now Europe’s highest slide! Adrenaline seekers can now slide down a blood-pumping art installation by German object artist Carsten Höller, a transparent slide that goes down the northern, outer side of the tower from the middle floor to the terrace, beginning at a height of 165 m (541 ft) and spiraling down 15 m (50 ft) with incredible views above Vienna.

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Adrenaline seekers can now slide down a blood-pumping art installation by German object artist Carsten Höller, a transparent slide that goes down the northern, outer side of the tower from the middle floor to the terrace, beginning at a height of 165 m (541 ft) and spiraling down 15 m (50 ft) with incredible views above Vienna. There is also a new ground-floor restaurant with outdoor dining serving Austrian food that can fit 430 people, so if there’s no room in the revolving restaurant, you won’t go hungry. Death in Vienna The Viennese have a unique fascination with death, and the idea of the “beautiful corpse,” or “Schöne Leich,” celebrates the idea that death is a part of life. The concept of the Schöne Leich became immortalized in songs, poetry, and in the funerary arts of Vienna in the mid-19th century.

Scandinavia
by Andy Symington
Published 24 Feb 2012

Kaneli CAFE € (www.kahvilakaneli.net; Kauppakatu 22; noon-6pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat, noon-4pm Sun) This cracking cafe just off the kauppatori evokes a bygone age with much of its decor, but offers modern comfort in its shiny espresso machine, as well as many other flavoured coffees to accompany your toothsome and sticky pulla (bun). Opens longer hours in summer. Puijon Torni FINNISH €€ ( 255 5255; www.puijo.com; mains €19-27 9am-10pm) Revolving restaurants usually plunge on the culinary altimeter, but the food atop Puijo tower is pretty good, although the decor won’t feature in Finnish Design Yearbook any time soon. Choices focus on Suomi specialities, including reindeer, Arctic char and pike-perch, and there are a few set menus (€35 to €46).

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Perlan LEISURE COMPLEX ( www.perlan.is; Öskjuhlið) The huge water tanks on Öskjuhlið hill are also a tourist complex known as Perlan (the Pearl), a popular Sunday afternoon outing for families. In the building’s atrium, an artificial geyser blasts off every few minutes. Upstairs, a 360-degree viewing deck shares tremendous mountain and city vistas with a cafe and revolving restaurant. Take bus 18 from Lækjartorg. Saga Museum MUSEUM ( www.sagamuseum.is; adult/child/concession Ikr1500/800/1000; 10am-6pm Apr-Sep, noon-5pm Oct-Mar) Silicon models, thudding axes and blood-curdling screams bring Iceland’s history to life at this excellent museum located in the Perlan complex.

Egypt Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

The 360-degree views from the top are clearest in the late morning, after the haze burns off, or late afternoon. You might encounter a queue for the elevator at dusk, as the tower is extremely popular with Cairenes. The Sky Garden cafe, one floor down from the observation deck, serves not-too-exorbitant drinks and food (beer E£30, sandwiches E£50). The Revolving Restaurant just below that is a bit pricier, with a E£200 minimum. Cairo MarriottPALACE ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Sharia Saray al-Gezira) Never mind that this is a luxury hotel: its core is a lavish palace built by Khedive Ismail to house Empress Éugenie when she visited for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

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Revolving RestaurantFRENCH ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %2365 1234; www.grandniletower.com; Grand Nile Tower; mains E£190-320; h7pm-midnight) Start with terrine de foie gras as you peer at the Pyramids from the 41st floor. By the time your filet d’agneau with tomato confit and a sweet garlic doughnut arrives, you’ll be looking east to the Citadel. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but the Revolving Restaurant at least has good French haute cuisine as well. Unlike in the rest of this Saudi-run hotel, alcohol is served. Coptic Cairo Elfostat TivoliEGYPTIAN ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Sharia Hassan al-Anwar; h9:30am-7pm) The best place to rest up after a Coptic Cairo tour, though there's no real local feel, as it’s part of the built-for-tourists Souq al-Fustat complex.

David Mitchell: Back Story
by David Mitchell
Published 10 Oct 2012

For the first time, I didn’t need to do anything else to supplement my income and I never have since. Fingers crossed, touch wood, turn around and touch the ground, etc., etc., etc. I was 24 years old and it was an enormous relief. I get asked a lot in interviews about ‘breakthrough’ moments in my career, presumably to elicit a glittering anecdote set in a revolving restaurant where a cigar-smoking producer screams, ‘This kid’s got something!’ Instead I tell them about when the jobbing writing work started to cover the bills. That’s when I properly became a professional comedian. And I suddenly felt rich. Hundreds of pounds were entering my bank account every week and I hardly had any overheads.

Frommer's Seattle 2010
by Karl Samson
Published 10 Mar 2010

N. 20 6/283-3313.www.canlis.com. Reservations highly recommended. Main courses $28–$72; chef’s tasting menu $70–$95 ($125–$190 with wines). AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Mon–Thurs 5:30–9pm; Fri 5:30–10pm; Sat 5–10pm. SkyCity at the Needle NORTHWEST Both the restaurant and the prices are sky high at this revolving restaurant, located just below the observation deck at the top of Seattle’s famous Space Needle. However, because you don’t have to pay extra for the elevator ride if you dine here, the charges start to seem a little bit more in line with those at other Seattle splurge restaurants. Okay, so maybe you can get better food elsewhere, but you won’t get a more spectacular panorama anywhere else in Seattle.

Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain
by John Grindrod
Published 2 Nov 2013

I could see my neighbour’s car with its windscreen smashed and falling bricks had broken the roof of my lorry.’34 Despite a warning the previous day, and a call claiming that the ‘Kilburn Battalion’ of the IRA was responsible for the bomb, a thorough investigation failed to identify the perpetrator.ii The damage done by the bomb was soon repaired, but its effects were far reaching. Billy Butlin’s revolving restaurant, a huge attraction since the time of opening, was informed that its lease would not be renewed, and by the end of the decade it had closed. Notwithstanding seasonal visits from Noel Edmonds for the BBC, and the frequent rebrandings of the privatised telecoms company which owned it, the tower began its long slide into seclusion and disuse.

Lonely Planet Egypt
by Lonely Planet

For the clearest vistas, come in the late morning after the haze burns off or in late afternoon when it’s often possible to spy the Pyramids. At dusk and during the early evening there’s usually a long queue for the lift, so if you’ve specifically come for sunset photos, get here with time up your sleeve. The tower is home to two cafes and Al Dawar revolving restaurant. None of the eating here is spectacular and the food is overpriced: you’re paying for the view. The Cairo Tower is open 9am to midnight (to 1am in summer) and entrance is LE200 (students LE100). Cairo Tower entrance | VIKTORIYAFIVKO/SHUTTERSTOCK © El Sawy Culture Wheel CHECKING OUT THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE The vibrant programme of diverse concerts and performances, from up-and-coming local rock bands to traditional folk ensembles, makes El Sawy Culture Wheel (culturewheel .com/ en) one of the best destinations in town if you want to dip your toe into Egypt’s contemporary music scene.

Central Europe Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

You’ll find a map of the park on a billboard located behind (ie on the street side of) the red-brick Gehry building. For a bird’s-eye view of the Mediahafen, and indeed all of Düsseldorf, catch the express elevator to the 168m viewing platform of the neighbouring Rheinturm (adult/child €3.50/1.90; 10am-11.30pm). There’s also a revolving restaurant and cocktail bar a level above, at 172.5m. It’s a pleasant stroll between the Mediahafen and the Altstadt along the riverside Rheinuferpromenade . Alternatively, you can join the city’s elite window-shopping along the Königsallee , or ‘Kö’ – Düsseldorf’s answer to Rodeo Drive. Three excellent galleries, two sharing the same collection, form the backbone of Düsseldorf’s reputation as a city of art.

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Yet you may find that some visitors seem more preoccupied with practising their delivery of the immortal line, ‘The name’s Bond – James Bond’ than they are in taking in the 200 or so peaks before them. Don’t be surprised: this is where some scenes from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service were shot in the 1960s, as the fairly tacky Touristorama below the Piz Gloria revolving restaurant reminds you. Buy a Sfr116 excursion trip (Half-Fare Card and Eurail Pass 50% off, Swiss Pass 65% off) going to Lauterbrunnen, Grütschalp, Mürren, Schilthorn and returning through Stechelberg to Interlaken. A return from Lauterbrunnen (via Grütschalp) and Mürren costs about Sfr100, as does the return journey via the Stechelberg cable car.

The Rough Guide to Vienna
by Humphreys, Rob

Anyone with kids should consider treating them to a trip to Minopolis (Fri–Sun 1–7pm; adults €6, children €15; W www.minopolis.at), on the other side of the VIC and Wagramerstrasse from the park, where children can pretend to be fire fighters, pharmacists, refuse collectors or a baker, and get paid in “Eurolinos”. Overlooking the Donaupark, the futuristic Donauturm (daily 10am–midnight; €6.90; W www.donauturm.at) reaches a height of 252m. To enjoy the view, either simply take the lift to the viewing platform (at 155m), or eat in one of the tower’s two revolving restaurants (at 160m and 170m). Clearly visible to the west, by Handelskai on the Danube, Vienna’s Millennium Tower is a shiny double-glazed cylinder that’s 171m tall, plus antennae. The Donaupark stretches from UNO-City to the Alte Donau, the old course of the Danube, which is undoubtedly the most attractive and peaceful section of the river.

The Rough Guide to Berlin
by Rough Guides

Smart bistro specializing in simple fresh German food of the meat and potatoes variety, but with the addition of more fresh veggies and modern twists to make things less stodgy. It’s a particularly good choice for inexpensive lunches (€8.20), such as carrot and ginger soup followed by a rich goulash. Daily 11.30am–midnight. Sphere Panoramastr. 1a 030 24 75 75 875, tv-turm.de; /Alexanderplatz; map. The revolving restaurant at the top of the TV tower serves a reasonable enough menu of traditional Berlin/Brandenburg and international dishes aimed squarely at tourists. You might have to pay upwards of €13 to access the restaurant and another €15 for a plate of ravioli, but where else can you get to see all of Berlin in half an hour?

Lonely Planet China (Travel Guide)
by Lonely Planet and Shawn Low
Published 1 Apr 2015

Life-sized models of traditional shops are staffed by realistic waxworks, amid a wealth of historical detail, including a boundary stone from the International Settlement and one of the bronze lions that originally guarded the entrance to the HSBC bank on the Bund. Oriental Pearl TV TowerBUILDING (Dongfang Mingzhu Guangbo Dianshi Ta MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %5879 1888; h8am-10pm, revolving restaurant 11am-2pm & 5-9pm; mLujiazui) Love it or hate it, it’s hard to be indifferent to this 468m-tall poured-concrete tripod tower, especially at night, when it dazzles. Sucking in streams of visitors, the Deng Xiaoping–era design is inadvertently retro, but socialism with Chinese characteristics was always cheesy back in the day.

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A taxi from Dabu costs ¥100 and takes about an hour. 4Sleeping & Eating ​Royal Classic Hotel HOTEL (Huangjia Mingdian Jiudian %867 7777; www.hjmd-hotel.com; 35 Dongmen Lu; r ¥118-1288, ste ¥1888-2888) This glitzy Hong Kong–owned hotel has clean, quiet rooms, with wide, comfortable beds. Lifts can only be activated with guestroom card-keys, which makes it feel safe. The extravagant breakfast buffet (at ¥50 per person) in the revolving restaurant offers a good selection of local delicacies. Rates are often 30% to 50% of those posted. oDabu Handmade NoodlesNOODLES (Dabu Shougong Mianguan 15 Bingfang Dadao; noodles ¥4-15, soup ¥5; h6.30am-2pm, 5pm-2am;) This neighbourhood shop whips up al dente Hakka tossed noodles (yanmian) and pig innards soup (sanjidi tang), The strands also come stir-fried (chaomian).

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Golden Sea View HotelHOTEL (Huangjin Haijing Da Jiudian %6851 9988; www.goldenhotel.com.cn; 67 Binhai Dajie; r from ¥350) With discounts of 40% to 50%, rooms in this well-run three-star hotel are priced similarly to those stuck deep in the city. The Sea View, however, sits across from a large park at the start of the beaches to the west of town. The hotel’s revolving restaurant has excellent views over Haikou and the ocean, and is well regarded for its breakfast buffet. HaINaN FARE There is a huge variety of Chinese cuisine available in Hainan. Fresh fruit and vegies are available everywhere, and, unlike much of China, they are grown under blue skies and in red soil mostly free from industrial contamination.

The Companion Guide to London
by David Piper and Fionnuala Jervis
Published 2 Jan 1970

As you perambulate, your eyes will indeed inevitably be drawn upwards, to the presence that since 1964 reigns over north London here: the enormous but slender British Telecom Tower, erected for radio purposes by the General Post Office. It is 580 feet high (excluding the mast), the tallest object in London until exceeded by the NatWest Tower in 1981, and once had a circular revolving restaurant set in its crown at 540 feet – highest place to eat in Europe except for the similar one at Stuttgart – closed down following a terrorist bomb-attack. Plunge westwards into Fitzroy Square; this, though bomb interrupted in the Second World War, still displays on its eastern side (the south side is a reconstruction) the unified 225 16-chap16rev2.fm Page 226 Tuesday, August 22, 2000 9:07 AM Companion Guide to London elegance given to it in the 1790s by the Adam brothers, in Portland stone; the north and west sides (plaster) are mostly some thirty years later.

Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990
by Katja Hoyer
Published 5 Apr 2023

Still Germany’s tallest building today, it was hailed as a ‘masterpiece of socialist architecture’. It embodied the spirit of progress that Ulbricht was keen to evoke. It was functional, acting as an effective means of broadcasting TV and radio signals and also stylish and luxurious with its viewing platform and revolving restaurant. Sitting in the Telecafé, 207 metres above ground, a visitor could enjoy a drink while slowly being shown the entire 360-degree panorama of Berlin as the platform took an hour for one full rotation. On a clear day, visibility can reach 42 kilometres. Erich marvelled as he stepped into the elevator and was ‘shot up in the air’ within forty seconds before being released into the sphere of the tower.

Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
by Joshua Foer , Dylan Thuras and Ella Morton
Published 19 Sep 2016

The building is a 15-minute walk from the Taipei City Hall subway station. You will ride to the observatory level in one of the world’s fastest elevators, traveling at 38 miles (61 km) per hour. 25.033612 121.564976 An enormous pendulum helps keep Taiwan’s tallest building from swaying in the wind. Also in Taiwan Bei Tou Incinerator Taipei · Dine in a revolving restaurant at the top of a waste incinerator’s chimney. JAPAN, NORTH KOREA, AND SOUTH KOREA JAPAN Mushizuka, Shrine to Slain Insects TOKYO In the garden of Kan’ei-ji Temple is a smooth, engraved boulder—a circa-1821 memorial honoring the slain victims of artist Masuyama Sessai. A man with a sizable conscience, Sessai ordered its construction himself, hoping it would console the spirits of those he killed.

Lonely Planet Switzerland
by Lonely Planet

You'll have to drive or hop on a bus to get here though. Unlike neighbouring Zermatt, one valley over, Saas Fee is not accessible by train. 1Sights AllalinGLACIER ( GOOGLE MAP ; Saas Fee–Allalin single/return Sfr53/72) Year-round, the underground Mittelallin funicular climbs to an icy 3500m where the world’s highest revolving restaurant on the Allalin glacier basks in glorious 360-degree views of Saas Fee’s 4000m glacial giants. Wrap up warm to visit the subzero Eispavillion (ice cave), hollowed out 10m below the ice surface, or soar down Feegletscher’s 20km of summer ski slopes. To reach the glacier, ride the Alpin Express cable car to Felskinn (3000m), then the funicular.

Germany
by Andrea Schulte-Peevers
Published 17 Oct 2010

Stepping northeast of Friedrichsplatz, the neobaroque Christuskirche (Werderplatz), topped by a green dome, has a distinctive outline and is exactly 5m higher than the Wasserturm. When the sun shines, locals flop on the banks of the Neckar in the Luisenpark (adult/concession €5/3.50; 9am-dusk), a green spine taking in hothouses, gardens, a butterfly hall, an aquarium and a Chinese teahouse. A revolving restaurant is skewered to the 212m-high spike of the Fernmeldeturm (telecommunications tower; 419 290; Hans Reschke Ufer; adult/concession €4/3; 10am-11pm). Take tram 5 to get there. Return to beginning of chapter Sleeping Mannheim has stacks of corporate hotels but characterful pickings remain slim.

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Burgplatz marks the beginning of the Rheinuferpromenade (river walk), whose cafes and benches fill with people in fine weather, creating an almost Mediterranean flair. It follows the Rhine all the way to the Rheinpark and the 240m Rheinturm (Rhine Tower; Stromstrasse 20; lift adult/child €3.50/1.90) with a viewing platform and revolving restaurant at 172m. Just beyond are the Landtag (state parliament) and the sleek Medienhafen (Media Harbour; see right) with its dramatic blend of historic and postmodern architecture. A short detour off the Rheinuferpromenade takes you to the Hetjens Museum ( 899 4210; Schulstrasse 4; adult/concession/family €3/1.50/6; 11am-5pm Tue & Thu-Sun, 11am-9pm Wed), known for its survey of 8000 years of ceramic art from around the world.

The Rough Guide to Mexico
by Rough Guides
Published 15 Jan 2022

Insurgentes Insurgentes, the most direct approach to the suburbs, is interesting in its own right: leaving behind the Glorieta de Insurgentes (the roundabout at Insurgentes Metro station), it runs almost perfectly straight all the way out to the university, lined the whole way with huge department stores and malls, cinemas, restaurants and office buildings. A little under halfway to San Ángel, you pass on the right the enormous World Trade Center, crowned by Bellini, an expensive revolving restaurant (see page 124). Polyforum Siqueiros Insurgentes Sur 701 (cnr Filadelfia) • Daily 10am–6pm; sound-and-light show Sat & Sun noon & 2pm • Charge • 55 5536 4520 to 24 • Metrobús Poliforum The exterior of the garish Polyforum Siqueiros is plastered in brash paintings by David Siqueiros and some thirty other artists.

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Moussaka inevitably heads the list of main courses, followed by less well-known but equally delicious dishes such as psári costas (fish wrapped in vine leaves in an egg and lemon sauce). M$$$ Bellini 45th floor, World Trade Center, Av de las Naciones; http://bellini.com.mx; Metrobús Poliforum. A posh revolving restaurant atop one of the city’s tallest buildings, where business people come to impress their clients, and the romantically inclined enjoy candlelit dinners. Dishes from an international menu are prepared to the highest standards and service is impeccable. It’s obviously not the cheapest place in town, but not stupidly expensive either: even at the top end of the menu, you can start with smoked salmon, caviar and avocado, followed by red snapper in lobster sauce without emptying your wallet.

Frommer's Washington State
by Karl Samson
Published 2 Nov 2010

SEATTLE Canlis 2576 Aurora Ave. N. & 206/283-3313. www.canlis.com. Reservations highly recommended. Main courses $36–$78; chef’s tasting menu $85–$115 ($140–$210 with wines). AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Mon– Thurs 5:30–9pm; Fri 5:30–10pm; Sat 5–10pm. NORTHWEST Both the restaurant and the prices are sky-high at this revolving restaurant, located just below the observation deck at the top of Seattle’s famous Space Needle. However, because you don’t have to pay extra for the elevator ride if you dine here, the charges start to seem a little bit more in line with those at other Seattle splurge restaurants. Okay, so maybe you can get better food elsewhere, but you won’t get a more spectacular panorama anywhere else in Seattle.

Bosnia and Herzegovina
by Tim. Clancy
Published 15 Mar 2022

. $$$$ Upmarket Hotel Radon Plaza [Click here B3] (120 rooms) Dzemal Bijedica 185; 033 752 906; w radonplazahotel.ba. Situated at the far western end of town, closer to the airport, in a rather charmless section of the city, the Radon is one of a handful of 5-star hotels in Sarajevo, although better suited to business travellers than tourists. The pool & spa centre is a favourite with guests, & the revolving restaurant on the top floor offers great views of the city. $$$ Novotel Sarajevo Bristol [Click here A4](86 rooms) Fra Filipa Lastrića 2; 033 705 000; e info@bristolsarajevo.com; w all.accor.com/hotel/B1F7/index.en.shtml. Bristol was & is a major landmark of the city. Although it’s a dry establishment, it has a modern restaurant & an international feel.

The Rough Guide to Australia (Travel Guide eBook)
by Rough Guides
Published 14 Oct 2023

Once up at the observation level you can opt for the Skywalk, a harnessed-up walking tour of the exterior of the tower complete with vertiginous, glass-floored viewing platforms, one of which extends out over the abyss. It obviously imitates the popular Harbour Bridge climb, the original and still the best thrill for your money (see page 86). To enjoy the Sydney Tower view without the crowds, save your ticket money and put it towards a meal at one of the revolving restaurants at the top of the tower instead (see page 117). The revolution takes about one hour and ten minutes, and nearly all the tables are by the windows. State Theatre 49 Market St • Tours Mon–Wed 10am & 1pm; 2hr • Charge • Retro Café Mon–Wed & Fri 7.30am–8pm, Thurs till 10.30pm, Sat 8am–8pm • http://statetheatre.com.au If heaven has a hallway, it surely must resemble that of the restored State Theatre, just across from the Pitt Street Mall.

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Gentrification has transformed Battery Point into a prosperous urban village, with streets of immaculately restored historic cottages, and the charming flower-filled green of Arthurs Circus. The former corner-store shops now host smart cafés and restaurants. The next suburb south is well-heeled Sandy Bay, home to the Royal Tasmanian Yacht Club, the Wrest Point Casino in an incongruous 1970s tower with a revolving restaurant, and a passable beach – a pleasant spot from which to watch weekend regattas. St George’s Church 30 Cromwell St • Services Sun 10am There’s a particular concentration of early buildings on De Witt and Cromwell streets. St George’s Church, on Cromwell, is the joint work of John Lee Archer (responsible for the nave, completed in 1838) and James Blackburn (the tower, added in 1847), the early colony’s best-known architects.

The Rough Guide to Sri Lanka
by Rough Guides
Published 21 Sep 2018

Construction (costing over $100m) was funded by Chinese loans, and indeed the thing wouldn’t look out of place in, say, Shanghai or Guangzhou, although in the context of Colombo’s largely low-rise cityscapes it looks about as plausible as a panda at a bishops’ convention. Not quite open at the time of writing, the summit will contain a revolving restaurant, observation deck and assorted telecommunications facilities, with further amenities in the six-storey, lotus-shaped base. The tower also serves as the island’s most visible monument to the Rajapakse era: a piece of blaring Buddhist symbolism built (it’s said) on misappropriated land and funded by foreign cash – a fitting tribute to the pseudo-religious hypocrisy and shameless graft of the old regime.

Western USA
by Lonely Planet

Space Needle LANDMARK (www.spaceneedle.com; adult/child $18/11; 9:30am-11pm Sun-Thu, to 11:30pm Fri & Sat) Standing apart from the rest of Seattle’s skyscrapers, the needle is the city’s undisputed modern symbol. Built for the World’s Fair in 1962, it was the highest structure in Seattle at the time, topping 605ft, though it has since been easily usurped. Visitors make for the 520ft-high observation station with a revolving restaurant. Monorail TRAIN (www.seattlemonorail.com; adult/child $4/1.50; 9am-11pm) Floating like a low-flying spaceship through Belltown, this 1.5-mile experiment in mass transit was so ahead of its time that some American cities have still to cotton on to it. The slick raised train runs every 10 minutes daily from downtown’s Westlake Center to a station next to the Experience Music Project.

Cuba Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Opened in 1989, this large permanent exhibition showcases Cuba’s economic and scientific achievements in 25 pavilions based on themes such as sugar, farming, apiculture, animal science, fishing, construction, food, geology, sports and defense. Cubans visiting ExpoCuba flock to the amusement park at the center of the complex, bypassing the rather dry propaganda displays. Don Cuba ( 57-82-87) , a revolving restaurant, is atop a tower. The Feria Internacional de la Habana, Cuba’s largest trade fair, is held at ExpoCuba in the first week of November. Parking is available at Gate E, at the south end of the complex (CUC$1). Jardín Botánico Nacional GARDENS (admission CUC$3; 10am-4pm Wed-Sun) Across the highway from ExpoCuba is this 600-hectare botanical garden.

Southwest USA Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

VEGAS ON FILM »Casino, Martin Scorsese »Ocean’s Eleven, Steven Soderbergh »Leaving Las Vegas, Mike Figgis »Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam »The Hangover, Todd Phillips Stratosphere CASINO (www.stratospherehotel.com; 2000 Las Vegas Blvd S) Standing over 100 stories, the three-legged Stratosphere is the tallest observation tower in the US. While the casino recently received a much-needed remodel, skip it and head straight to the elevators. Atop the tapered tower (adult/child $16/10; 10am-1am Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat) is a revolving restaurant, a circular bar and indoor and outdoor viewing decks offering the most spectacular 360-degree panoramas in town. To get there, ride the USA’s fastest elevators, which ascend 108 floors in 37 ear-popping seconds. Up top, queue for adrenaline-pumping thrill rides (per ride $12-13, all rides incl elevator $28-34; 10am-1am Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat).

Costa Rica
by Matthew Firestone , Carolina Miranda and César G. Soriano
Published 2 Jan 2008

Facilities include a Jacuzzi, swimming pool, a church complete with Swiss chimes, and a restaurant (mains ₡3000 to ₡7000; open from 7:30am to 4pm and 6pm to 8:30pm) that allows Swiss folks who’ve been on the road too long to indulge in authentic Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (Zurich-style veal served over potatoes) and fondues. Former US President Jimmy Carter once dined here. The owners have even built a miniature train (₡5500) that brings you up a hill to an underground station beneath the Rondorama Panoramic Restaurant (mains ₡5000 to ₡10,000), a revolving restaurant (seriously!) that’s reportedly one-of-a-kind in Central America. There’s also a hiking trail that leads to the restaurant and is great for wildlife-watching. English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese are spoken. Rates for the simply gorgeous two-person cottages – works of art, really – at La Mansion Inn Arenal (2692-8018; www.lamansionarenal.com; cottages incl breakfast US$204-640; ) also include a champagne breakfast, fruit basket, welcome cocktail, canoe access and horse rides, all conspiring with the magnificent views to make this the most romantic inn in the region.

The Rough Guide to New Zealand: Travel Guide eBook
by Rough Guides
Published 1 Jan 2024

Skytower Corner of Victoria and Federal sts • May–Oct daily 9am–10pm; Nov–April Mon–Thurs & Sun 8.30am–10.30pm, Fri & Sat 8.30am–11.30pm • Charge • www.skycityauckland.co.nz/attractions At 328m, the Skytower, which sprouts from the Skycity Casino, is New Zealand’s tallest structure and just pips the Eiffel Tower and Sydney’s Centrepoint. You can admire the stupendous views over the city and Hauraki Gulf either from one of two observation decks (186m and 220m) or from the classy Sugar Club revolving restaurant. SkyWalk Daily 10am–6pm • Charge • www.skywalk.co.nz The views from inside the Skytower are surpassed by those from the SkyWalk – if you dare to look around. At the 192m-high level, you tentatively make a twenty-minute circumnavigation of the Skytower exterior on a metre-wide, handrail-free walkway with just a rope tether to steady the nerves.

California
by Sara Benson
Published 15 Oct 2010

The Stratosphere Tower (Map; 702-380-7777; www.stratospherehotel.com; 2000 Las Vegas Blvd S; elevator adult/concession $14/10, incl 3 thrill rides $28; ) has some of the highest thrill rides in the world (Insanity and Big Shot are your best bets). Also reached by America’s fastest elevators are a revolving restaurant, a circular bar and indoor and outdoor viewing decks. At the monorail station, the Moroccan-themed Sahara (Map; 702-737-2111; www.saharavegas.com; 2535 Las Vegas Blvd S) is one of the few old-Vegas carpet joints to have survived the megaresort onslaught. Jump on the Strip’s best roller coaster, Speed ( 2-10pm Thu-Mon), or virtually race a Formula One car at the Las Vegas Cyber Speedway ( from 11am daily); each costs $10, or it’s $21.95 for both.

Germany Travel Guide
by Lonely Planet

Rheinturm TOWER Offline map Google map (Stromstrasse 20; adult/child €4/2.50; 10am-11.30pm) Spearing the sky at the southern end of the Rhine promenade, the Rheinturm has an observation deck at the 168m level of its overall height of 240m. The views are as sweeping as you’d expect, although the phrase ‘on a clear day you can see Essen’ may not inspire. There are also various cafes, bars and a revolving restaurant should the mere thought of Essen get you hungry. Near the base is the Landtag, the state parliament. Elvis Presley Exhibition MUSEUM Offline map Google map (www.elvis-duesseldorf.de; Flingerstrasse 11; adult/child €8.50/4; 11am-7pm Mon-Fri, from 10am Sat & Sun) The connection between ‘the King’ and Düsseldorf isn’t even tenuous – there is none.

USA Travel Guide
by Lonely, Planet

Space Needle LANDMARK Offline map Google map (www.spaceneedle.com; adult/child $18/11; 9:30am-11pm Sun-Thu, to 11:30pm Fri & Sat) Standing apart from the rest of Seattle’s skyscrapers, the needle is the city’s undisputed modern symbol. Built for the World’s Fair in 1962, it was the highest structure in Seattle at the time, topping 605ft, though it has since been easily usurped. Visitors make for the 520ft-high observation station with a revolving restaurant. Monorail TRAIN (www.seattlemonorail.com; adult/child $4/1.50; 9am-11pm) Floating like a low-flying spaceship through Belltown, this 1.5-mile experiment in mass transit was so ahead of its time that some American cities have still to cotton on to it. The slick raised train runs every 10 minutes daily from downtown’s Westlake Center to a station next to the Experience Music Project.