The Palace Hotel, an important milestone in the development of tourism in Portorož, first opened on the 20th of August, 1910. Its 175 rooms, spacious banquet hall called the Crystal Hall, reading rooms, and a vast terrace that opened up towards the park and the sea quickly crowned it the best hotel of the Austro-Hungarian coastline at the time. It was directly linked to the spa where they offered treatments with mud and brine. There was also a sea swimming area in front of the hotel. In 1983 the hotel became a cultural monument. It was closed in 1990 but reopened after a major renovation in 2008 as one of the most prestigious hotels in Slovenia.