Top 10 hotels that hold a significant place in history

The Hotel Café Royal only opened on the site of the original café in 2012, but has already become known as one of the most luxurious hotels in London, offering 160 guest rooms, including 49 suites and six signature suites, as well as a selection of restaurants, continuing the café’s culinary legacy.

Guestrooms – some of the most luxurious and largest we’ve seen in a London hotel – are elegant and serene, with Portland stone or fumed oak panels, parquet floors and copperlight doors. Double doors lead on to Italian Carrara marble bathrooms with heated floors, and all guestrooms and suites have good-sized beds with Frette bed linen and Bang & Olufsen media systems. And for that extra sense of heritage, six of the suites have their own aesthetic character and story – ours even had a terrace overlooking Piccadilly Circus.

Its proximity to some of London’s best shopping (including Hamleys and Selfridges) makes the Hotel Café Royal ideal for shopaholics, and it’s in easy reach of all the main sights, including Trafalgar Square, the London Eye and Buckingham Palace; but if you need some relaxation after exploring then the hotel’s spa is simply exquisite, with an 18m long lap pool, steam room, sauna and jacuzzi, and nine treatment rooms offering innovative Western treatments fused with ancient Eastern traditions. There’s also a private hammam and London’s first Watsu (aquatic therapy) pool. Rooms from Dh2,438 per night (www.hotelcaferoyal.com).

Opened originally as the Cathay Hotel in 1929, the most famous hotel in China was known even then as the Number One mansion in the Far East, welcoming notable figures like Charlie Chaplin and George Bernard Shaw. Its outstanding location on the Bund, facing the Pudong area over the Huangpu River, and stunning copper-sheathed roof, white Italian marble floors and priceless Lalique glass artwork made it the must-stay place for politicians, celebrities and businessmen alike.

However, it was occupied by the Japanese army during the Second World War, and after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, some of the offices were used by the Municipal Finance Committee; in 1952 the building was taken over by the government, and it wasn’t until 1956 that it resumed trading as a hotel under the name Peace Hotel.

Following extensive refurbishment in 2007, the original interiors and exteriors were renewed, creating a sophisticated, glamorous hotel, the perfect retreat from the frenetic pace of Shanghai. As part of the Canadian Fairmont hotel group (owners of The Savoy), it offers the award-winning Willow Stream spa (and superb sky-lit swimming pool), and the Fairmont Gold club floor with its own private concierge. Rooms are elegantly appointed, with state-of-the-art amenities and marble bathrooms. From Dh1,088 per night, fairmont.com.

There are lots of reasons to stay at the Peninsula Hong Kong – the helipad, Rolls-Royce transfer service and extraordinary Philippe Starck-designed restaurant Felix with panoramic views of the Blade Runner-esque-skyline to name just a few. But the ‘Grande Dame of the Far East’ also has an illustrious history.

 

Opened in 1928, it’s still one of the most prestigious hotels in the city; you can stay in the original building or the soaring tower, with its astonishing views of Victoria Harbour and beyond, but even if you don’t stay here, it’s well worth visiting for the afternoon tea alone, a Hong Kong tradition. Rooms effortlessly blend chinoiserie-style textiles with modern luxury. From Dh1,744 per night, peninsula.com.

Established in 1928 and renovated in 1997, the Four Seasons Hotel George V is a Parisian landmark. Now owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, it boasts exemplary service and lavish interiors – think sparkling crystal, mirror-finish marble, as well as the original ironwork, including art deco balustrades. The hotel’s restaurant, Le Cinq, is Michelin-starred. Rooms are furnished in light, refreshing colours, with crystal chandeliers, 18th-century inspired furniture, deep soaking bathtubs. From Dh5,055 per night, fourseasons.com.

Ignore the slightly unexpected muddy brown-exterior – the Astoria is St Petersburg’s most famous and luxurious hotel, and has also been acclaimed as one of the most romantic hotels in the world.

It was once said that ‘Nothing unimportant ever happens at The Plaza,’ and since its opening in 1907 it has been one of the most famous addresses in the Big Apple, with an outstanding location on Central Park South, right opposite the park, and within skipping distance of Fifth Avenue, with its glorious shopping. In fact it was so esteemed that legendary writer Ernest Hemingway once advised F Scott Fitzgerald to give his liver to Princeton and his heart to The Plaza. Kings, presidents, ambassadors and movie stars have stayed at this extraordinary hotel, and it’s featured in movies ranging from Hitchcock’s North by Northwest to The Way We Were, The Great Gatsby and Home Alone II.

It’s considered so important to New York that it’s one of only two hotels in the city to be designated as a National Historic Landmark. Fully renovated in 2008, rooms offer Beaux-Arts-inspired decor and white-glove butler service; the bathrooms are particularly lavish, with 24-carat gold-plated taps. From Dh3,599 per night, www.fairmont.com.

With its lush Moorish-style gardens and view of the Medina, the Palais Sheherazade certainly feels palatial. And so it should – the building was originally an actual 19th-century palace. Suites are sumptuous, as you’d expect, but for total indulgence check out the Anne Semonin Signature Spa, with its indoor aquatonic pool and 12 treatment rooms. From Dh579 per night, www.sheheraz.com.

Raffles first opened its doors in 1887 as a 10-bedroom colonial hotel. Since then there has been extensive development around it, but the essence of the hotel remains the same, and entering the lobby with its iconic ceiling fans feels like going back to a calmer, more simple time. Famous guests have included Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad, as well as more recently the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Rooms have high ceilings, and opulent soft furnishings. From Dh4,532 per night, www.raffles.com.

Seville is a spectacularly beautiful city, brimming with stunning architecture, enchanting plazas and breathtaking gardens, and the Hotel Alfonso XIII is one of the best addresses here, within easy reach of the Santa Cruz quarter and Guadalquivir River. With its Mudéjar-style architecture it has been considered one of the most prestigious hotels in Spain (and the world) since its opening (attended by the then King and Queen) in 1929, and although it has been extensively renovated it has maintained its aura of glamour, as befits a Spanish icon.

There’s a particularly gorgeous inner courtyard, where you can relax and soak up the warm Andalusian sun, and the hotel is within strolling distance of the Royal Tobacco Factory, inspiration for Bizet’s opera Carmen. The hotel offers 151 sumptuous rooms and suites, individually decorated in Moorish, Castilian or Andalusian styles. From Dh952 per night, www.hotel-alfonsoxiii-seville.com.

As the name suggests, the Sofitel Legend Metropole is a landmark in the city of Hanoi. With teak flooring, neo-classical and colonial interiors, very pretty gardens and views of the French Quarter, it’s an oasis from the chaos of the Vietnamese capital, but what makes it irresistible is its past. Novelist Graham Greene stayed here while writing The Quiet American, during the 1960s a bomb shelter was constructed to protect American guests, Jane Fonda stayed at the hotel during her famous visit to Vietnam in 1972, and Joan Baez recorded an entire side of an album in her room during an air raid. Rooms are spacious and elegant. From Dh797 per night, www.sofitel.com.