Fairmont Le Château Frontenac

No hotel owns its city's skyline the way the Château Frontenac owns Québec's. Designed by Bruce Price for the Canadian Pacific Railway and opened in 1893, its copper roofs, brick turrets and fortress-like massing crown the cliff of Cap Diamant above the St Lawrence River, visible from every corner of the old town and reputed to be the most photographed hotel in the world. The Dufferin Terrace boardwalk runs along its feet, and the cobbled lanes of the UNESCO-listed Old Québec spill downhill from its front door.

History has kept pace with the architecture. Churchill and Roosevelt met here for the Québec Conferences of the Second World War, and the roll of royal and political guests since gives the corridors—lined with archival photographs—a museum quality. Guest rooms wind through the château's irregular floors, which means shapes, sizes and views vary enormously; river-view rooms in the central tower are the prize, while others look over the old city's rooftops.

As a base for exploring Québec, nothing else comes close: Place Royale, the funicular to the Lower Town and the city walls are all within minutes on foot. Dining runs from a celebrated regional-French restaurant to a bistro and a bar pouring Québec spirits behind leaded windows, and an indoor pool takes the edge off winter visits, when the snow-dusted turrets are at their most storybook. It is a busy, beloved civic institution—book it for romance and location rather than seclusion.