Hotel Adlon Kempinski

The original Adlon opened in 1907 under the patronage of Kaiser Wilhelm II and immediately became the salon of Europe—kings, presidents, Chaplin and Garbo passed beneath its coffered ceilings before war and fire reduced it to rubble. Rebuilt on its historic site in 1997, the new Adlon deliberately channels its predecessor's spirit: the elephant fountain in the lobby, warm marble, and a position directly beside the Brandenburg Gate, looking down Unter den Linden toward the city's rebuilt heart.

Rooms and suites are classically dressed in polished woods and deep fabrics, and the front-facing suites deliver one of Europe's most charged urban views: the Gate itself, Pariser Platz and the embassies, with the Reichstag dome a few minutes' walk. The hotel's role in modern Berlin's diplomatic and celebrity life is a continuation, not an imitation, of the original's.

Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer, the two-Michelin-star dining room upstairs, looks straight at the Gate over refined European tasting menus, while the brasserie-style Quarré and the lobby's tea and cocktail rituals serve the daily theatre. A generous pool and spa run below. For history, position and full-dress grand hotellerie in Berlin, the Adlon is simply the address.