Hotel Maria Cristina

Opened in 1912 and named after the Habsburg queen regent who made San Sebastián Spain's summer capital, the Maria Cristina rises beside the Urumea river a few streets from La Concha bay. The architect Charles Mewès, of Paris and London Ritz fame, gave the city a proper Belle Époque palace: sandstone façades, wrought-iron balconies and salons scaled for a resort that once hosted half the courts of Europe.

Every September the hotel becomes the heart of the San Sebastián International Film Festival, its lobby a parade of directors and stars — a tradition running back to the festival's founding, remembered in the suites named for past guests such as Bette Davis. The interiors mix restored period grandeur with a soft contemporary palette, and the best rooms look over the river to the Kursaal or towards the old town.

That old town holds one of the densest concentrations of great food on earth, from counter-top pintxos bars to a constellation of celebrated tasting-menu restaurants in and around the city. The hotel plays its part with elegant Basque-influenced dining and a famously deep gin and cocktail list. For gastronomes who like their pilgrimage sites with palace bedding, there is no contest.