Le Bristol Paris

Le Bristol has occupied its stretch of the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré since 1925, and among the Paris palaces it remains the one that feels most like a very grand private house. The style is classical French—Gobelins tapestries, gilt boiserie, deep sofas—but the mood is warm rather than starchy, helped along by a famously well-loved resident Birman cat and a large interior garden that few first-time guests expect to find in the 8th arrondissement.

Rooms and suites are generously proportioned even at entry level, dressed in silks and soft Louis XVI-style furniture, with the best of them overlooking the courtyard's greenery. On the top floor sits one of the city's most photographed hotel amenities: a teak-lined pool built to resemble a yacht's deck, with rooftop views towards Sacré-Cœur.

Eating well is the other reason to stay. Eric Frechon's Epicure holds three Michelin stars for haute French cooking of great precision, while 114 Faubourg offers a glossier, more relaxed brasserie register. Add the fashion houses of the Faubourg on the doorstep and the Élysée Palace as a neighbour, and Le Bristol makes an unusually complete case for itself.