Palé Hall

Palé Hall was built in 1871 for a railway engineer with evidently no interest in restraint: the honey-grey mansion in the Dee Valley near Bala comes with a vaulted entrance hall, ornate plastered ceilings and a sweeping staircase that sets a baronial tone before a guest reaches the drawing room. Queen Victoria stayed here in 1889, and the boudoir she used survives as one of the hotel's most requested rooms.

Restored in the mid-2010s to Relais & Châteaux polish, the house holds 18 rooms and suites of considerable individuality—half-tester beds, marble bathrooms, valley views—wrapped in interiors that respect the Victorian bones while sparing guests any mustiness. A quietly pleasing detail: the estate's own hydroelectric system, drawing on the river that powered the house over a century ago, still contributes to its electricity.

The Henry Robertson Dining Room, named for the house's builder, delivers refined country-house cooking that has made Palé Hall the strongest gastronomic address in North Wales, with the wilds of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park beginning practically at the gate. Llangollen, Portmeirion and the great castles of the north are all within touring range. For travellers pairing serious dinners with empty Welsh mountains, it is the region's clear first choice.