Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi

The Metropole has been the centre of Hanoi's social gravity since 1901, its white neoclassical facade, green shutters and wrought-iron balconies presiding over a leafy street near the Opera House in the French Quarter. Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene wrote here, Charlie Chaplin honeymooned here, and successive generations of diplomats and correspondents made its bars their headquarters—a lineage the hotel curates with unusual care through its own historical archive and guided tours.

The hotel divides between the Heritage Wing, with its timber floors, ceiling fans and period furniture, and the newer Opera Wing's more contemporary comfort; purists should insist on the former. In 2011 renovation works uncovered the wartime bomb shelter beneath the Bamboo Bar, where guests once took cover during air raids, and the restored bunker tour has become one of Asia's most affecting hotel experiences.

Dining sustains the legend: Le Beaulieu remains a benchmark for classical French cooking in Southeast Asia, Spices Garden interprets Vietnamese traditions, and chocolate buffets in the courtyard lounge are a Hanoi institution. A courtyard pool, a serious spa and the old quarter's lakes and lanes within walking distance complete an address that wears more history lightly than almost any hotel in Asia.