Square Nine Hotel Belgrade

Square Nine set the standard for modern Balkan hospitality when it opened in 2011 on Studentski Trg, at the edge of Belgrade's old town grid with Kalemegdan fortress a short stroll away. Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld wrapped the building in glass and travertine and filled it with warmth—walnut panelling, vintage mid-century furniture collected across Europe, leather and brass aged to a glow—producing interiors that still feel current a decade and a half on. Membership of The Leading Hotels of the World signals the ambition; the execution matches it.

Rooms are calm, cocooning and impeccably detailed, with oak floors, deep tubs and windows over the square's plane trees. The top floor holds a Japanese restaurant, Ebisu, with a summer terrace above the rooftops, while the ground-floor brasserie and bar anchor the city's power breakfasts. The lower-level spa is among the best in the region: an 18-metre indoor pool, saunas, and a gym serious enough for athletes. From the door, Knez Mihailova's pedestrian bustle, the fortress park and the bohemian lanes of Dorćol spread in every direction. Square Nine remains the room to book in Belgrade.