The Westbury

If The Merrion is Dublin's drawing room, The Westbury is its salon. Set on Balfe Street a half-step off Grafton Street's shopping parade, the Doyle Collection's flagship has made itself the city's meeting point: The Gallery, its first-floor lounge overlooking the street bustle, fills daily with afternoon tea, pre-theatre glasses and the general theatre of Dublin society passing through.

The hotel's interiors have been steadily refined into a plush mid-century-inflected elegance—marble, brass, specially commissioned Irish art and photography—while bedrooms deliver deep comfort with a crisp, contemporary finish; suites at the top look across the rooftops towards the Dublin Mountains. Service runs notably warm for a hotel of this polish, in the best Irish tradition.

Dining spans Wilde, the glasshouse-style restaurant with its terrace, and Balfes, the street-level brasserie and bar with a neighbourhood following of its own. Trinity College, the Gaiety Theatre and the creative lanes around Drury Street are all within a few hundred metres, making this the practical luxury base for first-time Dublin visitors who want everything walkable. It lacks a spa and the Georgian romance of its rival, but for location and social energy The Westbury owns its ground.