EUROPE’S BEST CITY

PARIS

SHANGRI-LA PARIS

THE HISTORIC PLEASURE PALACE WHERE TWO WORLDS COLLIDE Words: Anna Solomon

In many ways, the Shangri-La Paris resists categorisation. As the former home of Napoleon’s great nephew, it is a bastion of French history. But a prominent East-meetsWest theme, which presents itself in the marriage of Baroque decor and dim sum for breakfast, pulls things in a different direction. It is also the only hotel I know of where you can book ‘by view’.

Prince Roland Bonaparte’s mansion was built in 1896, featuring an elaborate carved façade, stained glass windows, and a vaulted rotunda emblazoned with zodiac symbols. The tradition of hospitality initiated by the prince – who hosted regular soirées for Paris’s academic elite – was revived with the opening of the Shangri-La in 2010. But first it had to undergo a lengthy restoration: hand-gilded panelling, neoclassical friezes and timber salons were returned to their former glory.

For all of its European grandeur, however, the hotel is predicated on an Asian theme. The 100 rooms are decked out in distinct East-West style: a Rococo colour scheme of cream and gold meets silk-thread wallpaper, marquetry desks, and orchids aplenty. The Imperial suite offers Versailles-worthy interiors in oriental duck-egg.

This cultural confluence also presents itself in the food and drink: La Bauhinia serves Franco-Asian delicacies under an exquisite glass cupola, from rich laksa to the signature tigre qui pleure (marinated Black Angus steak with a kick) and a famed afternoon tea.

Elsewhere, L’Abeille is a temple to French gastronomy, and chef Samuel Lee Sum puts a Cantonese spin on duck foie gras and live red lobster at Shang Palace. Resident watering hole Le Bar Botaniste boasts an array of botanical spirits and an absinthe fountain.

The Shangri-La’s spa, meanwhile, leans into European provenance: Romanesque meets Victoriana at CHI, with its glazed columns and mosaics.

Throwing your suite doors open to Haussmann-style boulevards isn’t bad, but there’s only one view that really matters in Paris: the Eiffel Tower is 500m from the Shangri-La, and observable from about half the rooms.

The hotel is also minutes from the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris and Avenues Montaigne and George V; its 16th arrondissement location is everso-slightly out of the way, so you won’t encounter the crêpe-and-keyring-flogging side of Paris. But Iéna metro is moments away should you need to get there.

The Shangri-La is part hotel, part landmark. Its cross-continental fusion is exciting, and the location quintessential Paris without being on the ChampsÉlysées. Perhaps, therefore, we should conclude that its biggest draw is that it is a world of perfectly-pitched contradictions: at once grand and intimate, East and West, proud of its interior glory and the environs that surround it.

From approx. £830 per night, shangri-la.com

AN ANCIENT HOTEL IN MADRID’S LITERARY QUARTER PROVIDES A TEXTBOOK BOLTHOLE FROM WHICH TO EXPLORE THE SPANISH CAPITAL Words: Richard Brown

Here are some things we were told during a walking tour of Madrid: the Spanish capital has more green space per person than any other European city (it didn’t feel like it); ‘Madrid’ comes from an Arabic word meaning ‘place of many streams’ (we didn’t see any); the city enjoys more cloudless skies than any other major European metropolis (that bit checked out); Madrid is home to the world’s oldest restaurant, where you can eat suckling pig (we opted for the stewed partridge); there’s a fountain on street level that’s been designed to flood a subterranean chamber within the Bank of Spain should anyone try and break in (cool!).

Here’s what to know about the Gran Hotel Inglés: it’s the oldest hotel in Madrid (opened in 1886) and was the first to boast its own onsite restaurant (although, technically, the hotel grew out of a café, rather than the other way round). It’s located in Madrid’s historic, higgledy-piggledy Literary Quarter (official name: Barrio de Las Letras) in a pretty, cobbled street within walking distance of most of the city’s major attractions (see penultimate paragraph).

Hotel Inglés reopened in March 2018 after a £15 million refurbishment by renowned American architect the David Rockwell Group (the outfit behind Maze and Nobu restaurants, New York City’s reimagined Grand Central Station, various Oscar sets, and Las Vegas’ Omnia nightclub). The group preserved Inglés’ exquisite 19th-century façade but gave everything inside a thoroughly modern (and rather un-Spanish) makeover. There are 48 chicly-decorated rooms (ask for one that looks onto the street), a small but sufficient spa, a not-especially-cosy restaurant (set up with the help of two Michelin star chef, Fernando Arellano), a swanky white-marble bar (which doesn’t really reflect the hotel’s history or locale), and a 600-book library curated by Spanish publisher Zenda (we didn’t have time to corroborate that number).

Here are some things you can do in the immediate vicinity of Hotel Inglés: chase down oily slices of Iberian ham with ice-cold bottles of Mahou on Calle Huertas, the Literary Quarter’s main thoroughfare; arrange a two-hour tour of Museo del Prado, Spain’s most prestigious museum (paintings, mostly); stroll around the Royal Botanical Gardens (Kew Gardens with a nice boating lake and more sun); and, if you’re in town on the first Saturday of the month (shame it’s only on then) browse some top bric-a-brac at the open-air Mercado de la Ranas, Madrid’s answer to Portobello Road.

What else to know? Madrid is like no other European capital. For cultural hits and vitamin D, it’s a tough city to beat.

MADRID

GRAN HOTEL INGLÉS

From approx. £345 per night, granhotelingles.com

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BARCELONA

MANDARIN ORIENTAL, BARCELONA

A TRANQUIL RETREAT IN SPAIN’S CULTURE CENTRE Words: Ellen Millard

Located in the former headquarters of Banco Hispano Americano, the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona is a picture of understatement from the outside – a sleek limestone building that could easily go unnoticed.

When Spanish architects Carlos Ferrater and Juan Trias de Bes began renovations in 2004 (the hotel opened in 2009), they decided to keep the original façade relatively untouched, concentrating their efforts on the inside of the building. The experience – and staying at the MO Barcelona is an experience – begins with the front doors, which are offset from the street and accessed via a sloping bridge. As you wander through an ivory lightwell to the lobby beyond, the first impression is of discovering something rather special.

Inside, there are 120 rooms, each the vision of Spanish interior designer Patricia Urquiola, whose eye for clean lines and a neutral colour palette, mixed with the occasional splash of Chinoiserie in a nod to the hotel’s Far Eastern roots, makes the suites feel more like luxury apartments than hotel rooms. In my room, wood-panelled walls and monochrome soft furnishings were offset by the popping citrus yellow of an armchair, vanity stool and Acqua di Parma toiletries. The majority of rooms have a balcony overlooking the Passeig de Gràcia (mine had an outdoor bathtub) or a terrace leading onto the resident Mimosa garden, where a menu of Mediterranean light bites and cocktails is served.

It is one of several dining options in the hotel, the finest of all being Moments. Decorated in white and gold, the restaurant is headed up by seven Michelin-starred chef Carme Ruscalleda and her son Raül Balam, and was awarded two stars of its own for its fresh take on Catalan cuisine. Ruscalleda also steers the menu in the more informal Blanc, an allday restaurant where a buffet is served at breakfast and an à la carte menu at lunch and dinner.

The basement is home to the spa, which, this being a Mandarin Oriental hotel, is a highlight. There are seven treatment rooms, including a couple’s suite, where guests can enjoy a selection of spa experiences, ranging from aromatherapy massages to caviar-infused facials. There’s also a fitness centre, a hair salon and a 25m swimming pool.

From here you feel both in the thick of one of Spain’s most vibrant cities and worlds away from the crowds. This, I think, is what makes the hotel so special – that, and the spa.

From approx. £410 per night, mandarinoriental.com

If your idea of Vienna is all romantic canals, centuries-old architecture, and succulent schnitzel, well, you’d kind of be spot on. And the Ritz-Carlton, made up of four grand 19th-century houses, ticks that elusive authenticity box the moment you step into its marble-flooded foyer. Walnut wall-panelling, parquet flooring, ornate fireplaces and frescoed ceilings are just some of the fine interior flourishes you can expect, as well as several striking staircases, each more than suitable for re-enacting the entire von Trapp bedtime routine.

Choose the two-bedroom presidential suite for the best bed in the house; complete with its own library and dining room, glistening chandeliers, and charming artwork at every turn. It also boasts a balcony with views of the beguiling city below.

The restaurants here don’t just cater to hotel residents. Dstrikt steakhouse has made a name for itself from breakfast through to late-night supper with its early-bird offering of steak tartare with truffle mayonnaise, fried quail eggs and grilled avocado (as well as all the normal eggs and pastries, naturally). The chateaubriand is worth a try, as is a taste of the extensive local wine selection. Elsewhere, Pastamara - Bar con Cucina offers an exciting angle on the flavours of Sicily. Our personal favourites were the fregola e crudi di mare (fregola, parsley, seafood, lardo) and the braised veal cheeks with Jerusalem artichokes and carrots, finished off with a cannolo siciliano, a cone-shaped pastry exploding with ricotta, prickly pear soup and almond sorbet. American cocktail lounge D-Bar and the Atmosphere rooftop bar provide two very different picturesque spots for a night cap.

The in-house spa comes courtesy of Susanne Kaufmann treatments and cosmetics, with products all created from natural ingredients selected from the Bregenz Forest in Western Austria. Here, it’s all about tailored wellness. We highly recommend opting for the bespoke spa assessment, which includes a one-to-one consultation addressing your current routine and individual goals. The therapist then designs a new daily self-care guide and creates a range of customised treatments at the spa on the day. And breathe…

Set on the Ringstrasse, a circular grand boulevard around the historic Innere Stadt district, the hotel is only a 15-minute walk (or even shorter tram ride) from some of the best sites the city has to offer, from the beautiful Vienna City Park, to the Musikverein and Vienna State Opera. From wine tours to waltz classes, concerts to culinary firsts, Vienna is the perfect option for a short-haul city break. It’s so romantic you’ll never really be ready to say ‘adieu’ (to you, and you, and you and you and you…).

From £228 per night, ritzcarlton.com

VIENNA

THE RITZ-CARLTON, VIENNA

A GRANDE DAME HOTEL IN ONE OF EUROPE’S GRANDEST CITIES Words: Kari Colmans

BUDAPEST

MATILD PALACE, A LUXURY COLLECTION HOTEL

HISTORIC GRANDEUR IN THE HEART OF BUDAPEST Words: Zoe Gunn

It is on one of Budapest’s grand thoroughfares that you’ll find Matild Palace. The hotel occupies one of a pair of identical mansions built in 1902 at the behest of Her Imperial and Royal Highness Maria Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who enlisted renowned local architects Korb and Giergl to create twin baroque palaces that would act as a ‘grand gateway’ when entering the Pest side of the city across the River Danube via the recentlycompleted Elisabeth Bridge.

Enjoying UNESCO world heritage status, the buildings were originally designed for social use, with each offering apartments, offices and artist studios for Budapest’s wealthier denizens. For decades the neighbourhood thrived but, having sustained serious damage from both a fighter jet crash and Russian tank fire during WWII, both were eventually deemed uninhabitable and abandoned.

It was in this state that Marriott took on the challenge of transforming the southern building into a hotel fit to join its Luxury Collection. After five painstaking years, the restoration of dozens of priceless original features – including Zsolnay ceramic work, Gyula Jungfer wrought iron gates and Miksa Róth stained glass windows – and a disheartening year-long delay due to the pandemic, Matild Palace finally opened its doors in June 2021.

Rooms, there are 111 in total, and 19 suites, are a study in blending modern convenience with the beauty of a listed building. Natural light floods through double casement windows, which provide views over the Danube, Elisabeth Bridge and Buda Castle, while blocking out noise from the (admittedly busy) road below. In the bathroom and adjoining wet room, glittering blue mosaic tiles echo those found in Budapest’s famous spas – an aesthetic which carries down to the hotel’s own Swan Spa found in its lower levels.

And while it is extremely difficult to eat badly in Budapest, should you tire of goulash and paprikash (a dish so abundant that I inadvertently ordered it twice on our first day), Matild Palace’s Spago restaurant offers a point of difference. Helmed by Wolfgang Puck, with day-to-day operations overseen by Hungarian-born head chef István Szántó, the seasonal menu roams across the globe applying American, Asian and Mediterranean twists to local ingredients.

Boasting a heady mix of location, history, gastronomy and old-school European luxury, Matild Palace feels like a fitting reincarnation of a building envisioned as an ode to the sophistication, artistic heritage and international importance of Budapest.

From £450 per night, marriott.co.uk

MakingWAVES

TO HELP CREATE ITS TRAILBLAZING NEW LUXURY SHIP, CELEBRITY BEYOND® , CELEBRITY CRUISES® HAS ENLISTED THE TALENTS OF GLOBAL DESIGNERS, CHEFS AND TASTEMAKERS, INCLUDING INTERIOR SPECIALISTS NATE BERKUS AND KELLY HOPPEN CBE, AND MICHELIN-STAR CHEF DANIEL BOULUD

When it comes to haute living on the high seas, Celebrity Cruises® is an innovator in its field. The company’s esteemed fleet of everevolving, state-of-the-art ships offers sleek, contemporary design, world-class cuisine and a vast array of modern comforts to rival any five-star resort.

Itineraries are thorough and farreaching, whether touring Europe’s most enthralling cities, exploring remote islands like the Galápagos, or travelling to the sun-soaked splendour of the Caribbean.

The newest addition to its roster of refined ships is Celebrity Beyond®. This hotly anticipated destination in itself boasts an innovative, outwardfacing design, creating an even closer connection between guests, the sea, and every exciting place on the horizon. Guests can unwind in expansive openair spaces and discover even more ways to relax and renew.

The ship’s inaugural voyage will set sail from Southampton in April on a 10-night European cruise to Barcelona, by way of Bordeaux, Lisbon, Malaga and Palma.

Celebrity Cruises® has collaborated with an all-star team to bring Beyond® to life, including award-winning designer Kelly Hoppen CBE, who brought her unique vision to the Spa, the staterooms and The Retreat® across the Edge Series ships. For Beyond, she goes even further, also reimagining the Pool Deck with unique sculptures and discreet sunken seating, the Rooftop Garden with stunning new cantilevered float pools and a fresh new take on both the popular Café al Bacio and awe-inspiring Magic Carpet®.

The Magic Carpet® – an industryfirst immersive restaurant and bar that extends from the side of the ship – allows guests to seemingly ‘float’ above water, while savouring delicious food and socialising over fine wines and cocktails.

Renowned US interior designer and TV personality, Nate Berkus, has designed the expanded Sunset Bar, drawing on Moroccan architecture, and featuring private enclaves which allow for cosy têteà-têtes, set against twinkling, postcardperfect panoramas.

For gourmands, Beyond® lays claim to French Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud’s first restaurant at sea, aptly called Le Voyage. An adventurous fine-dining menu of global flavours promises a new experience every night, while glamorous interiors are the work of Jouin Manku, the design firm responsible for the Le Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, and Celebrity Beyond®’s Grand Plaza.

The ship’s pièce de résistance, however, might just be The Retreat, an exclusive indoor and outdoor space with a members’ club quality that is only available to suite guests. Designed by Kelly Hoppen CBE, it is referred to as ‘a hotel within a hotel’ and features a private lounge and a two-storey sundeck, where a dedicated concierge team will cater to your every whim. Bask in blissful sunshine while pool attendants deliver cocktails, or dine at Luminae, the area’s private restaurant, where you can explore exclusive menus crafted by Michelin-starred chefs while gazing through floor-to-ceiling windows.

Swathed in marble, the deluxe spa spans a colossal 13,907 sq ft and includes the first Kérastase Institute on the water for haircare and treatments, a barbershop and an acupuncture clinic. Guests can indulge in no less than 120 treatments, including glacial mud wraps, coconut melt massages, Elemis facials and reflexology. Central to the spa is the SEA Thermal Suite, featuring a hammam, Himalayan salt room, infrared sauna and steam room.

On the fitness front, work up a sweat during a high-intensity Peloton® workout or stretch out in the yoga studio. For the ultimate wellness experience, stay in one of the ship’s AquaClass® staterooms or suites, with amenities from wellness partner Goop, and exclusive access to the SEA Thermal Suite and restaurant Blu, where guests can enjoy a menu of health-conscious cuisine and biodynamic wine.

Guests can select from stunning staterooms with infinite balconies or capacious suites with panoramic vistas. For unparalleled luxury, upgrade to a two-storey Edge Villa with a private plunge pool, or the Iconic Suite with the best views at sea, positioned over the Bridge. Clean lines, soothing tones and contemporary furnishings reflect the modern, sleek aesthetic for which Kelly Hoppen is best known.

Following her maiden voyage around Western Europe, Celebrity Beyond® will set sail on a variety of Mediterranean journeys, including a nine-night tour of the Italian Riviera, before heading off to tour the Caribbean from November. Whether you’re seeking thrilling adventure, glamorous evenings or a complete wellness immersion, be one of the first to experience Celebrity Beyond®.

celebritycruises.com/gb