Ritz Paris, Paris, France

Why stay anywhere else? Certainly when the English think of Paris it is the Ritz that first springs to mind, forever associated in their minds with stuffed envelopes, British cabinet ministers and, tragically, the Princess of Wales. However, the luxury hotel is, truly, peerless.

The facilities

Before you is a magnificent receding perspective of drapes and columns leading past a discreet staircase on the right, while to the left is that epitome of the Paris luxury hotel bar, where Hemingway spent so much time: small, intimate, dark and discreet. Unlike most luxury hotel mottos dreamt up by marketing departments, the Ritz's seems apt: 'Luxury, Discretion, Perfection.'

Colours are deep and pale blues, pale yellows and golds, with rich carpeting patterned around the edge. Pretty ladies on swings adorn the prints on the walls, along with the odd oil painting, one rather disturbingly signed Monet and obviously a copy - one wonders whether this is supposed to fool anybody, and indeed whether it does. Five floors are squeezed into the Ritz on the garden side, four on the Vendome side, so ceilings are highest there, but still, everywhere they are generous.

The rooms

Upstairs maids and bellboys pad past you on thick blue carpets with murmured greetings, the walls hung with tapestry panels. The style of the 175 rooms is chateau chic, a blend of Rococo and French empire. Comfortable, plush, cosy and full of antiques, you can feel entirely at home in the deep armchairs, gazing out of the tall windows.

The rooms at this luxury hotel, while not overly large, feel spacious because of the size of the windows while retaining a cosiness. Bathrooms are in creamy marble, modern to just the right degree. Suites are on the first floor. Service, of course, is of a generally high standard.