Review of Beau-Rivage Palace, by Jamie Dunford Wood

The Beau Rivage is a classic 19th-century grande dame. When it was built in 1861, the first tourists were wealthy Anglo-American industrialists and the remnants of the old aristocracy; the hotel was built to spec on English-owned land in a prime lakeside position - sweeping lake views, balconies and verandahs for bracing mountain air, wide corridors and modern plumbing. Downstairs a magnificent dining-cum-ballroom served to remind them how special they were.

The facilities

Today the hotel is set back behind a lakeside drive, but being Switzerland the road is used sedately. Grounds are no longer extensive - this is genteel Swiss suburbia - but the lakeside and shores provide all the natural space you would want, while a new state-of-the-art spa, Bvlgari toiletries and a Michelin-starred restaurant provide the best pampering in Lausanne.

The rooms

Its 169 rooms are divided into the Belle Epoque Beau Rivage wing and the Edwardian Palace wing, both spacious and elegant. In the former, jacuzzi-baths mix with polished wooden floors, oils and tapestries, chandeliers and dark wood furnishings - more restrained, as against the ornate and more frivolous Edwardian style. Nintely percent of the rooms have separate showers, and the majority have lake views - those without look onto quiet gardens.

For the best views, choose second floor and above. The Beau-Rivage is a classic old-fashioned city resort hotel updated with the best of modern comforts.