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Xara Palace Hotel, Malta

Eating al fresco on the bastions of Malta’s ancient capital is the nightly highlight of one’s stay at the Xara Palace Hotel – once a crumbling 17th century palazzo - in the shadow of the baroque cathedral of St Paul’s. The bells of the great baroque cathedral emit a muffled quarter-hourly clang, like an empty cistern wrapped in blankets being struck with a stick, but strangely comforting as you linger over your candle-lit meal with the best view in Malta, from the very walls of the citadel of Mdina, the old Maltese capital, with a panoramic view of half the island, lights twinkling everywhere beneath you. Guests have included Omar Sharif (“it was worth coming all the way from Cairo for”) and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

The Ardanaiseig Hotel, Scotland

Built in baronial style, among beautiful woodland gardens, it’s perched on the headland where Loch Awe divides. Highland cattle, rescued from the BSE cull and put out to grass, graze contentedly at the water's edge close to the croquet lawn. The view from our room is sublime – Scotland’s longest loch and an assortment of rolling hills and mountains. This is prime fishing and walking country. Salmon, pike, trout, char and perch abound. Hundreds of miles of hill, forest and lochside walks begin on the doorstep. We stroll along the banks of the River Avich and its waterfalls, through tightly-knit Caledonian forest, roots covered in a deep carpet of moss. It has the mysterious, slightly spine-tingling atmosphere of a fairy-tale forest dimly remembered from childhood picture-books.

Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

This colossus of a hotel has one of the most beautiful locations on the planet – surrounded by pine forests on the edge of one of Canada’s most beautiful lakes. Most of the rooms face the spectacular Lake Louise (named after Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter) When I drew the curtains of my lakeside room, jet-lag had woken me at the usual unearthly hour of 4 am, and the light seeping through the curtains came from the deathly-still floodlights illuminating a castle of ice built on the world’s most scenic ice-rink. Even during the hours of darkness, the illuminated lake shore is magical sight. By day you can see five glaciers soaring skywards at the far end of the lake. And there’s a wonderful view of the hotel from the slopes of the ski area.

Beau Rivage, Lausanne, Switzerland

The Beau-Rivage Palace is set in a magnificent 10-acre park on Lake Geneva in Ouchy, Lausanne's resort area. The restaurant, La Rotonde, provides breathtaking views of the park, lake, Geneva and the Alps. It’s just one of those hotels where you know you will be pampered and fed like Henry VIII. I am not sure if they throw in any wives.

The Observatory, Sydney, Australia

Close to Sydney's historic Rocks and central business district, The Observatory Hotel is the ideal base from which to explore Australia's most vibrant city. I loved it, in all respects. But oh dear – look what I found while browsing website reviews: "Nice but snooty - We were treated contemptuously by the check-in staff (presumably because we had left our Gucci casual wear at home!). Our bags were taken to our room by a man who didn't smile or offer any conversation, so in return he stood waiting for a tip we didn't give him. I would never ever waste that amount of money to stay there again.” Ah well. We had no complaints.

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