Hotels Angelina Jolie Has Stayed At

Contemporary British art reaches into every room and suite at 45 Park Lane, with works by Damien Hirst and Sir Peter Blake among a collection that extends through the public spaces. Changing exhibitions give the lobby and BAR 45 fresh reasons to linger. Wrapped in horizontal aluminum fins added by Thierry Despont, the Mayfair hotel carries that visual confidence into its architecture, while his Art Deco interiors give it a more intimate character. All 45 rooms face Hyde Park, making the outlook a defining part of a stay. Downstairs, Wolfgang Puck’s CUT—his first European restaurant—brings an American steakhouse sensibility to this corner of London.

A Chihuly chandelier in the Foyer gives Claridge’s a fitting introduction: design is central to this Mayfair hotel, where Victorian grandeur and Art Deco geometry shape the public rooms. The bedrooms carry that range further, spanning Victorian, Deco, and contemporary styles rather than following a single decorative template. Afternoon tea in the Foyer & Reading Room remains one of the hotel’s defining rituals, while the intimate Fumoir has been serving cocktails since 1929. The spa adds another architectural draw, with a heated pool beneath a multi-vaulted ceiling supported by stone columns. Outside, Brook Street and Davies Street place guests among Mayfair’s shopping streets, within easy reach of Hyde Park.

A Baccarat-crystal chandelier above the Crystal Moon Lounge gives Corinthia London a suitably theatrical centerpiece, with afternoon tea served beneath it. That sense of occasion carries through a hotel whose grand façade stands at the corner of Whitehall, steps from the Thames. There’s considerable variety within: Garden Suites overlook a landscaped courtyard, while the Musician’s Penthouse has a Steinway piano and an outdoor terrace. Tom Kerridge’s restaurant brings British seasonal cooking and an open rotisserie to the dining room; Salvatore Calabrese’s Velvet makes cocktails another reason to linger. Biome, the hotel’s spa, adds a vitality pool, sauna, steam room and cold plunge—a substantial invitation to leave time between outings to the South Bank and Covent Garden.

English gardens provide the design thread at The Dorchester: their colors and motifs shape the rooms and suites, while an extensive art collection explores the British landscape tradition. Outside, Hyde Park stretches across from the hotel’s Park Lane address in Mayfair, with Bond Street’s boutiques nearby. That connection to its surroundings gives this grand London hotel a character beyond its dining credentials, which include contemporary French cuisine at the three-Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse restaurant. The Promenade supplies a more everyday rhythm, serving breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner with live music. Together, these spaces make the hotel as much a place to spend an afternoon or evening as a base for exploring London.

Afternoon tea gives The Langham, London a direct connection to its Victorian beginnings: the hotel first served it when it opened in 1865, and Palm Court still makes the ritual a centerpiece of a stay. Live piano accompanies tea today, giving this West End grand hotel a social heart with a long memory. Its other gathering places have distinct personalities, from the cocktail-focused Artesian to The Wigmore, a British pub in a former banking hall serving food overseen by Michel Roux. Set on Portland Place, a five-minute walk from Oxford Circus, The Langham puts Regent Street shopping within easy reach while offering plenty of reasons to spend an afternoon at the hotel itself.

Central Park becomes part of the interior at Mandarin Oriental New York, where many rooms frame the park through floor-to-ceiling windows. Occupying the upper floors of the Deutsche Bank Center at Columbus Circle, the hotel makes its elevated perspective a defining feature: accommodations look toward the park, Hudson River or Manhattan skyline, while MO Lounge pairs Central Park views with contemporary American cooking and cocktails. Even a swim comes with a city outlook in the 75-foot indoor lap pool. Marble bathrooms with deep soaking tubs give the rooms a generous residential touch, and the park’s southwest corner places walks, Lincoln Center performances and Midtown outings within easy reach.

Ludwig Bemelmans’s murals and nightly piano at Bemelmans Bar give The Carlyle an identity that extends well beyond its guest rooms. Cabaret at Café Carlyle makes music central to this Upper East Side Art Deco landmark, where art and entertaining shape the public spaces. In The Gallery, decorator Renzo Mongiardino took inspiration from Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace, creating a distinctive setting for afternoon tea. Upstairs, rooms include designs by Tony Chi and Thierry Despont, while suites furnished with original artwork carry a residential character. Central Park, Madison Avenue, and nearby galleries put the neighborhood within easy reach, but the hotel’s own rooms for music, drinks, and conversation are reason enough to spend an evening here.

Jacques Grange gave The Mark a distinctive design vocabulary: bold black-and-white stripes, custom furnishings, and art and lighting commissioned specifically for the hotel. Working with Parisian antiquaire Pierre Passebon, he brought in contributors including Ron Arad, Vladimir Kagan, and Mattia Bonetti, giving the public spaces the appeal of a design collection. Upstairs, rooms take a more uncluttered approach, with views over Madison Avenue, East 77th Street, or townhouse gardens. The Upper East Side address puts Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art within easy reach, while Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant and Caviar Kaspia—with its caviar-topped twice-baked potato—give visitors reasons to linger downstairs.

Le Bristol Paris has a yacht above its rooftops: naval architect Cäsar Pinnau designed its sixth-floor indoor pool with teak decking and a trompe-l’oeil stern, with views toward the Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Cœur. That playful space adds a distinctive chapter to this grand hotel on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, whose rooms and suites follow an elegant Parisian style. A 13,000-square-foot courtyard garden gives guests room to linger, while the kitchens reveal how much is made here: the hotel mills its own flour, bakes its bread, and produces chocolates in-house. Three-Michelin-starred Epicure anchors a stay in which French cooking deserves as much attention as the address.

Versailles provides the architectural cue for Le Meurice’s Alain Ducasse restaurant, where Philippe Starck reinterpreted the château’s Salon de la Paix. That interplay of classical grandeur and artistic invention gives this Paris hotel its character: Starck also designed Le Dalí, drawing on the surrealist’s playful imagination. Facing the Tuileries Garden on rue de Rivoli, with the Louvre a five-minute walk away, Le Meurice puts art within easy reach both indoors and out. Food is an equally compelling reason to linger, from the two-Michelin-starred restaurant to Cédric Grolet’s pastries sculpted to resemble fruit. In the evening, Bar 228 offers deep leather armchairs and live jazz—a more intimate setting within the hotel’s ornate world.

Acoustic guitars in the guest rooms give an early clue to Le Royal Monceau - Raffles Paris’s artistic temperament. Philippe Starck’s reworking of the hotel carries that spirit through interiors filled with contemporary art, while suites draw on the lines and colors of the 1940s and ’50s, with books and messages scrawled on lampshades adding personal touches. The collection extends beyond the bedrooms: more than 300 works, a contemporary gallery and the 99-seat Katara Cinema make culture part of a stay. On Avenue Hoche, near the Arc de Triomphe and Parc Monceau, this hotel has welcomed artists and writers since 1928; its present-day character gives that history a tangible expression.

Sandstone alcoves, brick archways and a domed atrium give InterContinental Sydney’s Treasury bar a setting rooted in the city’s 1851 Treasury Building. That restored government building lends the hotel its architectural character, with a curved central bar and botanical cocktails bringing everyday life into the historic interiors. Upstairs, guest rooms look toward Sydney Harbour, the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Royal Botanic Gardens or the city skyline, depending on the room. Aster, the rooftop bar on level 32, makes the harbor panorama part of an evening out. Circular Quay is the hotel’s neighborhood, putting the Opera House, gardens and historic Rocks district within walking distance.