Hotels Sophia Loren Has Stayed At

A dining room dating to 1919, dressed in blue with gold moldings and crystal chandeliers, captures El Palace Hotel Barcelona’s enduring taste for ceremony. The former Ritz, a short walk from Passeig de Gràcia, puts that heritage to work at Amar Barcelona, where chef Rafa Zafra’s seafood-focused cooking includes nods to the hotel’s earlier menus. Afternoon tea brings live piano music to the historic main hall, while breakfast is served in El Jardín, an indoor garden with black-and-white décor and wrought iron details. Upstairs, the Rooftop Garden adds another dimension: greenery, open-air dining and a guest-only swimming pool, with views across Barcelona toward the Sagrada Família.

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.

Palm Court’s crystal canopy sets the tone at Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid, a Belle Époque palace where the dining rooms are as much a draw as the address. Beneath it, the all-day restaurant serves contemporary interpretations of Ritz classics under chef Quique Dacosta’s direction. His two-Michelin-starred Deessa occupies the Alfonso XIII room, with a terrace overlooking the Ritz Garden. The hotel sits between the Prado Museum and Retiro Park, placing art and open space close at hand. Upstairs, accommodations range from courtyard-facing rooms to suites overlooking the Prado and Plaza de la Lealtad, with marble bathrooms and a classic approach to interiors that carries the palace’s character into the private spaces.

A stained-glass dome made from 1,875 individual panes gives The Palace its architectural centerpiece, with a palm-shaped chandelier suspended beneath it. Each pane was dismantled, cataloged and restored as part of the renovation that brought this 1912 hotel into The Luxury Collection in 2025. Designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán’s interiors draw on the Belle Époque and Roaring Twenties, alongside preserved marble, historic tapestries and original architectural details. Beneath the dome, La Cúpula serves contemporary Spanish cooking and afternoon tea. Outside, the hotel’s Plaza de las Cortes address places Madrid’s museums within walking distance; selected rooms overlook the Neptune Fountain or the Spanish Parliament, giving the city a presence well beyond the public rooms.

Three restaurants sharing six Michelin stars make dining central to the identity of Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris. Christian Le Squer’s modern French cooking at Le Cinq anchors the lineup, while Le George takes an Italian-Mediterranean direction and L’Orangerie serves seasonal menus beneath a glass canopy overlooking the marble courtyard. The setting carries equal weight: a 1928 Art Deco landmark in the Golden Triangle, just off the Champs-Élysées. Inside, La Galerie’s collection of 19th-century art and the Parisian Suites’ classical or Empire-style works give the hotel a distinctly formal character. Some suites open onto terraces with Eiffel Tower views, adding a broader Paris panorama to a stay centered on art and the table.

Karl Lagerfeld’s Grands Appartements give Hôtel de Crillon a distinctive design pedigree behind its Neoclassical façade on Place de la Concorde. Art runs through the hotel, with sculpture, painting and photography by established and emerging artists sharing space with its historic architecture. The rooms take a residential approach, pairing custom art and comfortable furnishings with marble bathrooms; suites add bespoke furniture, textiles and individually selected objets d’art. Tucked-away courtyards offer a quieter setting within the property. For an evening overlooking the square, Les Ambassadeurs serves cocktails alongside live music, with a terrace beneath the arcades—a place to appreciate the architecture as part of everyday hotel life.

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.