It’s the muted Gallic glamor of understated elegance and luxury that’s made the 161-room Hotel Le Bristol the preferred Paris hotel of many of the world’s most sophisticated and discerning travelers. It offers an alphabet of amenities, from an ocean liner–style sixth-floor pool with views over Paris, to a La Prairie spa, to a Michelin three-star restaurant and a Michelin one-star brasserie, not to mention a beautiful courtyard garden and one of the best bars in Paris. Where it succeeds most of all, however, is in delivering a constant and very profound sense of place—Paris—and in understanding that charm is created by hundreds of impeccably conceived details, including the stunning glass-and-wrought-iron elevator designed by a Jewish architect the hotel harbored during World War II, and the hotel’s cat, Socrate, who wanders the reception area and lobby wearing a jeweled bowtie collar by Maison Goyard. Adding to the intemporal allure of this hotel’s soigné atmosphere is the fact that it’s only had two owners during its entire history, the current one being the German Oetker family, which purchased the property in 1978. —Alexander Lobrano

Alexander Lobrano is a Writer at Large at AIR MAIL. His latest book is the gastronomic coming-of-age story My Place at the Table: A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris