Seaside
Mountains & nature
City
Ritz Paris, 1937 – 1971
Coco Chanel, a life from hotel to hotel
From Deauville to the Ritz, where she lived for thirty-four years: her life can be read in the registers of the grand hotels.
The grand hotels that wrote history
392 palaces and historic hotels in 77 countries. Search a city, a country or a name: results appear as you type.
Pictured: Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur
The autumn selection
Twelve addresses for the season, from the Grand Canal to the Canadian Rockies and the banks of the Nile.
Venice · ItalyGritti Palace
Former residence of Doge Andrea Gritti, on the Grand CanalAvailability
MonacoHôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo
Belle Époque by the harbour, a winter garden under an Eiffel glass domeAvailability
Vienna · AustriaHotel Sacher Wien
City · opened in 1876Availability
Tremezzina · ItalyGrand Hotel Tremezzo
Lakeside · opened in 1910Availability
Tokyo · JapanImperial Hotel Tokyo
City · opened in 1890Availability
Quebec City · CanadaChâteau Frontenac
The castle of Quebec's Upper Town, opened in 1893Availability
Banff · CanadaBanff Springs
Mountains & natureAvailability
Aswan · EgyptOld Cataract Hotel
City · opened in 1900Availability
Istanbul · TurkeyPera Palace Hotel
City · opened in 1895Availability
Udaipur · IndiaTaj Lake Palace
LakesideAvailability
Gstaad · SwitzerlandGstaad Palace
Mountains & nature · opened in 1913Availability
Bellagio · ItalyGrand Hotel Villa Serbelloni
Lakeside · opened in 1873Availability
The collection, on five continents
Each dot is a hotel. Zoom with the wheel, a pinch or the + / − buttons, then click a dot to read its story.
By setting
The backdrop first: seafront, lakeshore, mountain air or a great capital.
Stories
The people who made these houses. That is what sets this site apart from a booking engine.
Le Meurice, Paris
Aimée de Heeren, the last grande dame
Four months a year at Le Meurice, night walks with Chanel through Les Halles: a century of jet-set from the inside.
Paris, London, Madrid
César Ritz and the hotels that bear his name
Three addresses, one architect, Charles Mewès: how a Swiss shepherd's son defined the modern palace.
Add to the story
Do you own a grand hotel, or know a story or a film we are missing? Write to us: the history of this site is written with its readers.