Napoleon III built this as a seaside villa for his wife, Empress Eugénie, in 1854. She loved the Atlantic coast and wanted a summer palace to rival anything on the Mediterranean. The building became a hotel in 1893 and has been the grande dame of Biarritz ever since — perched on the cliffs above the Grande Plage, it is as much a part of the Basque coastline as the waves crashing below it. A comprehensive restoration in 2021 by Hyatt brought the interiors up to contemporary standards while preserving the imperial proportions. 152 rooms, an outdoor pool overlooking the Atlantic, and a spa that draws on the Basque tradition of thalassotherapy.

The Carlton's twin cupolas, supposedly modelled on the breasts of the Belle Époque courtesan La Belle Otero, have dominated the Croisette since 1911. Every May during the Cannes Film Festival, the hotel's terrace becomes the most photographed stretch of pavement in the world — Cary Grant ran across its rooftop in To Catch a Thief, and in 2013 thieves stole €103 million worth of jewels from a display in the hotel (they were never recovered). A recent multi-year renovation has brought the 343-room hotel back to its original Belle Époque splendour while adding a contemporary spa and restaurants that hold their own against the Riviera's best.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Sara made this their summer base in the 1920s, when the idea of visiting the Riviera in summer — rather than winter — was still considered eccentric. Fitzgerald immortalised the hotel and its pool (carved into the rocks at the water's edge) in Tender Is the Night, and it has been the unofficial clubhouse of the international jet set ever since. During the Cannes Film Festival, the hotel becomes effectively impossible to book unless you are a studio head or a person of similar consequence. Opened in 1870, with 117 rooms set in a park of Mediterranean pines, the legendary Eden-Roc restaurant on the water, and a policy of accepting no credit cards — cash or bank transfer only.

The Hermitage's winter garden was designed by Gustave Eiffel — the man behind the Tower — and its stained-glass dome remains one of the most beautiful enclosed spaces on the Riviera. Opened in 1900 and connected by private passage to the Monte-Carlo Casino and the Thermes Marins spa, the Hermitage offers a slightly quieter, more refined alternative to the Hotel de Paris across the square. 278 rooms, the Vistamar restaurant, and a terrace overlooking the harbour that during the Grand Prix becomes one of the most exclusive vantage points in motorsport.

The Hotel de Paris has overlooked the Casino Square in Monte-Carlo since 1864, and the two institutions have been feeding off each other's glamour ever since. A €280 million renovation completed in 2019 added a rooftop villa with a private pool, but the essential character — the marble lobby, the wine cellar with 350,000 bottles, the bronze equestrian statue whose knee has been rubbed smooth by superstitious guests hoping for luck at the casino — remains intact. 209 rooms, the three-Michelin-starred Louis XV restaurant by Alain Ducasse, and the most concentrated square kilometre of wealth in Europe.

The Negresco's doormen still wear the traditional costume of 18th-century footmen, which tells you most of what you need to know about the hotel's relationship with modernity. Built in 1913 by the Romanian-born hotelier Henri Negrescu, who promptly went bankrupt, the hotel has survived two world wars (it served as a hospital in both) and the changing fortunes of the Côte d'Azur with its pink dome and white façade proudly intact. The interior houses a remarkable private art collection — from medieval tapestries to Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures — that makes it feel as much like a museum as a hotel. 96 rooms on the Promenade des Anglais, and a Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Chantecler.

The only palace hotel on the Left Bank, and it wears its bohemian credentials with pride. Josephine Baker performed here. De Gaulle spent his wedding night here. Matisse and Picasso were regulars. During the Occupation, the hotel was requisitioned by the German Abwehr intelligence service, and after Liberation it became a repatriation centre for concentration camp survivors — their families would gather in the lobby, clutching photographs, hoping. That history haunts the building even after a spectacular four-year restoration by the Set Hotels group. Opened in 1910 in Art Nouveau and Art Deco style, with 184 rooms, a Michelin-starred restaurant by Gérald Passédat, and the kind of literary atmosphere that makes you want to order a second carafe and start writing.

Mata Hari danced here. Grace Kelly stayed while filming To Catch a Thief. Christian Dior chose the Plaza Athénée as the setting for his fashion shows, and the hotel's relationship with haute couture — it sits on Avenue Montaigne, surrounded by fashion houses — has never wavered since. The red awnings on the façade are as Parisian as the Eiffel Tower, and the Alain Ducasse restaurant was the first in the world to go entirely meat-free for its Michelin-starred tasting menu. Opened in 1913, with 208 rooms, the Dior Spa, and a courtyard restaurant that in summer becomes one of the most coveted tables in the city. Dorchester Collection.

Salvador Dalí spent at least one month a year here for three decades. He once demanded a herd of sheep be brought to his room and, upon their arrival, pulled out a pistol and fired at them — mercifully loaded with blanks. On another occasion he paid the staff five francs per fly to capture specimens in the Tuileries Garden. His Christmas tips to favoured employees were autographed lithographs. Picasso held his 1918 wedding reception here. The hotel began in 1771 as a coaching inn in Calais for English travellers and moved to its present site overlooking the Tuileries in 1835. During the Liberation, General von Choltitz surrendered Paris from his suite. 160 rooms in Louis XVI style, two Michelin stars at Restaurant le Meurice Alain Ducasse, and Cédric Grolet's patisserie. Dorchester Collection.

The Bristol's cat, Fa-Raon, has his own Instagram following and patrols the lobby with the entitled air of a guest who has never been presented with a bill. It's that kind of hotel — supremely elegant but with a streak of warmth that the more austere palaces sometimes lack. Opened in 1925 on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, next door to the Élysée Palace, the Bristol became the de facto embassy hotel and has hosted more heads of state than most countries' foreign ministries. 190 rooms, the three-Michelin-starred Epicure restaurant (where Eric Fréchon's truffle macaroni has achieved something close to cult status), a rooftop pool overlooking the Paris skyline, and a 1,300-square-metre French garden.

Coco Chanel lived here for 34 years — not in a suite, but in a modest set of rooms on the top floor overlooking Rue Cambon, from which she could walk directly to her atelier across the street. Marcel Proust was a regular in the dining room, Ernest Hemingway "liberated" the bar during the 1944 advance on Paris (the bar now bears his name), and Princess Diana dined here on the night of her death. César Ritz opened the hotel in 1898 with the ambition of creating "the perfect hotel," and after a four-year, €400 million restoration completed in 2016, his successors have clearly taken the mission seriously. 142 rooms on Place Vendôme, the École Ritz Escoffier cooking school, and two bars that between them account for a significant percentage of Paris's champagne consumption.

Empress Eugénie inaugurated the hotel in 1862 — it was built as part of Baron Haussmann's grand redesign of Paris and sits directly behind the Opéra Garnier, to which it is spiritually and architecturally twinned. The Café de la Paix, the hotel's ground-floor brasserie, has been continuously serving since opening day and was once described as a place where, if you sat long enough, you would eventually see everyone you'd ever met. 470 rooms — making it one of the largest grand hotels in Paris — a ballroom modelled on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, and a terrace at the Café de la Paix that remains one of the finest people-watching spots in the city.

The building was originally the private residence of Prince Roland Bonaparte — Napoleon's grand-nephew — and the interiors still carry the aristocratic swagger of a man who clearly did not believe in understatement. The sweeping marble staircase, the gilded ballroom, and the Eiffel Tower views from the upper floors are all exactly as absurd and wonderful as they sound. Converted to a hotel in 2010, the Shangri-La is the newest of the Parisian palaces but occupies one of the oldest and most distinguished buildings. 101 rooms, Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant Shang Palace (the only one of its kind in France), and some of the best Eiffel Tower views in the city.

When the hotel opened on the Champs-Élysées in 1928, the staff were trained by consulting the protocols of the Court of Versailles. The attention to formality has relaxed somewhat since then, but the George V remains one of Paris's most opulent addresses — the kind of hotel where the floral arrangements in the lobby cost more than most people's monthly rent and nobody blinks. Jeff Leatham, the hotel's artistic director of flowers, has been creating the displays since 1999 and is now more famous than many of the guests. Opened in 1928 in Art Deco style, the hotel has 244 rooms, three Michelin-starred restaurants (including Le Cinq), and a courtyard that transforms with the seasons.

The building has occupied one side of the Place de la Concorde since 1758 — which means it was standing when Louis XVI was executed in the square below. It became a hotel in 1909 and has since hosted everyone from Woodrow Wilson to Madonna. After a seven-year, €200 million restoration by Rosewood, the Crillon reopened in 2017 with Karl Lagerfeld-designed suites and a sense of occasion that few hotels anywhere can match. The Les Ambassadeurs restaurant, the marble-clad Sense spa, and the simply extraordinary views from the upper floors across the Place de la Concorde make this one of the most dramatic addresses in Paris. 124 rooms.

Somerset Maugham called Cap-Ferrat "a sunny place for shady people," and the Grand-Hôtel has been their preferred address since 1908. Set in seven hectares of tropical gardens on the tip of the peninsula, with a Club Dauphin pool carved into the cliffs, it combines the glamour of the Riviera with a seclusion that the hotels of Cannes and Nice cannot offer. Winston Churchill painted here. David Niven was a regular. The building itself is a whitewashed Belle Époque palace that looks as though it hasn't aged a day. 73 rooms, Michelin-starred Omer restaurant by Alain Ducasse, and Four Seasons service since 2015.

The mineral water that made Évian famous also made this hotel necessary — when the well-to-do of Europe came to take the waters in the early 20th century, they needed somewhere suitably grand to stay between treatments. The Royal opened in 1909, a Belle Époque spa palace overlooking Lac Léman with the Swiss Alps as a backdrop, and it has been the centrepiece of the Évian resort ever since. The hotel hosts the annual Évian Championship golf tournament and offers a private funicular to the town and lake below. 150 rooms, a spa fed by the famous Évian spring water, and views across the lake that on a clear day stretch from Lausanne to Geneva.