Hotel Café Royal

For well over a century Café Royal was a bar and restaurant frequented by the likes of Oscar Wilde — if there’s such a thing as “the likes of” Wilde — as well as many of the theatre world’s other bright lights, a century’s worth of statesmen and royals, and several generations of fairly eminent journalists. Today, it’s one of the city’s most luxurious hotels, the crown jewel of an ambitious multi-use development which aims at nothing less than to turn the elegant John Nash–designed Georgian curve of lower Regent Street into a new hub for upscale West End living. That’s a lot of architectural history to contend with, but Hotel Café Royal seamlessly spans the years, from the Regency to the mid-20th century — the interiors are timeless, though with a contemporary sheen (and some very contemporary comforts). And while it seeks to recapture some of the artistic and intellectual atmosphere of its heyday, a central London luxury hotel will necessarily be tailored towards the business traveler, if not the business mogul. There’s no shortage of dining and nightlife options, as well as a phenomenally well-equipped spa and wellness center, and that’s just in-house — the south end of Regent Street has become something of a self-contained city unto itself.