There’s something unapologetically grand about the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon. Perched regally above the city in leafy Parque Eduardo VII, the hotel’s Art Deco bones and palatial scale announce themselves with quiet confidence.

Short drives, long sighs:  a curated edit of country houses and boutique boltholes that feel a world away without the aeroplane.

This is a shortlist for travelers who want hotels that look impeccable in photographs but feel even better in memory: places where design, service and a quietly rigorous sense of place come together.

I was invited to review the hotel’s new Swedish breakfast concept by Michelin-starred chef Niklas Ekstedt, and from the moment I walked in, I knew this was not going to be a typical hotel breakfast experience. It’s quieter, more considered, more elegant; and exactly the sort of place that suits Londoners who appreciate calm, good design, and genuinely high-quality food.

Each hotels a different way to live in Seville for a few days: from palace grandeur to intimate maisonette, and each one is arranged around courtyards, rooftops and passageways that coax you into a local rhythm.

Lai Rai is exactly what Peckham needed: a pulsing, neon-lit Vietnamese canteen bursting with flavour, charm, and attitude. It’s the sort of place you stumble into unexpectedly and leave telling three friends about before you’ve even made it home.