Le Royal Meridien Bristol

Hotel description

This century-old grand hotel, next door to the Presidential Palace, was long the city’s most elegant lodging, before falling on hard times, along with Warsaw itself. Today, as Poland recovers from the twentieth century and joins the new Europe, the Bristol is once again its splendid old self.

An extensive facelift and new ownership courtesy of Le Royal Méridien have returned this hotel to its glory days. The interiors are all nineteenth-century grandeur, furnished with antiques and Polish artworks, the lobby dominated by a portrait of the hotel’s original owner, the concert pianist and prime minister Ignacy Paderewski. The guest rooms are delightfully old-fashioned, with ornate wall coverings and marble bathrooms, and the Column Bar is the sort of charming old boy’s club where one imagines the biggest of Warsaw’s deals are discussed over cocktails.

For all the old-world elegance, though, the Bristol comes with all the trappings of a modern luxury hotel — high-speed internet access, business center, and an indoor pool and fitness center, complete with sauna and Turkish steam bath. As for restaurants, Warsaw is particularly rich with fine ones, and the hotel’s own are among the best in town; from the French cuisine of the Michelin-starred Malinowa to coffee and pastries in the Vienna-style Cafe Bristol.