Sofitel Lisbon Liberdade

"The French hotel chain has redone its Lisbon property top to bottom, and the result is a hybrid of Gallic savoir faire and Portuguese flavor. First of all consider the location of this 171 room sleeper—the avenida de Liberdade, a short dreamy imperial boulevard with broad mosaic sidewalks and a meridian of pollarded poplar trees and water courses that was built when the Portuguese empire was already well past prime; few roads in Europe better capture the charm and the tragedy of the European colonial experience and this one is right in the heart of town to boot. The decor of dark woods and beige, with accents of ochre and Sienna red distills the whole visual idiom of the country, and then accent pieces—the Baroque angels behind the reception desk, the Manueline curves of the cabinets that hide the flat screen TVs in the rooms, Chinese porcelain here (It was the Portuguese, of course, who opened up trade to India and China and then maintained colonies in Goa and Macau, respectively, for centuries) gives this place an edgy and intensely local vibe that comes right up to the present with dramatic framed red-and-black silhouettes of Portuguese subjects by Lisbon artists artist Manuela Mahr. Standard doubles have a boutique hotel feel and come with beds you want to swan dive into, flat screen TVs, and black-granite finished bathrooms with Roger & Gallet toiletries, and they’re comfortable, spacious and very quiet. Ad Lib, the Franco-Portuguese restaurant, is so good it’s pulling the locals with superb dishes like locally caught shrimp served with creamy risotto and fresh coriander pesto or pork medallion stuffed with spinach and figs and served with a pine-nut-and-tomato compote; fantastic wine list, too."