The Peninsula Hong Kong

You know you’re somewhere special when pillbox-hatted pageboys politely whisk open double-front doors to reveal an airy lobby with soaring ceilings. And so it is at The Peninsula Hong Kong, the city’s oldest hotel (opened in 1928). Affectionately called "the Pen" by locals, the place drips with colonial decadence, from the palm-filled lobby where guests nibble on petit fours at teatime to the string quartet in the gallery. Perhaps the ultimate sign of the hotel’s classic pedigree is Gaddi’s, a local legend of a French restaurant and The Verandah (which is as gorgeous and otherworldly as it sounds). Still, the hotel manages to balance its Old World inclinations with modern touches, like the Philippe Starck-designed restaurant, Felix, which serves contemporary European cuisine in a super-slick skyline setting. This blend of Asian and European styles carries through the place, from high-tech and antiques-bedecked rooms to an impressive spa to the immaculate service, which quietly whispers that, yes, you have indeed arrived.