Hotel de Bourgtheroulde, Autograph Collection, Rouen, Normandy & Pas de Calais, France
There are numerous old houses in Rouen in the Gothic and Renaissance styles, but 15th-century Hotel de Bourgtheroulde – one of the finest Flamboyant Gothic houses (its historic façades decorated with carved bas-reliefs featuring Francis I and Henry VIII) – is the most famous of them all.
Beneath the façades however, it's all marvellous modernities: 78 individually designed guestrooms with minibars, flat-screen TVs and free WiFi, a fantastic 700-square-metre spa with underground indoor pool (the largest in Normandy), two restaurants, a bar and a coffee shop – ideal for grabbing your favourite brew before heading out to the Rue du Gros Horloge, the cathedral, and the Joan of Arc and Panorama XXL museums, all just steps away.