Hotel Les Trois Rois

There’s history, and then there’s history; there are old hotels, and then there are old hotels. Few, though, are quite as old as Les Trois Rois (or the Drei Könige, if you prefer), which has stood by the banks of the Rhine since the year 1026. The building, happily, isn’t quite that old, dating back only about a century and a half, an opulent palace of a hotel with a prime location on the Blumenrain, Basel’s riverside drive.

The interiors have none of that trendy “modern-design” business. Flat-screen televisions, yes, but integrated into a décor scheme that’s utterly traditional — not quite 1026 traditional, but still. Incredibly it doesn’t really show its age, its 19th-century furnishings looking as new as the day they were made — functionally modern but aesthetically old-fashioned means the best of both worlds, when it comes to the great European grand hotels.

As for dining there’s the formal Cheval Blanc, proud owner of 3 Michelin stars, as well as a Piedmontese restaurant and a traditional French brasserie, all with views from terraces by the riverside — from top to bottom Les Trois Rois is a luxury-hotel classic, the kind they just don’t make anymore.