Villas Foch

Bordeaux’s hotel scene compares to the Parisian one in much the same way the two cities match up. The former is dwarfed by the latter in terms of sheer size and variety, but what it does well it does very well indeed — the very best of Bordeaux is on the same level as the cream of the Parisian crop, and occasionally higher. All of which is to say: Villas Foch, a 19th-century city-center building that’s now a small and luxurious boutique hotel, is up there in the same class as the best small luxury hotels in any city in the world.

Why? Its most striking attribute has got to be the tastefulness with which innovative, even modestly irreverent contemporary design elements have been integrated into the heritage structure with its classic atmosphere. The in-room comforts, of course, are top-shelf, and they’re backed up by what’s in the vaulted stone cellar: a heated swimming pool, a sauna, and a fitness center. Le Ferdinand, the bar, is an exceedingly elegant space, serving inventive cocktails, aperitifs, Bordeaux-style tapas, and — this being the wine capital of France, if not the world — an impressive array of well-chosen local bottles, with an emphasis on Saint-Émilion.