InterContinental Grand Hôtel Bordeaux

If you were measuring strictly by the number of quality hotels, you might conclude that the city of Bordeaux is little more than a backwater. For a city of a million, it’s a bit short on noteworthy hospitality experiences — which is why the re-opening of the city-center Grand Hôtel, just across from the Grand Théâtre, is such a big deal. This 18th-century grande dame is back in fighting trim, after a redesign at the hands of the well-known Parisian interior designer Jacques Garcia.

Garcia’s theatrical, historically conscious style is a good fit for a place like the Grand, which mixes modern elegance with classic decadence in generous helpings. The bedrooms are decidedly old-fashioned in style, but with an edge of contemporary glamour that makes them a lot more appealing than the garden-variety French antique hotel room.

In typical grand-hotel style, the Grand features Le Pressoir d'Argent — a gastronomic restaurant by celebutoque Gordon Ramsay, featuring one of only five lobster presses in the world — a separate brasserie, a DJ-centric club, and a cocktail bar. This last is named the Victor Bar, after two Victors: Victor Hugo, the writer, and Victor Louis, the architect responsible for Bordeaux’s Grand Théâtre. And with the opening of the hotel’s spa, the Grand Hôtel is once again Bordeaux’s de facto luxury hotel standard.