Lausanne Palace and Spa

There’s still nowhere quite like Switzerland for getting away from it all in the classic high style. This monument of a hotel stands high on Lausanne’s terraced hillside streets, with the city-center financial district just out the front door and spectacular views of Lake Geneva and the mountains out the back.

The Lausanne Palace and Spa is a classic, but it’s managed to keep itself up to date as well. It’s neither a museum piece nor a pale modern recreation — much of the 19th-century grandeur remains, especially in the stately marbled public spaces, but many of the guest rooms are more contemporary in style, and the functional underpinnings of the hotel are state-of-the-art.

Thankfully one thing that’s not at all modern is the service. Today’s chatty and informal atmosphere has no place in Swiss lakeside grand hotels — here the staff is rigid, old-world, eminently professional, and anything but boutique.

Book a rear-facing room if you’re particular about the view — most have private balconies overlooking the lake and the cascading rooftops of Lausanne. The hotel’s MICHELIN-starred restaurant is a favorite meeting place of the local business community, while the expansive Aveda spa and wellness center offers total leisure indulgence.