Hotel Britania Art Deco

Though they’re all outwardly different, the boutique hotels of Lisbon’s Heritage group share a common approach: they’re historic buildings in central locations, heavily renovated, with one eye on contemporary design and the other on historical preservation. And of all of them, the Britânia is at once the most discernibly retro and the most perversely modern — no historic style speaks to today’s eye quite as naturally as Art Deco. And Art Deco the Britânia most certainly is — it’s a 1942 original by Cassiano Branco, and it’s so relentlessly Deco that you almost have to be an enthusiast of parquet floors, black lacquered wood, shiny chrome and white marble in order to properly enjoy it.

Of course anyone can enjoy oversized rooms, a breath of fresh air in a European city-center hotel. A few top-floor rooms have private terraces, obviously a plus, but all the rooms provide more than enough space to spread out, plus coffee makers, wireless internet, and big marble bathrooms. Services are boutique, meaning a touch minimal: a swanky bar and lounge is about it — room service is available round the clock, but for more you’ll want to set sail for the Avenida, not even a block away.