With those of a certain generation the name Hotel Bristol is associated with old fashioned grandeur and splendour, service and high standards - and this is certainly the case here. Beirut's Le Bristol (the French version don't you know) is an old-world extravagance of marble, gold and Persian carpets...
Telephone: +961 (0) 1 351 400
Url: www.lebristol-hotel.com
Price: $215-800
French President Jacques Chirac, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, British actor Stewart Granger and Crown Prince Albert of Monaco have all stayed at the Bristol in the last 50 years and, as you might imagine, it is a place of pure opulence (although you wouldn’t necessarily guess so from the outside).
The Bristol has classic style and glamour, and its 140 rooms are all decorated to the highest standards with some fabulous bathrooms. Located in Verdun, the hotel is a one-off, attracting an older generation for whom the name still has exclusive connotations.
Still privately owned, the hotel basks somewhat in its reputation, but the service, for which it was originally famed, is still exemplary. Today it holds conferences and parties for Beirut’s upper echelons, so be prepared to bump into some of the city’s more establishment movers and shakers.
