French renaissance

Stylish city hotels for elegant travellers, featuring a Milanese design icon, a New York sanctuary and our favourite Parisian hideaways

Lydia Slater writes a love letter to Le Bristol on the occasion of its 100th anniversary

There’s nothing expected or dull about this Parisian apartment, whose design takes risks by mixing references with studied panache

Lisa Hilton is wowed by a French bistrot in Fulham

Catherine Fairweather finds a dream-like world of old-school glamour aboard the new Orient Express journey from Rome to Venice, where ancient ruins melt into rolling Italian landscapes steeped in Renaissance romance

Fancy a cute 48 hours in the city of love? Here’s the places the locals adore…