The St. Regis Washington, D.C.

The St. Regis Washington, D.C. stands two blocks from the White House and has long been part of the city’s own history. It opened in 1926 as the Carlton Hotel, with President Calvin Coolidge cutting the ribbon at a grand ceremony. Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Jacqueline Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor and Cher are among the many who have stayed since, and the address remains a byword for discretion and polish in the American capital.

Today the hotel has 182 rooms combining antique furniture with modern technology, and the grand lobby is crowned with Florentine gilded ceilings and crystal chandeliers. There is Alhambra, a Mediterranean restaurant, the St. Regis Bar and seven event spaces — among them the 233 m² Astor Ballroom with its Palladian windows and the open-air Astor Terrace — and each evening a bottle of champagne is sabred in the lobby, a St. Regis ritual. Butlers and a Les Clefs d’Or concierge team look after guests, and the hotel arranges weddings.

A restaurant, a bar, afternoon tea in the lobby and 24-hour in-room dining:

• Alhambra — a Mediterranean restaurant named after the palace-fortress in southern Spain, serving shareable plates with Iberian and Middle Eastern flavours at breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch
• St. Regis Bar — seasonal cocktails, a long list of spirits, a global wine list and small bites; the signature Capital Mary is a Bloody Mary with a nod to the Chesapeake Bay
• afternoon tea — seasonal teas, pastries, freshly baked scones and finger sandwiches in the lobby lounge
• the lobby — the nightly champagne-sabering ritual