Across Europe, spring is finally in the air. The trees are blooming, the parks are springing back to life, and inbound summer fares are about to surge through the roof.
Fret not. If you’re still unsure about your summer vacation plans, here’s everything you’ll need to (very quickly) plan your best European jaunt yet, from the hottest, of-the-moment hotels to the destinations you might be overlooking.
If You Love Cities ...
... there’s no place like Paris.
The City of Light will twinkle even more brightly this June, when the lights flick back on at Rosewood’s Hôtel de Crillon. It took four years to update the 258-year-old palace hotel—located right on the Place de la Concorde—but the investment has paid off. An old ballroom in which Marie Antoinette used to practice piano has been converted into a grand suite; new apartment-style suites on the fourth floor will debut, with interiors by Karl Lagerfeld; and the new Bar Les Ambassadeurs will have the largest Champagne selection in town (no small feat in Paris). Rooms from $1350.
When to go: July, after the Crillon gets its rhythm but before the city shuts down in August.
What not to miss: Croissants at Sébastien Gaudard, right around the corner from your posh digs. To this writer’s estimation, they’re the best in the city.
London’s also having a moment.
It may not be in the EU much longer, but for now, it still counts. With the pound struggling post-Brexit, your money will go unusually far. Book into the Ned, a hotel of epic proportions in the City. It’s the brainchild of two Midas-like masterminds: Soho House and Sydell Group. (The latter birthed the cool-kid Freehand brand and New York’s Nomad hotel.) There’s also the Four Seasons Hotel at Ten Trinity Square, in a historic 1915 building that now has a wine program by Château Latour and a restaurant by French power chef Anne-Sophie Pic. Rooms from $310 and $534, respectively.
When to go: June, to avoid wet or overly hot weather.
What not to miss: Scones and tea in the atrium of the Wallace Collection, an under-the-radar museum in an immaculately preserved London townhouse.