Avenida da Liberdade / Eduardo VII Park

Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon

★★★★★

The Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon is the city's classic luxury address, and it has a personality no other hotel here can match. It rises ten storeys on a hilltop beside Eduardo VII Park, at the top of the Avenida da Liberdade, a mid-twentieth-century modernist building conceived as Portugal's showcase hotel and filled from the start with the work of the country's leading artists and craftsmen. That collection — sculpture, paintings, tapestries, carpets and decorative arts, much of it from the middle of the twentieth century — is among the most important privately owned collections in Portugal, and walking the public rooms is like touring a museum of Portuguese modernism. The hotel's rooms are among the largest in Lisbon, most with private balconies or terraces looking over the park, the city and the Tagus, and some are inspired by the original 1950s style, with polished wood, silk and marble. The award-winning spa is a destination in itself, with treatment rooms and pools, and there is a fitness centre for those who need it. Dining is anchored by Varanda, whose terrace overlooks the park and whose weekend brunch is a Lisbon institution, and the lounges and bar are grand without being stiff. Service is classic Four Seasons: anticipatory, personal and smooth. The trade-off is the location: you are above the old centre rather than in it, so expect a taxi, metro ride or a downhill walk along the Avenida to reach the Baixa, Chiado and Alfama. For many guests that is the point — space, calm and views after a day in the crowds.

The building is part of the story. Conceived in the 1950s, it was designed as a modern palace for a country that wanted to show off its craftsmanship, and its spaces are generous in a way few city hotels can afford today: wide corridors, high ceilings, and terraces that run along the facade. The art is everywhere, from the lobby to the landings. Families appreciate the room sizes and connecting options, and the park outside, with its formal lawns, playgrounds and the Estufa Fria greenhouse gardens, is good for a morning walk.

Living in it: rooms facing the park and river are the ones to request, with balconies to watch the sunset over the city. The spa is a strong reason to stay, especially after Sintra or a long walking day, and brunch at Varanda is worth booking even if you stay elsewhere. The concierge team is among the best in Lisbon for restaurant reservations, private guides, Sintra transfers and fado bookings.

Base math: the Marquês de Pombal metro station is a few minutes' walk, and from there the blue and yellow lines reach the centre quickly; a taxi to the Chiado or Alfama takes ten to fifteen minutes depending on traffic. Walking down the Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon's grand tree-lined boulevard of luxury shops and pavement cafés, brings you to Restauradores and the Baixa in about twenty-five minutes. Rates are at the top of the Lisbon market. Book it for milestone trips, spa-focused stays, families who need space, and travellers who prefer a serene, classic hotel to a boutique in the thick of the old town.