Parked like a vast ocean liner on Athens' Syntagma Square, the Hotel Grande Bretagne sits at the heart of Greek national life in a way unimaginable elsewhere.
Since it opened in 1874, the five-star hotel has functioned both as the Nazis' Greek headquarters and as a government stronghold during the country's Civil War — and has never since strayed from the centre of things. During our visit, Greece's former king was staying just down the hallway (as was Pamela Anderson), and attracted swarms of cameras to the hotel's front door. Turning on our TV, political press conferences invariably seemed to be happening in the conference suites downstairs, while the traffic of carefully guarded politicians from the National Parliament just across the square seemed constant.
Given the amount of bustle and business in the hotel, the Grande Bretagne's general air of friendliness and calm is something of a miracle — certainly none of it seems to bother the two resident dogs permanently napping in the hotel's shady porch.
Despite the name, there's nothing especially British about the Grande Bretagne. Housed in a vaguely neoclassical modern building, the hotel's interior is done up in a high Hellenic style, with geometric patterned carpets, high ceilings and cool marble floors. The swagged curtains and dark wood furniture in the rooms might be a trifle old-school for some, but its rigorously Grecian look chimes appropriately with the beautifully understated neoclassical parliament opposite.
With its five-star pedigree, rooms are appropriately spacious (and equipped with Wi-Fi), the beds large and comfortable and the marble clad bathrooms well thought-out and roomy. Despite the busy location, excellent soundproofing deadens outside noise completely.
Perhaps the hotel's greatest selling points, however, are its rooftop restaurant and subterranean spa. With a jaw-dropping panorama of the Acropolis and the sea far beyond, the seventh floor roof terrace restaurant's views are so impressive it can be hard to concentrate on your breakfast, which is served here daily. It perches just above a small open-air swimming pool and lounging area with narrower, if still charming, views of Mount Lycabettus.
Down in the hotel's bowels, meanwhile, the Grande Bretagne's spa suite is elegant and attractive even by the standards of a top class hotel, with a charming selection of hot rooms and an all-year swimming pool, plus a full offering of massage and beauty treatments. It strikes a cool, pleasantly modern note in what is otherwise a contemporary update of the grand hotels of yore.
Hotel Grande Bretagne, Syntagma Square, Athens 10564 (+30 210 322 8034; grandebretagne.gr). Room rates start from £223 per room per night.
