Four adjacent 18th century townhouses - including one where the Duke of Wellington was born in 1769 - were converted to form the 145-room hotel that is gathering point for politicians, from Parliament opposite, and Ireland's international decision-makers. A favorite haunt is the brick-lined barrel-vaulted cellar, where they come for such comfort foods as calves liver and bacon or fish and chips (and, later in the day, perhaps a tasting of Ch de Fieuzal Graves, owned, like the hotel, by art-collecting banker Lochlann Quinn).Visit Property Site

Dine, with up to 14 friends, in the basement Sapordivino Wine Bar and you are surrounded by 12th century brick walls and 21st century lucite racks holding an amazing collection of Italy's finest wines. The 51-room hotel, above, is a conversion of the 17th century Palazzo Gori Pannilini built by Pope Alexander VII as a wedding present for his niece Olimpia Chigi: WOW.travel absolutely fell in love with room 141, for its double-height fresco ceiling and half-tester bed.Visit Property Site

At this doyen of New Zealand's many fine luxury lodges, the all-inclusive plan means dining wherever you want, say at a family table or by yourselves, inside or on the grass overlooking the rushing Waikato River in Wairakei National Park. Many like to have at least one dinner in the cellars, which can seat a pair of couples, privately, or up to ten at a group table. (The lodge owner, entrepreneur Alex van Heeren, also owns the Grande Provence winery and luxury lodge at Franschhoek near Cape Town, South Africa.)Visit Property Site