Hotel de Rome, a Rocco Forte hotel - Berlin

The luxurious Hotel de Rome, a Rocco Forte hotel, is housed within the former 19th Century Dresden Bank, in a leafy central part of Berlin. It comes with a spa and an enviable lap pool in what was once its jewellery vault, – and you'll find elegant features throughout its sumptuous interior: velvet, marble columns chandeliers and sculptures. There’s also a chic Italian restaurant which spills into a candle-lit garden and a rooftop bar that soaks up Berlin’s impressive skyline dotted with green domed roofs.

You’ll find this gem in Mitte, tucked away in a quiet street among the beating heart of historical Berlin. From here you can take tree-lined streets to the Gendarmenmarkt and you’ll get to its concert halls, stroll to its UNESCO World Heritage site at Museum Island or walk to the Berlin Cathedral. Other nearby sites include the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag, and shopping at Potsdamer Platz. Berlin Brandenburg Airport is around a 14-mile drive from the hotel.

Lofty ceilings, luxurious bathrooms and sumptuous silks and linens are the norm here with all the rooms offering either balustrade balconies or terraces. They all provide a pillow menu and minibar, too. If you really want to spread out, opt for larger rooms or suites with walk-in wardrobes, separate seating areas, deep soak tubs and separate glass rainfall showers – some also come with optional in-room concierge service. The hotel offers four historic suites, all with some quirky features like bathrooms carved from former telephone booths. Look out for the Historic Banker Suite complete with the once bank’s original oak panelling and a hidden compartment tucked away near the window or Gutmann Suite which has preserved nicks from WWII shrapnel damage among the mahogany panelling of this former bank manager’s office.