Kolkata, East India, India

Located in the heart of Kolkata’s shopping and business district, the Great Eastern is one of the city’s most enduring landmarks. When it closed for renovation in 2005, the hotel had been running without interruption longer than any other in the world. Illustrious guests included the Queen, Ho Chi Minh, Khrushchev and Mark Twain. Now, the Lalit chain has given a lavish refit to the building, which opened to great acclaim in 2013. The city’s oldest hotel once again deserves its epithet ‘the Savoy of the East’.