Merchant Hotel

Housed in the former Ulster Bank headquarters, built in 1857, the hotel has Victorian bones but a modern feel thanks to Art Deco touches. An imposing, columned facade leads to a marble entranceway with lime green velvet curtains. Inside, the lobby and hallways are decked out with lavenders, pinks, and glossy blacks, plenty of mirrors, and attractive seating areas with throne-like velvet chairs and colorful modern art. Restaurants, too, feel opulent: The Great Room restaurant has ornate plasterwork and red velvet chairs, while Bert’s Bar sticks to a 1920s American speakeasy vibe, with red banquettes and a coffered wooden ceiling. Above it all is a stylish rooftop fitness center with an outdoor hot tub overlooking the city.

The Merchant is located in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, so-called because of the nearby St. Anne's Cathedral. There are many restaurants and bars, as well as historic buildings -- including the Albert Memorial Clock at Queen's Square, and Belfast's oldest public buildings, The Assembly Rooms at the Four Corners, built in the late 1770s. From the front of the hotel, the iconic Harland & Wolff cranes are visible. The Corn Market is two blocks away, and Belfast City Hall, with its impressive stained-glass windows, is a 10-minute walk.

The 62 air-conditioned rooms are split into two styles: Victorian and Art Deco. Victorian-style rooms have velvet throws and silk curtains, and large en-suite bathrooms with tub/rain-shower combos and travertine marble walls. The more modern, Art-Deco-style rooms are done up in pastels and black, with special touches like Le Corbusier chairs -- plus, marble-walled bathrooms complete with turquoise tiles, bathtubs, and separate, stall showers. All rooms have mini-fridges, robes and slippers, safes, and hairdryers. The flat-screen TVs offer free movies and stories read by actor James Nesbitt. Some rooms, especially on the ground floor, can get noise from the nearby bars, and the hotel provides earplugs.

The Merchant is fully equipped for dining and drinking, with a restaurant, two bars, a champagne lounge, and a night club. The Great Room Restaurant serves upscale French-inspired cuisine for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch -- many non-guests come for afternoon tea and live classical music from Friday through Sunday. Bert’s Bar, which serves classic cocktails and French bistro food, has live jazz every night and afternoon -- the bar was once voted “World’s Best Hotel Bar” in the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. The hotel spa has five private treatment rooms and a luxurious hydro-pool, as well as a rock sauna and steam room. A rooftop hot tub, which accommodates eight people, sets the hotel's modern gym apart. Christian Louboutin shoes are for sale in the hotel boutique.